Tatiana's Wanderings

Jon sent me a Facebook message at 8:50 AM to wonder if I could come over at 2:15 today instead because Harmony had to pick up Hiero from school and actually wanted to be on time, and Ayler wasn't feeling well. I assumed I had to hold down the fort there, especially when he called a few minutes later after I'd already sent my reply to ask if they were puking or loopy, so I agreed. Then Barry left me a voicemail, but I delete those, so I called him back to find out that he wanted to move grocery shopping to Thursday instead of tomorrow. What did they do - leave the messages and then run away within two seconds?! Sheesh!

Later, I had some New England Clam Chowder today for National New England Clam Chowder Day, right when Harmony sent me a text wondering if I could come slightly earlier. That's on the buses, not on me! After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 1 on an 401 to help with the kids, just missing the early C94 and the early 407. The 3 was seven minutes LATE at Marine Drive Station! GEEZ! I finally got to Jon's at 2:15 - so much for shortly BEFORE that time! At least there were no random two-minute stops along the route, wheelchair / stroller delays, or elevator shenanigans today!

When I got there, Harmony and Beckett left within five minutes, but Beckett did show me his Gorilla Munch cereal, which were indeed balls! He also showed me a huge yellow Blockbuster chip bowl and the blue tub, which he had fun with later. It was good to have some time alone with Ayler, who thinks that I won't get what he has because his dad said so. Haha, I wish germs and viruses worked that way! We talked about Fraser, Henry, racetracks, the school secretary, no nurses at the school, Harmony just driving to the school today (walking 30 blocks in the rain with a toddler in a carrier?!), my phone photos and calculating how many seconds were in a year by using the Calculator app, hand sanitizer, texting, oranges, what it meant when you vomited, water, and reading some children's Bible stories like the Good Samaritan / the Feeding of the 5000 with fish and loaves / Daniel in the lion's den. He wanted to teach Beckett about word patterns and especially the word "gun" since Beckett will repeat anything. Uncle Joe has taught him "hit your butt!" in Cantonese since it's funny.

Everyone else came home at 3:40 (thus ending our freedom to talk), and Beckett had fun with his toys and plopping into my lap to "read" the summertime book and the Christmas piano book cover because he saw "balls" (ornaments) on there. No wonder the piano had wings - there was Santa in his sleigh, too! I gave Hiero his birthday card, which he seemed to like - he also was enamored with the Creature toy I'd given him on Sunday. Hiero opened all the rest of his birthday presents - turned out that Mom had forgotten to write in the birthday card she gave him, but had also given them a pack of Ontrue seaweed in the regular flavor! He also got at least four Lego sets, a PAW PATROL puzzle set, a science toy, and Rain or Shine ice cream gift cards! His friend Leanne gave him three gifts - WOW! Beckett stood on top of a puzzle box (and wanted some grey robot toys - saying "MINE!" when they were Hiero's), and I accidentally squished the Lego STAR WARS box.

We had peas and macaroni in soup with some grapes, cherry tomatoes, and sticky rice while discussing last week's snow and other things. Ayler said the soup was salty, but it really wasn't - it was really bland and just what you might want if you were sick with tummy upset. Beckett threw cheese and some other things on the floor, but liked his cereal as usual - and smiled BIG for the Vitamin D tablets! I had some leftover cheesecake while the kids had some orange Jello which was rather liquidy in consistency! Hiero did some "home reading" with me - but I had to sound out words and make sure he knew what was going on. Beckett and I played with balls, the stacking blocks ("doggy!"), and the toy train which can zoom on the wooden floor. When I showed him my doggy slipper socks from Grandma Joan, he sniffed them and played around with the "ears" - silly kid!

Just as I was about to leave at 7:25 (with Beckett saying "BYE BYE!" in a serious manner a few times), Ayler vomited on the bathroom floor and surrounding floor area! Yes, I could stay even later because that had happened and Harmony had to do clean-up. She barricaded the area with a garbage can and laundry basket, while I made sure Beckett stayed on the mat. That meant he could read even more, relax with the blanket, look out the window at the lights, and call the new 3-D Glowing Planets "boh-boh"! When Hiero took things like the action figures away from Beckett, he cried - so of course I gave him some hugs and told him that his brother was terrible! Lately, Beckett has learned the word "help" and is using it in the proper context instead of just pointing at things and vocalizing - good job! He usually needs it to get balls out from under the couch, or to get balls out from small boxes and blocks!

Turns out Ayler requested that I stay to watch him eat his banana and drink some water while Harmony bathed everyone else. Sure, why not? We talked about applesauce, tuna NOT being part of the BRAT diet, the school having a janitor / custodian at least, my opinion that he should probably stay home, math, "my baby" being Beckett, Beckett's talking in his sleep (to say "please" and other simple words), and more things. I finally left at 8:10 (encountering an Evo driver who liked driving on the sidewalk...) and got home at 9:35 on a 407. PHEW! Extended Nephew Time on BOTH ends of the time spectrum!


Campbell's clam chowder and a Nature Valley granola bar for National New England Clam Chowder Day and National Granola Bar Day!




From Julie M. and Etsy: A dragon agate necklace!




VIGOROUS DRAGON AND LIVELY TIGER artwork at the hospital across the street - YAY FOR DRAGONS!




VIGOROUS DRAGON AND LIVELY TIGER, by Shirley Chiang, donated in 2015!




From Dragons: A red dragon with piles of books in a castle! INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 2:40 on a 401 to a sick Jeremy's for Jon's birthday dinner since Eric could give me a ride home after UBC hockey and helping in the kitchen. I bought on-sale Knorr Sidekicks in Chicken and Broccoli rice and pasta / Homestyle Cheddar / Chicken Fried Rice, some high-visibility fluorescent yellow-green stickers and slap bracelet straps from Dollar Land (FINALLY!), some 100 mL Vaseline lotion in the yellow tube for Ontario from Shoppers Drug Mart, and a small bag of NEW on-sale Takis Outlaw snacks from Buy-Low for the Gwei-Lo at Kingsgate Mall since I got there at 3:20. I managed to get to Jeremy's at 4:35 after cutting through Dude Chilling Park, and Ayler wasn't even there yet to lock me out like he did last year! Eric sent me a text while I was there to ask if I was here yet... crazy! I did give him his Windel Advent calendar and Delecto dark chocolate assortment, and gave Jeremy his Windel Advent calendar too.

The kids got there a while later; Harmony said she was glad I was there already because then I could help her watch Beckett and take him from Jesse later on when he needed a break. Yeah, I let him look at the big screen for a minute - that's not going to get him addicted! Jeremy said there were some unsafe things for babies behind the chairs - yes, I could see wires! Beckett toddled around and wanted to turn off the computer, which Ayler thought was a touchscreen again. I let Beckett touch my fuzzy purple Alia winter coat, go up on the couch (but NOT touch the Japanese painting), hold my hands as he walked around, spout gibberish about the glass table (he can see the carpet!) and point at the lights and new things, and give me all the beer coasters a few times over.

Yes, he could throw those around if he wanted to, but NOT the candles or anything else! NOT SUITABLE PROJECTILES! He was also eventually curious about Jeremy's beard, like Ayler and Hiero had been. Ayler was smart and knew that I would have Advent calendars for them. He has a bonus dragon book since HE is a DRAGON too! The Santa stuffed dog was in my bag later when I got home, but I can give it to Beckett before my trip. Hiero wanted to be Batman or Superman in front of everyone.

I was civil and polite to Raymond when he was in the way and admiring Jeremy's bookshelf while I wanted to get my UTHER book from my bag to show Trish later, and also when I handed him some dishes that needed to be washed. Caught up with Caleb (I saw his uncle William recently!), Becky, Alice, Jeremy, Randal, Jesse, Trish, Lanie, and Christon for sure. (Ayler's math prowess / the Japanese soldier who refused to surrender until his commanding officer said so / my upcoming trip / writing / Jacob's Well / SERVANTS / the Spain honeymoon / buying a new place and moving / a rice cooker / the microwave / Jeremy seeing Steph in the newspaper as a random RCMP officer and confirming with Jon)

I met Jon's friend Mallory, noticed that his friend Jay had a "scent" about him, and "met" his friends Chris and Mallory. Since we all had to leave an hour or so earlier because Jeremy was feeling under the weather (bad timing as he got sick from his co-workers yesterday!), Eric and I actually left at 9 or so! We talked about gluten-free ice cream sandwiches being good for his mom and brother, his staying home at Christmas, FIRE EMBLEM, and a raccoon being outside near the dumpster when we got to my place at 9:30. (it was a milk jug...)


Trappiste Rochefort beer!




Santa's Sac beer, haha!




( Food and safety and more! )

Today is Left-Handers Day!


From Julie M. and Etsy: A copper dragon brooch with garnet eyes! Also, "MATALLIC" is BAD SPELLING!




DRAGON HAT!




From Ryan B. and Crazy Skull: FIRE DRAGON HOODIE!

After COFFEE TIME and getting some free NRG Detox Iaso tea samples from Shane in today's mail (yay for bubble-wrap envelopes!), I went out at 2 on a 414 to see Rachel at the Caring Place. We called Shaw and I managed to get my bill lowered by about $50 per month for two years in a row! I'll also get a new cable box and some other things next Wednesday when the technician comes by in the late morning or early afternoon. I killed time by taking advantage of the wi-fi there, in Richmond Centre, and outside Waves Coffee. Texted Paulo, talked to James about food, sent Mike a quick Hangouts message, and generally kept in touch with people. Someone in the V4F Discord server mentioned coffee, so I decided to check the London Drugs website to see whether the tall canisters were on sale - SCORE! I bought a NESCAFÉ instant coffee canister (October 1, 2018) for $10.99 instead of $14.99, plus NEW Late July bacon habanero tortilla chips.

Later, I met Frances for dinner at Pho Han after walking from Richmond Centre to Lansdowne and then taking the 410. Well, she offered to pick me up somewhere near Aberdeen Station around 6 since the restaurant is in one of those little plazas on Capstan Way. It was definitely out of the way, that's for sure! We talked about VCEFC people, my mom calling me for something which turned out to be an "invite" to one of Dad's VOS opera choir concerts tomorrow evening (I never check WhatsApp and she might as well just TELL ME WHAT IT IS ON THE PHONE), Ellen, Facebook, my malfunctioning microwave, her mother and dementia, my spicy pork blood soup, her spring rolls and grilled chicken, her paying for the meal (wow!) and dropping me off later, her brothers, and autism. I guess Mom will pick me up at 5 tomorrow from the courtyard with another bag or two of random stuff before we go for wonton mein or something.

It was good, but I am still glad to be home. I should have gotten her to stand around while I looked at microwaves in London Drugs since I have more than $150 cash in my wallet, but that's probably not what she had in mind when she said "grocery shopping." I just emailed white Eric to see if he can do it and then recycle the old one - then maybe I can give the Danby Designers 700-watt one to Paulo if and when that ends up happening.


Alprentice Von Slatten?!




From Julie: Cardi B has a daughter named KULTURE?! Bad spelling of Culture, not that this is a good name if spelled correctly...




NEW Late July bacon habanero tortilla chips!