Belated birthday presents rock!!!

This afternoon I came back from class to find two packages from my brother and his fiancee! I was really chuffed because I knew it was going to contain my birthday presents from them!! I opened them up to discover a lovely white top, a very funky pair of jeans and a very funky pair of black corduroy-type trousers. There were also a couple of bars of Cadbury`s chocolate and a shirt for Joey so I had a great time opening up all the treasures!!! I was especially chuffed because it is so hard for me to get clothes here in Japan. The jeans and cords fit quite well and when I shift a couple of pounds, they will fit even better!! I will have to post pictures of me wearing them in the future!!! This week has been busy but good. Joey recovered from the stomach thing and caught a cold. He had a lot of gunk coming out of his eyes so I was worried it might be conjunctivitis or something but the peadiatrician said it was just a cold. He is taking cold meds and although I was worried about him, I let D take him to Kanoya on wednesday for the night. I felt like a bad Mummy letting him go when he wasn`t feeling 100% healthy but in the end I decided to do it because after the weekend, I was desperate for a break and some time to myself. I had planned to go to bed early but in the end I headed into town and had a couple of beers at our usual bar. I always feel like a bit of a saddo going out for beer on my own and it was something I never did when I was younger but these days I have learnt that if I don`t take my opportunities to go out when I have them (even if I have to go alone) I will never get to go out!!! I always end up in interesting conversations with random people and/or the bar staff and Wednesday night was no exception!!! I think that I have started to feel a bit suffocated lately as most people see me as Joey`s Mum/ Daisuke`s wife/ their English teacher and not many people take time to get to know "the real me" as it were. (Does that sound weird?) So it is really refreshing to get out and about and just talk about random stuff with people. Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym in between classes and I had a really good work-out. I finished the "basic" programme so asked one of the trainer guys (who just happened to be tall and very sexy.. pure coincidence that I picked him to help me... honest!!!) to design a programme for me that concentrated on my stomach and bum area as those are my wobbly bits!!! The basic programme focuses too much on my arms and as Joey weighs 14.6 kilos (at his weigh-in on wednesday) and I carry him quite alot, I don`t really need so much exercise for my arms, it is my other parts that need work!!! LOL! We did a few things that really hurt but I felt alot better afterwards (although my muscles hurt today). I am hoping to try and make it to the gym more often as it seems a bit of a waste of money to only go 2-3 times a week. My class schedule changes slightly this month and I have decided to change J`s daycare around so that I get a couple of extra "me" hours on a day when the gym is open. (He always went on monday before and the gym is closed on Mondays) We will see how it works out! We have a quiet weekend planned but i also have to go and renew my driver`s license on Sunday. The whole process sounds pretty boring so wish me luck!!!