Tatiana's Wanderings

Today is Mardi Gras 2020! I had some New England Clam Chowder today for National Clam Chowder Day. After COFFEE TIME, I went out at 2:45 on a 401 to help with the kids, but I just missed both buses - UGH! Got to the house, where the kids seemed to be better. Beckett walked around calling for AUNTIE - haha, so cute! He wanted me to OPEN the Play-Doh containers, wanted me to get the balls (BOH-BOH) from under the couch (I made him say "pease"), and then LICKED the Play-Doh lids while looking at me to see how I'd react. He thought it was funny, but I said it was GROSS! Ayler and Hiero wanted to sniff buttcracks - that's not great, but better than Hiero insisting that his hitting my leg was funny and that I thought it was funny too! Never mind "hit your butt!" in Cantonese...

I'm just glad I had time with Beckett, of course! Ayler is encouraging Beckett's words by making him say what certain things are; Beckett just wanted "book" and "apple" (the Bible stories book with the Garden of Eden), and said "eat-eat" and "Poo-poo" and "bye-bye" at certain times. I'm not leaving every time I go to the couch, but I told him BYE-BYE anyway. Not sure what he expects me to do about poo, OR his wanting to eat at 5 PM, but I'm glad he tells me and can communicate. His pronunciation of MAGNET seems to have suffered in the last two weeks, but that's okay.

Harmony had to "remind" me not to take photos of the kids - DOES A STICKY RICE PHOTO LOOK LIKE A PICTURE OF HIERO TO YOU?! One of these weeks, I'm going to lose it. Unlike her, I let Beckett wander the house now as opposed to a few months ago. He can climb on the couch, but I do get him down from there just in case. I wouldn't want anything to happen to him! Ayler told me that I was bald - oh, that's rude for sure!

Ayler says his friends wrote him a letter, and one of the lines was about poop - of course. I should have taken a look at it, but I had already used my reading glasses to read some Ninjago Lego comic to Hiero for a bit, who asked what the BOOM! was on my phone. Just Jeff crashing his Sky Runner into the Threed graveyard on EARTHBOUND, hahaha! I took a list of Penny's list of "good words" on the wall after Ayler said he hated Hiero's crayons or something. It's okay to hate things, but they do need to learn to be kind for sure... it's a process! The Canucks played the Canadiens today at 4, and won 4-3 in overtime! Got home at 8:40 on a 407 - thank goodness the driver actually waited for more than a minute at the Brighouse bus stop!


Random stuff from Mom and Dad: Vifon beef instant noodles x2 with some Czech, (Instantna Rezancova Polievka or Instantni Nudlova Polevka s Prichuti Hovezi), two 40g bags of Old Dutch Salt and Vinegar chips which expired yesterday (so still very fine for eating), and 175g of Cherubin [NOT A TYPO!] hard candy hearts / 120g of Cherubin [NOT A TYPO!] marshmallow hearts from Dollarama for Valentine's Day 2020.


From Julie M. and DR. PHIL: Andromada Deberry?! BAD SPELLING OF ANDROMEDA!




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




Old Dutch Salt and Vinegar chips!




Not a typo: 120g of Cherubin marshmallow hearts from Dollarama for Valentine's Day 2020!




Not a typo: 175g of Cherubin hard candy hearts from Dollarama for Valentine's Day 2020!




Banana leaf-wrapped sticky rice or joong! I wonder what color it is...




Savory white joong or sticky rice!




They have sweet purple joong or sticky rice now?!




Okay, Google, I'm not a time-traveler here, so there is no way I last visited the Pure Nail Bar website on December 2, 2020. I use month-day-year Date Format as it's less confusing, so the date should be February 12, 2020! I had to fix it by going into my Google settings and choosing the USA as my region... *rolleyes*

From Julie: Peree Hampton is a guy?! Yum, puree in the Hamptons!




From Youtube: Raechel Betts?! BAD SPELLING OF RACHEL!




From John's True Crime Vids Group: Peninah Wangari?! That's an extremely outdated Biblical name, if anything...

After COFFEE TIME, I had to get ready to leave by 11 for Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot at Lansdowne for a lunch with Mom and Dad. Fatty beef, lamb shoulder, Napa cabbage, white noodles, tofu, yams, vegetable and pork dumplings, deep-fried chicken wings, cod fillets, shrimp balls, beef balls, fish balls, tiger prawns, broth, an iced sour plum drink, and tea! Mom complained that they had seen bus stops around my place - yeah, but that doesn't mean they are in service right now! Dad "helped" with my phone's data and wifi settings. Yes, I know Harmony's family birthday is the 10th somewhere. I'll confirm things with Jon in a few days; no need to rush and be impatient about things! They dropped me off at London Drugs, so I walked home and got in at 12:45.

Random stuff from Mom and Dad: $10 cash, Maggi Masala Indian instant noodles x2 which have already expired as of February 3, Nosh and Co. Munch Madness cheddar and sour cream chips, GIM roasted seasoned seaweed x10, a Want Want gift pack (a box of strawberry Lovely Puffs / five small bags of orange QQ Gummies / a box of round chocolate sticks / a bag of milk candy), No Name chicken instant noodle packages x6, No Name chicken cup noodles, Paldo (팔도 (Paldo)) hot and spicy cup noodles, a package of Nissin chicken instant noodles x5, a packet of Wing's Foods hot chili sauce, President's Choice ginger-peach teabags x18, and organic Nighty Night Traditional Relaxation Teas teabags x4.


From r/hockey: A Carolina Hurricanes player is named Jaccob Slavin.... BAD SPELLING of Jacob with the extra C!

I got the rest of my TamiFlu delivered to me at home today at 12:40... thank GOD that it's in a snap cap bottle and not child-resistant! Paul said he got my salmon jerky today (which he said was good), and also that my card was sweet. The Canucks played the Kings at 7 tonight, and won 6-2.


From OLD FAITHFUL Bathroom Reader #30: Moe Cotton was a Guam politician with signs reading "Pick Moe Cotton"?!




Timberly Whitfield is a TV personality?!

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Tonight's menu:

Heirloom Bean Chili with Garnishes (cheese, rice, avocado, and onions)
Cornbread
Winter Green Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Quince and Apple Crisp
Agua de Jamaica
Dark Chocolate Cookie Cheesecake
Beer / Coffee Porter / Pot Filler / Gluten-Free Cider


After COFFEE TIME, Eric picked me up at 6:25 (he had to work from home today) so we could go to Jeremy's. I had his Ganong Delecto dark peppermint creams and Christmas card, plus Jeremy's FROSTY THE SNOWMAN Advent calendar and Christmas card. I'd also decided to give Ayler my old NIV Reference Bible (from 2010) for later in life. HA! Eric and I talked about life on the way there ("Christmas spirit?" "Well, I can't bitch about it being too early to mention Christmas..."), Wo's Restaurant, his not seeing Jon's new place apart from moving help, that Kwong Chow dinner, and his asking if I liked hot or cold yoga. Hahaha, no! I do know there are places near Jeremy's that offer it, though. We passed by the Boiling Point Hot Soup Restaurant which I'd seen on Yelp a couple years ago, too. The Canucks played Toronto at 4 today, and won 2-1, which I heard about later. When we got to Jeremy's apartment, I could hear what seemed like Randal pontificating on something, so I commented on this to Eric in a low voice. After hearing a little more of this "pontificating," I understood that it was the pre-dinner prayer. Oh well!

I saw Ayler and Hiero for two minutes as they were getting ready to leave with Harmony, and Ayler greeted me with "You should be here earlier!" Hahaha! I told him that Eric had had to work from home today, so that hadn't been possible. Then Jon said that I could have been there earlier had I not been too lazy to take the bus. Whatever - Eric had enabled it by being home when I called his cell at 2:30 to see what was going on after he hadn't answered my email reply last night! I asked Ayler if that meant he wanted to see me more, and he said yes. I think that's a good sign, so I said I'd see him on Monday. "And then Wednesday!" he said. No, that isn't going to happen! I managed to offload the Bible to Harmony since she had the cleanest hands out of her and the kids before they left. Later, Jon said that if I didn't hear from him, I should come on Monday - his student had been sick last week, so he'll call to see if the lesson is still going on. I also said that I'd sent Steph his address, so she'll send him that baby card with Henry (but I said "some mail") when she gets around to it. I gave Jeremy his FROSTY THE SNOWMAN Advent calendar, which he apparently really loved because he used to watch that exact FROSTY THE SNOWMAN cartoon religiously as a child! Hahaha, I'm glad that he really loved it! Of course he thanked me! He was also surprised at the pile of mostly change that I dumped on the donations table, deciding to raise my payment by two loonies and a toonie. (Jon's smoker friend Edwin left at this point, too)

I talked to Dilys and Trish about using Ayler and Hiero's leftover mugs (kid cooties can't get us!), wedding card / wedding thanks etiquette, early Christmas decorating / Christmas songs, Jesse's brother Hubert holding hands with a girl named Amanda at their first group meetup at a movie (that worked for them), Steph / Lisa / Fraser / Henry (Dilys had seen Steph and Lisa with my parents at a White Spot on Kingsway [?] while she was pregnant with Fraser), cookbooks, reading books, non-fiction, swearing around kids, hillbilly society, and documentaries after saying hi to a guy named Jonathan / Caleb / Jesse / Christon / Gino / Quan / Rebecca. Then I finally got a chance to ask Kevin whether he'd received the MEGA SUSHI email two months ago (couldn't do it at the Wo's Restaurant dinner), but he said that it must not have come through his inbox, then apologized. Nothing to be done about that!

Later, the phone was off the hook, so some people showed up randomly. I told Dilys that at the last dinner, I had accidentally locked Jon out of the apartment when he came back from taking the kids home with Harmony; I'd locked Jeremy's apartment door out of habit! I shouted over the music to ask Randal about NaNoWriMo, but he hadn't done it. He did say that there was a local challenge to write a novel in three days - yeah, I could never do that! Also, he mentioned that it was too loud with the music and other conversations. Not as bad as the Shark Club, man! I said hi to Ivan, who said I looked the same with my festive "jeweled" shirt and Santa hat - OF COURSE! Dilys asked if the clock chimed - yes, it did! Someone asked whether Jeremy had a VHS collection, but nope! He did have vinyl records, for sure! Christon told us about the Willingdon café $5 meal ministry before he left early.

Later, Jeremy was showing Trish some Christmas ornaments and decorations (including candy canes, which my nephews had recognized) on the Christmas tree. Lots of yearly ornaments and inheritances from his grandma! There was a bird feeder decoration from his grandma, and Eric wanted to ask Jeremy whether there was a leftover Communion glass there. Nobody heard him, so I used my existing NG lungpower to relay the question. Jeremy gave us a look, looked at the decoration again, and laughed - there was indeed a Communion cup! I had to laugh and said that Eric had NAILED IT! Ivan, Randal, Eric, and I talked about "accident" kids like Hiero and Ivan's brother Nathan, kids ten months apart, Richmond life, renting, his paying cheap rent to his parents, night shifts / managerial positions not being worth it for sleep / money considerations, the high gasoline prices (147.9?), Ivan's having to make FOUR trips to and from Richmond / Steveston to the Italian Cultural Centre because Stanley's wedding cake fell through (but they then got 500 different doughnuts from Steveston - PLAN BETTER FOR LESS DRIVING!), a pharmacist job, the new Shoppers Drug Mart near my place, the Richmond Centre Shoppers Drug Mart, patients wanting to set him up with their kids, my mom wanting to set me up with John Law once, how Mom acts when she's drunk (like the mooncake at Thanksgiving lunch 2007 at the townhouse - Kevin said that I had a good memory if Randal couldn't remember what happened WHEN HE HAD BEEN THERE!), Dad and others getting old, and the declining attendance at VCEFC.

I remembered to ask about the small group situation (Crossroads), but everyone in existing positions is overstressed and overstretched because there are fewer people around since they've left for various reasons. Awana is still a thing, but the leader-to-kid ratio is something like one leader to eight kids, as opposed to one leader for three or four kids like when I was doing it with Anita and Melia. The Fellowship situation may be starting up again with another version of David Fellowship, but lots of people have pre-existing small group commitments once or twice a month already, so the connection aspect may not be there if people only go to the big group once a month or so. Eric and I left at around 10:10, after I'd asked Ivan whether the church website had a livestreaming service, but he and Eric just chuckled - nope, probably not, although I do remember that they record the services and put them up at some point during the week.

When we left after I had drunken trouble with my winter jacket (Jeremy laughed - but I did thank him for hosting and all of that), Eric wondered if I'd had an enjoyable evening - I had, and so had he. He reminded himself not to go into robot mode, and I reminded him again when we got near that important turn-off. In the parking lot at 10:30, I asked what it meant if the computer restarted randomly or Windows didn't start up properly some of the time. I'm sure it could be a number of things, but I didn't want to set up something right then. He isn't even going to church tomorrow because he has a lot of work to do! I'll just email him later sometime, but it is time for bed now! Yep, Jimmy seems odd in the "wait a minute - why are you not saying anything?" way, but it's best to leave that alone.