Week of Money: Where it begins to get chilly

DAY ONE

??:?? — We wake up… LATE!?!? Well late for us. It’s almost 8.

8:03 a.m. — I am logged in and working.

11:59 a.m. — I do not know what it is about little boys and bodily functions … but he has been very keen to eat anything that will make him pass gas. He keeps telling me he wants EVERY FOOD that makes him fart. On the positive side, I have been able to stuff him full of brussel sprouts, quinoa, cauliflower… he even asked if tuna and cake made him fart (lol no chance), and he has been very excited to eat anything that would increase this capacity. WHAT IS IT WITH LITTLE BOYS AND BODILY FUNCTIONS. I have never remembered ever doing or talking about this as a little girl, but every little boy I have come across – this is their main focus at this age.

12:08 p.m. — While on a call, I pick up more of my favourite matcha (I just opened the last pack), a refill on my rosehip oil which I have been using as a facial moisturizer when my skin has needed it, and Susie Yi’s new book Cat & Cat Adventures: On the quest for snacks along with a new book for Little Bun – My First Quantum Physics book. $250.36

12:48 p.m. — I log in for another call.

2:10 p.m. — AH SHOOT I forgot to submit my hours. I quickly do my timesheet.

4:30 p.m. — I log off for the day.

5:27 p.m. — I do dishes, laundry, tidy up a little, and then I sit down and explain to Little Bun 3D shapes and how to help him count the edges, vertices and faces. He has to visualize it, I tell him, and I give him tricks on how to make sure he hasn’t missed an edge or a face. I wonder if I should come up with a Grade 1-2 test on various subjects and have him do the answers / time him to see how well he is doing. Or would that stress him out?

8:08 p.m. — I am going through something in my closet – picking out an item to wear for tomorrow, and Little Bun asks me how much it was. I said it was $361 dollars, and he pipes up: Oh that’s why it looks so good! …. haha! A little stylist in the making.

Spent: $250.36

DAY TWO

??:?? — We are still decently sleeping in, I am thrilled. It was also quite cold last night, so Little Bun woke up a bit cold, asking for his pink cashmere sweater – I have been repurposing my well-used cashmere pieces as nighttime cashmere wear, as not to get rid of them, as they are still good, but worn. He picked the magenta pink one as his sweater (his favourite colour) and always wants to wear it.

6:45 a.m. — I log in to work while I make a tea and wait for my PC to boot up. I am going to likely buy a desktop this time, at the end of the year rather than a laptop as I want to be able to upgrade the components as they wear out. My laptop USB hubs have both stopped getting enough power (no really, I had to buy cables to boost the power of them, ridiculous!!!!), and it is on its last legs, I really do need a new computer but I am LOATHE to buy a new laptop and have this happen again in 5 years. Desktop it is.

7:20 a.m. — I very much enjoyed this Guardian article: Want to Save the Earth? Then don’t buy that shiny new iPhone. I don’t buy things for having the newest technology. My iPhone is the XS Max ..11? I want to say? From 2017, and I only got it after I stopped using the iPhone 4 from 2010 and realized I needed a separate cellphone completely, not an iPod touch, so I bit the bullet, bought the best one there was, plus a 40GB cellphone plan, and I plan on using the phone until it conks out and can no longer turn on, even after repairs. THEN I may consider recycling it and buying a new one, but until then…

Also on that note – please recycle ALL batteries and electronics.

IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO RECYCLE ELECTRONICS AND BATTERIES.

It is dangerous just to toss them in the garbage, it can cause serious, long-burning, devastation electrical fires, and if the batteries are punctured, can explode in your face.

I cannot stress how important it is to NOT puncture your phone, electronics or items in an attempt to destroy them, nor how important it is to RECYCLE THEM. Please bring them in to a local e-waste recycler (there are tons out there) and they will take your item apart, recuperate the precious rare minerals inside that can be reused and we have a LIMITED amount of, and they will then resell those parts or fix it. If you are just going to toss it, then please recycle it.

8:08 a.m. — Calls all morning.

12:33 p.m. — Break for lunch, and I wonder what calls I have. OH! I have some time.

12:44 p.m. — I head out for a Wolfe Salad at Mandy’s. They are… seriously, the best salad bar in town. I get the mock chicken and egg addition with a drink. SO GOOD. And they even mix it well with the egg split throughout. $28.42

They even have a cookbook – Mandy’s Gourmet Salads, and I plan on buying it for sure. They are great recipes in there.

3:20 p.m. — Back home, STUFFED, I

3:20 p.m. — Time for a tea + book break.

5:20 p.m. — I log off for the day.

5:35 p.m. — Laundry, dishes, cleanup.

6:12 p.m. — Little Bun works on a crossword puzzle of his own, which I think is a little too advanced for him right now as he has to come up with hints but not ones that say what the word is!!!!

8:50 p.m. — We read from our math book about place values, and then bedtime. He likes reviewing what has been done in math, and I like re-teaching to him how they work because I am visual, and learning by looking at them makes the most sense. I teach him about dividing and multiplying by 10, visualizing the positive and negative number line in his head, and shifting numbers back and forth. I tell him how often I use this in real life, and how handy it is to be able to do this quickly.

We even act out the number line and placeholder values being shifted left and right. I think he is a kinetic learner as well, which means he likes learning with actions and movements, as many little children do.

9:30 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $28.42

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up with Little Bun snuggling into me.

6:03 a.m. — Log in, start working. The quiet time in the morning is perfect to get everything done.

7:40 a.m. — I do some yoga before my next call. Just a 5 minute routine. I am trying out Yoga with Adrienne but playing my own music over her voice:

8:30 a.m. — Little Bun has a meltdown. I am in the middle of a call and he is just… unable to let go of something we miscommunicated on. I think I used the term – vice versa – incorrectly then realized it after. He wouldn’t let it go, and kept harping on me about how it was making him confused, etc. I finally SNAP and lose it, and then my partner loses it too because we have been screaming at each other last night and today, and he is annoyed with all the noise.

I swoop Little Bun up, tell my manager I need some time, and take him to the bedroom. We talk about how there is an angry bug that starts and it feeds on our anger, and jumps from one person to another because it is contagious. When he gets angry and frustrated at me, I pick up on it, and I get angry and frustrated, then the angry bug between us gets fatter and fatter. This visual seems to help him a lot, and he start to make up stories about how the bug gets hungrier, we re-enact out how the angry bug grew in size, and the whole situation is somewhat resolved in the sense that I tell him I take responsibility for my reaction back at him, but he has to also take some too.

We both nod. I think I have noticed that when I do not get a break from him (he is literally my shadow, on me 24/7, even if I am reading a book, he wants to physically sit by me), and that irks me when it goes on for too long. Then I feel like this:

8:30 a.m. — To celebrate the death of the angry bug, we make a mug cake and stuff two marshmallow s’mores inside of it to melt. This is the kind of baking I enjoy.

12:08 p.m. — Break for lunch, he asks for more brussel sprouts because… he’s into producing as much gas as he can. I find out it is not to be mean but it is because it makes us laugh so hard (it’s so ridiculous), that he, being the little eager jokester, wants to make us both laugh really hard all the time, so he does it. I warn him that sometimes a joke can grow really old, and he has to do it gently, and not overplay his hand. He frowns, not quite getting the subtlety of what I am saying.

1:15 p.m. — Back into meetings. This time it is impromptu calls.

4:50 p.m. — I log off.

5:55 p.m. — Laundry, dishes, dinner. We pick a few basil leaves to eat with our pasta. He has been eating our dinners too, along with his, and we always set aside a small little bowl for him, or we eat together. Tonight he asks to eat the garlic pasta with cauliflower beside me, being fed like a baby, sharing my plate, and we cover the plate with lots of basil for extra oomph.

8:44 p.m. — WHO IS BUYING THIS SWEATER FULL OF HOLES I ASK YOU? For $60!?!? AND THIS IS NEW? I understand distressed JEANS, it is a specific look but a top!?…

Oh. I am in trouble now. I just discovered the perfect hat brand – Janessa Leone, and this white hat is calling my name.

8:44 p.m. — Time for bed after some more math. He tells me we use algebra in EVERYTHING and proceeds to ask me math questions, then says loudly at the end: YOU USED ALGEBRA!!!!!!!

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up with Little Bun quietly, and we go have a tea and watch the sunrise together. Just kidding. I am sitting there watching it on my own trying to have some peace in the morning to myself and he runs up to me loudly asking:

MOMMY WHAT ARE YOU DOING.

WHY DID YOU JUST SIT HERE WITHOUT ME.

WHY DID YOU NOT CALL ME OR TELL ME.

YOU MADE ME NOT KNOW WHERE YOU WERE.

I tell him SHHHH.. I wanted some quiet time to watch the sun rise.

Little Bun: OH. *waits for my sunrise watching to end, standing there staring at me*

Me: Okay, I am coming….

6:00 a.m. — I log in and work.

7:20 a.m. — I text my friend:

And this is why we are besties. We end up having a call mid-morning for her to show me what she got, and then I show her what I got, as she gets ready to go into the office. I am still work-from-home, but she is not, and relieved to be back! She likes going in and dressing up. I like the dressing up part, but I will not go in.

8:34 a.m. — Work!

12:08 p.m. — Lunch!

4:28 p.m. — No more work!

5:10 p.m. — Laundry! Dishes! Little Bun makes arts and crafts out of a toilet paper roll that he begged me to keep because he couldn’t understand why we were recycling them when he could clearly make lots of art out of them!!

6:34 p.m. — Dinner then I beg him to let me read my book in peace. He nods, and holds his hand out for my phone, and asks very sweetly: “Mommy may I please play Chess on Snapchat?” so he can go on SnapChat and play Chess with other players online. I pass it over and we sit companionably together in peace as he tries his best to beat people online who are apparently as bad at chess as he is (I include myself in this group by the way).

8:57 p.m. — Time for bed. He has classes with his father, and then it is brushing of the teeth, reading of the math book, talking into the night about Great and Not So Great Things Today, then bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

7:25 a.m. — On a call with a friend, Little Bun tells me he made the Ultimate Ice Cream Cake Creation, and insists I show my friend (his favourite auntie) with the following caveats:

“Please do not eat the gold coin or the crown, it is real gold and just there for decoration”

My friend asks what the red ice cream is with the black, he he announces it is Red Velvet Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips.

We remark that it would be crazy if he could create these things in an app and it would appear in real life for him to eat. HAHA

9:25 a.m. — As I am on calls, I also whisper-hiss to him: Do not forget to keep track of the time. You know how much you do not love to not finish your pages!

10:25 a.m. — AH A BREAK. I go and have a tea and read my book. Little Bun trails after me and lies there talking incessantly as I try to read the stories of Arsène Lupin, the show which I think is way better and love way more than the stories themselves, which seem like a pale imitation of Sherlock Holmes, if I am to be totally honest.

The show Lupin (Netflix) however is .. *chefs kiss*.. TOTALLY amazing. Engrossing from start to finish, EVEN IF you have a few discrepancies here and there you are questioning. You have to suspend a tiny bit of disbelief and just enjoy the beauty of the show. I am going to rewatch it again, I love it so much.

12:08 p.m. — I read The Depths of Animal Grief, and I am SO SAD we are so horrible to wonderful animals.

A researcher once played a recording of an elephant who had died. The sound was coming from a speaker hidden in a thicket. The family went wild calling, looking all around. The dead elephant’s daughter called for days afterward. The researchers never again did such a thing.

1:30 p.m. — TEA BREAK! This is why WFH is so great for me. I make a tea, I go and I read my book, I lie down, whatever. I do not need to worry about who is watching me read, and I can make my own tea without having it poached or grossed out by other people.

5:46 p.m. — Log off for the day. I am reading and scrolling on IG, and Little Bun is getting his daily colouring rewards. He seems to be very good at following charts, checking off lists, tasks, he enjoys having a plan and things to follow and he likes to complete them and make sure he does all of the things the task is asking for. I will have to use this if I want to get him (as he gets older) to do things. Make a chore list, or task list of some sort, or buy him a planner he can use to plan out his day. He reminds me so much of myself. I am the exact same way, and I was as a child too. I loved calendars, planners… all of it. I should get him one of his own.

7:25 p.m. — Dishes, laundry, dinner all done. Then bedtime. We just do nonsense before bead, like play Uno cards, read, clean up the bedroom, talk… draw things, tidy up our spaces…

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

7:25 a.m. — If you want books that kids and adults enjoy reading alike, I HIGHLY recommend this book: What’s the point of math? for your growing nerd (or for you!)

I am going to order the other one – What’s the point of science?, as well. These books are a lot of fun to read, interesting, and very well done.

If you want more books that are also cool, these 100 Things books are great. Little Bun loves his! My friend always buys the 100 Things books for him, and she got him the other ones in the series as upcoming presents.

8:08 a.m. — Reading his Highlights magazine, Little Bun embarks on fingerprinting exercises for the whole family. He fingerprints his father, then me, then all of his fingers:

12:08 p.m. — Lunch.

1:25 p.m. — Oh, I really like these looks. I want to recreate them from my wardrobe..

3:20 p.m. — I am researching different hat brands and so far I like:

• Goorin Bros. (pricey – handmade)
• Janessa Leone (celebrity choice, VERY pricey, handmade)
• Rag & Bone (pricey, made in the USA)
• Lack of Color ($100-ish)
• Wyeth ($100-ish)

I have been hankering after a really white hat for a long time kind of like these ones:

I am also really into all white outfits, so this one really spoke to me too from Cynthia Le. I now want a white leather skirt, but will settle for shopping my closet and wearing my white one.

7:25 p.m. — Laundry, a shower, time for bed.

8:25 p.m. — Oh and just in case anyone hates the new layout in Questrade like we all do.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up tired, but power through it after a cup of tea.

6:30 a.m. — I manage 15 minutes of yoga. HUGE success. I will be sore tomorrow so I will go easy, then back again into 15 minutes. After 2 weeks my muscles will be fine.

11:25 a.m. — Early lunch, then we head into the closet, and I pull out the acorns I collected, cleaned for Little Bun, and he wanted to use in upcycling. I think about painting mine all in gold and then making a necklace out of it!

1:15 p.m. — Naptime, our creations are drying.

3:25 p.m. — Up from his nap we go in to check on upcycling pieces until dinner time.

5:14 p.m. — Dinner over – we had a treat (we eat meat or seafood once a week for one meal not all the time as my partner is mostly vegetarian, if not vegan, as meat and dairy hurt his stomach), of langoustines and asparagus. I devoured the entire meal. LOVED IT.

8:24 p.m. — Time for bed after heading back into the closet to do more upcycling, cleaning…. I come up with some new outfit ideas as well.

Spent: $0

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