Week of Money: Where I decide to just overhaul the entire blog on a whim

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun grabbing his pillow, blanket, and shuffling his way over to me. He plops his cute pillow down beside me, snuggles up and I hold him close. This is the best. I kiss him and tell him – GOOD MORNING BABY – and he smiles back at me. We then get up and start our day.

7:35 a.m. — I log in to work. Oh good. The server isn’t working. I wait. It’s raining outside today, which is dangerous because it also snowed, which means it is going to be sleet – snow + ice which is a dangerous combination for walking as you cannot see where the ice froze as sometimes it’s transparent (also called ‘black ice’ here), and it is difficult to walk carefully, or even drive.

7:59 a.m. — I buy a box of stuffed cookies for my family for Christmas, as another gift along with all the other stuff I picked up for them (nougat, etc). I am not into giving things if they do not want them, I would rather give food. The best cookie is the SKOR cookie in my opinion!!!! My referral code gets you 10% off here and I get $5 off the next order I make. $56.98

8:20 a.m. — I finally make myself a cup of tea before the morning meetings start.

11:50 a.m. — Lunch!

12:08 p.m. — More meetings. People I think are starting to get the idea that I truly loathe meetings. Please do not call me unless something is wrong. Send me a message. I think a lot of it has to do with age (I am a Millennial who prefers typing and messages but I work with Boomers), and it has to do with how fast you can type. Some people are agonizingly slow typers, and they are the ones who would rather call you.

1:00 p.m. He tells me just before going to the bedroom for Quiet Time: “I don’t want siblings. I think they’re a lot of work. And you always have to share. And care for them.”

4:25 p.m. — I log off for the day. I need to clean out my phone, the storage is starting to hit max capacity.

4:28 p.m. — Little Bun plays his cute Stuffie app game on the wall, in “real-time”. Here are the list of levels he made up for them. All of them have different obstacles to overcome. The sock one made me laugh, it’s the “Smelly Sock” level where the Stuffie gets caught in a smelly sock and squeals: EEWWWWW STINKY!!!!

8:25 p.m. — We snuggle in bed and read books together. I am feeling quite tired, I think it is from all the rain, and I fall asleep way earlier than usual. I encourage Little Bun to do something else while I sleep early, but he demurs, turns off the light and gets into bed with me even though he is wide awake and can’t sleep. He chirps: What should we talk about now!? I yawn and we chat, until I can’t take it and drift off.

Spent: $56.98

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling next to me again. Actually I was already awake – every time he turns or makes a noise, I am on high alert (I cannot help it) and I snuggle him when he comes over.

6:20 a.m. — I log in and start working.

6:47 a.m. — Little Bun is out of English pages, so he is watching English fairy stories online to make up for them. I am so tired right now, and he is so far ahead that I do not mind slacking off a little on his education.

7:01 a.m. — Meetings.

1:24 p.m. — I head out after my meeting with my manager. I have been going all morning until after lunch (eating lunch in front of the computer) and I need a break.

3:30 p.m. — We are on a virtual “safari” hunt with a group of kids by guessing animals based on part of their body or hair or face (a small pic is shown on the screen). After a bunch of the pictures, and one where it seemed to stump the kids I said: IT IS PUMBAA! A warthog!! Have you children never watched Lion King!??? 😫  Children .. Little Bun lights up and types in his answer: WARTHOG and got it right.

5:56 p.m. — At dinner: “You like everything, Little Bun!” … He chews thoughtfully and replies back: “Well not everything I’m not used to hot peppers yet”. He remembers when I had these shepherd peppers that are normally not that hot, and I was just crying in pain from eating them. My entire face, tongue, teeth were on fire.

6:47 p.m. — We do dishes and laundry.

8:15 p.m. — Out of the blue, Little Bun told me he didn’t know why he cried real tears when he saw characters in shows or on screen be really happy or sad. I hug him and tell him it was empathy, it was feeling how others felt and being aware of your actions through their eyes. He clarified it happened even if the characters were virtual. I told him virtual or real, his empathy was strong and that was a trait to cherish. He nods.

9:34 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — Little Bun wakes up, peers over at me, and flops back down. I crawl over to his side and snuggle in his Little Bun-ness.

6:30 a.m. — I log in and start working

6:33 a.m. — Oh, nothing is working. Goody. Basically we can’t do anything except go to meetings, something is happening and IT is working on it.

8:08 a.m. — Calls all day.

12:15 p.m. — Lunch.

1:25 p.m. — I head out for a short drive. I really just like being alone. Ideally, my partner goes out with Little Bun and I get the apartment to myself. That would be bliss.

2:40 p.m. — We get a message that nothing will be up for the whole day. We can’t upload documents or edit anything, everything is down.

3:00 p.m. — I log off for the day then. No point in hanging around.

4:18 p.m. — Little Bun creates a little guide for my mother on how to use Voice Memos (she asked). He even made little videos to go through what to do.

3:00 p.m. — I also explain to Little Bun that he was very lucky to be able to use my old laptop to watch videos and type out things. I told him I used to have a pretend computer made out of a binder. On the binder, there was a printed image of a keyboard, and I would prop up another book in front of it, and pretend I had a notebook, typing on the binder.

Little Bun stares at me, enthralled at this Luddite story, and then says: OH! So you typed and then it printed out on paper!?!?

Me: NO! I HAD NO COMPUTER! It was a fake computer! Mommy had a PICTURE of a keyboard which she pretended was a real computer….

Little Bun is completely lost. He can’t even comprehend a fake computer when he has had access to one since he was a toddler, really.

5:23 p.m. — Dinner time.

6:45 p.m. — Laundry, dishes.

7:16 p.m. — I am furiously typing because I have so much to get done.

8:00 p.m. — In the closet, I am trying to clean up but…. you know, this has happened:

9:22 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

7:40 a.m. — This look is interesting but I would never wear it. I just enjoy the colours and print.

9:30 a.m. — I go out for the morning but before I go, Little Bun asks Mommy, when are you coming home? I tell him in about an hour or so. I don’t know what has happened but he’s extra clingy for the past few weeks. And only to me. Did I do something wrong to make him feel like he needs to be with me 24/7?

Maybe it’s the switch to his own futon with Daddy separating us that is causing this shift. He doesn’t want to complain or whine, because he’s a great child, but he now needs extra assurance from me that I haven’t “left” him.

Any entreaties I made to ask him to play with Daddy, has been met with: But are you going to play too? I don’t want to play Uno alone with him.

It’s endearing but also frustrating at the same time as you might imagine. He is so close to me and I know this is important for him, and as he gets older that we continue to keep this precious bond alive so that I’m the first one he comes to if anything goes wrong. I don’t need to know everything, he can keep secrets, I just want to know if anything is wrong and he needs guidance & I want him to rely on me unconditionally.

I want to be the first person he calls if something goes wrong because he knows I’ll try my best to help him. If he’s at a party and wants to come home, I want him to be able to text me at any time and I’ll come get him, no questions or judgement unless he wants to tell me.

9:35 a.m. — Anyway. I head out for a short errand, and just end up sitting in my car listening to music ALL ALONE and answering emails. I promised him I’d be home ASAP but sometimes I need a break.

10:25 a.m. — I head home and snuggle him. He is just so lovable. I give him extra Baby Time before I get to work.

11:00 a.m. — Then I log in and start working on the desktop. I am trying to figure out these stupid instructions given by IT and I’m lost. Worse, it’s in French, which I’m not a native speaker of, so I’m slowly reading and parsing the info.

11:25 a.m. — Lunch.

4:08 p.m. — I log off today. I decide to take stock of everything I have, and start taking photos of the items I made so I can log it and have an e-record. I discovered the other day I have 18 sweaters in white (LOL), but every sweater is different either in fabric (thick, light, chunky), or in style… and I didn’t get rid of any. I love them all.

Little Bun helps me clean out the area, but he’s taken over 1/5 of my closet space and like a crow, he has squirrelled away pieces he finds particularly compelling from my collection of upcycled items.

6:34 p.m. — We have dinner, then vacuum and it’s time for our nighttime routine. He very eagerly runs to his father for the brushing routine, and then he knows “our” night together will start.

8:30 p.m. — We settle in with the Stuffies for a yoga session; we now have to pay Babiest Stuffie $5 each session (no more stars) because he’s just become accredited after reaching a 100-Star rating from reviews – ill-gotten of course because he muscled us into always rating 5 stars!

9:12 p.m. — Then we read a few pages of the What’s the point of Science book. I pause and quiz him on words I think he may not know, and so on. It’s my way of checking to see he understands what we are reading. He is 7, after all. I also explain concepts.

9:33 p.m. — Bedtime. We snuggle in, he lets me be The Baby tonight which includes tucking me in, giving me a kiss and turning off the light (I am so lazy, that I love being The Baby) lol… but I do miss tucking him in, so I do it more often than not.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling me, he gives me the sweetest morning smile and I smile right back. I remember the first time he was a baby when he turned back smiled at me, just like it was yesterday.

6:20 a.m. — I log in to work after some tea is made. It’s my one must have every morning. Without it, I feel like the day hasn’t started, and I get increasingly grumpy.

9:02 a.m. — I miss two status meetings. I’m just bogged down with stuff.

10:20 a.m. — My partner is watching the French elections with interest. He thinks the same president will win again because the other candidates are terrible at advancing their cause. Sigh. It’s funny how when people grow up and work in a country, how tied they are still to the way it’s run even if they’re permanently living abroad.

11:02 a.m. — I am waiting impatiently for my beading supplies. I want to get started and see how I do. I may very well hate it because it’s too detailed for me, but I will persevere because it’s that or spring money for all the jewellery I keep wanting. I’d rather try and DIY and make it myself.

12:32 p.m. — Lunch.

12:50 p.m. — People keep messaging me to start a shop and I thought about it, but it’s really a hobby because small businessss are hard to maintain and run. The only thing I’d do is in the future, maybe a pop-up at a random fair… but even then, I don’t particularly enjoy selling in-person. I’m not someone who can keep up pitter-patter for hours. Maybe Little Bun should do it haha!

Still, it’s a retirement idea. I need to think of what I’d do when I retire… if I retire.

I always joke to my partner that it’s a shame we are so lazy because if we weren’t, we would be rich. But it’s a lot of work to start businesses etc. I have a million ideas of what to do but zero motivation or initiative to do them as .. small businesses are a lot of work, and my goal is to work less not more.

4:57 a.m. — I log off for the day.

5:34 p.m. — We read in the bedroom before we have dinner.

6:44 p.m. — In the closet, we are playing after dinner. He makes up his own games and I do my own thing, thinking of new outfit ideas as I sit there and stare at the racks of my clothes. I like coming up with ideas.

8:17 p.m. — Time to get ready for bed. More reading, yoga sessions, I use my hands-free massager on my shoulders and neck, feeling the crunching in my muscles before bed. I am so glad I bought this massager because it is helping release the shoulder and neck tension.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — Little Bun wakes up squealing. I wake myself up, go over to him and I realize he has rolled off partly onto the floor, all wrapped tight like a little burrito, in a deserted part of the bed, so he doesn’t feel any adult presence or bundle in blankets near him, hence why he is feeling lost. I get him off the floor, back onto the bed, and my partner re-tucks him back in.

7:05 a.m. — I log in to work. Oh good the systems are back up! I start editing documents.

7:36 a.m. — Little Bun agrees to folding Daddy’s laundry, grabs the basket and starts folding them on the floor. Throughout it, I hear: “OH MAN. Why does Daddy have so many clothes!!!!“….. “Oh man” is his favourite phrase these days when things don’t go well and it is beyond adorable. It makes us laugh each time he uses it.

9:05 a.m. — During conference calls, I like to do dishes and other such things while listening. And today, instead of scrubbing the shower floor (I need a break, grout and tile scrubbing is very hard work on my shoulders / arms), I do the shower stall sides and doors instead to remove the mineral deposits. In the past, I know my partner purchased CLR which is a type of solution to remove Calcium, Lime and Rust, but if I can avoid extra products that come in plastic, and things that aren’t necessarily proven to be safe (who knows what is in there, really and what long-term effects it might have), I would rather steam it off.

Instead, I use the Bissell SteamShot, and steam off the mineral deposits instead:

Here is what it looked like before, and this is DRY:

 

During the steaming and scraping, mineral bits are coming off:

AND TA DAH!

I feel like such an adult HAHA! I multi-tasked on conference calls while cleaning my shower. I still have to go over it a couple of times, but now I can maintain it instead of deep scrubbing it.

12:03 p.m. — As I eat my lunch, I think about crab cakes and end up finding a recipe. Now I really want to try these summer vegan crab cakes. They look DELISH.

5:16 p.m. — Oops, last minute call. I take it from my manager. I was JUST about to log off.

5:45 p.m. — I finally log off.

5:55 p.m. — On a whim I decide to buy a new theme for the blog and overhaul it completely. Every few years or so, I get bored of the theme and buy a new facelift for it. I rather like this one but there are a few points that need to be addressed that I do not like. All in all, this theme seems to work out well. I generally don’t like to do this too often because it is usually about 20 hours of work before I get it to where it is. A lot of themes miss out on basic, useful documentation and I am left guessing what refers to what, and experimenting to get it right.

6:22 p.m. — Dinner. Two loads of laundry. I wash all of my delicates including my cashmere sweaters on the delicate cycle, then I just let it air dry, flat.

8:40 p.m. — Still working on the blog layout. I am the type of person who when I get something started, I want it perfect 100%, and right now.

9:06 p.m. — Time for bed. Little Bun does a yoga session with the Stuffies and me, and this time Babiest Stuffie wants oatmeal and raisin cookies AND his usual $5!!!! I tell him it feels like a scam. It sends Little Bun off into peals of laughter (very rewarding to hear your child laugh). Then we get dressed for bed, chat about our day, and sleep.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up to the sound of Little Bun crawling over. I hug and snuggle him.

6:20 a.m. — In the living room, I hold my arms out for another snuggle and cover him in kisses. I was never kissed and hugged this much as a child, and I think all children of all ages crave this in some way or another. It would have been nice just to hug and be hugged out of the blue.

7:09 a.m. — I make a tea and work on the blog.

8:08 a.m. — I reheat my tea. I think I do need to consider buying this First World Problem Mug Warmer….. otherwise I am constantly trying to keep my tea warm!! While savouring it and not gulping it down while it is hot.

10:33 a.m. — I do so many back and forth experiments on the blog layout, that my service provider messages me and asks me if I am working on it, or if it is an attack!!!!

12:15 p.m. — Lunchtime. Then Little Bun goes down for his nap and I am working on the blog.

3:48 p.m. — I take a break to be in the closet with him. In there, I sit there and dream about things, I review what I need to get done, sometimes I watch YouTube Videos as a break.

5:05 p.m. — Dinnertime. After dinner, he doesn’t seem to want to really watch videos or movies, but he really likes learning about facts and things like that, so he watches it on his laptop (HIS laptop, it is mine..!), and is content while I am working on the side.

8:15 p.m. — Finally done most of the major blog changes. I am still tweaking a lot of it but the bulk is done. Whenever I made frustrated noises, Little Bun, acutely attuned to me, would run over, and just fling out his arms and just HUG ME TIGHT. I would instinctively hug him back, and this released a lot of the frustration I had dealing with what was going on. Every time I make an angry noise, he hugs me. I do the same to him. Our language and way we help each other cope, is to hug hard and give kisses to give comfort.

8:33 p.m. — I take a break, it is time for our bedtime yoga and reading routine.

Spent: $0

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