How much do I charge? Do I charge for all the hours I'm there or just the waking hours of the children?
Last time I did overnight mom decided what to pay me. This time she wants me to come up with a price - and we'll come to a compromise if our amounts are off. Crap! This is the hardest thing in the world for me to do. I'd rather have a parent name a price and I'll comment if it's too high or low!
In other news, the A's won a game. And, the catcher hit a homerun. The first one since July 27, 2004 a span of 260 or so games and well over 700 at-bats. It was great! Sad news - our second baseman is out for six weeks with a broken thumb. That's no good!
31 May 2006
30 May 2006
Cruisin' along
Next week, I spend 7 days and nights with K and B. Their parents will be out of town (on a cruise, lucky people!) and I will have sole responsibility of the children for the entire week. Except K and B will still be in school, so they actually have places to be for chunks of the day (thank goodness, I think I will look forward to the break). So Monday I’ll spend time with H and S after dropping K off at school, Tuesday I’ll either be with H and S again, or with M if her mom ever emails me back, Wednesday will be a normal day – I’ll pick K up at 11:15 like always, probably after going to the third grade class that I volunteer in, Thursday should be a repeat of Tuesday, and the Friday will be K and me all day long. I am interested to see how it will go. I have had a lot of responsibility for kids before but never an entire week when parents will be more than 1,000 miles a way.
Thursday, I had to get a babysitter for the kids, as it is my brother’s graduation (my mom is super excited as she has been “attending” the schools around here for the last 12 years, 7 years at the high school – she’s ready to be done!). Which starts at seven, meaning it will not be over until 830 or 9. I would have brought the kids, but since bedtime is typically 730 or 8, and B has school the next day that would not have worked very well. Their mom found one of her friends to come watch the kids and take B to his baseball game, which is pretty awesome considering that most weeknights B gets a ride home with his coach because the game last too long for K to be out.
Tomorrow, I will get instructions for the week. I can’t imagine that there is much that I don’t already know. I made sure that mom leaves medical consent forms and a copy of the insurance card in case of emergency and I think she went by the hospital to fill out those forms as well. I am more concerned about having something go wrong and not being able to get the necessary care for the children than the daily routine kind of things. I’ve done overnights, I’ve done school drop off and pick up and I’ve done whole days. We should be fine – it’s just the worrier in me that makes me concerned that something will go wrong!
And to whomever found my site by searching dislike "bite my cookie" - if you're referring to the webpage, I happen to enjoy reading BiteMyCookie a lot, that's probably why she's linked in my sidebar as well as one of the bloglines that I subscribe to. For those who keep searching Nanny McPhee lesson plans (and there have been several since I mentioned it last), why do you need lessons plans for the movie? Are you seriously planning to use an entire movie in your classroom? Why not pick the books instead? In that case, try "Nurse Matilda lesson plans" I don't know if you'll find anything, but it's worth a shot!29 May 2006
Ducks, Bars and Snow
The kids made it out to see the ducks yesterday. It was really cute to watch K and B run around the backyard by the pond to look at the ducks. B was so determined that it could get one of the ducks out of the water so that he could catch it or that if he asked enough times I’d let him get in the canoe. Neither of which was happening. The canoe tends to float out in the middle all by itself, and the fountain was on and it wasn’t near warm enough for me to be willing to end up in the middle of the pond, or worse yet have to swim out to get a kid in a canoe. No way!
Amazingly we still have 11 ducks. Usually by now about half of them would be gone. There is one duckling who spends his time off away from the gang so it’s probably only a matter of time before he’s no longer around. The combination of two cats, one dog and various other wildlife (including coyotes) is dangerous for the babies. This mom has done a wonderful job keeping track of all of her children.
My parents went shopping yesterday and ended up with a Tiki bar. Seriously. And, then my father spent most of today hooking up speakers and stereo equipment (it’s amazing how many components we had kicking around) and has now moved on the painting the house. The house probably should have come first considering that it’s been in desperate need of improvement for a long time now. But instead, we had to play with 4 different sets of speakers trying to find the best sound.
The snowstorm that I mentioned a couple days ago left 5 inches of snow in the mountains in May. I’ve had it snow before this late in the year, but not often does it snow that much at this point. Last year it did snow a little bit after June 5th, I remember because it was the day after I went to a game and at that point it had snowed after every single outing that I’d made to baseball. It made me fearful of getting stuck over there in case of snow (something that didn’t actually happen until this year!).
Amazingly we still have 11 ducks. Usually by now about half of them would be gone. There is one duckling who spends his time off away from the gang so it’s probably only a matter of time before he’s no longer around. The combination of two cats, one dog and various other wildlife (including coyotes) is dangerous for the babies. This mom has done a wonderful job keeping track of all of her children.
My parents went shopping yesterday and ended up with a Tiki bar. Seriously. And, then my father spent most of today hooking up speakers and stereo equipment (it’s amazing how many components we had kicking around) and has now moved on the painting the house. The house probably should have come first considering that it’s been in desperate need of improvement for a long time now. But instead, we had to play with 4 different sets of speakers trying to find the best sound.
The snowstorm that I mentioned a couple days ago left 5 inches of snow in the mountains in May. I’ve had it snow before this late in the year, but not often does it snow that much at this point. Last year it did snow a little bit after June 5th, I remember because it was the day after I went to a game and at that point it had snowed after every single outing that I’d made to baseball. It made me fearful of getting stuck over there in case of snow (something that didn’t actually happen until this year!).
27 May 2006
Oh, thank goodness!
The A’s finally won a game today. The final score 6-3. The score when I turned on the game? 6-0, meaning the Rangers scored 3 runs immediately upon my turning on the game. I almost turned it off. And then I realize, forget it. I’ll watch and when the A’s lose again I’ll be just as frustrated as I was yesterday and the day before, and the six days before that. And then, the starting pitcher actually got out of the inning. And pitched two more. And threw 126 pitches, a career high. Meaning, next game should be interesting.
Four players had at least two hits each (including Dan, yay Betty!). Six different players scored a run. YAY! Things might be looking up a little. Especially when you consider that none of those runs came on a homerun. While homeruns are nice, it does not help when that is all you can do to score!
This is a list of injured players – two of them are ones who I enjoy watching a lot. One is one of the most friendly talkative guys on the entire team, who has remained in good spirits despite being on the disabled list forever. The others, I don’t have an opinion about, since this is their first (full) season with the A’s and I haven’t really had a chance to watch them play.
- J. Kennedy RP/SP
- J. Duchscherer RP May 7 15-day Right elbow tendinitis
- E. Loaiza SP
- R. Harden SP Apr 27 15-day Strained back muscle, out 3-6 weeks
- M. Bradley RF/CF
- J. Witasick RP
Three of them are close to getting back (we’re talking a week or two, which in the grand scheme of things shouldn’t be so bad). The others there is no timetable for their return. Meaning they could be out for a very long time. I just want some pitching back. Five of the six guys on this list are pitchers. The A’s have blown massive leads in the last couple days due to inadequate pitching, a coincidence? I think not!
Snow? in May?
It is snowing - did nobody get the memo that it's the end of May, the first weekend of summer to most people? This is crazy! And, my poor babies (of which there are still 12, wow!) are going to freeze as they run through the sprinklers! I'll probably post more later seeing as how we appear to be homebound (there is no way I'm driving in snow this weekend, too many out of towners who have no clue).
7 games in a row down - after leading last nights also. This sucks I want some pitching now! (Betty- he didn't even get to play, so no updates there - maybe today!)
7 games in a row down - after leading last nights also. This sucks I want some pitching now! (Betty- he didn't even get to play, so no updates there - maybe today!)
25 May 2006
Short post about ducks - and baseball
We have 12 baby ducks in my backyard today (I just counted and there are still twelve, amazingly). They are two days old, and were born next door because mama duck realised that my mom has collected every egg for the last two years (two springs ago we ended up with thirty-eight ducks, do you have any idea how loud 38 ducks are when they are yelling for food in the morning?). Yesterday, when I picked K up from school, I asked her to guess what I have at my house. Nonchalantly, K replied ‘ducks’ – apparently we’ve talked about the ducks too much! But, when I told her I had little baby ducks, she was much more enthusiastic. She told B about them when he got home, and her mom when she got home. I think they are going to come out this weekend and see, my mom commented that she’s never met their mom, which is interesting when you consider that just about every other family that I’ve ever taken care of, my mom has met and often spent a lot of time with. My mom has met both K and B, more than once I’ve stopped by her shop with the kids, but never once in 21 months has the opportunity arose for the moms to meet! However, that should change on Saturday!
In other news, what kind of baseball team loses 8-7, after having a 7-0 lead? I’ll tell you – my team! (Betty – Dan had an RBI single in all that mess, but it ended up not really mattering in the long run I suppose. Oh, and a couple nice plays at first, which definitely did matter in the grand scheme of things.) My boy lost the game, he needs to get back on track. In fact, they all need to get back on track. They’ve now lost 6 games in a row, and don’t have an off day for the next 10. This could get very ugly very fast.
In other news, what kind of baseball team loses 8-7, after having a 7-0 lead? I’ll tell you – my team! (Betty – Dan had an RBI single in all that mess, but it ended up not really mattering in the long run I suppose. Oh, and a couple nice plays at first, which definitely did matter in the grand scheme of things.) My boy lost the game, he needs to get back on track. In fact, they all need to get back on track. They’ve now lost 6 games in a row, and don’t have an off day for the next 10. This could get very ugly very fast.
Surprise!
I got a check in the mail from the family with the two young boys whose job I didn't take. I thought I'd be out the 5 hours of work, since they pay "biweekly" (which wouldn't have worked for me, sorry, I have bills in between those weeks!) and I only worked there one day, and there was no way I was going to their office. However, since they mailed it to my home address and not the post office box, I'm lucky I ever got it!
And since this is really short right now, let's discuss search terms:
And since this is really short right now, let's discuss search terms:
- babysitting game which use to be there on the old barbie.com <-- I don't know anything about that game, but it certainly doesn't exist any more.
- Nanny McPhee classroom lesson plans <-- can you believe that there are absolutely no lesson plans on the internet for that book. There are lesson plans for just about anything else. Oh wait, perhaps if you searched for Nurse Matilda classroom lesson plans you might have more success. After all, the name was changed for the movie which you probably shouldn't use in your classroom anyhow, I'm just saying!
- angela gaining weight <--so what if she is? And, Angela is a name, would it kill you to capitalize?
- story m/f boys babysitter OR nanny OR governess<-- no clue. I'm at a complete loss for words.
24 May 2006
Long days with G
Last Thursday (from 9-530) and Friday (from 7-7), as well as yesterday (from 1-6) I took care of a three-year-old boy, G, whose mom had to go out of town because her father is sick (that's 26 hours with the same kid in less than three days!). The mom got my number from the email that went out to sixty or so moms in our town. Interestingly enough, when I met the family I knew the mom and G from Kindermusik last semester with K. This made the whole process a lot easier for everyone involved I think. In addition, G has two older siblings who are 10 and 12, so he got to hang out with them once they got home from school in the afternoon. The days were long, but we had fun. Friday rained which kind of dampened spirits, but Thursday we went to the
I think that I am going to watch the kids while mom and dad go out of town for their anniversary next month. The 12-year-old (E, who has just started to babysit as long as mom and dad are not too far away!) and I know about this but none of the boys know anything - mom wants to surprise dad for their anniversary. We should have lots of fun - by then pools will be open, it will be a weekend and sports should be over which will free up lots of time for other activities.
Because I know that I have that lined up, the first week of June with K and B, and the entire month of July, along with the first two weeks of August lined up for housesitting, I am not too concerned about jobs right now. I wish that there was the right family for this summer, but I haven't got that feeling with anyone lately. Except of maybe G and his family - they are pretty awesome so if I can just fill in a couple of weekends here and there with them that would be great!
23 May 2006
I don't want to come up with a title right now
I did not end up taking that job that I had so many doubts about. It was not a good fit, and spending five hours with those kids just clarified it even more. Not to mention the really nice phone calls I got last week from the parents (what part of I need until Friday afternoon is so hard to understand? That means, I’ll get back to you when I know my schedule! I was honest with them about my other interview, apparently that was a bad idea because they would not leave me alone.) I also didn’t get the job with the twenty-month-old little girl, mom said that they decided a nanny was not right for them at this time, but I wonder if maybe I blew it at some point in the interview? It will all work out though – I will probably post another ad on craigslist and see what happens, plus H and S’s mom has friend with two little boys who may be looking for part-time help.
I spent 3 hours with H and S yesterday, at mom’s office/training center. When I meet them there, I am paid $3 more an hour because mom feels like it is a long way for me to go. In reality, it is in the same city where I go to school, and not that much farther than their house is, at least right now while the most convenient route is still closed. S slept for a while and we went outside but it was pretty nasty, windy and rainy so we did not spend much time outdoors. Plus, by the time S woke up there was not a lot of time before mom was going to be back from her meeting with a client. Luckily there is a lot of space to run around for H and S is getting really close to walking so he spends a lot of time scooting around or pulling himself up and letting go of anything he can find.
I spent 3 hours with H and S yesterday, at mom’s office/training center. When I meet them there, I am paid $3 more an hour because mom feels like it is a long way for me to go. In reality, it is in the same city where I go to school, and not that much farther than their house is, at least right now while the most convenient route is still closed. S slept for a while and we went outside but it was pretty nasty, windy and rainy so we did not spend much time outdoors. Plus, by the time S woke up there was not a lot of time before mom was going to be back from her meeting with a client. Luckily there is a lot of space to run around for H and S is getting really close to walking so he spends a lot of time scooting around or pulling himself up and letting go of anything he can find.
21 May 2006
Disappointment all around
I have now been awake for 21 hours straight hours, on less than 5 hours of sleep. I am so tired I can barely see straight, so if this in not coherent (or slightly ranty – yes ranty is a word, at least it is tonight!), sorry. I have to get some thoughts down now so that I do not forget in the morning.
Leaving at 4am certainly takes a toll when you stay awake to see your boy strike out Barry Bonds to end the game the night before. Huston, I was “Street Thuggin’ ” all the way! So let’s see that puts me in bed between 1030 and 11pm, I am not sure, I just know it was much later than I had previously planned.
Got to ballpark at 830 and had to pay to park! What kind of crap is that? Everyone knows if you get there before 9 you do not have to pay. And yet, this morning they were out there early. And, I didn’t have a parking pass. Seriously? If I had known, I was going to have to pay to park I so totally would have stopped for Starbucks or breakfast or something. ARGH! (Okay, done for tonight, it’s a bad thing if you can’t keep your eyes open to type, I’ll just have to pick it up in the morning)
Hung out in line for a while, and watched the guys drive in, nobody stopped, which is pretty unusual for day games. It is not that big of a deal though, and I did not try very hard anyways. I got into line for the last time at about 1030, so we had 30 minutes before gates, which always goes super fast.
One of my friends and I were the first one down to the dugout after gates opened, which meant I got to be the closest to the end as I’ve ever been before, which was pretty cool. There was not any batting practice but the pitchers all came out to do stretches and stuff. There were some adorable little boys behind us, who ended up getting like 10 or 12 autographs because the girls asked the players really nicely to just sign for the kids, not for us. I got two autographs out of the deal.
Our seats were absolutely terrible; we could not even see half of the outfield, where everything exciting happens. Barry Bonds hit number 714 (yeah, I know, old news!) but we could not even tell if it was gone until everyone cheered or booed depending on their opinion. It just looked like he hit the ball, but it did not look much different than several other fly balls that were hit, at least not from our angle. He struck out in his second at-bat, which made me kind of proud of our pitcher, a young guy (like 24 or 25 years old), I was impressed that he didn’t get rattled by giving up that homerun, he just came out like he meant it. The only person on the A’s to hit more than a single was Dan Johnson with a double, the second double in two games for him. Go DJ! (Betty- I was so excited to see him in the line-up, I thought for sure he wasn’t going to play because he never came out when the guys were stretching. Then they put Swisher in left field and I’m thinking well then who’s playing first. Finally, the announcer says ‘batting ninth first baseman Dan Johnson. I think he’s played in every game I’ve attended since he came up last year. It would have been weird to not have him in there!)
We left at the top of the ninth inning, in order to make it to Ricky’s for a signing by Bobby Crosby, one of my favourites. We were there before many others, and before the game ended, because it went 10 innings. I figured that the Giants were going to win, the game had been 2-1 for so long, instead the A’s scored in the bottom of the ninth taking the game to extra innings and I wasn’t there. The Giants scored 2 in the top of the tenth and the A’s failed to rally in the bottom even though they definitely had the opportunity to win.
I got two things signed by Bobby, I still have last year’s yearbook to get signed at some point. I got this year’s yearbook, while my friend got the ESPN magazine signed for me. And then we left to come home. It was only 6pm but I was so exhausted, I think that not being able to sit in the sun like I usually do really affected my energy level for the day. We made a couple stops on the way home and got back about 11, why does it always take longer to come home than to get there? Does stopping for gas really take that much time?
My most recent amusing Google search term(s):
huston street rich harden roommates- well I don’t know if they’re roommates, but they are housemates! What were you looking for? Do you know how exciting it was when I discovered that I am the number 1 hit on Google for this? Rich and Huston are two of the players that I follow most closely and enjoy watching the most.
I got a spammy comment today, and I have word verification. Why did that happen? I need to make that stop. I love comments, but mostly when they actually mean something.
Leaving at 4am certainly takes a toll when you stay awake to see your boy strike out Barry Bonds to end the game the night before. Huston, I was “Street Thuggin’ ” all the way! So let’s see that puts me in bed between 1030 and 11pm, I am not sure, I just know it was much later than I had previously planned.
Got to ballpark at 830 and had to pay to park! What kind of crap is that? Everyone knows if you get there before 9 you do not have to pay. And yet, this morning they were out there early. And, I didn’t have a parking pass. Seriously? If I had known, I was going to have to pay to park I so totally would have stopped for Starbucks or breakfast or something. ARGH! (Okay, done for tonight, it’s a bad thing if you can’t keep your eyes open to type, I’ll just have to pick it up in the morning)
Hung out in line for a while, and watched the guys drive in, nobody stopped, which is pretty unusual for day games. It is not that big of a deal though, and I did not try very hard anyways. I got into line for the last time at about 1030, so we had 30 minutes before gates, which always goes super fast.
One of my friends and I were the first one down to the dugout after gates opened, which meant I got to be the closest to the end as I’ve ever been before, which was pretty cool. There was not any batting practice but the pitchers all came out to do stretches and stuff. There were some adorable little boys behind us, who ended up getting like 10 or 12 autographs because the girls asked the players really nicely to just sign for the kids, not for us. I got two autographs out of the deal.
Our seats were absolutely terrible; we could not even see half of the outfield, where everything exciting happens. Barry Bonds hit number 714 (yeah, I know, old news!) but we could not even tell if it was gone until everyone cheered or booed depending on their opinion. It just looked like he hit the ball, but it did not look much different than several other fly balls that were hit, at least not from our angle. He struck out in his second at-bat, which made me kind of proud of our pitcher, a young guy (like 24 or 25 years old), I was impressed that he didn’t get rattled by giving up that homerun, he just came out like he meant it. The only person on the A’s to hit more than a single was Dan Johnson with a double, the second double in two games for him. Go DJ! (Betty- I was so excited to see him in the line-up, I thought for sure he wasn’t going to play because he never came out when the guys were stretching. Then they put Swisher in left field and I’m thinking well then who’s playing first. Finally, the announcer says ‘batting ninth first baseman Dan Johnson. I think he’s played in every game I’ve attended since he came up last year. It would have been weird to not have him in there!)
We left at the top of the ninth inning, in order to make it to Ricky’s for a signing by Bobby Crosby, one of my favourites. We were there before many others, and before the game ended, because it went 10 innings. I figured that the Giants were going to win, the game had been 2-1 for so long, instead the A’s scored in the bottom of the ninth taking the game to extra innings and I wasn’t there. The Giants scored 2 in the top of the tenth and the A’s failed to rally in the bottom even though they definitely had the opportunity to win.
I got two things signed by Bobby, I still have last year’s yearbook to get signed at some point. I got this year’s yearbook, while my friend got the ESPN magazine signed for me. And then we left to come home. It was only 6pm but I was so exhausted, I think that not being able to sit in the sun like I usually do really affected my energy level for the day. We made a couple stops on the way home and got back about 11, why does it always take longer to come home than to get there? Does stopping for gas really take that much time?
My most recent amusing Google search term(s):
huston street rich harden roommates- well I don’t know if they’re roommates, but they are housemates! What were you looking for? Do you know how exciting it was when I discovered that I am the number 1 hit on Google for this? Rich and Huston are two of the players that I follow most closely and enjoy watching the most.
I got a spammy comment today, and I have word verification. Why did that happen? I need to make that stop. I love comments, but mostly when they actually mean something.
So tired...
Thanks, Mary!
I'm 50% Italian, and my name is very Italian to begin with - that was a little extreme!
Real post coming later!
| Your Italian Name Is... |
 |
I'm 50% Italian, and my name is very Italian to begin with - that was a little extreme!
| Your Brain is 73% Female, 27% Male |
 Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you! |
Real post coming later!
18 May 2006
My attempts have failed!
So, I was attempting to keep this blog relatively baseball free. I figured the occasional entry wouldn’t hurt, but most certainly didn’t want to report the scores every night, like I have done in the past on certain other sites. Sometimes I worry about the amount of information that I share, especially since my goal is to be mostly anonymous. However, upon receiving a comment from a relative of one of the players on the A’s yesterday, I may rethink this slightly. At first, I doubted that it could even be true (that’s my nature – to doubt everything I hear on the internet, I swear it’s because of college and the lectures that we get every semester about not trusting content unless it’s from “reputable sources”), but upon reading the blog I realized that in fact it could be! Which is exciting, and really cool to say the least. I promise that I won’t recap every game, but bits and pieces here and there wouldn’t be so bad right? (Hey Betty, he played, hit a double and scored a run today! Yay!)
For instance, while watching tonight’s game I was struck by the urge to share my excitement with everyone, especially considering that no one was home for the first couple of innings which was when everything good happened. But, I didn’t hop online and blog the game. Instead I yelled and cheered like I tend to, all the while thinking “I will not post this, I will not post this, it’s called Adventures of a Nanny, not Adventures of a Baseball Fan” and yet, here I am. The game ended ten or so minutes ago and I’m writing about it. (I wrote the above paragraphs last night – the following was written this evening).
So, this weekend the A’s play the Giants, and unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that Barry Bonds could hit homerun number 714 at any moment, especially since it’s been 8 games since he last hit one. I could be there for 714 and/or 715 which would move him ahead of Babe Ruth all time. I’m not sure how I feel, I know a lot of people will be booing him, some will be cheering, and others, like me will be sitting there unsure of how we feel about the homerun. Listening to the radio, there are a lot of doubters and a lot who just want it to be over. I’m kind of leaning this way. It’d be nice to get to hear about something else, anything else dealing with baseball when I turn on the radio.
There it is – this is my first of two or so posts this weekend about baseball. Sorry to those who are here looking for cute kid stories, we’ll get back to those in a couple days or so. Hey, maybe even tomorrow night before I go to bed I’ll recap the events of the last two days, which include 21 hours with one child over the course of two days.
For instance, while watching tonight’s game I was struck by the urge to share my excitement with everyone, especially considering that no one was home for the first couple of innings which was when everything good happened. But, I didn’t hop online and blog the game. Instead I yelled and cheered like I tend to, all the while thinking “I will not post this, I will not post this, it’s called Adventures of a Nanny, not Adventures of a Baseball Fan” and yet, here I am. The game ended ten or so minutes ago and I’m writing about it. (I wrote the above paragraphs last night – the following was written this evening).
So, this weekend the A’s play the Giants, and unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that Barry Bonds could hit homerun number 714 at any moment, especially since it’s been 8 games since he last hit one. I could be there for 714 and/or 715 which would move him ahead of Babe Ruth all time. I’m not sure how I feel, I know a lot of people will be booing him, some will be cheering, and others, like me will be sitting there unsure of how we feel about the homerun. Listening to the radio, there are a lot of doubters and a lot who just want it to be over. I’m kind of leaning this way. It’d be nice to get to hear about something else, anything else dealing with baseball when I turn on the radio.
There it is – this is my first of two or so posts this weekend about baseball. Sorry to those who are here looking for cute kid stories, we’ll get back to those in a couple days or so. Hey, maybe even tomorrow night before I go to bed I’ll recap the events of the last two days, which include 21 hours with one child over the course of two days.
17 May 2006
A bit of rambling about various topics
I think I got the job with the 20-month-old little girl (S), as long as her mom can make a schedule work with the person who wants to hire her. She has a meeting on Friday and told me that she would let me know that afternoon or possibly Saturday. This is great, because after just one afternoon with the boys I do not think it will work for me. They are whiny and don’t listen (which I could work on, but still – if mom and dad don’t follow through is it really worth it?) and mom wants me to write a lesson plan for the day every single time that I’m there. That is three lesson plans a week (but really more like 12 or more because the day is broken into chunks) which seems a bit ridiculous – besides how exactly do you write a lesson plan for a two-year-old? I don’t mind having a schedule, but I do mind a ton of extra work in order to earn technically less than I could earn just about anywhere else.
I did the math and even if I just stuck with the opportunities that I know I have, I would only earn like $60/week less than by adding this new family and dropping time with others. Others who guarantee employment in the fall. And considering that I do not wish to go through this process again in less than three months, it seems like the only logical choice would be to drop the boys and pick up S. Now, my fingers are crossed for her mom’s opportunity.
I actually lost a job opportunity because I would not email my references to them ahead of time. How frustrating! I had sent like two emails to this family, and they were only really interested in a babysitter for date nights anyways. Why couldn’t I meet them first? I can kind of understand the reasoning that Mary gave in the comments to the last post, but most people are not that inflexible. Oh well, I did not need them anyhow. The best part is that in her email to me during which she names her children and provides their ages she states that they are an easygoing family. Sure, an easygoing family who does not want to meet me! Too bad for them!
In other news, I go to baseball this weekend, which should be great fun. I may possible see Barry Bonds hit 714 and/or 715, which although I really do not like him would be a pretty cool situation. However, the A’s had better have the lead if he hits those homeruns – that is all I have to say.
I have been asked to house sit from July 6-18 for H and S’s family, and then the end of July for a family who I have known forever while they go visit family, plus an additional week in August for that same family. Yay for a month and a half of living on my own!
Last night I watched Nanny McPhee, which was a decent movie. I do not watch many movies, but that one I enjoyed. I thought that the seven child actors in the film did a wonderful job, especially since many of them did not have previous experience (yay for DVD extras).
I did the math and even if I just stuck with the opportunities that I know I have, I would only earn like $60/week less than by adding this new family and dropping time with others. Others who guarantee employment in the fall. And considering that I do not wish to go through this process again in less than three months, it seems like the only logical choice would be to drop the boys and pick up S. Now, my fingers are crossed for her mom’s opportunity.
I actually lost a job opportunity because I would not email my references to them ahead of time. How frustrating! I had sent like two emails to this family, and they were only really interested in a babysitter for date nights anyways. Why couldn’t I meet them first? I can kind of understand the reasoning that Mary gave in the comments to the last post, but most people are not that inflexible. Oh well, I did not need them anyhow. The best part is that in her email to me during which she names her children and provides their ages she states that they are an easygoing family. Sure, an easygoing family who does not want to meet me! Too bad for them!
In other news, I go to baseball this weekend, which should be great fun. I may possible see Barry Bonds hit 714 and/or 715, which although I really do not like him would be a pretty cool situation. However, the A’s had better have the lead if he hits those homeruns – that is all I have to say.
I have been asked to house sit from July 6-18 for H and S’s family, and then the end of July for a family who I have known forever while they go visit family, plus an additional week in August for that same family. Yay for a month and a half of living on my own!
Last night I watched Nanny McPhee, which was a decent movie. I do not watch many movies, but that one I enjoyed. I thought that the seven child actors in the film did a wonderful job, especially since many of them did not have previous experience (yay for DVD extras).
16 May 2006
Moving
I'm moving to wordpress (same username just type wordpress instead of blogspot afterwards), once and for all. And only you who read this in bloglines (and maybe google reader?) are going to know that - too many people have been reading my blog who live around here, including the people from the job interview last week and (I think, maybe) K and B's mom. I don't want all of this to be that easily accessible so I'm going to make it private tomorrow.
15 May 2006
I don't know, I really don't know
So, I got the job with the 18 month old and triplets, as well at the one with a 2 year old and 5 year old boy. However, I'm not so sure that I really want the job with the two boys. Dad gave me all these disclaimers about the children and the amount of energy that they require, and that others have seen it as a high stress situation. AND, mom didn't even bother to show up to the interview. Why would you schedule an interview at 1pm if you weren't going to be there? Dad didn't even really ask me any questions about my experience or anything, and discounted most of the things that I said. It made me feel uncomfortable. I'm going to watch the boys tomorrow afternoon and technically have hours scheduled next week - but I'm really hoping one of the other moms will call or email me back. I also had a mom with a 3.5 yr old, 2 yr old and 3 month old tell me she was looking for a part-time nanny so maybe I'll write her back. I don't know but I don't like the idea of entering into a commitment without being absolutely sure that it's right for me - the uneasiness I feel makes me hesitant.
14 May 2006
Opportunities Abound
So here’s a run down of my options – I don’t think I’m going to end up with one family this summer – I think I’m going to end up with at least four families filling out my time, and that’s okay as long as I fill in my days!
There’s the family who has twins on the way and an 18 month old (M, I’ll have to come up with something different for her, or just drop my other M and A from the list since I don’t see them very often anymore- in fact maybe that’s what I’ll do). I met them today, and I’m going to try to fit them in at some point – since they only want about 4-8 hours a week right, that shouldn’t be so hard. Plus in the fall, they’ll take the mornings that I would have had a hard time filling because they’re rather short (3-3.5 hours max) which is nice.
There’s the family who’s ad states 15-40 hrs/week at a very fair rate for two boys, ages 2 and 5. But, their mom hasn’t called me back, and the message she left yesterday sounded hurried and rushed like she didn’t even have time to leave me her phone number. Seems like a high stress family, which isn’t so cool to me – I want something that won’t be super stressful all summer long.
There’s the family in a pretty prestigious neighbourhood in the city where I go to school who have a 20 month old daughter and are looking for a part-time nanny and someone for occasional babysitting. I’m most excited to meet this family. Mom sounded great on the phone, and didn’t rush off even though she was heading to the bay area for oral surgery. She said she’d call me today and hasn’t yet, but she could be in bad shape from the surgery so it’s all good. She’ll call when she calls (I hope – I really want this position).
Oh but the best one of all – the mom with the triplet 5 year olds, 3 year old and 6 year old offered me $200/week for 56.25 hours. Do the math – or I’ll just tell you because I did the math. That amounts the $3.55/hr for five children including driving them all over the place. Did anyone inform this lady that gas costs what she is paying an hour? I haven’t earn $3.50 an hour since I was 12 – and had no experience!
Of course, there’s K and B one afternoon a week. We all know how I feel about those kids.
There’s also H and S for about 6 hours a week (two mornings) and X for about 3 hours on one of those days. H and S may live in a family that does things (like schooling) differently than I am used to but for the amount that their mother is paying me for the 6 hours, I can adjust. Plus, it’ll be good when I’m in a classroom with students whose parents don’t agree with my views of something. I’m almost tempted to cut out X – after all his mom is the reason that I’m on this job hunt, we’ll see what happens.
Depending upon what happens with the two families that I should have an interview with next week, I’m looking at K on Wed, the 18 month old Mon afternoons and Wed mornings, H, S and X on Fridays (plus H and S Monday mornings), and hopefully (cross your fingers for this one) the 20 month old Tues/Thurs (unless that mom wants more time, at which point she gets Mondays).
In my next post I’ll discuss the families who want me evenings and weekends only – this entry has become rather long. But, I’ll leave you with a question:
Would you share your references with someone who you’ve only sent one or two emails to, never talked on the phone nor met face-to-face? I think that it’s okay to say that I’d rather meet you first, but most of these families tried to get my references immediately upon first contact. What’s fair to those you are using as references? I don’t want to alienate anyone by having them receive a ton of calls from families that I don’t even know yet – what if it’s a really bad match?
There’s the family who has twins on the way and an 18 month old (M, I’ll have to come up with something different for her, or just drop my other M and A from the list since I don’t see them very often anymore- in fact maybe that’s what I’ll do). I met them today, and I’m going to try to fit them in at some point – since they only want about 4-8 hours a week right, that shouldn’t be so hard. Plus in the fall, they’ll take the mornings that I would have had a hard time filling because they’re rather short (3-3.5 hours max) which is nice.
There’s the family who’s ad states 15-40 hrs/week at a very fair rate for two boys, ages 2 and 5. But, their mom hasn’t called me back, and the message she left yesterday sounded hurried and rushed like she didn’t even have time to leave me her phone number. Seems like a high stress family, which isn’t so cool to me – I want something that won’t be super stressful all summer long.
There’s the family in a pretty prestigious neighbourhood in the city where I go to school who have a 20 month old daughter and are looking for a part-time nanny and someone for occasional babysitting. I’m most excited to meet this family. Mom sounded great on the phone, and didn’t rush off even though she was heading to the bay area for oral surgery. She said she’d call me today and hasn’t yet, but she could be in bad shape from the surgery so it’s all good. She’ll call when she calls (I hope – I really want this position).
Oh but the best one of all – the mom with the triplet 5 year olds, 3 year old and 6 year old offered me $200/week for 56.25 hours. Do the math – or I’ll just tell you because I did the math. That amounts the $3.55/hr for five children including driving them all over the place. Did anyone inform this lady that gas costs what she is paying an hour? I haven’t earn $3.50 an hour since I was 12 – and had no experience!
Of course, there’s K and B one afternoon a week. We all know how I feel about those kids.
There’s also H and S for about 6 hours a week (two mornings) and X for about 3 hours on one of those days. H and S may live in a family that does things (like schooling) differently than I am used to but for the amount that their mother is paying me for the 6 hours, I can adjust. Plus, it’ll be good when I’m in a classroom with students whose parents don’t agree with my views of something. I’m almost tempted to cut out X – after all his mom is the reason that I’m on this job hunt, we’ll see what happens.
Depending upon what happens with the two families that I should have an interview with next week, I’m looking at K on Wed, the 18 month old Mon afternoons and Wed mornings, H, S and X on Fridays (plus H and S Monday mornings), and hopefully (cross your fingers for this one) the 20 month old Tues/Thurs (unless that mom wants more time, at which point she gets Mondays).
In my next post I’ll discuss the families who want me evenings and weekends only – this entry has become rather long. But, I’ll leave you with a question:
Would you share your references with someone who you’ve only sent one or two emails to, never talked on the phone nor met face-to-face? I think that it’s okay to say that I’d rather meet you first, but most of these families tried to get my references immediately upon first contact. What’s fair to those you are using as references? I don’t want to alienate anyone by having them receive a ton of calls from families that I don’t even know yet – what if it’s a really bad match?
12 May 2006
I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!
As of 755am this morning (who invented 730 in the morning finals? 'cause I really dislike them at this moment, thanks for two in two days)- I'm done.
More to come- I've been working all day, there's got to be a kid story around - or perhaps we can discuss the something like seven families who all want me as there nanny, during the same hours!
More to come- I've been working all day, there's got to be a kid story around - or perhaps we can discuss the something like seven families who all want me as there nanny, during the same hours!
10 May 2006
Aren't you supposed to focus on finals during finals week?
K has been off all week. She stayed home sick from school on both Wednesday and Thursday (she doesn't have school on Fridays anyways or else she would have missed that day too). Friday mom took her to urgent care and she was diagnosed with bronchitis so she’s on augmentin for the next 10 days (well, we’ve only got 4 left but that’s not the point). The medication is really affecting her – I picked her up on Monday because she desperately needed her nap that she would have missed had she gone to daycare after preschool.
When I picked her up, she screamed, kicked, and told me no for a good fifteen minutes – after I heard her telling her teachers no as well. I was so tempted to intervene because she knows better than to tell an adult no and yet when I was there to pick her up she was (for some reason) very upset with me. I picked her up, put her in the car and let her scream after telling her that if she was going to act that way I couldn’t talk to her since she wasn’t using her words.
We had a fun afternoon – she slept for 3 hours and 45 minutes, ate hardly any lunch but a very large snack and I put her in timeout even after mom got home because she slammed the door on B, less than 5 minutes after hitting him for no apparent reason. I rarely step in when mom is home because I feel like she should be the one, but that wasn’t acceptable and she knew it. She sat and cried for a while and then right before I left she came and gave me a big hug – I think she was telling me sorry without using the words. I honestly think that the medicine is the cause of the problems. I spent yesterday by my phone just in case daycare had to call because she was out of control. She must have made it because the phone never rang, but tomorrow should be interesting.
And in other news, I’m job hunting again. X’s parents have decided that they can stay home 4 days a week with him so they only need me on Friday afternoons. Honestly, if I find someone who needs me 4 or 5 days a week, I’m going to take it and they’ll be the first ones to go, because it’s not fair to me to offer me a ton of hours and then cut back after writing that first check for 10 hours. I think they could imagine what was coming in the next couple weeks after I was out of school. I think that’s what hurt, but it’s not like I asked for them to pay me what they are paying me per hour (it’s more than twice as much as I get with K, and a little more than the going rate in the area, and more than the rate that I stated when they asked what I charged – so again not my problem).
I’ve had 2 real prospects – one mom with an 18 month old and triplets on the way, the other mom has a 3 year old, 5 year old triplets, and a 6 year old. Why can’t I find a simple 1-3 child family? It shouldn’t be so difficult. I also replied to a family who was looking for help about 15 hours a week with a 2 yr old and 4 yr old, but I had an immediate sinking feeling that it was the mom I turned down to take the job with X, and judging by the fact that I never received a response it seems I may have been right! I have an ad posted looking for part-time work but haven’t received a single inquiry from a parent.
Not to mention that all this is happening during finals week – like I have time for this!
When I picked her up, she screamed, kicked, and told me no for a good fifteen minutes – after I heard her telling her teachers no as well. I was so tempted to intervene because she knows better than to tell an adult no and yet when I was there to pick her up she was (for some reason) very upset with me. I picked her up, put her in the car and let her scream after telling her that if she was going to act that way I couldn’t talk to her since she wasn’t using her words.
We had a fun afternoon – she slept for 3 hours and 45 minutes, ate hardly any lunch but a very large snack and I put her in timeout even after mom got home because she slammed the door on B, less than 5 minutes after hitting him for no apparent reason. I rarely step in when mom is home because I feel like she should be the one, but that wasn’t acceptable and she knew it. She sat and cried for a while and then right before I left she came and gave me a big hug – I think she was telling me sorry without using the words. I honestly think that the medicine is the cause of the problems. I spent yesterday by my phone just in case daycare had to call because she was out of control. She must have made it because the phone never rang, but tomorrow should be interesting.
And in other news, I’m job hunting again. X’s parents have decided that they can stay home 4 days a week with him so they only need me on Friday afternoons. Honestly, if I find someone who needs me 4 or 5 days a week, I’m going to take it and they’ll be the first ones to go, because it’s not fair to me to offer me a ton of hours and then cut back after writing that first check for 10 hours. I think they could imagine what was coming in the next couple weeks after I was out of school. I think that’s what hurt, but it’s not like I asked for them to pay me what they are paying me per hour (it’s more than twice as much as I get with K, and a little more than the going rate in the area, and more than the rate that I stated when they asked what I charged – so again not my problem).
I’ve had 2 real prospects – one mom with an 18 month old and triplets on the way, the other mom has a 3 year old, 5 year old triplets, and a 6 year old. Why can’t I find a simple 1-3 child family? It shouldn’t be so difficult. I also replied to a family who was looking for help about 15 hours a week with a 2 yr old and 4 yr old, but I had an immediate sinking feeling that it was the mom I turned down to take the job with X, and judging by the fact that I never received a response it seems I may have been right! I have an ad posted looking for part-time work but haven’t received a single inquiry from a parent.
Not to mention that all this is happening during finals week – like I have time for this!
09 May 2006
What kind of coffee are you?
How appropriate is it that I'm the only kind of coffee that I'll actually drink? And since I gave up caffeine completely for over a month, I'd say that my caffeine addiction must be low - even now I won't drink caffeinated beverages very often.
From Granny who got it from Katie K.
And what the heck was someone looking for when they searched 'naughty gummy granny'? Does that count as my first 'dirty' hit? I don't know - I'm just slighty disturbed right now!
| You Are a Frappacino |
 At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low |
From Granny who got it from Katie K.
And what the heck was someone looking for when they searched 'naughty gummy granny'? Does that count as my first 'dirty' hit? I don't know - I'm just slighty disturbed right now!
07 May 2006
Baseball Saturday - I live for this!
Let me describe my Saturday if I may – I woke up at 330am, left my house at 345am, couldn’t get on the freeway at 4am due to an accident so I had to go down a side road with a speed limit of 25mph instead of the 65mph freeway. I made it to California by 5am, Sacramento by about 630am and Oakland at 802am, I stopped for breakfast at that point and got to McAfee by 815am. I then proceeded to sit in line for 3 hours, painting a sign (which was recorded by a cameraman from ESPN – so I’ll be on national television at some point) and hanging out with friends.
Gates opened 1035am, I got my bobblehead, went to put the sign down in a seat that wasn’t mine, put stuff down to save my seat and then headed to the dugout where I hung out and got three (or was it four? I don’t know, I’d already been up for about 7 hours at this point, four of them driving!) autographs. When I went to my seat at 1215pm someone was sitting in it and wouldn’t move despite the fact that I explained that I had saved that seat hours before. It worked out because there was an extra seat in the front row so I sat there instead of the second row like I usually do. The game was crazy, indescribable even – word could not explain that bottom of the ninth inning, even the articles online didn’t give what I saw as an accurate description of the events.
After the game, I hung out by the lot where the players park and waited for them to leave, like we usually do. Sometimes players stop, sometimes they don’t and we’ve learned secrets to getting them to stop when they leave. A couple guys stopped including one who I’d already received and didn’t have anything to sign, however, Huston stopped which made me incredibly happy before driving home. I left Oakland at 5pm, got to Auburn at 715 or so, stopped for gas and a coffee and continued driving home. I got home at 930pm watched Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter hoping to catch a recap of the game. Gave up on that at 1030 and headed to bed. It was a long day, I was tired and needed sleep. Overall it was worth every minute of it though – I so love baseball. I can’t wait for my next game, May 20th.
Gates opened 1035am, I got my bobblehead, went to put the sign down in a seat that wasn’t mine, put stuff down to save my seat and then headed to the dugout where I hung out and got three (or was it four? I don’t know, I’d already been up for about 7 hours at this point, four of them driving!) autographs. When I went to my seat at 1215pm someone was sitting in it and wouldn’t move despite the fact that I explained that I had saved that seat hours before. It worked out because there was an extra seat in the front row so I sat there instead of the second row like I usually do. The game was crazy, indescribable even – word could not explain that bottom of the ninth inning, even the articles online didn’t give what I saw as an accurate description of the events.
After the game, I hung out by the lot where the players park and waited for them to leave, like we usually do. Sometimes players stop, sometimes they don’t and we’ve learned secrets to getting them to stop when they leave. A couple guys stopped including one who I’d already received and didn’t have anything to sign, however, Huston stopped which made me incredibly happy before driving home. I left Oakland at 5pm, got to Auburn at 715 or so, stopped for gas and a coffee and continued driving home. I got home at 930pm watched Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter hoping to catch a recap of the game. Gave up on that at 1030 and headed to bed. It was a long day, I was tired and needed sleep. Overall it was worth every minute of it though – I so love baseball. I can’t wait for my next game, May 20th.
02 May 2006
School time - does it ever end?
Mondays are officially X days. I spent 5 hours with him today, at both his house and his parents business. He’s on a pretty strict schedule. He naps, eats, plays and about 2 hours after the beginning of his last feeding he’s ready for nap again. This is nice – it allows me to get lots of homework done while he sleeps. Even when naps last about an hour, I still get a remarkable amount of homework done, maybe because I know that I’m on a tighter schedule than with K who will nap for 3 hours when I’m there.
I finished completely with 3 of my classes (except for finals in 2 of them) and am getting closer with two more. As of Thursday, I’ll be done with a fourth and just have to do one more project for one and then finals will be here.
I’ve decided that I’m going to graduate in May 2007 like previously planned, however, I won’t student teach until the following fall. This is kind of disappointing, but also really cool at the same time. I’m going to take classes towards and ESL endorsement and the student teaching classes will be graduate credits, which will move me up on the pay scale even before I begin teaching. All of this because I couldn’t get into the class I needed and couldn’t take the other section because I wouldn’t be able to work. If I can’t work I can’t go to school, so this is going to work out well.
My schedule next semester is set:
Okay, I supposed to meet with a professor and I don’t think he’s here but I’m going to give him a little more time. But, I should get back to school work. Oh - the A's won (actually killed the Angels) and one of my favourite's a homerun, while another got to pitch for the first time since April 18th. I can't wait for Saturday!!
I finished completely with 3 of my classes (except for finals in 2 of them) and am getting closer with two more. As of Thursday, I’ll be done with a fourth and just have to do one more project for one and then finals will be here.
I’ve decided that I’m going to graduate in May 2007 like previously planned, however, I won’t student teach until the following fall. This is kind of disappointing, but also really cool at the same time. I’m going to take classes towards and ESL endorsement and the student teaching classes will be graduate credits, which will move me up on the pay scale even before I begin teaching. All of this because I couldn’t get into the class I needed and couldn’t take the other section because I wouldn’t be able to work. If I can’t work I can’t go to school, so this is going to work out well.
My schedule next semester is set:
- Tuesdays 1-345, 4-645, 7-945
- Wednesdays 4-645
- Thursdays 1-345, 4-550
Okay, I supposed to meet with a professor and I don’t think he’s here but I’m going to give him a little more time. But, I should get back to school work. Oh - the A's won (actually killed the Angels) and one of my favourite's a homerun, while another got to pitch for the first time since April 18th. I can't wait for Saturday!!
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