Week of Money: Where my car gets smashed in the side

DAY ONE

8:00 a.m. — I get ready and get Little Bun dressed, fed, and we head off to daycare. Getting out of the car with piles of snow 6′ – 9′ tall, I parked too close to the snow (there is no other space on the road and I’d be blocking people!!), and Little Bun falls into the snowdrift. LOL… It is actually super funny but now he is soaking wet (his pants, I didn’t put snowpants on him to drop him off as we did not expect this.)

 

8:12 a.m. — I get him inside, he gets changed into dry pants by the worker as I leave and quickly rush to work.

8:28 a.m. — First, a stop for a chai latte…. WHAT?! NO CHAI LEFT? Ugh. I was really counting on this sweet spicy drink. I take a blooming tea latte instead. $4.96

9:00 a.m. — Second, work. I quickly rush in, and make it just in time for my 9 a.m. in-person 2-hour long meeting. We review in agonizing detail, the documents at hand. It has to be done.

10:30 a.m. — I head into my next meeting and literally my morning is a blur until lunch which I eat fish stew and some rice, then back to work.

11:16 a.m. — OK I cannot wear heels any more to the office. These stilettos are killing me… they’re cute, but I am used to short boots with block heels now like these Rag & Bone booties are my go-tos:

4:36 p.m. — Another 2 more meetings, lunch, nonsense, and I leave late to go grab Little Bun.

5:00 p.m. — Luckily he doesn’t ask to see my phone and doesn’t realize I am later than 16:30 and we head home. Daddy is already home, we get undressed from outside into inside clothes and “situated” as I call it, and then he has his milk.

5:08 p.m. — He makes a new Busy Worker Plan, and we start going through the steps. We vacuum first (again, moving blocks out of the way and carefully vacuuming all the floor – he points out parts I missed and helps me move the chairs to get to the areas to vacuum).

6:27 p.m. —Then, I do dishes as he RELUCTANTLY reads a book with Daddy. Then he happily watches some Baby Looney Tunes (he loves naughty, selfish Daffy the best LOL)… and I make some dinner, then feed him his.

7:13 p.m. — Next on our list, laundry and opening mail, both of which we do. He flips through my style book – 50 ways to wear denim, and makes very cute comments like: Oh this is so interesting! I love this page. This is very colourful. Mmm hmm. I liked this the best. This is a very good book. …. I guess he is getting started on fashion early.

7:49 p.m. — My laundry consists of yoga wear and I usually wrap up yoga pants with a top, roll it up so I can grab it easily and know there is a full outfit there.

8:34 p.m. —Then, last on his list was his “bonus mission”, and we help his stuffed animals get boosted into my hand and cuddled from the ledge. (??? Not sure what this game achieves.)

8:45 p.m. —I wash my face and lament over the breakout happening on my lower jawline, cheek and mouth. Little tiny, angry, painful red bumpy whiteheads all over the place. I know they are food & stress related, and probably hormonal as well. I ate so terribly a week or so ago because of all the stress that was happening with my car and ticket, and it doesn’t help, let’s put it that way. I just sigh and slather on benzoyl peroxide which seems to help.

9:11 p.m. —Then, I tell him I need a break (I do), and I read more Lone Wolf and Cub, then help him floss his teeth, he brushes it, and we tell another Flashlight story before bedtime.

Spent: $4.96

DAY TWO

??:?? — He is squealing, now pushing his legs into me.

??:?? — He is snoring. SO LOUD. Both of them actually. My partner is loud, he is loud.. SHUT UP.

5:40 a.m. — I am up early, so I wash my face, get dressed, have a hot cup of tea in sweet, sweet silence and relax. I am not working today, 20 hours remember? Today I am “off”.

6:30 a.m. — Off to yoga. There is SO MUCH SNOW everywhere I can’t even find parking, so I park 3 blocks away and trudge to class. Yoga was SO GOOD. I can now do the splits!!!! HUGE GOAL. <3 I wear my cosy shearling (I love it when it is cold AF so that I can wear such things):

9:21 a.m. — Home. It took so long to come home because of all the snow plows, tow trucks circling for cars to tow away so trucks can clear the snow, it is a complete nightmare. I get Little Bun dressed (he protested slightly). Just as he is dressed he perks up: Let’s do a Busy Worker Plan! .. OMG NOT NOW. I tell him I have an appointment at 10:30 and I cannot do the plan now.

9:27 a.m. — A lot of fast talking later, we head into the hallway after waiting an eternity for him to put on his coat, socks, and boots.

9:31 a.m. — Then I forget to play the Elevator Game. I only get the middle elevator, and if it comes up, I win. He gets the left and right elevators. I always lose 9 times out of 10. I forget it announce which elevator I am taking (again, I am only allowed the middle one), and he is near tears as we head into the elevator, in a complete panic. I tell him it doesn’t even matter because I ALWAYS get the middle elevator, so why should we have to announce it in the first place? This logic seems to stump him and he is quiet in the car, especially after I almost lose my patience and tell him: ENOUGH. In my firmest Mommy voice.

9:36 a.m. — On the way to daycare, I explain that Mommy is very grumpy from all the snow, and tired from not having slept well last night, and I am sorry I am getting grumpy at him and I acknowledge he is grumpy because we didn’t do the Busy Worker Plan in the morning before leaving, AND I didn’t play the Elevator Game, and I am sorry. I explain that we should do the Busy Worker Plan either after daycare or before the next day because I cannot rush in the morning like this, and I would have waited to do the plan but I had an appointment. He seems to understand and chooses to do the Busy Worker Plan the night before. Phew.

9:42 a.m. — Daycare, all smiles, I forget to ask about his wet pants I still haven’t recovered, and I head off to my massage appointment.

10:10 a.m. — She works my back and neck hard, and tells me it seems much better than even 2 weeks ago, but she still feels a knot. She tells me to see how it goes and come back in 2 weeks, or even a month would be fine. $80

11:37 a.m. — I head to treat myself to a vegan burger (been craving this thing all week). $10.90

12:00 p.m. — I then pick up two packs of raspberries ($4 a pack!!! I feel so rich now…) as a treat for us tonight, along with vegetables to add to my lunch. $25.98

1:26 p.m. — At home, I sneak a few emails in to work (okay, so 20 hours is flexible, meaning I work that in a week but not on any set days or times..).

1:26 p.m. — After working a bit, I make the vegetables (a sort of bruschetta with some yellow beets), and add it to my meals.

2:17 p.m. — I start a load of laundry, then take a shower and curl my hair in peace, while watching The Rachel Zoe Project.

3:09 p.m. — I do all the dishes, let them dry, then take a break and read a bit more of Lone Wolf and Cub before I head to go grab Little Bun.

4:02 p.m. — I park far far away because of the 9′ snow banks, and as I am loading him into the car, a woman drives by, stops, rolls down her window and is like: OMG. YOUR CAR… IS SO BEAUTIFUL.… and then asked me if it was expensive. I told her the price tag and she was amazed, but she was in love with the car.

4:17 p.m. — I grab Little Bun and play a game with him to guess what the treat is that he will get after dinner.

4:32 p.m. — He guesses raspberries after 8 tries, and is SO EXCITED (he never gets them, he knows they’re pricey).

5:00 p.m. — Home, we get “situated”, and he has his milk, then I feed him dinner, and he counts to 50 with his eyes closed while I prep the raspberries. He is so happy…

6:24 p.m. — I am trying SUPER HARD to conserve my data because I do not want to pay pricey overage charges at $10 per 100MB or something insane.

7:11 p.m. — I have 9GB but I use my phone SO MUCH for work, from dialling into calls over cellular data (I have to stop doing that), and hotspotting myself to work in the car.

7:43 p.m. — Little Bun writes out his Busy Worker Plan and does Laundry, but then gets distracted, plays some game with his blocks and “chasing the light” as he calls it, and then goes back to Laundry again. Takes forever at this rate.

8:11 p.m. — Daddy comes home, and then we just do our own thing (he plays with blocks) until it is time for bed. I tell him a Flashlight story, brush his teeth with him and then we snuggle up to sleep.

Spent: $116.88

DAY THREE

??:?? — SO MUCH SQUEALING.

??:?? — OW. Elbow in the eye. In MY eye.

5:26 a.m. — He’s up. I am up. I want to keep sleeping.

8:59 a.m. — I make a batch of Cashew Milk after I drop him at daycare.

9:16 a.m. — I work a little bit. Down to 20 hours this week so this is super flexible.

10:56 a.m. — I end up spending the morning after my work, shaving my sweaters with this Conair rechargeable fabric defuzzer.

11:40 a.m. — After defuzzing, I clean up some of my investing accounts. Turns out in Quebec, I cannot name any beneficiaries to my accounts except for my RESP because of Quebec law. I need to make a will stating this.

12:40 p.m. — I receive this little Foval 12V Inverter device that will help me work in the car anywhere and for longer. It is very cheap, and cost-efficient, and works perfectly fine. It is so I can plug in my laptop when the cafe is too full, or I have to pull over and work at the side of the road (safely parked), but my laptop is about to die, etc.  The ONLY thing is when it is plugged in, it makes a very odd humming high pitched whining sound that is kind of annoying. I won’t be using it often for that reason, but I will use it when I really need to, hence why it is there as an emergency (e.g. laptop about to die, need to work), not as a permanent solution to charge my laptop or to keep it running while I am working.

12:45 p.m. — I order this other one from Amazon to see if it is better (better rated, no whining noise – I already have that in a small child) – Bestek 300W 12V Inverter and I will return the one that is smallest and not as whiny.

Update: This Bestek inverter did not work. It didn’t send ANY power to my laptop adapter. So I am keeping the whiny, smaller little Foval 12V Inverter device inverter to charge my laptop in the car. It works BEAUTIFULLY.

1:08 p.m. — I stop and have my super yummy lunch. I have to make this more often.

3:17 p.m. — I eat another one of my lunches.

4:47 p.m. — I go and grab Little Bun.

5:28 p.m. — We play a few games, I snuggle him, and then I do dishes, make a meal for myself while he reads a book with Daddy and then watches videos.

6:15 p.m. — “MOMMYYYYY… I am NOT hiding anything behind my back *GIGGLE*”…. well. Obviously now he is so… he’s such a terrible liar. I try to figure out what it is and realize it is just a block. 🙂

6:46 p.m. — We vacuum the entire apartment, and he wants to help so he moves things out of the way and helps me ‘guide’ the vacuum to get all the dust bunnies. He is giggling thinking we are playing ‘tag’ with the dust bunnies and they go from one room to another. I get some dust on my leg and he squeals: MOMMY! A DUST BUNNY SAT ON YOU!

8:50 p.m. — Bedtime. I am tired and I want to go to yoga early tomorrow.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up.. tired.

8:56 a.m. — Yoga was SO GOOD. I am wearing this today:

10:26 a.m. — WTF. I come out and my car is completely bashed in the side… it must have been a parked hit and run. Sigh. WHY CAN I NOT CATCH A BREAK.

11:48 a.m. — I drive to a cafe to work and I pick up a free Venti Starbucks and use my 150 stars. I call a few body shops and end up going to visit one for a quote. $4.97

12:56 p.m. — I drop by the police station for a report but they no longer do reports without a witness. Well that was a waste of $1 in parking… $1

1:13 p.m. — I AM DESPERATE FOR A WASHROOM RIGHT NOW. That Venti is SERIOUSLY BIG. I have never been so happy to see this sign in my life:

2:15 p.m. — I sit in the car and call Claims, and start the proceedings. Looks like $3000 for the fix, but $0 deductible, so .. there’s that. I am not even mad, I am resigned and annoyed at this new hassle of administrative work. I just take a deep breath.

3:21 p.m. — Home, I eat my lunch. They made pizza for me, and Little Bun left me a note that says: Please don’t put toys there. You should clean up the toys.

LOL!!!

If he thinks I am going to clean up THIS mess, that I didn’t make, this child has another thing coming:

I finally corner my little animal, and get him to clean up this mess by helping a tiny bit and explaining how it is nice to have a clean home. I had to leave his blocks on the other carpet in the top right alone because “It’s a work in progress Mommy. I am still working on it.”

4:41 p.m. — I am talking to my partner who is explaining something about Einstein, and Little Bun gets frustrated and impatient waiting for Mommy Time, and just starts to lose it – throwing boxes across the floor and blocks, and harrumphing in the corner, like a little feisty bull. My partner scolds him and warns him to behave or there won’t be yummy food tomorrow and then……

4:43 p.m. — He just loses his S#%* in my ears. EAR SPLITTING SHRIEKS. He is shrieking and my ears are in literal pain, from the ringing from the screaming.

4:45 p.m. — I manage to get him to stop screaming and I am talking calmly to him and hugging him tight. My partner comes in and getting angrier, rescinds the laptop and iPad privileges for the night. Commence MORE SCREAMING. My ears are SERIOUSLY IN PAIN NOW. My eardrums are ringing hard.

4:57 p.m. — I calm him down again and I very calmly explain and ask him what happened. Eventually it is as I had thought — he wanted my attention and talking to Daddy for 15 minutes was more than he could bear. Even though I am with him ALL THE TIME. I explain to him that there is only ONE Mommy not TWO Mommies and everyone has to share. In fact, Mommy also needs Mommy, so there aren’t THREE Mommies to go around. He has to share, I need time to myself and just like how Little Bun wants Mommy, Daddy wants to talk to Mommy too.

5:23 p.m. — He is calm and thoughtful now, thinking about what I said — I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR NOT LOSING MY #*%@.. I just hold and kiss him and rub his back and repeat how there is only ONE Mommy to go around.

6:12 p.m. — I feed him his soup as he clings to me like a koala.

6:48 p.m. — No laptop as a babysitter. *sigh* I break out the 2019 Tax Guide that was mailed to me (I totally did not request it, they mailed it to me assuming I would want it because I file by paper as I am unable to do it electronically). I make a game out of it, and go through line by line, reading the tax credits and so on, and I make notes to myself about what lines should be filled out when I do the software for it next month after all my slips are finally in.

7:50 p.m. — We spend the next hour or so going through the tax guide, with him crossing things out, circling what is important (dividends) and then he runs back and forth and grabs crayons to colour the guide. He presents it to me and says: Here you go Mommy, all finished and ready for your taxes!

8:13 p.m. — I snuggle with him, and we brush our teeth, then start slowly getting ready for bed. We do a flashlight explanation of how tartar on teeth and bacteria builds up, what dentists do to clean it, and then I tell him an Animal Flashlight story (a bunny who likes to eat too many carrots..)

8:39 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $5.97

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up tired. Lots of just.. feeling like I am in a rut. And I don’t even know why. My life is near perfection, things are going great, but I just feel .. empty.

6:00 a.m. —  I clean up and organize myself, I have to run a few errands today.

8:11 a.m. — I head out to pick up his Valentine from daycare (he asked).

8:41 a.m. — I also drop by and pick up contact lens solution. OMG! IT IS ON SALE! I stock up on it for the next year and a half, and take the latest expiry dates (yes I went through every box on the shelf)…$126.42

9:22 a.m. — First call of the day that goes WAY OVER because they’re all panicking the eff out right now. I don’t see how this project is going to be realized for spring.

10:40 a.m. — Finally off my call, I am driving and I head to a Starbucks to hang out and breathe. $4.97

11:05 a.m. — Another call. While on it, I lust over this Reiss Lorna knit sweater top that is SO MY STYLE...

11:14 a.m. — I pick up a box of strawberries as a Valentine’s treat for Little Bun. I was going to get raspberries but they were sold out. Buying this kind of fruit and berries, makes me feel so rich AF. I could never imagine feeling okay with $3 for a few strawberries but I feel like I am in a good position now to be able to afford these and not feel like they’re wasteful…. $2.98

12:07 p.m. — Can I hold off for lunch and have it when I come home? Yes. I don’t want to spend more money.

1:28 p.m. — Last call of the day and it is a DOOZY. It ends up going WAY OVER and I AM STARVING. I just volunteer at the end to get it started because I am annoyed at how slow and unprofessional people are. Why am I doing YOUR JOB? YOU SHOULD DO YOUR JOB. I just want to get off the call so I agree to help.

3:41 p.m. — I stagger into the home, COMPLETELY STARVING. I only had a matcha tea in the morning, a chai latte and THAT WAS IT. I am STARVING. I have been running errands and working non-stop all day and afternoon that I completely did not have time to eat, and refused to buy something outside because… BUDGET. I scarf down my lunch. I INHALE IT.

4:15 p.m. —”Mommy, Canadian Tire lives in Canada and American Tire is for North and South America...” LOL .. Canadian Tire is a general store here that sells home goods, housewares, automotive, etc. Like a Wal-Mart.

6:27 p.m. — I eat my French Fries, which by the way my partner would like to say he doesn’t agree with. “They aren’t even French, they’re Belgian!” But I eat them anyway because he makes THE BEST fries, even cold. Little Bun calls them Fried Potatoes and loves watching me eat them:

6:43 p.m. — I feed Little Bun stew while I eat my fries. He is clapping under the counter and when I ask what he is doing, he giggles and says: The dust bunnies are talking!!

7:24 p.m. — He watches some videos after reading a book with Daddy (new rule), and I organize all my receipts, back up my laptop, and he makes Valentines for us:

 

7:45 p.m. — I use my Poshmark credits and buy this polkadotted skirt for $35 but I paid. $0

8:18 p.m. — Time for bed. We brush our teeth, do a Flashlight game…

Spent: $134.37

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up tired. He slept well but he woke up EARLY. *sob*

6:10 a.m. — So tired. I make a tea, and then he hassles me to do the Busy Worker Plan because he wants to complete all the missions. He reminds me that we have to scrub the floor today and get rid of the sticky spots. The great thing about this Busy Worker Plan is he is kind of forcing me to do more housework and the house has NEVER been cleaner AND we get to spend time together… win win I say.

7:59 a.m. — My partner heads out, and I watch a few videos

9:58 a.m. — I feed him twice – banana, pasta, oatmeal.. and then my partner comes home and he has a croissant.

12:11 p.m. — After lunch, I head out. My partner is excited, apparently there is some sex scandal in France with a politician he gets to now follow. LOL… Wearing this today – fully secondhand. A bejewelled sweater with a little pouch in front, a little burgundy clutch, and secondhand bangles:

12:28 p.m. — I head over to a Starbucks and feeling a bit tired? Bored? I log in and start working on the blog, doing all the minor updates and notes I keep making during the week and never get done. $4.97

4:56 p.m. — WHOA. Time flew by. I head home.

5:52 p.m. — At home, we have a vegetarian dinner — eggs, salad, homemade bread, and Little Bun makes “burgers” out of everything (it is adorable) and even drinks (!!) the salad juices – he loves the sweet balsamic vinegar so much…

6:13 p.m. — I clean up, we play some apps on the iPad and then I do all the dishes, we vacuum and hang out.

7:51 p.m. — Little Bun tells me: Mommy I think I want to get ready for bed now. Let’s go brush my teeth. <3.. and I try to get Daddy to do it (I was only stepping in for the interim while he was sick) and Little Bun gets upset — I wanted YOU to floss my teeth!!! … Ugh.. and he gets upset when we don’t brush our teeth together in the bathroom. He is so close to me, it is scary yet also endearing. He wants me to do everything with him all the time.

8:22 p.m. — We do a few Flashlight stories about a bunny and a hedgehog (I make up these random stories with no real plot) and he spends the next 20 minutes recounting all the episodes of Baby Looney Tunes and what Baby Daffy and Baby Bugs Bunny does… he is very cute in his storytelling and I murmur encouraging noises as I slowly drift off to sleep.

Spent: $4.97

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up tired but when am I not tired?

7:22 a.m. — I leave for yoga after putting all the dishes away with Little Bun.

11:02 a.m. — I read this and almost vomited.

Are people this dumb? ARE THEY THAT STUPID AND LAZY to use paper plates at every meal because they’d rather spend time with their kids rather than doing the dishes? Don’t give me that load of crap.

You are flat out lazy if you do this. I don’t have a dishwasher, and I do them by hand – it doesn’t take more than 2-3 hours a week in total for 2 adults and a child. DO NOT GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE.

If you do this, you’re a wasteful idiot. I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

12:08 p.m. — Home, we have lunch – an omelette, salad and bread. Little Bun goes down for his nap after I do most of the dishes and relax with a cup of cashew milk.

2:58 p.m. — Fake nap. This kid hasn’t napped at all. When he is up, we do Thinkrolls Space together and he tells me: LOOK MOMMY! I am a GREAT saver. I am saving up all my hearts and stars so I can buy all the characters.

4:16 p.m. — I do the rest of the dishes, and then take a long shower after cutting my hair in the bathroom – I make two ponytail cuts and whatever happens happens. $0

5:47 p.m. — I lie down in the bedroom and doze off for half an hour.

6:28 p.m. — I grab the laundry, and as I dump it on the carpet for Little Bun to fold, he loses his #$*#@)… I am getting frustrated, angry and tired as well. I tell him if he doesn’t want to fold the laundry he doesn’t have to. I am getting even more irritated from the lack of sleep and general attitude of being TIRED and ANNOYED. Little Bun bursts into tears, and has a temper tantrum on the floor, while I ignore him and fold all the towels. He sobs: Mommy let’s do it together, teamwork ... and I ignore him because I am angry and I don’t want to work with him and this creates more of a screaming situation. I am not proud of this moment but my brain was just all fired up and red, and I was ANGRY.

6:35 p.m. —He gets put into the bedroom by my partner, where he throws another tantrum and goes into my closet, throwing everything on the floor and making a mess.

6:47 p.m. — I go into the bedroom and he is INCONSOLABLE. He keeps screaming that he wants to do the laundry, he wants to fold it all, he didn’t want me to fold it, and he screams it over and over again. I tell him it is DONE, I said NO and it isn’t happening today because I already did all the work and I am not going to UNDO IT FOR HIM. More screaming.

6:55 p.m. — Finally he calms down enough after I try to diffuse the situation by grabbing a flashlight and shining it on his chest to check his colours. I ask him if he is very red and black, lots of blue.. and he nods, he says all the colours and emotions are swirling inside him. I “check” it with the flashlight and agree. I may have caused this whole situation from the start by getting annoyed at him for not folding anything while I did the dishes, but I am very proud of myself for staying calm, talking calmly, and finding ways to diffuse the anger.

7:03 p.m. — I cuddle him close and he keeps sobbing that he wants to do all the folding of the laundry TODAY, not next time (like I am suggesting). Finally, I tell him – Mommy said no, it is a no. … and then he whispers out that he DID tell me that he wanted to do it as a team. It suddenly clicks that he is angry because he wanted to do the task together not that he is upset I am angry at him for not doing the towels at all. I immediately apologize and say: You’re right. Mommy heard you say that you wanted to do it as a team but Mommy was so angry that she ignored you and did it all by herself and didn’t listen. Is that why you are angry and upset?

7:06 p.m. — With that one sentence, he immediately calms down. He says it was exactly why he was angry. He TOLD ME he wanted to do it as a team, and I ignored him. I tell him that Mommy was wrong, and she shouldn’t have ignored you, but Mommy makes mistakes and was very angry when you said that so I didn’t want to be a team and I was wrong. Can you forgive me?

7:11 p.m. — He nods. Then I manage to tease him about the holes in his knees and ask him how he could possibly have TWO shorts on his legs – one for his thighs, a huge hole and another for his shins!? .. He bursts out laughing and the storm clears. He giggles like crazy, I keep playing and teasing him, and he smiles, and tells me: Mommy I am not angry any more, I am green and happy because you made me laugh and joked with me.

7:22 p.m. — I go to feed him his dinner – also keeping in mind he hasn’t napped AND is probably hungry. I am super super proud of myself for staying in control, staying calm, not losing it, and taking a break to let him scream while I gathered myself, and then diffused the situation by finding out exactly why he was upset – he wanted to be a team with me, I ignored him, and I didn’t listen.

7:57 p.m. — After dinner, I help floss his teeth, he brushes, and then we cuddle in bed as we do flashlight stories, and I tell him about stories about Mommy Baby (when I was younger).

8:40 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

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