Tatiana's Wanderings

I set up a WhatsApp video call with Steph for this afternoon, and she called at 4:50 when they were eating dinner. Henry and Fraser were having broccoli and toast and some veggies, and wanted to show me how scary they were by pretending to be dinosaurs. I said I was a dragon and asked Henry if I could eat him because little boys would taste delicious! He said no, and wanted Steph to hold onto him when he was eating - or at least hold on to Lisa's hand. Steph introduced me to their NEW dog in a cage, exactly two months old (March 6) today - a black furry Newfie named Walter. Havarti isn't too impressed and is crochety about it, but she'll get used to things eventually. We ended the call at about 2:15, which is fine... talked about a LOT of coronavirus cases in Ontario, baking, Fraser doing puzzles and drawings, online reading programs with Miss Amber, and going out to shop about once a week or so. Since Steph and Lisa can both go out once a week, that's what they do!

After yesterday's ma-fan, I decided it was best to clean the toilet and then take a shower now that I'm feeling way more like myself. Way later on, I decided to spontaneously call Jon's crew at about 6:10. They sounded like they were eating dinner themselves! Ayler conducted most of the phone call, asking what time Lisa went to bed, and saying that they'd called Steph at 8 last time. Their cousins were in bed, though. After asking if I was watching a video game and how much of them I watched, he again told me not to watch too many videos. It's what everyone is doing now! You'd have some REALLY bored people otherwise! Hiero wouldn't talk to me except to say "LICK MY BUM!" Wow...

I asked how Jon would teach his piano students - online, Jon said, since Ayler missed the question. I mentioned meeting Ayler's piano student friend Ethan and of course the infamous Dean about two months ago. (only because Beckett ALWAYS thinks it's him whenever people came over) Hiero was getting Beckett to say "urine" and then "lick my bum"... of course, they all scream-sang "LICK MY BUN!" at me. Ayler asked if I could hear them - yes, I could hear them very well. I told them not to teach Beckett how to swear - they'd DEFINITELY get LOOKS if a kid who's not even two years old just busted out swear words in public! Jon said they don't, which is a good thing! Ayler said their neighborhood had O CANADA, smoke, and lots of music. Mine just has (unmarked) police cars, ambulances, a fire truck sometimes, and car alarms now. Yes, people come out as well. We set up the next talk time for Saturday afternoon POST-teaching online.


I got this virtual gift in my journal for LJ's 21st anniversary! 1999 to 2020!




From Dragon Art Gallery: A red dragon with a skull and an ornate window!




From Dragons: A purple dragon with claws!




From Dragons: A mirror decorated with brown dragons!




From Dragons: A brown dragon and a huge coffee mug!




From Julie: A brown dragon breathing frost or ice! Or it is a water fountain!

After COFFEE TIME / SHOWER TIME / CLEANING FRIDGE TIME (yucky sticky prune juice!), I went out at 1:30 on a 401 to finally redeem that Pure Nail Bar gift card from Christmas 2019 for a pedicure before going to help with the kids. I thought I'd be on time, but NO... the 3 bus had to be late, a stroller had no idea what to do on the bus, and then there were traffic delays, causing me to be 10 minutes late! At least they didn't have to call me or anything, and it was just after East 13th! It was pretty relaxing, and I got to choose a nail polish color - Shooting Star silver glitter! They had a fancy nail dryer and a fancy pink toe separator!

After I was done at 3:45, I texted Jon and asked whether he was at the park, then went to Save-On to kill time. I should have gone to the park instead since it took him 20 minutes to get back to me saying they were home now. Fine, sure, I'll walk there - not a big deal, of course. Beckett wanted "Didibug!" which Jon asked about - it made sense, but what was it? Hiero drew me a Bat Signal and a lightning bolt, saying I could keep them in my pocket. I pointed out that it would probably fall out of my pocket, so I'll keep them in my wallet's zippered pouch instead! When I got home, I put the Bat Signal / lightning bolt / Cao Starvingbase Noodle HOO! guy in a Ziploc bag for extra protection.

Ayler was blocking Beckett's access to the piano because Beckett would try to play it, and wanted to know if the real Dean could stay later to play "quiet soccer" while Jon taught his sister Lily. I told Dean that he must be special to Beckett - every time someone comes over, Beckett thinks it's Dean! HAHAHA! "Dean! Dean! Dean!" When Harmony got home, she mentioned she was late because the pipeline protesters had been blocking UBC today - UGH! Then she saw silverfish in the bathroom, in her clothes! YUCK! I told her about the time that I had seen one CRAWLING ON MY COMPUTER DESK in summer 2017 - EW! Beckett wanted to say hi to Kayla, and of course was interested in her guitar and the rest of the students.

Jon gave me a tea rag to wipe Beckett's nose with. He's learned "NO!" and uses it frequently! I watched him knock over Jon's violin while he was teaching Willie, and Jon said "NO, BECKETT." A kid named Ethan came for a piano lesson, and his mom stayed in the room. Beckett was very interested in her phone! Ethan asked what I was doing there, so I said that was a good question - what did HE think? Jon answered when he didn't have a response. I read the rest of the DOG MAN book to Hiero, who then wanted to draw Dog Man while Dean and Ayler transitioned to quieter origami.

We had pozole with hominy / chips / Greek yogurt / choy for dinner, plus an almond croissant. Beckett wanted to climb up on the couch and needed my help to sit / stand on the white chair. He picked up the word "funny" and the corresponding grin expression. "FUNNY! OPEN! Block! Magnet! Frog!" Of course he got upset when Ayler stole his stuff... I told Hiero that he had just touched the nose-wiping cloth with Beckett's germs ALL OVER it, so Hiero went by himself to wash his hands quickly! Beckett also showed me where my own eyes / nose / mouth / ears were, with the correct words. He wanted to show me his orange half-shell, so he said "shell" - pretty good!

I left at 7:45, amazingly in enough time to catch the 7:55 3 bus that went to the station. However, I wouldn't get home in time for the second period, because there was an electric scooter that took a minute or so to adjust herself in the bus. She didn't deserve a guilt trip or anything, so I was outwardly patient. Then on the Canada Line at Aberdeen, there was an obstreperous guy who wouldn't get off the train until threatened with the cops by the female attendants! Everyone was craning their necks to look - some old man asked if I was going to save him. Fuck, no! I'll watch from safety! I FINALLY got home at 9:10 during the second intermission. The Canucks played the Coyotes tonight at 7:30, and lost 4-2 thanks to an empty-net goal from behind the Arizona net ALL the way to the other end of the ice.


Fancy nail dryer at Pure Nail Bar.




Fancy pink toe separators at Pure Nail Bar. Nail polish color from their array is Shooting Star Silver.




Pretty Shooting Star Silver toenails!




Better view of the Shooting Star Silver toenails!




I got this weird time glitch on Shiwa's Discord server last night. March 3 is "today" while March 4 is both "tomorrow" and 'today." Okay, Discord...




From Jon and Harmony for Christmas 2019: Pure Nail Bar pink envelope and pink gift card for a pedicure, which I finally used this afternoon!




Biggerstaff tombstone?!




This is from Red's Discord server. Coronavirus as a metal band T-shirt: CORONAVIRUS 2020 World Tour! China and Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, Middle East, South America. SCYTHES! HAHAHAHA!




From Julie: I'm giving up these little glasses of alcohol for Lent. I will be drinking big glasses of alcohol instead.

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!

After I had COFFEE TIME and called Dr. Ruby's office back to grudgingly set up an appointment for tomorrow at 3:30 and NOT today at 2:45 (HOCKEY AT 5?!), Barry picked me up at 11:50 and we went banking and to Price Smart while discussing his recent Japan trip / XTC / the Buzzcocks / my own life. I got NEW Western Family Foglie D'Autunno pasta / NEW Farfalle Tricolor pasta / NEW Connchiglioni pasta / NEW Orecchiette pasta / NEW Trofie pasta / NEW Trecce Dell'Orto pasta / NEW Gomitoni pasta / NEW Arcobaleno pasta / farfalle bowtie pasta / Alphabets pasta / penne rigate / Cavatappi pasta / Small Shells pasta / rigatoni, NEW Samyang Fire Noodles 2X spicy gyoza dumplings, a DRAGON MASTERS kids book for obvious reasons, American Greetings construction and vehicle and dinosaur stickers for my nephews, Western Family white vinegar x2 (one litre for laundry and four litres), NEW on-sale Danone YoPro Skyr yoghurt x3 (plain / strawberry / vanilla), NEW limited-edition Ruffles Jalapeno Cheddar chips, and on-sale Earth's Own almond milk which expires before my trip.

Also got ALL the on-sale Knorr Sidekicks flavors x22 for hopeful food photo purposes (including NEW Garlic Fettuccine Alfredo), NEW Samyang noodles dumplings x4 (Kimchi / Seafood / Vegetable / Chives), on-sale GOING BANANAS chips snacks, NEW Mentos gum x3 (Cinnamint red / Fresh Mint blue / Spearmint green), Nissin black garlic oil noodles, NEW Western Family peanuts x4 of 400g (Chili and Lime / Sea Salt / Sea Salt and Pepper / Jalapeno), GOOD TASTE Pork and Celery dumplings since the store finally had them after a couple of months, and a NEW Softsoap Aquarium refill. After that, I paid my Shaw bill online when I got home at 1:30. Barry and I will set up an appointment when I get back in January OR before I leave in December, probably!


From Julie M. and Introvert Spring: I am a daydreamer and a night thinker.




NEW limited-edition Ruffles Jalapeno Cheddar chips!




Nosh and Co. soft chewy mints!




Campside marshmallows: Strawberry Twisties!




( Exotic pasta and SPICY DUMPLINGS! )

Today is National Toilet Paper Day! I showered today after making tentative plans with Donald from the V4F server to have dinner somewhere in Richmond. We picked No. 9 Restaurant at 7 (I got there at 7:05), which was convenient for sure! Talked about Grand Prairie, working on the line, his cousin, server drama with Tony and Michelle, walking around downtown, computer science, discrete math, and his wanting to get a developer job out here someday. It wasn't too bad - only $10 for me, which is still expensive for wonton mein and water dumplings! Got home at 8:35 on a 407, which is fine. Jon FINALLY said that "Louie's parents' pizza place" is Don't Argue. Geez, you could have said THAT in the email and not made me message you on Facebook... but at least I have a time now of 5:30!


They had milk tea with real cheese foam topping at No. 9?! WTF?




Surender Nada is a Kabaddi athlete?!




From Diane and The Secret Nerd Base: The Deaf Leopard says, "What?"




Getting older is just one body part after another saying, "Ha ha. You think that's bad? Watch this."




From Pete and Pseudoscience Quackery and Other Nonsense: Hangman teaches kids that public execution is the only appropriate response to spelling words wrong.