Tatiana's Wanderings

Took a shower tonight and noted that this foliage shower curtain seems to be doing its job right now. It seems to have more coverage area than the old Splash shower curtain, so that's good. There was a lot of noise right outside my window around 6:50 PM - unmarked police cars, marked police cars, sirens, and ambulances! TOTALLY unconnected to the 7 PM cheer for medical workers since that hasn't happened around here!


For April Fools Day 2020, I was Dragon Teacher GranmaFlam in Shiwa's Discord server!




Happy birthday 4: Chocolate cake with candles, holly, and stars!




From Janet on LJ, AKA ghost_light: Batman Happy Birthday! Eric M. and Nathan would like this!




From Michelle and the V4F Discord server: Jerimy?! BAD SPELLING OF JEREMY!




Thank goodness it's raining again... my mud was getting dehydrated. *rolleyes*

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!

IT'S WORLD TOILET DAY TODAY! After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME, I went out at 3 on a 401 to help with the kids. I had a bit of time to finish Jon's birthday card with a Sprite and Coke, nacho / pizza Goldfish since Beckett can eat those, one limited-edition Kinder Bueno chocolate bar, the Caramilk bar and a half, and NEW $2 Weinrich's Porta chocolate bars x4! (Peppermint / Raspberry / Blueberry / Strawberry) Got to the house at the usual time, no thanks to a couple of delays like a bike and crowds! Harmony was trying to get Beckett to sleep in his carrier, but Ayler and Hiero seemed enthusiastic to show me their "new" magic trick set. They even told me how things worked! Magic wands, haha!

I read a book and a half to Ayler as he sat in my lap - Mr. Watson and his pig Mercy. OH MY! He seemed to like some of the funny drawings, anyway. Later, Beckett did wake up, so we played for a bit before eating dinner. He did like the green balloons from Kids Physio, batting them around the room. I didn't care if he played the piano, but had to watch that he didn't close the piano or rip Ayler's music books! Ayler said that Jon was tired of buying new books, so he had to keep those ones in good condition. Sounds reasonable to me! I managed to open the Blue Diamond wasabi and soy sauce almonds while I was at the house (thinking I'd get Ayler to help me instead), so since he asked what they were, I fed him one. He seemed okay with it.

We had soup, jap chae (Korean glass noodles), chicken legs, dumplings, and yogurt for dinner. When Harmony gave him Goldfish, Beckett wanted the "newer" ones inside the Ziploc bag, although the ones on the table were the same thing! ("NA NA NA NAAAAAAA!") We also wouldn't let him overdose on Dewdrops, which made him upset. I think he's entering the stage where he just wants to be with Harmony a lot because every time she left to do something or take care of the older boys, he also was upset and crying. Of course I hugged and safely kissed him anyway, though! He wanted to look out the window and spout gibberish at me about whatever he saw out across the street, and pointed at the lights.

I told Harmony that yes, I was excited for my Ontario trip. Then I asked whether Jon's birthday restaurant on Sunday was in Burnaby again like last year. Apparently, Do Chay Vegetarian Vietnamese Restaurant is on Kingsway and Knight, and we'll be going there on Monday since it's Jon's actual birthday. Yes, I did see the part of the email exchange where Mom said that we could just save Jon some food if he couldn't make it, and Jon's response that he would actually like to be there at his own birthday dinner! HAHAHA!

Beckett can say "yeah" and "goh-goh" (comes out as "gah-gah" these days), and did say YEH-YEH for the first time the other day. So then I pointed to myself and asked him if I had a name! Reasonable question, even if he may not understand it! When I was leaving at 8, he pointed to me, so Harmony told him what was going on. I guess I'll see her either on Sunday at Jeremy's or Monday at the restaurant in the afternoon. She has to go there after work, so she definitely hopes the buses are still running for both of us! (Mom only mentioned HER in the email...) The Canucks played the Stars today at 5:30, and lost 6-1?! Luckily, I got home at 9 on a 407.


Random stuff from Mom and Dad inside a produce bag: Two extremely old and very used orthopedic shoe inserts (wouldn't be surprised if they were from my childhood...), a 175g bag of Nosh & Co soft chewy mints, a Colgate Extra Clean toothbrush, a regular 100mL tube of Cavity Protection Crest toothpaste, 400g of Campside strawberry Twisties marshmallows, and a Knorr Fettuccine Alfredo Sidekicks package that expires in July 2020.


From AskReddit: Mike Litterst?!

After DOUBLE COFFEE TIME, I went out at 4:10 on a 407 for Dad's belated 70th birthday dinner at Kwong Chow. I got a text from Jon saying that dinner was at 5:30 and they were at Granville Island (I'd already said I would be at Save-On), so I bought more (on-sale or NEW) Stagg Chili (Dynamite Hot / Southwest Chicken style) and Western Family things since Mom and Dad would be giving me a ride home anyway. Whole mushrooms, mushroom pieces and stems, hot chili con carne, original chili con carne, liquid honey, lemon juice, grated Italian Parmesan cheese, and beef / vegetable / chicken instant noodles! I still managed to get to the restaurant on time: Mom was already there and wanted me to call Jon to see if they'd left home yet. Luckily, I already knew their true whereabouts, and also knew that texting was easier than having to find a place to take a call. I always delete her voicemails, anyway. Too inconvenient...

They got to the restaurant soon enough (but not soon enough for Mom), and we ordered a while after that. Discussed the restaurant's plastic bowls NOT being for the congee (Mom...), my "stealing" an extra plate from the dish pile for Jon (which caused one of the kids to say that stealing is wrong - hahaha), music school being over, plans for tomorrow / this week, Ayler eating the fish head again, Beckett slapping the table and being blocked from the TV screen, Auntie Kwai and dementia (and Dad not wanting to take on another person), Dollarama, Summer Reading Club ("I read to you - but you read the words I don't know!"), Hiero trying some jellyfish, Holly's move impacting her taxes because she's an American citizen ($12,000?!), the growing tomato plants on the balcony, and waterslide adventures today with mint chocolate chip ice cream. We walked to Jon's place, where I learned that Beckett now knows how to climb up onto the couch. Guess I should be extra-vigilant tomorrow!

On the way home, Mom wanted me to intercede with Martin and Rich about Vacation Bible School and getting someone else to administer Ayler's medicine instead of Harmony having to travel a lot to VCEFC or wherever they'll be. Nope, I am not doing that. I'm sure Wai-Mui and the other leaders have more important things to take care of... at least I got home at 7:30 instead of maybe an hour later! Spicy tofu triangles, spicy jellyfish, green beans with beef, red bean soup, tea, kombucha tea, chicken, beef yee mein, veggie congee, fish congee - what a dinner! The usual stuff, but still good! Maybe not after I tried eating 600 grams of tortellini earlier, though...


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: A yellow sweet Korean melon, a random pair of yellow socks with "fun" designs, two Chinese posters of oxen / birds / dragons with stickers and five bookmarks, "washed Mom grapes" in a paper bag (purple grapes), a pack of four 32-page Hilroy exercise books from Staples, six Hilroy 80-page one-subject red and purple notebooks also from Staples, Korean Kwangchun Healthful roasted seaweed x10, and six cans of strawberry Milkis carbonated drinks. (Snoopy and umbrellas!)

900g of No Name elbow macaroni, 900g of No Name fettuccini, a bag of random Japanese roasted green tea, random Chinese green tea powder x4, Twinings Earl Grey tea x7, a random Chinese green tea bag, Yama Moto Yama green tea bags x8, Bigelow Orange and Spice herbal tea bags x3, a Mighty Leaf Marrakesh mint green tea bag, Bigelow Darjeeling black tea x3, and a Twinings 100% pure oolong tea bag.


System Restore Disk: Do Not Erase! What's wrong with this photo?!




( Chili, dragon and oxen posters, notebooks, generic pasta, Milkis carbonated drinks, Grow-A-Husband! )