Category: COVID-19

The Worst Year Ever: The End of 2020

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Australia bush fires, COVID-19 Pandemic, Kobe Bryant’s death, George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, Murder Hornets, Beirut explosion, Chadwick Boseman’s death, West Coast Wildfires, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, Donald Trump and the election, and Joe Biden Wins.

What a shitshow.

March 18th, 2020 (212 cases in Ontario) was the last day I worked before being told to stay home until further notice due to Corona Virus. On March 19th, 2020 I applied for EI (CERB didn’t excist yet), application took 4 hours to complete due to EVERYONE attempting to do the same thing. Over the next 3 months I panicked of not knowing what was happening with EI/CERB. No one knew what to do and there was rumors everyday of having to pay it back, have to pay the taxes, having to reapply every month and much more.
Like most people we panic shopped, we didn’t know what was going to stay open or if there would be enough food for everyone. We spent $800-$1000 on groceries in one month. Going to the grocery store was scary as you didn’t know who had the virus, masks were not mandatory and there was 100’s of people in the store at once. Eventually as things went on we figured out we had to wear masks and line up in order to get into the store and wash your hands as soon as you walked into your house. My hands have never been so dry in their life and I’m a hairstylist. My lockdown lasted 92 days before we were told we could go back to work. June 19th, 2020 was my first day back at work and I felt like I didn’t know how to do hair anymore. Masks became normal and being scared wasn’t a thing anymore – we just wanted to work.

September 26th, 2020 was my last day working at my first salon as I decided to move on to a new salon to further my career. On October 5th was my first day at my new job – it goes okay. On October 7th I get fired because the owner has a bad vibe from me. I go home dumbfounded that I just lost my job and we are still in the middle of a pandemic. Don’t change jobs in the middle of the pandemic! Over the next 45 days I job search and panic. I once again apply for EI and panic as the place that just fired me refused to give me a ROE, which you need in order to get money from the government. Eventually things get worked out (at least that’s what I think happened) and I get paid a month later from EI.

On November 21st, 2020 I accept a job at a hair salon in Maple. Panic because Ford was announcing if we were going into lockdown again. Fortunely York Region didn’t go into lockdown and I could work – I started December 1st, 2020. I get happy as I have found a job and the year finally seems to be turing around!

December 11th, 2020 the news announced York Region is going into lockdown. Work turned into an shitshow and hours got extended – I worked 11 hours.
Saturday due to too many workers and not enough room for guest I worked 5 hours.
Sunday, our last day, I worked 11 hours with no breaks. We ate when we could and sat for a 5 mins if we had time. We fit one weeks worth of clients into 2 days. I got home sore AF.

December 14th – Lockdown 1,940 cases
December 15th – 2,275 cases
December 16th – 2,139 cases
December 17th – 2,432 cases
December 18th – 2,290 cases
December 19th – 2,357 cases
December 20th – 2,316 cases
December 21st – 2,123 cases

On December 21st, 2020 Ford announces that all of Ontario will be entering a province wide lockdown starting December 26th, 2020 for a minimum of 28 days. As Toronto, Peel and York have already been in lockdown, this means that I will be sitting at home for a minimum of 42 days.

December 22nd – 2,202 cases
December 23rd – 2,408 cases
December 24th – 2,447 cases
December 25th – they didn’t post the numbers due to Christmas
December 26th – Provincial lockdown 4301 cases (this includes Christmas numbers)

Somewhere in between the 14th and now the UK has report a new strain of the virus that is worse and on December 27th two cases of the UK strain has been reported in Ontario.

This year seems to be never ending with bad news and it’s taking a toll on most people. I have officially been off for 5 months in 2020 and come January it will be a month off. I hope this lockdown gets us where we need to be to have a semi-normal life again. I haven’t seen friends, my dog has separation anxiety with me and people are getting tired of it. People don’t care anymore because it’s been a year long thing, humans adapt to whatever we need to and if the governament doesn’t figure it out this is just going to be something we live with for the rest of our lives.

This has officially been the most depressing blog I’ve ever written. This is just my verison of my year and the small amount I’ve dealt with. There are a lot of others who had it WAY worse and I’m thankfully the only issue I’ve had is to sit at home.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: The End

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Well this will officially be my last COVID blog as my personal quarentine is finished.

As most of you know if you follow, my place of work officially opened on Friday June 19th. I was nervous building up to the day because of the obvious virus going around but also I didn’t do hair for 3 months. Now I was getting thrown back into it all while the world seemed like it was ending.

Friday morning I had time to get ready, walk Drax and attempt to play with him. As soon as I started to get ready Drax knew I was going back, he went right to his crate and sat in there until I attempted to get him out with cookies. I had to move his crate into the livingroom because that’s where the AC is, once I got him out he went to his bed and just gave me those puppy eyes. I played with him but he just wanted me to hold his head. I had to move and when I turned around he was back in his crate – needless to say I left because he clearly wanted to be in the crate and I didn’t want to make things worse.

I got to work earlier because I wanted to clean my station and my tools one more time before I started work for the day. I sat in the back for ten mintues avoiding putting on the mask. Eventually I sucked it up and put it on, at first it was weird then eventually you got use to it being on your face. The masks however are hot as hell, talking is hard but everyone wants to talk at the salon so I did but eventually I was getting too hot so my hair went up and talking went to a minimum. The first day I ran an hour behind because my last client had a lot of hair and wasn’t booked for the right service but it all workout.

Saturday was a bit better, it was still a busy day but everyone was getting in the grove of things. I was on time for most of my clients, last one only ran 5 mins behind but I made up the time later. All in all it was a good start but still creepy because in the back of your head you know there’s a possibility of being exposed even though we are taking those precautions.

After those first two days I’ve never been so sore in my life. It was all the areas that I haven’t been using during the quarentine like standing for 8 hours so my feet, legs and back were sore. I can home iced my knee and got Dave to massage my back and feet (after I showered) which helped big time (he’s a keeper). Now were back to work on Tuesday for a full week.

It’s still crazy to think that this is going on in the world, who would have thought but we’re getting through it and staying safe. Everyone wash your hands, wear a mask and stay home if you are not feeling well.

That’s it, that’s all. Thank you for all sticking around with me through this! Now I have to get back to regular blogs! Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Ninety-Two

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Happy 3 months and my last day in quarentine!

Today wasn’t very eventful to be honest. Drax and I hung out in the morning, got a couple walks in before it got too hot then hung out. Once Drax decided to nap I worked out, made lunch, got things ready for work tomorrow and watched some tv.

I didn’t feel like going out today, I just wanted it to be calm before the storm. I’m sure I won’t sleep tonight because that’s just how I am but at the same time I will probably take allergy medicine and that will knock me out. My allergies tend to be the worst at night and in the morning, the rest of the day I’m fine, just a couple sneezes here and there.

Now that I’m back at work I’m gonna need to figure out how I’m going to get my workout in. My hours are all over the place so my eating pattern will change and working out will have to change too. It will take time but I will figure it out.

I may write tomorrow about my first day or I may just finish the week off and end it at that, either way I can’t believe it’s been 3 whole months and we’re still going through a pandemic.

Thank you for reading,

Wish me luck tomorrow,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Ninety & Ninety-One

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Day 90:

Welcome to day 90, pretty much 3 months of quarentine.

I woke up feeling pretty good and productive as I tidied up a bit, attempted to get Drax into the bath – that was a BIG no go. He is too smart for his own good, he knew exactly what I was trying to do and just wasn’t having it. He ran away, I tried carrying him but he’s like 95-100lbs so that wasn’t happening. He won that battle but I trimmed his nails instead which he lets me do no problem. BUT once Dave got home Drax can’t run away from Daddy! Drax got in the bath and got a good washing because he was stinky!

The rest of the day was just hanging out until Dave came home but then we just hung out again. I did get a workout in and now I’m sore AF.

Day 91:

I woke up so tired but I worked myself out of it and decided to ask Amanda if she wanted to go to Toronto Premium Outlet mall. Since I go back to work soon I needed to get shirts and a pair of jeans, plus it was just nice to get out of the house and walk around.

I only went to a couple of stores but I found that there wasn’t very good deals. Most things were full price and most things were the same, like if one store at a jean jacket they all had a jean jacket that looks the same. We had fun though, it was beautiful out and we got Freshii for lunch which I haven’t had in forever!

I came home and for some reason my head started to kill and it never went away, then I was in a bad mood and just wanted to be left alone. Dave and I had dinner and eventually we watched a old movie about baseball called Rookie of the Year. It was cute.

That was it, after the movie I showered and went to bed. I didn’t do a workout yesterday so I have to make it up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty-Eight & Eighty-Nine

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Day 88:

Welp, this day wasn’t very interesting. Dave and I woke up and did some grocery shopping. We came back, put all our groceries away and hung out. The rest of the day was watching Netflix, we watch Da 5 Bloods, it was so good but holy was it ever long! It was around 9pm and we thought there was maybe 20min left, Dave said we’ll finish it up and take Drax on his evening walk. We checked how much time was left, we still had an hour! Needless to say we walked Drax and finished when we got back. Definetly go watch it.

Not an interesting day.

Day 89:

Today was a little bit more interesting.

My morning was the same with Drax but then it turned into a chill morning because Drax decided to nap. Around lunch time I took Drax out and had lunch and waited for Ford to make his announcement. Guess who’s going back to work Friday! After his announcement I did our laundry then got ready for my work meeting.

Our meeting was good, it was good to see everyone again but then we got to work with calling our clients to reschedule and book in our waitlist. It took some time, I didn’t even get through everyone since no one was answering their phones!

Anyways, I came home and made the instagram post so everyone knows and now I’m going to bed!

This is my last couple of days alone so it’ll be interesting and I gotta make it productive! I was suppose to workout today but that didn’t happen so tomorrow will have to be an extra good one!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty-Six & Eighty-Seven

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Day 86:

Welp this day was a bust.

I was home alone and I honestly didn’t do much. I obviously walked Drax a bunch but most of my day was pretty much watching Netflix and eating a shit ton of strawberries.

Eventually I did go to my Mum’s house to cut my step-dads hair which was nice to get out and actually do what my job is. I hung out with them for a bit then went home to make dinner.

For dinner I made chicken stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto with some side rice. Damn was it good and damn was it filling. Now Amanda wants to makes it for family dinner so we shall do that!

Not much else happened I was tired and sore so Dave and I hung out and relaxed for the night.

Day 87:

Today was a good day, Dave went to his mum’s grocery store to pick up a few things then we’ll probably do our regular grocery shopping tomorrow.

My sister and I hung out today, we drove to Spirit Tree to pick up some stuff which I completely forgot my mask since I’ve been in my quarantine bubble but we figured it out.

After we drove to Orangeville to go Philadelphia Kitchen sandwich which I haven’t had in forever. We ate in my car and had a nice time. Once we finished stuffing our faces we headed back home but stopped at Ace Hardware to see if they had bird stuff for my Dad for Father’s Day. They did and we got it so he’s done. Now just got to work on my step-dads gift, we have ideas though!

After we left Ace Hardware I realized there was chocolate on my seat from the bite if brownie I had and asked my sister if there was chocolate on my ass, of course there was and she rubbed it off for me using the Lysol wipes that I had in my trunk. I walked around all day with chocolate on my ass🤦‍♀️.

We drove home, watched a movie then my sister went home and Dave and I had dinner. The rest is the same as every other night!

I’m off to bed now!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty-Five

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Maybe I’ll hit 100 days?

Today was pretty much a boring day. I woke up lazy but I tried to work out of it and I did.

Took Drax on a long walk then went to Walmart to pick up a few things for dinner.

Came home, hung out and did not turn the TV on until Dave got home. It was pretty peaceful.

I did do a glute workout with weights and now I’m hella sore!

Amanda came over for dinner and strawberries with chocolate fruit dip. It was a good night of just hanging out and talking – a much needed night.

After that my old ass went to bed!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty-Four

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Well yesterday was extremely hot and humid, it defintely was not a fun day to be outside.

In the morning after our morning walk I decided to reorganize Dave’s side of the closet since it was a bomb. I got those vacuum ziploc bags for clothes and blankets so I went to work. It was so hot and I worked up a sweat but it was good and there’s more room in the closet now.

The rest of the day was pretty much just chilling until Dave got home, we fed Drax took him on a short walk then came back and sat at the patio set in our buildings backyard. It’s in the shade and there was a nice breeze from the storm coming in. It actually turned into a mini backyard gathering, a couple people we know came over to say hi and pet Drax, then Drax (one of many) girlfriends came over and they played while we all chatted. So I don’t like bugs, they’re gross and just meh. Out of nowhere Dave said watch out Maeghan! I thought he was talking about Drax but it was a big ass butterfly. I’m terrified of butterflies (thanks Mum) so everyone there proceed to laugh at me and ask me why, they laughed even more. Dave then tells them my Dad is a transport truck driver and that I got the trucker mouth – needless to say everyone was howling at the fact that I have a potty mouth and I’m scared of butterflies.
The conversation was going on then out of nowhere a bumblebee lands on my leg. Now I know they won’t do anything and we need to save the bee but I’m not a flower. So I didn’t move and one of the other people gentle pushed the little guy off me. Eventually the wind was getting crazy and all of us went inside to make our dinners.

I worked out while our food cooked, then decided to try to get Drax to pee before the storm came because he hates getting wet and he for sure was not going out in that weather. We did and of course got caught in the rain so I added some cardio to my workout. Drax ran pretty well while on the leash so maybe we can get cardio together. After our spirint we ate, I showered and sat outside watching the storm until we started to get wet.

That was pretty much our night until we all went to bed.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty-Two & Eighty-Three

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Day Eighty-Two:

Holy shit, I might actually be able to go back to work soon! Salons outside the GTA can open up by Friday; if the case numbers stay down then by next Friday I can go back to work!

This is exciting but I’m nervous about it. As a stylist I work extremely close with the general public but I’m also a stubborn asshole so I will refuse clients if they won’t follow our rules for safety.

That was pretty much the excitement for my day, the rest of the time it was watch TV and do laundry.

Day Eighty-Three:

Today was highly uneventful besides it being extremely hot outside. Yesterday it was beautiful, sunny with a nice breeze but today was just heat and straight humidity. In Canada that’s not a good thing, you just want to be naked or in a pool which were not allowed right now unless you have you’re own personal one.

All I did was watch Netflix today and went on a mini shopping trip where I didn’t spend anything with my friend. June is no spend month so that’s good!

Also, one of my packages showed up! I’m excited it finally came, now just two more need to show up!

That’s it, that’s all for today. Tomorrow I will try to be more exciting since I’m getting sick of sitting around again so we’ll try to organize or something.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Eighty & Eighty-One

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Day Eighty:

EI report day which I almost forgot, thankfully I put a reminder on my phone and it popped up.

Today was a driving day, I was glad to get out of the house. Sister met me at my house and we picked up my Mum to drive to Etobicoke to pick up my families big San Remos order. Ususally that road is crazy so we went early to try to find parking/the curb side pickup. It was super easy, when we got there the two cars in front of us were leaving so I pulled up to spot one and waited. We were also 30 mins early so I thought they would make us wait but they came out with our order no problem.

We drove back to my Mum’s place, had a snack and hung out for a bit since Dave was napping with Drax. Came back in time to feed the dog and take him on his after dinner walk. Then it was hanging out for the rest of the night.

Day Eighty-One:

First off, holy crap to 81 days. I really hope I go back to work soon.

Today was pretty much a boring day, not much was done besides the regular stuff and watching all The Fast and the Furious movies since Netlfix put them all up! I remember watching the first one so I thought we’ll just rewatch them all. Dave didn’t want to watch them but once I put them on he was getting into it.

Obviously there’s a lot of them so I didn’t finish it today but I’m sure I will continue tomorrow.

I missed a couple days of workouts and ate like crap during those days so I needed to make up for it. I did an hour workout and died doing it but felt good after, I was also extremely tired. Drax keeps waking me up at 7am and I try to push it to 7:30 or 8 but it never happens.

That was pretty much my day!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.