Week of Money: Will be losing $15K due to a project shutdown

DAY ONE

??:?? — Bathroom run for Little Bun. He falls back to sleep instantly on my arm, rendering it numb and useless but I am afraid to move it as he will wake up and not want to sleep again, which will mean getting up at 4 a.m. ARRRRGH…

??:?? — ANOTHER RUN? .. I take him, and then he asks me: “Did we wake up at the right time Mommy?” .. I check and it is 5:55, almost 6. Good enough. I grab his milk.

6:15 a.m. — I am conked out beside him. Between battling the end of bronchitis and this cold, and not getting enough sleep, plus my body ACHING from yoga yesterday (in a good way), I am feeling a bit fatigued.

6:22 a.m. — He starts to log in to watch videos but then Daddy gets up and he looks at me distraught: NEXT TIME we should wake up at 5 a.m. so I have time to watch videos! … UH NO. I tell him that 6 a.m. is a good time, and we will watch videos later.

7:11 a.m. — “What time are we getting ready to go Mommy?” .. he is super excited to go to the French embassy. I guess to go anywhere with both parents. I tell him 7:30, and he waits patiently on my lap as we go through and make some Instagram backgrounds for my posts. He loves helping me in Photoshop.

8:01 a.m. — We are out the door. I am working on my phone while we are doing the visits, and still on conference calls.

8:59 a.m. — As per usual, NO parking downtown. We find a garage but end up going around in circles for 15 minutes before we just leave. It is simply easier to park downtown, and outside. I don’t even know why he was trying for a garage. What’s the point? We can just walk, it isn’t horribly cold or windy, not even slushy or snowing. Next time however, we are going to park somewhere farther, and just take the metro.

9:30 p.m. — The embassy takes my phone, keys, everything. Grr…I feel like I lost a limb.

10:33 p.m. — I take a call after the embassy visit, and we stop by the bakery for a little treat. I grab a little turmeric golden latte as well for myself.

10:45 p.m. — Little Bun is whining on the way back, little tiny Little Bun Whines. I sternly tell him: LITTLE BUN. This is “Going out”. If you want to go out, you need to stop your whining. What is going on!? YOU NEED TO SUCK IT UP and be QUIET. …. And he bleats back in a panic because he knows I am about to lose my patience: I am not whining!!! I AM SUCKING IT UP!!! THIS IS HOW I BREATHE! SEE??…..  Sure. Whatever. You breathe with little huffs and puffs like you’re about to fall down and lose it, when you were PERFECTLY FINE walking to the bakery before, but now after the croissant has disappeared, you’re “breathing” like this? I side eye him. He quiets his fake breathing and fake huffing and puffing.

11:04 a.m. — We say good bye to Daddy after the embassy visit for the card, and I leave and head home.

11:16 a.m. — I take a call in the car as we are going home.

1:18 p.m. — I set Little Bun up with videos, and he watches them, secretly hoping I won’t notice it is close to his nap time. I finally look up from my work, and hustle him down for a nap, but he squeals that he needs a lunch. OMG. I feed him some lunch (a small portion), and insist that he naps.

1:47 p.m. — I hear a knock from INSIDE the bedroom door. He knocks politely to let me know that he is up and wants something, and I go to him – Yes baby? … He wants the bathroom. I take him, and shuffle him back to the bedroom for a nap/quiet time, WHATEVER. I have calls!!!

3:54 p.m. — He’s sleeping, finally. He must have knocked off late, around 2-ish after horsing around in bed because he’s still not awake.

4:12 p.m. — I take a much needed warm shower, remove my makeup and curl my hair afterwards. My curls usually last the entire time until I wash my hair again, and look great without any hair products or styling sprays.

5:47 p.m. — My partner is home, and I end up playing games with Little Bun (treasure hunt again), reading books, letting him watch Tom and Jerry, and colouring on the iPad with him while my partner crams for exams.

6:30 p.m. — I feed Little Bun dinner, and then whisk him away to be quiet in the bedroom while my partner studies.

8:49 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — Feeling fatigued. I don’t pop a cold pill (cracked open another pack last night), because I feel like I don’t need it, but I do feel like I am dragging.

6:24 a.m. — WHAT? MY MEETING IS AT EIGHT?.. I quickly hustle. I get dressed, bark directions to my partner and Little Bun to get dressed, slap on a little makeup, grab my stuff, and we head out the door.

MM Lafleur Fey Top and MM Lafleur Soho Skirt (yes it is a two-piece! Extremely versatile) with Stuart Weitzman Lowland Black Suede Over-the-Knee Boots

7:33 a.m. — Okay, I can make it. I am leaving now. Then I get caught in traffic. Some HUGE ASS TRUCK is blocking the entire intersection.

7:58 a.m. — I am at work with NO TIME TO SPARE, and the morning is passing by so slowly. I groan, and the guys around me side eye me because THEY KNOW I hate being in the office. They’re joking with me now, asking me what the hell I am doing here because they never see me. I say I have to show my face once in a while or else people won’t know what they’re paying for LOL

10:01 a.m. — Meeeeeetings. ENDLESS MEETINGS.

11:29 a.m. — Time for yoga.

1:15 p.m. — The class is for beginners but it is SO GOOD for me. I can go slow, and I also really stretch in the poses to make sure that I progress in strength and flexibility. I do things like hold my knees off the ground while we are doing Cat and Cow poses, and I always get there early to pre-stretch and get in a short workout before class even begins.

1:28 p.m. — Lunch. I eat it while working. Then I go and brush my teeth and drop the toothbrush on the bathroom floor. WELL. THERE GOES THAT. I don’t brush my teeth but floss at least.

2:05 p.m. — A colleague jokes with me — isn’t this about the time you should have already gone by now? You usually leave at one, this is so late for you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is nice that we have more people sitting by us so we aren’t alone but….! I told him not to get used to it. LOL … I am only here because I am busy and concentrating on something I don’t want to leave until I get home to work on it. I want to finish it now.

4:33 p.m. — I go and grab Little Bun. He looks close to tears and says: YOU SAID FOUR THIRTY. IT IS FOUR THIRTY-THREE..… Three minutes O_o .. Kids are very literal and I know it upsets him so I try to remember to leave earlier so I am here right at 4:30 on the dot. He relies on it, like a beacon of hope…

4:59 p.m. — Home. We get undressed into house clothes, wash our hands with warm water and soap (this is our routine every time we come into the house – we clean ourselves up to be comfy), and I grab his milk, and log in to work a bit more.

5:21 p.m. — “Mommy I need to see the Weather. Look! Mexico City has unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups. And it is partly cloudy there today.“. He asks me who are sensitive groups and I explain babies, seniors, anyone with health issues and breathing issues.

6:18 p.m. — We do some math, and as I am reading the question, and ask him: Which one do you think you should circle? Multiply or Divide? … He looks up at me through his eyelashes and says sweetly: Well which one did YOU think I should circle? Multiply or Divide? … I choke back a laugh, he tried to play me!!! I tell him I am not the one who needs to learn this, and to not try and trick me.

8:55 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up tired as usual. I think winter just fatigues me.

7:34 a.m. — I get Little Bun dressed and pop him off to daycare. I LOVE having the free days at home by myself, no Little Bun, working. This is worth the $45/day price tag.

8:08 a.m. — I log in and start working.

12:03 p.m. — I break for lunch.

2:00 p.m. — OOoo! My yoga studio has a deal on for $25 for 5 classes. That’s about $5 a class, and cheaper than what I had intended on paying ($150 for the month)? I only go for two classes a week, so a pass would be very expensive for me and would be about $18.75 a class. I was thinking of buying 40 passes at $495 which would make it $12.37 per class, and a little more palatable. But that’s for next year. I do see the benefits of doing yoga twice a week however, because I feel the ache in my muscles, and I always push harder into variations not shown by the teacher, so I am feeling stronger and healthier. $28.75

3:40 p.m. — I send over an extra $500 to my personal lending account for businesses. I do it with Lending Loop and it is on auto-invest. I throw money in there, and when it dips low, I add $500 increments.

3:40 p.m. — I pick up Little Bun, and dress in a hodge podge outfit that I threw together and end up loving.

Complex Geometries Top, Aquazurra Belt for Target, Kit and Ace Boyfriend Blazer, Spanx Camo Leggings (Size up, they are TIGHT! I took a Medium)

4:56 p.m. — I feed Little Bun dinner. And then we play games. Lots of fun games. We play block games, games with boxes hiding treasures, treasure hunt, reading books, math, etc.

8:56 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $28.75

DAY FOUR

6:00 a.m. — I wake up, make tea, and waste no time in getting ready to go. I like working in a QUIET office. I hate going to the office because everyone is always talking and SO LOUD.

7:29 a.m. — At work.

8:08 a.m. — At work, a new friend/colleague who is in her 50s but has such a sweet soul, asks me if we can eat lunch together. I tell her I go to yoga normally, and then eat quite late, so it may not work out if she has lots of meetings. She says she’ll fly out tomorrow instead, so I invite her out for dinner. She lights up.

4:15 p.m. — I drop by a pop-up store just to browse while waiting for dinner. BIG MISTAKE. I find so many cute things….

Like these paperweights with flowers!

That said, these J Brand jeans that are waxed, are $319 but I bought mine secondhand for $50. *shrug* Secondhand always wins.

Ooooo I really love this gold box. But I know if the necklaces are at $300, this must be $1000 or something ridiculous. How pretty is it though?

4:37 p.m. — I end up finding two beautiful outfits I am coveting, but the skirt alone is $435 each, and the tops are $300, so these are $1600 outfits if I got both before taxes. NOPE. I calm myself down before I leave the store and walk away without buying them. If I bought them, I wouldn’t return them. See they’re cute and from a brand called Landscape that hasn’t even started selling yet – this is an exclusive.

The skirt has a draping on the side, fits like a second skin and a little curve UP on the hip that is an interesting visual touch.

 

4:47 p.m. — I get a call from my team lead, telling me that she knows freelancers hate to hear this, but the project wants to shut down for 3 weeks for the holidays to give everyone (read: the employees) a break. They can see they’re about to burn out, AND they are sort of running out of money, and are trying to cut down on costs (read: consultants). I tell her I am cool with the revenue loss (not really, but I have to be professional), and I tell her to make my deadlines however, I MAY have to work a bit during the holidays to respond to questions from our third-party suppliers. She says it is fine if it is urgent or critical but says to keep billing to a minimum. Heard.

4:49 p.m. — Guess I won’t be getting those outfits then! LOL… Not that I wanted to anyway because the price tag made me cry (that skirt is the cost of an already expensive dress), and honestly, if they were $200 I wouldn’t have said no, but not at $400.

5:30 p.m. — My friend arrives “late” at the restaurant but I tell her it isn’t a big deal. We said 5, but I am easy when I know she has work and lots of meetings, I just tell her to take a deep breath and calm down. Everything is cool. 🙂 She is extremely overwhelmed and stressed so I am trying to soothe her.

7:45 p.m. — We chat and chat and chat, and I even get her to try different dishes like miso black cod, and we talk SO MUCH!

8:16 p.m. — WHOA. So late. Eight already. She has an early flight and I don’t like to get him too late to Little Bun (he watches the clock, literally…) and we hug goodbye after paying. $72.46

8:22 p.m. — Home, Little Bun runs to the door almost in tears. “Mommy, you came home too late. It is too late!! I don’t like Mommy coming home too late.”  I try to soothe him… I distract him by playing our little hiding box game, and tell my partner ruefully that I will be losing $15K this and next month because of this massive shutdown for budget reasons. He see it as good and as bad — good in that we can now go out as a family to ride the train, go to the different malls to see their Christmasses, but bad in that I don’t get paid.

Spent: $72.46

DAY FIVE

??:?? — Little Bun wakes up feverish. He is SO HOT. I take him to the bathroom and he is at 38.7 degrees. I feed him medicine, and my partner gets up, annoyed because he thinks I am just giving him medicine unnecessarily. I cannot shake that feeling of despair when he was around 2 years old and he collapsed on the floor in a febrile seizure, so I’d rather take down his fever if it is reaching 39 rather than 40, than to chance it. At 40, he may already be seizing and I wouldn’t know it would I? I’d be SLEEPING. I ignore him. Little Bun takes the medicine in tiny, agonizing sips (10mL feels like forever). “Mommy it is sweet… but it doesn’t taste very good.” After he is done, I take him to get a cup of fresh milk to wash the taste away.

??:?? — I pat him back to sleep, his fever breaks I hope.

8:00 a.m. — WOW! WE SLEPT IN. I feel so .. refreshed. It is weird, I feel like I slept enough but obviously I am still tired because I am always tired.

8:10 a.m. — I cancel my yoga class for today. I may not go tomorrow either, but we will see, I really pushed hard on Sunday, so I want to give my body time to heal or risk pulling my calf muscle again. I log in to start working.

8:37 a.m. — Little Bun panics – Mommy, Mommy you’re going to be late. When are we leaving? When am I going to daycare? … I calm him down. I tell him today’s a special day because he is running a fever and sick, and Mommy is not going in to work, we are going to stay at home together and rest. I think this is very VERY endearing and a good sign that he is conscious of others’ needs and wants, and he knows I have to go to work, and wanted to hustle me along to get things moving. <3 He is growing up to be quite conscientious which is exactly what I wanted. I hug him tight.

9:04 a.m. — First  calls of the day. He eats a banana while I am on the call.

9:58 a.m. — Whoa. Lots of emails. I tackle each one.

11:26 a.m. — I feel like eating out again. I know I am nearing $900K net worth but you know, I am tired. And today is a special day at home with him, so why not try something new? I am thinking of tacos at this local family owned restaurant I love.

12:07 p.m. — I take him to eat tacos, and he tries the Al Pastor sandwich and eats the whole half of it (LOVING IT), and I take the steak and fresh cheese tacos. I should not be spending extra money really, but I like taking Little Bun out to try new foods. The owners are amazed at how much he ate and how much he loved it – coriander, cactus, it doesn’t matter, Little Bun is a GOOD EATER and I always try to expose him to various flavours. $32.46

2:08 p.m. — While he naps (I HOPE) I review my budget and amounts of income expected etc.

3:00 p.m. — Little Bun is up. On the dot, which means he didn’t nap at all. *sigh*

3:11 p.m. — I try to buy underwear online but the deals ALL EXCLUDE underwear. WTF. I only use sales for necessities. I have to think about what to do.

4:39 p.m. — I buy underwear, a huge order of these Commando cotton bikinis which are a cotton blend but mostly cotton (70%) – I prefer cotton because it feels better. I only buy nude underwear because that’s what works best under white and pretty much any colour, even black. I could have gotten something cheaper that wasn’t cotton but then I’d just be mad they feel weird and not as comfy on me.  $420.34

5:04 p.m. — My partner is home from school. It is raining like crazy, with snow planned for tomorrow.

6:15 p.m. — I feed Little Bun soup, and he is still feeling very sick, so we watch videos and cuddle together while I tell him stories about when he was a little baby, and the things he’d do.

7:50 p.m. — I start getting ready for bed, I am flagging. I am also coming off a bad cold, which Little Bun is starting.

9:08 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $452.80

DAY SIX

??:?? — It is early. He is burning up but I give him cold milk to see if it helps, so that the fever burns off the sickness. He has been spiking in fever the past few days..

4:48 a.m. — He won’t go back to sleep so I get up and he starts doing math problems, seeming to be perfectly fine, and in a good mood, albeit feverish.

6:05 a.m. — I can’t go in to work today. The roads are covered in thick ice, frozen from the rain the night before, and covered in a layer of snow. I cancel my yoga class.

6:10 a.m. — I am logged in and working early so I can stop working earlier. I am really dragging today. 4 a.m. wakeups are rough. Little Bun is watching videos and is quiet. That’s the time I am taking advantange of.

8:30 a.m. — Call number 1 of a billion today. I set Little Bun up with pasta and cheese so he keeps quiet.

9:17 a.m. — He loses his #@! sitting on my lap, he is holding buttons on the keyboard and it is messing up my email and typing. I get so angry, I am on a conference call and he is really giving me trouble. I basically put on shoes and leave to finish the call in the hallway while he is screaming bloody murder inside with my partner who is ignoring him. I am so frustrated – DO SOMETHING, I scream at my partner. He is also on edge too because he has exams next week and is studying frantically. NO EXCUSE. SO MAD. I only needed HALF AN HOUR of F#*@ING HELP.

9:42 a.m. — Little Bun is calm again, still running a low fever.

10:30 a.m. — I fall asleep for half an hour as a nap, I am really too tired to go on.

11:00 a.m. — My little alarm clock (Little Bun) wakes me up every 5-10 minutes, which helps me not fall into too deep of an REM sleep where I will wake up tired and disoriented. He does his job BEAUTIFULLY, waking me up every 10-15 minutes until I force myself awake.

11:59 a.m. — Lunch time. I work through lunch because I took a nap. LOL.

12:57 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap and pleads for a cuddle before he falls asleep. I oblige and ALMOST fall asleep in the darkened room beside him but manage to rouse myself and leave. That was a close call.

2:11 p.m. — I hear him wailing. He wakes up and I take him to the bathroom and pat him gently back to sleep.

2:38 p.m. — He is still sleeping. I am nervous he will have a seizure and I won’t be there to help, so I debate going in and just taking his temp, or just letting him sleep.

6:17 p.m. — I feed Little Bun some soup. Then I find my mother some perfect hospital-like heavy cotton flannel blankets… and order them for her.

9:30 p.m. — We just read books, have a low key evening and read books, then go to sleep. He is still burning up.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up tired. Again.

8:00 a.m. — I do laundry, and organize my closet for the morning.

11:32 a.m. — I head out after my partner is home and I want to head on over to a thrift shop to see if I can find more vintage pieces.

12:08 p.m. — But first, I go out for a quick lunch as a treat. Beyond Meat burger. It is DELICIOUS. $24

2:34 p.m. — I wander around, I don’t see anything, and then I go and wander around a bookstore, taking down names of some books I’d like to read, and touching everything.

3:50 p.m. — I head home, after getting through a knot of traffic.

6:15 p.m. — We have a dinner, Little Bun is very happy – he loves to eat! And I clean up.

8:58 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $24

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