Week of Money: Where I find out the cause of my migraines

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up refreshed, and Little Bun curls into my side, grabbing my arm like a Stuffie and snuggling it. I don’t move. I just lie there, feeling his heart beat against my arm, and smelling his little boy head.

??:?? — He stops hugging my arm me (must be getting too warm), and I keep it there, snuggling him closer to my body until he wakes up.

6:56 a.m. — He’s checking the clock and tells me: I SLEPT IN! … and he did. A whole half hour which I sorely needed.

7:26 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, take him to the bathroom and then start watching my binge show – Queen Sugar again. This show is so full of deep characters, thought, layers of humanity.. it’s truly astounding how much it touches me to my core. I also really like the fashion in the show. Their clothing, accessories.. I really hope they release which designers they work with.

One of my favourite supporting characters is Hollywood, though it’s hard to say because I like all of them. He in particular, has been a great supporting actor and character. Strong, vulnerable, and steadfast. A true example of love and relationships with Violet.

7:44 a.m. — I do some yoga – I think it is helping my migraines as I thankfully have not had one for a while. I have also cut out chocolate completely, so I am hoping it is either one or the other, or both – and I will keep at it forever to get this kind of release from my pain.

8:10 a.m. — I mention to my partner this, and he smirks (LOL).. and said: I told you! .. I’m a doctor now. LOL… He’s the one that suggested I do daily yoga because it helped him as well, and I have noticed when he does it in the morning, I feel motivated to do it too. Even for 10 minutes.

8:10 a.m. — Little Bun plays in the bedroom with his finger puppets, making up stories.

10:25 a.m. — I make lunch, and eat it in peace as Little Bun watches videos – he begged for movies.

12:28 p.m. — Before his nap, we are in the closet organizing items and he tells me: I want to upcycle again!

These are some of his “treasures”…

And he helps me track the list of wardrobe items:

1:15 p.m. — Little Bun works on his Stuffie Manual. It’s very very cute. It’s a manual about being a Stuffie and living like a Stuffie.

3:12 p.m. — After his nap – I am power binge watching Queen Sugar right now.

4:25 p.m. — This show is so powerful but sometimes as I am going through it, I think: There’s a lot of drama happening all at once. What I like the most about the show is just seeing the family members interact with each other, talk, how they handle their children and differences… less so on the dramatic bits.

6:20 p.m. — After dinner, I start laundry and do the dishes.

6:31 p.m. — We upcycle again in the closet. He makes “creations” with things we have, like these earrings…

It’s a cool stone called “dinosaur egg” because one side of it is flat and polished flat.

8:22 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up tired. I could have used another half an hour but Little Bun is full of chipper energy.

6:04 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and Little Bun creates a card game for the Stuffies for his book beside me. I am thinking of scanning the pages or digitizing them, and creating a real ‘book’ for him to hold published by him to hold as a family memory.

6:37 a.m. — I log in to work, I suspect we have a lot to do this week, but maybe it’ll go smoother. I sometimes feel like I am all alone here on this project.

7:19 a.m. — Little Bun works on his workbook and gets upset we are making noise by talking, so I gently usher him into the bedroom to work on it in quiet and peace without us.

8:30 a.m. — First meeting of the day.

10:24 a.m. — I buy some binoculars for him so he can use it on the balcony and just for fun. $25.29

11:05 a.m. — Little Bun does his workbook and then squeals: I WANT TO DO THE WORD ADVENTURE! His spelling is at Grade 2 level, and I want to move him onto Grade 3 to test him, but he tells me: No Mommy, remember we have to do the REDO Adventure? Of all the words I didn’t get?? <3… He reminds me of so much when I need help. I love this child.

5:08 p.m. — I finally end the day. It was rough. We have a lot of work to cover.

6:15 p.m. — I do laundry and dishes. Little Bun wipes the cutlery.

7:34 p.m. — I put in an order and get 6 rings from one of my favourite designers: Christina Rose. Here are a few of the ones I got (all 3 of them). Her work is really stunning, not anything I could ever hope to recreate on my own, and I appreciate her artistry. $605.87

I also really love independent designers and supporting them.

7:15 p.m. —  Little Bun works on his “creations”.

8:00 p.m. — We paint and upcycle a little in the closet.

8:47 p.m. — Time to get ready for bed. Little Bun also creates a new sticker for the book to tell people it has a TRIPLE rhyme in it!

Spent: $631.16

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up refreshed-ish. I slept enough at least.

6:20 a.m. — I make a tea, and log in to start on my taxes. I enter in all of my slips (I have a LOT of them), and it’s a lot of work. I have to check again tomorrow to make sure it looks right.

7:00 a.m. — I log in and start working. I have a lot to get done today, we are working quite hard.

7:23 p.m. — I take a break to talk to my friend on the phone. She’s been having a rough go of things and we have been talking to each other to lift our spirits.

8:08 a.m. — Meeting one of 7 today.

12:08 p.m. — Exhausted, I finally take a break to have lunch. Pizza. I put cayenne pepper on it for a kick.

1:00 p.m. — Little Bun down for his nap.

1:06 p.m. — Nosebleed.

1:08 p.m. — Bathroom.

1:10 p.m. — His finger puppet broke.

1:15 p.m. — It broke again.

1:18 p.m. — At the end of my nerves I tell him: ENOUGH. I can’t keep coming back and forth!

3:06 p.m. — I log off for the day, and I had promised him I would upcycle with him in the closet.

3:07 p.m. — “Mommy, why are we wasting energy? There’s so much natural light here!“… Little Bun waves at the curtains. I thank him for checking me on this and I put up the curtains and turn off the light.

4:12 p.m. — We finish a necklace and he says: Mommy can I wear it while we upcycle? I put it on him and love how he looks in it. I tell him it looks really good on him and he smiles proudly.

4:46 p.m. — We finish yet another necklace (work in progress) and paint a few more. He’s really excited about how they turn out and wants to create more inventions but I don’t want to use up all the supplies at once, nor rush!!!

4:57 p.m. — We play “gold rush down the river” where in a boat, Little Bun’s Babiest Stuffie picks up “gold” in the river…

5:20 p.m. — Dinner time. I skip dinner and just eat yoghurt but then feel ill. I think I ate too much yoghurt…

6:29 p.m. — What!? My Grade 2 and 3 books never shipped. They cancelled the order but then never informed me. I re-order them again. $80.80

7:18 p.m. — I lie down and close my eyes while he does schooling with Daddy.

8:28 p.m. — Time to get ready for bed.

Spent: $80.80

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up to screaming. He squeals back into his corner, rolling around like a pig in the mud.

??:?? — I wake up rested but also tired – having your sleep constantly jarred each night from night terrors doesn’t make for good sleeping.

6:30 a.m. — I make a tea.

7:09 a.m. — I log in to work. My machine keeps kicking me out so … I hope this will not be a recurring theme for today.

7:27 a.m. — First meeting of the day.

9:25 a.m. — I have a break in between my next meetings. I do a bit of banking.

9:47 a.m. — Freaking #%(&%#( show… Little Bun gets mad that the word “DIFFERENCES” is so long to write, and I cannot respond or help him because I am in the middle of a call. Commence complete CRAP. There’s screaming, a tantrum, wild craziness and so much anger because I cannot talk to him (I am in the middle of a presentation, SPEAKING), and I am waving him away frantically to try and concentrate so I can finish what I am saying and my train of thought.

9:50 a.m. — He goes for time out (my partner handles this). And it is pure screaming in the bedroom non-stop for 10 minutes which feels like forever to me.

10:00 a.m. — My partner is pretty angry. He’s in the middle of a call, so am I, and it’s like Little Bun cannot handle even 10 minutes of me not paying attention to him because I am on the phone. I feel drained.

10:30 a.m. — Back to back calls over, I go to Little Bun who has been marinating in the bedroom, sobbing and screaming the whole time, now tucked in a blanket waiting for me.

11:10 a.m. — My calls finally over, I go to him and I kiss him, and tell him: You need to work on your anxiety and your temper. I am not ignoring you, but there are some points in calls that I cannot speak to you or help you. I need you to understand this. If I can talk to you, I will. But when I am talking, or listening, it means I cannot.

11:16 a.m. — He absorbs all of this, nodding. We go into the closet to upcycle together.

12:08 p.m. — I love these looks!

1:00 p.m. — He goes down for his nap.

1:25 p.m. — He has a nosebleed, I head over and help him, then back to sleep.

4:05 p.m. — I log off for the day after my last meeting and we head out onto the balcony to draw and snuggle together. He loves it. I can’t wait to show him the binoculars I got for him so we can do more of this.

We work on a picture. He started with a sun and some grass, then wanted to add flowers..

…and I asked him what else makes up “Spring” and I decide to put a title for it (with his approval):

Finished! He coloured in “DAY” and the “S” in spring plus some other letters, and he added some flair to my other letters to make them prettier.

We also added a bunny, and he fixed my flying bird by adding a beak and eyes. Obviously proportions are totally off but you get the idea.

7:32 p.m. — I watch more episodes, and I log in and realize there’s a 40% off sale coming up on some items, I quickly snag a leather cognac skirt so I can recreate this look, FINALLY! I have been sitting on this picture since 2019 I think… trying to find the right secondhand skirt in leather and in this colour because I am so in love with it. I finally find one that fits it well. $226.96

8:43 p.m. — I get ready for bed with Little Bun.

Spent: $226.96

DAY FIVE

??:?? — Squealing. I wake up and it takes me a while to fall back asleep.

??:?? — More squealing. I wake up and I finally drop back to sleep.

??:?? — He’s awake now. But I am tired. I feel like I JUST fell asleep again and now I am groggy.

6:39 a.m. — I get up, take him to the bathroom, and then log in to work. As it is booting up, I make a cup of tea.

7:00 a.m. — Ah! A reprieve today! I have a fairly clear schedule except for a meeting in the afternoon. It’s a big one too.. I didn’t realize how many people were there. Our project is pretty prominent for the company so everyone wants to hear about it.

8:08 a.m. — Little Bun works on his pages for creating a “book” with writing and flowers (art and English).

9:53 a.m. — He spends the morning playing Uno by himself and then recruiting Biggest Stuffie to act as Player Two, speaking to him like he can understand and everything.

10:20 a.m. — Another meeting.

11:53 a.m. — Lunch.

3:18 p.m. — Little Bun down for a “nap”, I make some tea. Avoiding chocolate has really been the key in all of this to control my migraines. I AM SO HAPPY……!

3:18 p.m. — I have another meeting.

4:30 p.m. — I log off for the day and Little Bun ropes Daddy into playing UNO with him. I know he does it because he loves Little Bun so much because he DETESTS playing card and board games.

5:16 p.m. — I am off the phone with my mother. I am watching now, The Rookie, an excellent show by one of my favourite actors – Nathan Fillion.

6:22 p.m. — Dinner, and then I watch more of The Rookie.

6:40 p.m. — I do all the dishes.

7:09 p.m. — Laundry.

8:30 p.m. — We play Uno all night and then go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up tired from hearing him squeal and then I go back to sleep.

??:?? — I wake up groggy because I had my sleep interrupted.

7:16 a.m. — I make a tea.

7:29 a.m. — I log in and start working. Meetings until 16:00 today.

8:08 a.m. — I go through the morning, Little Bun is just not having it with the workbook and I am too tired to push. We instead work on creating a Flower Book, which I think is good enough as he gets to draw, write a bit about flowers and so on.

This is his finished book (front cover just says: FLOWERS):

He added a “Spot the Difference” flower game for me to play….

Then noted that you could search online for beautiful flowers (like I did to help him create this book).

He made a mistake with a flower on the page, and asked me to cut out the flower. I didn’t realize his intentions and said I would just paste a new piece of paper over it. He told me: I NEVER get to do what I want!!… and I ask him to explain.

This is what he wanted to do in the end, a secret flower hidey-hole page thing:

I apologized for not listening to him and I didn’t know his idea (I just thought he wanted to be ornery and have a hole in the book), and he shows me his secret flower.

11:24 a.m. — More meetings. I do dishes while on a call.

11:36 a.m. — I love this soft dreamy decor for a living room. I am collecting ideas…

12:10 p.m. — Lunch, and then more meetings.

2:25 p.m. — Finally done. My brain is drained.

4:03 p.m. — I AM SO HAPPY I got those UNO cards. My partner hates playing games but he is making an effort and having fun playing with Little Bun while I work.

5:17 p.m. — Meetings done.

5:23 p.m. — Little Bun eats dinner then runs off to watch movies.

6:32 p.m. — We discuss an internal family matter. My mother dropped a bomb on me today. I can’t talk about it, but I am just shocked.

6:41 p.m. — We do some family estate planning. We are going to start gifting Little Bun money when he turns 18 and is old enough to open a TFSA, he will get half from his father, half from me, so we can start draining our estate to transfer money to him and he has it invested, growing and compounding over his lifetime to make the most use out of it and for us to avoid taxes especially at time of estate transfer.

7:50 p.m. — I do dishes then laundry, and Little Bun folds them and wipes the cutlery.

8:45 p.m. — Time for bed. But before bed, a few rounds of Uno, his favourite game.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up a little tired.

??:?? — Little Bun gets his milk, and then asks: CAN WE PLAY UNO?.. I tell him it’s a bit too early for that (and loud, he gets very excited)…. and he reads instead.

8:00 a.m. — My partner is up and heads out to do groceries, while we have breakfast, and then we play more Uno, upcycle, watch videos the whole morning. I also spend some time doing videos because Little Bun is watching his, so we get things finished!

11:09 a.m. — Partner is back and we are in the bedroom playing the multiplication card game.

12:15 p.m. — More Uno, this time with 3 of us, and Little Bun wins ALL THREE HANDS!!!

1:08 p.m. — Time for his nap.

2:46 p.m. — I am engrossed in this book called Braiding Sweetgrass with short stories from Robin Wall Kimmerer a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and I am BLOWN away. The stories are truly mesmerizing, full of colour, life, character, interest. I cannot recommend the book enough. It touches on the history of Native Americans, about what they learned, didn’t learn, anecdotes….how nature intertwines into their lives and so on. I am unable to put it down. Learning about animals, plants, via nature – this is a book worth reading.

3:22 p.m. — Little Bun is up, we play in the bedroom. My headache came back a bit, so I am resting now. I think the lack of sleep doesn’t help. It makes me more sensitive to weather changes but there has been a MASSIVE change in quality of life ever since I stopped scarfing chocolate.

3:35 p.m. — We are in the closet upcycling now.

4:57 p.m. — Time for dinner.

6:28 p.m. — I do laundry and Little Bun helps put it away – when it’s our clothes together, he sorts out his things and puts them away (he even turns the shirts inside out to make them ready to wear), and I put my items away after folding.

6:50 p.m. — We play the multiplication card game – he is getting better at it.

7:30 p.m. — I read more of the book on my side, lying down as Little Bun plays with his father (more UNO)…

8:40 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

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