I got in Tuesday night and then "officially started" on Wednesday. The mom told me I could sleep in as much as I needed so that I could get acclimated to my new time zone! I don't really "sleep in" no matter what time zone I came from and what time zone I am in. I woke up around 8:45am because I could hear the boys downstairs. I went and showered first, because let's face it...I was gross from all of my traveling...and then I went downstairs to meet the boys! They are super cute and sweet! They were pretty shy at first, but then they started warming up to me.
The mom was with me the whole first day for the most part because she was helping me get used to things. One of the little boys has a speech therapist come on Mondays and Wednesdays for about an hour and so I hung out with the 4 year old while that was going on. We ran some errands with their mom later and then on Wednesdays they have a weekly playdate with some of their friends and these two older boys that are 13 and 15. It will be a nice little break in the middle of the week! The older boys pretty much watch the 4 year old and his friends while I walk around with the 2 year old because he's too little to do a lot of the things the older kids do. We went to this HUGE house that has these stairs...there have to be about 50 of them...that lead you down into this grassy area where they have a trampoline, a monkey bar set, and still plenty of room to run around. The people that live in the house have 3 boys...a nanny for two of them and then a caretaker for the little boy that was a week old. The caretaker and I were talking...I was asking her about her job because she was wearing scrubs and was just walking around with the little baby while the mom was inside. She said that she was hired for 2 months and she didn't know what the family was going to do after that. She didn't know if the nanny was going to take the little baby too or not. Crazy! I couldn't imagine just sitting in the house while someone else rocked my week old baby to sleep and held him while he slept! I am pretty sure the caretaker only put him down when she gave the mom the baby to feed him! Unless he was on a bottle! I don't know! I'm interested to get more information...I wonder what her hours are too! Hopefully I get more details, now that I'm thinking about it! After that, the mom I'm working for let me go rest because she thought I got up way too early that morning for the previous week I had! I pretty much hung out in my room the rest of the night...read a book and watched some TV.
The next two days, the mom was around and helping me most of the time, but she also filtered in and out running errands and working on things. One day she showed me what she was working on...Vanity Fair's Best Dressed poll! So sweet!
Thursday during the day, the boys and I saw three deer just walking through their front yard! Apparently there are even bears nearby!
Friday evening her mother came in to town and so on Saturday, they all had plans to go into the nearest town (about 20 minutes away) to run some errands. They were going to start a small herb garden in planter boxes, so we went to Home Depot for that and went to Target to pick up some random things. The place where we were is where they have the first outlet mall in the nation (from what I understand). I'm definitely going to have to go there before I leave here! It's called Woodbury Premium Outlets! I looked it up and there are some good stores!!! After that, we all had dinner together and then watched Avatar! I had never seen it because I thought it was going to be stupid, but I actually kind of liked it!
For some reason, the 2 year old was ATTACHED to me during the weekend! He was like my little shadow! It was so cute! Because of this...and the fact that the grandma is in town still on Monday...the mom told me that she's going to give me some "comp time" because she felt like I was working this weekend even though I was supposed to be "off-duty." I just didn't know what to do, ya know? I'm technically off-duty, but what do I do when the little kids come and want to play with me...I have nothing better to do! They don't bother me when I'm in my room, but I wanted to be downstairs, hanging out, helping with dinner and things...especially because the furnace is broken and so one of the rooms downstairs has a fireplace that is constantly burning and it is SO nice! I guess I just don't know how to balance it! I don't want them to keep giving me this "comp time" all the time because then I'll feel bad! I don't know! It's a weird situation...living where you work!
Sunday we went to church. I went to church with the family. I don't know if I'm going to venture out on my own on Sundays to go to church at the single's ward in the city, but maybe! Their church building is about an hour away, so it was quite the drive! But the drive was SO pretty! There are so many historic towns with old buildings. I met two girls at church that have been friends with the previous nannies. They said that it's practically mandatory for me to be friends with them. They seem really nice! After church, the mom, grandma, and I went on a little driving tour of "the park." (The gated community they live inside.) Tuxedo Park, the mom told me, is actually the first gated community in the nation. There are some really old buildings, some modern looking buildings, and some new buildings that they are building to look like they are one of the older buildings. We first went to a little lake...I'm excited for the weather to get warmer so I can take the little boys there! It's so nice and looks so fun! The clubhouse on the other lake looks so nice (we live right across the street from it) but it is SO expensive to join and so the family decided it wasn't worth it! I don't think so either! She drove me by some of the boys' friend's homes...one of which has a pool and so we might start having two playdates a week! (It's been raining for the past two days...I hope the weather gets nicer so we CAN go to the beach!) She drove me by the biggest house on the lake and then by Whoopi Goldberg's home. Of course she probably has about 4 houses, but this is one of them! It looked pretty deserted, but I'm thinking maybe as summer starts to roll around, she'll come because her house is RIGHT on the lake! We (the mom and I) are pretty sure that their house is the smallest one on the lake, but I like it. It's so cute! Right now it seems a little too small for the boys to run around in, but I think that once they get all moved in and completely settled (they've only been here for about 3 months and are waiting for some shelves and things for one of the rooms) I think it will seem much bigger! I can't even imagine how much their small home on a lake in a gated community in New York cost...not to mention some of the HUGE houses that I saw today! Good heavens!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Trip
I couldn't be in New York when they needed me because I had to coach a volleyball tournament in Reno this past weekend. Because of this, I decided that I wanted to go home for a few days before I left for Reno and New York. This is how the longest trip of my life started and ended!
I graduated from college in Rexburg, Idaho on the 10th of April. We left around 3pm and got into my uncle's house in Dayton around 11pm. Sunday morning we were back on the road around 11am and got home around 5pm. I was at home Sunday evening, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning finishing up packing, getting some stuff ready to ship, finishing up shopping, and getting my hair and nails done (of course!)
Wednesday around 3pm, my sister Jessica and I left for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and got there around 10pm. We slept at my grandparent's house there and left at about 10:30am the next morning. We arrived in Rexburg, ran a few errands, and then were finally back at my townhouse around 7pm. I started cleaning (or procrastinating the cleaning as much as possible) and then went to sleep around midnight. We got up around 7am the next morning and headed to The Ridge to move all of my sister's things into her new apartment. We finished there around 9:30am and were out of town and back on the road by 10am.
We drove to Provo to pick up my other little sister, Melissa. While in the narrowest part of the Provo area construction, my sister's car started to die. We were stuck in almost rush hour traffic in the middle of a construction zone and her car was slowing down by the second. I finally decided I would just shut it off and then turn it back on. For some reason, it started going again. We then determined that it was only when we slowed down to speeds lower than 25 that her car decided to die. So we ended up driving all the way through Provo and to the mechanic during school zone times. I think we ended up turning her car off and back on at least 30 times...and we took a corner probably at 15mph because I didn't want to slow down and be stuck in the middle of a busy intersection! It was quite the disaster! Melissa came and picked us up at the mechanic, we ran some errands, and then we took her car to Reno instead.
We got into Reno and into our hotel around 11:30pm and I crashed...but not for long because I had to leave the hotel for the tournament at 6:45am. We had a lot of fun in Reno...or at least I did...coaching and hanging out! It was pretty scary, I'm not going to lie...but we went out and had a good time! We went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" and all loved it, and we went and played at Circus Circus and loved it! We all went down there with $20 and weren't going to spend any more than that! We stopped at the game where you squirt water into the clown's mouth to blow up and pop a balloon. There was a guy sitting next to me and then another guy wandering behind us yelling saying "number 14's a winner" over and over again. He started talking to us/flirting with us and we all kind of ignored it. We played once and none of us won, Melissa won the second time, and then those two guys gave Jess, Melissa, and I money to play for a third time and I won. Then they said that they wanted to have a Skeeball tournament with us. I warned them that I was really good, but I think they didn't believe me. We had our money out and ready to go, but the guy came back with money for each of us. They paid for us to play 3 or 4 games of Skeeball. The last game, somehow I got a score of 400 and so I had to lug around a HUGE teddy bear the rest of the time we were at Circus Circus! We all came away with a ton of stuffed animals, so it was a pretty good haul for each of us only spending about $20 ;)
After the tournament was over Monday morning, we left for Provo around 11am and got into Provo around 8pm. Melissa and I stayed in Provo and Jess left for Rexburg after we picked up her car from the mechanics! (Thank goodness it was a small problem with her car...nothing big at all!) Melissa and I went back to her apartment and I tried to get all of my stuff back into my suitcases. I planned on taking a carry-on suitcase, a computer bag, and one medium-sized checked suitcase. For some reason, I could NOT get my stuff situated in my suitcases and I was really stressed out about it! I was just freaking out under the stress of a new situation and the nervousness I was feeling...not to mention my long week or two that I just had!
Anyway, I slept at my friend Katie's that night and then my friend Jane took me to the airport the next morning at 8:30am. Being the idiot that I am, I thought I needed to take something out of my bag that morning to use it, but then I couldn't put it all back in! I was literally standing on the sidewalk outside of the airport with my suitcase wide open handing Jane things to take back to my sister so my mom could ship them! It was a disaster! I got in to the airport, printed out my boarding pass and then went up to check my suitcase. The scale read 52 pounds and I was about to faint. The lady at the counter must have sensed that I was having an incredibly rough time because she let me get away with it without charging me extra! I got through security without any problems...which I was really surprised with because I usually forget about something that had been buried in the bottom of my bag for months! (I went through security with a legit pocket knife before without being stopped...) I went to my gate and got there 5 minutes before we boarded. I was already hot and exhausted from the night/morning I had/was having, and I'm not a really good flier anyway, so I was pretty nervous. We get into the plane and I am in row 42 and in the middle seat! Not a good combination! There was a crying baby behind me, someone forgot to put on their deodorant that morning, there was a lot of turbulence, I was sitting next to two armrest hogs, and it was 90 degrees inside the airplane. All of these things do not combine for a smooth flight for myself. I really thought it was going to be the first flight I would get sick on! I calmed down just before it was time to land...just in time for me to feel sick again. I hate that feeling like your body is falling but your stomach is staying right where it is! I got off the flight in Atlanta and went to my last gate and got there about 10 minutes before we boarded. This flight was so much smoother, despite the fact that we were delayed 20 minutes because of a storm that was coming in! You never would have been able to tell! It was a small plane...weird, but I like these small planes so much better! I think it's because I'm used to them! I've flown on A LOT more small planes! This flight immediately started off better...and WAY cooler. I even got goosebumps at one point! Haha! I sat by a retired New York firefighter who was coming home from the Oklahoma City bombing anniversary with a bunch of his buddies. They were all on a different flight because he was the only one from upstate New York. He was fun to talk to and even said at one point,"You can share the arm rest with me! Don't be shy!" He was super nice! There was a crying baby on this flight at first, but she stopped as soon as we were in the air and didn't start again! :) There was a lady next to me that had her DOG in her carry-on under her seat! I didn't even notice until we started to land and she reached down to pet it and accidentally hit it's collar! It was crazy!
The mom that I am working for picked me up at the airport. It was really good to finally meet her! When we got back to her house, the boys were already in bed, so I didn't get to meet them until the morning. She gave me the tour of her house (which is so cute) and then I ate a little something and went to bed in my room! :) I was so relieved to know that my traveling was over for awhile!!! Finally!
I graduated from college in Rexburg, Idaho on the 10th of April. We left around 3pm and got into my uncle's house in Dayton around 11pm. Sunday morning we were back on the road around 11am and got home around 5pm. I was at home Sunday evening, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning finishing up packing, getting some stuff ready to ship, finishing up shopping, and getting my hair and nails done (of course!)
Wednesday around 3pm, my sister Jessica and I left for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and got there around 10pm. We slept at my grandparent's house there and left at about 10:30am the next morning. We arrived in Rexburg, ran a few errands, and then were finally back at my townhouse around 7pm. I started cleaning (or procrastinating the cleaning as much as possible) and then went to sleep around midnight. We got up around 7am the next morning and headed to The Ridge to move all of my sister's things into her new apartment. We finished there around 9:30am and were out of town and back on the road by 10am.
We drove to Provo to pick up my other little sister, Melissa. While in the narrowest part of the Provo area construction, my sister's car started to die. We were stuck in almost rush hour traffic in the middle of a construction zone and her car was slowing down by the second. I finally decided I would just shut it off and then turn it back on. For some reason, it started going again. We then determined that it was only when we slowed down to speeds lower than 25 that her car decided to die. So we ended up driving all the way through Provo and to the mechanic during school zone times. I think we ended up turning her car off and back on at least 30 times...and we took a corner probably at 15mph because I didn't want to slow down and be stuck in the middle of a busy intersection! It was quite the disaster! Melissa came and picked us up at the mechanic, we ran some errands, and then we took her car to Reno instead.
We got into Reno and into our hotel around 11:30pm and I crashed...but not for long because I had to leave the hotel for the tournament at 6:45am. We had a lot of fun in Reno...or at least I did...coaching and hanging out! It was pretty scary, I'm not going to lie...but we went out and had a good time! We went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" and all loved it, and we went and played at Circus Circus and loved it! We all went down there with $20 and weren't going to spend any more than that! We stopped at the game where you squirt water into the clown's mouth to blow up and pop a balloon. There was a guy sitting next to me and then another guy wandering behind us yelling saying "number 14's a winner" over and over again. He started talking to us/flirting with us and we all kind of ignored it. We played once and none of us won, Melissa won the second time, and then those two guys gave Jess, Melissa, and I money to play for a third time and I won. Then they said that they wanted to have a Skeeball tournament with us. I warned them that I was really good, but I think they didn't believe me. We had our money out and ready to go, but the guy came back with money for each of us. They paid for us to play 3 or 4 games of Skeeball. The last game, somehow I got a score of 400 and so I had to lug around a HUGE teddy bear the rest of the time we were at Circus Circus! We all came away with a ton of stuffed animals, so it was a pretty good haul for each of us only spending about $20 ;)
After the tournament was over Monday morning, we left for Provo around 11am and got into Provo around 8pm. Melissa and I stayed in Provo and Jess left for Rexburg after we picked up her car from the mechanics! (Thank goodness it was a small problem with her car...nothing big at all!) Melissa and I went back to her apartment and I tried to get all of my stuff back into my suitcases. I planned on taking a carry-on suitcase, a computer bag, and one medium-sized checked suitcase. For some reason, I could NOT get my stuff situated in my suitcases and I was really stressed out about it! I was just freaking out under the stress of a new situation and the nervousness I was feeling...not to mention my long week or two that I just had!
Anyway, I slept at my friend Katie's that night and then my friend Jane took me to the airport the next morning at 8:30am. Being the idiot that I am, I thought I needed to take something out of my bag that morning to use it, but then I couldn't put it all back in! I was literally standing on the sidewalk outside of the airport with my suitcase wide open handing Jane things to take back to my sister so my mom could ship them! It was a disaster! I got in to the airport, printed out my boarding pass and then went up to check my suitcase. The scale read 52 pounds and I was about to faint. The lady at the counter must have sensed that I was having an incredibly rough time because she let me get away with it without charging me extra! I got through security without any problems...which I was really surprised with because I usually forget about something that had been buried in the bottom of my bag for months! (I went through security with a legit pocket knife before without being stopped...) I went to my gate and got there 5 minutes before we boarded. I was already hot and exhausted from the night/morning I had/was having, and I'm not a really good flier anyway, so I was pretty nervous. We get into the plane and I am in row 42 and in the middle seat! Not a good combination! There was a crying baby behind me, someone forgot to put on their deodorant that morning, there was a lot of turbulence, I was sitting next to two armrest hogs, and it was 90 degrees inside the airplane. All of these things do not combine for a smooth flight for myself. I really thought it was going to be the first flight I would get sick on! I calmed down just before it was time to land...just in time for me to feel sick again. I hate that feeling like your body is falling but your stomach is staying right where it is! I got off the flight in Atlanta and went to my last gate and got there about 10 minutes before we boarded. This flight was so much smoother, despite the fact that we were delayed 20 minutes because of a storm that was coming in! You never would have been able to tell! It was a small plane...weird, but I like these small planes so much better! I think it's because I'm used to them! I've flown on A LOT more small planes! This flight immediately started off better...and WAY cooler. I even got goosebumps at one point! Haha! I sat by a retired New York firefighter who was coming home from the Oklahoma City bombing anniversary with a bunch of his buddies. They were all on a different flight because he was the only one from upstate New York. He was fun to talk to and even said at one point,"You can share the arm rest with me! Don't be shy!" He was super nice! There was a crying baby on this flight at first, but she stopped as soon as we were in the air and didn't start again! :) There was a lady next to me that had her DOG in her carry-on under her seat! I didn't even notice until we started to land and she reached down to pet it and accidentally hit it's collar! It was crazy!
The mom that I am working for picked me up at the airport. It was really good to finally meet her! When we got back to her house, the boys were already in bed, so I didn't get to meet them until the morning. She gave me the tour of her house (which is so cute) and then I ate a little something and went to bed in my room! :) I was so relieved to know that my traveling was over for awhile!!! Finally!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Job
I have been asked by a lot of my friends to create a blog about my job for the summer and so here it is! I've never created a blog before...and I don't read many...so this is an experiment for me!
Anyway, for people who don't know, I am a nanny in New York for the summer and this is how I got the job. While I was at BYU-Idaho, we had an email come through to all the elementary education/early childhood education majors. A family in New York was looking for a nanny. The job description sounded really good and since I had been a nanny before and didn't have a job lined up for the summer, I thought that it would be fun. I applied about a week after the original email was sent because I didn't see it right away and I just forgot about it. I really didn't think I would even be considered. It had been a week since I sent the initial email to see if the job was still open, and then almost another week after I sent her my resume. She called me and we talked for a little bit and then she told me that I was in the top 7 of about 75 people on a Wednesday afternoon. The next day I was leaving for Spokane, but she said that she would call maybe Friday, but probably Monday to let me know whether I got the job or not. She still had some people to call and it didn't sound like she was very close to making her decision. However, she called me the next day while I was on my way to Spokane to offer me the job. I took it without hesitation.
Anyway, for people who don't know, I am a nanny in New York for the summer and this is how I got the job. While I was at BYU-Idaho, we had an email come through to all the elementary education/early childhood education majors. A family in New York was looking for a nanny. The job description sounded really good and since I had been a nanny before and didn't have a job lined up for the summer, I thought that it would be fun. I applied about a week after the original email was sent because I didn't see it right away and I just forgot about it. I really didn't think I would even be considered. It had been a week since I sent the initial email to see if the job was still open, and then almost another week after I sent her my resume. She called me and we talked for a little bit and then she told me that I was in the top 7 of about 75 people on a Wednesday afternoon. The next day I was leaving for Spokane, but she said that she would call maybe Friday, but probably Monday to let me know whether I got the job or not. She still had some people to call and it didn't sound like she was very close to making her decision. However, she called me the next day while I was on my way to Spokane to offer me the job. I took it without hesitation.
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