A historic laundry day.

Reached another stage with the laundry.
(Can't believe this topic obsesses me....)


Last night I put all Okaasan's pants (about 20 pairs) and some pajamas in a neat pile and walked into her room and gave them to her.
"Here you are Okaasan! Your laundry! It was drying upstairs. It's hard to wash all of this by hand isn't it!"


Triggered off a volley of "thankyous" from her...and I smiled and left. She sorted through the pants a bit and later took them in her laundry hoarding room. Probably put them straight back in one of the two baskets she uses for dirty stuff...


It IS time. Now with winter and Okaasan not going out for days on end - waiting for a chance to sneak in and remove/return laundry is hard. I've been keeping it at the top of the stairs...and when I hear her going to the toilet I grab some and rush down and throw it onto her sofa with all the other jumbled up clothes.


But. Time to "man up" to this situation and be more direct.
Yes, I come into your room. Yes, I wash some of your laundry. It's hard for you to do all of it. I am helping you.
Not that we had this conversation this time, she didn't debate the point of WHY I had her laundry...this time. But if she does, I'm gonna be as direct as possible. Helping you. We are helping you. I am sure she knows we come into her room and remove laundry, and on some level accepts it. I am hoping! :-)




If we get past this point of US doing her laundry we can maybe progress to going into her room with a laundry basket and asking her to put stuff in it once a week. That would be great. An end to the laundry sneaking.


And in other news...


It is almost certain that one of my Japanese-sisters IS moving to live about 10 minutes away from here in January, with her husband and new baby. They have checked out an apartment near the local station here and are talking a mid-January move.
I'm SO SO delighted. For me of course! I will have a close friend right here nearby. I will get to see her regularly in her new role as mum. I can vent to her about Okaasan...and as she has public health nursing experience...get a semi-professional opinion about Okaasan....
But beyond all that I am looking forward to ambles in the park with the pram...exploring my city with her (and pram)....and spending much more time with one of my favorite Japanese ladies. Years ago we shared an apartment in Saitama....years ago when we were single and carefree....


And...in other news...I treated myself to Christmas lights.....one of my neighbours has some and I liked them...so....it was bloody freezing work to put them up...and the supports of old ski poles etc don't look so pretty in daylight...but at night....ahhhhhhhhh!!!!