Wendy in Japan

We got back from the father in law`s surgery on Tuesday afternoon. I had a class that evening and Koichi had to go to the office. Wednesday was a super long day for me, as usual. Thursday was pretty long too, but good. I was exhausted though and didn`t get any housework done. Luckily on Friday a friend came to visit and that motivated me to clean! I stayed home yesterday and got a bit of cleaning done as well and now I feel caught up again. I even got my 3 runs in for the week, although not on the planned days. This evening I prepared vegetables to throw in the slow cooker tomorrow morning to make vegetable soup. I also prepared some healthy snacks for me to munch on throughout the week. I didn`t buy any potato chips (my weakness) when we went grocery shopping today! It`s 8pm now and I`m aiming to be in bed by 10pm and up at 6am tomorrow. It`s going to be a good week!

We've been out of town since Friday night. It's Tuesday morning here now. Koichi's dad is having surgery for prostate cancer as I type. He didn't want to worry the family so they didn't tell anyone until his doctor threatened to call us on Friday, the day he checked into the hospital. It should all be ok, apparently the hospital we're at does 200 prostate cancer surgeries a year! Heading home this evening an hopefully back to my running routine and posting here ASAP!

I like Tuesdays because I finish my work day at 5:30pm and get to come home to enjoy a relaxing evening. Mondays and Wednesdays are quite long so it`s nice to have a down day in the middle. Today was even easier than usual because my 4:30 private lesson student cancelled so I used the time to make some cards to practice fruit names. My goals for the month are going pretty well so far! I started the couch to 5K running program again last week. I even deleted all my previous data from the app so I could get a total fresh start this time around. As of yesterday`s run my total kilometers was 13.44 and my fastest kilometer was 8:51. I`ve been wearing my pedometer everyday again too and keeping the numbers in a memo on my phone. My average for the month as of Sunday night was just under 8000 steps per day! My daily goal is 8000 which is the equivalent of about 4 miles and if I reach my goal there`s a little guy jumping up and down on the screen! I made a menu for the entire month of ...

It`s 11:00 Wednesday night here and I need to get to bed. Wednesdays are super long for me. I work at the YMCA from 9:15 - 12:15 and then I come home for lunch. I then teach from 4:30-8:30 at my classroom. On days like this all I can say is thank goodness for my slow-cooker! Tonight while I was working, it was keeping lasagna warm for me and when I got home around 8:40 this evening I was able to eat right away. I love that :) I got out for my second run this week this morning! I have also studied kanji 2 days in a row! I love the app I bought a couple of days ago. I think it will definitely help me! Ok, my eyelids are getting lower and lower so I`ve got to stop here for now... Have a great Wednesday wherever you are!

OK, maybe not quite, but fall is in my heart and on my mind! The days are still pretty hot here, but the mornings and evenings are definitely getting cooler. I love fall! I love the food... pumpkin anything, please! I love the flowers... the cosmos here are beautiful! I love how it motivates me all over again. In the summer it`s too hot to do anything, but when fall comes I feel energized again. I even started running again, ok only once so far, but I`m hoping to make it a habit again. I feel better when I go for my morning runs. I have more energy throughout the day for sure! The last couple of weeks alone in the office were pretty great. I love my coworkers and am glad they are back safely, but there`s something so relaxing about being in the office alone. I didn`t get as much done as I`d hoped, but I did get a little cleaning done while they were away. August was a lot busier than I expected it to be. Last month I wrote that one of my goals was to blog at least a little everyday...