Holy Melatonin Gummies, Batman! | How Much Did I Spend Last Week? Jan 9-15, 2023

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do

I must confess, a great portion of my week was taken up with listening to Prince Harry’s Spare, a memoir about which there has been so much said and written that there is nothing of value I can add to the discourse.

WILL THAT STOP ME, THOUGH?! No!

Spare is a book about a very wealthy and privileged man who seems to be stuck at the maturity level of a teenager, and as such an awful lot of the book is dedicated to stories of his “todger” (I kid you not) and tales of his time in the army, the latter inexplicably ending up being more interesting than the former.

It is a tale of wealth and privilege and, in large parts, ignorance – at one stage, Haz (as he is affectionately known by his wife, Megz) is caught on camera describing a friend of his as “a Paki”. “It’s just what we said!” he protests. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way!”

Honestly, any small points of interest in the book have been covered by now – instead of buying it, listen to the Celebrity Memoir Book Club episode (linked below) about it – and, if you are truly intrigued by life in or adjacent to the royal family, I’d recommend reading Anne Glenconner’s Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown, which is actually interesting. (The audiobook is a particular treat thanks to Glenconner’s clipped upper-class British accent.)

Monday

Because I am an excellent supporter of writers, I pre-ordered Aubrey Gordon’s “You Just Need to Lose Weight” And 19 Other Myths About Fat People from Barnes & Noble a few months back, probably at precisely the moment I was told to, on the podcast Aubrey co-presents with Michael Hobbes, Maintenance Phase. (Five stars, everyone should be listening to it tbh.)

Today it’s finally out in the world and so I am billed and my book is on the way. ($17.07)

I’m excited to read it but also (see my Instagram story highlight “body talk” for more) feel as though I may need to wait a while to read it, perhaps until I am in a stronger place, mentally.

Anyway, I have a deadline looming today for a content piece that’s due tomorrow so when Brandin gets back from the gym at around 9.30am, I hand the babser over and head upstairs to my (our) office to work for a few hours.

For the moment I’m still working at his desk, so every time I’ve to go and get work done I’ve to remove his second screen, rearrange all the wires, find space for my keyboard and mouse etc… so I’m excited for the arrival of the new desk I ordered, which is due to get here on Wednesday and which will, I think, make a big difference to my working experience.

The office is almost all set up in what used to be Finn’s bedroom, and while we’re definitely having some storage / organisational issues in the boys’ shared bedroom (they have too much stuff! In my day etc…), I think it’s going pretty well so far?

I order myself a mouse mat from Amazon during a break from work ($13.99) – Brandin bought me a new Apple mouse as the trackpad I had wasn’t really cutting the mustard for audio editing, and now that I’m doing the edits on Not Without My Sister I need something a bit better – but I will end up returning it as it’s absolutely massive. Far be it from me to actually measure anything.

Brandin goes to pick the boys up from their mum’s at around 4.30pm and we have meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.

Remember what I said earlier about the new bedroom situation going well?! I LIED! Or maybe I just SPOKE TOO SOON! Either way, bedtime tonight is an unmitigated disaster that takes about two hours and a lot of threats – no Xbox, no remote-controlled boat (don’t ask), early bedtime tomorrow, no desserts… nothing works – before they finally fall asleep in a state of (I’m sure) bold exhaustion.

Daily total: $31.06