So, for Christmas I got a Keurig Coffee Maker for Christmas. In February, it started to freak out. There was a problem with the computer chip or something and the buttons didn't work, you couldn't set the timer and you were never sure 1) if you got it to brew you a cup of coffee 2) what size you would end up with. We unplugged it, plugged it back in and just made due pushing buttons. It kind of corrected itself and then started the same thing in April again. A few weeks ago I had it so I called Keurig. Within 2 weeks I had a brand new coffee maker! YEAH! Here's my dilemma... I still have the old one and, while it doesn't work exactly as it should, with a little patience and button pushing you can get it to work so I can't bear to just toss it (as my husband thinks I should). I think I'm going to keep it and take it with us to Okuma and Oura Wan this summer.... and then maybe sell it for 20 bucks to someone who's willing to settle..... what do you think? Keep it .... toss it..... sell it for parts? Keep it for parts?
My inner pack-rat is wrestling with the liquidator!

I miss blogging. Mostly, because it was like a journal. I enjoy looking back. Now, I have huge gaps so I'm really trying to be better.... this move to the new house really threw us for a loop. Life doesn't stop for you to move. School ends this week - thank goodness! - but I'm not sure it will be the break that I'm imagining. I'm looking forward to hanging out with the kids. My EFC class ended last week. Now I've hired Zoa twice a week for weight training until the end of July. Brenda and I are "sharing" her. I'm looking forward to spending 2 hours a week with B. She's so busy these days that even when we are hanging out, her mind is on all the stuff she needs to be doing. I had a conference with Sarah's teacher this morning and she's doing well in school. She's reading at a begining 3rd grade level. I need to work with her over the summer so she doesn't fall backwards. I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting for some assignment news. We won't know anything until the end of July. Then we should find out where we are moving and when. Until then, I have to try not to think about it (yeah...right....) Today I'm doing laundry, making lasagna for dinner, and trying to get the "business side" of our lives organized. I'll be a single parent from tomorrow until the end of the month. Joey will be fishing in AK for Father's Day so he's quite happy about that. Thursday, after school ends I'm taking the kids to Oura Wan until Sunday with Brenda and her kids. We're looking forward to getting away. Sully will go to his surrogate home with the Robert's family until Sunday. I'm going to rent some movies to watch with the kids at night - any suggestions? We're limited to what they have at the shoppette. Hopefully I'll be able to get Hotel for Dogs because we haven't seen that one yet. When I get back I'm going to sign up for space A so we can go see the Antedom's in Korea the end of July/beg of August.

I've turned into such a bad blogger. I think about what I will blog every day and then just plain run out of time.
The latest is, we got a housing offer last week. We "won" our battle with housing and will be moving into a single family home, NOT a four-plex, which I am very glad about. We have to accept the house and do the actual move so the next few weeks will be crazy. The house we got is about twice the size of the duplex we are in now. It has an extra room downstairs because the house is built into the side of a hill. We are so excited!
I'm in the EFC (extreme fitness challenge) again every day at 11:30 so that is keeping me honest. I just ordered some clothes and went down another size - yippee! I'm comfortable in my skin now.
The girl had a dance recital 2 weeks ago and a gynmastics "meet" this past weekend.
She loves gynmastics and got "1st place" in uneven bars for her coaches class. Teresa made an awesome video for us but it may be too big to post. I have to copy it and mail to the grandparents.
Still have to file taxes...
The Antedom & Settle families are moving on Mon & Sat, respectively so next week will be hard. Good thing I have the move to keep me busy.

So, Wednesday morning I woke up and got ready to head to Tokyo for the Rod Stewart concert. I have been looking forward to this for awhile. My friend Brenda was brave enough to go with me. Other friends said, "I don't know any Rod Stewart songs" and wouldn't believe me that they should just come for the experience... knowing they would know ALL the songs he sang. I speak from experience because that was what I said before I saw him for the first time in 1988 in Houston but I had faith in my friend Cherie Clark and here I am, over 20 years later still loving Rod. Anyway - Brenda picked me up, we swung by Starbucks and headed to Naha. The boy didn't want me to go, which really surprised me. We arrived at Haneda around 1 PM when I explained to Brenda that we had to take the Monorail to the train to the subway to the New Sanno hotel. That's when I found out "Brenda doesn't do public transportation"... well, underground transportation. After the train, we caught a cab, got settled in our room, grabbed a bite and inquired at the concierge desk about the best way to get to the Buddokahn.
Concierge, "What time do the doors open?"
"1800"
"Ah.... I would arrive at 1745 because Japanese people like to arrive early to find their seat."
"Do you know if they serve food at the Buddokahn?"
Concierge, "Ah.... well, this arena is usually for martial arts and sumo so I do not think there is food or drink there. You should finish all your food before you arrive."
hhhhmmmmmm...... Japan has vending machines EVERYWHERE so we figured there would be at least vending machines so we bought a few of the "airplane size" bottles of rum and tossed them in Brenda's purse. We got to the concert, got 2 cokes from the vending machine, dumped in our rum and went through "security" of which there was NONE.... no camera check (you'll see when I post my pictures), not even a lookie in the ginorous purses we brought.e They tore our tickets and we were in.
When I purchased the tickets there were 4 price tiers.... $70, $100, $130 or a higher one.
The $100 was sold out so, with the guidance of the clerk at the family mart, I choose the $130 which is why, when we found our seats from the second to last row I was very disappointed. The guy in front of us was drinking a beer and he told us where he got it so we were off to find some beverages for later since there was still about 20 minutes before the show started. We found the food and beverage stand and purchased 6 beers to take back to our seats. We found some better seats in the front row of our section and planted it there. We were going to use the "stupid American" card if we had to because no one there spoke any English and we were the only Americans (I'm convinced) in the whole Buddokahn. We never had to play that card because no one ever came for the seats! We were in a row of 8 empty seats about 22 rows closer than our "W" seats and it was glorious!
Promptly at 7 PM the intro video of The Rodinator rolled and out walks the little guy and he starts singing....
IT WAS AWESOME! He puts on such a great show - still! HE sang all his hits.... infatuation, some guys have all the luck, tonight's the night, you wear it well, the first cut is the deepest, Maggie Mae....
I'm not sure he ever sang Forever Young though - I don't remember (nothing to do with the last 4 beers Brenda brought back from her trip to the restroom.... they were closing and she didn't want to run out.)
The Japanese are really funny. There were lots of older men there by themselves to watch the show. They were reading books quietly in their seats before it started, because everyone was so early. Everyone knew a lot of the words to the more popular songs but I'm convinced they had NO IDEA what they were saying. Few people danced and about 5 people got up (really.)
There was a tent set up across the street where they were selling shirts, etc but we never made it in because they said after the show started they closed it and it was about 5 minutes until the show that we figured out where it was. Oh well....
The next day we walked around the Roponggi Hills, had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (I figure it's o.k. to have a good American meal in Tokyo since we don't live in America) and Brenda got in a cab to head to the airport when I got on a a bus for a 1.5 hour ride to Yokota Air Base where I met Joey and the kids.
They hopped up on the Patriot Express. We ate dinner at the Yokota bowling alley (there's a really good Thai restaurant there) and bowled with the kids. We caught the shuttle to the New Sanno on Fri AM, stored 2 bags there and then caught the Bullet train to Kyoto where we are now. It's really cold and I"m tired.... Just wanted to post about the concert while I had a few minutes. I'll catch up on Kyoto tomorrow when we get to the New Sanno where we will be until Thursday.

Last weekend was the Okinawa Marathon and 10K.
I was waiting to post about it until I got the pictures from Lucky. I'll have to add the pictures today or tomorrow when I get the disk. I ran in the 10K along with Marcy, Holly & Joey. I've done a few 5K's but this is the longest "race" so far. I had high hopes of training for it and that fell by the way-side. However, all the interval training I've been doing with my EFC class really helped and I finished the race. I did walk a little bit but it's only because mentally I can't get over that I can physically run that far.... I've never been the "athletic" type. I finished in 1 hour 12 minutes and 17 sec. After the race I was glad it was over. I guess I didn't experience all the "endorphins" everyone talks about until Tuesday. Now I'm thinking of picking another goal and training for it. Nothing longer than a 10K though.... not for awhile anyway. It gets so hot here, if I do want to train, I'll have to get up at the crack of dawn. I don't know if I have that in me.
This week I"m going to square away our trip to Tokyo & Kyoto - train tickets, hotel rooms, etc. I also need to order a few warm clothing items. Hopefully I'll be able to find some good sales!