Save. Spend. Splurge.

Week of Money: Where I reveal my life hack for solving Rubik’s cubes

DAY ONE

??:?? — I feel Little Bun crawl over to my side of the bed and snuggle into my nook. He takes a deep breath and falls asleep in my arms. I snuggle around him, curling my arm around him, and he falls into a deep sleep while I enjoy the moment and doze off beside him.

7:41 a.m. — I log in to work. There is no time for blogging these days. Little Bun drinks his cup of milk at the counter and tells me riddles, and interesting things he learned. Or asks me questions that I have to solve.

8:00 a.m. — I have a solid week of meetings. I have to shift my time zone up an hour as well, and start making it for 7 a.m. meetings because of a new team in a different time zone I have been given to talk to. *sigh*

8:08 a.m. — Little Bun runs out and says: I MADE UP MY OWN RIDDLE!

I take a break and listen.

“So, Mommy, there are three suspects in a murder of a chemist. Nicolas, Peter and James. I have a clue to who did it! The clue is 28 6 8 57 16. Can you solve it?”

I am there, stumped.. then I just guess – Nicolas?

He says: YES!! It’s Nicolas!

Me: Er.. why was it Nicolas, out of curiousity (lol)

Little Bun: Because those are the atom numbers for the Periodic Elements table letters, and it spells out NICOLAS! I tried to think of a name in code but I was missing letters for Phillip, so I made up the name Peter instead, and could only do Nicolas.

I beam at him, and give him a hug and a kiss for a well done riddle.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:07 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he comes out of the bedroom to have a half glass of milk. He asks me if I would ever solve a Rubik’s cube. I told him I had a secret to solving it super quickly.

Little Bun: HOW?

Me: It’s this. Come closer. *whisper* …. I peel the stickers off the cube and replace them into a solved puzzle…..

Little Bun: MOMMY!! NO!!!!! That is not solving the Rubik’s cube! There is a formula you have to learn to be able to do it! There is a strategy to this.

Me: It’s a LIFE HACK, Little Bun. My LIFE HACK to solving this Rubik’s cube is to peel the stickers off and redo them. *cackles*

Little Bun groans at me…. and theatrically puts a palm to his face. Like in the emojis.

6:25 p.m. — I log off for the day. I didn’t even realize the time, I was just trying to finish a document.

7:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery. I am so tired these days, that I just crave pasta…

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up and go out early to work, Little Bun is still asleep.

7:30 a.m. — I start working.

7:40 a.m. — Little Bun opens the door and waits in the hallway for me. I run and hug/snuggle/tackle him and kiss him. I tell him I had to come out early because of work. He nods, he knows.

8:00 a.m. — Meetings all morning. I sometimes browse on Pinterest during parts that don’t concern me, and I end up always being drawn towards this beautiful rug:

It looks like this under the Brilliant Poppies Rug name, and brightens up any neutral-ish room without being too in-your-face:

UGH I LOVE IT. But I would need to wait before knowing what size my room is before I purchase one, so I just make a note and bookmark it.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:00 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom.

3:40 p.m. — Little Bun tells me – My new game I made up, with the blocks, doesn’t have a name yet. So.. I am calling it LOREM IPSUM!!!! … I smile at him. He knows that Lorem Ipsum means bla bla bla in a nice manner, and it is kind of cute.

5:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery.

6:25 p.m. — We play with the Stuffies in the bedroom and this happens:

Babiest Stuffie: Can I have five bucks?

Me: I thought I already paid you all that money yesterday already for that singing show thing

Babiest Stuffie: Yeah it’s all in the bank now, I can’t touch it. I need more money.

Me: Little Bun … 👀  I can’t believe these Stuffies are shaking me down for money

Little Bun: It’s invested, Mommy, we can’t touch it. 🙈

Clearly, he has been listening to me. He also asked me to explain about investing and index funds. So I am racking my brains trying to think of a way to make it simple. I may use blocks for it.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — Little Bun throws himself on top of me and we just cuddle. I could use another hour but ever since the time moved forward an hour, he has been waking up an hour earlier to get back to where we were before (6 – 6:30 a.m. wakeups)

6:25 a.m. — No time to blog, I have a lot of things to get done.

8:33 a.m. — I love these messages! My Negotiation book here, if interested.

9:45 a.m. — Is this not the creepiest object you have ever seen. I gave out a little scream when I saw it.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:01 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom. He starts on his adventures and learning with his father (he does it after every Quiet Time period), and glares at me while I am on my conference call because my talking bothers his talking. What can I do? We are all in the same room. I move with my wireless headset into another room, then I lose connection because I wandered too far away from the receiver. I end up having to call the person back.

3:40 p.m. — He’s done his adventures, and I hand him the e-reader to read.

5:25 p.m. — Log off for the day.

6:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery.

7:25 p.m. — We work on the Paint by Sticker book a friend gave Little Bun, the dogs look just like their dogs, so it is adorable that Little Bun is doing them.

He did most of it and then he was continuing it when I came in to do it alongside him:

He hands me the stickers and I paste them on:

He also made, unprompted, a little progress chart to show afterwards which ones he completed of the dogs!

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I snuggle Little Bun who has brought his blanket, wrapped himself in it, and is now sleeping in my Mommy Nook.

7:12 a.m. — We both wake up and head out to the living room.

7:30 a.m. — I log in and work. This time zone shift is throwing us all off. Until I can get back to our 6-6:30 wakeup, I won’t feel right. I like having that extra hour in the morning otherwise it all feels so rushed.

7:31 a.m. — Calls. I don’t even have time for tea yet.

8:40 a.m. — I finally make a matcha latte for myself, but reheat it three times, as I kept getting interrupted with calls.

9:25 a.m. — I take some closet inspiration from these photos. I just save everything I like and then sift through it afterwards. I think I am definitely learning towards a sort of leafy, lush, jungle vibe in the closet + office with lots of gold hints.

I like the way these built-ins look, with the knobs, sections to stack items, and racks.

While I can appreciate the boldness and colour of such a closet, I would not do this for mine at all. I would get too tired with so many prints and colours, even though I can appreciate the energetic jazz of it all. I just couldn’t look at it all day, as it is also going to be my office space.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

12:57 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom.

5:40 p.m. — I log off for the day

6:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery.

6:50 p.m. —  We are reading his Ocean Book (we love these 100s books)…

….and Little Bun gets sad reading these pages:

He squeals out furiously: WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS? *tears* … and I have to comfort him and say that he can spread the word to NOT do it.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — LAST DAY OF WORK. I wake up feeling relief.

7:50 a.m. — I start working.

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time. Little Bun comes out occasionally in between meetings I have and his day, just to hug me. Tell me things. Show me things. Give me I LOVE YOU notes like this one:

12:55 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom.

3:40 p.m. — My meetings are still on.

4:00 p.m. — I log off. I can’t take it. What infuriates me is this project rushing at the last minute and being inefficient because now it’s causing pressure and stress on everyone. Just because executives do not know what is going on, and then make decisions without confirming / asking… *ARRRRRRGH*

5:47 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and laundry. Little Bun is wiping down cutlery.

6:25 p.m. — We sit in the closet and upcycle pieces. We come up with ideas, he paints things, and we make a pair of earrings together which he plans on giving as a gift.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

6:48 a.m. — I log in and just sit there, watching videos and blog. IT IS THE WEEKEND. I have to catch up on everything.

7:50 a.m. — I watch this new series and binge it all morning in between doing dishes, and so on. It is called The Gilded Age, and the actresses are beyond incredible in this. My favourite couple of course, being the Russells (new money). It is just such a well done show. I LOVE IT.

 

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time. The episodes are about an hour each, so it’s rather long.

12:55 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap, and I am watching the rest. I also snack on these new lower-sugar, no palm-oil soft cakes (?) I found called Good to Go

They’re not too sweet, they’re soft like little cakes, and have a lot less sugar, with no palm oil like I said. They’re a satisfying, healthy-ish snack. The other one I like are the Lara bars, but I am not such a huge fan of dates, which is why I don’t like them as much. I do like almond-nut bars however, but have yet to find one without palm oil that I like.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom and I am trying to finish the episodes.

5:12 p.m. — Dinner, dishes and Little Bun folds towels, wipes cutlery and pots down, then settles in to watch YouTube riddle episodes of which he makes me participate in sometimes.

6:25 p.m. — I go to the bedroom and start a very slow going 5-minute yoga routine. I am trying to work up to 25 sun salutations and a longer routine, but it is hard as I enjoy yoga with people in a big room, and am extremely unmotivated when alone. Instead, I have been doing one sun salutation, two the next day. I reached 4 on one day, but then the next day was so sore, I had to take a break to let my body heal. Now I am back to doing 5, fast paced, and then I will try for 6 and so on until I can work up to 25.

It will be some sort of exercise for now as I have felt myself gain a few pounds, not to mention that spring/summer is finally coming and we can go out to the parks to play.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

6:48 a.m. — Tomorrow it’s back to work. But today we are going to see the Imagine Monet exhibit before it ends today. Literally leaving it to the LAST MINUTE.

9:08 a.m. — We get ready and head out. The main area is cute with a lot of reading and slides:

The exhibit room is huge, and there weren’t a lot of people to begin with. We had tickets for 10 but should have come for 9 instead, so we could be alone.

The walls were massive, with his paintings projected in detail which was interesting.

 

One of my favourites – I really like his boats on the water images, my true favourite being Impression Sunrise which is more blue than this one, as he painted it at various times of the day.

…Including parking ($15…!!!!) the total cost came out to $115.50

10:55 a.m. — At home, we discuss what we saw. For me it was okay, but not amazing. I was expecting a little bit more, like perhaps an installation of a similar bridge that looked like the one at Giverny, or something to that effect, rather than just screens and projections. Seemed a bit expensive for what it was. I would have been fine to sit there all day but then the crowds made me nervous and we left. I also just don’t like being in rooms with a lot of people (even before The Panini).

12:22 p.m. — Lunch time.

1:05 p.m. — Down for his Quiet Time / Nap.

2:51 p.m. — Up from his nap, he bounces out of the bedroom and I am a little tired. We head into the closet to play. We upcycle, we play with the Stuffies, make up adventures and generally hang out. Time passes quickly in here.

5:12 p.m. — Dinner – Little Bun is loving the meal tonight, and eats all the asparagus tips. We try to give him the stalks afterwards but he is spoiled and only likes the crunchy tips, with the stalks being too fibrous for him. I eat his leftover stalks because I abhor food waste. Sometimes I feel like parents are Food Garbage Cans.

6:25 p.m. — We talk about the exhibit, tell the Stuffies what we saw, and he draws a little Field Trip Day note on it. I am going to try and do more of these little events if we can find them and go to them. Preferably … free, or low cost. I cannot stomach paying this amount of money again only to wish it had more than what it did. It was nice, but it was not worth the full ticket prices in my opinion. That, or they should have had a section where kids could “be” Monet in some way, like an activity area, or something more interactive.

8:54 p.m. — Bedtime routine, and then we go to bed.

Spent: $115.50

———-

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

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