We have butter!!!

I did it!!

We have butter.  It didn't take too long, and only my cuisinart is a bit tired.  The butter is rather sweet, and Clark loved the butter milk.  I used this recipe.  It makes me feel a bit more pioneer like, or if nothing else hard core.  Though making butter by using a cuisinart really isn't that hard, so I shouldn't feel like it, but I do.

The next experiment will be with the super pasturized stuff since it is cheaper to use that.  I got the nice stuff for the first try.  I may keep doing this.

Oh and once blogger stops being a butt I'll upload a picture.

Butter Crisis

There may be some doubters out there about global food crisis', but let me tell you what I have NOT found on CNN or the BBC.

Did you know there is NO butter in Japan?  None. Nada. Zip. Zerro. Zilch.  EVERYWHERE is sold out.

Wanna read about it.  Try here.

I didn't even know about it.  I have tried for the last week to find butter, Masaki couldn't find butter at any of the Costco's and he's been to three warehouses in the last two days.  The stores are completely sold out.  It is probably a lot better for my health to NOT be making chocolate chip cookies, but still it is very surprising, and definitely a BIG kick in the pants to be better about moving my food storage program along.

Just so you know, what you aren't hearing.  It is much less dramatic than the poor people of other nations not being able to buy food, which is incredibly disheartening, but it hits home that no one will be able to buy their way out of problems.

update: Masaki, desparate for cookies, asked if I could make butter.  We're going to give it a shot tomorrow or Friday...ohh adventures!

Burgers

What's your favorite burger joint, and why?

We're trying to decide what places to visit when we go to the States again.

Tag woot!

Ok I decided I had some time, since I've finished eating desert, so here is the tag that is long over due

7 random things about oneself. The rules are tag 7 people and link them to the blog, and post a comment on their blog saying they’ve been tagged.

1. I was thinking tonight, and I think my favorite foods would be fruits(specifically strawberries) and beef.
2. When I was younger I had a goal of being able to make all my own clothes. I'll never reach it, but I'm getting better. Masaki now makes fun of me for it though after the CNN interview with some of the FLDS women.
3. This goes along with the other, but it would be really fun to be mostly self sufficient
4. Three things I used to hate, but do them now and somewhat enjoy them : weeding, running, taking out the trash
5. I read my comics every day, without fail, even on vacation.
6. I like guys with goatees, that's why I don't tell Masaki shave his.
7. I found out that there are 1 or 2 schools in Portland, OR that teach in English and Japanese...don't ask why, just know.

Lets tag:
hmmm...let me think about this overnight...if you feel like it you can do it!

Look I'm a princess!

Find Out Which Disney Girl You Are! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Pocahontas With the wind against your face, the sounds of the birds singing around you, you feel more alive than anything. Like Pocahontas, you feel most alive when you're in nature where you belong - man's beginnings were in nature, it just makes the most sense. As you find yourself in nature, remember that not everyone feels this way as well - try to ease them into your way of thinking, or just introducing them to your lifestyle! Everyone loves nature - just sometimes not as much as you! Pocahontas 83% Belle 79% Mulan 75% Snow White 58% Jane 58% Jasmine 46% Ariel 42% Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) 42% Violet 38% Esmerelda 38% Tinkerbell 33% Megara 29% Cinderella 25% Alice 25%

I promised you...

oven pics...and one of our roast beef feast




someone had a short nap, so no time today.

New OVEN!!!!

We got a new oven!!!! WOOO HOOO!!! It is a lot of fun, but we are still learning how to use it, and trust me there is a lot to learn about it.

This bad boy is a steam oven. It uses steam to cook things, as well as the obvious heat, but it is supposedly a lot healthier. We can basically fry things without actually frying them IN OUR OVEN! Woo hoo! Plus it has a microwave function too. I'll try to take pictures soon, so for now the other pictures will have to do. I'll let you know how our roast beef turns out tomorrow....thats right a roast beef function on the oven! I've been too scared to make one before, but since the oven knows what to do, I'm going to try it. Left over roast beef was my favorite snack as a kid....yum!

In Clark news...he likes my shoes. I bought crocs rip offs for the veranda, hopefully they won't fall apart as quickly as the dollar store sandals have. The shoes keep our feet from freezing in the winter and burning in the summer when we hang our laundry out.


our walking progress with super big shoes!

still inching forward!



There were a few other things I was going to mention, but it has totally slipped my mind. Not surprising considering it is 11pm. No worries though, I did get a nap earlier this evening. Fortunately my new contacts with a basal curve of 8.7 instead of my normal 8.3 didn't suction to my eyes like they normally would....sweeeeet!

Oh and Clark stayed in nursery with daddy for about half the time today! I was rather impressed, and he has learned some defense mechanisms against our one toy thief. Albeit one of those is crying, I thought the other one of swinging his upper body back and forth to keep the kid from grabbing the toy was rather ingenious.

The other nursery item I wanted to mention but totally forgot was about nursery at Obaachan and Ojiichan's. Whenever we visit Masaki's parents we of course go back to the old ward, and this last time was Clark's first time in their nursery. Turns out ALL of the kids in there are half American, half Japanese. Wild stuff eh!

ok, I'll try to do the tag tomorrow. I will admit though, I'm loving not spending more than about 30-45 min a day on the computer. I get SOOOO much done. I'll actually get to sew my Jane Austen dress pretty dang soon. My house is also cleaner, and I am in general a happier person....though that could be the extra exercise video's we've been doing. Clark likes to watch the New York City Ballet Workout video and keeps asking to see more. I feel horrible letting him watch any TV, but exercise is REALLY important to both of us.
ok
ciao!

updates

1. Yes, we are healthy again! YEAH us!

2. Grandma has left, we are back down to our normal sized family. It was a TON of fun, but it is also kinda nice to be quiet again.

3. I'll do the tag in a few days, once I'm back in the swing of things

4. I'm limiting my computer time A LOT! For my sanity and for productivity reasons.

5. I got an iPod nano and Nike+. I like it, a lot.

6. Clark has peed in the toilet, on demand, twice! He's also starting to tell me when he pees even if he has a diaper on! Yeah for diaper free time starting to pay off!

milk tears?



7. Smoothie season has begun, Clark can also now say smoozee. Also he can say pizza, but I think he is more excited to eat the pinapple, olives and pizza dough than actual pizza.

8. I feel cute again! Grandma/mom hooked me up for my birthday, and she hooked me up very well! Thanks again mom!

9. Clark's favorite game right now is to hide under his slide, play with his mini-pots and pans and pretend to make sekihan. He LOVES sekihan. Other favorites include pumpkin bars, pancakes and mandarin oranges, oh and chirimenjako(mini fish you put on top of rice).


10. I love Girl Scout Cookies!! Thanks to each of my parental units for hooking us up!

...all done for now.

General Conference Recap

This weekend was General Conference weekend for us in Japan.  We loaded it onto the internet and watched it with some English speaking friends from church.  We had good food, good talks, and a good time.  Clark's favorite part of the whole thing was sustaining, he asked to do it again on Sunday, but alas was disappointed.  

Grandma and Daddy have also taken some very fun pictures, and although we've been feeling crappy, we are starting to get back up to speed. I'll post some more tomorrow when it isn't bed time!

Todays post is brought to you by the letter F

F stands for

Food poisoning - I had it on Friday night

Flu - Masaki had it starting Saturday morning, and I think gave a bit of it to me

not Fun - What we are having now

Foul Words - What I want to use on my GI track

Fish - We went to the aquarium on Monday with Grandma and Grandpa J.

Funky Weather - Sunny, cloudy, POURING, it is all over the place

Farewell - what I'm saying now for the rest of the night...maybe even week, until we get better.

Fish!

Masaki is gone for the night because there is a wharehouse opening that is about two hours away, and he had to be there until 9pm and needs to be back at 7am. He got a hotel(though I did get a phone call a few minutes ago, our conversation went like this...uhm I've been driving for an hour and can't find the hotel, I think I'll go home. WHAT?!?!?! no, here is the phone number call them! Oh, thanks honey call back Did you call yet, it looks like it is near the station.  No, I'm at the station and can't find it.  Call them please') and is now going to bed. I miss him, and for some reason have come up with this irrational fear that zombies are going to get us while he is gone. Curse you Resident Evil trailer from yesterday! There are some up sides though, that I really want to share.

1. Fish - I get to eat it and leisurely clean it up!!! Woo hoo!

2. Bed - I get it all to myself, and when Clark climbs in, it won't be sandwich time, yeah for space!

3. Dessert - I don't feel compelled to eat it because someone else wants some.

4. Bedtime - If I hadn't had a nap while putting Clark down, a decent bed time would be highly viable. I got a nap, so it'll be regular time tonight.

5. nothing, nope, nothing else, I miss my zombie killing hubby, and didn't get all the things I planned on doing done...like budgeting, sewing, etc. Oh well.

and on a pseudo-related note.  Masaki has BEAUTIFUL curly hair, but we don't know how to style it, see above picture for crazy hair example.  Any ideas on which curl enhancer products, etc would be good?  We have to get it from the states because they don't have ANY curly hair products here(hmm wonder why...ohh yeah 99% of the population has straight hair)...many thanks!  I have a bit of curl enhancer left from when I used to use it(my hair turned straight after Clark) that he uses, but it'll be gone soon.  What do we do?

for women? oh really?

I found this book called Porn for Women...it is totally clean people...no worries. That being said...I WANT IT! It looks stinking hillarious. I love who the author is too.
Oh and for those new moms there is a book all for new moms.

Crafts and Flags

I'm going to go upstairs and put up Clark's Koinobori(Koi fish flag) for Boy/Children's day in a minute, but I wanted to real quick post a picture of the skirt I finished two weeks ago. I'm going to do another one in different colors/fabrics, but I was really pleased with the way this turned out. Though I look a little freaky for some reason, oh well.