A Week of Money: Where Little Bun scares me

DAY ONE

??:?? — Little Bun is crying softly. I cuddle him close.

??:?? — Potty run. Early morning milk drinking. As he had no dinner, he is hungry.

??:?? — Little Bun crying again. Poor baby is super hot.

6:10 a.m. — I take his temperature, rocketing up to 40 C again. I hope he doesn’t have roseola again, it doesn’t seem like it, it seems like a real infection this time with spiking high fevers, so I email my bosses to stay at home to work. I may have to stay home tomorrow as well if he isn’t better. My partner can only take Wednesdays off as he has C-level meetings at the start of the week.

6:18 a.m. — I manage to get another cup of medicine down his throat, by enticing him with stickers, and asking him to please take it so that he is less hot and he feels better. He bravely agrees, and after very little cajoling and coaxing, he downs it in three gulps without much protest and then he drinks fresh milk to wash the taste out, and gets 5 stickers again to decorate the landscape I am drawing around them to bring them to life:

I also did a Hungry Caterpillar rendition:

6:30 a.m. — I start working as my partner showers after his yoga. I start a load of laundry.

6:50 a.m. — I take a break, make a tea and go back to work.

7:25 a.m. — I offer a banana to Little Bun who refuses to eat. I am so worried now. He never says no to food… It is snowing like mad so I don’t even know if I want to take him out to grab a special treat / lunch (sushi?) to entice him to eat something. I dry the laundry.

8:00 a.m. — I do all the dishes quickly and dry them while waiting for a report.

8:45 a.m. — I get my papers prepared for other reports, and write a few emails. An urgent message comes in and I work on that until I resolve it.

9:08 a.m. — Little Bun manages to crack open the nice Crocodile Creek fire truck I gave him and plays with the puzzle inside. I really really want this train for him too.

9:10 a.m. — He asks to go down for a nap and to “cuddle” in the bed. I get set up on the bed with my laptops and working materials, bring the phone, and he lies in between my legs with his pillow, hugging my thigh to his body like a body pillow.

9:12 a.m. — He asks for music. I run back out to the living room, plug in my other laptop and play jazz on iTunes. I continue working.

9:20 a.m. — I take a break and put away the laundry.

9:38 a.m. — My bum hurts. I can’t sit in bed too long working like this. I ponder making noodles with some eggs…. But I don’t want to leave him to wake up alone without Mommy’s legs around him. He might get scared. I’m torn. But also hungry. I make a decision to go start some noodles quickly. He is in a deep sleep. I wrap a pillow around the top of his head to simulate my body.

9:40 a.m. — I start the water boiling for the noodles. I love mixing up some of this Braggs B12 nutritional yeast with some salt, and cracking in an egg near the end because it is DELICIOUS together. Lots of umami flavour and you don’t really need soy sauce if you don’t have it. Oh, and I am obsessed with this new artist I discovered – K. Flay – Blood in the Cut..

9:57 a.m. — Meal done, I head back just in time to sit down and have Little Bun wake up. I pat his bum a little and he just lies there with his eyes open. He squeals and wiggles his bum a little and I pat him back to sleep.

10:03 a.m. — He starts snoring a little. It’s so cute he sounds just like his father.

10:38 a.m. — He finally wakes up after another short nap and plays with his fire truck while watching me work.

11:08 a.m. — We head out because he is refusing to eat his soup and once I said “sushi” he perked up. Whatever will make him eat… !!! I just want some food in him. He eats a quarter of the bento box before I have time to snap a picture.. all said and done, he ate all of the cucumber rolls, and half of the raw fish ones and then cried Uncle because he is sick and doesn’t want to eat as much as normal. $12.47

12:20 p.m. — In the car he asks for Sanskrit music and squeals in protest if I ever try to skip Destiny Child’s – Say my Name because he is obsessed with this song…

12:28 p.m. — Back home, I log back in and work.

1:13 p.m. — I am trying very unsuccessfully to get my child to nap. He definitely seems to be feeling a heck of a lot better because he is resisting his nap now. 😛 Maybe it was the sushi.

1:53 p.m. — Okay he is not napping. I give up and let him play around me as I continue working.

2:15 p.m. — I remember to quickly write a cheque out to myself for expenses incurred.

4:24 p.m. — It is almost 5, I’m done working, and Little Bun is getting whiny because he essentially missed his nap. I go and cuddle with him in the bedroom.

4:50 p.m. — I try to get him to go own for a quick nap (15 minutes) again because he is grumpy but he won’t. Gah!!

5:34 p.m. — I want to do the dishes again and another load of laundry but am pinned to the bed by a child who won’t nap and is grumpy. Early bedtime for all tonight.

6:25 p.m. — My partner gets home and I’m beat. Working and taking care of a sick child is tough.

6:47 p.m. — I am trying hard to get Little Bun go take his medicine but he is fighting hard. It isn’t like when he was a baby and I could force it down his throat. Now he is bigger and he won’t be forced to do anything… I have to coax, cajole and threaten no stickers as a last resort.

6:52 p.m. — I manage to get some down his throat but then he burps and then projectile vomits all over the floor. I was too slow to react that he would throw up and now I’m paying for it. Sigh.

7:00 p.m. — I am calm, I bring him to the bathroom soothingly saying it is okay, no big deal and I get him cleaned up and get the floor cleaned. He is calm as he watches me clean up saying: a mess! All over the floor!

7:15 p.m. — Yuck. I need to steam mop this ish this week. I make a note to do it this weekend and really clean the floors. I see streaks of oily something or another no matter how hard I scrub the floor.

7:30 p.m. — I try again with the medicine and he finally takes it in three big gulps and then washes it down with milk and gets 5 stickers to put in a notebook and I draw a new scene around them for him. 

7:46 p.m. — I eat my dinner (as a parent, nothing fazes me now not even vomit) and then we read books and cuddle to sleep after I make sure his temperature drops below 40. I’m so worried when it is high like that, I never want to experience a febrile seizure ever again.

8:21 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $12.47

DAY TWO

??:?? — Little Bun is still feverish so I make a decision to stay home again.

??:?? — He wakes up and gets his milk then flips back to sleep again.

6:24 a.m. — Little Bun wakes up, cries and squeals until I ask him if he wants to stay at home with Mommy.

7:00 a.m. — I then spend the next half hour, tired and sneezy, cajoling him to take his medicine. His fever is hitting 40 again. I manage to get it down his throat in three gulps after many threats of NO STICKERS and no “fresh milk” (unadultered, medicine-free milk). He resignedly gulps it down in three shots and then washes the taste away with milk. Then he happily plays with stickers.

7:44 a.m. — I check his temperature a few more times during the morning and am pleased to see it drop. My partner finishes his yoga and heads off to work after making me a special sandwich for the day with eggs and avocado because he knows I’ll be working a lot and having to care for Little Bun.

8:00 a.m. — I start working after I toss a load of laundry in the washer. We are going through our handkerchiefs like mad (we buy them from a great little independent shop called Eco-Freako by the way and we LOVE them).

8:11 a.m. — I try to share a banana with Little Bun but it is a bit too ripe for his liking and he gags it out. I finish it by myself. Bananas are either too green or within that sweet spot of like 2 seconds of being PERFECT to eat, then they’re overripe .. gahhhh! I’d save them for banana cake but my partner wants to be the one to bake and cook in the house, not me. I guess he feels like it is his area ..

9:47 a.m. — I call my Team Lead and plan a meeting for the end of the week to discuss some notes with an executive.

9:50 a.m. — I dry the clothes and I get back to work and start trying to get this stuff DONE while Little Bun listens to videos and songs quietly beside me.

10:12 a.m. — For a break, I feed Little Bun some soup and pasta and he thankfully eats the entire bowl like his normal self. I eat the sandwich my partner made for me.

10:30 a.m. — I get a call from my Director and Little Bun starts screaming and losing his ish,..I can’t even concentrate or hear what he is saying over the screams. WTF. I’m furious afterwards because THIS IS WHY I DON’T WORK AT HOME. I scold Little Bun in a fit of frustration and anger, which causes him to predictably burst into tears. Damn it. DAMN IT.

10:34 a.m. — Little Bun sobs and sobs and I finally carry him like a baby and get him down sleeping in between my legs, hugging my thigh tight to him. I have my laptop but I’m all twisted in bed trying to work without being able to rest the laptop on top of Little Bun’s head and I very seriously consider buying a lap desk or something. I’m loathe to buy something for just a short period of time however but I have noticed that sometimes I sit in the car while I’m waiting and I could really do with a lap desk… maybe a used one, or at least a DIY one with a pillow and a piece of wood or a book.

10:49 a.m. — I try to keep working all twisted before I get frustrated and pull my thigh away to be free which OF COURSE wakes him up, he blinks up at me and I try desperately to get him back to sleep. After 25 minutes of steady, rhythmic bum patting, he drifts off to sleep.

12:34 p.m. — I keep working until he wakes up about 2 hours later. I hand him a bottle of milk and some water to keep him hydrated as much as possible.

12:38 p.m. — He drinks his milk, gets up to play a little.

1:01 p.m. — A little bit later, he tells me: you’re grumpy … and I carry him back to sleep. He falls asleep for another 2 1/2 more hours with my intervention every half hour or so to pat him back to sleep when he wakes up. He needs his rest, poor thing.

1:04 p.m. — I manage to get a lot done and even end up during my break, completing my company taxes. I created this massive Excel sheet and am able to pretty much follow it like a procedure to fill in all the info although this year they played around with the forms a bit so I had to rejig the sheets. Doing my own corporate taxes saves me about $2500 a year. In 10 years that is $25,000. Net, saved! It only takes time to read it in French, and check that they haven’t changed anything since last year — they have WAY too much time on their hands and are always adding new things to these forms.  

2:24 p.m. — I update my form for this coming year to make my taxes even easier and to track everything.

2:56 p.m. — I also review my projected income for the year and plan my dividend withdrawal. I need about $45,000 so I need to take out about $60,000 to cover taxes and so on. If I spend less, I pay less in taxes.

3:04 p.m. — Little Bun finally wakes up and I cuddle him and do another load of laundry.

5:08 p.m. — I finish working and then log off.

5:28 p.m. — I print all the finished forms and I still have to review them, do my financial statements, sign and write cheques, then scan it all and mail it. I’ll try doing that tomorrow night.

6:10 p.m. — My partner comes home and we have a salad again with eggs and later that night I realize that I’m itching like crazy. I think we are eating too many eggs and it is triggering my eczema… I am not allergic to eggs but I have found that if I eat them in excess, my skin reacts.

6:54 p.m. — I cuddle Little Bun and we do puzzles, some numbers together (I lay out numbers and he says what they are like 5617) and then we end up reading books as he tells me again that he is grumpy and sleepy.

7:19 p.m. — I read 4 books after getting him ready for bed and then I explain the outside, pop a night pill and fall asleep.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

12:19 a.m. — I wake up at midnight itchy from the eggs triggering my eczema and my legs and chest are itching like mad. I pop an antihistamine to calm the allergy and fall back asleep.

6:49 a.m. — I wake up and it is almost time to leave! Gahhhh… at least I slept well. I get dressed, slap on makeup for the first time in 4 days (it is nice to give your skin a break), and decide on a bright magenta cashmere sweater instead of a collared shirt. I need a colour pop pick me up.

6:51 a.m. — I get out the door, and realize I forgot Little Bun’s Jacket in the car. I bring it back upstairs for my partner who is staying home with the Sick One today and I get to work.

7:04 a.m. — I confirm a meet to sell one of my old spare hard drives (I have over 10), and I don’t need it plus plan on buying smaller thinner drives in the future. What I’d rather have is the money if I don’t use these electronics they might as well go to someone who will use them.

7:44 a.m. — I am super excited for my new camera after I see it was delivered yesterday at noon, and I forgot to pick it up. I get a cup of tea and get to work.

10:00 a.m. — There is some invoicing problem and I finally discover after much headache and searching that it is old and has long been resolved, but the customer is irate that we didn’t resolve it when in fact it was not marked as paid on their end. ALL THE LOLZ. I get yelled at by a customer and it is their fault. Ironic.

10:30 a.m. — I work answering questions until a conference call starts. I’m half listening and half doing my own notes for organizing my life.

12:34 p.m. — I finish the call, get dragged into a meeting and then grab my lunch. I’m trying the Soyarie tofu miso burger and it isn’t bad!! I actually like it and eat two patties.

12:49 p.m. — I am chatting to coworkers about how I organize my life and they’re amazed at how strict I am but it is nothing because I need a structure to stay organized. I’m not even that strict because I think I have a lot of flexibility in fact…. We talk about how much space one needs and I mention that 1200 square feet is enough for us but they can’t believe it.

1:12 p.m. — I finish my lunch, book a meeting with a Director ( the one Little Bun lost his crap over yesterday when I was on the phone ) and rush to sell my hard drive for $40.

1:30 p.m. — Drive sold. +$40

1:34 p.m. — I book it back to the office foregoing a Starbucks even though it is Double Star Day. Yay for restraint!!!

3:08 p.m. — I mention to my Team Lead that Little Bun is still sick (I have been emailing my partner all day), and I will work from home tomorrow.

4:28 p.m. — I am JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE and I get snagged into a meeting on a parallel project. Why. I did not want to be on this project, THIS IS NOT MAH DESTINY!!!

5:10 p.m. — I just gracefully eject myself from the meeting after giving all the info I could give, and try to pretend like I do not know any more than that. I run to the car.

5:15 p.m. — T.R.A.F.F.I.C. .. it snowed 10 centimetres, so everything is seriously blood, dark red for traffic maps.

6:26 p.m. — For real. It took me 1.5 hours to get to my exit, in the same distance that normally takes TEN MINUTES without traffic. OMG. OMFG.

6:34 p.m. — I pick up my camera. SQUEE!!!!!!!!

6:41 p.m. — Little Bun sees me come in the door, grins, squeals, runs and throws himself on the bed wrapping himself up tightly in the blankets and calling out: “Mommy?? MOMMYYYYY Play Baby!!! WANT TO PLAY BABY!!!!!” This child. He was still sick all day but feeling a bit better I think.

7:00 p.m. — I eat a small dinner.. my partner is going on a “bread and pastry” mission this year to make it all from scratch. He is sick of paying for baguettes and will make his own. Same with pastries.

7:12 p.m. — Little Bun helps me unwrap the camera and I set it up. It is slightly heavier than my old model, but I can see it is way faster and with 24 frames per second (fps), this is phenomenal power in a little camera. I excitedly put my old camera accessories on the new one.

7:46 p.m. — I prep my desk for tomorrow, and make a note to basically get rid of all of my hard drives that sit there and are not used. What a waste. Even if I get a fraction of its price back at least the weight and clutter is gone, and the money will go towards my new camera. I happily record down my $40 sale today in my budgeting tool….this means that if I can sell the maximum amount of hard drives, the camera will be even less out of pocket for me.

8:00 p.m. — Pop another night pill, time for bed.

Earned: $40

DAY FOUR

??:?? — Little Bun squealing about his nose. He thinks every nose drip is a nose bleed… “You’re bleeding!! YOU’RE BLEEDING“, he screams (he means “I’m bleeding“)

??:?? — He doesn’t want to sleep. I try and force him back down but he goes for a potty run and then gets milk

5:30 a.m. — What fresh hell is this… he is going to be terrible today at this early hour.

6:05 a.m. — He is clingy, whiny, I am trying to soothe him, calm him, get him down for another mini nap and he is completely contrary today. He NEEDS MORE SLEEP but won’t sleep. Oh the conundrum of a little child.

6:10 a.m. — My partner entices him out with a chausson aux pommes which he made yesterday.. again, his new kick this year is to bake everything himself instead of buying it:

6:39 a.m. — I log in and start working. He clings to me like a koala and sobs into my chest: You’re [I am] not a little boy! YOU ARE [I am] NOT A BIG BOY! You’re [I am] a BABY. Want to be a BABY. I soothe him, and hug him and tell him he can be a baby today if he wants. Oh this is going to be fun. /sarcasm

7:01 a.m. — My partner leaves for work, I keep working, and know I have 4 major house things to do today:

• Get all my hard drives I want to sell prepped, erased, and checked
• Do all the dishes
• Vacuum & steam mop the entire apartment
• Do 2 loads of laundry

7:20 a.m. — I ponder going out today to get some vegetarian patties for my lunch.. I will probably do that, but after dishes. I try to work but Little Bun is really. REALLY. GRUMPY.

7:30 a.m. — I take a break and take a shower. I give him the mini iPad to make slideshows with.

7:42 a.m. — Out of the shower, I slather myself in this organic rosehip oil. It really does seem to fade scars… my legs are all scarred from eczema so this is great.

7:57 a.m. — Back to work, I have a call in 3 minutes.

8:35 a.m. — I log off my call. I quickly FaceTime a friend and he says he can sell me new wireless Airpods for $150 when they sell for $219 plus taxes. SOLD! Oops. Not meant to be shopping though…. $150

8:40 a.m. — Little Bun sobs and wants to play Baby, and I wrap him around on top of my legs. He falls asleep pretty quickly. I take advantage of this time and set my hard drives to erase / format while I work.

9:47 a.m. — Little Bun is still sleeping. My call shifted from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. so I have some time to organize things. Hmm.. I have a two 500GB hard drives and a 250GB left. I guess I could keep one as a spare for transfers, and another to back up Little Bun’s photos (very precious to me), and then sell the other? I can’t seem to find the cables for them but I distinctly remember tossing some in the garbage last year thinking: What is all this extra crap doing here?… Oops. I may need to buy more cables.. I hope I can find a store that will sell them for cheap. Or maybe at a dollar store.

10:27 a.m. — I need to start getting all of this hard drive business organized. I need a strategy. Should I do a double backup just in case of Little Bun photos? I think so. Then I have already a backup of all my hard drives on one disk, but do I need another? Ugh…

11:22 a.m. — My call finishes and I get ready to head out with Little Bun because I want to add something to my couscous and vegetables…

12:08 p.m. — At the store, I wanted to buy vegetarian tofu patties (I really liked the ones from Soyarie I’ve tried lately) but the store I am at doesn’t do vegetarian food. Great. I buy a massive turkey meatball instead. $4.49

12:12 p.m. — Lunch warmed up in the microwave, I add the turkey meatball and start eating. Little Bun takes bites of it too with carrots (he likes them now apparently.. go figure after 3+ years of refusing carrots he wants to eat them now), and this meatball is surprisingly delicious. Like.. REALLY delicious. Well worth it. I am stuffed after my lunch.

12:28 p.m. — I deposit all the cash in the bank from the sales from the past few weeks (about $260 in total), and a cheque that came in the mail today as a refund.

12:56 p.m. — Back home, Little Bun turns into a monster. I knew I was cheating the clock by going out so late and so close to nap time, and he just dissolves into a puddle of a screaming, crying, terrible monstrous MESS. EFF ME. EFF MY LIFE. I try and get him to calm down and perhaps nap, cajoling with videos and what have you but he is just.. not.. having… it.

1:15 p.m. — From what seems like an eternity later, he agrees to play “Baby” and he lies down in between my legs, curled up while I work on a laptop, half twisted. Maybe this laptop desk would be a good investment. I’m already thinking I need at least a laptop desk and this portable Bose speaker….. but it sells for $130 in-store “on sale”, and I am loathe to buy anything right now especially after splurging on wireless Airpods which will help a ton when I am on calls and the wire can stop getting tangled up in my clothes and around my neck. Gahhh.. stupid budget mindset.

1:34 p.m. — After much wiggling, Little Bun finally conks out. I extricate my now numb left leg from his side and replace it with a huge pillow so it still feels like my leg is there. Ninja swap! Now I can sit comfortably and my torso is not twisted in an awkward position.

1:35 p.m. — I get to work. Still need to vacuum. Do dishes. Steam mop the floor. GAH. Will do this when he wakes up. I get to work.

3:01 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up and just lies there, looking out at the window, watching me dash around trying to make some numbers add up and reconcile.

3:06 p.m. — THIS IS WHY YOU DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK. I was off by $5000…. Okay. I’m good now. I reconcile it all and it balances as it should.

3:16 p.m. — I vacuum and steam mop the entire apartment, then start a load of laundry

4:11 p.m. — I put on Sanskrit on the Bose speakers (we got a headphone splitter so that I can finally use this expensive sound system I paid for :-P) and I set Little Bun up in his cardboard house with a pillow, tuck him in, hand him a bottle of water (he even refused to drink fresh milk.. he must be really really sick..), and he falls asleep listening to Dreaming of Sanskrit, his latest obsession along with Psy’s Gangam Style (KOREAN, MOMMY!) and Destiny’s Child Say my Name…

4:51 p.m. — Dishes done, dried and put away, he wakes up and is burning up again.I cuddle him in my arms.

5:03 p.m. — I cut his nails and give him a sticker for surviving through it which he adds to his scene…

5:06 p.m. — He watches videos of himself and listens to more Sanskrit in my arms.

7:06 p.m. — Before sleeping, I give Little Bun medication to bring his fever down, after cajoling, coaxing, and threatening to revoke stickers, he gulped it down and drank fresh milk on my lap to wash away the taste.

7:12 p.m. — I pop a night pill and read to Little Bun until it is time to sleep.

Spent: $154.49

DAY FIVE

1:22 a.m. — He wakes up again crying and upset and I check his temperature out of an instinct (he felt really really hot), and I see it hit 40. I quickly get him up, and try to get medication in him again. He asks to go back to sleep: “You’re sleepy! You’re SLEEPY!“… and tries to avoid the medicine but I manage to entice him back into the kitchen to take his medicine with fresh milk and stickers on hand. He gets 5 stickers instantly, and he decorates his “sticker book”, and I draw a scene around it.

1:42 a.m. — He goes back to sleep, and I lightly cover him, and remove a shirt to be sure that he stays cooler. I was told not to cool down his body with cold baths or cloths because it just forces his internal temperature to rise to compensate for his cold skin / body.

6:45 a.m. — I wake up “late”, after having had a rough night, almost when it is time to leave for work. Damn. I am rushing to go, and as I am getting ready I hear Little Bun wail: Maa maaa… Want my maa maa.. Mommy.. Mommy…. and I go in and kiss his cheeks, check his temperature and ask him if he is okay. I explain that today is Friday and he has to stay at home with Daddy. He immediately bursts into tears: No no.. want Mommy. Want to stay home with Mommy. My heart breaks, I want to stay home and cuddle him too but I really REALLY need to go in to work today, I can’t stay home so often. I kiss his cheeks and tell him I have to go but I will be back as soon as possible. He sobs and kicks in bed.

6:59 a.m. —My partner finishes showering, I finish slapping on makeup and I get Little Bun to agree to help pick out a bee necklace and matching bee watch. He wants to do a LookBook but I don’t have time and I tell him we’ll do it when I am back home. He wails and hugs onto my legs, I call: Daddy…. and my partner arrives, checks his temperature (it is at 37) and then I grab my seventy-billion bags (laptop, hard drives to sell, present for the birthday party for a little girl this Sunday that he WILL miss so I want her to open the present anyway on Sunday even without him there, my lunch, my purse, my tea to refill at work.. LOTS OF CRAP.

7:03 a.m. — I grab my car keys, my house keys and my partner picks up Little Bun and holds him tight in his arms. Little Bun wails softly but doesn’t scream or kick and fight it, so that is a good sign, and then I am out the door. I hope he is better today. Otherwise I am making an appointment and seeing a doctor tomorrow if I have to. He is at least eating and drinking liquids, but at half what he is used to, he is sleeping about 6 extra hours a day, and his energy is at 25% compared to normal. I hope it is just a cold hitting him hard and not a terrible infection or disease.

7:20 a.m. — I head to work, drop everything, explain to everyone he is still sick, and then grab tea. I then proceed to Google kids being sick with fevers over 40C and freak out that he will die of all of these unknown diseases. OMG.

7:47 a.m. — I run off quickly to meet a buyer for the hard drive. He said between 8 to 8:15 and of course, I am asking any guy who looks remotely like he is waiting, if he is the guy.

8:15 a.m. — He arrives at 8:15 JUST AS I LEAVE and am at a store up the road emailing that I left.

8:17 a.m. — I double back to meet him, not having had wifi to check while I was there. At least this drive is gone. $40

8:25 a.m. — I forego Starbucks (hello awesome resolve!), knowing it would be $5 and I only made $40 so that would net me $35… and back at the office, I show off my new camera to a friend who is leaving today.

8:40 a.m. — He invites me out for all you can eat sushi which I am not sure I can handle necessarily due to the fact that I am so worried about Little Bun but I accept. I mean $20 all in, okay, the hard drive sold today pays for half of that. Not ideal, as I brought my lunch and had full intentions of eating it, but I do want to say goodbye.

10:12 a.m. — I sit at my desk and work, but then reconsider the lunch. $20, all you can eat.. sushi.. but I have my lunch which I am actually looking forward to eating with the tofu patty… I don’t know. Should I?

10:42 a.m. — My team lead turns and announces grimly that a new person is joining the team (not a consultant). Their end goal at this company is to have zero consultants and only for special things that they can’t do or need help with, and to have permanent people only. He asks if I want to join, and tries to convince me half-heartedly with their medical plan (ALL THE LOLZ we live in CANADA.. not the U.S.!), and I smile and shake my head politely. They know it is because if I join, my salary drops in half, although what they consider to be my salary is still a grey area. They may not even know how much I’m actually making to be honest.

10:55 a.m. — I get back to work, and still wonder if I should go to lunch… it is a whole   bunch of guys, they’re all nice.. yes why not, at least I will get to know more people and it is always good to pay it forward with socializing a bit. I decide to go. I’ll eat my lunch tomorrow.

10:59 a.m. — My skin is all messed up. My eczema is flaring up on my temple, my acne is at least somewhat diminishing due to the lack of makeup lately and my mostly vegetarian diet, but the stress is not helping.

11:12 a.m. — I put my head down and try to finish everything on my To Do list, I’m waiting on someone but he has taken a day off and I AM NOT about to complain to his boss about it getting done because I already had a tiff with him a while back and got told off for the exact same issue. I am not that dumb. I’m not saying NOTHING. They can just have that ish late and if they ask me why, it is going to be because I was waiting for someone to do their damn job.

12:08 p.m. — I head off to lunch with the boys and am glad I went because the new director and some other guy with an office (no idea who he is or what he does) shows up too, and it is nice to get to know other people outside of your area especially if you are confined to where you work. I am one of those people who likes to connect with everyone, say “”Hello“”, be friendly, because you just never know who can help you sometimes. We take a cab, the guy who didn’t want to walk, pays.

12:20 p.m. — At AYCE (All you can eat) sushi, the quality is pretty bad. I don’t say anything because I am a polite guest, but this stuff is worse than grocery store sushi. I only eat the raw fish, and a few sushi pieces, but the rice is over-vinegared and it is deep fried stuff.. not my thing. I’d rather pay $10 and have a good bowl of ramen rather than the money I’m out now for subpar food. This is not good food but it is food you eat to be polite when you’re out with others. The guys paid for the cab up (I just hitched a ride because I would have walked…). $23.78

12:58 p.m. — We walk back to work off the food and I am not overstuffed but also not satisfied as it wasn’t good sushi. I get to the office, say my goodbyes to the guy who is leaving and then I get back to work. I was pretty quiet during lunch and on the way back because I’m super stressed. An older friend reassures me and says it is likely the flu, but to call Info Santé (811) because they are very good at diagnosing even just over the phone. I take his advice to heart, especially since I don’t want to bring him to a clinic and for him to get sicker or to get other people sick and to WAIT THERE.

1:09 p.m. — An urgent email comes in and I jump on it. I figure out the issue in 2 seconds and start contacting people and then get ready to sell the second hard drive of the day. Another $40 in my pocket! I have two more to sell and then that’s it, I may sell the other hard drives if I don’t plan on using them — what’s the point of keeping this stuff if it is just going to sit there unused? I’d rather have the money. I have to learn how to be less attached to my clothes in this regard but with electronics, I’m all “”meh”” because they aren’t unique and in the future I do plan on upgrading to SSD (Solid State Drives) with USB 3.0 ports (the blue ones) for my hard drives because they run faster and work better but for now, I don’t need any.