Tatiana's Wanderings

After I showered, I went out at 1:25 on a 407 with my Asian old lady shopping cart to do some banking and go grocery shopping. The sidewalk is closed by Brighouse Station because of the loop construction, and Shoppers and Price Smart both have lineups to get inside in the name of social distancing and limiting the number of people! I got Krinos Athena salt x3 for $3 at London Drugs, where they've shut down all cash registers (I think) and two of the infernal self-checkout machines. Then I had to navigate the sidewalk closure and answer a couple of basic travel-related questions at Royal Bank before I was allowed inside to use the far ATM. Even if I knew anyone who had been outside of Canada lately, it's not like I'm seeing them!

Then I went to Price Smart, where there was also a lineup to get inside. Bought NEW No Joke / Solar Flare / Blueberry Plague / Momento de Muerte hot sauces x4 from Pepper North Artisan Foods, GOOD TASTE dumplings x5 (pork and celery / pork and chive / beef and vegetable / cabbage and chicken / cabbage and pork), on-sale Western Family regular soy sauce (carefully opening it in the store first), Maggi Kari Letup noodles, NEW Ottogi Jin Ramen Odong Tong Myon noodles in Spicy Seafood Udon flavor, Doll shrimp wonton ramen noodles, NEW Miss Vickie's Signatures Black Truffle and Parmesan chips, original Western Family chili, and Allen's Malt Vinegar x2. Plastic bags are temporarily free, while you can't bring your reusable bag inside because they're trying to stop the spread of coronavirus. After that, I left because my shopping cart was getting too heavy. I paid my Shaw bill online after getting home at 4 on a 407 and wiping things down, then went out to Price Smart again at 6:30 on a 401 whose bus driver AGAIN didn't see my cart because of the sunlight.

The lineup wasn't too bad and it moved faster at 6:40, which is fine by me. I bought NEW AG Blue Label concentrated household bleach (3.6 litres!), Puritan Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day 2021, on-sale NEW Goldfish Grahams x2 (Chocolate Brownie / Vanilla Cupcake), on-sale NEW Western Family HOT salsa x2 (which the jar opener DID work on!), NEW Oikos Hint of Banana lactose-free yogurt, Western Family prune nectar / prune juice, on-sale Charmin triple toilet paper, and NEW zinc Jamieson Vitamins x2. Of course I took advantage of the hand sanitizer at a checkout when I left the store, nodding at the masked security guard at the exit. Finally got home at 7:45 thanks to a slightly late 407, and now Paulo wants to get some of that hot sauce!


From Julie: KINDERGARTEN COP 1990 - Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina. KINDERGARTEN COP 2018 - I've got no fucking clue.




( Hot sauce galore, Smokey Mountain Spaghetti and Meatballs, AND MORE! )

* Lea D. (plop_O) from Reddit: a Christmas card

* Eric M.: Seattle Chocolates truffles in a Woodland Cheer gift box

* Jon and Harmony: Pure Nail Spa gift card and a photo card

* Christy C. (snoopdawg): a Christmas card

* Julie M. (moonshar): a Christmas card

* surprise Toasties Totes slipper socks x2 from Grandma Joan

* surprise $25 Boston Pizza gift card from Ruth

* a trip to Ontario from Steph and Lisa... two weeks!

* A Christmas card and stickers from Janina: Valentine's hearts, cupcakes, birds, flowers, robots, STAR WARS, an anchor, a steering wheel, boats, ships, fruit, ice cream, watermelon, peaches, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, green apples, and ninjas in training! SO SMART! Super job! School matters! You measure up! Looking good! School rules! WOW! So bright - discover! Great work! (pinkfloyd63)

* a Christmas card and stickers from Julie: A question mark, a football, a skull, a Rubik's Cube, dice, UK sneakers, and a shoe on a skateboard! (moonshar)

* Mom and Dad: President's Choice jalapeno cheddar popcorn, a yellow-green Roots knapsack or backpack to "replace" my reusable bags from London Drugs, two Paderno steak knives, small Cuisinart Canada scissors, a 100 Yen coin, grey Touch Gloves mittens, a Gildan black T-shirt with a golden dragon, an Asian notebook, an embossed pink rose journal, two random spiral notepads, and a zippered Doge bag which I switched out with the grey-white bag since Steph probably wouldn't care.

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 )