Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sick and Tired

Today was supposed to be Y's day off in exchange for working all day on Sunday. However, because he is moving department and has to tie up all the loose ends of his current position, he has been really really busy at work. So he decided that today he would just take the morning off and go in to work after lunch. He said he could get paid extra for it, as I was a bit worried he would just be doing it in his spare time (tends to do that a lot, especially with overtime). I would usually be fine with this, but today I was a bit disappointed, because I woke up this morning with awful catarrh and a cough. Because of Y's overtime, I have been working out later, getting home later, and going to bed later. Last night it was about 1:30a.m., which is late for me. I usually go to bed at about 11p.m. when I'm not at the gym, and at latest, midnight when I am. But I cannot complain about this, because from the beginning, I told Y that he shouldn't worry if he has to work late, or feel that he has to hurry home, because if I can't go to the gym, then I just can't go. His work comes first. Although these days, going out to the gym is a lot more than just going for a work out. If I've had a long hard day, then going out in the car, driving the 20 minutes there, listening to my music loud in the car, and just having time doing nothing important, is a big big stress release for me. It's my firegazing time. Of course, the health benefits are great too! Love the endorphins, but I look forward to getting some physical space between me and home to just get away for a while.

So this morning, the plumber came round to give us a quote for installing the dishwasher. They arrived at 9:30, erm, well, it was an electrician and a rep. from our housing company. They bumbled about a bit and then the electrician left. The plumber arrived one HOUR late..shocking. And they bumbled about a bit more. Then a builder arrived, climbed into a hole under the kitchen floor, crawled commando (not sure he actually moved like this, as I didn't watch him, but I'd like to think he did..) from the kitchen to the tatami room. At this point, the housing company man (think a Japanese Benny Hill), starts rocking backwards and forwards on the floor to try to find the squeaky floorboard that the builder had come to fix. All the time with a glazed expression..and the builder was talking to him through the floor. Oh My God...this was a severely bizarre situation. I really really wish I had videotaped it. Especially when the children started copying the housing man's "dance", and L was searching for the builder's voice...

So the squeaks were eventually fixed, but there was no "quote"...apparently this is something that needs to be drawn up and gone over and over before they will give us a price... But the good thing is, that it is DOABLE, so we will get our 60cm dishwasher with fancy eco modes and salt washes, and the like. All in due time though, but I can wait..a little..;)

So after all that palaver, and cooking and eating lunch, Y went off to work and left me with two huge balls of energy, and a cough tablet that made me drowsy...much coffee later, I bundled the children into the car and set off for Aeon...as did the rest of Takasaki and probably Maebashi too. Eventually found a parking space and walked in with the children. This did not last long. A three year old, a one year old, and a crowded shopping centre does not mix well when you add a worried mother. Of course they both wanted to ride in the car, but after establishing that they were both a bit too big to fit in there together, L rode in there and H walked..or should I say, ran...ANYWAY, let's just say that it was a little stressful and I wish I had taken the double buggy in. Have to say that it's getting really small for H now though, and I'm kind of wondering whether a twin stroller would be too small for H?

So I had planned to just "look" around in the shopping centre, but of course we came back with two tops, four pairs of socks, sunglasses, burriti body butter, and some make-up (all of which for the children apart from the last one..although that included nail varnish for H while she is on school hols...). Bad, bad, bad! But we ended up having dinner at the bakery, and it turned out that the children were really ready for their dinner at 4p.m., so we only had to come home and take a bath. They are now sleeping and have been since 7:30, so all is quiet :) I decided not to gym it tonight because of my cough/impending cold, and Y is taking advantage and working until 10p.m. So here I am with my alone time..wondering whether it's too early to go to bed...:)

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a busy time lately! Ryohei's been super busy with end of the year stuff and he has to go in Sunday and help move desks. That sort of confuses me.. you think they could just take the stuff out of the desks and move it to the new one... but no they have to move the whole bloody desk with all the stuff still in it... blows my mind!

    Anyways hope that you get over your cold if you are getting one and can get back to the gym soon as it does sound nice for you to get that freetime. I would like to do something like that but I think I'm miss my alone time with Ryohei in the evening...

    One more day until the weekend - hard to believe this time next week you will have 2 in kindy right?!

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  2. Ha ha, yeah, know what you mean about office furniture...but isn't he moving the desks for cleaning? Or bug extermination stuff? Just what we used to do in my office in Tokyo once a year!

    I think Y and I are over our evening time together. We are both tired and just want time alone :) Not in a horrible way, but we both need to unwind, I think. And I don't really look forward to weekends so much either! Ha ha, sounds like I don't love my husband, doesn't it? It just seems as if my household job is much harder at weekends with three children to pick up after, and two cooked meals to prepare :) Nice when we go out somewhere though.

    Yeah, two children at daycare..crazy..although L will only be going for a couple or three days a week. I think I would miss him too much if he went full-time at his age, but we'll have to see..might be a different story when he turns two!

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  3. Hey Laura, just a quick comment.. YOU ARE SO RIGHT... I really didn't think we paid that much for the dishwashers but when I asked my husband.... WHAT? We have a G&E and the other is Panasonic but yea.... what the hell, I was more concerned with it fitting in-wall properly.

    Honestly though, this time round, I think I'm going to go with another brand... I'm a gadget person but still I cringe when I think about how much less it would be back home for the same/make model..

    Yet, body soap, etc are cheaper here... Sorry.. wasn't a quick comment.

    When I was working out in the evening, I was able to sleep in till noon the next day, then head to work at 3, because I would not get home until 10, when uni had the last class.. but now, the freak'n puppy wakes me up EARLY... 7 am, so I had to change my whole routine, So I think you are really lacking sleep, and it makes us more prone to get colds and such, I can't function less than 6 hours of sleep, but my husband does okay...

    Hopefully you can switch to afternoons = ) It's nice and sunny but still burrrrrr...

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  4. April - YES! It is a rip-off isn't it? But one thing I really want...we borrowed extra on our mortgage for "gadgets", so instead of getting a great washer/dryer, I'm thinking of getting a mediocre one from the local second hand shop. They have very reasonably priced new items too, so will go and check. But the dishwasher is just something that I really want to go for! So will wait for the installation quote and then make up my mind.

    I don't know how you manage with pets. I love dogs to bits, but the amount of responsibility to properly care for them is a bit too much for me. Maybe if I didn't have children, it would be different, but it's the whole pet hotel thing and the mess that puts me off. Plus I love long-haired big dogs, and would want one inside, and hubby is SO not into that, ha ha! Six hours sleep sounds about right for me too. Any more than seven and I am just groggy the whole day. Will rest up this weekend and then see how I go next week. Irony is, my weight goes down faster when I am not working out. Losing muscle? Have hit the 60kg mark, woohoo! Only three more to go!

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