Week of Money: My stomach thing is just not going away

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up a little tired. I feel like I don’t sleep enough and will never get enough sleep unless my baby can leave me alone to sleep.

8:00 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and then as my partner runs errands, I make nut milk.

8:25 a.m. — It turns out okay (1 cup of soaked almonds to 4 cups of water), I find the aftertaste a bit disconcerting because it is a strange kind of metallic, tangy taste, and I have to mix it into a bit of cow’s milk. I don’t love it. I am missing my ACTUAL matcha latte with the velvety taste I am used to, and I really don’t want to start adding sugar or flavouring to my tea after trying so hard for so many years to break the habit of sugar in my tea (family history of diabetes is real). I apparently have to also add salt to it but again, I do not want to add stuff, I just want it to be as natural as I can. Maybe I’ll try with cashews or soy beans next time.

9:33 a.m. — We watch Lady and the Tramp together. What a great movie even from the 1950s… I manage to take photos of more things in my closet and post them on Poshmark (use code SHERRYISH for a free $15 credit to shop with!)

10:12 a.m. — I make a light salad with a made-up dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and to my surprise Little Bun sidles up to me and eagerly insists on having my meal too. Fine. I feed him half of my salad, and he loves it. Even with the carrots and radishes WHICH HE HATES.

11:55 a.m. — We eat lunch.

1:40 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for a nap.

2:28 p.m. — I take more photos and list more things for sale.

3:55 p.m. — I putter around and try to muster energy to clean out my closet and do things but I am really feeling very lethargic, tired, and my stomach keeps hurting no matter what I eat or drink.

10:12 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up tired. I couldn’t sleep, I had to go to the bathroom twice last night – once for Little Bun, another for myself.

7:20 a.m. — I quietly tiptoe out after I give Little Bun his milk and he falls back asleep, everyone is still sleeping and I can’t. I make myself a cup of matcha green tea and add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper in there. I do like the taste of chai lattes because of the spice, maybe I can do something similar with cayenne and matcha. Who knows. I realize too late that I mixed the almond nut milk into regular milk so it all tastes off.

7:59 a.m. — A reader messages me to let me know on Instagram that cashew milk is the best and does NOT have to be strained which lends to its creaminess. I bought a pack, so I’ll soak some tonight and try it tomorrow. If I can soak this stuff, just blend it, and use it just like regular milk, it could be a real alternative to cow’s milk.

8:11 a.m. — Little Bun gets up. He is “meh-meh’ing” me from the bedroom, and I hear his little squeals and “meh meh” him back to let him know I am coming.

9:22 a.m. — We watch 101 Dalmatians but it isn’t animated, so he loses interest and I end up falling asleep as he tries to watch The Little Mermaid and I try to nap and not let my stomach kill me. I tell Little Bun I am sick and going to the bathroom a lot, and he seems to understand because when he hears my belly growl, he tells me he wants me to go eat something. I can’t even look at food. I fall asleep dozing in and out of him running around.

11:29 a.m. —We have lunch, I eat as much salad as I can, but I can’t finish that, or the cheese and bread. I just start on the dishes.

1:28 p.m. — He turns into an absolute monster. He wants to do math, so I sit him down with the books I bought, but then he pretends he doesn’t know what a quarter and two dimes make, and my stomach is killing me so I am super annoyed. He loses his @*@& and I am ready to just pack everything up and leave for the day to take a break.

1:33 p.m. — He keeps crying and whining, and I take him to the bedroom to talk to him. I tell him how it is difficult being a Mommy all the time, especially if he is constantly whining and crying and just driving me crazy like this. I tell him I need a break or I will cry. I am already sick, not feeling well, on my last frayed nerves, and his whining is not helping me. I give him two options — either he naps now and I take a break in the living room, or I go out to take a break. He reluctantly opts for the former.

1:57 p.m. — Break time. Stomach is killing me. I wish I had a spare bed out here to lie down on and just lie down on the rug instead while I hear him squeal to sleep.

2:22 p.m. — I am resisting hard, the temptation / craving for some sweet cake or something like that. I have to break myself of this habit of wanting sweet things or treats, because it is not helping my health or my body.

2:22 p.m. — I am watching Always be my Maybe.…I really love Ali Wong. And this actress Michelle Buteau playing Veronica her best friend is GREAT.

3:03 p.m. — I have zero appetite. Really not hungry. Want to throw up actually.

3:50 p.m. — OMG! Keanu Reeves! I love Keanu Reeves – he is fantastic as a person.

4:15 p.m. — These little Pixar mini films are adorable. My favourite is Dug’s Special Mission and Your Old Friend, Rat…

The dog Dug, makes me think of my dear friend’s dog. It is HILARIOUS.

6:30 p.m. — Dinner. My partner grills some of a whole chicken he bought — we only eat meat once a week, but if it is something like a whole chicken that we buy, he grills part of it one day, another part the next, etc. We make it last the entire week, and eat vegetarian otherwise.

9:22 p.m. —Time for bed. I am beat. I napped twice today but I still don’t feel like it is enough.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

8:00 a.m. — I take photos of my partner for his renewal of his identity card.

8:46 a.m. — I make a cup of tea. My stomach is finally relaxing. I am not going to the bathroom as often any longer but I am still not 100%.

9:40 a.m. — I work on my partner’s photo and organize it so he can print it.I hope it works.

11:27 a.m. — Time for lunch. I don’t want to eat it but then I throw a bunch of fresh basil on it, soy sauce, and eat it, surprised that I am not sick of it.

12:28 p.m. — I head out and buy some more wet wipes before realizing I should have not bothered and just carried around a tupperware box of reusable cloths that are wet. Urg. Why am I buying disposable wet wipes!!? I AM AN IDIOT. I vow this will be my last package. I also pick up some batteries for Little Bun’s flashlight. $15.47

2:06 p.m. — Time to watch some more Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian. As I want to get into shape, this is helping me because it will help me push through, that it will be painful, sweaty…

2:29 p.m. — These trainers are ROUGH man. Wow. I get lightheaded and feel sick when I do basic exercises… and this would make me feel nauseous. Not sure I want to go THIS hard but…

3:37 p.m. — I am an idiot – I will return those wipes the next time I am in the store. I don’t need to keep them, they’re new.

3:42 p.m. — We need a trillion trees to combat climate change. Look, every tree counts. I am going to see how this works, and also try and mitigate it on my end by changing my own habits. That’s the best I can do as a single human, and then to encourage others. I find out that there is a company called Ecosia that is a non-rpofit that takes the profits and uses it to plant trees. I download the app on my phone and use it now instead of Chrome.

3:56 p.m. — I also install the Ecosia app into the Google Chrome browser so I can at least plant some trees with my searching. My charity this year is also going to be tree planting, so I am glad they gave a list of the organizations they use right here. Also, their reports on the revenue being used, is here.

4:02 p.m. — Little Bun is up and I snuggle him, and give him milk. He is very excited because I am soaking cashews for nut milk.

7:25 p.m. — Dinner. We make chicken burgers out of the rest of the breast my partner marinated for the next day. We don’t eat the whole chicken at once. I actually think my partner could stretch out the chicken past 2 meals, to at least 3, but he hasn’t grown up the way I have, not having meat as the main portion but as the side or condiment.

8:13 p.m. — Pear tart treat. I love a little sweet but not too sweet treat.

10:06 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $15.47

DAY FOUR

6:30 a.m. — I wake up and take Little Bun to the bathroom.

7:39 a.m. — I wake up and am tired, but I take photos of my partner for his passport.

8:08 a.m. — I make cashew nut milk and don’t hate it. It is the best out of all of the nut milks, but it is missing fat and that flavour of milk, a slight sweetness. I think I need to add dates to this.

8:20 a.m. — Okay it’s not bad. It is delicious, but needs.. something. Missing a slip in there, a slippery fat feel..

9:22 a.m. — I make passport photos for my partner.

10:37 a.m. —I spend the whole morning taking out items from the closet and photographing them for Poshmark Canada (use code SHERRYISH for a $15 credit)

11:25 a.m. — I go out with the FULL intention to return these wipes, and end up needing them badly. Sometimes you are in the car, on the road, and a dry napkin doesn’t do it, and you have no liquid whatsoever around. Arg.

1:15 p.m. —Okay, in a thrift store. Looking for DVDs for Little Bun… because I am not paying $25 per DVD for a Disney movie. I AM JUST NOT. I end up finding 4 of them, and pay only $14. You can’t even buy one DVD for that price. $14

2:56 p.m. — Yessss… I also find some vintage gold jewellery for myself. It looks more interesting than generic jewellery, and I love stacking a whole bunch of them on my arm. $10

3:20 p.m. — I resist dropping by The Copper Branch for a Crab Burger because if I can make it to August without eating out, I will treat myself to one as a victory. Resist. RESIST HARD. I want to eat it before it goes off the menu though.

5:11 p.m. — My partner washes up all the linens (he soaks and washes them, gets rid of Little Bun’s blood stains from his nosebleeding)…

5:36 p.m. — Little Bun is refusing his soup. He wants a movie instead. I try to hold firm and get 5 bites in but we watch a movie instead – Despicable Me 2, one of the ones I picked up for $4 today. I really love Despicable Me, the fatherhood aspect is very appealing for me as a parent who has to deal with exactly the same crap!!

6:47 p.m. — Time for dinner. I feed Little Bun soup and treat myself to some noodles with my vegan sauce – I have been relying on this as a go-to meal but it isn’t very good for you all the time, so I’m adding more vegetables to my diet.

9:29 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $24

DAY FIVE

??:?? — Tired. Little Bun elbows and digs his shoulders right into my ribs and that HURT. I scream. He panics and I tell him he has to watch his body parts.. Ugh. Children. Also, when they headbutt you hard, it hurts.

7:02 a.m. — Seems to be my usual waking up time .. 7 to about 7:30

7:59 a.m. — I want to get stuff done today. I want to take the blankets out and hot wash them at the laundromat, but my partner asks me to do it tomorrow so he can add a few more blankets he wants washed. I make a note to get the coins ready today at least, I always run out of loonies and quarters.. (loonies, for you non-Canadians, is the $1 coin which we call a loonie because there is a bird called the loon on the front… and the $2 coin is the ‘toonie’ to rhyme but makes no sense except it just stuck.)

8:21 a.m. — I set Little Bun up with “Cars”, and I think he would love it but about an hour in, he gets bored and runs off and starts playing with blocks. Movies aren’t gripping him right now. Short videos are better for him. I picked up a few yesterday at the thrift store, including a Babar one on manners.

8:40 a.m. — I am photographing MORE stuff to put up for sale. I have a lot I want to sell, but a lot I don’t want to either. I am just going to put up what I have for now that I really cannot wear or fit into any longer, and want to sell. *sniff* … I am no longer a size 0 ….

9:55 a.m. — Done listing a few more items, including a vintage Gucci clutch. I grab my soaked cashews, cut up 2 mangos and a banana, toss it in with baby spinach and kale, and make smoothies. The soaked raw cashews add that body and creaminess my earlier smoothies with just water or a bit of milk  have been missing. I absolutely will be buying more raw cashews to make smoothies! Little Bun loves it, and gets the spinach / kale in it. Need more spinach and kale for the next round though.

10:12 a.m. — Are these my carrots in the fridge? Uh….. I don’t want to break them open and start cooking them, but I will need a recipe any way. Actually they must be mine. I’ll roast them in a pan.

10:53 a.m. — Carrots chopped. I’ll roast them.. later. In the afternoon, not right now. I am hungry for lunch.

11:20 a.m. — Little Bun is doing this annoying thing of singing loudly or saying: ACHOO ACHOO .. over and over again, when my partner and I start talking. He doesn’t want us talking for some reason. He did this to me with my parents as well. I have no idea where this is coming from but it is annoying the #%(*# out of me. It is extremely annoying to try and talk when you hear someone talking and singing tone deaf, very loudly, over you.

1:26 p.m. — He goes down for his nap.

3:29 p.m. — I ask him if he wants to go for a ‘woodland walk’, basically walking to the park. He is eager to do it but then takes forever to get dressed, like a snail. A very slow snail.

3:55 p.m. — We are finally on our way. Children take forever.

5:40 p.m. —I give him the count that we are heading home to have dinner, and he is pretty good at obeying it if I can show him that I am really not making up time, and it really does say 5:30 or whatever. I wipe down his feet of all the dirt and sand, put on fresh socks on him, and we head back home. He was playing with the water fountain and the sand, making mud, which is fine by me. I don’t mind him getting dirty as long as he doesn’t track this sand home into the apartment where it is impossible to vacuum up.

7:12 p.m. —Dinner. I managed to hold him off by doing math drills with him (HE ASKED. I did not push this.), and he is very excited to do math. He also gets really upset when he is drawing checkmarks or crosses and doesn’t make them look ‘perfect’. He wants them to look perfect all the time, and I am starting to worry about this little perfectionist streak. I don’t encourage perfectionism as it causes undue stress, but a little bit of it is healthy but he really seems to be hard on himself. I make a mental note to watch out for this.

9:56 p.m. — Bedtime. I get ready for bed (again, countdown so he isn’t upset), and speed read through We’re Going on a Bear Hunt before he goes and brushes his teeth.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — YES I AM TIRED.

7:00 a.m. — Can’t sleep any more. I get myself up. Little Bun is snoring away. He snuffle-snorted all night and each snort woke me up.

7:06 a.m. — I try to log in to do some peaceful work on my budget and look at my money, but then I hear him stir in the bedroom. Sigh.

8:45 a.m. — We check and pack all the blankets to wash them at the laundromat. I take two huge Ikea-full bags of them. We leave the other ones with blood stains, soaking to go in a second round in a few days or so.

11:14 a.m. —I am washing all of them, then drying, and making notes on how long it takes. I basically need 14 quarters and 1 loonie for each load of 2 blankets. This way, I will have the exact change the next time I do this so I don’t have to wonder how much I need to bring. $20

11:38 a.m. — I am home, and eat my lunch and drink my smoothie to soothe the pain of eating your own lunch at home and not buying it outside. I really want to try and not buy ANY food outside until August 1st, and then I shall treat myself to a burger at my favourite vegan place.

12:05 p.m. — I head out to get stuff done. Basically I want to hit up another thrift store, browse, and not buy retail, plus I need more raw cashews.

12:34 p.m. — Cashews first. $8.25

12:59 p.m. — These thrift store prices are creeping up to be the SAME PRICE as crappy mainstream store prices. Whatever happened to just $4 for an item? Now it’s $25? What is going on here?

1:30 p.m. — I find two braided belts, one real leather, one not, but a cute design. $6.88

2:11 p.m. — I also browse the boutique section and feel like a baller when the little girl looks at me with wide eyes and whispers to her father: She’s just buying EVERYTHING! .. Not true, little girl. Please don’t exaggerate. 😛 I only bought 3 chains for $6 each that would be hard to find in such quality at a regular store, and 2 bracelets for $6 each as well. $34.44

Also, this painting was really cute. Just don’t have space for such things.

3:30 p.m. — I sit in my car Googling the watch I saw. I think I’ll pass. $50 for a watch that looks nice, is a bit steep. I would have paid maybe $20 as thrift prices go. But FOMO is real when you thrift, what if it isn’t there when you go back!?

3:30 p.m. — Home. I have a green smoothie, and then wait for Little Bun to wake.

3:55 p.m. — Once he’s awake, he gets a banana, and we head out on our woodland walk.

6:12 p.m. — Home from the park, and him basically making a mess in the sand and water, splashing around.

7:45 p.m. — Dinner done, I do the dishes and he hops up on a chair to do his job and help me wipe everything.

9:47 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $69.57

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up, not tired but not rested.

7:02 a.m. — I drink some tea, and have crepes for breakfast (my partner made them!)

7:59 a.m. — I head out to do the second load of laundry, more blankets to wash. $20

12:08 p.m. — Home. It took FOREVER for these two rugs to dry!!

12:32 p.m. — I scarf down my lunch (adding basil makes a huge difference in the flavour for me), and drink my delicious green homemade smoothie (adding those soaked raw cashews has also made the drink taste WAY better — smoother, creamier, more like a smoothie.

1:16 p.m. — I am enabled to go back and look a the Birks watch again. It is missing a tag this time. Strange.. I bring it to the cash and they reprice it down to $5. WHAT!?!?! #STARTTHECAR !!! … I buy it, and a few other vintage pieces that weren’t there the other day and it turns out, it is from Monet, a well known jewellery brand for their beautiful pieces. Their earrings and rings go online for about $100 USD each. $27.55

1:25 p.m. — I think I’ll continue thrifting but for jewellery only. I don’t want / need any more clothes and unless it is a true designer piece I can resell, I won’t bother.

2:42 p.m. — Home. I didn’t do my partner’s passport photos because I thought he’d want to go out so I came back early. Turns out, he can’t leave, he is making homemade goat milk’s yoghurt for Little Bun AND a lemon cake. Hmm.

3:29 p.m. — Little Bun basically hassles my partner all day and night, pointing at the lemon cake. He is SO EXCITED. I am certain that tomorrow, it will be an early wakeup call as he will want to eat a piece of this cake ASAP.

5:17 p.m. — I feed Little Bun soup. He has to eat it, we have been only eating salad lately, and that isn’t enough. I want carrots, turnips.. all of this in him!

6:00 p.m. — I make a smaller bowl of noodles (am learning portion control now), and make a mental note to pick up seaweed, that would be a perfect addition to this vegan ramen recipe….

8:11 p.m. — I try to get more tasks on my list done – file for healthcare reimbursement (I saw a physio doctor in Ontario), scan some papers.. so much to do. I am not managing my time well, I am being lazy because I am finally relaxing.

9:42 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $47.55

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