Rice

The electronic store is making a lot of money off of the Watanabe family this week.

By the way, I took my external hard drive and computer to the store and someone very kindly gave me a private lesson on how to use the thing. I think I can (at least for the next few days until I forget) back up some of things in my computer.

Back to other reasons why we are supporting the Japanese economy. The same day of our car problems, Tetsu inadvertently sent our old rice cooker to its grave. He was washing it for me and I guess water got into its inner parts. So for four days we've been without a rice cooker and have been eating noodles. Tetsu tried numerous repair jobs but to no avail. The 15 year old rice cooker is not to be resurrected.

As a conscientious husband who holds himself accountable for the broken rice cooker, Tetsu went out yesterday (different electronic store than the one I was at) and bought us a new rice cooker. Mid-state of the art model...

Last year I think I mentioned that my mother had given Takumi money for a rice cooker and many of you were surprised at why a rice cooker should cost so much. Marcy was horrified too but I have to say, a good rice cooker is worth its weight in gold. Tetsu can spend all he wants on a rice cooker! Since rice is a staple in Japanese cuisine, not only does the rice cooker have to make delicious rice (no soppy sticky stuff nor too chewy) but it also has to be easy to clean. We eat rice 6 days out of 7!

Sorry Marcy, your thin, aluminum rice cooker with the lid that jiggles while the rice cooks does NOT make the grade for the Japanese palate. And I shudder every time I wash it for you and find enough rice stuck in the pot to feed another person! Rice cookers need to be Teflon coated to make for swish and wipe cleaning!

So Tetsu's new expensive rice cooker (think about $200 but they run up to about $500) is supposed to do magic things with Induction Heating and Pressure Cooker controls. I will have to study how to make rice again!

And while I'm on the subject of rice, this is the way we buy rice in Japan. This is a 30 kilo (65 pounds) bag of rice directly from the farmer. We used to go through this quite easily when the kids were living here but nowadays Tetsu will give half to his mother (who will give half of that to Tetsu's sister). I'm not sure how long this will last us...

And here's a picture of the new rice cooker sitting on its throne. This is a cabinet made especially to hold rice cookers. (Actually I'd like to buy a new cabinet too....) Since steam is emitted from the top of the cooker, the shelf slides out so that the steam doesn't get trapped under the next shelf (which holds our microwave). Next to the new rice cooker is the Tupperware I use to keep a more manageable quantity of rice, but actually under the rice cooker is the rice dispenser. It is supposed to keep the 30 kilos of rice and dispense the right amount according to the number of cups you are cooking. I don't use the rice dispenser anymore (that's why I want a new cabinet) because we don't eat the rice fast enough and I once found bugs in it. Yuck. It is so old it probably has holes in the back that I can't get to...

Let's see... Tonight's menu is going to be miso soup, grilled fish, cold tofu, simmered pumpkin, and RICE!

Non computer literate (as always)

Let's see. Grumble, grumble, pout, pout.

Yesterday I went to the electronics store and bought myself an external hard drive. While in the States my brother had suggested that I buy a flash drive and at least save my pictures (which I've never done) or else someday I'd be sad. One of his computers crashed a few months ago and they lost many of their old pictures. So taking my brother's advice I bought a 16 gigabyte flash drive. Of course I didn't really know how to use that but my brother did download my pictures into it for me.

Good. My problem is finished... Except that the flash drive seemed very small and it was more likely that I'd lose that before my laptop crashed. Takumi then stepped in the picture and said what I ought to do is buy an external drive.

"I have no idea what you are talking about and I haven't even gotten the steps in my head about how to backup pictures on the flash drive like you uncle just explained to me."

Still, Takumi seemed to think an external hard disk that would sit on the desk and not get moved around would be best (and hold more stuff.)

A few days later when Leiya and I were visiting Takumi she needed some data from his computer transferred to hers (I guess) and both children suggested that I give up my newly made flash drive so that they could use it,

"because you're going to buy an external hard drive anyway when you get back to Japan."

So I came back to Japan without having any of my pictures (from 9 years previous!) backed up. And wouldn't you know when I got back to Japan my computer froze on me (changing routers? interrupted security service?) and I spent a couple of frazzled hours trying to get my computer functioning again. Yes, I really need to back up my computer!

I discussed the external hard drive with the boy in the electronic shop. He assured me that it was very easy to use. No installation required, just plug in and go. I explained how I do not like having to read instructions in Japanese. Shouldn't be a problem. I got home. Plugged things in and lots of windows started popping up and different dialog boxes began blinking. Tanya, you can do this... Somewhere along the line the external hard drive let me know it was backing up my entire computer.

"Oh. That's nice of you. I didn't know you were going to do that but that might make my job easier."

Unfortunately though I started at 3:00 pm, it was still backing things up at 10:30 when I went to bed.

This morning I come to my computer and can find no trace of anything backed or even a way to back things up. As far as my external drive is concerned we are meeting for the first time.

"Starting initial computer backup. This will take a few hours..."

"No! Wait. You did all that yesterday!"

I'm taking the external drive AND the computer to the shop today. I sure hope someone will be able to explain it to me.

Sewing projects

I'm trying to figure out what I was sewing before I went to the States and what I want to put on my to-do list for the rest of the year... Just off the top of my head I can think of 10 projects, 5 of which are Works In Progress and 5 that are just things I want to start.

• WIP include the Feathered Star which I'm NOT going to get back to for a couple months. It is too hot to think about hand quilting. Japan is in the middle of a heat wave and Choco is digging holes to sleep in, the cats are laid out here and there on the wood floors and I am dripping. This is NOT the season to quilt.

• The Patches and Pinwheels quilt is almost finished and just needs some machine quilting on the border but I'm not doing that either until we get a break in the weather. All in all, anything that requires me to go up in the sewing room is out. The sun beats down on the second floor and it is unbearable during the day. I've even moved Velvet downstairs to the cat house which is shaded and may get a little breeze...

• The Tisket a Tasket BOM August block needs to get started and I may think about that today and bring it downstairs to applique. I need to try out my new applique pressing sheet that I bought but do not know how to use. Anybody want to give me a quick lesson? I also have the neat applique set that Takumi bought me at the Long Beach quilt show and that includes Glue Baste It, curved scissors, an applique and pressing tool, freezer paper, a stiletto, an I-Denti-Pen, a stencil brush, straw needles, Thread Heaven (a thread conditioner?) and OK to Wash glue. When the lady demonstrated at the festival with all these tools she made it look so easy... Maybe I needed to have bought her DVD too because I don't remember how she used all these things now... Ah well.
  

• I have to make 2-4 blocks for our group's block exchange and I have Mrs. Harada's instructions in hand. She wants blue and red pineapple blocks. I did two in the last three days that I've been back so I can work on this project or leave it for awhile. A good in front of the TV hand piecing project.

• The Alabama Beauty blocks have been united... The 6 I'd made before leaving Japan and the 8 I made while in the States. I have no idea where I'm going with this...

So those are the 5 WIP. As for the other things that I would like to start...

• A wonky flying geese quilt using a pattern from Julie.
• Tessellating cats from a pattern that Mona kindly tore out of her quilt magazine for me.
• An I SPY quilt using cat and dog fabrics from June that I know my mother would love.
• A Wonky Word quilt, again for my mother... She repeats a certain phrase over and over and it has become a joke for my California family...
• A landscape quilt using batiks from Jay and Sina. I think I want something with an ocean theme that I could make for Takumi.

I have my work cut out for me (not literally unfortunately). I hope to get some sewing done before school starts.

Crashed

Sometimes I feel like I live in a soap opera. Espisode 1????.

Yesterday Tetsu and I cleaned awhile and then went out to lunch. Did some shopping, ran into a friend and had coffee together. Came home. Correction. Tried to come home. About a mile from home a van crossed over the center line and rammed into our car! My new little Toyota was assaulted!

Tetsu swerved to the side of the road when he saw this van coming toward us and I wasn't even sure we'd been hit. We pulled off into some factory driveway while the van stopped at the side of the road and sure enough our side mirror was gone and the rear side was smashed in. Not a lot but enough! The young man driving the van (working van) apologized up and down but didn't have the slightest idea of what he should do next. My husband somewhat successfully kept his temper under control.

Call the police. Stand around for 15 minutes while they get there. It's not like you can make pleasant small talk with the crashee. Tetsu barked out suggestions.

"Don't you think you should call your employer? Don't you think you might have him contact the company's insurance agent?"

Finally the policeman showed up (I was barely in America and I met one policeman, I'm barely back in Japan and I meet another one) and questioned both parties and vaguely let us know that after he took his report it was up to us to figure out who was responsible... That did not make Tetsu happy.

"Excuse me. HE crossed over the center line."

The young man was on his cell phone trying to get someone in his company to come out and help him. Tetsu was on his cell phone talking to his insurance person and the car dealership. Tetsu and the young man were exchanging cell phones to give their respective parties information and Tetsu was having more and more trouble keeping his temper down. (Also, as it was explained to us, since our car was also moving we are 50% responsible.)

"Everyone is incompetent!"

After two hours of sitting in the sweltering car I struck out towards home... Got my daily pedometer count in... and Tetsu arrived home an hour later still fuming. All I can say is that I now realize why it is important to carry a cell phone.

This morning Tetsu is in a bad mood. Barely grunting at me and scowling at the world. I don't know why he's angry at me! Thank goodness I wasn't driving! Makes me wish I'd stayed another week in the States! Good luck to the people in his office today!

On the bright side (which even Tetsu recognizes) no one was hurt, the car isn't badly damaged, everyone has insurance. My poor little car is going in for repairs today...

Home.

Ohayougozaimasu! ("Good morning!") from Japan.

I arrived in Nikko where I live after a 10 hour flight, a three hour bus ride and a quick dinner of sushi with Tetsu. First of all I am happy to report that all animals are healthy and relatively happy. Tetsu did it! He survived the summer! And one of his first comments to me after a kiss hello was that he didn't want to see any cats for awhile (hardly possible with six of them in the house but you get the idea.)

The flight from LAX was very easy. It was the first time for me to try online check-in and that surely is the way to go. I hope I remember how to do it next year. No extra charges for baggage either (surprise!) and that may be because most of my gifted fabric I protectively carried in my carry on bag.

Tetsu was waiting for me at the bus stop with a big smile that let me know that the animals were fine and that I hadn't done anything dumb at the airport this year. One year he greeted me frowning and snapping at me because the airport had called to let me know I'd gone home with the wrong suitcase. Yes! That doesn't just happen in the movies. I'd picked up a red bag that I'd bought at Target and it turned out to be someone else's red bag from Target. When I got home and opened it I found not my gummy worms and t-shirts but lecture papers and books. The poor man visiting Japan had to wait two days until he got his things back...

The cats have been sleeping all over me every time I sit down. Chip especially is happy to see me but the other cats vie for places on my lap and near my shoulders. They haven't resolved any of their relationship problems so a lot of spitting and hissing. I will have to unpack my Feliway dispenser as soon as possible. Choco is as noisy as ever and I wish I'd gone ahead and bought a bark collar... The cats also tore up Tetsu's carpeting job in my sewing room... Poor Tetsu.

The house is covered in mold though Tetsu did his best to keep it at bay. I couldn't face it all yesterday and just napped claiming jet lag as my excuse. Wiping down the surfaces with bleach will be one of this weekend's jobs.

I had a good summer and will have to let Tetsu play around on the weekends now that I'm back. (He likes pachinko. Boo.) He deserves some carefree time off!

Today's first job is unpacking!

End of the summer pictures

We took Leiya to the airport last night. It's amazing how jam packed and crazy LAX can be even at 10:30 at night! Poor Marcy has to make the trip to LAX again this morning for me. Why we couldn't have scheduled ourselves better I don't know but we didn't.

I got a lot done this summer. And it was truly a fun summer. One that I wasn't expecting. At first Leiya hadn't planned to come, then Maxine fell ill, my mother hadn't been in very good health last year so I didn't expect this year to be better.

Hey! There were no emergency room trips this year (one Urgent Care trip for Grandma that wasn't that urgent.) Despite the funeral everyone's spirits were high and laughter abounded between Marcy, Grandma, Leiya, Kiana and me. (The males in this family are either going through adolescence or have a history of non-smiling.) I am so grateful for the laughter that Marcy can nudge out of everyone even in strained times and my mother I think finds laughter a good way to pass over her mistakes and weaknesses. I learned a lot from watching those two again this summer.

I was tickled seeing Takumi's new interest in things (aquarium and cross stitch?!) and I carefully observed his relationship with Bianca. I am happy to report that Bianca does crochet and beading and a bit of hand sewing (she was making a stuffed animal when I saw her last). She proudly showed off her new sewing machine to me and is ready to jump into the applique kit she bought. Good girlfriend to pick out!

At the beginning of the summer I didn't expect to make it to the Long Beach Quilt festival where I met Annie and Tanya and Gigi (and Takumi bought me some great toys!) and that was such a wonderful and fun day!

I surely didn't expect Jay's wonderful batiks and in the midst of the last packing days Sina sent me some of her beautiful batik stash too.

Mona and Julie gave me more things to put on my To-Do list with patterns and sweet things and of course June gave me her gift of love by quilting my Orange and Cherry Jubilee quilt for me (and she sent another package with doggie fabrics to go with the kitty fabrics she'd previously sent.)

Marcy and Kiana and I made yet another prayer quilt for Marcy's friend and Leiya and Kiana were very productive with two aprons made apiece.

I even set Colin to work one afternoon sewing himself a PSP holder (what is that?!) out of some scraps.

My brother's two lawn chairs visited the sewing machine and as a reward I made it a cover so that it can stay dust free until someone plays with it again.

All the doggies have brought smiles to my face daily but I'll be happy to get back to my own family of animals and TETSU!

Flying off in a couple of hours. See you when I'm back in Japan.

Packing up

Leiya and I are in the midst of packing and cleaning up. At this point of my vacation I am always irritable and frustrated. It is not so much sadness at leaving people and summer activities as it is I ABSOLUTELY HATE TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING IN MY SUITCASES!!! I probably won't get back into a good mood until I am checked through at the airport.

For many years I would juggle suitcases during the last week of my summer stay, and since Takumi and Leiya and I would be traveling together I'd have 6 suitcases I could work with. Which suitcase weighs the most? Which one can the heaviest things be put in to balance things out? 6 suitcases gave us a lot of possibilities. There have been a few times when Tetsu would come to the States for a week and leave for Japan early. I always bought up heavy things during his week here and sent him home with two full, heavy suitcases. Even so I was usually shuffling things around in the suitcases at the airport check-in line when I went home alone weeks later.

The past three or four years since I travel alone, two suitcases just doesn't do it for me. I have to pay for overweight baggage. It makes me feel like I've done something wrong, that I'm a bad traveler or something. That's ridiculous because a week's tourist and me living a month with my American family, find different things that "need" to be bought. I shouldn't feel guilty about all my purchases and my lack of control but I do.

Last night while watching me stuff things into my two humongous suitcases my brother made the WRONG comment that I had too much fabric this year.

"Just stick half of it in a box and leave it here. You aren't going to get all that used up in one's year's time anyway. When you come back next year you're going to have only used a fraction of all that stuff. Put it all in baggies and number them and if want something tell us the number and we'll send it to you when needed. I know you won't need it though."

Boy did that send my bristles up! And besides, next year when I come I'll be buying more fabric so that was a dumb suggestion. (Besides most of my fabric from friends I'm putting into my carry on case. I DO NOT want to have the airlines lose that!)

Another subject...

I have said good-bye to Takumi and Bianca. They made a stop by on Sunday night. Just together time, a little shopping for Tetsu (a birthday present from his kids). Here are a couple of interesting pictures... I wonder what Tetsu will think when he sees this post.

When Leiya and I were in Long Beach with Takumi we made yet another stop at JoAnns to buy Bianca some Heat and Bond for her soon to be started applique project. And while there Takumi discovered a sales bin with books, tools, and kits. He went through the cashier's line before I did and so I didn't realize until later that he'd bought a cross stitch kit.

"Who is that for?"

"Me. It was on sale."

WHAT?!! Sputter, choke, walk into a wall. My son wants to do cross stitch?! NO WAY!

Sunday Takumi brought his already started cross stitch and spent a couple hours working on it as we all sat around chatting. He needed a couple basic lessons

"Use a florescent pen to highlight the stitches you've already done or you're going to get confused."

"Make your stitches going in the same direction."

but he was going at it with great gusto. Who would've thought...

Maybe someday I'll get to put the finished product up on my wall.