This months recap :)

Wow This past month FLEW by. I know people always say that but it is so darn true.

Since I work two jobs, I have double the fun :) Last week one of my co workers left so of course we did the responsible adult thing and went bar hopping, sang karaoke and just got wasted! There is nothing like the shame of having to face your Managers the next morning after you made a fool of yourself the night before. Lets just say giving me the mic was a bad idea...

Last night was my coworkers from another jobs birthday celebration at his bar. You know it was a good night when you get the bartender drunk ;) Lets just say that there is an enormous comparison between Philippinos and white people singing. I'll leave it at that. 

Besides all that I now have a bunch of cute guppies. Free tank from sister in law and the fish from a guy that is about to pcs so he gave them away. Bought some gravel, heater and of course some live plans. Ta-da!

Out with the old 70's stove and in with the new!

Finally! I've been wanting a new stove since I arrived in Japan and finally one came up for sale!

Since I first browsed the local appliance store I quickly realized how darn expensive everything here was. Appliances here are half or ever a third of the standard American size but when it comes to price, they sure add an extra zero. Good luck finding an actual range since everyone here uses small two slot gas burners. Same thing with the fridges. 

Those are just two examples I found online. Don't even get me started on the Wash machines and the lack of dryers all over Japan. 

 

So as you can see I definitely upgraded! For our house to have a range was already very not Japanese but now we are just super American. haha as you can see since its double the size, the whole thing stick out way beyond the tiny counters.

Living by a military base has its perk sometimes. People pcs all the time and get rid of good stuff. Big appliances are rare and very first comment first buy kind of thing but time I got lucky. The seller turned out to be my husbands old family friend to our surprise. He just gave it to us and refused to take our money. I feel really bad and very grateful at the same time. God bless him ♥

New Years day snow!

Super exciting!
It snowed 14.6 inches yesterday and we are under heavy snow advisory till 8 pm!

This is my front yard this fine morning

The back yard. You can actually see where my dog went jumping around in the random snow spots. 

I was so exited last night that I made my husband walk the snowy neighborhood in the middle of the night. White, fluffy and beautiful winter wonderland.

The way they clear the streets of snow is no joke either! Giant tractor that is twice the height on my house! I bet you the guy all up in the drivers cabin loves his job, I sure would! 

The fish will swimm.

I have always wondered why people even think about storing live animals. Last year I had a tenant that stored her 5 cats I an outside 10x20 unit full of her household stuff. Middle of summer, here in the Antelope Valley can get very hot and well ... those units were not climate controlled. For weeks I kept on wondering where all the cat poop was coming from. This crazy lady kept her cats in that hot unit all day and only let them out for a few minutes, not to mention that they were doing God knows what to the items in the unit. It got ugly fast. Police said to call animal control and Animal Control told us they cannot enter the unit without the tenant or police warrant. they were both freaking useless!
After my coworkers and I harassed the crap out of the lady she finally took the poor animals out of there. Nothing like a few annoying people to get further than the police department and all their "power"

Lately the closest I've gotten to live animals were a few fish ... in the office bathroom sink. NO JOKE!
I was in a deep conversation with one of our tenants on the phone while a inpatient new tenant snuck in and used the bathroom sink as his temporary fish tank after the last one flew off the U-Haul truck while he was unloading (I’m still finding tiny rainbow colored rocks near his unit). Ahhh the look on my husband’s face when he realized I wasn't lying when I told him we had fish in the bathroom was AWESOME! 

It has been 5 months since that day and the guy still keeps his fish in his storage unit. He comes by ever few days to change the water, feed his fish and change the glow sticks which brighten their day. 

Still better than when people ask me if they can store their kids ;) I know only half of them are joking.

Spoiled Sydney

What should someone do during a dust storm? Buy plants and of course made dog treats.

I decided to brighten up my day and buy some herbs. Must have been my lucky day since the minute I arrived at Walmart they got all new plants in. The gentleman that delivered the plants come up to me with a large tray of greenery and told me I had to take a wiff. The smell of the lemon balm was ecstatic. He said that when they load it up on the truck, the entire back and cabin smell like it. As good as it smelled I didnt buy any. I was there strictly for parsley, pill and tomatoes. Sadly I rarely follow my own rules and ended up getting some basil and german thyme too.
I don't know anyone else who would get more excited by a grape shrubs or colorful planting pots as much as I do. Beautiful sunflowers and lavender.  Don't even allow me to get close to the Home Depot garden section, I'll be there for days. 
My dog on the other hand would probably love to eat all those plants more than I would like own them. She got some very yummy homemade treats today. Peanut butter pumpkin biscuits. Pumpkin supposedly helps doggy tummys to digest. I made so many that I had to give some to my coworker since they only last about 3 days and no way Sydney can eat that many ... I take that back. In no way should Sydney eat that many.
Nothing like a bowl of borsh to reward my baking efforts.  Beef bowl for late dinner. Might have snuck some into Sydney's dry food to brighten up her night.
Star Trek into the darkness to end the day, and what a great day it was :)