The Lowdown

Still plugging along...lots of paperwork to deal with and loose ends to "tie-up" in anticipation of this move to Japan in 2 short months (yikes!). Shall I share for you a smattering of the bits on our plates these days?

- we've been getting a crash course in international tax rules as observed by Canada for those residents who are not actually "residents" for a period of time. Lucky for us our tax accountant is patient and thorough.

- still trying to rent our house, 3 couples looked earlier this week but still no word. No news is good news, right?

- had to rent a P.O. Box at our downtown post office. They don't give those away, do they?

- trying to sell most of our furniture and such, plus of course my car.

- a plethora of bank-related transactions and that doesn't take into consideration all the stuff we have to deal with in regards to our mortgage and home equity...

- rented a 10x10 self-storage unit for 1 year, now I've got to start moving stuff into it...

- today went to Victoria with Miki to renew her Canadian passport.

- 2 days ago Ericka and I sent in our Canadian Citizenship applications. Our daughters are dual citizens, why not us?!

In the midst of all this hubub and controlled chaos, I realized I hadn't posted any recent photos of Sam.

818 square feet

Our new digs. A 2LKD (2 rooms, living-dining-kitchen) in Tokyo, Japan.

More Crest Apartment

A few detail shots of where we'll be moving to in March.

Thaw

Still here. Snow's melting, it's cold and blustery today; flurries are "in the air".

It's Friday, E picked up 2 recommended movies this afternoon. Miki had school at the bambini house this morning and then they went to the library. Looking forward to browsing thru her latest borrowings. Ever since the Christmas holiday Miki has taken a heightened interest in reading and her books. Characters, words and phrases surface in daily conversation and she's able to finish the last word or two from every page in almost every book! It's fun. And of course she gets to climb up on my lap in our reading chair in front of the woodstove and what papa doesn't truly enjoy that?

Can't believe there will soon be 2 clamoring for leg space!

Sam is getting her 1st immunization shots tomorrow morning. Yikes. So we've got that to look forward to this weekend. Sunday is a dinner party with another couple at our doula's home in Lantzville. In between will be lots of organizing and initial attempts at packing up for the move in March.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Kakizome

Literally, "first writing" (arigatou Flurina). Most would call it calligraphy.

In light of the upcoming move to Tokyo and all that is Japanese, we broke out a few language "teaching aids" this past holiday to begin the "brush up". (Neither of us could correctly transcribe Katakana this evening to save our lives!)

Miki wasn't all that keen until Ericka recently found her old script/writing practice kit: water-writeable paper that shows up either red or blue and a few brushes (fude). Now please understand, she was more smitten with the kit from a drawing standpoint rather than the stroke order practice it is intended for. Nonetheless, the professional language teacher inside of me is saying that it must be beneficial in some way, shape or form!

And yes, I do realize that in one of these photos Miki looks like she's somewhat gloating over the freshly killed owl, "bleeding" profusely on her paper.

Mac's Tees

For Christmas this year, Auntie Mac sent us all custom made t-shirts that she designed, stenciled and in some cases, hand-painted. Sam's is actually a onesie. They are awesome (I'm wearing mine now in fact! Thanks, Kirty) and here are a few photos of us modeling them.