Week of Money: I love my friends so much!

DAY ONE

6:00 a.m. — We wake up tired but happy. Little Bun LOVES HER SO MUCH. He runs to her room, knocks, jumps in and cuddles with her. They play together..

8:08 a.m. — I log into calls to work a little bit, I’ll do overtime later on in this week to make up for it.

12:38 p.m. — A quick lunch at home! It is a creamy pasta with mushrooms my partner makes, and it is DELICIOUS. We have a fizzy lemonade and it was amazing <3

2:56 p.m. — We head out for a little walkabout before dinner. We drop by a great bakery – Maison Christian Fauré, and loved all the snacks and macarons. She buys everything and Little Bun’s favourites. She is super generous.

6:34 p.m. — At the dinner. I let the valet park my car (I am so nervous), and then we head upstairs to Marcus for dinner. The crab skeleton is so cool! You KNOW you are walking into a bougie AF restaurant that handles seafood when this greets you coming off the elevator.

6:46 p.m. — The appetizers were a scam – I would order a full meal instead and split that as an app. The drinks were also (like in all restaurants), a scam.. $10 for some grapefruit juice is.. ouch.

Rosé and grapefruit juice. $50. LOL. Just kidding. Mine was $10 at least, maybe hers was $20… so I am not that far off.

“Chicken wings”… I could make this at home. Not worth it. It was just mostly soy sauce, sesame, some shishito peppers (this is like the hot trendy thing right now), and it tasted like chicken thighs not wings. I’d have preferred WINGS. But rich people don’t eat with their fingers I guess.

Salmon belly appetizer. NOT WORTH IT. they are AS SMALL as you think they are. I could have eaten a bowl of these.

My friend wanted oysters. They were okay.

Arctic char and delish! It was perfectly delicious, skin is crispy…

AMAZING PASTA. It was covered in crab and seafood.. it was heavenly.

The best meal of the night – King mushroom dish.

Avoid this coconut cake. The mango overpowered everything.

DELICIOUS BEYOND BELIEF. So yummy, poached pears.

6:34 p.m. — We pay and leave. It is SO DELICIOUS and totally worth it. I would absolutely come back again. $131.08

9:50 p.m. — We come back super late, and Little Bun is conked out. He must have waited until the last minute!!! Poor little baby.

Spent: $131.08

DAY TWO

??:?? — He wakes up so happy. He wants to play with her again. We go and wake her up early because she has to pack and we have to grab some coffee, breakfast and drive her to the airport.

6:00 a.m. — I make her some hot water for the morning – her new regimen, and Little Bun cuddles and plays with her, helping her pack and organize things. He is so helpful.

8:38 a.m. — On the road! We drop by a cafe for coffee, I log into a conference call and accidentally unmute myself by tapping on the phone by accident (OMFG), and at least I was talking about hand cream and not about how much I hated the call or something terrible. SO DUMB.

9:15 a.m. — I buy her two Christmas ornaments – a llama and a little snowball-holding mouse for her Christmas tree (she has one, I do not, and I know she will love and cherish them as the moments of being here), and then we head off. $30.08

10:49 a.m. — I super SUPER appreciate having my friends come and visit me. They pay for the flight or train, then they spend all this money here.. I love them for it and want them to know how much. <3

12:20 p.m. — Home for a lunch of pasta, and I try to get him down for his nap but he has to go to the bathroom, and then ends up having a nosebleed.

2:10 p.m. — Yeah he isn’t napping. He is getting older and this is clear because he is now skipping naps, and so on.

6:21 p.m. — I am working nonstop, after I dropped her off at the airport and got home, work work work work work!

7:23 p.m. — Little Bun, coming down off the high of having an aunt around to buffer and play with… turns into a monster. He didn’t want to nap today, and that is also contributing, but he makes me lose it. I am screaming, frothing at the mouth. the WHOLE SHEBANG.

8:19 p.m. — Time for bed. My partner and I had a fight about it, and basically it boils down to me trying to get him to brush his teeth without a fight. He did it SO WELL the past few days with us, and I tried to do it with him and me in the bathroom but it doesn’t work. I lost my patience AGAIN over this, and my partner gets upset because it has been screaming all day.

Spent: $30.08

DAY THREE

??:?? — The day starts with whining about how he doesn’t want to go to daycare. OMFG.

6:00 a.m. — I in desperation, promise to take him to playgroup this week when I am home, if he goes to daycare without a peep. He looks a bit sad, but perks up and nods. He loves playgroup but not daycare. WTF is this nonsense.

7:16 a.m. — We are finally out the door. Late. We arrive at the daycare LATE as well, and after playing a game in the car, getting him undressed, he asks for a snuggle. I would normally totally say “YES” to a cuddle or a snuggle, but he is just milking it so that he doesn’t have to go in. We high-five 3 times before I manage to get out.

8:40 a.m. — At work. Traffic was horrific, I get in there, coughing like crazy, have an update with my team lead and then buckle down to intense working. There’s a strange phone / intercom / buzzing, humming in some room, and I am ANNOYED AF. I cannot concentrate with this screeching/wailing/feedback on the phone….

11:48 a.m. — I head off to yoga late because I was so desperate to finish a document.

1:18 p.m. — I head home to eat lunch. But before that, I return some brooches – in the end, I only keep the super cute turnip. Net cost of the shopping even though it is STILL more than what I like to spend in general versus thrifting prices? $19.53

But it’s so cute!

3:40 p.m. — Finally made it home through traffic to scarf down lunch after having to pull over to respond to an email and a call. I head out to the post office to mail a package, and then pick up Little Bun.

4:11 p.m. — He is a grumpy Bun. I try and cuddle him but he isn’t happy.

4:37 p.m. — Home, I grab his milk, he calms down.

6:33 p.m. — We play math games, we hang out, and I feed him his vegetable stew.

7:19 p.m. — I do all the dishes, some laundry… We watch videos afterwards and cuddle.

8:44 p.m. — He refuses to brush his teeth for bedtime. AGAIN. I give up. We go to bed.

Spent: $

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up feeling sick and tired, but I have to go to work today.

7:25 p.m. — I pick up a Starbucks chai because I NEED IT.  $5.11

8:40 a.m. — At work I realize they canceled my long afternoon meeting, so I end up deciding to leave early and work from home.

10:17 a.m. — Someone tell me why people are deciding for things they have ZERO EXPERTISE IN? I am the expert for this stuff and they’re the ones telling me how it should be done. SO DO IT YOURSELF. I’ll just sit here and bill!

10:34 p.m. — I eat my lunch early and chat a little with a new friend, but his contract ends this month 🙁

11:35 a.m. — I leave for yoga.

1:34 p.m. — After yoga, I head off to run errands. I refill my zero waste toothpaste jar. These zero waste stores are great – you buy just what you refill. $6.06

You refill the items like this – I squeeze that large jar into my toothpaste glass car below.

They also have very cool eco-friendly dryer balls. I have had mine for years (over 6) and they really cut down on drying time. You can buy them online here.

1:50 p.m. — I pick up these cool spinning toys for Christmas. $34.56

2:20 p.m. — Home. I log in and work. The little dinosaur is still sleeping.

3:30 p.m. — He wakes up squealing in the bedroom. I leave my partner to handle all of that. I am staying quiet as a mouse, not speaking, typing softly until he discovers I am at home.

3:37 p.m. — He runs out after squealing in the bedroom and finally “discovers me”. We cuddle and then he asks me to play a game. We make up one with boxes on the floor, and he hides a block under one of the three of them and I have to guess. When I hide it for him to find it, he always peeks (I SEE HIS EYES!) and cheats to find the box right away. I pretend I don’t see it, and let him have his fun.

3:33 p.m. — My partner heads out to run errands, pick up milk, and I clean up the apartment, start two loads of laundry.

4:28 p.m. — I soak cashews to make cashew milk for tomorrow.

5:49 p.m. — I list a few more things on Poshmark. Things are selling, slowly. I am giving an expiration date of a year on some of these items. If they don’t sell, I’ll remove them and donate them instead.

8:40 p.m. — Nonsense until bedtime. He is refusing to brush his teeth because he is too caught up in Tom and Jerry cartoons, so we tell him he won’t get yoghurt tomorrow then. (He eats the yoghurt sour and plain, and loves it so much… it has become a treat for him).

Spent: $45.73

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up tired. I think I have the ending of my bronchitis, but I caught a cold. Sigh. It is one after another.

6:30 a.m. — I make tea, and log in to work while Little Bun watches videos.

7:00 a.m. — My partner leaves for school after his coffee. I bustle around the apartment doing more loads of laundry – I am having this very strange, oily stink coming from only certain clothes. I have no idea what this smell is, where it is coming from, and it isn’t from leaving my clothes in the washer because I always take it out and dry it immediately. It is like a chemical or something was released/washed in the wash and I can’t get rid of it. I dump 2 cups of white vinegar into the wash to soak and freshen it. Maybe that’ll help.

8:08 a.m. — I get Little Bun ready to go to playgroup. I was going to go to Winners and return the two necklaces I got as they just went on sale (another reminder to never buy anything at full price), but then realized I threw out the original tags, and I would get it back on a gift card. Long story short, unless I returned everything, and then took a chance to try and re-buy it on sale, I’d end up spending the original $200-ish amount TWICE, with half of it being on a gift card. It isn’t worth the hassle and the trips, just to save $20. I should have kept the tags, I am so dumb.

8:15 a.m. — We drop off a package at Canada Post. I sold a belt!

9:00 a.m. — I drop him off at playgroup and then go and grab a ham sandwich to go work in my car. $4.25

9:49 a.m. — I prefer being in my car, alone and private than in the public room at the playgroup. I pop a cold pill but am still having to battle with a raw, cold, wet nose, blowing it every 5 seconds it seems. I feel like absolute crap.

11:59 a.m. — I grab him and head home. I eat lunch, and do all the dishes.

1:15 p.m. — He goes down for a nap just as Daddy walks in the door, and I leave them to it. He NEEDS the nap today.

2:14 p.m. — My partner and I chat before he heads out to run errands.

3:05 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up screaming and I am RUNNING to the bedroom where I hold him and cuddle-kiss him. He sobs that he wants milk (my partner didn’t buy any yesterday because I was out so late), and will get some today. I give him a cup of my cow’s milk (he normally drinks goat), and he calms down.

3:53 p.m. — By random chance, I log in to check my bank accounts and wonder why I never got a notification for my TD Visa. Then I realize in horror that my bill is due ON MONDAY and I didn’t auto-set up the transfer and payment. WTF. I quickly make notes to withdraw about $1000 and to go in person to the bank to clear it in cash.

4:01 p.m. — I check my account and realize that TD doesn’t AUTOMATICALLY set you up for email notifications when your bill is due, even when you check ONLINE STATEMENT ONLY. WTF. Bunch of crooks, I am sure they do this on purpose so that you miss your bill payment and rack up interest charges.

4:17 p.m. — I get a dispute on Poshmark from a buyer. She didn’t ask for more pictures, measurements, NOTHING and is saying it wasn’t as pictured in some model shots I put up there to show what it would look like. Are you kidding me? I tell her I am not a professional seller and she didn’t ask a single question, so really, this is her responsibility not mine. I tell her that in the instances on Poshmark where I made a mistake, I accepted the order anyway (true story) and made sure to ask the next time. This is total BS. And the dress is $28!!! I mean we aren’t even talking hundreds of dollars here.

6:42 p.m. — Little Bun nonsense until bedtime. I feed him soup, I organize my thoughts, my day.. I have so much to get done, it is all whirling in my head:

• Wash yoga mat – The best one I have ever had too, it is the B.Mat in rubber. Don’t bother with the other ones, they aren’t as grippy and you won’t lean into your poses as well on a slippery, cheap foam mat. I have purchased from Lululemon, Manduka, Winners… they all suck compared to this mat.
• Do laundry
• Refill fountain pen – I just bought this Lamy Safari pen with the Z24 converter because I loved the way it wrote in the store and I don’t want disposable ink cartridges (for me, it defeats the point of a fountain pen and the whole reason why I went ink instead of buying and throwing away plastic pens)
• Scan all of my receipts from the past 3 months
• Re-balance my budget and check my expenses, income, etc

7:45 p.m. — I spend a little time projecting what my net worth would be at the end of this month, and realize I am about $2000 off from my $900K goal for the year. O_o … Time to CUT BACK!

8:17 p.m. — Little Bun watches videos, and tries to feed me his creation – a smelly sock burger. LOL … It is a fake plastic burger and he puts his smelly baby socks inside to make me say “Ewwww” (he gets great pleasure out of it).

9:40 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $4.25

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up tired. It is definitely not 6 a.m. He slept late, and he woke up early. This means his nap will be required today.

5:24 a.m. — I get up, and cuddle him in the dark hallway, until his eyes get used to the light. I wrap my sweater around him, and he puts his cold little paws inside my shirt, squealing at how warm I am. I just savour the feeling of a little boy in my lap against my chest. He will only get bigger and it won’t be as easy to cuddle him.

6:09 a.m. — We are finally up off the floor, my partner is up making coffee, and I make my tea. He is on a coffee kick again and loves this Kenya AA coffee and swears by it. He says it is almost as good as the expensive Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, and as he adds milk, it takes away some of the acidity. The Jamaican coffee is 3X the price of the Kenyan one..

7:16 a.m. — My partner leaves to run errands. He had gone last night to a local flour mill about an hour and a half away from Montreal, and picked up three huge bags of flour for baking bread and things. We are really trying to go local and source as close as possible, which means we won’t be buying flour that is bleached in grocery stores, and will save a lot of money in buying bulk from the mill itself – Les Moulins de Soulanges.

10:25 a.m. — I accomplish a TON today. I did the following:

• Laundry
• Showered and curled my hair with my beloved Dyson Airwrap
• Scanned all my receipts and papers
• Vacuumed the apartment
• Did all the dishes
• Refilled my fountain pen
• Washed my yoga mat
• Ate garbage from my Little Bun (he didn’t want to finish his banana)

1:28 p.m. — AHHHH…RRGGG.. I almost sold something but then they change their minds. GRRR. Oh well.

2:10 p.m. — At the bank, I withdraw $1000 hitting my limit, and scrounge for $35 in the car to pay my credit card in cash as I missed the email notification and it is due in 2 days, so there’s no way my payment would get there in time.

3:56 p.m. — I head home, and get stuck in a knot of traffic. Great.

6:12 p.m. — We have dinner with “burgers”.. basically homemade bread with salad in between with pieces of chicken. Little Bun doesn’t love chicken as much, and he just eats the salad with bread. He’s a born vegetarian.

7:46 p.m. — We do math before bedtime. He’s into word problems now and not really understanding it, but we are working on translating words. Like “difference” means subtraction, and “total” means addition, etc.

8:51 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — Mommy.. MOMMY. I lost my sock. I root around the bed in the dark, half-awake and give up. I whisper I’ll get it later. He wiggles around. Now it’s time for the bathroom. I take him there. Then he wiggles again on and off me, rolling around. Finally, I ask if he is awake, and he whispers: Yes … so I get up and grab his milk.

5:26 a.m. — Mommy. *he wiggles a foot* I want you to get me one fresh new cashmere sock to keep my feet warm. ….. LOL ….”Yes my liege..” I respond… “What’s a liege Mommy?” …. “Never mind.” … Also…. CASHMERE SOCK? LOL.. he is definitely my son. These are just organic cotton socks, but he says they’re so soft they feel like cashmere. He knows I’m into cashmere and loves snuggling up in my cashmere sweaters and travel wraps. (My favourite travel wrap being the White and Warren one)

7:59 a.m. — He watches videos quietly upon my request because Daddy is still sleeping. I try to clean up my banking notes.

8:08 a.m. — I head out to yoga, he is sobbing quietly. I try to calm him down but he wants Mommy NOW. I finally get him calm, foist him off on an iPad app for colouring and head to yoga.

9:32 a.m. — It was SUCH a good class. OMG He said it was beginner’s but it was more intermediate, really, and I did the advanced poses. For half split, I end up doing a full split with my right leg but on the left side I am still a bit tight, so I had to hold myself up a little. I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF. I DID THE SPLITS!! I can’t do the one with both legs on either side yet but at least the side split is not so bad.

10:48 a.m. — I grab a Starbucks chai as a reward for doing the splits. GO ME.

12:08 p.m. — Home (traffic was horrific), I eat my laid out lunch, and then play with Little Bun before going out.

2:11 p.m. — I head out again quickly and pick up some really cool spinning tops. I am NOT into decoration at all but this tree spins ON ITS TRUNK and on its tip as well. It is so cool. Very mesmerizing and fun for all ages. It is useful and cute. I am going to have it as my only Christmas decoration this year, come December 1st. $37.95

3:01 p.m. — My partner gets off a call with his friend from France. They did a Skype date. LOL.. at least he keeps in touch with friends.

3:14 p.m. — Little Bun squeals softly, and I go to grab his milk and bring it to him.

4:45 p.m. — “Mommy, the electricity cows will run out of electricity if we don’t turn off all the lights in the apartment when we don’t use them.“…. Electricity cows? I only asked him to turn off the bathroom light before leaving, and this is what he came up with. 🙂 Children are unpredictably fun and interesting. I wonder where he got the idea of electricity cows….

6:46 p.m. — We putter around the house playing box games, treasure hunt, we make up a new game with hiding the pieces and the stuffed animals cheer and help each other…

7:18 p.m. — I log in to desperately try to have some quiet time in my brain while he is watching videos, so I can think. No luck. He spies me missing and drags me back to the bedroom to sit with him and watch Tom and Jerry. I guess I will do it later this week while he is in daycare.

8:51 p.m. — Time for bed. I only get him to brush his teeth by telling him he doesn’t need to go to daycare tomorrow he will come to the embassy with us to get his French ID card. He eagerly runs into the bathroom to brush and floss.

Spent: $37.95

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