This is Not the Cookie You Were Looking For | How Much Did I Spend Last Week? Jan 2-8, 2023
Give me M&S or give me death…
I only made one definitive New Year’s resolution (mostly I was busy deciding to be nicer to myself) and it will surprise no one to learn that I have broken it already.
I had decided that I was going to give up on houseplants in 2023. Having killed more than my fair share – some of which are still in the slow process of decay, despite my best efforts to fertilise and water and move to brighter, and less bright, and more humid environs – it was time, I decided, to call it a day and take the stress of dead-and-dying-houseplants out of my life.
Then I spotted the peace lily of dreams at Walmart, hidden among the monstera plants and the fiddle-leaf figs (I have both of those, probably each at 50% strength right now). An enormous, dark green, leafy babe with not one, not two, but FOUR beautiful flowers! HOW COULD I RESIST?!
It’s not like the peace lily is particularly trendy – not like the pink princess philodendron currently wasting away in my bathroom – but this particular plant was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, and I thought to myself, sure, anyone can keep a peace lily alive.
Watch this space.
Monday
The boys aren’t back to school until Wednesday, and Brandin hasn’t got a new job yet, so it feels very much like the Christmas holidays are ongoing.
Except for the fact that I am back to work today and most displeased about it. (Next Christmas – consider yourselves forewarned – I will be taking a whole two weeks off and I will be making no apologies.) I have my money diary to write and some emails to get back to and some admin to do for my editor at Unbound, who’s sent me an author questionnaire to fill out and to whom I need to send the headshots Kasey took for me yesterday.
I first send a few to my sister, my friends Kirstie and Ciara and Liam, and to Brandin, to ask which ones I should send out of the dozen or so choices.
I receive this – from (of course) Liam – in return.
I drop over to Bea’s in the afternoon – she’s still off – for a cup of tea and to do some jigsawing, and I take her eldest, Nash, back with me. He’s having a sleepover with Finn, our eight-year-old, while William (10) is heading back to hers to hang out with the other boys.
So when I get home, I grab William and bring him back to Bea’s for his night of LOLs.
I am not a fan of sleepovers, generally speaking – they all get incredibly hyper and refuse to listen to any sort of direction and the following day is an absolute bust due to them being exhausted and cranky. But in the grand all-time sleepover rankings, this one is pretty tolerable.
The boys play Xbox and then watch some TV, we order Taj Mahal ($88.65) for dinner, and even though they’re up until around midnight (our boys’ usual bedtime is 8.30pm, for context), the threat of them waking the baby – “and if you wake him, I’ll be leaving him in here for you to deal with!” – is quite effective and they manage to keep their LOLing to a semi-reasonable decibel level.
It feels as though the gods are smiling on my 2023 already. (Okay, maybe more of a semi-smile. A benevolent glance. If it was a true gift, the kids would all be at a two-week sleepaway camp.)
Daily total: $88.65
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