Misawa Tanabata Festival

This past weekend we were able to walk out the front gate and attend the Misawa Tanabata Festival. The festival is for two lovers who were forced to separate by Tenteo the Sky King because they let their romance get in the way of fulfilling their personal duties. I guess the story comes from China and their tradition says that the two lovers can only get together once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th month. They do it a little late here (the 25th to the 27th) but it still is a lot of fun. We were able to see groups of children and young adults that choreographed dance routines (to American Hip –Hop/Gangster Rap music) for the dance competition and we tried some new foods. We sure enjoyed it.

Room Mate

Joey sure knows how to wrap his Daddy around his tiny little finger. He wanted to sleep in our room tonight. We (Brandon and I) both know the reason why, we have the projector set up in our room with a picture on a full size bed sheet! He tried to tell us he had to sleep in our room to help keep us safe in case there is another earthquake. Brandon didn't buy it and told the kid to get into bed. The picture to the left is the look we got. Poor little guy.

After stomping off to his room and thinking about it a bit, Joey returns to the living room (while I am with my Japanese friend making Christmas cards) and tells us that he can't sleep in his room because the top bunk might fall off and smush him if we have another earthquake. The bed had mettal pins in each of the corners conncting the two levels and is teathered to the wall with the earthquake straps. But with such a sweet little face and so much thought put into his reason...well someone gave in. Joey has a nice little spot just infront of our bed. All of his Care Bears had to join him (we couldn't let the get smushed too!) and the kid snores. Loud! He also will start sleeping in one position and end up completly turned around and backwards by morning. I'm just hoping he gets tired of the hard floor soon and wants to sleep in his room!

Night of Excitement, Part 2

Last night around 12:30 (So, I guess that makes it this morning) we had the strongest earthquake that we have experienced here in Misawa so far. It was a 6.9 and only about 40 miles away at the center. It lasted for a good minute or two with several little tremor things after and a pretty good aftershock this afternoon. In our home we had a glass votive holder (that I have had since we were in Great Lakes) that fell in Joey’s playroom and broke. We also had some glass from the kitchen area break. Our fish tank must have been really rocking because there was water half way across the room. A speaker from the surround sound fell and several tiles in Joey’s bathroom cracked and a few even fell off. We are all safe and that is the most important thing. We have a friend who’s hubby just deployed and she decided to visit family in the states, leaving this past Monday. We have been taking care of her fish and gerbils. This morning I went to go and check her apartment…well, I wanted to cry. A lot of candles, bottles, snow globes and other glass items fell and broke. Most of her TV’s had fallen from where they were sitting but not hit the floor because they were hanging from the cord. Her son’s TV actually smashed to the ground and I think is a goner. The fish tank nearly rocked itself off the stand (just half an inch more to the left and the fish would have been gone). And just as I walked into the apartment the top of her china cabinet was rocking back and forth about to fall off. I spent about 2 hours getting this and that picked up and had to get help from her hubby’s command to get the big stuff up. I’ll have to go back again and get more of the glass up but I am just thankful that there wasn’t even more damage. It was shocking to see just how much of a difference there was in damage with my being on the 2nd floor and her being on the 8th floor. There were a few buildings out in town that had major damage and one that even fell down! The most important thing is we are safe. Our home is safe. Our friends are safe. And we want it to stay that way!!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,389341,00.html

The Secret Garden

The housing manual for this base tells us that there are not to be any vegetable gardens (in the section dealing with needing a housing permit to make alterations to the quarters). The head of legal here (well, actually the one that just left) told us that the rule was interpreted as meaning we could not dig and put a garden in the actual ground but it did not include flower pots and planters. Well, being in a tower, I don’t have a yard to plant in but I do have a balcony. It was recommended that since we were a home school family this past year, we just mark it up as a science experiment. We have 3 strawberry plants, 6 tomato plants, 3 pepper plants and herbs. (There are a couple planters with flowers as well). They sure have been growing but not producing any veggies…until now. We now have several tomatoes, three strawberries and one pepper! Joey likes helping me water them and goes to talk to them every night before bed. His favorite thing to do is to take his magnifying glass and go check each plant for bugs.

Does It Come With An Extended Warranty?

The owner’s manual that came with our 2003 model child failed to include a troubleshooting section on how to deal with the frequent overloads, meltdowns and system failures that seem to accrue as the model ages with time. I believe the unit is also outside of the manufacturer’s warranty period and is no longer in production. So, we have had to improvise. Okay, yes…I am talking about Joey here. We have worked hard over the past year to find a system that works for him. I think we found one…we will see just how long it last. We have the Care Bear Stars. Joey starts each morning with 4 CB Stars. He gets a warning and then if the misbehavior continues…he loses a star. Some behaviors like hitting, pushing or being completely rude make him lose a star immediately. When we lose a star, we go and sit in the Make A Better Choice Chair for 5 “whole” minutes. After the timer goes off, we can’t get up until we decide what the Better Choice would have been. Each CB Star is worth 10 minutes on his computer or the Wii. If he keeps all 4 Care Bear Stars, at the end of the day he gets a Super Star. When he earns 10 Super Stars…well, get gets a special reward. We are working towards a Planet Hero action figure right now. 3 more 4 Care Bear Star Days To Go!!!!! A few of you have asked what in the world he is talking about when he whines that he lost a star….now you know. If you look closely at the shirt he is wearing it reads: This is my time out shirt. I wear it all the time!

Waffles

Brandon was having his final exam in one of the two college classes he is taking this semester so we decided to do something special for dinner. I was given a waffle recipe from a friend that she claimed was better than anything I had ever had. It might have been better than Bisquick taste wise but I’m not sure it was “better” for us. (I will put the recipe at the end of the blog….give me some suggestions on how to lighten it up) It only has 16 tablespoons of butter! They were good. Brandon likes them so I guess I will have to make some and freeze them for him. Anwho…thought I would share!

World’s Best Waffles
Whisk together in a large bowl:
1_3/4 cups all purpose flour
1_1/4 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Whisk together in another bowl:
3 large eggs, well beaten
16 tablespoons unsalted, melted butter
1_1/2 cup butter milk
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Wisk a few times (should be a little lumpy) and cook on warm waffle iron.

Night of Excitement, Part 1

Last night was all kinds of “fun”. After Brandon left for school, I set off to get some house work done. We are actually hosting a Japanese National for dinner tonight. We have become good friends with her (she works at the travel office here on base) and she wants to make Christmas cards with me. The Japanese are such clean, neat and organized people. I know my house isn’t a mess but I wanted things to look just right when she came. So….Laundry came first. I had just thrown a load of towels in the dryer and was getting some of Brandon’s clothes put up when I smelt smoke. I came into the kitchen (the washer and dryer are in the kitchen) and smoke was coming from the dryer. I quickly shut it off and called the emergency repairs office. The man (Japanese…so it was hard to understand) told me to unplug the dryer and there would be no immediate safety issue until the repair men could be called in the morning. Fine. I can pull the dryer out and unplug it with my broken wrist. I should have just waited but smart me thinks I can do anything so I did. After I got it pulled out enough for me to get behind, I got down to the plug and tried to pull it out. Then a feeling of lightning went from my fingers thru my body and down to my toes. Even got a funny mark on my big toe from it. It was quite embarrassing. The ER says I will be fine but they are watching my heart to make sure the extra little thump goes away with this funny little box with wires running to sticky things on my chest and arm pit (um..not sure why on that one).

Well, this morning they sent a electrician to first check the outlet and the breaker thingy and all was fine there. They then sent out a appliance repair team. I tried to explain what had happened and they set off disassembling the dryer in the middle of my kitchen. It was kind of neat to see what was inside the dryer. They kept commenting on how “clean” it was. I am paranoid about the lent getting everywhere since the dryer is in the same place I cook food so I am constantly taking the vacuum to it (both front and back). While I was getting the phone so Brandon could talk to them (they told me nothing was wrong with it) they plugged it back in and turned it on. Smoke started coming out the back and when they went to unplug it, it shocked the repairman something good. I couldn’t help but give a little chuckle, thinking, ‘So…nothing is wrong with it, huh?’. They quickly removed it from the house and said they would be back.

Now I am looking at a nice new dryer. A little more fancy than the last. This one has a auto dry feature where you turn it on and it adjust the heat and air settings according to the amount of moisture in the dryer (urh,..if they say so). All I really care about is there is no smoke coming out the back when I dry the towels.

Broken

The title for this post describes a few things in my house.

First, my wrist. Yup.....Clumsy me has a broken wrist. What stinks is it is my right one so little things can be a bit tricky now. I go back to the doctor on Monday (ortho) and we will see what the plan is then.

Second, my Internet. We can't figure out what is going on. It works sometimes...then not others. But when it isn't working on the computers it still works with the Vonage (a Internet based phone). And we are talking 3 computers here! We took the modem to the place on base you get Internet with and they couldn't find a problem with that. So we brought it home and all of a sudden, it worked. Then it decided to stop working. We tried resetting it, doing a different network thingy, even going directly from the modem to a computer with a line and not tru the wireless modem thingy (can you see why the phone customer service guys ask if my husband is home...thingy this...thingy that). So, if you don't hear from me...my computer is probably out.

Third, my little boy's heart. Poor little guy somehow missed out on one set of immunizations. It seems that the HepA was not required or something where we came from and it is here. We didn't have the heart to tell him just why we needed to go to the doctor office. When we got to the immunizations clinic he asked sweetly why we were there...then he screamed bloody murder and tried to take off running when we told him. Daddy got to be the hero and sit in the hall while mommy and the lady in the clinic held Joey down. She no more pulled the needle out and Daddy was in the room to the rescue. I'm fine with being the bad guy I guess. We took him to the mall for a cheeseburger and to buy a Smurf toy (from like the 80's). I did have a gosh darn hard time getting the lady in charge of records to understand our position on the Chicken Pox shot. She kept trying to tell me we could not medically decline it if we want Joey in school this next year. I wasn't medically declining it. He is exempt from it! He had the Chicken Pox!!!! Its in his medical record, well documented by a MILITARY doctor. She tried to tell me there are no reported cases of the Chicken Pox since they came out with the shot. Not sure what island she has been living on. We got it all settled though so he ended up not needing it. Fun Fun. But anyways, poor little Joey doesn't trust us anymore and we broke his "wittle heart"

Fourth, my navigation system in the van is broken. Its been out for awhile. We thought maybe the screen went dead. Then it started coming on again. For no reason at all it works sometimes and not others. A few of the guys from Brandon's shop have taken apart the dash to get to the wires to figure it out and still nothing. It wouldn't be so bad if it was only the GPS system I was going without but that touch screen is also how you adjust the AC!!!!

In other news......
It seems several of our boxes (sent from here and also sent to us) seem to have gone to outer space or something. We can't track things down after they leave here and they can't be tracked once they leave California if they are mailed to us. So...if you sent a box and haven't heard from us saying we got it....let us know so we can hound the people at the post office about it. And if you were expecting a box from us...well, let us know that too so we can bug people about it. One box that was mailed in NOVEMBER to the sweet man living next to our house in Virginia (a box of goodies to thank him for taking care of our yard) arrived this past week. Maybe there is still hope for it all. (David...There is another box on its way with goodies for the kids...this time sent Priority Mail, so it should get there....we hope).

Brandon has been working hard on the college stuff here. They don't actually have a lot to do at work so he has plenty of time for school. It does make for some late nights when class doesn't get out until 10 but that's okay. He takes a finial for one of the classes he is in this next week and I think the next is the week after. We then get a 3 week break before the next one starts. Fun Fun.

So....That's about it here.

House In Virginia

We were getting ready to go to church this morning when our Vonage phone rang. Was it my parents? Nope. Was it Brandon's parents? Nope. Was it Santa? (Joey thought Santa might call us one of these days) Nope. Who was it then?
Our Realtor!!!!! Yes, we still have that house in Virginia. Its sitting there completely empty, power turned on (just in case someone wants to tour it). We have been praying and praying that the house would just be sold. There had been a handful of offers last fall/winter but none since then. But all the contracts fell apart just days or hours before closing. We lowered our price to the absolute minimum that we could accept and walk away owing nothing but also making nothing last week. And we wait. Well, this morning we missed church because someone wants the house!!!!!
Our agent and her agent (the woman buying the house) assure us that it is a good contract and she has the funding for it. We have a 45 day closing window which bothers me a bit....so much can happen in 45 days. So if everyone could join us in crossing their fingers, toes and eyes (along with a lot of prayers) that everything goes well and in 45ish days....we no longer will own a house in Virginia.

Growing Grocery Bill

A lot of people are having some gripes about the cost of food here in Misawa. Its higher than I remember things being back in the states but I understand that things are on the rise back there too. I thought I would share some of what we pay here. Some is way tooo much but some of it isn't so bad.


(Photo is Yokomachi for the Y100 Produce)

Garlic: $17.39 a pound..........White Grapes: $3.22 a pound*
Cherries: $6.33 a pound..........Holopinios: $18.09 a pound
Bananas: $0.99 a pound*..........Strawberries: $4.97 a pound
Loaf Of Bread: $3.66..........1% Milk: $4.70 a half gallon
Can Corn: $0.89...........White Mushrooms:$11.00 a pound
5lb Bag Potatos: $8.00..........Angel Food Cake: $5.38
Apples: $4.66 a pound
* Indicates price when on sale
Again...some of those prices are not that bad but others...good night how can they charge that! There are ways around it in some places. Pass up that bag of fresh garlic and reach for the 32oz jar of Minced Garlic in water for under $4.00 (they just changed the vendor this past week...before we were paying $6.00ish for a pound). Also, a local store has a Y100 (100 yen = $1.00ish) produce day every Tuesday. Want cherries? Pack the family in the car and go to the Cherry farm about 15 or 20 min. from base. For about Y2000 (2000 yen = about $20.00ish) you get all you can eat plus a couple boxes full of them. Want an apple? Head down to the Misawa Train Station and find the Apple Mart across the street for a whole crate of apples around Y1300 (1300 Yen = $13.00ish). We also are able to use a coupon fromt he US for up to 6 months after it expires!
(Photo is the "Apple Store" near the Train station)

In The News....Misawa

Well, I have decided that there are far too many weeks were there is just nothing new to write about (Joey drives us crazy, Brandon goes to work and school, and I try to keep up with it all) so, I am going to start adding in some of the things from our local Stars and Stripes newspaper. I know that many of you read our blog not only to see what is going on with our little family but also to learn a bit about Japan. So....here you go.

Japanese water parks banning people with tattoos from entering premises
By Bryce S. Dubee, Stars and StripesPacific edition, Saturday, July 12, 2008
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56103
Basicaly, if you have tattoos...many water parks and bath houses will not allow you to enter. Yet another thing to keep in mind before you decided to get a tattoo!