Tatiana's Wanderings

I went out at 11:55 to go to Canadian Tire so I could get another Starfrit jar opener (Aisle 54 - had to get an employee to help me grab it) and 20 face masks for $20. I always overshoot the 410 station - I SHOULD GET OFF AT ABERDEEN, NOT HAZELBRIDGE! I texted Barry about payday, and he called me when I was outside Canadian Tire - yeah, I thought I'd have to do it myself again! Then I peeked inside Yaohan - there was a lineup either for Osaka Supermarket or a temperature check service. My last stop was London Drugs: All Clean Natural lemon-mint spray hand sanitizer x2 (no limit), Scrubbing Bubbles, London Naturals orange cleaner, NEW Microban 24-Hour bathroom spray x2 in Fresh and Citrus scents, and portable Wet Ones x2. Got home at 2:10 on a 407, too.


Microban 24-Hour Fresh bathroom disinfectant spray!




( Coronavirus life and products! )

I reminded Chinese Eric that we could text each other while the coronavirus pandemic is going on, especially since he has lupus and is automatically at a higher risk. He seemed to agree, texting back "yesyes! :D Won't come over till playoffs or 2020-2021 season!" Gotta love good friends!


Knorr Parmesan Pesto Sidekicks!




Vifon beef instant noodles with some Czech! Instantna Rezancova Polievka or Instantni Nudlova Polevka s Prichuti Hovezi.




Fireball whiskey at 1 PM? Why not...




Knorr Butter and Herb Sidekicks!

Ayler and Hiero surprisingly called me at 10:20 AM, which is how I discovered that my phone was still on from last night, but that was a good thing in this case! This time, I was prepared with the light on AND my reading glasses very nearby! They wanted to call since we only talked for a very short time yesterday - I said that was nice and thanked them! We discussed a 300-piece Thomas Ravensburger puzzle, Hiero building something, Ayler playing a long piano piece for me, Ayler thinking that Beckett misses me (he probably doesn't understand why I can't come and play), Beckett saying "Goo Mah / Auntie / Yeah" into the phone, and Ayler wanting to play piano a lot. He doesn't want to disturb the downstairs neighbors, so I reminded him about the soft pedal. When they asked me what I ate for breakfast, I lied and said "oatmeal and a granola bar" as I hadn't eaten yet. Turns out they "also" had oatmeal, haha! Good choice!

I reminded Ayler to protect Beckett when he goes on the couch by either blocking him or holding his hands. He said that they play with the red and yellow stuffed dragon, asked me if I knew what "Didibug" and "Didibop" were (interesting - LADYBUG!), and said that they go outside instead of going to church. Hiero wanted Beckett to repeat "John Horgan / Kennedy Stewart / Justin Trudeau" for me, but no dice! Beckett just said my name into the phone, which is good. Harmony asked how I was doing, so I told her about Pathways closing because of the coronavirus pandemic. I also asked about her parents, who are both being cautious. Told her that Dad had texted me asking about my food situation - I was like "NO, DON'T COME HERE!" Harmony said that Mom was more upset about missing the sales than the special senior hour for grocery shopping, of course! That was interesting and good to talk to them.


Mathias Jakshitz and Theressa Jakshitz have a tombstone?!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND 2020, EVERYONE! NEW YEAR, NEW DECADE!





FINALLY HOME AFTER A FLIGHT! I left the house with Steph after thumping my suitcase up the stairs from the guestroom, hugged the kids, and Steph noticed Havarti was sad because she knows what a suitcase means. We drove 45 minutes to the airport; why WOULD she take a $20 or $30 toll road to save one minute?! I hugged her goodbye, then got selected for a pat-down because I accidentally left my phone in my pocket. UGH! At least a kind employee got me a zoomer to go all the way to my YYZ gate after the elevator! The flight itself was uneventful - I was seated in front with the babies and children, but played with my new friend, the year-old baby boy next to me.

White Eric picked me up as advertised after I landed at 2 today. Wow, time change! Haha. I had to walk the length and breadth of YVR because the outside exit for domestic arrivals was all the way at the front. Sweating for sure! I was home by 3, and everything seemed okay, but THE MICE MANAGED TO CHEW THROUGH THE STEEL WOOL IN THE BATHROOM?! YUCK!


At 12 AM the night before New Year's Eve, it will be Ramones time. It will be 2020, 24 hours to go. I wanna be sedated!




From The Onett Times: Happy Blue Year!




From Not Always Right: Dilbert says, "I have now officially lost all faith in human intelligence."




Quandae Shanoah Stewart?!




( ONTARIO TRIP! )

After a shower in the afternoon, I left at 5:05 on a 407 to get to Marine Drive by about 5:30. Since the liquor store was right next door to Dublin Crossing Pub, I went there to select my Halloween 2019 beer for this season: Phillips Crookeder Ale it was! Steve took me to the meetup table - he knew what I meant by that phrase, hah! I saw Laura again, and met Jeff / Teri / a very late Evelyn. Later, I told Steve that Nate told me that he hadn't responded to some drunken nonsense from the weekend, but Steve IS busy at (not "in") work!

We talked about TORCHLIGHT, APEX, game screenshots, "electric poop," Always changing their pad packaging to appeal to trans and "non-binary" people (really?!), Michelle's love life, Brian coming to fix Laura's dresser tomorrow, Winners being upstairs, moving to a smaller table (damn high stools!), Laura's niece, my nephews, work, and other things. Then we all left at 8:20 - Laura and Teri went to Winners while Jeff happened to be going to the station as well, but he was heading to Broadway in the opposite direction! I was home at 9:05 on a 407, but I really should have left at 8 to be home half an hour earlier like I was yesterday! At least the Compass Card machines cooperated tonight...


NOTE TO SELF: According to Dan, I should have the Yorkshire Pudding and Tullamore whiskey (Johnnie Walker Black sample?) next time I'm here. Maybe I'll remember if I write it down here, haha...


Steak and whiskey prawns! Grilled 8-ounce AAA Canadian top sirloin served with sautèed seasonal vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes.




Jameson shot time: Marmalade and fudge, madeira, and a little cut grass note!




Halloween 2019 ale from the liquor store next door to the pub: Phillips Crookeder Tooth pumpkin ale, and Phillips Crooked Tooth pumpkin ale!

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 )