I am not worried, I am not overly concerned

This time of year always makes me a little blue. Not just the grey skies, but the fall air has a way of making me remember and I feel compelled to listen to music that does nothing but make those memories stronger. We've all moved on and we all turned out ok. Strange byproducts of the intensity, like being able to correctly hear cries of help from others, reaffirms my belief that our paths crossed for a reason. Scars were created for a reason. But so was healing. Like all deep cuts, they may never bother us after the healing is complete, but what remains will always have us remember. I don't regret it, so I don't mind still carrying it with me. I don't mind the tears or the sadness, because we all are fine. By Thanksgiving, I'll be fine again.

Doctor, Doctor, Gimmie the news....

Life in the last 48 hours:

Friday afternoon around 2pm - Violet woke up from her nap and was her normal, rambunctious self and was trying to see what I was doing in the kitchen, but I put my hand up to shoo her away because I was making ramen on the stove. She took this as a major affront and started stamping her feet and threw a massive fit. I finally get a chance to pick her up and I can feel that she is warmer than usual. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out a way to calm her down and take her temperature. When I finally did, it read 102.-something. I call Scott to get his advice on if I should go to Urgent Care, but he suggested just a bath first and then see how things are when he gets home. We do this and the temp still reads 102-something. The funny thing is, other than the tantrum, she's fine. Eating, drinking, playing and was probably more of a cuddle-monkey, but fine. We give her food, Tylenol, Curious George watching, a story and set her down for bedtime. She woke up twice, but finally settled at around 10pm and slept the night.

Saturday morning: she woke up chipper, completely fine, and no trace of a fever. The trick I finally learned to get her to let me take her temperature was to have her hum with me while the numbers went up. Temperature was back to normal, and her appetite never really changed. She wanted to have pancakes, so we had pancakes: purple ones with white chocolate chips. Morning play followed by normal nap.

Saturday afternoon: after her nap, I cooked up some pasta and gave her a little bit of tomato sauce, which is rare. She ate fine, played and had one very messy diaper. It wasn't until about 4:30 when we were getting ready to head out that I noticed a rash around her mouth. She had a rash on her chin, but I had figured that it was from the taggie blanket she constantly sucks on while she sleeps. While we were at the block party, we saw the rash on her arms, legs, back and shoulders and one bump on her lip and a (mosquito?) bite on her leg. With the trip coming so soon, we didn't want to mess around, so we went to Urgent Care. They took her vitals, checked out her mouth and said, yeah, it could be an allergic reaction to the tomato (she's had that before, but only around her mouth, probably because of the acid just settling on her face and us not wiping it off quickly) and not Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), which has been going around on base. We go home, have dinner, read, watch more George and off to bed, this time with no fussiness.

Sunday: rash is still there, no fever since Friday, still energetic, playful and hungry. We go about our day just fine until around 4pm after eating watermelon. I noticed more bumps on her lips and now, a white bump on her tongue. Back to UC, same caregiver, and now a confirmation that it is HFMD. Nothing too bad, nothing alarming since she was hamming it up for him and displayed she was fine and playful, but still, that's what Violet has.

I don't blame the dude on changing his mind since Violet looked like she was just having a mild reaction. But now, I'm a little scared about how this will play out while we are away. I do, however, have the comfort in knowing that since we're going to be at Tripler Army Hospital anyway, we won't be far from doctors that can take a look at her.

MOMMY NOTE: So, apparently you are not supposed to give the child anything acidic while she has HFMD, like tomato or orange juice. I did both within the same day. Whoops.

I'm a traveling man, Made a lot of stops all over the world

This is the first moment I've been able to sit and take stock of what has happened in the last week. Actually, what has happened in the last year, because that's how far I'm taking this flashback.

End of September 2012, I arrived in New York City to hang out with some friends for a few days, go to another friend's wedding, travel from Northern NJ down to Baltimore and catch a flight to Greenland so that I could visit with Scott for a week. But, instead of all of that, I found out on the day that I landed in NYC that Scott had broken his ankle and was going to be transported to an army hospital in Virginia. He and I spent the majority of October in a hotel in Fort Belvoir, having him go through two separate surgeries. We were still able to have fun and I was even lucky enough to catch a post season MLB game at the Washington Nationals stadium, thus crossing that off my "list of stadiums to go to." Not too shabby.

Montage time: Scott finishes his time in Greenland, we pack up our home in Colorado, have a loooong awaited reception for our wedding, move to Japan, live in Yokota for 4 months.

In all that time, Scott was still limping. He finally gets a doctor here at Yokota to look at it and then flew down to Hawaii for a further assessment, came back and told me he needed to get another surgery because a) the bones never healed properly and they are fusing incorrectly and b) a screw that was placed in his ankle has broken. Keep in mind: Scott had previously broken THE SAME ANKLE back in August 2009.

Conclusion: his surgery must take place in Hawaii again, he is required to have a chaperone to travel and stay with him. Sounds fantastic, right? We'll get back to this, because in the meanwhile....

One of our mutual and close friends gets engaged and was to be married 6 months after the engagement. Scott and I made the decision to send me to represent the Fourres and have Scott and Violet stay behind. I went, I cried, I partied, I laughed. I was also a walking zombie because of the jet lag and time difference, but I was able to cowboy up for a good time.

I then flew back and only after one good night's sleep, I tried to tackle the possibility of Scott having to leave for Hawaii a day before Violet and me. Looking down the barrel of an 8 hour flight and being the only one to wrangle a very active 2 year old was a little bit too much for me to wrap my head around. Especially considering we had less than a week to nail down the details and were coming up against a 4 day weekend (stupid Labor Day....)

In order to nail down said details, we needed Scott to receive his orders. In order to do that, I had to fill out some paperwork, though it took me three trips to the hospital offices to do this. Time check? Wednesday the 28th and Scott is (semi-)scheduled to leave on Monday the 2nd for a surgery on Wednesday the 4th. On Thursday, it took some major wandering (and LOTS of patience), only to have to wait a bit more for Scott to finally leave work early to sort out Violet's plane ticket.

The final outcome to this story is that we finally got our flights, our hotel and Scott's surgery all arranged by 3pm Thursday, cutting this really close to the 3:30pm end of office hours and a Friday and Monday closure of these offices.

Yes, it turned out alright in the end. But I am not an adrenaline junkie who needs the rush of success at the last minute. I'd much rather not go greyer than I have to and have a few more years on my life.

Grand Marnier French Toast

Last recipe-related post for the evening: MORE FRENCH TOAST!

Again, I was at a loss for what to do for dinner, so my fallback is always brinner. I had retrieved a free bottle of Grand Marnier from a family who is PCS'ing (Permanent Change of Station - basically, people/families who are moving onto their next base) and I figured I should make use of the windfall by making something yummy.


Grand Marnier French Toast

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur or frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 3/4-inch-thick French bread slices

• 4 tablespoons(1/2 stick) butter

Preparation

Whisk first 6 ingredients to blend in medium bowl. Dip each bread slice into egg mixture and arrange in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Pour remaining egg mixture evenly over bread. Let stand until egg mixture is absorbed, at least 20 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Place baking sheet in oven and preheat to 350&F. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add 4 bread slices to skillet and saut&until cooked through and brown, about 3 minutes per side. Place on baking sheet in oven to keep warm. Repeat cooking with remaining 2 tablespoons butter and 4 bread slices. Transfer French toast to 4 plates. Sift powdered sugar over. Serve with maple syrup.

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In an unusual move, I strayed from the path right from the start. Judging from my last try at French toast and the fact that I ran out of batter and butter from the get go, I adjusted. Also, I had no half and half, so I made do. Here are the adjustments:

5 eggs
1 1/2 TBsp water
1 1/2 TBsp  milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp banana extract
7 TBsp butter
1/8 c Grand Marnier

That last tweak was because I was a little worried that the alcohol wouldn't burn off completely and I was serving it to Violet. Yay, responsibility!

The recipe turned out pretty well and I had batter to spare, so I just fried it up like it was regular scrambled eggs. The eggs tasted a tad greasy, but pretty good other than that. Definitely warranting a bit of variation, but good overall.

Strawberries N Cream Pudding Cookies

Here's my Pinterest board for food.

And the next recipe I followed was for Strawberries N Cream Pudding Cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 2 TB strawberry jello
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 3.5 oz. box white chocolate pudding package instant
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 bag white chocolate chips 

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cream butter, sugar and jello together. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to butter mixture. Mix well. Add vanilla.
4. Stir in white chocolate chips.
5. Spoon onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. ENJOY!

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I didn't take any pictures of the process and I did have to tweak the recipe a bit right away because the commissary didn't sell white chocolate pudding, but all in all, the cookies came out pretty good.

I've decided that I want to combine other pudding/jello combo's and I have yet to do it a second time, but I do have a bag of puddings and jello's waiting for me to try again.

I also figured out that I have to become friends with my neighbors in my building or the Fourres will became very round.

Banana Stuffed French Toast

Ok - first entry to my foodventure. I was going to start with what I hinted at a couple of blog entries ago: the moscato cupcakes. However, the site where I got the recipe is going through some maintenance, so rather than posting a bum link, I'll move onto the next recipe.

Banana Stuffed French Toast

I was struggling to figure out what to do for Scott's birthday dinner. As an adult, he's come away from really doing anything to 'celebrate' his birthday, which is too strange to me, who 'CELEBRATES' her birthday for about a month. I would have a New Orleans' style parade if I didn't have to organize it.

But, because his birthday fell on a Monday and the weekend got away from me, I found myself scrambling at 9am to figure out what to do. I went to the Seiyu to get even the smallest gift that Violet could 'give' to her Daddy for his birthday, like the green tea Kit Kats he's grown to love, when I came across a small travel bottle of Cointreau. This reminded me that I've always wanted to try to make fancy french toast. So, the plan formed and I hit Google for the recipe. This is what I came across: banana stuffed French toast.

Here's the recipe:

Original recipe makes 6 servings

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 tablespoon milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/4 cup butter
• confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Create a pocket about 2/3 of the way into each slice of bread by cutting along an edge. Fill pockets with 2 or 3 banana slices each.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, water, milk, vanilla extract, orange liqueur and orange zest. Dip the bread slices in the mixture, allowing slices to become saturated.
3. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place a few slices at a time in the skillet, and cook, turning once, until both sides are golden brown. Dust with confectioners' sugar to serve.

 

In the first run of the process, I found that I need to add more butter and make more batter for the next time: the well ran a little dry for the last few pieces. I also think that there needs to be a creamy aspect to the middle with the bananas, so the next time I'll be adding a bit of pudding in the middle just to give it that extra little kick.

I have decided that I want this to be my signature birthday dinner for my family, so this gives me the incentive to perfect this recipe. I do want to explore other recipes, like Creme Brulee French Toast or Grand Marnier French Toast (I've tried the latter and I tweaked the recipe right out the gate; more on that later). Here's hoping I keep up on this aspect to my blog.

Just keep cooking... just keep cooking...

Oh! And for the actual foodies out there: please give me tips!! I'll try to incorporate them and let you know how/when I do =)

Teach Your Children Well - Noodles, DIY puzzle, Popsicle Stick Shapes

Other ways that I have been entertaining Violet (and teaching her fine motor skills) was to use anything you can find around the house. Well, maybe not popsicle sticks, unless you eat a lot of popsicles, but that is a perfect challenge for hot, summer days.

Noodles
Finding big tubular, pasta noodles, like ziti, is easy enough and as is finding yarn. Here's what I didn't realize right away - yarn is uncooperative.

Upon my mother's suggestion, I got shoelaces. Luckily, there is a store for military gear at the BX, so I was able to get very long and sturdy shoelaces that wouldn't get mixed up with Scott's uniform. I also threw in a couple of short Solo cups (clear), an empty tissue box and one of my espresso cups for Violet to play and transfer the noodles. She loves it. She even is enthusiastic about clean-up because she gets to hold the zip-lock baggie and control the situation.

DIY Puzzles
This was the simplest activity to do. All you have to do is take a cereal box, cut it into how ever many pieces or shapes you think your kid can handle and, VOILA! got yourself a simple puzzle. I used 4 different boxes and I made sure to label the backs of the cardboard just so I can set out one puzzle at a time and not confuse Violet. We're still working on this and I found that it's easiest to take a cell phone pic of the 'finished' puzzle for her to work off of.

Popsicle Stick Shapes
This is also a very simple project. Make simple shapes, ie. triangle, rectangle, diamond and square, out of popsicle sticks, trace them onto a piece of construction paper, and allow your kid to place the sticks on top of the traced lines to learn shapes. The extra step I took was to then put the construction paper in a page protector so that I can keep a lot of the loose papers in a three-ring binder for easy access. This also keeps Violet from ripping up the paper, just in case the destructive mood strikes her.

Teach your children well - Clay

In the past several months, I have been very motivated to actually implement the activities I pin on my Pinterest board for contructive kid play. There are friends of mine who are out there who have asked to be included in what I discover works. So, I'll try to keep track of Violet (and my) progress on the blog. I'll try to add as many personal pictures of either making each project or action shots of Violet playing with it, as well as the links of where I got the ideas just in case anyone wants to explore any of the sites I stumble upon.

The first activity I'll post is about clay. Yes, you can purchase Play-Doh and skip the whole process of making your own clay. Your arms and upper back may thank you. However, I HATE the smell of Play-Doh - I'm not even sure why. So, when I found a recipe for clay AND the fact that, miracle of all miracles, the commissary actually carries the gel food coloring, I forged ahead and made clay, like my mother did for us.

The major difference between the clay my Mom made and this clay recipe was that it didn't leave the hands grainy or tasting like a salt lick. That was a nice discovery. Here's the recipe:

Make clay
Ingredients:

1 cup water

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
gel food coloring
*I used Wilton brand in Rose, Orange, Lemon Yellow, Leaf Green, Sky Blue, and Violet

Directions:

1. Pour the water and vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add in the flour, salt, cream of tarter and a teaspoon or two of gel food coloring. Lightly stir together to combine.
   *The dough will end up being about the same color that it is now, so add more food coloring now if you want the color to be richer/brighter.
2. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. It should be done in about 4-5 minutes. Because you might panic and think you've ruined it, here is a breakdown of what it looks like throughout the cooking process:
   • Minute 1: The mixture will combine, and look smooth and beautiful!
   • Minute 2: You'll start to get chunks. Make sure to keep scraping the bottom and edges of the pan to prevent any pieces from burning.
   • Minute 3: This is where you might begin to worry that you've messed it up. Looks like a clumpy mess. Don't panic! Just keep stirring!!
   • Minute 4: The dough will start to form into a ball. You'll know when it's ready when it's not sticky and pulls away from the pan. You can test by pressing the dough with your fingers. It will be hot!
3. Remove the dough from the pan and place on a plate to cool.
4. Once cool, knead the dough. This can be done by you or little helpers!
5. To store, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in a sealed container.
   *I purchased a couple of 5-pack Rubbermaid TakeAlongs® containers (17 oz) at WalMart and the dough fits perfectly!

A few notes:

• Each batch makes about 2 cups of dough. You need to make a new batch for each color. It took me less than an hour to make all 6 batches.
• Surprisingly, the food coloring doesn't come off on your hands at all.
• The dough is safe to eat, but it is disgusting!
• Buy more cream of tartar than you think you'll need. I got 2 1/2 batches from one 1.5 oz container.
• Regular liquid food coloring will also work, but I think the gel makes the color a little more vibrant. Liquid food coloring may also come off on your hands

And some of my own pictures:

This was just the right size for storage

 All together, I made 6 colors: red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple. The green was the easiest secondary color to make since there was a green food coloring tube already. I just added a bit more blue to make it a tad more vibrant. The orange was a bit tough, but I think it turned out alright and the purple was hardest of all. Mixing your own coloring helps insert your own creativity in the process, which I really liked.

So far, it's a pretty big hit and I figure if the clay dries out or the something odd happens to the clay (I'm always a little worried about things molding in this humidity), Violet will just be more and more useful as a helper in the making of her own toys.

Also, a helpful tip: if you have carpeting like I do, using a shower curtain as a drop cloth is the cheapest solution I can come up with to avoid any bits of clay being flung (accidentally or otherwise) and ground into the carpet.

Everybody come and play, Throw every last care away

There is a community center here on base called the Yujo. One of the great things they do for you here is provide maps to all sorts of local interest points: zoos, amusement parks, shopping centers, etc.

Scott and I were looking at the map indicating secondhand stores around the base. There is a chain of these stores called Hard Off and they sell everything from toys to clothes, housewares to small furniture items. I've heard from others who have found electronics and records. We were able to find a cabinet for 1260 yen. and it is definitely a fun place to treasure hunt and I've only been to one of them.

What we finally bought

It was during our driving around trying to find this place that we accidentally got a little lost and found the Aeon Mall. Again, I've heard others talk about this place, but I didn't get to experience it until the next time the Fourre family decided to go on a local adventure.

Like many other malls, it was three floors jam packed with people milling around on a Sunday afternoon. The differences were that this had better looking eateries and an arcade section that would make American kid gamers weep.

The different life levels of the mall. All of them achieved.

Do mall. DO IT!!

Look! Your kids can be rats in a maze while you shop!

Crazy arcade space

You are SO kawaii

 

Where to find music from the US

One of the weirder things I saw at the mall

Speaking of kids, there is a Babies/Toys R Us near here, too. We went last weekend to purchase some baby shower gifts and I was happy to see that even though the layout is very similar to the ones in the States, it's crammed full of things like the Toys R Us of the 80's used to be.

MOVE.YOUR.SPOOOOOON!

Anime Barbie

Creepy corner protectors... Maybe it's the Thing in a Mickey Mouse Halloween costume

Maybe it's the outfit, but Geoffrey looks vaguely Asian

Happiest Asian baby in disco threads

This is just the tip of the shopping iceberg and this is also just the places in the immediate vicinity of the base. I'm anxious to see more.

You're older than you've ever been and now you're even older, And now you're even older, And now you're even older

Today I had a very alarming realization about age. In this context, age when it pertains to babysitters.

Scott and I will celebrate our 3rd anniversary next Tuesday and we've decided to spend the day as a family and then have a dinner without Violet in the evening. Which means, using a babysitter for the first time at this base. There are several people I've been alerted to as babysitters via the Facebook world, but this would be the first time we are planning to use one.

For the last couple of weeks, there has been a printout in the elevators (and then reinforced on a couple of the FB groups for Yokota-related subjects) from a 16 year old girl who is looking for babysitting jobs. Since Scott and I are only looking for a dinner out that can happen after we put Violet to bed, I figured using a cold contact would be fine since all she really has to do is make sure Violet isn't in imminent distress while sleeping, and that hardly ever happens.

So, I called her this morning to see if she was available and to give her a few details if she was. On the whole, I felt the phone conversation was... disappointing. She was completely noncommittal on her availability and spoke to me as if I were a teacher asking her if she had handed in her homework in my staff mailbox - very spacey and evasive. I even had to suggest that she makes sure that she is available for that evening and for her to text me back either way. She still didn't sound like someone who was being offered a job.

I was a babysitter from middle school up until college. I had a regular Wednesday night family, and I'm still in contact with the mother. I was never brought up in a "yes, sir/ma'am" family, but we sure did know how to talk to an adult, ESPECIALLY if they were an employer in any sense. After I got off the phone with her, I thought back on the conversation, reminding myself that she is, in fact, just 16, and was trying hard to remember how I was at the age. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and thought, "well, I'm not really someone who looks/sounds authoritative and I'm only... wait, I'm 35. That makes me more than double her age..."

It was then that I realized that, yes, I can expect her to speak to me with some amount of respect for I am an adult. She is being asked to take care of my child and she should not act as though I'm just one of her peers. This made me feel a bit sad at first, weird for a while, and now it's really clear that I'm an adult MOMMY.

And then I got a different babysitter, who is another mommy and didn't sound spacey or evasive.

And Now for Something Completely Different

If you haven't noticed, I normally like to give my blog entries song lyrics for titles. Sometimes I modify it, sometimes the words work out beautifully and I don't have to change a thing.

I have this blog and another for what I've used (or, more honestly, absolutely abandoned recently, but plan to go back to) as a motivational track of what I've done for exercising. As I've mentioned in the last blog entry, I now have a pretty good handle on my home, so I feel freer to do the things I want to do to help me 'normalize' my life.

But, here's something completely not that.

Every now and then, I'll be posting different recipes that I will try. This is also so that I can keep track of what I've tried, the variations I have or want to implement and to keep myself motivated in these efforts. I hope to dovetail my sudden momentum on regular blogging and my food blogging to my exercising and blogging about that, too. I won't be clever enough to title my food entries with lyrics, but forgive me - I'm sad about that as well :)

I have dabbled in cooking. I know which end of the mixer to hold. I have yet to sever a limb while chopping. But am I good at cooking? Not one bit. There are various reasons why I'm 35 and still not comfortable with cooking. Mostly, it's because I HATED to cook for just myself and now that I have a little more time, a lot more inspiration and a few mouths to feed, I want to start refining whatever skills I've gathered so far.

I don't want to just be a Pinterest recipe hoarder or a cookbook collector. I want to try things out. I'm a tad handicapped by the fact that I have been and probably forever will be a picky eater, but I'll try to be braver, just so I don't pass on the same handicap to my daughter (dang kids learning by example).

But, don't judge me when you see that the majority of my food blogging is about desserts. It's easier and I must follow my bliss ;p

First up - Moscato Cupcakes. More on that after I try it!

The night the lights go out in (Fussa)

Hello gentle readers - I hope life is treating you nicely in the warmer weather.

Here at the lovely Yokota AB, we have the warmer, breezier climate of Japan, right at the cusp of the rainy season. So far, it's been dull and gray only a couple of days, and sticky-humid even fewer days than that. Most of the time, it's beautiful and sunny, much like the climate I remember from NJ. Though, this also means that my allergies have revisited my immune system. Sneezing like it was going out of style. But, alas, as long as the warm breezes blows, I shall welcome the constant sneezing nose. (I've been reading Dr. Seuss a bit, can you tell?)

As some of you may have been seeing in my Facebook statuses, we've been experiencing some scheduled power outages. One in April, one in May and one to kick off June. As I understand it, that will be the last 'scheduled' power outage. Why are we having these no-power, no-hot water days, you may ask? If what I read on the various Yokota-related-Facebook group pages is accurate, these few days of inconvenience are the base's preventative measures against what happened last rainy season. Apparently, one (or more) of the residential towers were too waterlogged and caused some major damage to the power in the building(s) and the people had to be moved to temporary housing. So, while the power is out, the workers here are doing something to make sure things run smoother this season. Plus, our part of the base has been going through some repaving, and someone guessed that was also a factor. Who knows if these speculations are correct, but it's better than anything I've come up with.

Power Outage #1 was spent in an unfurnished apartment. I honestly can't remember what we did to pass the time, but since we are still alive to talk about it, I guess it was fine.

Power Outage #2 was our first time (or more pointedly, Scott's first time) driving off base. We only went about 2 miles away to the Seiyu (think: Japanese Wal-Mart, since they bought out the chain in the early 2000's. I will always think of it as the place I got to roar like a dinosaur next to the blow up T-Rex when the Seiyu opened in my old neighborhood) and did very light shopping. The two things that stood out that day were 1) I got my hair cut super short at the BX hair salon so that I didn't have to worry about sticky hair on the back of my neck during the future humidity and 2) We bought 3 bottles of sake, only one of which we had on Mother's Day.

Power Outage #3 was supposed to be the day we were going to take Violet on her first mass transit train ride to a park not too far from here for a change of scenery and possibly a splash pool. What happened instead was an ok walk to the Fussa train station, followed by hollering and tears because the extra sunblock I lathered onto Violet's face had smeared down and caused her eye to get irritated. Mommy-fail. Luckily, it was before we purchased the train fare (though, that would have only been a small cost) and after wiping off her face with a WetNap, I bribed Violet to calm down by promising a treat. Back to Seiyu and the candy aisle I am getting far to good at navigating.

As for socializing, I've been taking Violet to a playgroup that is a short walk from the apartment and she's been braver about playing with new kids, while I am also getting braver about meeting new people. Between the moms I've met there, the people at the language class, the girls I've met at the Girls Night Out group, one karaoke night with the Enlisted Spouses Club and the one wine night I went to in my building, I'm feeling pretty good about how I'm going about meeting people at this base. Some of you may know that this is totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm doing my darndest to not be a recluse.

We were able to set up our home in a record-breaking 4 weeks (eek!), so I now feel like I can spend a bit more time updating the blog and pictures. Mostly, I want Aaron to be green with envy ;p (Hi Bells!!)

I'm turning (back to) Japanese, I really think so

We have been here in Japan for about 3 weeks. There has been a lot going on and I'll try to chronicle all of the events in one blog entry, but we'll see how it goes =)

-During the time Scott and I were in Atlantic City for our mini-vacation before the real crazy set in, Violet ended up with a mild double ear infection. The doctor tried to check it out, but there was so much wax in her ears that the doctor couldn't get a good look. By the time we came back, it was clear enough to get a better look and she was given antibiotics and we had some antiseptic to help numb her infection in her ears. The antibiotic had the lovely side-effect of giving her very messy diapers, which was a great omen right before a transcontinental flight. Luckily, it was only a small problem, just something else to handle.

-When we flew into Seattle, the first thing we did was to check into the hotel which was literally across the street from the airport. We were only there for about 16 hours and I knew that we were going to be hurting for a good rest, even for the small amount of time we were going to be there. The Air Force (henceforth, I'll shorthand this to AF) provided us with a nice room, but I wanted to see if we could pay the difference for a suite so that Violet could sleep (and more importantly, let us sleep) in another room. We asked nicely and the check-in lady outdid our kindness and let us have a suite - for free! We thanked her profusely and set ourselves up in the room. It was only about 3 by this time, so we asked the front desk for a taxi (which turned out to be a town car) and we explored Pike Place Market. We did get to see the fish tossing in the marketplace and had a lovely walk and wished we could buy all that we wanted. It just so happened to be Restaurant Week in Seattle, so Scott and I (and to some extent, Violet) got to enjoy really good food at a nice place for a reasonable price. Good meal, decent sleep, and a super early start for a flight to Japan.

-The flight itself was not 100% smooth, but much, MUCH better than I had anticipated. Scott and I were armed with her blankie, taggie blanket, her favorite stuffed turtle we call Logo, Violet's Elmo backpack that had 3 cloth/activity books my Mom made, a Magna-doodle, two small stuffed monkey dolls, and in a separate backpack we had an iPod touch, a portable DVD player with several kid-friendly movies, and two iPads loaded with various videos for her to watch. She kept busy and was able to occupy herself for the most part... but refused to fall asleep, no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes. Finally, she kicked up an embarrassingly loud fuss and that was when I gave up having her stay in her own seat and held her tight in my lap. Within 2 minutes, she was out - and slept peacefully for under 2 hours.

-We landed right within the base, so no traveling from the plane necessary. We were set up in the base's hotel for our temporary housing and the usual wait time for finding out about permanent housing is at least a couple of weeks. We found out about an apartment the day after Scott went to Housing and put us on the waiting list. The Housing Department had decided to lower the requirements for some larger apartment space so we ended up with a 3 bedroom apartment instead of the 2 we were expecting. Great news, and we were kicking ourselves for not packing more. But, the TMO (the people who arrange for the shipping of our stuff) would not deliver our stuff for another week. What usually happens is that you go to the FMO (Furniture Managing Office) to ask for some loaner stuff. So, here is the timeline:
  -land on Wednesday
  -go to the Housing for a apt Thursday
  -got a call on Friday about a possible apt
  -told we were able to move into the place the following Tuesday
  -Tuesday, called the FMO for loaner bed and table w/ chairs and told that we wouldn't have anything till the following day. So, we walked back to the hotel with a small suitcase and on the way there met a girl that I have been FB'ing and she was nice enough to give us a lift to the hotel.
  -Wednesday, finally got to spend our first day/night in our new place and for several days later, I was struck by a stomach bug. Ever so much fun.
  -Two Fridays later, TMO finally delivered our stuff. And that night, I went out with a group of girls to an Alice in Wonderland-themed restaurant near Shinjuku Station. It was a fun place to check out with fun decorations and a lot of Disney songs in sung in Japanese. I honestly spent a lot of time in the area around the train station looking for something to trigger a memory, and sadly, nothing from my childhood. Mostly, it just reminded me of Time Square.

I'm finding that the apartment is in a great location because it puts the BX/Commissary, the gym, library, the post office, the Enlisted Club, and the Chili's all within a very close walking distance. (Yes, there is a Chili's here)

And within the whopping three weeks of being here, I've been attending Japanese language lessons to kick start whatever little of the language I still have knocking around in my head, been to the library so many times for reading to Violet and sponging off the free Wifi available, have been walking to the Seiyu which is a mile and a half away, got to go to Mister Donut twice, and trying very, very hard not to let myself get isolated so that I have a chance to make friends here. That last part is the hardest for me, but it's a work in progress.

I know there is more, and maybe I'll remember and maybe it'll be worth posting. But for now, that's the news that's fit to print.

Under pressure ... pushing down on me

I don't have time. I'm taking the few moments now to jot this blog down because if I don't, it'll continue to get pent up in me and I will go on letting the slightest provocation make me burst into yelling or tears or both.

Since I can't really give specific dates (I'm not really supposed to), I have to generalize my timeline. Plus, no one will give me specific dates anyway, so it's not like I have to vague out on the details I don't have.

I get my husband back in a couple weeks, but then we have to wait out the holiday weekend so that we can travel to an air force base to get an EXTRA passport for Violet and me. But the lady who is in charge of that wouldn't allow me to make an appointment a month ago and has yet to get back to us so that we can arrange a time in the TWO DAYS of flexibility we have to make this happen.

And now, it looks like the supposed 2 days will be taken away from us because the moving company that takes our stuff to storage while we're in Japan can't do it on any other day than less than a week after Scott gets back into the country. That takes away the week I was depending on to go through our stuff to figure out what goes and what stays.

I can't do it now because I have a little girl who still needs watching over and to make sure she's happy and I didn't make friends in Pagosa to ask for help. I don't have my evenings because I still have left over projects for the wedding party. We don't have March to play with because of the insanity I decided to lump on myself of having a final party with my friends and family to finally celebrate the marriage and consequent family Scott and I have started.

The only reason why I can even write whatever fragmented thoughts I have right now is that Violet is fine with dancing in the living room, wondering why her Mommy is crying in the corner of the room in front of the computer.

As he waddled away, Waddle, Waddle

This is the first time I have something short to blog about. Everything else on my mind is long-winded and complicated with too much emotion: single-parenting, moving to a different country, isolation, family relations - a virtual "choose your adventure" into my psyche.

But since last night, this has been my distraction. I finally was able to catch up on the last several "Glee" episodes as I worked on a family calendar and as I watched Jan 24's episode I was pleasantly surprised by a show that has lost its luster for me. I heard the version of "Baby Got Back" that I love by Jonathan Coultron. And I went to ew.com to see what kind of review they gave it and this is where I discovered I was wrong. Sort of.

Evidently, the hub-bub of the song is that it WASN'T credited to him. More on that here.

I am, of course, on Team JoCo, mostly because what Fox/creative team of Glee did was very uncool, to say the very least. But what I find funniest about this ordeal is that Team JoCo is looking for a duck quack to prove being ripped off. Forget the fact that the line "Johnny C's in trouble" was also incorporated. And in all of this, all I can think of is Jamie on Mythbusters saying, "Quack, damn you."