Relax, this won't hurt...much

Today, I took some time for me!  My dear sweet friend, MA, got me a gift certificate for a Thai massage.  I called the babysitter service, hired a sitter for a few hours and enjoyed some quiet time.  I went shopping, didn't buy anything, but it was nice to look without chasing down one of the kids.  Then, I headed off to the massage.  I was a bit early, so I grabbed some taco rice to go, had a quick lunch and headed in.  Now, let me start by saying that the last massage I had was in Portland, OR, at the wonderful Aveda spa.  Thank you, my dear husband, for that treat.  However, that was back in 2002.  Our little H was only around 18 months old.  It's been THAT long!  Today's massage was a Thai massage.  It was so very different from what I thought.  If any of you get a chance to do a Thai massage, and you have a pretty high pain tolerance, do it!!!  The massage place is this little spot with 2 massage rooms.  The sweet little man that was to do the massage kept calling me P-san, and was just wonderful.  They give you a tshirt and gym shorts to change into and slippers.  He runs a small basin of warm water.  He tells you to sit and soak your feet in this basin and adds Thai lemongrass.  The smell alone relaxes you.  He then proceeds to massage your feet, wash your feet and dry them.  He proceeds to tell you to lie down and he puts on a headband.  Not the terrycloth sweatband of sports wannabees, but the serious Karate Kid cloth tied around your head.  He tells you to please let him know if you cannot take the pain, which is a bit disconcerting.  You lie down, face up, on a massage mat.  He covers you with a blanket.  He starts at your feet.  He works diligently, bending your feet in ways you cannot possibly imagine.  I must admit, at this point, I was still thinking:  I'm paying for a sitter and I should probably start relaxing soon to enjoy this, but I'm paying for a sitter.  Oh, what else do I have to do today?  Then, out of the blue, I close my eyes and just RELAX.  I swear, I am getting so relaxed I see just colors (my eyes are closed).  He works his way up your legs and bends you and stretches you.  He applies pressure to all these weird points that you can feel it in your molars.    He manipulates you into positions where he is holding your ankles and works your thighs with his feet, which he has kindly covered with clean socks.  He works your arms.  By the time he told me to roll over, I swear I completely forgot he was there.  He said "P-san, please roll over" and it startled me!  I was THAT RELAXED.  He works your back and your shoulders.  There is PAIN, serious pain.  He pushes points near your spine that bring tears to your eyes.  He goes up and down your spine, at least 3 times.  I kept thinking, OUCH, this has got to be the last time.  Why didn't I ask him to stop?  Maybe pride, maybe I just wanted to see what was next and was sure it couldn't get worse.  It hurt, alot.  It felt like he was pulling your muscles away from your body and working them.  He spent almost 70 minutes working out all my stresses.  He offered me some cold Japanese tea, but I'm still not a fan of tea, so I politely declined.  I swear, I am now 2 inches taller and so relaxed that it's ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure I will have some bruises on my back and shoulders tomorrow, but it was so worth it.  Thank you, MA, for such a wonderful treat!  I cannot wait to go back!

I came home after that, relieved the wonderful babysitter, and got the kids ready to head to the dentist.  Gotta love the Japanese dentists' office.  They are so efficient.  I got all three boys checkups and cleanings and was there a little over an hour.  They did all three at the same time, in separate rooms.  K and A came through with wonderful checkups.  H had a good checkup, but the dentist recommended putting a sealant on his molars.  So we will be heading back next week to get that done.    

Came home, made a delicious enchilada dinner, no fights from the kids and we are winding down the night.  A actually loved his dinner and requested seconds.  This, alone, is amazing, as he's been battling me almost every meal since daddy's been gone.  

It's been a productive day and I'm ready to just sit down, have a nice glass of wine and watch a movie with my boys.  

The museum

I took the boys to the Prefectural Museum today.  I had read about it online, and thought we'd have a nice time walking around.  It was alot smaller than we thought and took us less than an hour to walk through it.  In that short time, I was reprimanded twice for taking pictures.  The first time was in a room that did not allow flash photography, so I got the guide running up to me saying "NO FRASH!", the second time was in the main hall and I took a picture of a boat exhibit.  The second guide was ultra serious about his job and told me no pictures by giving me the crossed arms "NO" sign and pointing to my camera.  I apologized and thought it was done.  Nope, he took me around the main exhibit hall and pointed to where I could take pictures, where I was not allowed to use my "frash" and where I could take pictures of the kids in front of the exhibits, but not the exhibits themselves.  Even though these guys were rather stern, they were polite, which is the norm here.  If we were in the states, there would have been all kinds of attitude and rudeness.  The boys enjoyed some of the exhibits, like the skeletons and boats, but didn't much care for the pottery exhibits.  The little touch and learn room was kind of neat and they got play a bit.  All in all, it was a fun time.

Holidays

The Christmas holiday has come and gone.  It was a bittersweet day for us yesterday.  The boys and I enjoyed our Christmas, but it wasn't perfect since daddy was not here.  This is our first Christmas without him.  At least we can thank God for skype and video calls.  We got to talk to him yesterday, after the kids opened presents, and it was wonderful to actually see him.  

It's strange spending Christmas in a foreign country that doesn't really celebrate the holiday.  I saw the neighbor kids going to school yesterday morning and thought how weird it must be to not actually celebrate Christmas.  I know it's not weird for them, but it would be for us.  I called to make dentist appointments for the kids last week, and the receptionist actually offered us appointments on Christmas day.  Can you imagine taking your kids to the dentist on Christmas?  

We went to a laser light show at the botanical gardens on Christmas eve.  We had a really fun time, met some friends and walked around looking at all the Christmas lights.  

I know I should be blogging more about what's been happening, but it seems like as soon as I get a minute to start writing, one of the kids is needing my attention.  I'll end with this:  we miss C, we missed spending the holiday with family, but we are all healthy (other than the colds we all have) and happy.  

instincts

Why don't I follow my instincts?  I decided to make cookies to send to C.  I made my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and they turned out perfectly.  Then, I get this crazy idea to make banana nut bread cookies, minus the nuts.  I would have just made the banana nut bread, but it seems as if I left all my bread pans back in the states.  So I search for a recipe and find one.  As I am about 5 minutes (and 3 ingredients) in, I see some discrepancies in the recipe.  Do I quit, even though I know this is probably going to turn out all wrong?  Of course not.  I move along with the gross banana mush, and proceed to finish the recipe.  Still, I feel it is wrong, and still I continue.  Well, I put the first batch in and it turns into a flat banana mess.  Gross.  Anyone who knows me well knows how I feel about bananas - ICK.  But, C loves the local bananas and I wanted to do something nice for him.  I knew I should have waited and just got another bread tin tomorrow.  Right now, I am experimenting with the remaining mixture and seeing if a banana cake type thing might work out.  Cross your fingers.  Back to the title of the post:  my instincts are usually right and even though I know this, I still push forward.  Why don't I listen to myself???

Other than that icky mess, all is well in our little island house.  The boys are doing well.  K is finishing up his football season this week, with a scrimmage against the parents.  Fun for me!  Maybe I can convince the coach to let H play in my place.  H is looking forward to this being his last school week of the year.  He even finished his whole week's homework last night so he could have the rest of the week off.  A is enjoying a little alone time with mom, now that K is in preschool.  We are looking forward to Christmas, but miss C so very much that it's hard to really enjoy the holidays.

Today, K told A that "daddy's home!" when we pulled into the driveway.  Poor little A could hardly get out of his carseat fast enough.  I told him that daddy was not here, but he really wanted to believe and was quite disappointed.  K got a huge lecture about it and hopefully learned a valuable lesson about lying.   

I'm off to keep a watchful eye on the banana experiment.  Wish me luck!

K's first day of preschool

K is officially in preschool!  We had originally decided to wait on enrolling him in school until kindergarten, but I was feeling like he just needed more.  I called the preschool I had originally looked at, and surprise:  they had openings!  He's only going 3 afternoons a week, but it's a great start.  Or so I thought....today was his first day.  He was excited about it, and so was I.  His class started the day on the playground, since the weather was beautiful.  I mean, what more could a kid ask for?  Well, when I picked him up, he seemed less than thrilled.  I got to go into his class a little early to take a couple of pictures.  They were doing circle time and K was just sitting there.  He would not participate.  When class ended, his teacher informed me that K was upset because he just wanted to play with everything and he wasn't able to do it.  So, the first day was not what he expected and he decided to be a bit of a pill about it.  To be honest, I was a bit peeved with him.  I wanted him to have the greatest first day ever and his little mood put a damper on it.  I guess I should cut him some slack, it was his first day and it was all new to him.  But the little bugger just shocked me with his bad attitude.

I would write more, but I took some cold medicine and I'm feeling a bit tired.  Hopefully, I can get a decent night's sleep.  All is well on this end of the world, other than the cold that just won't go away...nite nite.

Christmas 2008

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