Buying a car overseas....

To me buying a car has always been a headache.  I'm not really a car person.  I mean, I want a nice car but don't like the process of getting it. At least in the states when buying a car there is some perks, free lunch, free coffee, free mug, free pens, free service.... ect.  they wine and dine you.  Granted you are buying a car for thousands of dollars.  Well, buying here is a total 360.

Some background, when we first got to Oki we had a TERRIBLE sponsor {a sponsor is someone assigned to your family that has been at the duty station for sometime and helps you get started with everything}.  He told us it was best to buy from a dealer and not to buy from the lemon lot {the lot where military people park their cars they are wanting to sell usually due to PCS}.  So we split the difference and bought one from the lemon lot and one from a dealer.  Most of the cars from the lemon lot range from $500 to $3000.  Most cars from a dealer range from $3000 to $7000.  So we moved across the world and immediately had to drop $6000 on two cars.  As of now only one is standing.

Fast forward to present time.  We are in the market for 2 cars.  Since moving here we've had 4 different cars.  The only one we have from when we got here is the one we bought from the dealer.  We haven't been happy with any of the cars we've had.  There has always been an issue.  So with us being here another 3 years, we wanted to just go and get cars that we were happy in.  Before, when we would get a car my mind set was to just get through with this car till we PCS.  Now,  since we live farther and we have more time on island I want something that I love and works for my family.  So off we go buying two new cars.  Ugh.

This past week we've been busy looking at cars.  Dealerships and lemon lot. Car, after car........ after car.  We did have some bad luck yesterday, thought we struck a deal with someone and he totally F'd us.   Luckily we found another car and the seller was awesome.  We made a deal we were all happy with and walked away feeling good about it, not even thinking about the other car.   When all is said and done, I'm super with the new car we got.  Its perfect for our needs.   Its even a cute yellow color.  hahaha reminds me of an Easter Egg.

                           

Do You Bento?????

When in Rome....right???  I've always been so intrigued with bento boxes.  No, not the kind that you pick up from your local Japanese restaurant that comes with a Cali roll, shrimp tempura, and some teriyaki chicken.  Ohh shrimp tempura sounds yummmyyy.   I remember when I was in college there was a girl I would see in the cafeteria and she the most intricate bento boxes.  I remember seeing a Sailor Moon one!  I was blown away.     Anyways... the intricate lunch boxes that look like they came out of a display case not a brown bag lunch.  I was more of a lookie-lou when it came to bentos.  I thought it was purely professional...there would be no way I could make one.

  After Mills started  preschool and I was making her lunch my interest grew.  When Mills was first going to school I would send her off with a typical brown bag lunch. Sandwich, crackers, fruit, veggie, drink, and a treat.  Pretty typical stuff.  When I picked her up from school, I was getting most of the food back!  What the H?  Why wasn't she eating?  So I changed up what I gave her, different types of sandwiches every day, different snacks for the sides, different drinks.....still she would come home with food.  Then on a sleepless night I was all over the internet looking up lunch ideas.  Then I saw these cute lil bento boxes.  They weren't the ones I was used to seeing, they weren't super detailed and picture perfect pieces of art.  They were fun and had cute little details.  They were colorful and personal.  They looked like something I could do!  If someone asked me to make a Little Mermaid bento box, there would be no way in H I could do that.  I've looked up tutorials for the super crazy ones, and its no joke.  That is an art form.  I do not have the talent to turn rice, meat, veggies, cheese, and everything else into the Little Mermaid.  But I do possess the skill of buying things to help make food look cute. 

 So I went at it, luckily I'm in Japan and I can walk into a number of stores and find bento box supplies.  I'm still no expert, but I think bento boxes are awesome.  They are super cute, reusable {earth conscious}, small to keep the correct portion for a kid, and fun.  Mills loves them and she eats her food.  When I pick her up from school she tells me about her lunch. This is fun for me.  Making little lunches for her that would excite her and make her smile.  Then I started posting pictures.  Just on Facebook and Instagram.  I actually got a lot of interest in my bento boxes.  They weren't even that great.  I was surprised at the response. 

Here are some of my most recent bento boxes::

                                  

  :: Ham and swiss on a Hawaiian bread roll, strawberries,  and pretzels in a Minne Mouse bento box ::

                                    

                     :: Jelly on wheat {nut free}, strawberries, and pretzels in a poodle bento box ::

                                   

:: Buttered noodles, meatballs, carrots, Cheeze-its, cookies, and veggie chips in 2 tier strawberry bento box::

                                   

:: Cut up hot dog, broccoli, mac n cheese, Cheese-its, popcorn, and a banana in a 2 tier vehicle bento box ::

These are not professional by any means.  But my kids enjoy them and I love making them.  All the portions are just right for their little tummies.  I try to keep them colorful and fun.

Sunday Snaps

:: Littleman playing with daddy's hat::

:: Pork chops made in the NuWave. Yummy! ::

:: Went to an antique store, I want this table.  Unfortunately, it was out of our price range. ::

:: Amelia buckels her dolls in when she leaves them in the car!::

Surviving Duty Daze

This is how I survive duty daze.  The days when Morgan has duty.  I'm assuming Duty can last anywhere from 9 to 48 hours, just from past experience.  Duty days range depending on their jobs.  Currently for M's job he has duty every 24 days.  The last duty he had was a 26 hour shift.

Now I don't want it to sound like a death sentence, because it's not.  Nor do I want to take away from the spouses who are dealing with TDYs (Temporary duty in yonder; duty away from home for a period of time) or deployments, I've been there and that isn't easy either.  Another day, another post. But today we're talking about duty.

When M is on duty I have to mentally prepare.  I mean, I'm running the show for practically the next two days.  Sure he's coming back home and its only for a day or so, but it's still out of the norm and we have to adjust accordingly.   The next day he is usually off.   When he comes back from duty,  the next morning, he is still out of commission and I'm a one man show till he gets some rest.

Here are 5 things I do to survive duty daze::

 Plan easy dinner::

Made corned beef and cabbage MmmMMmm

Since it's just me and the kids for dindin, I like to make things easy on myself.  No point in making an extravagant dinner for 2 kids whose favorite foods are hot dogs and jelly sandwiches.  Not to mention that I'm one serving and the kids combined is another serving, so a lot of work for 2 servings isn't happeing.  However, I do make the usual amount because M will eat when he gets home.  I almost always make dinner in the crock pot or the nuwave for duty nights.  Both really simple cooking appliances that make cooking dinner super duper easy.

Activities::

Out and about running some errands for today's activity

I like to keep the kiddies busy on duty days.  It helps the day go by faster and keeps them occupied.  We'll plan a play date, I'll set up some arts and crafts, we'll head to the park, or even spend time in our front yard {in Japan our front yard acts as a backyard because of the limited space}.


Forgo naps::

Normally this was nap time but I just popped in the Croods, a fave movie in our house

Sounds nuts, but it helps.  I'd rather just power through the day and have them go to sleep extra early.   Sure I would love the midday break, but I find it more beneficial for them to go to sleep at 6:30 pm or 7 pm.  That way I get the whole rest of the night to catch up on chores or relax.

Sleep in my bed::

Yes, that's Hello Kitty.  My view , putting the kids to sleep in our bed.  Mills has a Hello Kitty pillow pet.

When M is gone, I have the kids sleep with me.  I love cuddling with them and makes my bed extra cozy.  Another great thing about co-sleeping is I'm right there for bathroom breaks, nightmares, water, and whatever else comes up in the middle of the night.  I don't have to leave my room.  Plus I'm really really paranoid and I constantly check on the kids. So them sleeping in my bed gives me more sleep and keeps me comfortable.  Double WIN!

Chores are down to a minimum::

No picking up toys today!!

They don't come to a screeching halt but ain't a lot getting done that day.  Both my kids are under 5 so lots of mischief happens, even if I turn my back for a second.  Especially Nono, he is also known as Evil Kenevil because that kid fears nothing.  He will climb a bookcase, he will jump off the couch, he will hang off the table...he's nuts.  When I'm alone with them I have to be alert.  Plus with all the running around and activities, it's hard to fit in a chore.  I usually save those for when they are in bed, if I still have the strength.

Well, there you have it.  My 5 go to's , to survive duty daze.

February Final Friday Faves {Japan Edition}

Sooooooooooo sorry this is late.  I've been caught up in planning our Spring Break trip.  We've been wanting to go to this place for awhile but just decided last minute to go there for spring break, so it was a lil hectic this past week.  Anyways, we move on...

This month I wanted to do a faves of the local things here on Okinawa .  I've been here for 3 year, I've actually got a huge list of things I love Japanese and Okinawan but I've narrowed it down.

                                                                :: farmer's market ::

The local JA market.  JA stands for Japanese Agriculture

This is a pork sandwich sold at the local JA,  The pork is  fed beni-imo for it's entire life and gives it a distinct sweet taste.  One of the best sandwiches I've ever had and only 250 yen {$2.50}

I love going to the farmer's market here.  Okinawa has a number of local farmers and there are a ton of markets all over the island.  I was really intimated at first, I didn't know any Japanese and I was really new to cooking.  There were a number of times where I bought the wrong fruit or vegetable because the labels are in Japanese, what I thought was something was not in fact what I was looking for. { Unfortunately this happens in the commissary too} It's awesome to see the different fruits and veggies that are grow locally One of my faves is called beni-imo, it's a purple sweet potato and the Okinawan's are famous for them.
There is beni-imo everything, ice cream, dessert tarts, fries, doughnuts, and etc.  I LOVE it.  

The are markets open daily and they all carry a variety of items.  I go to several weekly depending on what I'm looking for.  I love that its just down the street from me, the food is local, and they don't use pesticides or GMOs.

                                                                      :: starbucks ::

Sakura {cherry blossom} frappacino.  This flavor comes out after the cherry blossoms bloom.

Coffee is a big part of Japanese life and culture.  They love it.  As do I.  There are vending machines that carry cold and hot coffee, the local "mini-marts" have their own coffee, there are a lot of coffee shops and they are usually pretty packed with people, even on weekdays and usually well into the night.  I'd have to say that the Starbucks here is quite a different experience then the Starbucks in the states.  Now, we lived in WA state for years and we've been to the original Starbucks.  However the Starbucks here is hands down, on another level.  In Japan, Starbucks seems so "exclusive".   They offer so many different seasonal drinks, their staff is SUPER polite, the mugs, tumblers, and cups are always super cute and have different designs.  I wasn't a big Starbucks lover before coming here, since being here I've become quite the fan!

                                                                           :: matcha ::

My matcha obession

Before moving to Japan, I didn't really care for green tea.  I even remember when green tea started gaining popularity, I tried a few things but it wasn't really fabulous.  Then I moved to Oki and green tea is everywhere.  So I thought I would give it a try.  Oh and it's called matcha.  It started with the Kit-kats.  I've heard about these before, that Kit-kats in Japan come in a variety of flavors, but I heard that the matcha ones were the best.  I tried them and fell in love.   After that I tried everything matcha,  even the regular hot green tea.  Now I drink green tea often hot and cold.  {I've also read up on many of the health benefits of drinking green tea}.  This has become one of my fave flavors and I'll eat anything that has matcha in it.


                                                                          :: tsubuki ::

Japanese beauty products are awesome.  I of course took forever to try them because the labeling is in Japanese and I was being a chicken.  One of my favorite beauty products is a shampoo and conditioner { I think shampoo and conditioner is a beauty product} a friend introduced me to , its by Shiseido called Tsubuki.  It smells divine and makes my hair feel awesome.  I've heard about shiseido before and used their makeup.  I wasn't really a big fan, I much prefer Nars of MAC.  I didn't even know they made hair products until I started using the shampoo and conditioner. One of the coolest things they do in Japan is that they sell the products in bottles, like pictured, but then they sell refill bags to cut down on plastics!  The refill bags fill up the bottles and are cheaper!!! Count me in for cheaper and being more earth conscious.


These are just a few of the great things Japan and Oki have to offer.  I'll have to do another faves list because I have so many :)