More specifically, $148.41, after discounts and taxes.

After parting ways with the Cat Lady, I actually headed to Canadian Tire, first, and saved Walmart for last, since I would have refrigerated items.

There’s 4 loaves of rye bread, four 4L bottles of distilled water for my husband’s CPAP humidifier, 4 blocks of cheese (mozza, old cheddar, Havarti and marble), a 2L of 3% milk, a 2L of soy milk, a 4L of 3% milk to make yogurt with, and a live bacteria culture container of Greek yogurt to use as a starter. The Kraft Dinner was really cheap, so I got a case for the girls, along with the feminine hygiene products. There’s also a large jar of olives, a jar of mayo, a 12pk of Fresca for my husband and another of Coke Zero for me. Last of all was a couple of packages of 50% off Easter chocolates, and a bottle of water for the drive home. Oh, I almost forgot. There’s 2 packages of rice crackers for my husband.

After I packed everything up in the truck, I actually went back in and bought a package of crew socks, which cost another $12 or so.

There’s a reason for that!

One of the things I went looking for at the Canadian Tire was a new pair of steel toed shoes. The ones I have now are splitting in the usual places on my right shoe. Because my feet are so wide, I’ve been buying men’s size 9 or 9.5, triple wide shoes. They are wide enough for my feet, but always too long. Of course, there’s about a half size difference between my feet (which is true of most people). Between the extra length and the different in foot size, when my shoes bend at the ball of my foot, it’s not the “right” area of the shoe, so they start splitting fairly quickly, with my right shoe always starting to split first.

Well, there wasn’t a lot of selection for steel toes shoes. Plenty for boots, but really just one for shoes. After trying a couple of pairs on, though, I was actually able to get my feet into some size 8’s!!! So I took a chance, and bought them. The shoes were about $80. Along with those, I got a couple more bags of stove pellets for the litters, so the total bill was just over $100 after taxes.

After loading the pellets into the truck, I promptly put on the new shoes, then went to Walmart.

As I was walking around at Walmart, though, my feet were starting to hurt. I injured my feet, many years ago, which is why they are so wide and totally flat. I’m actually under doctor’s order to wear supportive shoes all the time, including indoors. Which is so un-Canadian! 😄 I do have inside shoes, though, so I’m not wearing my work shoes indoors, at least! 😁 Anyhow, wearing shoes all the time has made a difference. It’s been ages since I’ve had a metatarsal suddenly dislocate on me.

But the more I walked around in them, the more I thought I might have made a mistake in going with the size 8s. They were really snug at the balls of my feet, where they are the widest.

Then I remembered something.

I was wearing my thick, thermal winter socks.

It’s getting warm enough out that I won’t need to wear those.

I clued into the problem as I was walking to back to the truck, so I returned to the Walmart once everything was loaded. I headed straight to the men’s section and managed to find some crew socks. I hate tall socks; they always fall down to my ankles, so I fold them down. For some reason, it’s hard to find crew socks. It’s either tall socks, or ankle socks, and ankle socks always end up getting pulled under my heel.

Problem solved!

So between everything, today cost me about $250, plus another $40 in gas. Gas prices here are mostly in the $1.439/L range (roughly $5.75/gallon), which is I believe the lowest in the country right now. Our province extended a fuel tax break, so when the carbon tax kicked in, the gas prices didn’t rise as much as in other places. I just took a look and the highest provincial average price right now is $1.937/L in BC (roughly $7.75/gallon) while the average across the country is $1.638/L (roughly $6.50/gallon).

*sigh*

In other things, I didn’t get a call back from the septic guy about replacing the pill switch in the septic tank, so I’ll call him again tomorrow. Between the cost of the switch, plus labour, I’m expecting it to be in the $300 range, but I want to know for sure before I take out the cash to pay him. With a tip, of course!

I really look forward to not having to activate the pump manually again!

All in good time.

The Re-Farmer