Week of Money: Where Coachella was a big dance party for Little Bun

DAY ONE

??:?? — WHY AM I AWAKE. Oh. Oh. TWO SNORERS. A baby one and a big one. Snoring away like there is no tomorrow. OMFG. I “shhhhhh” them as angrily as I can and only my partner wakes up a bit and flips over. The other little one, just snort snuffles and snores LOUDER.

??:?? — Finally drifting back to sleep.

5:45 a.m. — Tired. Obviously. Snoring keeps me awake because if it isn’t quiet, my brain just focuses on the snoring and the loud snoring, and the sleepy rage builds in me because I can’t sleep with that noise… I wake up tired, not quite well rested (need another 30 minutes to finish this REM cycle) but Little Bun is all up in my grill.

7:09 a.m. — I get up, make a tea, and start working.

7:15 a.m. — Lots of issues today. YAY. Not.

8:25 a.m. — Pssst! Poshmark Canada has launched. For a Limited Time Only, you can get $10 by using my referral code SHERRYISH to sign up (and I get $10 too once you make your first purchase). You can read all about the basics of buying and selling here. I already picked up a gorgeous stretch leather pencil skirt from Michael Kors for $20 CAD. 😀

11:05 a.m. — Lunch. I eat my pasta (my partner added bacon in mine this week), and I eat basically a massive bunch of radishes with it. Something about radishes .. they are just so beautiful and elegant. And tasty.

11:09 a.m. — Little Bun eats small bites of it, telling me he thinks it is yummy but then stops eating them (because to him, they are not actually yummy.. but Mommy eats them so ergo, I must also try and like them). This is how you brainwash kids…

12:17 p.m. — I head out and decide I WILL buy those jeans from H&M. I was amazed at the quality (given the price), and for under $50, they are very close to premium denim designer brands, which cost $200 – $300. I pick up the white pair (distressed) and a blue pair to replace my now too-small Citizens of Humanity pair. $88.20

12:56 p.m. — To pay for these jeans, I will forego eating out this week. Nothing to eat out as a meal this week, except for ONE Starbucks treat being allowed. I won’t let myself eat out to make up for this in the budget.

1:20 p.m. — I am on calls in the car.

4:25 p.m. — I log off for the day.

6:26 p.m. — I eat dinner, and finish all the radishes as a snack.. I just love them so.

7:01 p.m. — I put away the laundry I forgot about from yesterday. LOL.

8:33 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $88.20

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up not as tired as before. In parenting terms, this is a win.

6:46 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, drink it, google the benefits of matcha green tea — so far, no conclusive studies because they only studied the groups of people who drank green tea, and not the tea itself but this means that even if you drank green tea, it doesn’t mean it will actually make you be healthier if the rest of your lifestyle is crap. But there are good benefits to drinking matcha. In case you are interested, this is the best article on matcha I have found.

7:03 a.m. — I log in and start working.

9:25 a.m. — Few issues pop up. I am getting grilled on the phone for something that was not my fault or doing. Listen, focus on the positives of what I manage to deliver not the negatives.

11:28 a.m. — I am watching this Netflix series – Dating Around while eating lunch – it conjures up all the fears I have with first dates and I am super happy that I do not have to do this again (knock on wood). You can kind of tell right away when people have chemistry or not. And I really wish at the end, the dating people would give a short run-down of how they felt, and what they expected to happen… that would have been cool. I also feel really bad for some of the daters, like Gurki from episode 2. What a jackass that one guy was.

12:43 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap, he has been rubbing his eyes all day.

12:59 p.m. — Another issue. I somehow get copied on it. I pass it along to the VP. Not my problem.

3:15 p.m. — I respond to a few more emails and take calls.

4:50 p.m. — I log off for the day.

5:33 p.m. — Time to eat. I have a light dinner of noodles and finish with rice pudding.

8:40 p.m. — Bedtime

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up tired. As usual could have done with another hour.

6:00 a.m. — I get up and make a green tea.

8:08 a.m. — DAY 3. Staying strong to not going out to eat lunch this week so I can afford those jeans. Anyway, food is just ‘wasted’ after you eat it, and I should reserve eating out for when I really need it or find it special.

8:47 a.m. — Something snaps in Little Bun and he just loses it. He is crying, screaming, being unreasonable (obviously, he is a child), and I am trying my best to calm him down – he is sobbing on my chest, unintelligibly babbling.

9:03 a.m. — I am on my call and Little Bun is just losing it. My partner is antagonizing him by revoking the cake he was going to make today, and Little Bun bursts into fresher tears. We are all frustrated and angry, and I just take the phone and slam the door, leaving to take the call in the hallway because I cannot hear a GODDAMN THING.

9:27 a.m. — I come back from my call angry AF. At my partner mostly. Did he NEED to take a call right at the time I had another one? Did he NEED to antagonize and egg him on to make it worse?

#%!!@&*

9:27 a.m. — Little Bun is sobbing and I calm him down.

9:39 a.m. — I do a few activity pages with him to calm him down. He is finally calm, quietly whispers he is starving, and I prepare his pasta with cheese.

12:02 p.m. — I eat my lunch.

12:28 p.m. — I go out to quickly buy some Q-Tips, and .. #%(#&%… I am weak. I cave and buy a KitKat bar to enjoy later.  Weak. WEAK. But I didn’t go OUT to eat. I am just buying a $1.19 treat…… $6.53

12:39 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap.

1:20 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up from his nap and gets milk.

4:45 p.m. — I am finally done my work.

6:56 p.m. — I am obsessed now with finding a good, high quality black linen tunic that is PERFECT as a v-neck, and the right height and right drape. I am very picky. I may never find this shirt. (This is a dress I tucked up to be a ‘shirt’ and this particular one was see through so I was never going to pay $30 to buy it when it should be thicker.) … but look! White jeans, boots, a black linen shirt… perfection.

7:34 p.m. — I lie down and watch episodes of Castle on my phone. I am really very tired. I think I am getting sick as well.

8:22 p.m. — Time for bed. Little Bun turns to me, and announces: “Mommy? I had a WONDERFUL day.” … good. Even with all that happened this morning, he still thinks today was great.

Spent: $6.53

DAY FOUR

??:?? — Tired. Obviously. I am definitely getting sick. I’m sniffling.

6:40 a.m. — I get up, wash my face, make green tea matcha and put away all the dishes.

7:10 a.m. — My partner starts making dough for the pizza he will make today. YAY! I log in and start answering emails and working.

8:53 a.m. — First call of the day about to start.

10:50 a.m. — My partner makes homemade pizza which we all devour!

11:24 p.m. — Little Bun announces that his Teddy is becoming sick, and makes “Achooo Achoo” noises for him.

4:45 p.m. — I log off for the day.

5:16 p.m. — I vacuum a little, and start on the dishes.

7:12 p.m. — I finish feeding Little Bun and myself. Little Bun drags my partner into the bedroom to play a new game they made up called Bird and Fish, where he takes his teddy bear and has it “fly” above Little Bun’s head, and then drops him down as a Fish for him to grab. Little Bun loves it.

8:11 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I am so tired. I really am.

5:00 a.m. — WHAT THE.

5:30 a.m. — I grab milk for Little Bun and go to lie back down.

6:23 a.m. — We have a very luxurious breakfast (pear cake), but I can’t stay awake. I go and lie down, and end up dozing off and half sleeping in between squeals of: MOMMY! Pee pee! … and I have to get up and help him, or hearing him squeal as I am dozing off half asleep.

8:11 a.m. — Wow. I really slept in. My partner managed to keep Little Bun away from me for about an hour and a half for me to doze back to sleep, and when I get up, I feel a lot better. He asks me concerned, if I am okay. I am just very tired, I think…

8:22 a.m. — I get ready to head out, and Little Bun bleats: MOMMY MOMMY, that is too heavy for you! .. (what I want to return). I tell him I have a cart and will carry it using the cart.

8:40 a.m. — Little Bun bleats again: Mommy that is too heavy! … This is like the 5th time he has repeated this in the past 20 minutes, and I have patiently repeated back that I have a cart. I snap a little and tell him: I KNOW. I TOLD YOU I HAVE A CART. Stop saying that! … He gives me a sad look, then runs to his father. Sigh. I don’t mean to snap but .. seriously, kids just needle you and needle you.. and it isn’t until you raise your voice that they listen, it seems.

9:31 a.m. — I head out, and just return things, and browse the stores. My head is killing me. I head into Starbucks and try their black tea sesame latte which I surprisingly find very delicious. Free reward, so I pay $0

11:02 a.m. — I come home and my partner prepared mushroom pasta with cheese. The pan comes out hot, and Little Bun cautions me: Mommy, it’s hot! Don’t touch! … and I tell him I won’t and thank him for the warning. He turns to me and says: Promise me you won’t touch it. It’s too hot! Promise me you will only look at it... and I promise him I won’t. Kids. They surprise you all the time.

12:10 p.m. — Little Bun, goes down for his nap after protesting hard. He woke up at 5. I am not surprised he is tired. He’s out like a light in 10 minutes.

12:28 p.m. — I head out and run errands. I end up buying 12 KitKats that were on sale. 🙂 I am a FIEND for KitKats. A connoisseur if you will because I love trying new flavours.$15.97

4:07 p.m. — I head home (traffic was insane, but I also stopped by some stores to see if I could find a black linen tunic and cheap rings to mount stones and drusy stones on).

6:49 p.m. — Dinnertime. YAY!

8:19 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $15.97

DAY SIX

??:?? — Wake up. Tired-ish but not as bad as yesterday.

6:00 a.m. — I make a cup of green tea, trying to ignore everything I have read so far. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Lead in green tea, but it is good for you.. can’t eat fish, it has mercury, and mushrooms absorb all the radiation and pesticides…. … ugh. Can’t eat anything. I feel defeated with food sometimes.

7:19 a.m. — I am doing laundry, vacuuming (how does this house get so dirty after 5 hours? I swear… I am not a filthy pig. I shall blame my  child…. as all good parents do .. LOL)

8:08 a.m. — I am mending things, and end up fixing a whole bunch of things that needed sewing.

11:30 a.m. — My partner comes home, I tell him I have appointments to meet buyers at 1 p.m. … he takes his time getting the bread in the oven, etc.

12:38 p.m. — I can’t wait for lunch because I’ll be late so I leave. Crap. I am going to have to buy a lunch outside. I was planning on NOT doing this to save money. %(#@@

1:00 p.m. — Cardigan sold! +$30

1:05 p.m. — Relieved, I treat myself to a cold pressed beet juice (yes, I am one of those hipsters buying into the idea of cold pressed juices having nutrients and costing an arm and a leg … $6 for a little bottle of JUICE?… F#$* I’m bougie.) I choose the cheapest of the cold pressed juices. I won’t go on a juice cleanse (OH THE HORROR) but I will try better quality juices. I do not believe in the hype of it, but I cannot deny that it does taste better than commercial juice. $5.17

1:10 p.m. — I am following a father and his very little boy down the stairs (I am starting to take stairs more often rather than escalators or elevators), and this little boy reminds me so much of Little Bun, holding tightly onto the rail and carefully taking his time. So cute.

1:12 p.m. — WTF. A young man, coming up from the subway, goes up the side of the stairs and SHOVES the little boy’s hand off the rail to make it past. Seriously?? You are in such a rush that you’d push a child over to get up the stairs? People have NO decency and manners. The father, shocked, and then instantly angry, shoves the man’s backpack hard, pushing him off his climb up the stairs. The little boy of his almost tripped, and what if he smashed his head or worse, broke his neck!? Everyone is shocked at the guy’s behaviour, and we’re all silently approving, ready to back up the father.

1:33 p.m. — I sell my skirt. YAY! I am so sad to see it go but it does not zip up. Like DOES NOT. I could get it tailored to fit me but it would probably cost as much as the skirt did originally. *sad face*…

1:44 p.m. — Also, I think the woman who bought it from me was a reader or at least an Instagram follower because she commented on my necklace and said that I made it from earrings. HOW DID SHE KNOW THAT? I only just posted it that morning. But she didn’t seem to want to reveal that she ‘knew’ me so .. I let it go. But if you do want to say hello, “HI!“!! I don’t bite. 🙂 $60

This was the necklace, by the way:

2:12 p.m. — With $90 in my pocket (*sniffle*…thinking of lost retail $$), I allow myself to buy a lunch. I would not have starved myself per se but I would have taken a $8 sushi pack instead of a luxurious fried chicken bowl if I did not sell anything today. $14.79

3:36 p.m. — My brother calls as I am in H&M trying to find thick flat rings to be able to mount drusy stones on for upcycling my jewellery (read my entire post here on what I did), and I am talking him down off a ledge. Apparently my mother threw our futon out because she never imagined we’d ever come back to visit due to the horrific fights I had with my father when I was pregnant with Little Bun (long story, it is over now), and she wanted to buy a custom-made futon from Japan for $2000 for us!!!….. First, I did not know she even tossed it, and second, I convinced her to NOT SPEND ANY MONEY ON US and that we would figure out a solution.

3:36 p.m. — Stressed, I pick out a few packs of rings to see what would work best to upcycle the jewellery, I can return the others. $35.98

5:35 p.m. — Little Bun insists on playing Snakes and Ladders with math questions. I google “Math Snakes and Ladders” and decide I should make my own with multiplication and division for him. I also don’t have a die, so I am calling out “random” numbers like — “5!” “now 3!”.. and he moves his little counter on the board going up ladders and sliding down snakes.

8:44 p.m. — Time for bed. I’m really tired. I fall asleep almost instantly.

Earned: $90

Spent: $55.96

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up tired. I try to keep sleeping and Little Bun respects that, and ends up falling back asleep while he was waiting for me to wake up.

??:?? — Little Bun can’t take it any more and climbs on top of me to wake me up. His father whispers: It isn’t time to wake up! … but too late, he’s on me. I’m awake.

6:34 a.m. — I get up, grab his milk, make some tea.

7:59 a.m. — Little Bun is playing with his MegaBloks and silently whispering the word: Trapezoid .. to himself over and over again. It isn’t creepy, just amusing. He keeps saying: trapezoid, trapezoid, trapezoid….. He seems to really like that word. In my limited interactions with children, relatives, and others of his age, I have never met a kid so obsessed with math. It is a bit pathological.

8:14 a.m. — I spend the morning cleaning out my bathroom drawers. I finally toss those foam toe separator foam things because let’s face it, I don’t own nail polish, I don’t own nail polish remover and I am very, VERY unlikely to be doing my own pedicures or manicures ever. I just do not have the patience, the skill, the time, or the energy. I’d rather pay for it. I’m going to stop lying to myself that I am frugal enough to do my own nails. I end up getting rid of a whole bag.

7:59 a.m. — I also go through all my belts, re-arrange them and try to get them organized. How the heck do people organize belts in a nice manner that is not too fussy to then put away afterwards? I don’t have a dresser nor drawers, so those separator things, while ideal, are not practical. I have instead, these hanging hook things but I am not in love with it 100% because all the belts are on top of each other. I guess what I really want is a large, walk-in closet with a full wall of hooks where I can hang each individual item and have everything neatly displayed and spaced out on racks, and is properly lit like a celebrity’s closet. 😛

You know, like this:

9:23 a.m. — I lie down to try and read. I am re-reading The Boxcar Children because they were such great books as a kid. I love how wholesome they are. The first book will always remain the best and my favourite because they were independent in their own boxcar.

10:04 a.m. — I half doze on and off during the morning and feel a bit better. Naps do work but I cannot go into full REM or else I will not sleep at night.

10:20 a.m. — Little Bun pushes the door open, runs in, jumps on top of me, and sneezes on my face (accident, not on purpose), waking me up. Ewww….

10:37 a.m. — He drags me out of bed saying there is food to eat, but when I get to the kitchen, my partner is still cooking, and he tricks me into teaching him fractions with the blocks. Little devious…. … I sit down, and use 12 blocks to teach him division and then ask him questions about fractions with blocks. I can see he doesn’t get it yet, but we’ll try again later on today. Maybe I am not explaining it well.

11:22 a.m. — Lunch time now. Actual lunch.

12:05 p.m. — My partner hustles Little Bun down for a nap but I don’t think it’ll take. At least it gives me a break.

1:07 p.m. — Silence. I think he is napping now. Or pretending to. My partner is in there also napping so he’s keeping an eye on him. Little Bun is pretty good. He will lie down and even if he can’t sleep, he will lie there for 20 minutes or so, until you come and check on him and realize he is not sleeping. He then gives you a huge grin and you are resigned to the fact that he hasn’t napped but he tried, like a good little boy.

2:36 p.m. — I love these high heels but the straps won’t stay tied. Any ideas? They keep coming undone as I walk.

3:15 p.m. — I have been practicing the yoga pose The Crow on and off for the past year now, and I have finally gotten to the point where I can hold it for 2-3 seconds, but not consistently. Some days I can do it, some I cannot. I think I need to work on my core and my arms before I can get the right muscles required to float in place. This is a HUGE improvement over when I first started yoga and thought I would never be able to do The Crow. I’m beyond ecstatic that this yoga pose is finally happening!!!! YES! ME! DOING THIS!!!!!!!!!!

4:21 p.m. — I do all the dishes.

5:36 p.m. — I hear Little Bun run to the bathroom, and then I hear a WAIL. Like a full out SCREAMING WAIL. I quickly drop everything and RUN to him. When you hear that scream as a parent, you bolt. You’re gone, searching for your baby. I find him howling on the toilet, apparently through his sobs, I gathered that he climbed up and pinched his brother finger (middle finger) and it is all pink and hurting now. I quickly grab him up, and hold him tight, soothing him.

5:45 p.m. — His father gets in the action and takes him to put on a bandaid (he doesn’t need it, but he wants his ‘wound’ cleaned..)

5:50 p.m. — I watch ‘Homecoming: Film by Beyonce‘ and I am blown away, 4 months of rehearsals, all that work, and I am in amazement at how they can dance with so much energy in HEELS nonetheless and keep it up.

6:21 p.m. — Little Bun is watching on my lap, and wants to see more dancing from Coachella, and tells me: Mommy! It is a big dance party!

7:20 p.m. — I really want to buy that tipped linen blazer in the right size. I bid on a size 4. This jacket will eventually get dirty or yellowed (inevitable), so I want more backups….

8:34 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

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