The Worst Year Ever: The End of 2020

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

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

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

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-Six & Eighty-Seven

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-Four

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 & Eighty-One

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.

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

Day Seventy-Eight:

This day was pretty uneventful. I honestly don’t really remember what I did. The weather has been pretty hot again so Drax hasn’t wanted to go on very many walks, even went I do take him out to pee he gets over heated and just lays down for a couple of hours.

I did go to Walmart to get migraine stuff since I knew the rain/pressure was coming not that anything is working right now but I’ll live.

Day Seventy-Nine:

Welp, a little more activity today but not much, I drove to Vaughan to pick up products for my family then drove to my Mum’s house to drop them off. It was something small but it was good to get out of the house with a task and not just going to Walmart to see what I can find.

Today I decided I was going to do a plant update!

Here we have all our herbs and leafy greens, they are growing wild to the point we have trimmed them and used them in our food. Some of them have died and others got burnt in the sun. The garlic grows underground so we might pull that up soon but I need to check how many days it takes!

This is our bin of lettuce, it’s still growing slowly but this was the last thing we planted so it’s got to catch up!

This is my pumpkins! I’m super excited that I have flowers out of it now, shitty part is bees will be around until the flowers turn into the pumpkin but it’s been too hot to sit out there when the sun is directly on my balcony anyways. Usually we can sit on the balcony around 2:30pm and on, it’s not too bad.

Drum roll on the sunflowers! Dave’s is on the left and mine is on the right. Mine is still taller but Dave’s is catching up! We need to get bigger pots for them eventually as mine seems to be growing out of that one quickly. It’s a pick em at this point! (cheer for mine, postive vibes!)

That’s all for the plants! I’ll keep update the more things change, right now I’m just excited for my pumpkins, maybe they’ll actually grow for me this time! Last time my step-dad tricked me thinking it grew but he just bought a small pumpkin…yea, I know! It was a good laugh though.

That’s all for today.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

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

Day Seventy-Six:

Welcome to another not so interesting boring day. I didn’t do much needless to say, I didn’t even work out!

The only interesting thing that happened yesterday was the crazy thunderstorm we had and I took a mini time laspe of it.

This is also why I didn’t have a blog, because I stayed up late, didn’t wash my hair and went to bed!

Day Seventy-Seven:

Another not so interesting day! The weather was weird today, I woke up and it was cloudy and windy with some chances of some rain. All of the sudden its sunny, humid and hot. Hot enough that Drax didn’t want to go on walks. Tomorrow morning I’m hoping he wakes me up early enough that we get a long one in before it gets too hot.

Today I did do a work out and I died. It was on resistance band workout, I didn’t think it was going to be that bad since the last one I did wasn’t that hard, apparently the last one I did was a shit workout!

So I do have a rant today, just a small rant, that I really shouldn’t since I know people are working very hard. Canada Post messed with my emotions. I ordered stuff from Gymshark, it said it was out to be delivered which made me very excited because I have nothing else to do. It didn’t come and when I checked later on it said deliever date pending and it was all of the sudden back at the postal facility. I was excited it was coming but now I don’t know what’s going on. ALSO I ordered The Body Shop a week before Gymshark and I don’t even have shipping for that! I know, I know, I shouldn’t be complaining at all. Just a small rant of playing with my emotions. I thank Canada Post workers big time and I know you’re all very busy and short staffed! We love you.

That’s all I have for today.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Seventy-One & Seventy-Two

Day Seventy-One:

This day was pretty uneventful. My morning routine was pretty much the same with walking Drax and attempting to eat healthy. I did have a doctors appointment so I got ready for that, mask in hand and drove. I ended up being 30mins early because normally the road the doctor is on is ususal extremely busy but now in the pandemic is kinda busy. Anyways I sat in the car just chilling until it started to rain so I decided to put my mask on and head in. It was a quick trip, in and out and I was on my way!

I came home to Dave and Drax laying in bed so I laid down with them and we laughed at Tik Tok videos, I don’t make them I just watch them if you were curious.

I waited all day to get the motivation to work out and I finally did but it was at the end of the day and I was distracted so it wasn’t the best workout. I ordered some cute stuff from Gymshark since my resistance bands are awful, I’m excited for those to show up. That was pretty much it!

Day Seventy-Two:

This morning routine was all messed up! Dave didn’t start work until later so Drax woke him up and he took him out earlier than I normally would. Eventually I woke up, ate breakfast and decided to take Drax on a long walk, it’s about 2k. When we got back Drax pretty much just hung out and so did I until Dave came home.

I again was having trouble with the motivation so I waited until 730pm ish to start my workout, I did glutes and abs and now my butt cheeks hurt! That’s a good thing though! Dave and I started to watch Space Force and made dinner which I snacked too much yesterday but that’s okay, it’s only my first week.

Dave ended up falling asleep on the couch and I was tired too so we went to bed early (we’re getting old).

There was a creepy storm here though.

My friend who faces the other way told me the sky looked black so I went onto my balcony to see. It was pretty cool to watch but the storm was lame, my dog wasn’t even scared.

That’s it, that’s all!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.