Giving Thanks for the Past Week

Aogu is in Tokyo, and though we miss him, we are thankful that he has work to do!

Black Friday 2012, minus shopping

Every once in awhile on a no-school morning, for years now, my friend J and I have been taking our combined six kids on outings to Chuck Ee Cheese (spelling that wrong on purpose). We've got the routine down pretty well now. Using e-mail coupons and math on a napkin, we can wring two hours of fun, a couple slices of pizza per kid and a couple rounds of basketball shooting out of twenty bucks each.
The adventure we had today was pretty standard, with these twists:

N wasn't interested in prizes and therefore didn't collect tickets at all

M was terrified of ChuckE

The by-the-book, slim, bespectacled Asian girl working at SBux inside of Barnes and N Books had to know exactly how many ounces of coffee J's travel mug might hold. 16, which is a grande

and finally--
after J and crew (not to be confused with JCrew) left for home, we stayed and played for a few minutes. I was pleasantly surprised that the kids were interested in token-less play. And less surprised when, just as we were about to leave, M expressed an (intense--do I need to say this? all of her feelings are this way, she's three and a half....) desire to be photographed while riding in ChuckE's car. I didn't have, well didn't THINK I had, any more tokens. Later I found three in my pockets. At that moment, though, I was sure I didn't have any. A women happened to see M's longing and kindly gave us three tickets. When we were done photographing and traveling to nowhere in a plastic vehicle, we gave our kind patron all the tickets we have. She was thrilled and said something like, "This is a great trade! We should really blog about this!"

Ha ha! I said back, doing that thing I sometimes do where I pretend I know what you mean but really I'm pretending.

But I couldn't stop thinking about the moment all day, so here I am, blogging and telling you about it.

That Big Day at the End of October

This year, Halloween--make that HOWLEEN if you are Misaki--fell on a Wednesday. Therefore, all the events that might have been spread over a few days were jammed into one.

1. We spent the morning at St. Matthew's. I don't want to incriminate any of my friends, so I'll refrain from posting photos. If you think my turkey costume (I borrowed it from a friend) is funny, well, take a look at this.  Yes, one of my friends wore it.  After much mutual admiration all around, and requisite photo shoot, we embarked on the annual scavenger hunt.  See below for a photo of the winning team.  Finally, we went trick or treating round to some stations the teachers had set up on school property with the kids.  
2. Next stop was Koji's school.  Things were eventful there; while the English teachers were carefully administering the Halloween quiz they had prepared (did you know that candy corn is the best selling Halloween candy? eewww....), suddenly the fire alarm went off!  Apparently one of the smoke machines went haywire...?  Even after waiting for the fire department to come and declare everything safe, the kids still had enough time for making rounds inside the school.  
3. One of Koji's friends invited us to his birthday party.  Which was kind of a brilliant move on that mom's part; she didn't have to plan any activities 'cause the kids were all out trick or treating most of the time.  She did choose to provide a shrimp tray and some other savories to help us balance our blood sugar, for which I was deeply grateful.  
4. As our final activity for the day, we went to the Pumpkin Patch at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church.  You'll see below that the professional face painter was just that!
5. The next evening we had our annual housegroup costume party and it was GREAT--thanks to everyone for being good sports, and giving us a lot of laughs!
6. One task remains undone.  We must sell our candy--at the low, but much better than nothing rate of $1/pound--to the kids' dentist.  And we must do this soon because having chocolate in the house isn't working out well for me....I may outgrow the "one size fits most" turkey costume....

Seventh annual Halloween Party at St. Matthew's

As ever, the school principal prepared a scavenger hunt to challenge us costumed mothers.
This year, my team won!

At Koji's school in the afternoon for our second Halloween bash.  

Stealth ninja dude with his friends

That evening, we went to Cornerstone Church for their annual Pumpkin Patch.
They hired a professional face painter.  

After spending the day as a crocodile and penguin, my girls apparently didn't think to ask for flowers.
Way to buck the trend, ladies!

The next evening, we had a costume party with our church small group.
 I still don't think I should have been allowed to win my own contest (conflict of interest and all that) but somehow I did...

Social

We had an old friend over tonight, one of the oldest friends we have. She's still young, a mere 28 in terms of how she feels (I feel that way too).  Truth is, we met when we were all in junior high school together.

Anyway, she brought her little guy with her. He's 15 months and pictured here, with Izumi. All my kids were so great with him, I was nearly tempted to have another baby. I said nearly. If you, dear reader out there somewhere, think having another baby is a great idea for us, you may be right. Or you may be crazy. Yes, I am now quoting Billy Joel and utterly giving away the fact that I'm nowhere near 28.

Wow. I am way off track. My point is this: I enjoy having friends here for dinner but it seems the only time we do it is when someone is visiting from out of town. What about our in town friends? Just as we don't invite them over often enough, so have I been neglecting this little writer's outlet of mine.  I'd like to change that this month.

Please stay tuned!

Travel is My Gift

Happy Fortieth Birthday to me today. Which actually sounds young compared to this rephrasal (perhaps not a word): "I am entering my fifth decade of life".

Forty or no, I spent this birthday in the exact same way as last year.

Last year: on August 13th, 2011, the kids and I went to Midway, intending to fly to Portland with a short layover in Denver. We were flying PioSpiritJetExpress, or something like that; not a major airline. Well, almost the moment my husband dropped us off and drove away from the airport, a huge thunderstorm blew over. The plane scheduled to take us to Denver was approaching, but had to turn tail and run back to Indy. By the time any plane was able to come pick us up, there was not enough time in the day for us to make our connection in Denver, so we were stuck there over night.
I may have said this last year (I'm too lazy to go back and check to see if I already posted this story) but it bears repeating today: having friends here, there and anywhere can be to one's advantage. My local Denver connection, G and her family, graciously hosted us for the night. Bonus: we got to catch up with them in person, which was a sweet surprise. The next day was my birthday. We flew without incident to Portland, and I was on time to my own birthday party.
I had no intention of making this an annual birthday tradition. I shouldn't be surprised, though: I love to travel, but find it hard to justify when I'm in the kid-raising trenches and I'm not being paid cash money to do it (if anyone knows of such an opportunity, please connect me. I'm mostly not kidding). My birthday is the one time of year when indulging traveling impulses feels justifiable, and I do want to see my parents, my sister/sister's family and Oregon herself at least once a year.

So, this year's birthday being the big FOUR OH, I was invited to please visit Oregon sans offspring. By the time I secured clearance for the endeavor, round trips from ORD to PDX were in the neighbourhood (now that I'm 40, I can use British spellings if I want) of $500. Not an appropriate price for in-the-first-year-of-starting-our-own-business us. A kind friend employed by United secured me stand-by pass, and I was off.
Going out to Portland was a cinch. There were two possible flights. The first was full, but thanks to rain delays in another part of the country, I got on the second easily. My mom did have to drive the hour from Salem to Portland at one a.m., but she didn't seem to mind. (thanks, Mom!)
Fast forward a few days, during which I spent a bit of long overdue time with my Grandma, Uncle and Aunt in Salem. I also played tourist in Portland, which is a story for another day.
Went back to the Portland airport quite early in the morning on Monday, so I'd have four chances through the day to get on a flight to Chicago.
Well, the first flight went without me and I didn't mind a bit, I was squeezing in a few extra hours with R who had kindly flown in from California for the occasion.
The second flight went without me and I was starting to understand that as a non-blood-related-to-an-employee-type-person, my status was right at the bottom of the totem pole. This realization caused me to freak out just a little, since I planned a tight schedule for us which involved me flying in Monday so I could pack us up to drive to our family vacation on Tuesday.
My prospects weren't great in Portland so my (kind and generous) friend at The Airline advised me to fly up to Seattle and try my luck there.
It's no one's fault but my own that when I arrived in Seattle, I wanted to eat something better than fast food. And that in searching for it, I accidentally went out to the curb. That's right, I got to go through security again.
No problem, I had five hours to kill before the three flights I was aiming at took off.
At 10:30 or so, people were starting to board. So I went to the gate, hoping I'd finally get some good news. Let's remember, I've now spent a 16 hour day in one or airport or another. Well, everyone and all their relatives and friend were all trying to get east at the same time. Not just one, or two, but all three of the flights were completely oversold. Oh, and I did I mention, the kind lady at the gate helpfully informed me that it was pretty much the same situation for the following morning.
This is where I pause and give thanks: first to God, then to my parents, my sister and brother in law, my grandma, my aunt and uncle, and R. You gave me this iPad for my birthday, and because I had it with me I was able to figure things out!
What I figured out was, flying to O'Hare with a ticket would set me back $1000.. Not an option, no matter how much I wanted to get home. That is how, at long last, I gave up on The Airline altogether and flew home on my own frequent flyer miles.
This time, my kind college friend drove more than a half hour each way to pick me up from SeaTac, let me take a much needed three hour nap at her house, then transported me back t the airport at 4 am. T, you're a hero!
Remember, it's now the day of my 40th birthday. My husband and my kids picked me up from the airport and we immediately started driving to our vacation in Missouri.
Aren't I blessed? Every year, from now until I should move on to a Better Place, I know what I'll be doing. Stay on your toes, if you live anywhere besides Chicago, then you may get a midnight call from me!

Confession Time

Yikes!  In the spring, in my Long Creative Project Group, I admitted to my friends the primary reason I don't post on this blog as often as I'd like: 

GOOGLE READER!!

Blessing and curse, you are, GR.  

If you don't know what it is, but you are interested in blogs at all, come along and be addicted with me, won't you?!  Google Reader lets you subscribe to your favorite blogs.  When you open it, you see a list of the blogs you like; new posts are highlighted so you can quickly decide which and/or whether to read.  

It's my crack, everyone.  

I used to read magazines, but now, my magazines just sit in piles around the house gathering dust (so why even get magazines?  well, what else can you get with those last 2641 miles on that airline you never plan to fly again?!).  Magazines are not as portable as an iPhone with Google Reader loaded up.  

So why am I confessing this now?  For one thing, I have crossed an invisible line: I'm FORTY now.  It's time to come clean on some things.  Even if they aren't so life and death.  

And the real real reason is:

I just clicked on something in the sidebar of Google Reader that says "Trends" and I found the following fascinating (highly embarrassing?!) information about my reading habits: 

From your 212 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 1,057 items, clicked 55 items,starred 5 items, and emailed 1 items.

Since August 12, 2007 you have read a total of 57,043 items.

Whoa.  

OK, people, I am not good at math, but I can't help noticing it's been pretty much exactly five years since I started using GR.  In the interim, I have apparently read some 11,000+ items per year.  Close to 1000 items a month.  Jiminy Cricket and other oaths and exclamations!!  I tend to blame it on my kids, but I owe them an apology: the slovenly state of my home has found its cause.  

In fact, much as some want and need to pin all that goes wrong on childhood matters (which is often legitimate but can still be carried to extremes), I am tempted to place all I haven't accomplished in the last five years on the figurative shoulders of GR.  Tempted, I say.  But that wouldn't actually make sense: I admit, I am the one who is fixated on that icon on my phone, and who nearly literally has itchy fingers if it's left unpushed for too long.  

So what to do?  I don't want to give it up entirely but I do think I have been "overindulging" for quite some time now.  Do you like GR?  What are your "stats"?  How do you manage it?

PS. In the spirit of true confession, I suppose it would be wrong to step away from this post without noting which blogs are my favorite.  Again, this is according to Google Reader Trends so it must be true (huh?!).  Actually, I find it interesting to note, if you asked me to name my favorites off the top of my head, I'm not sure all listed here would make it.  There are several which are most often clicked because the posts are short or all photos and that's just easier to look at.  Said the girl who loves to knock you over with verbiage, if and when she posts.... 

Reading trends (last 30 days)

Read

Clicked

Starred

Emailed

Mobile

Subscription	# Read	% Read
theclothesmakethegirl	47	87%
A Holy Experience	33	79%
Mark's Daily Apple	30	100%
What I Wore 2Day	30	100%
Sit at my table	27	100%
Nom Nom Paleo	25	100%
The Healthy Home Economist	25	81%
Fashion For Giants	24	96%
Myrna Giesbrecht	22	100%
The Pleated Poppy	22	100%

  

Farewell 30s

Did not think of or plan to spend my last day of being 30 something sitting in various airports --Portland and Seattle-- standing by to try and get back to Chicago after spending a few days with my parents, my sister, my friends RC and CLC, my grandma, aunt and uncle.

We had a memorable time together and I plan to treasure these new memories at least until I'm 50. And maybe between now and then wifi will come more reliable so I can reflect more extensively and profoundly without being frustrated?

For now, the little things will do. Here you see the amazing chocolate cake my sister made for my birthday. Thanks, Laurs!

If you are over 40, please tell me how

Some of What I Wore

Coming to you live from Salem, Oregon, where Aogu has kindly sent me for my last hurrah of my 30s.  Here, on Friday instead of Wednesday, are a few of the things I wore over the last few weeks.  The below is a visit to the pool.  And now I'm out of here 'cause I'm posting this from my uncle's iPad and I don't know what I'm doing!

Sports Day

Koji's out of school for his summer break, as of this week.  As you may recall, he goes to a Japanese school, which runs on the standard Japanese educational (and business) calendar.  The new year starts in April and is sectioned into trimesters, the first of which runs through mid-July, as I mentioned.  Koji's summer break clocks in at close to exactly four weeks and is actually a bit shorter than many Japanese schools by a week or two.  The second trimester is September through December, followed by a couple of weeks off for New Year's (Christmas is not a big deal in Japan).  The third is shorter, January through mid-March, and is succeeded by a two or three--or in the case of Koji's school, four--week spring break.  And then the cycle starts again.

These are the shirts we wore to Koji's first Sports Day two years ago

One highlight of the first trimester of Japanese school every year is Sports Day.  It's held on a Sunday in early June and is always a whole school competition between the White Team and the Red Team.  This was Koji's third year to participate in Sports Day, but his first to be on the Red Team.  I have a rule that our whole family has to wear shirts in the color of his team, for solidarity.  So I was delighted, after two years of wearing white, which I abhor as a fashion choice, at the opportunity to wear a color that suits us (me?).  Koji was delighted that his team won!  In the aftermath, Aogu wasn't delighted to find himself thoroughly sunburned...

Ready to attack a bunch of balloons

Cheering squad--the cheer "competition" is very serious!

Celebrating with the victorious Red Team

Icelandic

Have you read this book?
The author is a British man, now in his late 20s (maybe early 30s). He describes his life with Asperger's and the glimpse into his mind is fascinating.
I am most envious of his linguistic ability. I was under the (erroneous) impression that numbers are the primary specialty of people on the autistic spectrum. But Mr. Tammet learned Icelandic in just one week! Isn't that amazing? Becoming a polyglot is a dream of mine...
Oyasuminasai (Good night--because for now I'm just bilingual)!

Tea Party

Six friends and I went to The Peninsula for high tea on Saturday.  Also known as a carb fest washed down with a gallon of British liquid!  Can you see the size of that tea pot, there in the left foreground of the photo?  Wow.  

The menu may have been other than my usual eating habits lately but catching up with six friends, particularly the one pictured above, was wonderful.  The truth is, the two of us and our husbands were in the very same space the evening before.  I may be starting a new trend?  Every weekend,whatever I do on Friday, I have to do it on Saturday too?  This is not actually a goal, by the way!  It's just the way my last two weekends worked out....

To the Scottish Forest and Back~Twice

Having watched it in the theatre twice in the past 24 hours--and that being the most I've gone to the movies in the past year--I would be remiss if I didn't comment on Brave.  Did you see it?  If you haven't, I don't want to give away the story, so my Thoughts below will likely not make sense.  I apologize.  

Without regard for order of importance, here are Thoughts: 

• Merida's hair is irresistible 
• As are Merida's mischievous little brothers.  Furthermore, I envy their capacity for eating cookies
• Disney is to be applauded for allowing Merida and her brothers to have both of their parents around for the duration of the story
• Is it too late for me to become Scottish, or at least learn to speak with a Scottish accent on command?  I tried practicing during the movie, but that didn't go over well with my friend in the next seat
• Yes, I will go live in Edinburgh, but only if you make it possible and only if you allow me regular visits to the Highlands
• Haggis is good for you, as long as it's from pastured sheep--but I'm speaking theoretically
• A photo would have made this post infinitely better, but I don't know how to copy one without being a copyright breaker

Good night!

Lacking Practice

Here I am, starry-eyed, on stage at karaoke last Saturday night.  Still more friends are moving away, one to Indiana and, you guessed it, two back to Japan.  I think I have more friends in Japan now then I would if I had been there these last 11 years?

Anyway, at some point I've surely expressed my distaste for American-style karaoke.  There you are, in front of a bunch of people you don't know, trying to sing a song you also kind of don't know?!  The horror!  Japanese-style karaoke is much more dignified.  If you can call a situation where you grab a mic and pretend to be Alanis Morissette without even drinking copiously as a warm-up "dignified".... it feels less intimidating to sing in front of one's friends, I guess.  For me, anyway.  

That's not a sufficient explanation of why I like it.  I'm not a great singer, I can't hit all the notes, remember the words, or harmonize (if I get a new talent in Heaven, I hope it's the ability to harmonize). There's something about singing that's so cathartic, though.  Do you feel that way?  

It's like, even when singing Ironic (pictured above), the feeling of belting it out is what God made me for.  Not that exact song!  But some kind of vocal expression~ praise for Him is a more likely prospect, but I have an unholy/improper suggestion: even the songs that seem to be not about Him, at Him, for Him or to Him can be for His praise?  Somehow.  What do you think?  Do you like karaoke?

Independence Day and What Preceded It

Winters are pretty miserable in these parts by my standards. Which are rather wimpy for one who claims to enjoy snowboarding. Thus my policy: no complaining about the weather in the summer. Summer is the sweet season, therefore, I must take whatever it brings and relish it. Every summer I've spent in these parts has found me following said policy with ease. Until now. Because it is HOT. 100ish (38 C) with humidity. I know this is standard summer weather in Japan in August, but the sad truth is I haven't been to Japan in almost two years, and it's been eight since I spent August there. I'm just not tough enough?!
Making matters much, much worse: our main air conditioning unit is broken, leaving us with a teeny wall unit in our bedroom and one box fan. Why no, as a matter of fact, air in our house is not moving around. At all. Last night we finally wised up to sleeping in the basement. And bringing out the dehumidifier. So Happy Fourth of July! I am thankful to be an American, and I know well that is the reason I have the luxury of mentioning my heat-challenged feelings to you on a blog from my iPhone. So Lord Jesus, please take care of all those who are miserable with heat and for myriad other reasons tonight, and have no recourse. Amen.
Without further ado, to the photos, and a good night to you!

Misaki's rather accurate elephant imitation; last Friday at Koji's class playdate

Koji (in blue) and some of his friends at a park in Buffalo Grove

Thanks to our friends, the R Family, who sent us this "movie night in a box".  We love it!

At long last, all bike tires are pumped, and the trailer is dusted off; so on Sunday we ventured out for a bike ride and it was so exhausting for Misaki, she ended up like this

Self portrait at Lee St. Beach earlier tonight while we waited for fireworks, to document my lovely Japanese style neck hankie (used for wiping down my prolifically sweaty countenance) and also the shiner I'm sporting.  Can you see the black and blue knob on the right corner (left in this picture) of my chin?  It was super when I tripped and literally landed on my face yesterday.... 

Last but not least: eats!  Thanks to our friends the M Family and a wonderful Happy Birthday to their newly nine year old son N (we owe you a present, we are doofuses for not bringing you one today).  We had hamburgers, hot dogs, various salads and many great desserts.  I made this fruit salad: apples, cherries, peaches, strawberries and mangoes.  I mixed it with a light syrup of honey, lemon juice and cinnamon.  It was very tasty if I do say so~