The in-laws next door...

My in-laws moved into the condo next door to us this past weekend. Actually, they only moved their futons, the dialysis machine and a couple of pots and pans. The rest is waiting until 4/15 when Sakai movers (the ones with the panda logo, as opposed to the kangaroo, black cat, or pelican logo) will move them.

At 7:45 this morning, a cheery hello rang out in the hallway as MIL unlocked the door and carried a pot of coffee in. (Ah yes, she also brought a kettle and a drip filter to the new place.) This was not entirely unexpected. Fortunately, my in-laws and I have a close relationship, which is about to be even closer. It was lovely having a built-in babysitter as I drove the big one to preschool and left the little one with Grandma.

Time to wake up the little one from his really late nap and go pick up the big one from school. Unfortunately, neither grandparent is around at the moment or I would leave him sleeping.

Taxes

Today I decided to do the double whammy of Japanese and U.S. taxes. Actually, Japanese taxes are done by your employer, so all I had to do was file some forms for Kazuya so that we can get our mortgage interest deduction next year. All in all, it was fairly painless, but it did require a trip to the city hall for a family register and a trip to the tax office to hand off the paperwork.

I wish I could say that our U.S. taxes will be so easy. I installed TurboTax today and was shocked to find out that I can't e-file our taxes if our address is overseas. Bummer. I started reading the foreign earned income credit and my first response was, "What a colossal pain in the ass." But, at least, I don't have to file out the forms in Kanji...

I decided to close TurboTax and blog instead. After all, I get an automatic two-month extension for living overseas, so why should I rush? I think I'll go clean my kitchen and eat my sandwich instead. De-nial, it's not just a river in Africa.

8:35 p.m.

The husband called to let me know that he would be very late tonight as opposed to "normal" late. I appreciated the call and I hurried the kids home from Grandma and Grandpa's just in time to watch the last two episodes of Anpanman (Bean Paste Bun Man). I fed them a delicious meal of leftover rice, nori, apple, kiwi, Grandma's fried chicken. I watched the four year-old melt down from sheer exhaustion. I scrubbed the bath tub and hit the auto-fill button. I listened to the cheery chime telling me the bath tub was filled and took stock of my children.

Oldest one is passed out in his preschool uniform on the couch. Youngest one is lining up every train, truck, automobile, etc. on the hot carpet. I asked him if he wanted to take a bath. He said no. I didn't argue, I just put the cover on the tub and I figure I'll ask again in another 10 minutes. I looked at the clock, 8:35. The little one took a late nap and will probably resist sleep for at least another hour. The big one is still passed out in spite of the fact that Tak keeps hitting the sound buttons on the trains and fire truck.

Cell phone rings at 8:45. Husband on the way home, only late, not very late. Tak now wants to take a bath. And I've successfully added to my blog. Not bad for a Tuesday evening in our happy home.

Smog

After my whirlwind tour of all shopping spots in Seattle, I'm back home in Hikari. I'm proud to say that my two bags were just under the 50 lb per piece limit. This is an accomplishment since I bought books, clothes, honey, candy, Emer-gen-c, decaf tea, etc.

Why honey? Because, in Japan, most honey comes from China, and therefore must be avoided. Yes, I have adopted the Japanese dislike for all Chinese food items. Maybe I do this because of the recent potsticker/pesticide scandal that sickened over 100 people. Maybe I do this because I look out my window and can't see the islands one mile away because of the smog from China. I could blame the local factories, but even they can't be responsible for a haze that thick.

So, I lugged back two bottles of 100% American honey. Along with half-price Valentine's candy to rot the teeth of my son's preschool classmates. Long live American capitalism.