Week of Money: Where 2020 seems to never want to come to an end

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up refreshed. I slept earlier last night than Little Bun, AND he napped the day before, so we are back in sync.

6:00 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, feed him yoghurt for breakfast, and am relieved to see my ad networks working again. FINALLY. THANK GOODNESS. Having lost 3 days of revenue from another ad network’s stupid mistake, was about $60 or more, and it frustrates me when I lose revenue (even getting $20 a day is a miracle from what I started with) because I don’t exactly make thousands off advertising, so every dollar counts.

7:50 a.m. — I play with Little Bun, creating a rainbow picture for him so I can “unlock” his treasure (he gave me 8 green blocks in return). It’s nice he has such imagination. He then tells me he has to prep his Stuffie to go Camping. I don’t even know where he learned how to camp, we are not outdoorsy. Then I realize he might have picked it up from If you give a mouse a cookie (a FABULOUS series).

8:30 a.m. — I read books to him, then go through my bank accounts (I do this every day), and check to see if I have missed anything (I sometimes do).

9:18 a.m. — OK this is adorable. SO FUNNY.

10:00 a.m. — I hop on a consulting call but it ends up being 2.5 hours instead of 1 because we get to chatting and absolutely CLICK. 🙂 I don’t get off the phone until lunch.

12:08 p.m. — We have crêpes for lunch. Slathered in maple syrup.

1:20 p.m. — Little Bun sobs as he tries to go down for his nap and his father has no idea how to sell it to him. I tell him: The sooner you nap, the sooner you get out. Pretend you’re a robot and need to recharge. Close your eyes. That is my approach, and his father’s is: If you don’t nap, you’ll stay in here AN HOUR LONGER. The stick approach doesn’t work, use that LAST. Get him to play the game and nap as if he is a robot. *sigh*

1:31 p.m. — I watch The Lovebirds while reviewing a list of dividend stocks.

1:47 p.m. — I come across this great ad for a father handling an arranged marriage in India. It is very progressive as an ad.

3:31 p.m. — I finish watching mindless TV in an attempt to relax and to try not to feel so anxious/sad, and Little Bun wakes up and runs out for his yoghurt.

4:47 p.m. — I do all the dishes, then we set up a huge cardboard house in the living room, which turns into a mini fort of sorts, as it backs up against his dollhouse that my partner built for him. He spends a lot of time in there with his Stuffies making up stories about camping and hanging out, his Stuffies take naps..

5:31 p.m. — I do a load of laundry and then dry it. Little Bun helps me put his clothes away (we just have big baskets for them, we don’t iron or fold anything because for us, it’s a waste of time.)

6:44 p.m. — Proof positive my son is truly my baby.

• Little Bun: Mommy let’s take the Stuffies Camping
• Me: Okay.
• Little Bun: What do we need?
• Me: *guessing* A flashlight? Book? Food?
• Little Bun: Mommy, we have to also bring SUSHI!!!

(He’s definitely my son. 😉 )

7:15 p.m. — I try to read my book but just am not into it. I like to read but not when it is forced in the sense that it is one of the only things I CAN do, which spirals into my not wanting to really do it.

9:44 p.m. — Time for bed. I mindlessly scrolled on IG.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up refreshed. I slept well, Little Bun slept decently as well.

6:00 a.m. — I make a cup of matcha tea. I am going to have to restock by the end of summer.

7:59 a.m. — Little Bun requests a shirt for his Babiest Stuffie, and tells me: “Mommy we need to go to the Shirt Store to pick up a shirt to fit Babiest Stuffie!” … to which I reply: “Shirt store? No. Mommy is going to make one out of old fabric.“.. and I make one out of an old shirt instead, because I know there wouldn’t even be a store that sold a shirt for his stuffie like this, and we can reuse what we have instead.

We do a little fitting to make sure there is enough fabric:

And the shirt is done!

The comments I get are pretty funny:

And this one too:

FYI Normcore = Style of fashion where you wear plain tees and jeans, and look as “normal” and as plain as possible. It’s a real thing. Think of the late Steve Jobs with just a black turtleneck and jeans, as an example. “Normal” clothing.

10:15 a.m. — I hop on a coaching call to help someone who just realized she will be slapped with almost a $100K tax bill and wants to save for it while getting out of debt. I talk to her to figure out what happened and come up with a plan.

11:25 a.m. — My partner froze the mashed potatoes and they’re pretty gross when unfrozen. All mushy and sponge-y. I can’t even choke them down. I decide to make potato pancakes out of them. I also NEVER cook so ….  Recipe here

It’s pretty simple – flour, eggs, mashed potatoes (after I squeezed out all the liquid), and salt. I could have used some herbs or spices in there, but I didn’t have any fresh herbs on hand and Little Bun doesn’t like cayenne pepper yet…

I smooshed these in the pan as they cooked and they turned out okay. Not the best in the world but they were pretty good. They could have used a poached egg on top with some Hollandaise or Bernaise sauce, and lots of fresh herbs, but not bad and at least EDIBLE …. The sponge-y mashed potatoes were horrible.

10:00 a.m. — I dial into another money coaching call. This is going well this month. I don’t like doing too many of these, to be honest with you. I like it to stay as quarter-time (not even part-time)…. It’s nice because I get really invested in making sure they do well, get out of debt, stay on track and consider all of their options. I am also really careful not to give advice on things I have no experience with like taxes. I can give advice on SOME taxes I have done before (corporate for freelancers, etc), but if it is not in my wheelhouse, I don’t pretend to know what I am talking about.

11:15 a.m. — After my call, I consider buying some fabric paints and spending my time upcycling my old tees and so on. A little gold splash here and there really makes it look different and kind of cool. It could be something nice to do.

11:33 a.m. — I have a brainwave and decide to check what colours I do have, so I don’t waste time buying one bottle at a time. I realize through my stash that I ALREADY HAVE ALL THE COLOURS. Perfect. I empty out my shopping cart online. This will be a fun thing to do, painting my old shirts with gold details or swooshes. I’ll need to go on Pinterest to get some inspiration. Maybe random gold dots? I don’t want to overdo it however, if it becomes too flashy I won’t wear it, and it’ll be ruined.

12:45 p.m. —  Little Bun basically hassles me until he eats all that he can stuff in his belly of the potato pancakes. A super big hit, I see! He gobbled up at least half… that’s about a cup and a half of mashed potatoes. PLUS he had his lunch on top of all that.

1:29 p.m. —  Little Bun is down for his nap. I hope. He was super good today, especially after I stuffed him full of potato pancakes. He should sleep well.

2:25 p.m. — I get questioned why I have avoided CIBC (CM.TO) stocks for so long for dividends which prompted me to look at my notes of why…  and I realize it is because they didn’t do as well as the other banks at the time. I avoided them because they weren’t going to give me more of a capital gain than the others, for the dividends received. I ought to write a post on this, and I will.

5:40 p.m. —  This is a beautiful example of mixing colours and prints. It makes me want to get these pieces. I don’t even know if they’re vintage, or not. But I’ll keep an eye out.

6:16 p.m. — I make some overly spicy noodles. I put in two generous pinches of cayenne now. I remember when I first did this, I almost blew out my palate because I wasn’t used to it. Now I’m really upping my game and adding more and more cayenne, building up my immunity. The recipe is here: Vegan ramen noodle recipe.

6:33 p.m. — I do all the dishes. Little Bun plays “dodge ball” with his father which is more like bowling with blocks, and a sock ball, but he calls it “dodge ball”…. and he sets up little bowling pins made out of 4 blocks and bowls them down with his father.

8:25 p.m. —  Little Bun requests late at night to please modify my design. This CHILD! Does he not realize I am an ARTIST!?!? *harrrrummph*

9:16 p.m. — We go to bed, “early” for us. I am sure I’ll pay for it tomorrow.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — Feels.. so early.

5:00 a.m. — He hasn’t woken up like this in a LONG TIME. FIVE AM?… Dying.

5:25 a.m. — I make a cup of tea.

5:40 a.m. — I fix up the Stuffie’s shirt until I have the neckline just the way Little Bun wants it. Now he’s cute.

6:08 a.m. — Little Bun tells me he has motion sickness, he is this, he is that… and I tell him to lie down and rest. If he keeps moving he’ll be sick. He definitely woke up too early.

6:30 a.m. — I feel like I am forgetting something. I list out everything and make notes, but there are days where my brain is foggy like this that I cannot remember what it is I forgot or didn’t forget. I feel all jumbled up.

7:22 a.m. — He has been banned from all screen time today because of his attitude yesterday, and he starts the day by whining about it. I tell him: You can either choose today to be a GOOD day and fun, or a BAD day and spend it pouting and squealing about how there is no screen time. YOU CHOOSE. You’re the one deciding your own happiness and unhappiness right now. Instead of spending the day doing 5 fun projects with Mommy, are you going to whine all day and have a bad day? Or do you want a fun, GOOD day? He chooses the “Good day” apparently but I hear whining all throughout the day in short bursts which trigger the same lecture from me again.

8:15 a.m. — We “plant” a garden in his cardboard toy house and just outside, and he is very excited. Every morning, he helps his Stuffies “water” the garden with the blue Megabloks pretending to be watering cans:

9:12 a.m. — He gets fed at least 4 times, eating a fruit smoothie, then oatmeal, then some pasta…

10:11 a.m. — He helps me paint and upcycle (a tiny bit) an old tank top. I decided to make the dots gold, but in the end, I think I was hoping for gold FOIL.. it isn’t shiny enough but it isn’t terrible:

Just a few random gold dots. A little shiny, not too wild.

10:12 a.m. — After that is done, I come up with Project #2. Sorting through ALL of my necklaces in pouches:

These are the vintage upcycled obi pouches I have that also act as clutches for when I need them for weddings, etc. I store all my larger chunkier pieces in here and keep the delicate ones hanging up on a board.

Little Bun decided to “help out” by making his Stuffie one of the necklaces.

 

I end up only putting ONE on the Maybe List, and even so, I keep that one as a layering piece. I really love jewellery…

And no.. that isn’t all that I own. Here is the other half of them:

And if you’re asking about these beautiful diamond knobs for hanging my jewellery, my partner and our son made this for Mother’s Day, and used these inexpensive hooks.

12:08 p.m. — I make a lunch for myself, vegan ramen noodles again. I put in a tiny bit less cayenne pepper than normal.

12:28 p.m. — I napped for half an hour while I let him secretly ‘read’ a book on my phone (I bent my no-screen time rule a tiny bit for this) so I could sleep and get my brain back.

12:32 p.m. — This is my dream right here, a nice garden with neat little rows to grow vegetables.

I also really love this beautiful library room. If I had lots of space, I’d dedicate one to be a reading room:

1:16 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap. He has been up since 5. Since I napped half an hour before lunch, I am feeling fine.

2:21 p.m. — I buy a new silicone keyboard cover for my computer. It is starting to warp and I find it difficult to type.

3:16 p.m. — These shoes by Sarah Flint are really calling my name (referral link gets you a $50 credit). I love the bow on the top that isn’t a bow, apparently it is padded, and it is gorgeous. I want it in the dark brown and the magenta suede.

YUM. I mean that cute bow that isn’t a bow… I am thisclose to buying them.

 

4:24 p.m. — I want to do all of my Income, Expenses, Net Worth but I can’t. The first of the month falls on a Monday, which means it screws up all my tracking. I cannot do it ahead of time as the banks only pay interest on the LAST day. So I have to shuffle my posts.

6:20 p.m. — We have dinner, and I try to clean up my desk a little but it is full of Little Bun CRAP. Papers, books… ugh.

7:16 p.m. — This was our Fun Projects List. We did most of it.

8:25 p.m. — We play a bit more, Little Bun tells me he had a “great day” except for getting his screen time revoked. I remind him again his attitude determines what happens. Temper tantrums have consequences, end of discussion.

9:30 p.m. — Time for bed. We tuck his stuffies into the cardboard house camping bed and then snuggle him.

Spent: $18.57

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up tired. He definitely is waking up earlier than what I expected.

6:00 a.m. — It’s early. I could have used another hour.

6:11 a.m. — I make a cup of tea. I feed Little Bun yoghurt and pasta.

6:30 a.m. —  I don’t know what his obsession is with “cleaning” the crayons by picking off the dark bits on there, but it is kind of creating this strangely beautiful pattern. (The other squiggly worm-y pieces are eraser bits, from when he erases on coloured paper)

7:19 a.m. — I clean up my desk, and log in to check my bank accounts. WHAT IS THIS SERVICE CHARGE!? I freak out at the $30 bill, and I immediately call and ask them what is going on. She tells me the plan will be changed in a week, and the service charges (two of them) reversed. Took me 15 minutes to save $60. Every penny counts. Especially when it isn’t my fault or what I wanted.

8:02 a.m. — I wipe down my desk, and try to get my cables organized. I have a little tray that goes under my desk but it is kind of a black hole, everything gets jumbled up in there. Maybe I need to find little boxes or pouches to separate all of this.

9:15 a.m. — I am too hungry. I make a quick lunch of spicy ramen noodles again.

11:50 a.m. — We have crêpes for lunch, and I end up stuffing my face…

1:28 p.m. — I can’t even believe people are selling this vintage (dust)bag (I am sure it is), for this price. I am no Hermès expert but I don’t think this is a real bag.. it doesn’t look like their work. Even their cheaper HerBag made out of canvas with leather tops, looks far better than this. A thousand bucks for a canvas dust bag? No thank you.

1:51 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap. He needs it, waking up so early…

2:41 p.m. — I eat a bowl of oatmeal slathered in maple syrup – my new favourite thing.

3:20 p.m. — I finish a book but my heart isn’t in it. I like to read but when it is the only thing you can do… it gets a little boring

3:46 p.m. — I make dinner and feed Little Bun, and then we play with blocks, and sit inside his cardboard toy house to snuggle and read to the stuffies. We have a bunch of books and we do “shared reading”. Little Bun has the cutest way of asking me: “Mommy, we can do Shared Reading to the Stuffies if you’d like?“…. I say this to him all the time with “if you’d like” at the end. He also says things like: “Mommy let’s do workbook together, and I can sit on your lap to do it with you if you’d like“. He uses it to get what he wants in a polite way.

4:50 p.m. — I do all the dishes and laundry.

5:29 p.m. — I read more of another book trying to force myself to not be on social media and absorb all of this information.

9:15 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up tired.

6:00 a.m. — Little Bun and I snuggle together. I make a cup of tea, and he eats his yoghurt.

7:11 a.m. — I make some pasta for him.

8:08 a.m. — I go through all my bank accounts, then fix a few broken pieces of code on the site. Half of my morning is administrative blog work as I do everything myself to save money.

11:11 a.m. — We have a really nice grilled lunch of romaine lettuce and chicken. This is a big treat for us as we are mostly vegan/vegetarian if not 90% of the time during the week, and eat meat rarely.

My partner cracks open a bottle of wine and I taste a little (I am not a drinker at all), just to see what the fuss is about.I have an unsophisticated palate and could not care less about wine. I just like tasting it to see what it’s like.

1:04 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for a nap.

1:26 p.m. — I watch episodes of Castle, one of my favourite TV series.

5:25 p.m. — We go through my lipsticks to declutter, and I manage to get rid of a few of them. I seem to have multiple duplicates of a rosy neutral, 3 of a darker rose neutral, and a few shades of red:

LEFT COLUMN, Top to bottom:

• Maybelline Matte Ink – Pioneer 
• Maybelline Matte Ink – Ruler
• Maybelline Matte Ink – Lover

FYI – the Maybelline Matte Inks are RIDICULOUSLY SMUDGE PROOF. You need an oil cleanser to get it off your lips. It is like shellac.

• Bare Minerals Gen Nude – Kept, it is a pretty nude
• Paula’s Choice Bare Minerals Plum – I got rid of this one, it was too glittery
• Nars Cruella – Beautiful deep red
• Yves St Laurent #1 – This is an orange-y tinted red
• UD Hi Shine Naked – Got rid of it, it is too pale and glossy
• Tarte – Got rid of it, was boring
• Revlon Colorburst Pink Truffle – This is one of my FAVOURITE go-to creamy pink nude-to-me
• Kat Von D Nahz Fur Atoo – A deep gorgeous burgundy red that stays on quite well
• Nars Starwoman – THE perfect red matte lipstick
• Marc Jacobs Plum – Got rid of it, it was a terrible metallic purple lipstick

RIGHT COLUMN: Top to bottom:

• Bite Beauty – Jicama – These Bite Beauty Glosses no longer exist
• Bite Beauty – Braised – Stunning brick red
• Bite Beauty – Mix – Beautiful bright pink
• Bite Beauty – Infuse – Gorgeous burgundy
• Bite Beauty – Virgo – Stunning pink-tinged red
• Bite Beauty – Rhubarb – Another nice brick red
• Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Colour – Babe
• Mac – Mehr – A nice neutral
• Coola Firecracker – Perfect for summer days out in the hot sun, as it has SPF in it
• Burt’s Bees Pomegranate – Just a regular old lip balm
• Bobbi Brown – Neutral Rose

But this one is the truly ultimate perfect red:

• Nars Starwoman – THE perfect red matte lipstick

4:15 p.m. — In a fit of shopping frenzy, I finally bite the bullet and buy that custom-made outfit on Etsy that looks close to the Givenchy ensemble Meghan Markle wore. To be honest, I tried looking for the Givenchy version and couldn’t find it, but even if I could, it would cost at least $2500… and I am not quite so rich to pay for that and not feel the pain.

The outfit obviously has a few things that aren’t like the original – I can see the skirt is of a thinner material not as thick, and the sweater as well. But it is close enough to the style I wanted, and I have been searching for months!

There is another option by another seller for half the price, but she made it into a dress version which I do not think is as flattering. The dress itself looks nice, but it isn’t the style I wanted in what Markle was wearing.

4:25 p.m. — Little Bun plays with his father in the bedroom, some loud game involving throwing a sock ball around.

5:11 p.m. — Dinner. After dinner, I eat a little yoghurt because I feel the need for something sweet.

7:04 p.m. — I do all the dishes and then we play with the Stuffies again, “Camping” in the cardboard house and making up ghost stories.

9:02 p.m. — Time for bed.

9:22 p.m. — He whispers: “May I have a story...”… and I tell him: Mommy is very tired, can we please just go to sleep? Is that okay? ... and he whispers back: “Was I too late in asking?“… And I gently tell him: Yes, Mommy is very sleepy now.… and he rolls over and snores off to sleep.

Spent: $273.03

DAY SIX

6:20 a.m. — He woke me up earlier but I don’t feel exhausted at least.

6:33 a.m. — I log into all of my accounts and start gathering information for my monthly update of my numbers – Income, Budget and Net Worth. In between doing it, I make a tea and feed him twice.

8:08 a.m. — I feel overwhelmed. I got a lot of bad news yesterday I can’t / don’t want to talk about, and it just knocked me out.

2:08 p.m. — My partner makes just what I was craving without knowing I wanted it. Mashed potatoes, with gravy and chicken. I forget to eat when I am stressed.

4:56 p.m. — Spot the lie. Because I can’t.

6:25 p.m. — I do the dishes, feed Little Bun, then we just spend time siting together in the bedroom, chatting. I explain to him that Mommy feels very blue and sad. He asks me “Why”?… I tell him a lot of reasons why, from the confinement since March, to all the bad news from yesterday, to general unrest in the world and stress which I take on because I consume social media. I need to get off these channels and take time for myself.

9:13 p.m. — I try to get into a book instead, to avoid being on my phone scrolling on Instagram – what else is there to do?… and then we go to sleep after a made-up Lucy Lobster story. He squeals it is “too short”, and I tell him Mommy is very sad and now sleepy. So… he squeals a little more and then we go to sleep.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up tired to Little Bun patting me to roll me over, then he cuddles up against my side for 15 seconds, snuggling me, and then plants a huge kiss on my face.

6:00 a.m. — I grab his yoghurt, his morning pasta.. and make myself tea. I actually don’t remember to eat, and have a large drop in appetite when I am stressed or sad, and this is happening right now. I didn’t eat until later in the afternoon yesterday.

7:37 a.m. — I scroll through Instagram, and just post once. The amount of information is overwhelming.

9:17 a.m. — We spend the morning organizing my rings:

Like a treasure trove!

I wear these rings when I feel like I need armour in a big meeting or to feel better. They give me confidence.

 

These are “unusual” rings… a rock crystal ring, with a upcycled spoon ring

I made these rings.. DIY ! I have a secret obsession to be a jeweller one day. Maybe. I hear it doesn’t pay well.

 

These are the only rings I have ever thrifted because I am super picky.

These are the more expensive rings in my collection – a custom made amethyst rock flower ring, and some Adina Mills pieces:

And these are the most expensive ones in my collection. Each YSL Arty ring at retail was about $600, but I got them all secondhand for around $100 – $200 each (but I paid $0, as I paid with credits). The last two “baby ones” are not really YSL arty rings, but Little Bun insisted they join the ‘growing family’:

12:01 p.m. — That was a nice diversion. My partner makes pizza, and Little Bun is very happy. We spend time eating that too.

1:15 p.m. — He goes down for his nap, and I work a bit halfheartedly on the blog (I have to write daily on these Week of Money posts or else the days just go by and I don’t get anything done), and then I read my book and do anything but try to scroll on Instagram.

3:05 p.m. — Little Bun is up from his nap. He gets yoghurt and then plays by himself in his little house, making up stories with his Stuffies. Any child is extremely lucky to have a childhood unaware of pain and suffering, and then you end up watching videos like this and realize not all children are sheltered:

As a parent, I am crying throughout this video. I had no idea the extra level of fear and safety that had to be taken when raising a child who doesn’t present as white. My son is 100% going to present as white, even though he is half, and he will never have to deal with this. That right there, is his privileged upbringing, among other things.

5:12 p.m. — While hanging out, we build a huge “bowling alley” instead out of blocks, with pins made out of blocks as well. Instead of buying these toys, I like to get him to be imaginative and make them instead. Aside from very specific items like cars, blocks can substitute for anything, even pretending to make meals, picnics, etc.

7:18 p.m. — Not hungry. Not surprising. My whole stomach is twisted.

8:25 p.m. — I decide to start on a new mini project to keep my hands busy, and that’s upcycling a cuff I own. I have to decide what I want to do with it first so I search for some images on Pinterest for ideas.

9:04 p.m. — I read my book, and then we chat a little, he plays a bit on the iPad and then we go to sleep.

Spent: $0

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