A Crafty Day In Japan

There hasn’t really been a typical day for a year, until my son started preschool, and now most days follow a similar trend. However I’m still adjusting to the lack of napping by my daughter now that preschool pick up falls smack bang in the middle of when she would nomally nap!

4:30 - Get awoken by the sun streaming in our bedroom window as it rises around 4am. Wriggle curtains for more sun-blocking and fall back to sleep.

6:30 - Wake up and check emails, blogs, Facebook on my phone until either the alarm goes off or the kids wake up. And if the alarm does go off, hurriedly silence it and wait for the kids to wake up anyway.

7:00 - Time to get up! I take the kids downstairs and milk-and-breakfast them while daddy has a shower and gets ready for work. While they eat, it’s time to finish off bento boxes.

7:30 - Get the boy dressed, and while he plays, eat my breakfast and use the computer to reply to emails, and do a bit of blogging work.

7:50 - Get the boy into his preschool shirt and loaded up with his bag, drink bottle, hat and helmet on.

7:55 - Daddy and son head off on the bike to the preschool bus stop. I clean up my daughter from breakfast and set her loose to play or watch some Japanese kids’ shows while I finish doing blog stuff - writing the day’s post, emails, chat with my Wombat Stew girls on Facebook…

8:45 - Jump in the shower before the kids shows finish.

9:00 - Hang out the washing, clean the kitchen up from lunches/breakfast, vacuum the floor, get my daughter dressed.

10:00 - Shops don’t open until 10am in Japan, but they’re open until 9 or 10pm every night. Hard to get used to at first, but it means we get house jobs done early before heading out for the morning/day! Today we went to the local “city centre” - the few blocks surrounding the local train station is a big hub of shops, the library and post office, etc. Send two fabric orders, pick up some more milk, bread and bananas (almost a daily occurence!), and stop for a bakery treat.

11:30 - Get home, put on Wall*E - the current favourite - unpack the shopping, get lunch ready.

12:00 - As I eat lunch, I check emails, Facebook, and write some more blog posts. I have a few big things coming up in the next couple of months, and I’m trying to get ahead and pre-write posts.

12:30 - Clean up the mess that a lunch with sushi causes - rice everywhere! My daughter will now drift between watching the rest of Wall*E and the playroom right next door, while I get some sewing done. Today’s job is to get a long-promised bag done for a friend back in Adelaide.

1:30 - Wall*E is finished, and my daughter a little restless. We read a book or two before she runs off to play in the playroom again. I quickly check emails, reply to some blog comments and snap a quick couple of photos of the bag for the blog.

2:05 - Time to get ready to go meet the preschool bus.

2:30 - Get back home, unpack school bags, get snacks ready and put on Playschool while they eat and I do the dishes.

3:00 - TV off and while the kids play/fight/run around noisily, I get some more sewing done. I need to get this month’s bees and BOM blocks started so they’re finished by the end of the month!

4:15 - Japanese kids’ shows go on again and I take a couple more blog pictures while the sunlight is still good. It’s then time to edit and upload them.

5:00 - My husband and I share the cooking, although he does more as he loves it as a way to unwind after work. But tonight it’s my turn, so I start cooking tea.

6:00 - Dinner, bath, book, clean up, teeth, bed!

7:30 - Time to clean up the kitchen, make most of the next day’s bento for the kids, then settle down with coffee and supper while we watch a few episodes of our shows via Hulu or iTunes. Favourite options include Grey’s Anatomy, Law And Order: SVU, Criminal Minds, Game Of Thrones, MI5/Spooks.

10:00 (at the earliest, or later if an episode finishes after 10) - Bed time!