Week of Money: Get me out of here, please.

DAY ONE

9:30 a.m. — Little Bun slept WELL. Must have been from all the crying and screaming we both did yesterday. We were both exhausted. My partner keeps getting up during the morning and it keeps waking me up. OMFG. STAY. STILL. AND IN BED.

10:17 a.m. — Tea done, I am glad I am subscribing to these free trials of apps for kids. Little Bun is occupied for a week, then time to move on to a new trial app. I am getting sick of paying for apps and then having him not bloody play with it after. WTF.

10:28 a.m. — I eat a yoghurt and feed Little Bun one. We are not going out, we need our bus passes renewed so Mamie is doing that this morning.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time. Pasta, some pork (Little Bun avoids the meat, and only eats the pasta), and some mushroom with rice.

1:03 p.m. — Nap time.

3:16 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up and doesn’t want to go out. He sits there looking so small like a little doll.. I tell him okay, and his father goes out alone instead and I stay in.

3:45 p.m. — We have a little yoghurt snack together while I am working.

4:44 p.m. — I pick up these two pairs of handmade Greek sandals from Etsy. $216

5:03 p.m. — Annnnd these cute pointed hurrache-style sandals. *blush* Is it terrible I want them in citron suede too? $208

6:33 p.m. — Time to get the table set up for dinner. My partner is home and he found chicken apparently.

7:09 p.m. — I log off work and eat the grilled chicken, then have a cup of chai. I miss Starbucks chai so badly.. I know it is just sugar and spices but.. STILL. I miss my routine and life.

8:25 p.m. — I can’t convince my partner to go out on a walk with me (he says it is too late for the countryside, we could end up as a statistic), so I just obsess about those yellow flats, as I am apt to do. I even try to find cheaper Etsy versions but none of them are JUST what I want.. Ugh. Why am I so spendy!?

9:11 p.m. — A reader “SRS” snarks in this post about how families are f*cked up that I seem to ENJOY pointing out that I earn 30X more than what my partner’s siblings do here, but I am not actually pointing that out TO THEM, nor have I ever (or will ever) say anything like that in my life to them. I am making the point in the post as an FYI because they already know how much we make and seem to bring up things like hinting about not being able to afford an expensive iPhone or a car like me, and yet we know they do have the money because they received the same gifted amount my partner did last year. They’re just griping and it is the reason why I think they are jealous of our income which is why they are partly not being very kind. I am not actually saying what I earn to them or rubbing it in, heck, not many people even know in real life, I am so private about my money business (all the more reason why I am Anonymous). It is just a feeling I get, and perhaps one of the reasons why we are not treated the same.

9:13 p.m. — And lastly, my time IS more valuable than theirs. Not because I am losing income or making more than they are, but the fact that we are spending 10+ hours to get to the airport, sit there, take the red-eye for 6-7 hours, wait on the tarmac, then take a bus or a train to see them… you would think this would have some value, someone with strong motion sickness, taking the time to travel with a small, difficult child, all the way to visit them, seeing as we only see them ONCE A YEAR. So yes, MY time IS more valuable. I would have rather gone to Toronto to be with my own friends and family, but I chose to come here thinking it would be good for the other side of the family. Never again. F&ck all that. I’m going to be selfish and do what I want now.

Spent: $424

DAY TWO

8:30 a.m. — Little Bun wakes up with me and we go upstairs for a yoghurt. He wants to stay in today, so we do.

10:09 a.m. — My partner comes back with Mamie from grocery shopping.

11:35 a.m. — Time for lunch!

12:51 p.m. — My partner asks Little Bun if he wants to go swim and he does. He becomes SUPER excited and goes down for his nap right away when it is time.

3:23 p.m. — Up from his nap, he says: Mommy, I NAPPED WELL. Now I can go swimming and have LOTS of fun. … He is really excited about water now which is good. We get ready and go.

4:44 p.m. — Crap. The new pool we are trying out is closed for the summer — meant for winter only — so we trek back up and wait another 45 minutes for the next bus to take us to the old pool.

5:36 p.m. — Finally at the old pool. We play and play, and Little Bun LOVES the water slide. He is not scared of the water, or being alone in it, which is good. The wading area is good for him. He even dunks his face a little!

6:49 p.m. — Back home, I start laundry and then do the dishes.

8:12 p.m. — Dinner time. The fish was okay not great.

10:57 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

8:30 a.m. — Complete meltdown this morning. Takes me an hour and a half to calm him down. Daddy brought him a yoghurt and he wanted MOMMY to do it, so he lost his #%(*#%….

11:02 a.m. — Finally calm, and yoghurt in his belly, tea in mine, my partner almost gets bitten by a neighbour’s dog and in a fit of fury books the plan to leave for another city to stay with his sister. Ugh.

11:15 a.m. — I put up the laundry to dry and start packing.

12:08 p.m. — Things mostly packed, we eat lunch of chicken, pan fried with a sauce made from shrimp heads. It is DELICIOUS. I feel a bit sad we are leaving so early when the plan was to stay at least another week.. but hey, change of environment, let’s see. I am keeping an open mind but (still not coming back unless it is to Paris so we can escape off on our own)…

1:21 p.m. — Nap time. Everyone goes down.

3:44 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up and REFUSES to go out. He is a homebody, wants to stay in and play on the iPad. It is too hot anyway…

4:23 p.m. — I do the rest of the laundry, and REALLY pack everything away.

5:02 p.m. — My partner goes out to get food. It is a two-bus situation. It is nice to have time alone without him at home sometimes so we can all breathe.

6:41 p.m. — Cousins come over to visit, and Little Bun eats soup in front of them, and warms up only a BIT near the end. Sigh.

8:44 p.m. — Godparents come over to visit (what is this, Visiting Day?) and we spend a nice evening together eating grilled prawns. They invite us over to their place, offering to pick us up, and gave Little Bun THREE gifts to which he very properly ‘bisoued’ all of them multiple times for. I was so proud I could burst. He did not cry or whine or do what he normally does with strangers, and all of these social interactions are helping him adjust to greeting others better.

9:59 p.m. — I clean up everything, and try to start the washer but have no clue how to use this stupid thing. I tried pressing ‘On’, then this button, and that… completely dead. I leave it.

10:25 p.m. — I get an email that the shoes I ordered were OVERSOLD in the metallic silver I wanted. WTF, site? One star off for you. I log on and use a coupon to order the other colour — caramel metallic — with an additional 5% off. Not so bad. -$12

11:31 p.m. — I wake up from insomnia. Can I let you all in on a secret? I think I am imagining a second child, now that Little Bun is older and easier to take care of. I think with two children, I would feel like our family is complete. But then I re-read my post on Only Children being Lonely, and I see ALL the benefits of NOT having a second. More money, time, devoted care to one, no more newborn and diaper stress stage, my relationship would stay intact…. a new kid would come along and f&ck it all up. No? … Still, I cannot say No even though I am not certain of a Yes either. This is keeping me up at night.

Spent: $0

Saved: $12 – difference of 5% back on those shoes

DAY FOUR

7:20 a.m. — Insomnia. With thoughts of you know what. I look over at Little Bun and see an empty spot between him and his father. I can almost see a second one there…

7:59 a.m. — I log in and flip through Instagram while waiting for them to wake up.

8:28 a.m. — I get my face cleaned, and as I am doing that, my partner plays happily with Little Bun and makes him giggle for a solid 20 minutes. Breathless, he runs to me and says very happily: MOMMY! I played with DADDY today!.. this makes my ovaries perk up.

9:11 a.m. — Time for a tea, and he spells with the new letters he has from the game he got yesterday from the godparents. I feed him a yoghurt.

9:25 a.m. — I spend the next hour logged in and working, and then schedule over 700 pins from Pinterest using Tailwind (here is your first month free with my referral link). GenYMoney says my Pinterest engagement is bananas, and frankly, I do not even log into Pinterest to repin or push those boards. Tailwind helps me with ALL of that, what a godsend for this single solopreneur blogger. 😀 Well worth the money I paid for it.

12:28 p.m. — Time for lunch.

12:56 p.m. — Nap.

3:56 p.m. — We are leaving tomorrow to go to another house, so I re-pack everything all night.

7:56 p.m. — Dinner.

12:35 a.m. — Bedtime, after more repacking.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

8:25 a.m. — We wake up, have a tea and some yoghurt and then head out to exchange some clothes. People buy the strangest things for children like denim jeans when it is clear that this child of mine likes to be as free and as unconfined as possible which equals SWEATPANTS, all day, every day until he is old enough to appreciate “fashion”.

9:22 a.m. — Little Bun LOSES his )&@!? In the stores and people are wondering WTF is going on because apparently all kids here sleep perfectly, are always mentally well-rested and therefore do not throw tantrums. /sarcasm … I tell my partner he is missing two hours of proper night sleep due to the late night party RUCKUS he had that went until 1 a.m. but Little Bun wakes up at the same time daily, so he is tired AF.

10:03 a.m. — I pick up two souvenirs for people. 5 EUR

11:05 a.m. — We JUST miss the bus so we wander around, and I am left to deal with a fatigued, cranky child.

11:59 a.m. — He falls asleep on me on the bus on the way back. I try to get him to continue sleeping but he wakes up 6 minutes after I had so carefully lugged his 35 pound bum 6 blocks back into the house… UGH!

1:26 p.m. — We have lunch.

2:00 p.m. — He goes down for his nap after some protest, and my partner gets annoyed at me because we have to leave TODAY and he needs to nap before, not having slept well last night.

3:30 p.m. — We get ready after he wakes up just in time, and we lug two suitcases and two backpacks plus an extra bag. My partner is carrying 6 bottles of local wine in a cooler to the other house…. BECAUSE we don’t have enough to carry as it is.

4:07 p.m. — Just before we get on the bus, his mother complains again about how Little Bun doesn’t like her. My partner gives a big eye roll and says nothing — no sense in fighting, we are leaving for good.

5:22 p.m. — On the bus, Little Bun is a MODEL child and goes for the first leg of the trip without even speaking, just staring outside the window for 2 hours.

6:44 p.m. — I surreptitiously eat a whole bag of fruit juice gummy candies I found in the house, taking one at a time. Sugar does help calm me down.

7:38 p.m. — We take a break and have some fried parsnips with a little cake we snagged from home.

8:02 p.m. — On the second bus, Little Bun starts counting numbers back and forth from 1 to 100, and then passes out an hour before we reach our destination.

9:12 p.m. — He wakes up just as we arrive and then we are picked up and driven to his sister’s.

10:26 p.m. — At her place, a “small” meal of a mountain of chicken wings, vegetables and water with country bread.

11:15 p.m. — Little Bun, having freshly woken from a nap is not in the mood to sleep and whines. I ignore him and pass out because I’m so tired.

11:26 p.m. — He goes to sleep eventually. When? No idea. Don’t care. Sleeping.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

8:45 a.m. — This child never sleeps I swear. Little Bun wakes me up with his cheery: Mommy, pease get up!! .. I try to ignore my human alarm clock and snore in his face to sleep in a bit more. He is not having it, so I get up.

8:58 a.m. — I go and have some tea, no breakfast (not hungry!) and Little Bun has a complete breakdown over yoghurt — he ALSO did not sleep well because he slept late and is missing an hour or two of sleep. We need until after nap time today to fix this.

9:11 a.m. — He calms down with some Endless Numbers and Endless Reader (I caved and paid for the full apps). $81

9:24 a.m. — I chat a little but I’m so tired my brain is unable to speak French.

10:42 a.m. — I then proceed to do three large exercise books worth of math with Little Bun and everyone is sort of in disbelief at how much he knows for his age and how obsessed he is with working. He finds numbers fun so it isn’t work really.. it is a game for him.

12:16 p.m. — We have lunch of chicken and bell peppers with some watermelon for dessert.

1:15 p.m. — We finish all 3 books and he asks did more math drills.. I beg him for a break.

2:19 p.m. — We all go down for a nap.

5:59 p.m. — Stress shopping spree. In a blur, I buy a whole bunch of vintage clothing, heels off eBay, and a bunch of other items. No regrets. I have a ton of my mind lately, and even though I bought all that stuff from Banana Republic, I can return a good chunk of it. $805.67

8:08 p.m. — We chat, and snack, then have dinner. They ply my with their homegrown sweetest watermelon I have ever had.

10:16 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $886.67

DAY SEVEN

8:25 a.m. — Little Bun bugle call. I didn’t sleep well last night because we had to finally put me on a couch, covered in a mosquito net. In this part of the country, the bugs are RUTHLESS and I already have 8 huge, inflamed bites on my right arm that looks like my entire arm has been afflicted by a disease.  I am also still on vigilant chickenpox watch for the both of us. 3 more days to go and we are out of the woods.

8:59 a.m. — Tea. Milk. Yoghurt.

10:08 a.m. — Nonsense surfing and browsing while my brain is pre-occupied with a lot of stressful thoughts.

12:08 p.m. — Lunch. It is duck with rice today and Little Bun eats 3 plates happily, and finishes off with 2 peaches.

1:28 p.m. — Nap time.

5:03 p.m. — WHOA. I woke up LATE. So did Little Bun. We must have been exhausted..

6:13 p.m. — We eat dinner, but then I start to feel very sick. I think it is going to rain, and sure enough, it storms all night. In the meantime, I barely managed to choke down some eggs and some watermelon before running to the bedroom, nauseous, dizzy, and unable to move an inch without feeling like I want to toss all my cookies. This motion sickness / sensitivity to pressure and the weather is VERY strong here. I definitely cannot live here if I am knocked out on the bed every time it rains, for 24 hours.

7:24 p.m. — In bed, sick AF. My baby is crying for me but I manage to get him to go to his father to go pee and help him. I cannot move. I cannot CANNOT help even myself.

10:03 p.m. — Little Bun, bored, runs back into the bedroom and his father tucks him into bed to sleep, then goes out to chat some more. Little Bun is content I am in the bedroom passed out (not sleeping, but the room is spinning), and sleeps without a fuss.

Spent: $0

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.