Spoils from Japan

My cousin, Liz, has been in Japan with her husband for the past few years now. Her husband is stationed there. And I really can’t go into much detail there because I am not sure what position he is in and the like. I think that they are coming back out to the States here in a couple months…although, don’t hold me to it if I am wrong.

ANYWAY! She has been collecting things and was finally able to send them over! And I took pictures…all of the pictures…*evil grin*

(I wrote down the words that were on the packages because they are a little hard to read.) "No idea what these are. Cookies?" They were, in fact, cookies...I think. They tasted like cookies...kind of cinnamon...they were good. 

These were also really yummy. They were like strawberry chocolate candies. They look exactly like the little pink/brown things on the box. They were really tiny, but really good.

This kind of candy tasted kind of lemony, kind of caramel-y to me. :) 

Fancy chopsticks for our instant Ramen. Yes. Haha. Still haven't used them yet though...

"I think this is candy."

I haven't eaten one of these yet, but my younger siblings say they tasted like soap. I don't even know if they are candy or what they are...Margaret said they tasted alright.

"I don't even have a guess as to what this is. I'm assuming it's edible. Let me know."

That there, was probably the most grossest thing I had ever eaten. It tasted like nothing and something at the same time. My little sister, who is 3 now, said, "Oh that is just awful." After some researching, my brother discovered that it is some sort of Yam spread to go on crackers and that it was outlawed (actually recalled) from the U.S because it is a choking hazard. We just cut it up and stuck it in our mouths and it was...yucky. So Liz, yes it is edible! But it is not yummy. 

Mario things...we really couldn't figure out what these were. They were flat and fruit flavored, and I am pretty sure that it was gum.

"The are the yummiest things ever."

They were REALLY good! I think it's funny how Mickey Mouse is much cuter in Japan than in the States...:)

This was origami paper. Cool stuff.

Wrapping paper the Lucky Cat Liz sent me was wrapped in. I thought it was funny because I am kind of into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic...and I hadn't told her that. Hehe. 

The Meneki Neko, A.K.A Lucky Cat. Meneki Neko means Beckoning Cat and it is a sort of good luck charm. 

And it's great, because it came with instructions!  Haha. 

The Cat out of the box. I do have a video of it in motion, and I have to see if I said anything stupid while filming it before I post it. Haha. We named him Muta because he kind of looked like Muta from the Cat Returns.

We found this on the Chopsticks a couple days after getting the box. AND OH MAN! did we laugh! 

"For receiving guests warmly at birthday parties or something."

OMGOSH that is funny. "Or Something."

*goes to check video of the Lucky Cat*

*face-palms because I say the dumbest things*

*then I sit back and wonder, is my voice really that deep?*

*posts video of Muta*

*video didn't load and I closed it so as to not burn anymore bandwidths*

*makes a mental note to try to post it again.

                                    

Hmm.

Well, I suppose it would be funny if I ran that video for as long as Muta was going because he doesn't stop...that is, if Fili doesn't get up on my shelf and whack him across the room...

 I cannot believe that it is already November!

Now, I should be blogging normally again. I will see you again.

~Annie

My Weekend.

Hello.

I wanted to do something special for my 250^th published post. I wasn’t sure what would be good, but I thought that maybe I would save it until my birthday. That way, I could just tell of that…and maybe it would be interesting. So here I am, writing down how my weekend went. Enjoy.

Well, Friday was my birthday. And since it was also All Saint’s Day (which is a Holy day) we went to church after Dad got home. It was a high mass, so that means that there is more singing from the choir and priest than in a usual low mass like the ones on Sunday morning. Overall, it was how high masses are. The choir, I think, needed a little more practice…but they were okay. Not to be mean, but they haven’t been very good since they changed the director. I mean, it could just be me being bitter because of, well, I was “let go” so to speak, years ago from the choir. It was some security debacle and a lot of the original choir members left when that happened. It hasn’t been the same since. But, one of my best friends, Mr. Cook, still sings, if not in the choir loft. I think he is nearing 80 years…now? Love him. One of the singers in Il Divo has a voice just like his. Maybe when I find the song, I will point it out. Because that’s what he sounds like.

ANYWAY! It was pretty late when we got home—as it has always been—so not much happened after that. On Saturday, I went with my parents to dinner at a place called Bakers Square. They have amazing pie there. The food is great too, but sometimes the portions are just HUGE! Really yummy pie. It was a fun time. Then we went and did usual shopping and stopped at a craft store for a moment. I found the flickering, battery powered tea candles I was looking for! My Gram had some a couple years ago, and I thought that they were awesome. I think she even gave me one and I put it in my bedroom window at Christmas time. She, however, had ordered them from QVC and I wasn’t sure if I could get them anywhere else, but I did! So, I scored. Yah. Scored. 

I haven't opened this yet, but it was something my Gram gave me. She sort of gets a pack of Baklava every year for me...it's great...Thanks Gram! :D

Its awful fun going shopping with my parents because Mum goes into (with all due respect, of course) shopping mode, and Daddy and I just goof around. We somehow made it out with 4 bags of marshmallows. And I got blamed because I am the one with the marshmallow problem. Hehe.

These are the huge mallows he found. I think, at the end of the day, we ended up with a bag of these, two bags of pumpkin ones and a bag of regular marshmallows.. :)

Since it too got late on Saturday, on Sunday, after we got home from church, Mum and Margaret and I went to Dairy Queen and got an Ice-Cream cake. I don’t think that there was actual cake in it though. Come to think of it, I haven’t had an actual birthday cake for a few years now at least. I just love those ice cream ones…

My yummy, pretty Ice Cream cake. By far, DQ has the best Ice Cream cakes. The only real reason I get them is for the cookie stuff at the bottom. YUM.

The piece was much bigger that I had anticipated. Hehe...yummy.

AT THE END OF ALL THAT! My whole family sat down and watched Monsters University. It was AWESOME because we hadn’t really had a movie night like that since the first Monsters Inc. was out! That was so many years ago! The movie was great; very funny. My mum is not really into animated stuff so it was cool that she stuck around…then again, she did watch Brave with us…and I am forcing her into watch LOTR because my uncle and cousin refuse too…hmmm.

It was kind of annoying/funny what my brother did the night before. He made me stay up until midnight so that it was technically my birthday so he could give me his gift.

OMGOSH IT WAS A SONIC SCREWDRIVER!!!! AND IT LIGHTS UP!!! LIGHTS UP!!! Soooo…that was awesome. Now I am ready to cosplay as the Eleventh Doctor. YAY!

I also received two DVDs from my sister. It was Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 version with Kiera Knightly, and North and South, the one with Richard Armitage in it. (Cue Mordecai’s openmouth surprise face here.) EXCITEMENT!! I have already seen that version of North and South twice…that’s like eight hours of show…it was in the same week too… :)

*sigh*

It was awesome.

I have also decided that I am going to use my real name on this blog now. I had used the pen-name “Natsu” because I was a bit younger when I started this blog, and my mum didn’t want my name out there. So, everyone, my real name is Anne. *cue realization music* I will be signing my posts with “Annie” from now on. I don’t know if I will change my Pinterest name, though. I may just keep that the same.  Natsu is the Japanese word for Summer, if my memory is correct. It’s the Japanese name my friends gave me (or rather, the one I chose) when I entered the Naruto fandom.

Yeah.

Well, speaking of Japanese things…I have a great post that includes stuff like that!

TO THE NEXT POST!

~~Annie~~