I'm Thinking About Christmas Already | How Much Did I Spend Last Week? July 31-Aug 6, 2023
I'm sorry – I don't know who I've become…
I have always been of the belief that Christmas doesn’t start until Halloween is over – and yet, this week, when I was browsing online, I started to think about my own festive shopping list. I think it might be because of the shock I got last year and the year before when totting up our present-buying total; this year, I’m determined not to do all of my most over-the-top spending in December, and spread the cost somewhat over the next few months.
So: if you, a friend of mine, end up receiving a Ciaté eyeshadow palette from me for Christmas, you never read this.
Monday
Monday has become the least productive day of the week, work-wise, as Atlas is at home with me and I’ve pretty much totally given up trying to get any work done during the day when it’s just me and him.
Even his afternoon nap, which used to be a glorious three hours – those were the days! – is now 90 minutes, on the advice of sleep therapist Avril Carr (night times are improving, so she might be on to something), so I usually spend that tidying up, making myself lunch and, of course, doing laundry.
(As an aside, a friend of mine told me, just this week, that she has a dedicated laundry day once a week. Once a week! I seem to put on a load of washing every other day at least, please assure me I’m not alone!)
Anyway, today we’re up at 7.30am (sleep therapist approved wake-up time, not my favourite) and we watch an hour or so of morning cartoons while I make coffee and tidy up the kitchen and let the dog out and so on. Then I make Atlas some toast with some strawberries and cheese and let him make a terrible mess of himself and the table. (It actually doesn’t matter if I’ve given him maple syrup or popcorn, he’ll manage to smear something across every surface he can touch.)
Once he’s done, I sit down to have some cereal, which he then comes over and pilfers, piece by piece, with an adorable wide-open mouth and a demanding, pointed finger.
Then we have a few hours of play time – we don’t usually go out the back garden in the morning because it’s in full sun and it’s too hot – and I try to read my book but it feels like any time he sees me sitting down he thinks it’s time to breastfeed and comes over to rummage around in my top, so I’m forced to stand up and potter around from room to room while he wreaks havoc on Bluey’s playhouse.
At 12.30pm, he goes down for his nap so I have leftovers for lunch and watch some Vanderpump Rules. It feels like it’s time to wake him up again in about 10 minutes.
In the afternoon, we go outside for a bit to water the plants, do some weeding, play in the sandpit, fill the paddling pool with water, play on the slide… honestly, this child wants for nothing.
When Brandin and the boys get home, I go up to the office to do some work – write my money diary, work on a freelance piece that’s due tomorrow, update our podcast patrons and let them know we’re taking this week off (it’s back-to-school week and it feels like we each have 10,000 things to do before the kids start), get back to some emails and, honestly, keep dealing with the mess that the distribution of my book seems to have turned into.
I also confirm my Ipsy order for the month (if you use this link to sign up I get a little kickback of $3.50 to spend on the site, lol), and make most of the selections for my box on the basis of what I could give people for Christmas… which makes me think that, once again, I maybe should just cancel my subscription. Am I living a sort of subscription-based Groundhog Day?! ($32.09)
Once it’s time for Brandin to go to bed, I give up on getting any more work done and head downstairs, have a cup of decaf and watch an hour of Vanderpump before I go to bed myself. Halfway through season six now… I can see the finish line…
Daily total: $32.09
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