December Giveaway Winner!

I was so excited when I saw Christine’s name on the scrap of paper Thomas pulled out of our red, green and white pasta dish!

She is an online friend of mine who is also a fellow homeschooler, proponent of natural birth, and wife to a geek ;) She loves the Lord and her family very much, she has been an encouragement to me. When she writes, her posts and comments for others are always helpful, uplifting and thought provoking. There is comfort knowing that there are women like her, who are doing their best and being a light in their corner of the world!

Christine and her husband Stephen are parents to Lily, Stephen, Anastasia, and baby #4 who will be arriving soon!

Christine loves living in the balmy south, sipping sweet tea, where she calls North Carolina home. She shares her passions for natural birth, scrapbooking, healthy living, home education, and frugal living on her lovely blog, Lily of the Valley. You can follow her tweets @christinemary on Twitter.

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Here are the readers’ blogs that were linked in the comments to Winter Blues and Things To Do post. Please stop by for a visit and let my readers know how you heard about them:

Susan – Imagine Creative Name Here

Tamara – Brand of Wisdom

Tara – Considerable Grace

Laura – The Joyful Mom

Winter in Aomori Prefecture: 2009 vs. 2010

This is the view from our front yard, a random mall amongst the rice fields. (You may recall the view from our back yard, Mt. Iwaki, from my post a few days ago. Quite a contrast, eh?)

Last night, another foot of snow fell onto our town. This photo was taken at 9am this morning. There were a bunch of snow plows in the mall parking lot (if you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see two plows, covering the front section of the lot), frantically trying to clear the snow before the 10am opening.

I am beginning to realize that last year’s winter was pretty mild. The first storm of winter hit the day we arrived. It snowed more here than back home, and it seemed like winter would not let up. Now, I cannot imagine what it would have been like for us if it had snowed as much last year as it has this year. I had no idea how bad it could be — and I have heard it can get even worse than this!

Even with more snow, we are better off this year.

Here are some reasons why:

This time around, we know where the laundromat is located. Last year, we had wet clothes for seven people drying in random places around the house.

We know the roads a little better. Last year, we drove around but everything was snow covered and difficult to visualize where we were. We had to re-learn the roads when everything thawed, as they looked much different.

We found a closer onsen for when we need to get clean AND warm. Last year, we drove to one about 30 minutes away as we were able. Our bathroom is not heated — you can see your breath in there! I realize that most of my friends back home cannot relate to going to a community bath, but during winter months here, onsens are a life-saver.

Last year, we did not know about local events until it was too late to book a hotel. This year, we have our accommodations booked for next month’s Sapporo Snow Festival. (I am looking forward to drinking warm sake and taking photos of all the ice and snow sculptures!)

Last year, I did not have a decent pair of boots. This year, I am sporting these tall Bogs waterproof boots. Mobilized, baby.

Last year, never having experienced the amazing spring and summer months, I felt pretty hopeless about our new location. This year, I know that this part of Japan does in fact warm up, and I am eagerly looking forward to spring.

The Apple Bath : Girls Night Out At the Onsen

I just took the weirdest bath with three of my girlfriends.

Our region is famous all over Japan for apples. Apples show up in the most interesting places here, paying homage to our agricultural heritage. Tonight’s special at our local onsen was an “apple bath”. One would think that it meant maybe apple scented bath salts were put into the water — but not so. There were just plain apples bobbing in the water. Sitting in the bath was like sitting in a giant bobbing-for-apples bucket, only with steaming hot water instead of cold.

The apples weren’t fresh, either. We closed the place, and, by 11:30pm, the apples had taken a beating from steeping all day. Some had bite marks from where children had bitten into them.

We sat for a while, serenely getting wrinkled, surrounded by apples.

Stealthily, I threw an apple under the water.

Score!

The apple right went right under my one of my friend’s legs, shot up, and hit her behind the knees.

“Oh!” she said, startled…. and then threw one back.

Apples were soon bouncing off bodies and shooting up out of the water.

Much to all the old ladies’ chagrin, we were splashing and laughing so hard.

Crazy night. Only in Japan.

Photo Credit: Bobbing by Bravo Whiskey via Flickr.

Waking Up Early : A Small Habit Change With Big Results

View From My Driveway : Mt. Iwaki

I have always been a night owl. Just ask my parents.

As mom, staying up late conflicts with my children’s natural waking time of around 8am.

Last year, I was doing well with keeping a schedule. Since I came home from vacation, the schedule bombed. I became very homesick and stayed up really late chatting online with friends and family back home (who were awake in a different time zone) and writing to fill the void. Writing and keeping in touch are admirable, but they were not what I was supposed to be doing during those hours — resting so I could be refreshed for my family.

In the morning, I was waking up when my children wake up, instead of waking up a little earlier to get the day started. In other words, there no prep time in the morning, only hitting the ground in panic mode — a problem that no amount of coffee can fix.

Changing one’s sleeping and waking schedule is not an easy thing to do. However, I knew it was best for my family and it was what needed to be done.

Last week, I made a point to change. I was not used to going to bed earlier. For the first few nights, I stared at the ceiling, not tired, thinking, “Why am I doing this??”

I realized, though, that I fell asleep around midnight, before I would have normally gone to bed between 1am and 3am. It was a rough start that resulted in a small victory. After two days, I felt tired around 11pm. During this transition, I tuned into my body and noted that I need about seven hours of sleep to feel rested.

I did not make this change by myself, though.

Primal Stride began a challenge last week to wake at 5am and run 5k. With many people participating and Seth Simonds at the helm to motivate the crew, we have formed a community of sorts of people who are committed to doing small things and seeing big changes as a result.

The idea is that when you rejoice in victory over small changes, you challenge yourself a little more. Before you know it, you are rejoicing in bigger victories. By focusing on a small goal on the path to the bigger goal, I am not as overwhelmed. I am realizing I can apply this idea to more than going to bed on time and waking earlier.

The snow is about three feet deep presently, with nowhere to run outdoors. To make it work for me, I modified last week’s Primal Stride challenge by running up and down my stairs, which are quite steep and tall. The steps probably total nowhere near 5k, but my heart rate is up and my legs are shaking by the time I am done! A small victory.

On Reddit, we have a saying, “Pic or it didn’t happen”. Part of Primal Stride’s interactive challenge is to take a photo of the sunrise. This photo was taken January 4th. I bundled up, walked the recycling to the bin down the street and kept walking. It was more of a slow shuffle with arms out to balance. The roads are ice-covered. There is a sidewalk about two blocks from my house. I made it to the sidewalk and walked to its end. Then, on my way back, I fell right as a snowplow was passing by. The driver laughed. So did I. (I also learned that the snow plows are out at sunrise and that you can get trapped by them, as there is no shoulder to escape to when they come down the street. Unintentionally, I was quite annoying. They had to stop and wait for me to get to the next street before they could do their job. Oops!)

Above is a photograph taken of Mt. Iwaki at sunrise from our back driveway. Seeing the mountain made me realize the beauty I had been missing out on each morning. It is like looking at a fresh clean sheet of paper; a day waiting to be written upon. (Yes, I was that kid, who could not wait to get her crisp notebooks at the beginning of the school year!) Is that some serious motivation or what?

I feeling more rested and calm when I wake. The result is that I can be more focused on my writing in the morning, rather than staring at the screen, late at night, slowly hashing out words, overshadowed by feeling guilty for staying up so late. I am also prepared for my kids, so that I can meet their needs when they wake up without beginning the day with a meltdown.

As far as running up and down the steps? I can now run up and down 11 times before I have to stop. I started at having to stop after nine times. Throughout the day, I run up and down as many sets as I can fit in.

Want to join me for challenge #2?

Primal Stride Challenge 2 – Double Crunch

Begins: 12:01am Friday, January 8th, 2010

Ends: 11:59pm Thursday, January 14th, 2010

THE CHALLENGE:

Exercise: 250 crunches per day. Split them up however you like. 250 crunches every 24hrs will do it.

Health: Eat a different green vegetable each day. Suggested modifications include eating a different fruit each day or preparing a green vegetable in a different way each day. It’s up to you! Be creative!

Remember: You can customize the food and amount of crunches to suit your needs. Just make sure to include the changes when you sign up by leaving a comment!

PS: If you are in a rut, no matter how deep or small, and need some literary motivation, I highly recommend these books from my library, which I have recently re-read :



How To Reuse a Bubble Wrap Mailer / Envelope (Video)

Living in Japan, I send many packages and letters to my friends and family back home. In this video, I show you how you can reuse Bubble Wrap mailers.

Reusing Bubble Wrap Mailers:

  • Saves you money! These mailers are about $1.50 each to buy new.
  • One less item for you to have to carry to the curb.
  • Is lots of fun – why not add some stickers for decoration?
  • Do you have tips for reducing, reusing or recycling? Please share them in the comments :)