Week of Money: Where I vow to stop absorbing in all this information

DAY ONE

7:05 a.m. — I wake up before Little Bun and am SO HAPPY. HE SLEPT IN. I can feel that it is 7 a.m. I feel much better.

7:11 a.m. — I snuggle him after his milk and then he plays with blocks quietly on the floor while waiting for Daddy to wake up. I am trying to get things organized, and I message my sibling to watch this show: James May Our Man in Japan – because he and I are both obsessed with the country.

8:08 a.m. — I make tea, and after my partner is up, I am frustrated in trying to get my Macbook air to “roll back” an update because Catalina (the latest version) made all of my other programs stop working. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH…

8:40 a.m. — I take a break and do some fast yoga. 30 minutes or under. I will do yoga again later on today.

And this is hilarious:

8:57 a.m. — I set Little Bun up with videos so that he is entertained and I have time to think through everything I need to get done.

9:05 a.m. — This made me laugh:

12:09 p.m. — Lunch. I’ve been frustrated with this laptop all day that I don’t even think about food until now.

12:29 p.m. — OK lunch for real now.

2:28 p.m. — I AM A BADASS. I figured out how to fix my laptop. I had to basically go into Internet Recovery mode, and THEN use Disk Utility there to erase my Mac hard drive AND THEN image a new system over it.

6:51 p.m. — Finally getting somewhere. This stuff takes so long, I’m making procedural notes and keeping careful, meticulous backups for next time.

7:39 p.m. — I make some spaghetti while I wait for everything to finish.

8:09 p.m. — Little Bun reads a book and then excitedly watches videos. This mouse has him HOOKED.

Spent: $0 – Won’t spend anything for a longggg while…

DAY TWO

??:?? — He’s up. I know it is 5 a.m. ish…. I can tell by the lack of light.

??:?? — OK he’s not going back to sleep.

6:02 a.m. — I get up, grab his milk, log in and try to make notes/run scenarios. I had actually thrown my EF into the market when I signed the extension (not all of it, but a good chunk), and then this virus had hit so hard and fast that I only managed to replenish a bit, but not as much as I wanted. I am still going to be fine, in the sense that I am cutting back drastically on expenses, and trying to maximize my side hustles, but it is not ideal. It is however, better than in 2009/2010 when I only had $30K saved and it took me 2 years to find a job, so I ended up selling investments to live.

7:19 a.m. — I finish off.. hopefully.. the last day I am doing this, going through my files, upgrading everything, and backing it up. It has been a LONG PROCESS with a lot of downloading, snapping at family members and cursing internet sites that are giving the same information over and over again without anything extra for the issues I was having (couldn’t reformat hard drive, couldn’t get a new recovery key as it no longer exists, etc)

9:17 a.m. — I am definitely in the Marry Me range. My partner is one lucky SOB.

But I will pass on this guy…

10:03 a.m. — Whoa the morning passed quick, updating this stuff. Little Bun coloured, did some math, and then ran off to stack stickers together to make a “counter” to play Snakes and Ladders with.

10:08 a.m. — My heart sinks into my chest. Did I forget… to backup all my company books? .…. I spend the morning frantically trying to salvage a copy. Turns out my virtual machine that runs Windows so I can run Quickbooks, doesn’t play well with any Mac upgrades so … it sort of just.. went all wonky on me. I am sweating bullets. I want to throw up.

1:51 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap and while he’s down, I realize… I give myself so little credit. I am seriously organized. OF COURSE I BLOODY TOOK A BACKUP OF MY COMPANY BOOKS BEFORE I DID ANYTHING. *sigh* EVERYTHING TURNED OUT FINE. I was panicking for 4 hours for nothing. I should really trust myself more. And be more careful…. I am so relieved I want to cry.

2:08 p.m. — As a treat, I decide to back up everything thrice, take company book copies again with extensive notes, and continue with my intensive backup routine. This is really time intensive.. no wonder I didn’t start this until I was isolated.

2:51 p.m. — I finish watching James May – Our Man in Japan.. he is an excellent host. I’d watch anything by him.

3:31 p.m. — I start on The New Yorker Presents. Little Bun is still sleeping. I am also torturing myself with food shows and videos because I cannot leave. *sigh* I watch episode 5 – Food…. all about fried chicken *drool*

 

4:25 p.m. — Little Bun up from his nap, we play a made up game where we call out numbers for the dice and he uses a counter he built out of stacking stickers to play.

5:42 p.m. — I feed him stew, and then make myself dinner. I am almost done backing up and upgrading everything and now the data purge / organization phase II can begin.

6:12 p.m. — By the way, if you want an amazing work tote, I have tried designer totes (lots of them from Cole Haan to YSL, to Prada), and the one that is the LIGHTEST and easiest to clean, plus MOST organized hands down is the Dagne Dover Tote.

Just check it out – it is organized AF inside and because it is coated canvas, not leather, it is super light to carry, all things considered. Feels like Saffiano leather too. *shrug* And for a fraction of the price.

It even LOOKS Like the tote!

They also have the incredible Allyn Tote that looks a little more casual, less stiff, and is just as organized.

I also secretly want the Simone Satchel if I am to be honest, this crossbody is BEAUTIFUL…. and look how much the crossbody can hold inside, even a laptop!

6:45 p.m. — I do all of the pots, pans, dishes, and wipe it all down and put it away.

7:20 p.m. — I am almost done backing up all my laptops. Just a few more to go and I can breathe easy.

7:20 p.m. — We do glossary definitions and here they are….

• Banana: A long yellow fruit with a peel. and gets spots when you leave it lying around too long.
• Carrot: An orange vegetable that’s orange that rabbits like a lot
• Doughnut: A circle of dough around a hole
• Hotdog: Meat shaped like a tube that you put mustard on
• Lemon: A sour yellow fruit that’s the shape of a football

I mean, they’re pretty accurate.

7:57 p.m. — I eat my rice pudding cup (homemade, stored in glass and eaten during the week), and then cue him for bedtime. Also, this hamster made me smile.

8:22 p.m. — He has been SO RESISTANT to reading in his second language with Daddy. It is frustrating….

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up, Little Bun is giving me attitude – he is sick, he is tired…

6:00 a.m. — I snuggle him but he is just very grumpy right now. I am grumpy too.

7:59 a.m. — I make a tea, put away dishes, and my partner cooks, making smoothies and cooking pasta for the week. The days are blurring together. He normally cooks on Sundays, so to have him cook in the middle of the week throws me off.

I take a bowl of fresh oatmeal and add honey to it as a treat. I don’t like cold oatmeal, but hot and fresh? YES.

10:08 a.m. — I order another month of birth control pills, and they deliver it the same day from the pharmacy; I want to be sure I don’t run out because the hormone depletion drop would completely wreck my skin again. I cannot have another stressor of having breakouts and terrible skin, or hormone drops again. $15.30

12:08 p.m. — I call down and ask if the front desk will take packages and deliver them for us to the Canada Post so that we don’t need to leave our homes. They’re unhelpful. I should send an email and propose or ask for this service to be implemented temporarily for us.

2:35 p.m. — I see this and smile. I like numbers that match up. 7777. 8888. Soon, when it is 9999 I will be very happy as I will then have Swipe Up on my Stories which is SO MUCH EASIER for people to read what I am talking about with external links, etc. Every follower counts and it has been a hard slog lately ever since the virus hit. I was on a good path but then it just crashed. Maybe 1 follower on average a day, and it is like this everywhere – this blog.. all traffic is understandably, down.

5:28 p.m. — I make noodles to eat. I feel like my diet is suffering because I miss being able to eat curries, and interesting foods because I can’t go out and just get ONE meal of it. I miss it. I crave the taste of a sour, hot curry so much right now.

6:10 p.m. — “Mommy, Saturn is made up of COW BURPS!!“…. and he’s not wrong. Cows burp methane gas, and Saturn is full of it. He is adorably cute. I mean *snuggle*….

8:40 a.m. — I LOVE THIS. I should have done this when I was in teleconference calls:

9:17 p.m. — We finally get around to going to sleep. This is super late because I am stressed right now. I am about to burst into tears from just the overwhelming amount of information about the virus, the vaccine (is there even going to be one?) and it is all swimming around in my head, making me slide into melancholy.

Spent: $15.30

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I’m tired.

5:01 a.m. — I wake up and grab his milk, and he is grumpy because he woke up early and not only that, he is sick as well. HOW!? I HAVE NO IDEA. We haven’t left the house for a month, how can he be sick with anything?

7:59 a.m. — I finish backing up everything, and I clean up my laptop / desk area.

8:08 a.m. —  We play games in the bedroom – Stuffie Nursery (diapers, feeding, burping), and then we read a Space Book together to his Stuffies who are very excited about planets.. and then he watches videos because I am tired and I want to cry, but am holding it in.

10:50 a.m. — I’m getting stressed. Will we make it through this? I am really not …. feeling like we will as a race. I’m trying to keep a lid on it and not burst into tears.

11:27 a.m. — So fluffy and zen. I need to be this fluffy, zen, Tibetan Pallas Cat…

12:08 p.m. — My partner comes home from running errands. It was a 45-minute wait outside of the grocery store as they were letting in ONE PERSON at a time.

6:28 p.m. — I do all the dishes, and make noodles. I’m sort of getting depressed because I feel like I can’t see an end in sight for this virus.

7:56 p.m. — Little Bun reads with his father. I try to focus on cleaning up my data on my iPhone, and then we’ll go brush our teeth, wash our faces and get ready for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I lie in bed, quietly stressing out about the world and this virus. What if we don’t find a vaccine? We haven’t found one for the common cold, flu.. or even HIV. What if this is our new reality? What if this is us forever? I want to burst into tears.

??:?? — I hear a bird chirping.. and it is storming like crazy outside. It sounds like a very stupid, cliche metaphor – oh it’s storming, representing the turmoil the world is in… but this little bird’s chirping right at this moment, clear and hopeful sort of gives me some sort of solace. There is still hope. In science, I don’t even know what that will bring, this hope.. but there is hope.

5:31 a.m. — Little Bun gets up and checks the clock, then runs back. He doesn’t seem grumpy.

6:50 a.m. — I continue backing up my files and moving things around. I have to reorganize all my data, and keep my laptops as clean as possible with as little data as possible – only the essentials, with the rest being copied off and stored elsewhere so my computer isn’t so slow. This is my messy desk situation:

8:08 a.m. — I watch “Making the Cut“. This show is awful, but I do like Paris, and I do like fashion, and Tim Gunn… so you’d think I’d love this show but it has no … pop. No pizazz, or interest. It’s quite frankly, boring, and very stilted, with these staged little videos of Heidi and Tim Gunn running around Paris. It’s terrible.

I watch it anyway because I need normalcy, and I really like this designer Esther Perbandt from Germany, who makes very interesting, unisex clothing. The only downside is she does it all IN BLACK, which is not my favourite. If she did jewel tones, I’d be much happier and probably more likely to buy something in the future, if we are ever allowed out in the air again.

12:08 p.m. — Lunch of fries and carrots.. so weird.

1:09 p.m. — Little Bun goes for his nap.

2:49 p.m. — I hear crying. He is just so grumpy today, I’m really tired and mentally losing it.

3:51 p.m. — I miss a call, so I take it in the bedroom because it is loud in the living room, and as I go into the bedroom, he starts crying, screaming and hitting the door. WHAT THE F#%*@… It’s just ONE CALL for THREE MINUTES and he is losing it.

4:30 p.m. — Little Bun turns into a monster. He just is RUDE. RUDE, and we confiscate the laptop for the whole day which makes him even more upset and angrier, and I threaten to take it away for the WEEK. He stops screaming and I glare at him.

4:45 p.m. — Finally calm, still crying, STILL TALKING ABOUT HOW UNFAIR IT IS and how angry it makes him for me to take away the laptop – and I say: I KNOW. That was the point because you’re acting terribly rude.

5:07 p.m. — I make noodles to eat after he eats his meal, and has his rice pudding.

5:26 p.m. — Why is there so much oil on my chin? I wipe my chin and it is like I dipped my chin in OIL.

5:40 p.m. — I wash up all the dishes and leave them to dry. I leave Little Bun to play by himself in the bedroom. I need a break from him, I am going to lose it.

6:28 p.m. — Little Bun reading a title: “Nice girls don’t get rich.“… and I tell him, “That’s true.“… and he says: “Only bad girls get rich.“… I tell him: “Just like Mommy.”

7:54 p.m. — I cue him for bedtime. I am very very very tired. Mentally.

8:07 p.m. — Time for bed after we sing How much is that doggie in the window and We’re going on a bear hunt.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — WHAT THE F@*%&%… neighbour upstairs is screaming in French, having a fight on the phone or with someone.. sounds like on the phone. She’s losing her crap. It wakes me up and I can’t go back to sleep.

??:?? — Little Bun wakes up, tired, grumpy, a bit sick… wtf. FML.

7:11 a.m. — I am up. I make tea. I need a relaxed morning today and I am trying not to absorb any media on this virus, it is making me extremely stressed especially hearing how the Americans are pirating all the masks and refusing to send orders from Canada up to us on Trump’s orders. This is stressful and truly a global war of commerce in a sense.

No one is going to forget this action. I know not all Americans feel like this, but this is just .. despicable.

7:50 a.m. — I make a cup of tea and try to calm down, and I get this nasty comment from a jackass on Instagram:

I hope everyone who is a jackass, feels better for picking on other people and lashing out.

9:40 a.m. — My partner makes crepes with maple syrup for lunch.

12:08 p.m. — Little Bun goes to watch his videos (he got the laptop back but I have to threaten to take it away again if he doesn’t behave), which make him happy. He has been holding up well in this whole situation because he has videos, food, Mommy 24/7 and is a pretty easygoing child for the most part.

2:16 p.m. — You all need to watch this video on this Dragon Blood Tree. It is beautiful, otherworldly, and the INSIDE BARK HAS RED RESIN LIKE BLOOD. It is so cool.

 

Video here:

4:10 p.m. — Little Bun is rude and belligerent and I tell him — watch it. Laptop privileges could be gone for today again. He stops acting up.

4:21 p.m. — Apparently castor oil will be the cheapest way to get your eyelashes to grow. Who knew? I saw Adina used it on Instagram and I am amazed – it does look like they’ve grown!!!!! Proof is in the pudding.

5:18 p.m. — I make a light dinner for myself taking the quinoa, beets, and rolling it up into seaweed into sushi, with a sauce out of sesame oil and soy. It tasted pretty good actually, and sort of changed up my meals a little:

5:50 p.m. — I do all the dishes and wipe up.

6:25 p.m. — Trevor Noah is pure gold. I love this bit he has about his favourite toy to the first joke he ever heard. I love his anecdotes!!

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8:18 p.m. — Time for bed – I cue him for brushing his teeth, and then we watch videos until it was time to sleep.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — Screaming. He is screaming like crazy and I don’t even know why. I twist him back into his area, and tuck him in again. This screaming during the night is disturbing my sleep.

6:00 a.m. — I wake up somewhat rested because Little Bun “slept” in, so I feel better but I am still tired.

7:59 a.m. — I make and drink very slowly, some matcha tea latte. This is my highlight of the morning, quiet, this tea, no squealing and enjoying the taste.

8:08 a.m. — My partner is up to cook for the week and since everything he bought needs to be disinfected, he basically confines us to the bedroom while he cooks. I have to entertain Little Bun for 4 hours.

10:08 a.m. — We watch videos but he gets bored, so we play together.. and my pressure headache from the rain is getting so bad that I cannot concentrate. I plead for him to read a book, and he gamely picks out books with flaps and goes through “Usborne Computers and Coding” with a calculator on his iPad.

10:50 a.m. — He starts grumbling for food. I tell him we have to stay in here while Daddy cooks and then completely disinfects the kitchen and washes everything so that we are sure the virus is not around. He looks at me miserably. I tell him how his grandmother used to go for days without eating, and this is a blessing that we DO have food, we just need to wait. I explain to him how hungry she was, how she had to climb trees to get fruit to survive, and how getting one egg to eat when the hunger was unbearable made her day.

12:10 p.m. — He is being very good and patient. I tell him to stay calm and hold off the hunger for a few more hours, we can do it together.

1:30 p.m. — Lunchtime. I am getting sick of this food and I tell my partner to start buying raw food and cooking something else because I am feeling sick of this SAME MEAL for the past 4 weeks. He gives me some lecture about how we will be happy to eat this meal once all the stores of food disappear due to supply chains, and I really don’t want to hear it because there IS still OTHER types of food in the stores, including frozen, seafood and meats and FRANKLY… WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO EAT DIFFERENTLY NOW.

2:03 p.m. — Little Bun goes for his nap.

3:25 p.m. — This is the secret to wealth, folks. That’s all I can say – Increase income, decrease expenses. That’s it.

3:07 p.m. — I am watching The Chef Show (torturing myself) and lying down on the carpet. I have no energy.

5:28 p.m. — I do all the dishes and wipe everything up.

7:56 p.m. — This is so true. Inequality.

8:09 p.m. — I cannot even understand why Little Bun is losing it. I am helping him colour, and he just gets so ANGRY with me. It has nothing to do with the virus at all because he normally doesn’t go out anyway so he isn’t even asking to leave the apartment. He’s just being grumpy.

8:22 p.m. — Time for bed – he brushes his teeth, we watch videos. I basically conk out.

Spent: $0

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