We’re grandparents again!
Our new granddaughter arrived last Wednesday, a wonderful surprise as we weren’t expecting her until later in the month. She’s a dainty little thing, but absolutely beautiful. Her English middle name is my mother’s name – I started crying when I saw they had chosen it. We love the first name they picked too – very Japanese and very American as well – but we never would have guessed it in a million years. Our grandson is completely smitten with his baby sister – the picture of him meeting her for the first time is maybe my favorite. He’s going to be a fantastic big brother!
Other than the thrill of receiving that wonderful news, and lots of pictures as well, it’s been a very quiet, uneventful week here at Casa Aloha. I’m getting plenty of rest, which will continue, but as I wrote on Friday I now know what I’m dealing with when it comes to my back. Brett will be handling the farmers’ market trips on his own for the next couple of weeks, and will continue with kitchen and other household chores while I work at getting better.
YaYu finished up her cross country season yesterday morning. Her team took first place on the island and a few of her teammates will be going to the State Finals on the Big Island (not YaYu – she’s a middle of the pack runner). She has this next week off for fall break, but then kicks right back into things. Practice for the swim team ‘officially’ starts in December, but they’re already scheduled to be back in the pool right after they get back from the break. YaYu is dreading it – she’s a good swimmer and likes to swim, but the season is exhausting.
Otherwise, this afternoon I am:
- Reading: I didn’t get much reading done at all this week, so I’m still working my way through Between You and Me. I have three days to get it done before the download gets cancelled, so I’ll be having some marathon reading sessions in the next couple of days.
- Listening to: The roosters were so loud this morning. I swear one was screaming its head off right under my bedroom window! But, they’ve pretty much quieted down in the last hour, thank goodness. It’s a gorgeous day, so people are out mowing and trimming their lawns, and Brett’s bustling around in the kitchen.
- Watching: Brett and I finished Penny Dreadful on Thursday evening. The ending was OK, and the story was resolved, but I just didn’t want it to end because the show was so well done (gruesome, but well done). Tonight I’m watching more of The Mysteries of Laura with YaYu. Brett will watch the debate live this afternoon but I like to follow them online (via live-blogging and Twitter).
- Cooking/baking: I’m going to mix up a pan of brownies for Brett and YaYu later this afternoon – I think I can stand long enough to manage it – but Brett is in charge of dinner once again. He’s making the seafood enchiladas that were originally planned for Thursday because our schedule got mixed up that evening and so we had the mango-mustard tofu instead because it took less time to prepare.
- Happy I accomplished this past week: I got started on my Christmas shopping this week and ordered two things for WenYu. I had an Amazon gift card from Swagbucks for one item, and the other item went on sale, 20% off, so I went ahead and bought it now. I also got our granddaughter’s baby gift ordered. I found a great fare for Meiling’s trip home at Christmas, so all that’s left now is to get the tickets for our Tokyo visit next March. Prices continue to be a little higher than we want to pay but predictors keeps saying the price is going to drop so I’m hanging on.
- Looking forward to next week: I’m actually looking forward to next week’s PT sessions – I felt much better after the second session this past week, and love being able to look out at the ocean while the therapist works. I’m of course excited about receiving more photos and news of our sweet little granddaughter. Once again, I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll be able to get our tickets for our March trip to Tokyo next week.
My new specs - Thinking of good things that happened: There’s nothing that tops the arrival of our new granddaughter, but I did get my new glasses this past Tuesday, and they’re great, especially the bigger lenses. My toughest critics, the girls, all approve of their mom’s new look :). I’m super happy about the airfare I found for Meiling’s flight – $170 less than we paid last year. Once again we had no food waste this past week, and we put $8.42 in the change/$1 bill jar.
- Grateful for: I’m so thankful for all Brett’s doing for me these days. He is very strict with me about resting, and not overdoing things – he says he doesn’t want to have to keep doing everything forever. I know it all was a bit overwhelming for him at the beginning, but he’s getting the rhythm of housekeeping and cooking down, and has kept up with the bigger housekeeping chores as well.
- Bonus question: Speaking of chores, which is your least favorite? What chores don’t you mind? Without hesitation, my least favorite chore is dusting. It always seems so hopeless every time I do it because dust is probably the fastest thing to reappear. I’d rather clean toilets than dust. Otherwise, chores don’t bother me all that much. Sweeping is kind of in the middle – don’t love it, but don’t hate it either. Same for doing the laundry, and making the bed. Washing dishes might be my ‘favorite’ chore – it goes fairly quickly, and is a nice time for quiet contemplation. The only time washing the dishes gets onerous is after a big dinner for the family – so many pots and pans to scrub. But, for just the three of us it takes very little time.
Here’s wishing all of you are having a great weekend, and a lovely Sunday afternoon!
The Occasional Nomads 
Congratulations on your new granddaughter. Your husband is right, better to follow all instructions so you get well sooner and stay well, Love the blue glasses.
I hate to vacuum, I love my dog but you could knit a sweater from all the hair she sheds. No matter how many times I vacuum, it is never enough.
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I get the whole dog hair thing – we had two pugs. I could have woven a rug at least once a week out of what they shed.
I don’t enjoy vacuuming either. We don’t have carpets at this house, just a couple of throw rugs, so we mostly sweep/Swiffer, which is a lot easier. Of course it also means we have to mop frequently, another chore I’m not crazy about.
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Congratulations on your new grandchild – she looks so peaceful in the pictures. I love your new glasses, too. My favourite chores are mowing the lawn, shovelling snow, and…chopping vegetables! And my least favourite is washing windows.
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My D-I-L says she’s a very easy baby so far, mostly sleeping but still waking up every couple of hours for a feeding. Moms in Japan get to stay in the hospital for several days (unlike the U.S. where they send you home the next day) so my D-I-L is getting lots of rest. Our granddaughter looks a bit like our grandson did when he was born.
We hire someone to wash our windows. We did them by ourselves over at our old house, and it took us over a month. We said never again.
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Congrats on your new grand daughter. Both grands are adorable!
Kudos to you for starting Xmas shopping.
Glad you are continuing with PT and that it is helping.
I just got caught up on your posts this week. I loved the post on everyday life in Japan. One question – knowing that it is difficult for you to be on the floor – has that made traveling in Japan a challenge? I ask because I’ve had two TKRs and would love to visit Japan one day.
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Thanks! She is a very dainty little thing, but absolutely adorable. We are counting the days until we can see her and our grandson next March!
I don’t think you’d have any trouble visiting Japan, even with TKRs. There is rarely any reason to get down on the floor these days other than sleeping on a futon (which you probably wouldn’t do) or attending a tea ceremony. If you told them you couldn’t be on the floor they would quickly make accommodations for you. You could skip restaurants that have you sit on the floor. The only hard part I occasionally have there is going down stairs, but almost all train stations, department stores, etc. have elevators and/or escalators these days.
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What a sweet baby…congratulations! And your grandson is adorable, too.
Love the new specs. There are so many cute frames now. The women who work in our eye doctor’s office must have a horrible time not buying new styles monthly.
My housekeeping nemesis is dog hair and dog snarf on the windows. We love our dog (a lab/German shorthair mix) but he definitely ramps up the cleaning chores. A good vacuum helps, but the windows are an ongoing battle that I choose not to fight daily.
Like you, I find dish washing somewhat meditative and I love a clean kitchen so I do it regularly. Our well water is really hard, so we treat the water and left on the dishes, it dries in spots so I dry the dishes when I wash them. I find I’ve become more obsessive about it as I age. 🙂
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I found those glasses the day I had my eye exam – they were not the pair I originally had picked out. Not sure how I missed them the first time, but when I tried the frames on I knew they were “the ones.”
I used to sweep four to five times a day when we had our pugs (we had hardwoods downstairs) and vacuum upstairs as well. We had a Roomba for a while but their fur destroyed it! Our other dog was a shih tzu – they don’t shed (or smell). If we ever get another dog, guess which breed we’d pick?
I learned to hand dry dishes when I was young and would help my grandmother. Here everything air dries so fast.
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Congrats! What a peaceful looking baby. So serene and content.
I had a lhasa apso when I was a kid and they don’t shed or smell either. They’re very similar to shih tzus.
On your recommendation in a previous post, I went to Costco for new computer glasses and was amazed at the price! They were $150 less than what I paid for the same glasses at Lenscrafters last year! They don’t have the same selection of frames, but who cares?? They haven’t come in yet, but the frames I picked are very nice and I’m sure will be fine.
All this talk about cleaning reminds me I need to mop the floors!
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Thanks – Mom and baby are home now and everyone is doing well. They send pictures fairly frequently, which helps, but I can’t wait to meet her next March.
I was amazed when the technician gave me the price for my glasses. I honestly had no idea they would be so reasonable, although we’ve been buying our daughters’ contacts there for years because they’re so reasonable. I’m enjoying my new glasses and the bigger lenses.
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