5.30.2006

6 More Weeks

J had a day off yesterday to make up for the rainy Saturday she spent at school in classes (as opposed to enjoying the annual sports day which has been postponed until tomorrow or Thursday, weather permitting). Having outgrown all the hand-me-downs from her Kyushu cousins and a few other friends, she was happy to qualify for some new clothes. Taking the chance while we had it, we sent the younger siblings off to elementary school to train for their sports day (next Saturday) and we invited a 7th grade friend to join us to shop in Sengawa, where I used to live in my single days. We biked over and enjoyed banana mocha frappuchinos before shopping. The friend was glad to help J choose a few tops and bottoms and they both seemed to enjoy time away from their younger siblings. We went to an inexpensive pasta place for lunch to top off our "Ladies' Day Out." So much nicer than McD's and happy meals.

I had the ninth of twelve chemo treatments today and just missed the bus for my neighborhood. The next bus was bound for Sengawa so I took a detour and had coffee at a fairly new cafe which has facilities for live performances. Some of the performances are free, others are quite upscale ($40 cover charge). A trio with a tenor sax which recently played in a larger group at the Blue Note Tokyo will perform for three evenings in June. I move away and look what happens to the neighborood!

Only 2, 4, 6 weeks to go until the treatments are finished and I won't have any excuses for meandering. Then it's a few tests and continued vigilance.

5.23.2006

Toilet Talk

Hey, I just learned that the toilet-top sink in which oldest and youngest brothers have shown interest is now available in the U.S.

http://www.gaiam.com/retail/product/02-0334

Recent technical difficulties have resulted in extra toilet cleaning duties in Tokyo. I've had to remove and dismantle the entire seat and lid several times in the past week to thoroughly clean up after a certain six year old with poor aim. I wish I could just flush the whole room.

The Girls Chasing L Posted by Picasa

5.22.2006

Heartbreaker or Troublemaker?

The mother of one of L's classmates told me that her daughter had exclaimed that L is a very fast runner because he's always running away from the girls who chase him...

5.21.2006

Sumo Again

L and N participated in this year's elementary school Sumo tournament at the local shrine. L beat three other kids but lost his chance to be in the semi-finals in his fourth match. N was a little shy about pushing someone other than a sibling around and was dragged and pushed around and finally out of the ring in her only match. She seemed to have fun anyway, not wanting to come home for ice cream because it was more fun to help the high school girls hand out consolation priizes. The high school girls didn't mind and even asked her to pose with them for a few photos. This was the last year that M could have wrestled but she was too embarrased to sign up. There were only two sixth grade girls, so she could have had at least a bronze medal. She had fun cheering for L and his friends in the morning and spent the rest of the day with friends in the park. I broke out the sunscreen for the day outside, not wanting to burn (or even tan) in the sunshine. My oncologist has advised against overexposure to sunlight while getting chemotherapy and I can't wear long sleeves in the humid heat of Tokyo's summers. The wig is a little uncomfortable in the heat too, but I now have about a half of an inch of hair so I may be able to get away with a very short summer hairstyle.

5.14.2006

Mothers Day

Mikan Days

The annual Mothers Day Children's Festival was lots of fun for the younger 2 children. They each had their own agenda so I sat on a bench while they wandered around making carnations out of gingham cloth scraps or red tissue paper, playing games and walking through a haunted house sponsored by the local Junior Leaders group. M attended the event with friends from her class. The plan was to go for an hour or two in the morning and come home for lunch but I had to call J and ask her to make ramen for S and herself as N and L weren't ready to go home yet. We ended up staying until the very end at 4 p.m. and stopping by the supermarket to pick up a bag of rice as I used the very last grain for breakfast. I couldn't buy much else as L was in the childseat, where I usually put most of the groceries.

5.01.2006

Weeks later...

Okay, so I've been slow to update the blog. I've been a little busy attending parents' meetings for each of the children's new classes and cleaning up and handing over files to this year's school district neighborhood safety committee and our building's next management committee treasurer. After the annual owners' meeting on May 21st, my treasurer duties will be a thing of the past. I managed to avoid being selected for any school, building or neighborhood committees this year (April to April) although a few of the moms in J's class kept looking at me with hopes that I'd volunteer for one of the jr. high school PTA committees. I apologized to the PTA VP who presided over the class meeting (her daughter went to kindergarten with J and I've been on committees with her in the past, so she had been hoping I'd jump on board this year) and explained about my ongoing treatment. She hadn't heard and she was very understanding and sympathetic.

On Saturday April 15, I handed over the reins of the elementary school district neighborhood safety committee to the new leader of our quarter of the district and came home to quickly make lunch and a big pot of curry for the kids to eat for dinner while I went out with some moms from the former kindergarten graduation committee to see the Japanese version of the Broadway production of Disney's Lion King. One of the moms had purchased reserved seating tickets for that day way back in November so staying well so I could go with the group had been a goal for me. Before I could make lunch, S suggested that I take the kids to the fairly new Thai/Indonesian/Indian restaurant down the street for their lunch buffet. Curry for lunch, curry for dinner. There were no complaints as they all like curry and the restaurant has very good naan.

S was a little surprised when I got dressed up and walked out the door a little before 3 to meet my friends and proceed downtown for the 5p.m. show. The show was impressive, especially from our seats in the sixth row. It was long though, so I came right home afterward instead of going out for dinner with the "girls" when we returned to our neighborhood a little before 10 p.m. as I hadn't left anything (other than curry) for S to eat or drink after his classes finished at 10. He seemed surprised again that I was home before he was.

The Tuesday after that was my 2nd Docetaxel chemo session which went as well as the first. Only six more to go, five after tomorrow. The kids have a 5 day weekend coming up so I hope that tomorrow's treatment goes as well as the first two.

(A quick spelling check revealed that "blog" is not in the Microsoft dictionary...)