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."