Things Are Looking Up! How Much Did I Spend Last Week? Feb 13-19, 2023
…by "things", I do not mean my bank balance
Brandin got a job! I know I said he got a job last week, working part-time in a bakery, and he did – but since then he got a full-time job with health insurance and paid time off, the American Holy Grail and not always guaranteed. (Well, above a certain number of hours guarantees you health insurance but you are not always given paid vacation days because socialism is bad? Or something.)
Related: I’ve been working on a piece, ‘What’s Wrong with America?’, a piece I feel both under- and overqualified to write, and a piece that feels both too long and too short to exist on the internet.
Perhaps I could turn it into the family grimoire, starting with my sprawling stream-of-consciousness essay and allowing each member of the family to add to it on their 38th birthdays. A depressing (but creative, I like to think?!) idea.
This piece feels relevant to these current thoughts, or in particular this paragraph:
So why is American life so bleak? What happened? What went wrong, exactly, on the way to building a modern society? You see, it’s not just my random opinion. Every statistic imaginable shows it to us. Young people are in crisis, depression and suicide skyrocketing. Families can barely make ends meet. The shattering loss of confidence in institutions and trust in society and between people is all too real. American life really is bleak.
Anyway, all depressing thoughts of America and American life aside, Brandin has been offered a job, starting in the second week of March, and he is – we are – delighted, even as I try not to think about what life will look like towards the end of March, when he is working 40 hours a week and my parents are back in Ireland and I am working on several different projects while also looking after Atlas all day, every day, alone… *deep breaths, deep breaths*
WE’RE DELIGHTED.
Monday
My parents stayed over this weekend as we didn’t have the boys so they’re here this morning for breakfast – Brandin makes crepes, having got the idea, I think, from the confusing conversation had over dinner yesterday, in which no one was sure when Pancake Tuesday was, and instead of Googling it we just went back and forth with one another, deciding it was tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, then that it couldn’t be tomorrow and must be next week…
Anyway. Crepes for breakfast.
Beatrice and I record some podcast after breakfast while Brandin and my parents entertain Atlas with endless rewatches of Frozen and Moana (no one ever worried about inbreeding on that island, did they?) and we have a leftover combo for lunch of chicken with almonds Bea made and gave us over the weekend; zuppa toscana I had left over; the final half of Brandin’s most recent sourdough loaf and some salad bits I scrounge around for from the fridge.
I swear, my Mum is never more proud of me than when I am creating some semblance of a meal from bits and bobs that would otherwise go in the bin.
They head back to Bea’s around 3pm, offering to pick the boys up from school en route, and Brandin heads to pick our boys up from their mum’s.
I try to get my money diary finished and the podcast scheduled for Patreon (where the main episode is uploaded on Tuesdays, without any ads) and the main feed (Wednesdays, with ads!) before they get back.
Dinner is a kind of home-made hamburger helper Brandin whips up – I remember, fondly, the day when I declared I would never in my life eat hamburger helper, and yet… here I am.
We watch the second episode of The Last Of Us once the boys are asleep. I am dreading episode three – I’ve seen a lot of talk online about it being “harrowing” and “emotional” and I just know I’ll bawl.
Daily total: $0
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