Monday
Our childminding schedule is slightly reworked this week as I have a meeting with my lawyer tomorrow morning, so I’ve switched from a Monday and Wednesday babysitting schedule to Tuesday and Thursday. Meaning that today Atlas is with me playing in the garden and pushing cars around the house and generally prohibiting me from getting any work done, but being cute all the same.
When he goes down for his nap at around 1pm, I go into my bedroom-slash-office to get some work done. I truly hate having my office in the bedroom, but when we put the boys back into their own rooms it was a choice between putting my office – neat, white desk, a few decorative bits here and there – into the room, or putting Brandin’s enormous gaming desk, black, with two giant screens and God knows what else on the desk, in there, so I chose the lesser of two evils.
I’m working on some freelance bits, along with my money diary and the usual podcast admin / editing lark, but of course feel like I only got about five minutes’ worth of work done by the time Atlas wakes up… possibly compounded by the fact that I got totally distracted by the internet in general (read: Target).
My friend Ciara is coming to visit – all the way from Ireland! – this weekend, so this week feels a lot like a waiting period as I prepare for her arrival. One of the things I’m doing is getting together a little gift basket with some American things: M&Ms you can only get here (fudge brownie and peanut butter), pumpkin spice pop tarts, pumpkin spice coffee from Dunkin, a Milani lipstick (if you can get this in Ireland I do not wish to know) and a few other little bits, one of which was a little candle in a glass pumpkin holder (v “fall”-heavy, this basket), but it wasn’t in store the last time I checked so I go on to Target to order it for three-day delivery instead.
Of course, never in the history of the world has anyone ever ordered one thing from Target, so I also get some PJs for the baby, a pair of adorable corduroy dungarees (also for the baby), shampoo and conditioner for me, bin bags, an Essie nail polish, a pair of jeans and a pair of plain black cycling shorts I’ve decided will look very chic with an oversized shirt as autumn sets in… LOL. ($227.99)
I have succumbed to the lure of the fancy, plain white nappies: having heard ad after ad for Coterie diapers (take $10 off with this link!) on Stassi Schroeder’s (don’t judge me) podcast, I have decided to invest in an enormous box of nappies in the hopes that these nappies will… what, transform my life? Lead to my baby sleeping straight through each night? Turn into gold bars? I don’t know what I’m expecting but I’m expecting something big! ($72)
Brandin gets home with the boys around 5pm, with the news that football is cancelled – our eldest, William, has practice on Monday nights while Finn has his on Wednesdays – and I have to say William is deeee-lighted and the boys spend the evening cycling around the estate with their friends.
We have chicken nuggets and chips for dinner (I make the chips, Irish-style, which results in many questions – from the children – about why these “fries” are so thick, why do these fries taste like potato etc).
Daily total: $299.99
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