Category: Family

Unexpected Perks: A Tale of Four Kettles and a Smart Ring | May 22 2026, 19:21

I ordered a Breville kettle. Costs a hundred bucks. Yes, I could have bought a similar one for 30, but I have all Breville products, plus a kettle is bought for several years. I come home – there’s a box up to my waist at the door. Not that surprised, because Amazon likes to put some little thing in the far corner of a huge box, it’s easier for them. But doubts increased after I couldn’t lift it with one hand. I bring it inside — and there are four kettles.

I open Amazon, check the order – everything’s correct, just one. Maybe they sell a 4-pack for 100 bucks? No, the description says one kettle. I contact support, a robot responds. I select the “brought extra items” option. The robot says “our fault, keep them”. Well, okay, now I have four kettles. Big family, one kettle for each.

Nadia has an Oura Ring 4. She says it has to be charged often. She says it used to last longer. I get in touch with support. A robot responds. I activate my own robot and ask it to draft a good letter to support. Their robot empathizes, says, “I’ll now connect to your ring and understand everything.” Connected, understood. Says, expect a new ring. Today, a plain envelope arrived with the ring inside. If it weren’t for FedEx it’d be easily lost in spam.

I love robots, almost got seven hundred bucks worth of goodies because of them. Well, good, at least the ring was a warranty case, although I expected to be dismissed with my battery complaints.

Well then, I asked the robot to make an illustration for the post.

Nadezhda’s Firsts: Oil Painting and Piano | March 12 2026, 18:55

Last week, Nadezhda Shulga painted an oil painting for the first time in her life and played the piano with one hand for the first time in her life! Nadya, well done!!! She asked me so many times to paint nature, that she eventually went ahead and painted it herself.

A Decade Later: Snow, Survival Shopping, and American Winter Woes | January 23 2026, 15:56

Exactly ten years ago, on this day, my family tried to enter the USA, but it started snowing. The day after a plus 12°C

snowfall came and blocked all the roads.

And now it’s all happening again. Waiting for snow. Nadia just sent a message that there are three times more people in the grocery store than usual. Americans, when a possible zombie apocalypse approaches, stock up on food and ammunition. Ten years ago, the roads were cleared the next day, but schools, universities, and almost all offices remained closed for another week. Grocery stores opened fairly quickly (but not immediately)

To me, it’s just a typical winter

Yuka’s Nostalgic Snowy Morning | December 05 2025, 13:43

Wow. Morning. Sleepy Yuka came in, looked out the window at the first snow, looked at me, sighed, and went to lie down in the little circle he loved so much in early childhood, but hadn’t noticed at all for the last few years.