Yes, I know

Yes, a lot of you are asking me "Where are those Japan photos?" and furthermore wondering when I'm going to finish writing up our trip. Believe me, I *am* hearing you (ahem, LAURA) and am working on getting those pictures up on Flickr. And I have been doing some stuff other than sitting here hunched over my keyboard cackling maniacally as I continue to withhold those Japan photos from Laura and other people who are reading this blog.

So here's what I (and the rest of my family) have been doing.

Calum had a very noisy and successful birthday party at the indoor playground. I somehow managed to escape without a migraine headache, and I think the guests had a great time because I didn't really see much of them; they were too busy running around screaming and having fun.

We got Megan's friend Lysa (who said it was OK for me to call her Lysa here, rather than L, which is the name of a somewhat famous anime character) moved in and, I hope, settled into our home. She and Megan are sharing a room, and we needed to make some space in that infamous pit of doom so that another person could comfortably live there. The addition of a bunk bed, some extra storage and lighting have helped. (In case you are wondering why we suddenly have an extra kid - it's a long story, but for a lot of reasons it made sense for us to invite Lysa to move in with us for the summer. She's currently job hunting and spending some time enjoying the classic Nintendo games available on the Wii shopping channel.) We'll see how things work out for them once the novelty of bunking together has worn off; Megan may finally be forced to pick up after herself to help keep the peace around here!

Our smallest family member, Shouga the hamster, has had a problem with one of his feet for a while - it has been swollen and scabbed over, so we've been trying to get that fixed while also financing an addition to the veterinarian's summer home, or maybe helping to make payments on her new car, or something like that (judging from the prices they charge over there). Last Friday we decided to try surgery on the foot, because a biopsy done while we were away showed a strong possibility of cancer cells which could have meant a tumor in the foot. (Many thanks to Betty, again, for taking Shouga to see his veterinarian during our trip!) Fortunately once they had a look there was no tumor present, but we're still trying to figure out exactly why this little guy (who is otherwise robust and VERY active) has a sore, swollen foot. If you are inclined to do so, please send lots of good thoughts Shouga's way; during his short life so far, he has brought a great deal of happiness into our family, and we all adore his cute little face, his tiny paws and perky ears, so we'd like him to stick around for a long time to enjoy all the treats we bring his way.



Calum's had a bit of a rough time readjusting to the routine at school since we got back home, and so I agreed to accompany his class on a field trip to see an IMAX movie in case he was unable to behave himself outside of the classroom. By a stroke of luck, I got assigned two other extremely boisterous little boys as well as my own, and I got to supervise them as we took a bus and the skytrain to downtown Vancouver. Let me just say that, as delightful as Calum and his classmates are, I'm very grateful that there are no more field trips planned for this school year.

Meanwhile, my summer plans are shaping up - I want to get this place organized and that means a ton of decluttering. I'm also getting started on a major sewing spree, since I have a bunch of cool Japanese fabric to sew with. I found some online tutorials for sewing bags, purses and messenger bags, I have a box full of Christmas fabric to sew reusable gift bags for a friend who hates wrapping paper as much as I do, and of course we have our usual list of costumes to make for the next anime convention.

Anyways, all this does not mean I won't post more about our trip! We have such great memories to share still.