Tatiana's Wanderings

From Julie: Lots of interesting personality tests from Individual Differences Research Labs to pass the time, all in one place!

PRODUCT WARNING: Jergen's Moisturizing Honey lotion is now banned from my apartment. The scent is way too faint for my preferences! UGH! Unscented is one thing, but this is 0.1% away from no-scent lotion!


I showered and did laundry today.


From Julie: Grant me the serenity to accept that the world is filled with assholes and fuckery that I cannot change, the courage not to be part of the assholery and fuckery, and the wisdom to know I'm the shit without shitting on others.




ALYCHIA Chan?! BAD SPELLING OF ALICIA! She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.




From Julie: Shaylen?!




From Julie: Pako W?

COFFEE TIME because of "lovely" East Coast scheduling! The Canucks played the Sabres today at 10 AM, and actually won 6-3 with a Loui Eriksson empty-netter AND two goals by Boeser! Carter Hutton hasn't had a win since October 22, 2019?!


From Julie M. and JUDGE JUDY: Nacole Koch?! BAD SPELLING OF NICOLE which reminds me of nachos and Cole Porter!




From AskReddit: Jesus Hitler de los Santos Peralta?!

Michelle Christmas is an actual Facebook person - our mutual friends include Karla and Alice. She loves HARRY POTTER, and I played Wordscraper against her once.

Have You Seen This Wizard? AZKABAN PRISON! Approach with extreme caution! Do not attempt to use magic against this man. Any information leading to the arrest of this man shall be duly rewarded. Notify immediately by owl the Ministry of Magic. Witch Watchers Dept.

The proclamations are from HARRY POTTER. PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #26: Boys and girls are not permitted to be within six inches of each other. PROCLAMATION: Educational Degree #9: Any student found in possession of sweets from unauthorized suppliers will be punished.

PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #25: Broomsticks may not be flown on school grounds unless during authorized Quidditch practice. PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #38: Non-educational toys and games are banned.

PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #24: NO MUSIC to be played during study hours. PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #23: Dolores Jane Umbridge has been appointed to the post of High Inquisitor. PROCLAMATION: Educational Decree #98: Those wishing to join the Inquisitorial Squad for extra credit may sign up at the High Inquisitor's office.

It's Friday the 13th today!

Mom and Dad wanted to come by today to pick up the "remnants" of the broken Heys suitcase - good thing I found the broken handle INSIDE said luggage before they came by this morning at 10:50 AM, since I thought I'd lost it when it wasn't anywhere on the floor nearby! Dad thought I needed to wash my hair since I wore the old Alaska sweatshirt with dandruff on it - uh, I was chilling at home and didn't need to shower till LATER! Apparently, Mom had to use the bathroom even after going at Dr. Ruby's (and apparently didn't wash her hands at my place - GROSS!) - REALLY?! She also gave me a couple of medium candy canes for the boys in a produce bag (plus chocolate almonds for me in another produce bag), but I was happy to keep them for myself since Harmony didn't want the boys to have too much sugar. Yeah, good luck with that one...

After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME and SHOWER TIME, I went out at 3 on an 401 to help with the kids. Harmony gave me some Children's Hospital Christmas cards with white envelopes, so YAY FOR THAT! I also got a card and stickers from Julie in today's mail, plus a surprising card and stickers from Janina, who deactivated her Facebook profile AGAIN a while ago. That was nice of her, though! Rishu wanted to call me anyway since I "couldn't" make it in to the boonies of Richmond, but was so late about it that I should have just taken a shower at 1 instead of 11:45! Hurry up and wait - UGH!

Got to kill a bit of time at Marine Drive Station, but just spent it online near the statue where I could get a wifi signal from Dublin Crossing pub, and got to Harmony's at about 4:30. She'd warned me about being quiet since Beckett was actually napping, and I said I'd be there soonish. The bus HAD to stop for two minutes at 41st, and then ran into rainy-day traffic crap at 20th or so... I'd rather be safe than in an accident, though! When I got in, the boys were reading a Mercy the Pig book, which I had to finish because Harmony had to tend to Beckett and the lasagna at the same time.

I read a few pages of CHINOOK CHRISTMAS - way too advanced for Ayler! - before I decided just to play with Beckett, who had just come out and was loopy. He gave me a bunch of toy balls and emotion eggs, wouldn't respond "yeah" to my questions for a bit, and just stared at me for a while. Later, he did warm up (I got a hug!) and "read" the 100 Words book, saying something that vaguely sounded like "what's that?" and pointing at a picture. Of course he knew where the balls were, but also called a kid's head a "boh-boh," which Hiero found hilarious! "HAHAHA, he called it a BALL!"

We had the aforementioned lasagna with kale and ricotta, cherry tomatoes, and grapes for dinner. Beckett was only slightly interested in this dinner, but at least did not upend his tray on the table this time. He cried and was upset, only smiling when he saw the Vitamin D bottle. No, of course we wouldn't let him overdose on them. "NA NA NA!" he said about the Rice Krispies - he also seemed to like the Advent Calendar chocolate halves that he was allowed. Beckett said ATTIE to me, so YAY! He liked giving me emotion eggs, rolling some balls, playing with the shells, trying to fit the stacking blocks together ("Na na na!" he'd say when he wanted me to take it out), and finding the balloons on the stacking blocks AND the "Christmas tree ornaments" in the boys' room. Then he was also more receptive to saying "yeah" to my questions and even grabbing some rolled balls himself. At least the baby pop-up toy still made him laugh, so YAY!

When Harmony was out of the room (having told me about location settings on my phone photos for everyone's privacy reasons - which I figured out later at the bus stop), I asked Ayler what he really thought of screen time at school. He smiled and said he liked it because "it's the opposite of what my mom wants." HAHAHA, nice! Hiero said that he knows what the "other" meaning of PEE-PEE is, and was busy giving "presents" to his mom of random toys in egg cartons and boxes. Beckett repeated some words like "wow" and "after" when he heard us say them, with "MOMMY! BECKETT SAID WOW!" as a reaction from Hiero.

Myles dropped by at 8 (when the kids were still up), only to have Ayler accuse him: "Cou-fu is stealing our lasagna!" HAHAHAHA! No, Jon just made a couple of mega-batches! Myles also managed to fix the printer, which Beckett had somehow managed to knock offline. We talked briefly and side-hugged; while Harmony was preoccupied, Ayler said he had a question for me, but I had to come over and look at the computer keyboard. Sure, why not? He just wanted to know about the very top row of Function keys - at least he knows to ask me, because his parents probably won't answer! Beckett said "Cou-fu" and "Attie" for Myles' video, which was cute. Later on at 8:30, Harmony finally let me go - I was surprised when I was home at 9:30! I did say bye to Beckett, giving him a high-five and showing him that big gold "boh-boh" at Richmond Centre. They don't need me on Tuesday because of the kids' Christmas concert, so that's just more time to do some stuff before my trip!


From Julie: When you find some weave on the road, so you make a Snowquesha! HAHAHAHAHA!




From Julie M. and her local news: Noema Alavez Perez is the mother of the missing Dulce Maria Alavez?! Her name is pronounced No-Emma, she's 19, and has a five-year-old and a three-year-old and was going to have another kid soon as of September 2019?! SHE WAS 14 AS A FIRST-TIME MOM?!




Children's Hospital Christmas cards: Let It Snow snowman and a Holiday Greetings reindeer!




( More Christmas cards and stickers! )

Harmony texted me to say that she'd booked the cleaners again at 3 on Thursday - yes, that works for me! After COFFEE TIME, I left at 3:15 on a 407 to help with the kids. I couldn't pay my bus fare by cash, so that worked for me transfer-wise. I swear I put in enough change in my pockets before I left, but the Compass Card / Ticket machine insisted that I put in 30 more cents! On the way back, it insisted I needed 20 more cents... digging out my wallet AGAIN and making sure I put in enough to satisfy the fucking thing (and getting a warning that my transaction was about to expire - FUCK YOU!) PLUS the slow as FUCK elevator made me miss the next train to Brighouse! I finally got to Marine Drive Station at the normal time, then decided to go do some shopping since I was out anyway: Samyang Buldak Topokki Fire Noodles from T and T, plus NEW limited-edition Doritos Sonic Sour Cream chips and on-sale Uncle Ben's Jasmine Rice x4 for my chili from Shoppers!

Then I managed to get the 3 Downtown bus at 4, with only five minutes left on my transfer. I have no idea how it took that long! Got to the house at 4:35, where Beckett was awake and crawled to the bathroom when I'd opened the door, wanted to play with the orange alphabet and letter board, throw the colorful maraca around (and cry when I took it away temporarily), play with the purple shell, and read with me (much to Hiero's consternation!) on my lap. Ayler was talking about growth percentiles and a chart from the hospital, and said that at Christmas, we should check to see if he was up to my chin yet even though he's close enough to 4 foot 1 to say he's that height. Haha, sounds like a plan!

We talked about the world's largest baby, voices, boundaries, rules, minestrone, lentils, whole grapes (which Beckett CAN'T EAT!), protein, beans, iron, expensive sourdough bread, Beckett throwing food around (but he eats more for Jon!), Halloween costume ideas, a heavy bag of stuff from Mom, the Buzzer / the West Coast Express, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, bus timetables, the cleaners, school friends, and the Pig / Elephant library books. I didn't mind if Beckett wanted to read, but I carried him away from certain things: the mat is safe, but not the kitchen! Maybe I'll get Ayler a kiddy version of the Guinness Book of World Records or something.

Harmony let me leave at 7:10, and I only managed to get the 3 Main because a random girl told the bus driver to hold on at the bus stop, so I thanked her and the bus driver in turn. My trip to the station also happened to be free since I was only carrying cash! When I got to Marine Drive Station, I took advantage of the statue and saw what Mom and Dad had randomly given me. UGH, CAST IRON?! I offloaded the skillet and pan right there; I didn't care what others thought! After taking advantage of the wi-fi for a bit, I was finally able to take a Brighouse train, no thanks to the aforementioned stupid machine and slow elevator! I was only just able to get the 407 at Brighouse because of a lineup, despite the slow people using the elevator and fare gates... I finally got home at 8:35. The Canucks played the Red Wings today at 4:30, and won 5-2!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: A small iron skillet, a tiny cast iron pan, 900g of No Name spaghettini, and 425mL of Bullseye bold original barbecue sauce. No wonder it was so heavy and I could barely walk at my normal speed!


Uncle Ben's Jasmine Rice!




900g of No Name spaghettini - YAY!




Bullseye bold original barbecue sauce!




From Cuya's Discord server: Pepperidge Farm pumpkin spice cheesecake cookies in a limited edition for Halloween 2019?!




From Julie: Skull with Dragon by Ashland! BLACK DRAGON!




From Dragons: Halloween orange dragon with bats, a tree, and jack o'lanterns!