Home Depot. We need supplies to help install the new microwave/hood fan. I am puzzling over bolts – will the smallest size be enough to secure the new access panel? Or should I get one size up?

“Why don’t I have a gold finger?” asks Little Miss Sunshine from the cart.

It takes a moment to refocus. “What?”

“Why don’t I have a gold finger?”

“You mean, you would touch things and they would turn to gold?”

“No, just a finger that is gold and sparkly.”

“I…don’t know why you don’t have a gold finger. We will look into that. Now, which do you think: the big bolt, or the small one?”

WalMart. Our cashier has electric pink lips framing a warm, friendly smile. “I’m worried about this bag. I’m going to double bag it for you – nothing worse than your bag splitting all over the parking lot, is there?” She hums while my credit card goes though, leans over to ask Little Miss Sunshine the name of her Pretty Pony. “Have a nice day,” she calls cheerfully to me, and I say I will, but I don’t see how it can possibly be as nice as the day she is having.

A reversing car almost hits me in one parking lot. A van in the next one turns too quickly into their spot, and I have to brake hard. Later I’m turning left into the Superstore and a speeding red Mustang zooms around on my left hand side, cutting into the same parking lot ahead of me. What is with people these days?

Home Hardware. We are buying a giant snake of tin tubing for the microwave vent. If anyone wants to be a robot for Halloween, we’ll be all set. At the cash register there is a man in front of me who is trying to return a half-used bottle of organic weed killer. He says he knows it is open but it did not work at all, and he wants to bring it back. The manager explains that once a product is open, it cannot be returned.

I’m surprised the man thought for a moment this plan would work. If you buy a product based on what it says on the label, is the store required to stand behind its claims? Shouldn’t you bring your bitterness to the internet, or complain to the company directly for your money back? Should a good store only carry products they personally feel are top quality, or should they just offer what they know they can sell?

I wonder.

We left before the issue was resolved.

Driving home, we pass a brown Ford Tempo. That brings back some memories – every other family on my block had one when I was in Grade 10. If I hurried in the morning I could catch my friend down the street before she left for school, and her father would give us all a ride in his Tempo.

Someone has used white paint to write “’91 MINT” on the back of this brown one. I must say it is astonishing that it still runs. I wouldn’t rush out to enter it in any classic car shows, though.

Little Miss Sunshine is tired and so am I – Sir Monkeypants and I were up past midnight struggling with the microwave. We lie down together in her bed but neither of us can sleep. It’s time for another errand, anyway – the older kids will be finished school soon. The days full of little jobs always seem so much harder than the days with one big project. It’s the running, running, running, and getting nowhere.