It was a nice sunny day today. My daughter wanted to play outside. She asked me what kind of things I did to play when I was around her age.

In my childhood days I seldom played inside the house. I liked to play outside. In our neighborhood there was a playground that was open for kids. It was not a fancy park; there was no slides, swings, or sandbox. It was just an open ground with overgrown weeds.

My friends and I gathered at the ground almost every day after school. We played baseball or dodgeball. I loved to run around on the grass field with my friends. When I tripped over, I loved the smell of the fresh green grass and the dirt.

Other things I used to do was to play with my older brother on the street in front of our house. Our parents bought us a Takeuma. It is a Japanese traditional toy for kids. It is made by a pair of bamboo poles. Each pole has a footrest. My brother and I were good at riding takeuma. We used to race running by takeuma very fast on the street.

Similar to takeuma, we also created our own toy; a Pokkuri. It is made by two empty cans. We made a hole in the can and passed a rope through the hole. We can ride on the cans with holding the ropes. When we walked with pokkuri, it made us taller. It also made a funny sound while walking.

***

I had a nice synchronicity. I mentioned about my younger days’ toys to my daughter this morning. And in the afternoon, I received an email from my Japanese friend. She talked about the local private market she visited. She saw somebody was selling his handmade takeuma in the market.

I thought it interesting. When I was thinking about a takeuma, my friend saw a takeuma in the market. We both thought about our younger days together, even though we are physically in a very far distance away.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

For these past couple of days, I have been suffering from the pain in my jar and the deep inside of my ears. The pain is in both sides; right and left.

At first I concerned about the inside of my mouth; molars and gum. But I don’t have any pain in my gum or molars. I can eat and chew normally. So maybe, the issue is not from the inside of my mouth.

The pain occurs when I open my mouse wide. I remember this type of pain in my childhood days when I had a cold and a swollen throat. But I don’t have a cold at this moment. I don’t have a swollen throat.

I mentioned it to my husband and my local friends. All of them said it is probably due to the changing season. Indeed, we recently had a drastic weather change; it got very cold all of a sudden.

If that is the cause for my pain in my jar, once my body gets used to the cold weather, it should calm down. It might be one of the process of detoxing.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Yesterday we bought some new winter outfits for my daughter. One of them was an overall dress. It was well designed and very pretty. I wanted to have a similar one for myself.

I searched around my materials and found one similar fabric. It only has one yard and it was not enough to make an overall dress, so I made a simple skirt for myself.

It took me about two hours to finish the skirt.

My daughter likes me to create something. She was doing her own creation activity, such as drawing and crafting, besides me.

So today we both enjoyed creating something new.

Next time when I purchase enough fabric, I want to make my overall dress.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today is a federal holiday observed as Columbus Day. Native people don’t recognize as Columbus Day, but some tribes observe as Indigenous Day.

We went to the local mall to browse around. We have one store where we usually buy my daughter’s clothes. They always have something on sale.

For some reasons, I felt like checking other store that we seldom go shopping. This store almost never has anything on sale. Their prices always stay expensive. By just taking a look of their clothes, you can easily tell they are made by high quality fabrics and well-designed.

Once we entered to the girls’ section, my daughter’s eyes shone. She quickly grabbed several items that she wanted to try on.

I was not planning to buy anything at first. When I saw my daughter in a new outfit with a huge smile on her face, I could not say no to her. We ended up buying four new outfits for my daughter.

We paid unexpectedly high price for the new outfits, but both my husband and I were so happy to see our daughter’s pretty winter outfits. My daughter deserves such a joyful day once in a while.     

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

On weekends, it is my habit to go for a walk alone after eating breakfast. Now it’s our autumn but it was still hot enough for me to stay with a camisole during the days, until yesterday.

This morning was different.

When I went outside with a camisole with shorts as usual, I was covered by goosebumps all over my body. It was winter-like freezing cold.

I quickly went back home and changed my outfit to a set of winter clothes.

Our winter on this land is very short. I love cold weather, so I’d better enjoy every day in this short winter.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

About two weeks ago, our treadmill stopped working properly.

My husband figured out the issued part was the incline adjustment of the running belt. He got the part number and the part name of the malfunction area from the treadmill diagram.

The manufacture and other part company sell this part as an assembly set. The lowest price of the assembly set was around $300.

We thought the price of the part assembly was outrageous. We purchased the treadmill in 2011 with $600. The manufacture offers a life time warranty for the motor. In our case, the motor was still working properly.

I told my husband to sleep on it. The great idea might come up to him while sleeping.

Amazingly, it happened. On the next morning he got some great idea. He further disassembled the malfunction area and figured out the main cause of the issue. It was one set of a bolt and a nut.

Last weekend we purchased a set of a bolt and a nut at the local hardware store.

He was so busy with work for the entire last week that he could not try a new set of a bolt and a nut.

This morning he replaced the parts, and our treadmill started working properly.

We didn’t need to buy a brand new treadmill with $600, nor an assembly set of the parts with $300. He fixed it with a set of a bolt and a nut with only $2.70. It was amazing.

So far, he has fixed our washing machine, our dryer, our 50-inch television screen monitor, and our Dyson vacuum cleaner.  

I suggested my husband to write down one of his ability as a “high performance engineering in home electric devices” in his resume.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

I want to share about the last procedure of my homemade pickled plum.

Now that I finished the second procedure; sun-drying for three days, my pickled plums seemed to be soften.

Today, I proceeded to the last procedure; sampling.

I ate my first homemade pickled plum with brown rice. It was not too salty; just right salty when eating with rice. It still had somewhat fresh and crunchy texture , compared with the old and matured ones. I look forward to sampling my future homemade pickled plum, six months later and one year later, being matured.

Ideally, I want to buy only some basic ingredients for my kitchen. With the basic ingredients, I want to cook whatever my family and I need.

For example, we successfully stopped buying commercially available breads. We eat my homemade bread. As long as I have some ingredients (whole wheat flour, salt, brown sugar, and butter) in stock, I can bake my homemade bread at home. Previously, there were times when I needed to go to the grocery store just to buy some breads. I am grateful that I don’t need to do that anymore.

I want to gradually reduce buying shelf items such as commercially available snacks and products. They are located in the center isles of a grocery store.    

Slowly, but steadily, I am getting closer to my ideal eating.

I appreciate for this challenge. And, not to mention, I appreciate my friends for introducing me of healthy eating habits, including the recipe of homemade pickled plum.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪