This morning I decided I was going to IKEA. Off I drove…Still need Miss Garmin’s help to find the place.
I wander around and pretty much find EVERYTHING I need. I drove home and find one of the items was marked…and not a little mark but a monster of a mark. I carried on putting the other stuff together…
(You have to love IKEA stuff, so easy to put together!) Well the one thing just won’t go together. The dowels seem too long. I go get a hammer and start hammering the dowels. Still won’t fit…I have another go at hammering the dowels and then I hit a BIG chip out of the shelf…and still it does not fit!!!
So I call IKEA, (English menu) got through to somebody who speaks no English but was able to take my phone number. I was called back within 5 minutes. I explained the problem, I also explained how I had banged a big chip out of it…She gave me a customer number and said she would call the store.
J needs collecting from school and I need to go to IKEA so let’s kill 2 birds with one stone and drive 30 ish minutes out of my way I thought
I put the unit into the car as it was and went and collected J. Have to say when he heard we were heading to IKEA he was not happy.
We get to IKEA, take my two defected item into the store and they said we will get you a new shelf…hummm That’s fine but what about a new unit as this is not doing what it is supposed to according to your instructions?
Well needless to say…after what they told me would be 1 hours wait... (30 minutes actually) out came a new unit all made up and my other item replaced.

When I was in school I used to chew pens and pencils. Not my child, my child chew his cell phone….I was looking at the phone yesterday and thought that has a pattern on it. When I took a closer look I saw the teeth marks. I mean any need????
He informed me today that the screen is not working properly…hummm wondering if that’s the chewing of the phone…even if it’s not I am sure it’s not good for the phone to be chewed.
I am also sure it’s not healthy to chew a cell phone!!!

So the TV is on right now and it is a English speaking TV show. I just noticed that they are speaking in a foreign language..Well the sub titles are in Japanese so I have no idea what he is saying…AARRGGGHHHH

I have been to the gym for the last 2 days doing the program the trainer gave me. So I am thinking to myself, I will do this in 30 minutes max…Hummm not a hope. My diaphragm area (think that is what it is called) is hurting today, as are my legs, backside and shoulders. So is my head…not because of the gym, but because I knocked it on the cupboard door…
Is there ANY NEED!!!
I even bought keys for the gym today so I can go ANYTIME…hummm I am going to use them at least once every year…because I am sure I will never be the first there more than once!
Have to say can’t wait for the warmer weather so the pool will be open and I can do all my exercises in the water while getting a tan…because a sun tan really does make you look better…well makes me look better!
I had a really good day with the food today…no junk has passed my lips!!!
When I had a snack today I ate a kiwi fruit…yum yum… (The sarcasm is dripping from me!)
Drank my water…all 8 cups…No longer needing to run to the bathroom every 2 minutes…so either I am not actually drinking 8 cups or I am getting used to it now…(the water not the bathroom runs)

So today the house agent came to the house because I had heard a beeping somewhere in the kitchen.
It was not the fridge door left open and the timer on the oven was not on so I looked around and followed the noise to 3 thermostat looking devices….In he trots with a medical face mask telling me he won’t make me sick…He plays with the devices and tells me all is sorted….OK…we discuss how the house is insulated with single ply toilet paper. He says different…I send him into the downstairs bathroom and say well you stay there for a few minutes and tell me the place is not freezing. He says well use the heating…hummmm what heating? The bathrooms actually have heating….Who knew?
So needless to say, we will no longer freeze in the bathrooms…

I started to wax the floors today. I felt a bit like that guy from Karate Kid…Wax on, wax off. If my arms where not hurting before they are now! The floors looked OK, but if I do them every day for the next 2 months they might look a lot better!
Have to say I am getting very pleased with myself lately…I am actually finishing the jobs I start…This really is a first for me.
I am even remembering to water the plants.

After a nice relaxing Sunday the week started with a bang…
Anything that could go wrong on Monday…even though everything did actually turn out ok, the idea of standing on top of a mountain and screaming my head off really appealed to yesterday.
Before 11 am…..
Woke up my joints seem to be more painful now than they have ever been…
Downstairs toilet problems…who needs electric toilets???
TV problem…no idea how to fix...TV remote, TV instructions all in Japanese…..
Forgot to take meat out for dinner the night before to make dinner in the Crockpot while out…
Too late for the gym (classes started…no were near ready for them!)
Go to vacuum the car, extension doesn’t reach….
Lost iPod……
Vacuum making a noise and kicking it does not make the noise stop…….
Dropped an earring and eventually found it 20 minutes later……
Hem on trousers decided to come down….
I thought the highlight of my day was buying portabella mushrooms and parsnips, but nope…getting away with the fine and points on my license was actually the highlight of my day.
After having Miss Garmin and Ms. GPS try taking me into different directions for the same place, finally getting to the International supermarket…buying my veggies (no butternut squash which was one of the main reasons I was going there) I was happy.
Driving home I knew I needed to stop and get some groceries form the local store.
I come around the corner and I am waved to pull over by a police man…I looked at Mrs. H and said ‘hummm you think I need to pull over’ Yes she said, but act stupid’ …Well that won’t be hard to do.
He asked if I spoke Japanese…I said no. he asked for my license and guess what?...It was not in my purse…not any of the 5 licenses I have…(that is actually a lie, there was my old British license)
So he asked where I lived, I told him. I handed over my Alien card/ID card.
He explained I needed to go to the police station…(which was 200 meters away) and report with my license. He asked at what time…He starts confusing me, which is not difficult.
I call G’s office in the hope somebody can help me. Phone answered… I very sheepishly explain I need some help, I need translation and can you find out how much trouble I am in?
Of course I am told…I hand the phone over and few minutes later, my NEW hero explains the police will let me off this one. Although he is concerned I have no license on me and I never stopped long enough at the stop sign.
Nothing actually topped off the police incident, but one of my favourite knives breaking never made me very happy!
By 7 pm I was more than ready to go to bed and hide on my blankets!

This morning J and I wandered to Mrs. H house to get a ride to school and then after the school drop off we went to what could only be classed as a VERY unique flea market that takes place on the 1st of every month. Mrs. H tells me that we will be there in 20 minutes no traffic, she programmers’ her GPS…1 hour and 44 minutes to destination…hummm ok…we get to see Mount Fuji looking absolutely beautiful as always…The further away from home we get I am convinced we are heading to Korea!
Well we arrive at the car park; take a short walk to the flea market. I have to say there was some REALLY rubbish there…But my friends found some real treasures. I came away with a little something as well
This place you can buy things form ¥100 which is pretty close to a $1 or ¥100000 which I convert to $1,000. I am sure there were items more expensive than that but I was not looking.
There were the most beautiful Obi’s and Kimonos.
When asked what I thought of the place, I said I thought it was interesting, full of rubbish with a few hidden treasures. Seems Mrs. H has an eye for all the treasures and she did really well today.

I decided for dinner I was going to try Quinoa. It looks a bit like couscous and its gluten free.
It does not taste like couscous nor does it cook the same. It was not awful…tasted a bit better than cardboard. So as I have at least 3 more meals worth to use. I guess I am going to have to find ways to make it taste better.