Seems my life these days is a never ending list of errands and today was to be no different.
 
1. Dentist appointments.
 
2. Eat breakfast at Ric’s Country Kitchen.
 
3. Pick up shoes and boots in for repair.
 
4. A Treat – stop for ice cream.
 
We started making our way home and when deciding which route to take, I recalled that one of the much long-awaiting overpasses was finally opened yesterday, so suggested we take it. Immediately dear daughter suggested that because we were headed in that direction, “could we please, please, please stop for ice cream?”  Just the other day I was mentioning how we hadn’t had any for some time now, so I agreed.
 
I ordered first, my usual small chocolate frozen yoghurt. Dear daughter followed with her usual large mix of cotton candy and rainbow ice cream. I handed her cash to pay with and said I’d wait in the car. While waiting, I noticed the sign on the door stating the hours of work at TCBY. It was somewhat confusing.

sign outside TCBY's at TV roundabout

Open from 10 – 1 midnight. Does that mean until 1am in the morning, or actually 12 midnight??? It surely does not matter either way as I can say for certain that I will never be going out for ice cream at either midnight or 1am in the morning! I think the rest of it means it’s only closed Friday’s for prayer. Again, confusing. As Muslims pray 5 times a day does this mean they are closed at all 5 prayer times and for how long exactly, or does it mean it’s only closed for the most important prayer time, Jumu’ah, which is usually around noon on Fridays. As usual, you never know for certain if a place of business will be open when you arrive.

 

5. Take youngest son to shopping mall to meet with friends.

6. Pick up coffee (had been drinking instant for 2 days!!!).

Walked into the shop to see 2 lonely bags of coffee on the shelf, one of which was decaf. I thought to myself, “here we go again – no coffee in the coffee shop for sale”. But, I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a good customer of theirs or they do this for everyone…..they told me they could make me up a package of whatever it was I needed. So, I asked for 2 packages of the Caribou blend. Then the manager came over and handed me one of the two bags that were sitting on the shelf saying he’d like me to have it, complimentary to try, as it’s only seasonal and I might find I like it.

I passed along my thanks and walked out of the shop not only with what I needed, but an extra bag for free and a moment when someone took the time to do something nice – made my day!

 7. Take daughter to gymnastics.

 8. Spend time in shopping mall waiting to drive daughter home from gymnastics.

Not that I needed or wanted to be in another mall today but if I were to drive all the way back home it only leaves about 20 minutes before I would have to drive another 45 minutes in return for the pick-up. I figure it’s less frustrating to just wait it out. I did my usual wandering around and came upon a couple of new magazines, so picked them up and decided to have a nice salad for dinner. Normally I tend to go for some fast-food on Monday nights, but salad seemed like such a better choice. And it certainly was (see below). Thanks to Paul’s.

yummy salad at Paul's

As I was getting into my car when leaving the mall, an Arab man and his wife were putting their groceries into their car which was parked beside mine. I always roll down the back two windows of our vehicle when backing out, as we have dark tinting over the windows which makes it difficult to see. I also have one of the largest vehicles on earth (besides a Hummer perhaps), a Yukon XL , which means getting in and out of parking spaces isn’t always the easiest of things. I think the man took pity on me as he walked to the back of my vehicle and showed me how much room I had to manoeuvre, to get safely out of the parking spot.

9. Drive daughter home from gymnastics.

And so the day ended, safely, back at home. I’m not sure where all the unexpected generosity and kindness was coming from today, but I was certainly most appreciative of it.