Week of Money: Where I start prepping for a girls’ weekend in NYC

DAY ONE

??:?? — Little Bun wakes me up around.. midnight on the pretense of needing the bathroom when in fact his ulterior motive was to get some night milk out of the fridge. When I exit the bathroom after washing my hands, I can’t find him anywhere, and find him in front of the fridge, patiently waiting for me. I tell him in a firm voice there is NO night milk and about half an hour of screaming starts. HALF AN HOUR. Screaming, crying, I end up having to carry him around like a baby with his head on my shoulder, cuddling me.

??:?? — When he finally calms down and I get him to bed to sleep on top of me, he clings hard to my body like a koala bear, his arms wrapped around my back as far as they can go. I leave him like that and arch my back so I don’t squish his hands. He falls asleep almost immediately breathing into my ear while I hold him, in this awkward position.

??:?? — He finally rolls off me and releases his grip and he cuddles into my side, then flips around and sleeps at my feet. Fine. Whatever.

??:?? — I curl up and fall back into a restless sleep.

6:10 a.m. — We wake up and he is in a better mood, at least it is almost 6 a.m. and not 5 a.m. .. it means he slept a bit more, even with last night’s drama.

6:11 a.m. — I go to get his bottle and he insists on the LITTLE one not the big one (6 oz), so I give it to him and collapse down in bed beside him. I need another two hours.

6:23 a.m. — I get up finally, and start getting ready which prompts an outburst of how he doesn’t want to go to school and wants to be at home with Daddy. I ignore him, and just distract him with bottles and getting ready for work. At least the accessories were cute:

6:34 a.m. — My partner preps his lunch and mine, my back is KILLING ME from last night, and when we finally get ready to go and are in the car, I turn on the car seat warmers to give my back some relief while I drive to work.

7:24 a.m. — At preschool he clings to me and won’t let me go. I have to forcibly peel him off my body and have them tug him away from me. Sigh.

7:49 a.m. — I get to work, make some coconut oolong tea, and lament my entire left cheek being peppered with deep cystic acne spots. WTF. JUST the left cheek. I must have accidentally swiped some hand cream on there or something. I hope it clears up this week.

8:01 a.m. — I shoot off an email quickly and then get to work.

8:12 a.m. — My Fig Jam lipstick from Revlon from years ago is almost finished. After this one, I am going to finish off Pink Truffle (also from Revlon), and then my other lipsticks before I even THINK about buying another colour.

9:00 a.m. — My meeting starts and during the thing, it is clear I am the bottleneck of info and work. Everyone is waiting on me because no one else can do what I am doing and I am being saddled with the tasks they initially passed off to others. Great. Looks like overtime is in the books.

11:58 a.m. — I tear myself away for lunch and head out to buy some food and snacks.

12:11 p.m. — I pick up salmon, mango juice and some chips. $13.23

12:34 p.m. — I head back to the office and then have my lunch with some salmon on it (microwaved — I had such a craving for fish today).

1:00 p.m. — Then I get back to work and literally don’t stop.

3:56 p.m. — I grab Little Bun and head home. He is in a good mood, we quickly change, and grab the birthday present to go have that birthday play date.

4:36 p.m. — My friend made a CAKE. A CAKE for the two little boys, and they each gobble down their share happily, although the birthday boy gave up halfway through and Little Bun finished his leftovers.

5:07 p.m. — We had a good chat, while the boys finally played together for the first time, playing Hide & Seek, and playing with a birthday balloon by knocking it up to the ceiling and down and chasing each other for control of it.

6:51 p.m. — After the playdate, I head home and am surprised to see my partner. I thought he would have gone out biking, so I stayed later than usual.

7:18 p.m. — We end up having grilled quail over salad and bread, and Little Bun refuses to eat avocado, ONLY CHICKEN QUAIL, he insists.

7:40 p.m. — I try and get my stuff done but he is all over me, asking me (very cutely) to look at things. “MOMMY! Look at this!” “MOMMY LOOK. MOMMY LOOK HOW COOL. It’s so AWESOME!”… It is cute and very distracting.

8:00 p.m. — I finally get him dressed for bed, we do two math equations and I introduce the concept of negative numbers but he is a bit lost, so I decide to leave it at that, and just teach him how to say large numbers. He used to know, but the concept of numbers in groups of three to be able to pronounce them is lost of on him.

8:45 p.m. — We all get to bed, and he falls asleep easily.

Spent: $13.23

DAY TWO

??:?? — During the night, I have to shift him twice, he somehow made it down to my feet then onto the floor beside the radiator, so I hoisted him back into the middle between us.

6:00 a.m. — I wake up, Little Bun is in a great mood, but spoiler alert, it DID NOT LAST LONG.

6:02 a.m. — I start getting ready, he starts getting whiny wanting his Mommy. I distract him, but then I make a green tea, do LookBook — this is ALL Little Bun’s work:

6:34 a.m. —  I am ALMOST READY TO GO OUT THE DOOR in 10 minutes when he loses his #%(*# because he wanted to go to the bathroom but wanted the camera on and I was being stubborn and told him to leave it and just GO PEE because it was more important than the camera and we could come back to it later. He just loses it. LOSES IT in the kitchen.

6:35 a.m. — My partner sees this screaming for 10 minutes and announces he is NOT staying at home and Little Bun is going to school. HOW CONVENIENT. It is so nice for him to be able to announce such things but when I stayed at home a while back and kept Little Bun in daycare to have a break, he was mad at me for wasting the money.

6:48 a.m. — I scream back at him that he doesn’t do #%(&@$) when Little Bun is upset and angry, and he screams back that I do not know what Little Bun is like when I leave him like this in his care, and he is completely inconsolable. I told him he had to learn how to @%(@$ deal with it because it is his job and his son, so TIME TO LEARN some parenting because THIS IS WHAT IT IS. Not having a perfect model child who listens to you and never cries or screams.

7:08 a.m. — I leave the house really annoyed (and REALLY LATE), but my anger and stress calms down once I get some A/C blasting in my face. I think it was too warm in the apartment and it made ALL of us too grumpy (I literally started sweating in the house, my nose and forehead was beaded in sweat.)

7:19 a.m. — Stuck in traffic. This is why I HATE LEAVING THE HOUSE LATE. School buses all over the place blocking me, and then LOTS of cars all waiting at lights, inching forward…

7:44 a.m. — At preschool, Little Bun clings to me and refuses to let me go. He starts crying, and I hug him tight and hold him. The educator distracts him and I make my escape.

7:51 a.m. — At work, I start IMMEDIATELY and make a tea. I have meetings all day.

7:59 a.m. — FML. I realize I left my birth control pills at home in the other bag when I was switching my items to a tote this morning that could carry my laptop as well. It’s a good thing you can take the bill even 12 hours late and for it to STILL be effective although it is best to take it at the same time every day. I know I will get some spotting his week as a result. Sorry, TMI but it is the truth.

11:48 a.m. — Lunch. I manage to find a colleague and head out for some delicious, filling potato pancakes and mushroom sauce. $26.45

1:08 p.m. — Lunch over, we head back!

1:28 p.m. — Meeting 1 of 4.

2:15 p.m. — Meeting 2 of 4.

2:30 p.m. — I am soooo excited for New York. I gots so much to eat and BUY. 😀

2:44 p.m. — Meeting 3 of 4.

2:49 p.m. — My partner emails me by way of apology, saying he will take Little Bun out to play soccer today and that he loves me. In between the lines translation? I am sorry for the way I acted this morning and I DID promise I would step up more and take him from you and this is it. I love you.

3:28 p.m. — Meeting 4 of 4. I feel way more relaxed.

4:01 p.m. — Day. OVER. TIME FOR SOCCER WITH DADDY.

4:09 p.m. — I grab Little Bun and we eat a little snack on the bench then head home.

4:21 p.m. — At home, I get undressed, then feed him dinner so he is not grumpy while playing.

5:10 p.m. — My partner comes home, eats a little bit, then Little Bun hops down off the chair and goes to get ready to go play.

5:30 p.m. — Out the door. G’bye.

5:32 p.m. — I make noodles, and .. yes.. even on my “time off”, I start making a photo book of Little Bun. I need to do the past 4 years. GULP. OMG. I need to catch up on this or it will NOT GET DONE. 🙁 The longer I wait, the worse it will get.

6:49 p.m. — Little Bun and his father come home with dinner. YUM!

Spent: $26.45

DAY THREE

??:?? — Little Bun somehow made it around my head. I do not want his legs in my face so I shift him off me.

6:00 a.m. — Okay.. I can deal with this hour. 🙁

6:30 a.m. — I’m ready, Little Bun is getting dressed, we are nicely doing LookBook & selfies, and then out the door in 20 minutes.

6:41 a.m. — Right on time. He throws a little fit in the car that he wants to choose the song. I hand over the iPod. Some things are not worth fighting over.

7:12 a.m. — At preschool, dropoff is terrible. He clings to me like a koala and they have to forcibly pull him away from me. The screaming is AWFUL.

7:38 a.m. — Work.

8:00 a.m. — Meeting #1…. of many. The whole day goes back in an effing blur. I literally sat at my desk, had an invisible sign that said: Do not disturb me or I will bite you, and I work until lunch.

12:08 p.m. — Quick lunch.

12:28 p.m. — Back to work.

12:56 p.m. — I am eating these chocolate almonds like it’s my lunch… wtf. Need to stop. Calm down. Slow down.

4:00 p.m. — Little Bun grab.

4:25 p.m. — Head home.

8:40 p.m. — I don’t even know what we did all night. Nonsense. Dinner in there somewhere. Two math equations of his choosing (“I want hard subtraction Mommy, THAT IS TOO EASY…“), and then 8 books I think? I’m insane.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up .. super late for us. I mean I wake up at the time I normally leave the house. My partner is already gone, he tried to be quiet but he wasn’t, really. I was up but still trying to squeeze the last drops of sleep out of my eyes.

6:40 a.m. — I get up, start getting ready, and am pleased with finally finding a top that works with a red wool circle skirt, It ids surprisingly hard to find a top that works because neutrals like white, are okay but boring, then black looks too strange – black and red? Ick. I end up realizing that prints and patterns that complement the red rather than solid colours work the best as an outfit.

6:42 a.m. — I choose a sparkly necklace (I feel like an Old Dame wearing this one), and then as I am putting on foundation, Little Bun stirs. I immediately cheerily chirp out a good morning to get him to wake up, and he groans and buries his head into his pillow, covering his body with his pretty blanket (his words, not mine).

6:45 a.m. — I grab his milk, my hands are covered in foundation and gingerly uncap and hand it to him, then finish my face.

6:50 a.m. — I then quickly do the rest of my makeup (OMG! Forgot the primer!).. side note, primer under makeup has made a HUGE difference. I bought the cheapie-ish Nyx Primer and even though it feels silicone-y, it doesn’t feel heavy on my face and thus far does NOT seem to clog my pores, cover my skin and block in sweat and dirt and therefore, cause any acne or pimples.. *knock on wood*. My face is no longer an oil slick by midday.

6:57 a.m. — I quickly hustle Little Bun to get ready by getting him to choose my watch and ring (a pretty gold drusy one today), and then sing songs to get him to get excited for getting ready. I quickly grab my lunch and his lunch (my partner left it prepared on the table to nab), and hastily drink half of the Bio-K I had in the fridge.

7:03 a.m. — Out the door. We get caught in a HUGE knot of traffic. WTF…. I try to take the other exit but that blocked that one TOO. As I am taking the exit, I suddenly hear police sirens, and I quickly brake and stop. I am sure I did not flaunt the lights, but SOMETHING is up and sure enough they speed by me and take the turn around. Something is up.

7:15 a.m. — I take the long way around and that way is also blocked like crazy. Then I see all these massive fire trucks and ambulances converge almost right in front of us, just down the street. IT JUST happened and by chance, I ended up at the best spot possible to hit the highway. What luck. Had I waited where I was, it would have been another hour before traffic could clear. Just by chance, my shortcut that turned out to be blocked, let me to another road that shaved off a lot of time.

7:23 a.m. — On my way out, a taxicab that was stopped and waiting at the intersection but not necessarily stopped at the 4-way stop, just suddenly GOES. WTF???? I was at the lights, and it was MY TURN. He honks at me, and then gives me the finger. I am suddenly enraged. I pull up beside him and scream at him, and he swears back at me. Do you ever get these instances where you know you shouldn’t deal with these a**holes and just let things go but you can’t? This was that morning. Little Bun panics in the backseat, thinking I am yelling at him, but I turn back and tell him that No, Mommy has Road Rage. He repeats “road rage” thoughtfully, savouring the words.

7:45 a.m. — At preschool, he clings to me like a koala and won’t let me go. I finally manage to give his hand to the educator and she tells him they’ll make a butterfly together. His interest piqued, I make my escape.

7:54 a.m. — At the office, a good half hour late but at least not an HOUR or two late, I get to work.

10:12 a.m. — My next the meeting goes for an hour. EVERY MORNING I HAVE THIS DAMN MEETING THAT GOES ON FOR AN HOUR AND WASTES TIME.

10:23 a.m. — Then I rush back to work, and get an email from my partner asking if I can buy these $2000 shoes from Tom Ford for him .. I try to log on but he is locking them in his cart. Great. Now we have to wait for it to clear out. I think my shopping influence is rubbing off on him 😛

10:34 a.m. —I email back my partner and he uses his credit card instead to order them. Phew. He is a shopping n00b. When you see something on sale for 40% off, you don’t wait, you buy them immediately especially if you have been stalking that item for 3 years…

11:53 a.m. —I finish working and then head to lunch.

12:23 p.m. —At lunch I chat with the guys and promise them that once I buy my piano and practice then they can come over. They’re very good guys and I think we could be actual friends even if I leave this job.

12:53 p.m. —I head off to a meeting.

1:34 p.m. — upon my return, the girl I’m supposed to train is effing crying and pulling her hair out in a metaphorical sense. I am a bit smug internally that it is not as easy as it seems (my job) and they were insane to think she could take over in a few months. ALL THE LOLZ. I help solve a few of her problems but the last one is giving me pause.

1:45 p.m. — After I help her, I try to call my bank to figure out why my card is not working but give up due to the wait time.

2:17 p.m. — I get asked YET AGAIN why something I do takes so long. I repeat back that it is not a lot of time what I am quoting them and frankly I have a piece of mind to tell them next time that I would be happy to see them do it in less than the time allotted so I can learn from them and do it quicker. Srsly. Don’t say anything until you’ve done it, it takes far more time than you think.

3:03 p.m. — I chat with the project manager (my 1 of 5 I report to) and tell him that the hours I quoted are for the whole kit and caboodle, not piece by piece. He didn’t realize that.

4:10 p.m. — Now that it is cleared up (see issue above at 2:17 p.m. – why is it taking so long), I head off to pick up Little Bun to take him to the park.

4:37 p.m. — I take Little Bun to the park.

4:40 p.m. — I hate this park we are at because even though there is shade there are a lot of bugs, and I always get bitten. I need to change before going I think. Cover my legs at least.

4:45 p.m. — Little Bun eats his snack and points out all the insects to me while I point out how the maple leaf seeds are now falling like airplanes and butterflies in the sky.

5:18 p.m. — I bring out his sand toys and he plays happily and quietly (alone – no kids around).

5:30 p.m. — After the park, we head home, we check the mail (yay! pillow cases! dresses! shirts!)..

5:45 p.m. — My partner comes home about 15 minutes later with dinner – smoked candied salmon! – and we happily eat that (whoa I am really stuffed from the noodles and now this).

6:12 p.m. — We chat about work and life…

6:17 p.m. — I also end up sharing a banana with Little Bun (I take little bites, he eats 95% of it which is his idea of sharing), and he gets 12 ounces of goat milk because he hasn’t been drinking his big bottles lately, so I give him a huge treat.

6:20 p.m. — I leave the dishes for tomorrow, so my partner washes at least the cutting boards so that they won’t fester and stink. He is really trying to help out.

6:34 p.m. — Little Bun then sits on my lap and we start building his First Year photo album together online. My mom used to do this stuff by hand with actual scrapbooking materials, but I will do a photo book instead. I was spurred on to do this by my neighbour who finally got HERS done (our sons are the same age)…. Mommy Competition can be healthy sometimes. I did already have a selection of photos from different months and years, so it is a lot easier than starting from scratch with thousands of photos to comb through.

6:46 p.m. — The one thing I learned from her photo book (which I see as a mistake) is that she crammed too many photos into one page, and she didn’t leave space, nor give dates or short notes of each photo. You think you’ll remember all that – BUT YOU WON’T. I plan on spacing things out a bit more and adding more pages if I have to. I also don’t want to repeat photos twice unless they have a purpose. She had a page of 6 photos of her son looking pretty much the same to me – but different to her – and I realized that it is not worth it because it isn’t interesting.

8:26 p.m. — His hedgehog toy gets him dressed for bed (this is a 45 minute to 1 hour affair)…

9:33 p.m. — We read two super short books (thank goodness), and then he INSISTS on two math equations. OMG.

10:03 p.m. — Math done, we go to sleep. This is far too late. I have to stop getting caught up in this photobook stuff if I know it will take an hour to get him to get ready.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

6:00 a.m. — He slept pretty well, surprisingly… I get ready and he helps me.

6:59 a.m. — We hug and kiss goodbye at the door and he waves and waves and waves like his arm is going to fall of.

8:08 a.m. — My whole day was putting out a fire that should not have been a fire in the first place. Why the hell are our teams not working together? Instead, I get blamed as the scapegoat for the one who made the mess when in fact it went through at least 12 meetings with so-called “team leads” and “experts”, and then through another 5 hours with people who were supposed to know their jobs. I mention that their meetings are basically useless then if they didn’t catch this. They told me it was my fault for not going around making sure it wouldn’t be a fire. Yeah. NICE. You think I’m going to accept that answer? EFF YOU. I’m annoyed for the entire day.

11:28 a.m. — For lunch and for a walk, I head down town to pick up my tailored pieces but then realized I left the slip in my bag at the office because I was so annoyed. I mail off my letters instead, then use my Starbucks Reward to buy a Cubano sandwich. It comes out to about $8 with taxes but free for me. $0

11:56 a.m. — Oh. This sandwich is not bad at all! I tried their thai thing, I like their chicken & artichokes, but the rest were such disappointments. This Cubano at least has a pickle which gives it a nice bit and taste.

12:28 p.m. — Back to the office. No sense in going all that way only to get rejected for not having the pickup slip.

12:30 p.m. — At the office, I log in and buy my mother 7 pairs of grey cotton Thinx underwear. She is older, and has bladder issues after having given birth to us kids, and never recovered from it, so she is always in fear of wetting her pants no matter how many times she tries to make sure she is near a bathroom. I am hoping this gift will ease her mind. I really like them. $203.71

12:42 p.m. — I also clean up my emails, try to see what else I have to get done, and make notes on everything coming up. I’m leaving next week for NYC, so I want to be sure all the loose ends are tied up in my life before I go.

12:51 p.m. —I create a little schedule for Little Bun to follow when I am gone and will buy stickers for him to mark off Morning / Afternoon / Night, so that he knows where I am at all times of the day, in general. I wonder if I should Skype / call each day? I think it might cause more anxiety and crying to see me, than to NOT see me the entire time. It’s only 2 nights after all and for him, it would be 2 days continuously with longer “naps” at night before seeing Mommy again. It might be easier than triggering a scream response.

3:32 p.m. — I get back to work, and yes, I did not stop until later. Much later because not only did my fire finally get doused, I had to ALSO answer and help other people on their fires. This is getting ridiculous.

4:42 p.m. — tell my team lead I am working from home on Monday because I have to take Little Bun to the doctor for his chronic nosebleeds. He nods.

4:57 p.m. —I head off for the weekend. FINALLY I realize that my bags are so heavy, my entire left shoulder is bruised from carrying everything for myself and Little Bun. Great.

5:34 p.m. —At home, my partner grilled up some chicken and MAN this new charcoal grill made it super juicy and flavourful. We gobble everything down, although Little Bun squeals that he ONLY wants to eat the meat but we firmly make him eat it with avocado and bread.

6:13 p.m. —Then… it begins. The whining, the constant whining, the “no my favourite colour is not yellow it is blue! I do not like this. I want this. MOMMY. MOMMY. I do not want this. Mommy come play. Mommy I do not want that. I do not like this. Do not do that. NO MORE I DO NOT LIKE THAT“….. imagine this constant WHINING for about 2 hours straight and you will start to get an idea that I started to crack near the end. We lose our #(%%@&$ on him because it is mentally and emotionally grating to hear this constant ‘death-by-whining’ stream of consciousness where you can’t even have any peace and quiet where people are quiet and not talking. OMFG. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS TRIP.

7:32 p.m. —I finally get him calmed down after yelling at him (I quickly switched to being quiet after I lost my @%*$)… and then I finish the dishes, wipe them, we go and play “Baby”, and read books. He is finally calm.

8:42 p.m. —I get him dressed for bed in the fun way with his little hedgehog “coming to the rescue!”, and he goes to sleep after whining that it is STILL Daytime and it is NOT Nighttime and it will NEVER EVER BE nighttime. Huge…. sigh.

Spent: $203.71

DAY SIX

??:?? — Screaming. About what? I don’t know. I don’t rouse myself out of my sleeping stupor, my partner wakes up and checks on him quickly. I am just trying not to get out of my “sleep cycle” (I can feel when I am ‘awake’ and ‘almost awake’), so I play dead.

6:50 a.m. — I wake up “late”.. he slept in after all that whining last night, I bet. I get up, start writing down some notes for this week’s trip, and then he gets up, crying for “MOMMY! I WANT MY MOMMY!” This trip will be fun for my partner. 😛

6:52 a.m. — Little Bun cries in bed until I come in and rub his back, then give him milk (NO BLANKET!).

6:57 a.m. — Then I get him to help me start laundry, put away the bowls, put away the Tupperware lids, and then convince him to come into the bathroom with me to let me take a shower. My partner leaves to do groceries and errands.

7:15 a.m. — He patiently watches me shower, and then I tell him to help me fill up liquids for Mommy in New York. He looks confused (but I am planning on explaining it) and then he helps me fill up everything for my trip – contact lens solution etc.

7:33 a.m. — Then we go through the closet, and pick out what to pack – I’m serious about packing light, and I end up with very little. Oops! Forgot the hat in my photo! Sorry.

7:42 a.m. — I log in and buy travel insurance (I always do this no matter how short the trip) $24.00

7:50 a.m. — Then for the next 3 hours I complete the following tasks:
– Iron a shirt and dress
– 3 loads of laundry washed & dried
– Feed Little Bun soup
– Paid tax re-assessments for my business + personal (~$4000 total)
– Set up and paid upcoming bills and checked cash flow balances
– Completed the monthly budget for my partner to reimburse me
– Check on Little Bun’s soccer that is starting & make notes for my partner who will take him
– Think of more things to pack, add it to my Travel Packing List
– Downloaded / Uploaded all the videos and photos of Little Bun & I
– Worked on the Little Bun Year One Photo Album
– Write a blog post complete with pictures of what I packed to travel to NYC

11:30 a.m. — My partner comes home and Little Bun willingly gets off the chair and decides to play a naming game with me.

11:35 a.m. — We have our lunch (mini melt down when we gave him 5 pieces of bread with cheese when he is actually FOUR years old so he should only have four pieces for each year…. *eye roll*)..

11:59 a.m. — I start getting ready to go and get some sunscreen on, and grab everything to return, while slathering my body in sunscreen. We do LookBook and selfies.

12:46 p.m. — I head out and return stuff at Banana Republic -$203.56

1:33 p.m. — Then at the Gap -$106.59

2:14 p.m. — Then I wander around Sephora and pick up Matinee in Lip Stories. They got rave reviews online and the colour is very pretty. $11.50

It looks like this and is quite red on the lips which I don’t hate any more! It actually finishes my face because the rest of my face is so “natural”..

3:25 p.m. — I also then head into The Bay and don’t see anything interesting.

4:00 p.m. — I stop off for sushi because I’ve been craving it all month. $22.35

4:31 p.m. —The quality wasn’t good so next time I’m not getting it unless it is the cheap grocery store sushi stuff or the VERY high end sushi.

4:56 p.m. —I end up going to a store I know and before you can say Boo, I drop $$$ on this Moulin Roty flashlight story thing I KNOW he will go crazy over when we travel. It is light and portable so.. DONE.

5:12 p.m. — I also pick up some finger puppets – a large squirrel and three little ones of a rabbit, koala and horse. Dagnabbit. I hate this store LOL ,. $71.35

5:20 a.m. — I buy some body cream (ran out) and I was just going to use the cheap unscented GlaxalBase stuff I slather on Little Bun but the lavender and SOMETHING smell of this body cream is amazing plus it is all natural, organic and LOCAL. I put it over my rosehip oil and my skin has never been softer.

5:46 p.m. — At home, Little Bun greets me, my partner is fixing the second bedroom – paint and all, and I wander in completely exhausted from walking and shopping (I saved around $6 by not taking the trains and hoofing it instead, which makes me feel a bit better).

5:52 p.m. — I put away my items, my neighbour knocks on the door and hands me a few more puzzles from his wife for Little Bun – sweet! I thank him, and close the door. It’s nice to have neighbours who have too much stuff for kids especially.

6:20 p.m. — My partner heads out for some dinner stuff. I search frantically for my floss and my contact lenses (my right lens was irritating my eye all day, and now it is red like a vampire), until I realize I put all that stuff in the laundry room. OMG. I’m an idiot.

6:44 p.m. — My partner comes home.

7:03 p.m. — I twist my left shoulder and can’t reach up higher than my shoulder. OMFG it hurts.

7:25 p.m. — I do all the dishes, dry them, put them away, while watching Killing Eve – my new obsession. I love Sandra Oh and female assassins sounds right up my alley.

8:45 p.m. — I read FOUR books to him (because he is four) and then he asks for math equations and I BEG HIM to let me go to sleep. He listens and we go to sleep (after a bit of explaining that he already had FOUR books and normally he has 2 books and 2 math equations… so 2+2 = 4 and his quota is done).

Returned: $310.15

Spent: $129.20

DAY SEVEN

6:03 a.m. — Little Bun wakes up and immediately announces that he is going to go on the train today. I look sideways at him but decide it is a nice enough day …so okay.

6:13 a.m. — I also know we have to do it early or else it will be too close to nap time and he will be too worked up.

6:20 a.m. — I make a green tea, he plays nicely (NO VIDEOS is the price he pays for the train) and then I check my emails and head out with him.

7:35 a.m. — Dang. It is cold. And windy. It isn’t until I’m at the bus stop that I regret not bringing a jacket for either of us. He has a double tee on and I have a 3/4 striped shirt but the wind is COLD. We stay in the sun as much as possible.

7:51 a.m. — We JUST missed the bus so we wait about another 20 minutes.

8:18 a.m. — When it arrives, I get on but then realize too late that he is a terrible driver and my motion sickness kicks in. $2.75

8:56 a.m. — I’m NAUSEOUS. Like about to vomit, sick, dizzy…. I very gingerly get off the bus and walk him to the metro. We tap in and he is SO EXCITED that he is squealing in happiness to see the trains. It is worth it but I’m really sick.

9:12 a.m. — We get on the train and the east side is blocked so we get off and go the V-E-R-Y long way. A woman looks at Little Bun, has a visceral reaction to him, digs in her bag, and produces two small animal toys made out of paper for him. I thank her (what a nice surprise) and he plays happily with his new fish and bird toy.. This is not unusual for us. Every time we go out, Little Bun gets a lot of gifts from strangers.. of anything they have — a pen from a young man going to university, to these paper toys…

9:17 a.m. — We stop off at a bakery I know but they aren’t even open. WTF. Most places are open by 7 for breakfast.

9:33 a.m. — We manage to find a Starbucks and their croissants are predictably, terrible. They have the texture of bread and none of those buttery, flaky layers in between soft layers of gluten… $13.94

9:40 a.m. — Little Bun very sweetly takes a bite of his croissant and then offers me a bite, stating that he loves to share his croissant with Mommy. Knowing HOW MUCH he loves food, I’m touched that he even wants to share and I share my bacon & egg Gouda with him in return.

9:41 a.m. — Now that I think about it, maybe he saw the sandwich and knew he had to share with me to have me share my sandwich with HIM. What a strategic, sneaky child….. 🙂

9:48 a.m. — I give him a taste of my rooibos tea latte but t isn’t sweet enough so he declines the third sip.

9:59 a.m. — We head back into the metro and I consider taking the bus earlier, but as I am STILL sick and not feeling any better I decide to take the metro as far as I can go before I take the bus to minimize the time spent on the bus in case I get a jerk-stop-gas-pedal-shy driver again who isn’t smooth and calm. We get to the station and by chance the bus JUST arrived so we run for it. $2.75

10:22 a.m. — The driver is a DREAM. He is actually the best one I’ve ever had on a bus — he is calm and careful and my nausea doesn’t get worse which is a real compliment to his skills.

10:49 a.m. — Before I leave the bus I profusely thank him for being a fantastic driver and the other passenger agrees wholeheartedly with me and praises him as well.

11:06 a.m. — At home, we wash our hands (ALWAYS when we come home, we run our hands under soap and warm water to wash off outside dirt) and Little Bun runs to the bed and belly flops on it.

11:29 a.m. — I wash my face and change into my inside clothes and then I lie down beside him and read one book with 5 stories in it then basically doze off beside him. I’m so nauseous and sick that I need the rest to not vomit.

11:50 a.m. — I basically sleep for about 20-ish minutes while he plays on his iPad and when I wake up I feel slightly better. When my motion sickness is activated, I have to control it early on or else I’m on the floor, on my back, unable to move or else I will get even sicker.

12:04 p.m. — Little Bun shakes me awake and tells me that he is hungry. I try to rouse myself from my sleep but it takes a while until my partner comes in and tells us lunch is ready.

12:34 p.m. — We head out to the kitchen eat — salad, homemade olive bread with some eggs. This food helps calm my stomach down and stops it from rolling.

12:53 p.m. — Immediately after, I get him down for his nap very easily by getting his stuffed animals to ask him to go to sleep and to cuddle him. I think maybe the train adventure also helped tucker him out.

1:40 p.m. — We wake up from our nap (we all napped together) and my partner is already working on the room, repainting it completely to remove the awful green colour they put up.

2:16 p.m. — I decide to leave the dishes for tonight or tomorrow when I’m at home working, and I get dressed and take him out to the pharmacy.

2:30 p.m. — I pull on a James Perse bodycon dress and Little Bun very expertly decides that sneakers will tone down the sex appeal of the dress and look very modern.. Of course he wasn’t thinking of how tight the dress was more than he wanted to tap on “sneakers” in LookBook.

2:56 p.m. — At the pharmacy I end up finding a pretty plum lip balm on liquidation for $5.19 and my allergy pills on sale —70 for about $30. At the cash, it turns out I have $10 in Airmiles Cash so I happily use it. $30.23

3:08 p.m. — My allergies have been bad this Spring and I need the pills to stop my nose from running and itching. Little Bun, while I am testing colours on my hand, re-arranges all the lipsticks into their CORRECT spots, matching them by number. He only get annoyed when he doesn’t find the right numbers to match.

3:24 p.m. — We walk through the greenhouse of flowers nearby and then we stop for a sushi treat. Little Bun loves the raw salmon the best so we buy one with lots. $13.93

3:40 p.m. — The sushi I had in the grocery store was far better than at the restaurant yesterday. Isn’t that something. I’m going to stick to grocery store sushi from now on as odd as that sounds.

3:53 p.m. — As I’m leaving, a guy tells me he loves my car and his wife rolls her eyes a little (LOL). I smile and say thanks.

4:12 p.m. — We head to the park where Little Bun insists that he cannot share his toys and we play.

4:30 p.m. — We head home and I try to start on dishes and then out of the blue…. I get CRAP from Little Bun for the next hour. He is screaming, crying, making a mess, trying to get me to move things back, screaming that he is listening… when he IS NOT LISTENING. And I start crossing off days on the calendar to revoke Train Days, and he immediately bursts into more tears. WTF IS WRONG. I have no idea. We had a whole day together, and then he just goes off like a fire cracker and everything is wrong.

6:10 p.m. — I finally get the dishes done.

6:22 p.m. — Exhausted, I make noodles as comfort food and we read a book to calm down.

7:12 p.m. — After we are all calm, I start getting him ready for bed (this is a one hour affair, at minimum), and at the end, he insists on 4 math equations instead of 4 stories (he wanted both, but I had to kibosh it)

9:04 p.m. — We do our 4 math equations and then we go to sleep, and he sleeps almost instantly, having had a very busy, fun day with some WTF nonsense (SNAFU, really) at the end.

Spent: $63.60

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