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! )

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!

I went out at 2:25 to go to London Drugs: on-sale Kinder Joy eggs x2, Blistex lip balm x4 which have SHRUNK (Melon Medley / Berry Explosion / Triple Tropics / bonus Peaches and Cream), on-sale Cottonelle 36 MEGA Rolls of toilet paper x2 ($8.99 is better than $10.99 for 24!), on-sale Nacho / Pizza Goldfish for the kids, and Oikos Classic Greek yogurt for National Greek Yogurt Day today. Got home at 3:35 - UGH, JUST MISSED THE 407!


From Scary Mysteries: Karmein Chan?! BAD SPELLING of Carmen! NOODLES!

Dad picked me up at about 2:15, having dropped Ayler off at Brooke's already. I opted just to carry the bag of stuff Mom wanted him to give to me, listening to him say that Mom wanted to make sure I was okay. Yeah, that would be fine most of the time for sure. The centre / hub for autism was all the way near the airport in a huge building with long hallways. I didn't mind going in because it was so hot outside! Watched Ayler do a puzzle for the last bit of his session, and he apparently liked his obstacle course times. He's all about the times! I texted Jon once we got into Vancouver (the bridge traffic was misleading), and we got there in reasonable time. When I reminded Ayler to be quiet, he basically said that I had to do that too - I know, but you need the reminder more than I do. Then again, it turned out that Beckett hadn't slept at ALL!

Beckett climbed on me - which I guess is his way of saying hi - and laughed at the popping toy and my putting the soccer ball on top of my head, which guaranteed him more climbing time because he wanted to get it to toss around. Hiero said that if we wore our Canucks hockey stick shirts at the same time, we could be twins - he is right. Ayler wanted to refer to himself in the third person a lot, wanted to know what "calling someone out" was when it referred to these teens at the kiddy playground on their equipment, and said that he had big plans for Grade 2: biting his food in half so that nobody would steal it, hahaha! I said that nobody would really want his germs, anyway. When we went to the park, Beckett finally fell asleep, so Harmony told me about their Parksville trip: missed ferry connections, the beach not being suitable for Beckett because of broken glass and stuff, and the goats on the roof.

We got home in time for more playing and dinner - yum, noodles and rice with ground beef and tomato topping! I held Beckett when he wanted to bang away on the piano, made sure he was safe when he was playing with the soccer ball on the couch, and generally had fun with him. Ayler said that he could eat seven bowls of congee at Congee Noodle House - I don't think so! Next week will be crazy for sure, but Tuesdays should work for me from now on if swimming lessons are Mondays.

Ayler was able to transpose songs into a minor key, which is good! Managed to text White Eric about this weekend - he says the wedding starts at 12:30 or 12:45, but he'll have to pick me up an hour early at 11:30. Still earlier than I thought, I guess. I would have been home a LOT sooner had the 3 Main NOT decided to stop at 41st for six minutes or more! Passengers have connections to make and places to go! (I even left the house at 7:45 or so after listening to Ayler read a book) I FINALLY got home at 9:20 on a 407... I swear I'm taking the 3 Downtown, 9, and then the train / bus from Broadway!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: Three random pairs of green and white ankle socks, 11 Princess Cruises ballpoint pens that largely DON'T WORK (what's the point in saving me money, exactly?), Aloe Vera combination hair and body wash, 21 Bye Polar candies, two Princess Cruises chocolate squares, two old red chocolate hearts from Valentine's Day, Twinings Tea UK (Jasmine) Green Tea x13, Bigelow Tea Cozy Chamomile x5, Bigelow Tea Darjeeling x1, Bigelow Tea Orange and Spice x1, Bigelow Tea Earl Grey x3, Bigelow Tea Lemon Lift x2, Bigelow Tea Plantation Mint x2, Princess Cruises Lotus Spa conditioner, 200 ruled sheets of Hilroy writing paper, a pair of +3 red reading glasses from Japan, SportKwik fingertip moistener (???), Princess Cruises Lotus Spa Linen Mist, Princess Cruises Lotus Spa Sisal Mitt, Japan Airlines red headphones, a maroon COLOR WALLET, Tim Hortons green tea x1, Traditional Medicinals Echinacea Plus tea x4, a random teabag of random tea leaves, and a Tazo Tea Earl Grey x1.


Kitty Sanchez to Michael Bluth in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: "Eyes up here, Michael..."

After I had COFFEE TIME, Barry picked me up at 11 and we went banking and to Price Smart. I got dryer sheets (Mountain Rain 120 - August 22, 2018), NEW on-sale original I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, lots of on-sale Western Family items (chips x9 / pudding cups x3 / frozen vegetables / ammonia x2 / pure white vinegar / macaroni / fusilli / penne rigate / orzo / Mountain Rain laundry detergent / perogies x2 / dish detergent x3 / roasted garlic chicken tortellini / Swiss 72% dark chocolate), on-sale GOOD TASTE dumplings x3, store brand white grape juice, store brand cranberry-black cherry juice, on-sale Gizella Pastry mango cheesecake, on-sale Samyang Fire Noodles in Curry flavor x2, bananas, on-sale Silk Canada almond milk, store brand ibuprofen, and store brand Key Lime cookie bites! Original, barbecue, sweet chili and sour cream, sour cream and onion, ketchup, sea salt and malt vinegar, sriracha, mesquite barbecue, and jalapeno cheddar chips! After that, I paid my Shaw bill online when I got home at 1:10... but I had to create a NEW password and new two-factor authentication OUT OF MY ASS! Ugh, too frustrating! At least Barry helped me put the wheels on my new shopping cart...


Lee Kum Kee sesame oil... yay!




( CHIPS GALORE! )