Tatiana's Wanderings

Ayler called me at 5:25 today, telling me that he's the scooter master, and Hiero is the bike master. He says that they're in an elementary school reading program with badges for quizzes / reading books. Since he has more words than Hiero, so he can do more phone calls for the duration of the pandemic - I agreed that his vocabulary is better. They're having jook / congee for dinner tonight, and I said I would be having dumplings at some point. Hiero got on the phone and seemed enthusiastic about dumplings, saying they'd had them once. I said they could ask their dad to cook some one night if they wanted more. They were outside, but did do their distancing! It doesn't matter to me if they call me at 7 PM once so I can hear their neighbor's O CANADA, haha.

We discussed face masks, goat meat, chicken, pork, beef, lamb, and their nachos with ground beef / jalapeno peppers and optional salsa / guacamole / sour cream. (or vegetarian) Cheese makes it better, he says! For their burritos, Ayler loves salsa. I got to hear Beckett say "Auntie" and "Leslie" (which isn't a guarantee) - so cute! Beckett still knows what I look like because of his baby book. Hiero told me about their train track setup, and Ayler took over to tell me that he might not be able to keep track of the minutes and seconds of our phone call, and that I was lucky that there was no 30-minute time limit. He can call people before dinner, depending on when it is. "I have two people to call today - I had three, but already called one." Interesting kids, for sure! "Keep in touch and don't lose friends in Covid-19 / coronavirus," he says. I AGREE!


From the V4F Discord server and Twitter: In Chapter 1 of JRPGs, you find a lost kitty. In the final chapter, you kill God.




Hungry-Man XL Bowl: Chicken Croquettes!




Old Dutch baked pretzels mini-twists for National Pretzel Day today on April 25!




Miniso disposable face mask test against the coronavirus.

Ayler called at 6:05 to play me a seven-minute MINUET IN G and say he was making apple pie. He also asked what was "that noise" - it's called YOUTHFUL ANTHEM from MOTHER 3!


From Matt: Homestar Runner Wiki has these funny coronavirus-themed logos! Here's a sick Homestar with a thermometer!




I got this buffering black blank Youtube screen a couple of weeks ago!




From Julie: Cece Moore?!

I discovered redrum this morning - UGH! It's -7 and feels like -14!


Fresh snow dump from last night at 10 PM:




( SNOW! )


From Reddit and r/UnresolvedMysteries: Caitlan Coleman?! BAD SPELLING OF KAITLIN OR CAITLIN!




From The Onett Times: Saturnbucks Coffee from Saturn Valley!




From Chuggaaconroy: Mr. Saturn says this to the EARTHBOUND party after you rescue the Mr. Saturns from Master Belch. "Oh, tease you! I have no something."

I was barely awake or coherent this morning, and snarked at a few people about their assumption that EVERYONE has Thanksgiving today. Also added Kate to Hangouts - she thought that Mike's email address was hilarious! Facebook was also down this morning, and now I can't seem to tag anyone! UGH!


From Reddit on June 8, 2019: No, TheOnlyChoco, we do not refer to toothbrush bristles as BRUSSELS. Are you five years old?!




Captain Strong lecturing Ness at the Onett police station in EARTHBOUND: "At times like this, kids like you should be playing Nintendo games."

It's National Punctuation Day today... MY FAVORITE! After COFFEE TIME, I had to leave at 2 on a 401 and then a 410 (which I just got to on time, no thanks to idiots blocking my path on the sidewalk) for my appointment with Dr. Ruby before I helped with the kids. That was uncomfortable - I also saw a professional Audrey. Also, I had to buy more NEW Beehive Burst Peppermint lip balm at the Dollar Tree since there was no photo online that I could find, so I had to take my own photo. (I had ripped mine open last week before I figured this out...) I was there on time, but STILL had to wait 20 minutes to be seen! UGH! I should have gone to Dollar Tree before rather than after! Then I tried to speedwalk over to Lansdowne station a block and a half away, and just missed a Waterfront train thanks to these two slow ladies on the elevator going down.

When I got to Marine Drive station, I definitely needed a snack, so I went to Tim Horton's. Luckily, there was no lineup, so I got a non-sticky cheese tea biscuit and then got out of there to find that a wheelchair wanted to get on the 3 as well. Then a stroller wanted to get on - at least this one contained a fairly curious kid who growled and made various noises, unlike the other stroller who got on after that one left! After another delay caused by the driver stopping in the middle of the road for five minutes to check an alarm that was going off, I finally got to Mount Pleasant at about 4:20 when I could have been there at 4:05! Too many delays! Yeah, I used Term to complain to via text, haha.

Inside, Penny was just finishing up speech therapy while Beckett was failing at napping again. Almost right after Penny left, it was off to the park across the street because Harmony wanted to walk Beckett around the playground to see if he'd nap then. Spoiler alert: He did not. Ayler asked if I wanted to play tag or Manhunt - no, because I had run out of energy and was like a car which had run out of gas. Hiero asked why I walked how I did, so maybe Jon and Harmony should talk to him about it at some point. Once we got home again after more promises of consequences, I got to play with Beckett for a bit. He liked the baby pop-up toy because it made him laugh more than usual, wanted me to shake my head a lot because it was funny, liked PEEK-A-BOO as per Hiero, tried eating my DRAGON HOODIE strings again, and climbed on me a few times. (he did pull Hiero's hair, though!)

At the same time, Hiero was trying to show me his origami. Blowing up squares to make huge boxes, oh my! Later, I stayed close as Beckett crawled on the couch despite Ayler telling me not to let him do it. Well, you're doing and completing a HUGE connect-the-dots puzzle, so I'll do what I want while keeping Beckett safe in my own way, including trying to put on one of his missing socks. We had salmon, congee, Chinese chicken soup, meatballs with ketchup and barbecue sauce, some veggies, and ridiculous amounts of shredded pork. Then we talked about whether Jon had been shot today at the Downtown Eastside (he was fine and didn't have to lie on the floor as per Hiero's question), why people shoot at each other ("because some people think that the best way to resolve their problems is with guns" and "that's why we don't joke about guns"), my Cactus Club birthday dinner, Ayler seeing Brooke early this morning ("how do you know?"), Hiero doing flips and gymnastics in the elevator earlier and being injured, and how much everyone in the family could eat compared to each other.

After I washed dishes for a bit, I read to Hiero about Optimus Prime and the Decepticons, then listened to Ayler play a boogie on the piano before listening to him read a Level 2 story about polar bears. Sure I had to help him with some words, but that's normal. I left at 7:20, but couldn't get a 3 bus till 7:40 thanks to a couple of buses being out of service! I missed a Brighouse train by five minutes, and JUST managed to get a 407 at Brighouse, no thanks to people blocking my path where I was going to run to the front door of the bus. Do I really have to shove my way past other people all the time to get where I'm going in a timely fashion?! I got home at 8:35, checked my mail, and found Julie's birthday card plus random stuff - yay!


Random stuff: Nathan returning the OUTLANDER novel to me, six packs of Compliments Safeway brand spicy chicken instant noodles, and yet another pair of reading glasses. Good thing I didn't buy the Jergens lotion today because of all the walking I had to do, AND the utter weight of the 650-page paperback book!


From WINGS Restaurants and Pubs: Pumpkin spice chicken wings for fall 2019?! BLEH!




( Peppermint lip balm, birthday swag, Compliments instant noodles, a bunny, construction workers looking out for the baby rabbits, doughnut drawing at the hospital bus stop, Polestar planner )