I am at home in Ireland, for a short visit. My parents had Covid a few weeks ago and that, combined with the fact that I am about to apply for my Green Card, made me want to take a quick trip home to see them (once I apply for the Green Card I won’t be able to re-enter the US if I leave, until it’s granted).
This money diary, from the week before I left, includes the panicked spending of a woman who realises she has a toothache and is still in a walking boot and has a dog in need of food… you know, the kind of panicking everyone does before they go on a trip. Right?!
Monday
Atlas is currently waking up at around 9am, which is amazing – I do not thrive when woken at 6am, let me tell you – but today I set my alarm for 7am and get up early to get some work done that I need to submit today. I get about 15 minutes done and then… he wakes up.
So I respond to desperate times in the predictable manner and stick on Baby Einstein and try to power through as much of my work as I can before nap time, when I can actually get some real work done.
He wakes around 2pm and we play a bit; I walk him over to the postbox (looking forward to being able to go for actual walks, especially as the weather is getting easier to deal with); then we read and listen to Enya. (I’m trying to educate him about his history.)
When the boys get back, tempers are high and one of them storms off to his room while the other throws himself on the couch and immediately starts complaining about having to do his homework.
Here, once more, I am reminded of how old I am, because his homework is literally to go over his spelling words, read for 20 minutes and spend 5 minutes on some maths app on his iPad. In my day, etc…
Dinner is chicken nuggets (from frozen because we are #classy) and soggy sweet potato fries in the air fryer. No, I have not yet mastered the air fryer.
Brandin is in charge of the chicken nuggets and cooks the entire bag of 40 nuggets. I imagine how horrified my Mum would be at this wastefulness. Those nuggets could have done three dinners, and so on. But here we are. One dinner and they’re gone.
Once the boys are down for bed, we watch the first episode of the new season of The Great British Baking Show. I know, I know – what is it that the Americans object to about the term “bake-off”?! I must know!
Daily total: $0
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