Hello from New Hampshire!

Just wanted to peek in and update on my job situation.
We know I quit the last job I had, right? Right. I did, without looking back.

At the beginning of this month, I was contacted by a family on Nannies4Hire asking if me to take a look at their profile, and if I was interested then we would set up an interview. I was, so we did. They were in California looking at (and buying) a house because they were going to be moving there from New Hampshire. Sparing you the deets, I'm now in New Hampshire. I've been here since Sunday and I leave on Friday. I'm having fun & I'm so excited to start on July 2nd back in Southern California. My charges name is 'P' & he just turned 4 on Saturday.

* * * * *

Car update: It was declared a total loss (DUH.) & I got all the totals and everything.
I will have enough for a decent down payment on the car I want, to pay off my credit cards, and catch up fully on all my bills. With some left over. I'm happy.

This is where I tell you to leave whoever you're insured with and go to State Farm. Why?
Because it's only been a week and a half and the totals are in. The paper work is getting mailed to my insurance agent's office for me to sign in tomorrow's mail. Everything will be said and done by Saturday. One day shy of two weeks since my accident. Bet your insurance isn't that fast!

P is up from his nap. 

xoxo.

Nanny Life: Proper Child Restraint [&My Accident]

First off, this is the post where I'm going to talk about my accident. I will be posting pictures of my car while it was at the tow yard. Just a warning. 

I've decided to use this is an opportunity to educate, rather than have a pity party for myself. 

My story:

I was on my way home from J's house. I was about to get onto an interchange going from one freeway to another. The work truck in front of me slowed down to try to stay on the freeway we were on even though he was in the wrong lanes. I saw him and tried to slow down to match his speed. Nothing happened. I slammed into the back of his truck at 60+ mph. I honestly feel like my car malfunctioned that night. I saw him plenty far away and feel like I did everything right in order to try to prevent an accident.

Now my car is disabled in the lanes and I'm crying hysterically off to the side of the road, not even in the shoulder, mind you. There was a little wedge in between the two freeways, where we were stuck. I called J and he came to help me.  After he showed up, the guy that I hit and him decided they needed to move my car out of the lanes, as it was causing major backup at this point. Right when they start walking over to my car to move it, another sedan style car rear ended my car at 70+ mph. You guys, this driver was going FAST.

California Highway Patrol came and took reports, while AAA blocked off the freeway and cleaned up our debris. J took me home and even though I was exhausted, it look me two hours to fall asleep. That was on June 10, 2012. 

This is my car afterwards. To anyone looking at it, its shocking. I thank the fact that my boyfriend has chewed my ass every time I didn't wear my seatbelt in the past. Because now I do. I was during the accident. It may have saved my life. Please make it a habit, wears yours and bust peoples asses if they don't wear theirs. 

Imagine if I had been transporting a child that wasn't properly restrained, or a small child that wasn't extended rear facing. I would never have been able to live with myself if that had been the case. I read this article tonight. Imagine being that mom. The one too concerned that her child was comfortable, or who wasn't informed or educated. Now I'm going to give you the tools to become educated. Read the chart and watch the video. 

[source]

This video is posted by the IIHS or Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Theres an entire series noon different types of carseats on YouTube, just search 'IIHS keeping children safe'. 

Remember to be smart & use your resources. 

xoxo.

Taking a Break.

I'm going to break for a few more days. 

I'm hoping to be back on Thursday with Part Two of the Nanny Life series or on Friday for the link-up. 

I got into a bad car accident on Sunday night, and am very lucky to have no injuries. 

Although my body is bruised internally, there's nothing visible on me. 

I plan on writing about my accident in some form soon, but I need to get everything handled with my insurance company and another car first. 

I start my new job here in Southern California on July 2nd, but the family hasn't here yet. So I will hopefully be flying to the state they live in currently for about a week, this week or next. You might've connected the dots, but I need to get my ducks in a row and get another car before then. My job is pretty car away from where I live, so it's not possible for me to be without a car.

xoxo.

Nanny Life; Tips When Hiring

Because I feel the need to edu-ma-cate all you parents out there that are/ will be hiring a nanny at some point. (:

1. Don't lowball us. Yes, we are aware that there are "caretakers" out there that charge like $25 per day. Did you find them on Craigslist? Mhm. Please know that we are professionals and this is our career. There's a reason we charge a large hourly rate, we know what were doing and we good at our jobs, not to mention we're educated. Most of us continue our eduction constantly and take a few classes a year. Don't act shocked when a nanny you're interviewing is asking $15+ per hour. There are tax and minimum wage laws that we abide by. Look into it before you decide to hire.

2. If you interview a lot of us, let each nanny know their status. If they weren't hired, call them and tell them and explain why. It doesn't have to be full of detail, but those things parents tell us help us grow and become more marketable in the future...

3. As for the nanny you decided to hire: extend an employment offer in writing. Make two copies, one for you and one for her. That way there's no guessing if she's for sure going to work for you and so she knows she's off the market. Do it as soon as you decide.

4. Get a work agreement, before your nannies first day. It's a legally binding document that protects all parties involved and includes all details of your arrangement. There are free ones if you know where to look, but I don't think I'm allowed to tell you. Do your research. ;) You can also find one you pay for, or have your lawyer draft one for you. Once again, two copies.

5. Career full-time nannies often require that you give paid vacation, sick days and personal days. You get those at your job right? Right. We spend 8-12 hours a day with your kids. We deserve breaks too. The standard is two weeks vacation that we use whenever we want (you can't force us to vacation when you vacation, its illegal), five paid sick days and two to three paid personal days per year.

6. Be open to it all when you decide to hire. I've seen it countless times where people put that they ONLY want someone over the age of twenty-five. Don't limit yourself only due to age. I'm twenty-one and have been a nanny since I was eighteen! I went from being a swim teacher, to working 35+ hours a week with three kids. Yes, this is my career & yes, I take my job very seriously. Nannies are like case-by-case situations, we're all different.

7. If you want your nanny to have TDAP and Flu vaccinations, make it be known. Whether you post an ad or work with an agency, we want to know this stuff before we even think about accepting a position.

I'm going to make this a series, so stay turned. ;)

Toodles!

Friday's Letters; A Link-Up.

Todays link up with Ashley at Adventures of Newlyweds...Friday's Letters! Like you couldn't tell from the title. Duh, Elise.

 Dear June Gloom- Goo awaaay. I like sun. Sun and summer go hand in hand. We had all of fall and winter to do this little dance.

Dear Neighbors- The fact that your Chihuahua barks 24/7 and you don't bother to take him inside makes me SO angry with you. I'm not the only one whose taken notice and is bothered by it. If you don't want to make your dog a part of the family, don't get one. Simple as that. I tried to go over to ask you very kindly to take your dog inside last night...
You weren't home. It's beyond me being nice, now. I will call Animal Control on you, again.
Also, I fed your dog cheese through the gate.

Dear Boyfriend- I hope the pork chops I'm making for dinner are good. Oma is helping me, so they should go well, but I'm still a little bit nervous. I love you.

Dear Texan Family- I can't wait to see y'all at Christmas, it's been way too long and I miss you SO MUCH. Hopefully I can convince a certain someone to come with me this year. (: I can't wait to explore San Antonio with you. A, I'm so proud of you. Welcome to real life. I love you guys!

Dear Self- You're awesome. Be patient. Good things come to those who wait. You've been blogging nearly every day just because you have the time. I'm so glad you're staying consistent. Now go read the book you said you were going to finish yesterday.

Sleep Update- I feel asleep at 12:40a! Still a work in progress, but definitely an improvement. I've been falling asleep watching Netflix, as I don't have cable or a TV in my room, but last night I fell asleep in silence. I think the change is what I needed and I'm going to start reading at least thirty minutes before bed.

Peace out, beauties.

When Sleep Won't Come...Blog.

It's 6:00am PST, and I'm still awake. As in, haven't slept a wink all night.
I'm BORED. My body and mind just aren't tired because I don't do anything all day long.

I finally decided just to get up for the day at 5:20a, in the hopes that I'll be tired tonight and will fall asleep at a normal time. Y'all probably don't know, but I've been battling sleep issues for a while now. I don't normally schedule blog posts to go up, so if theres a time stamp, I was really awake at that time. I've been falling asleep around 2-3a pretty consistently, unless I'm SUPER tired, for a few months. But for the past three days, I've been awake until 4-5am. This needs to be fixed, like now. If you have any natural remedies or suggestions, please do share!

So today, I'm going to try to accomplish quite a few things in order to keep my body and mind active.
I've already made my bed and put away some clean clothes that got washed a few days ago. I'm also going to hang a few things on my walls, try to move a desk outside by myself, finish Delirium and start another book I have. I also need to run a few errands, including going to Michael's and the post office.

I can already feel myself getting sleepy. Need to make it through!

xoxo.

No Pharaoh's- Say What?

Alas, we did not end up going to Pharaoh's Water Park as originally planned. Sometimes the opportunity for over-time work comes up and lets face it, I don't know anyone who would say no to extra money.

Instead, being the native Southern Californian's we are...
We took advantage of the fact that my dad works for Walt Disney Company...

& went to California Adventure! :o) Behold, pictures from our day.

First thing we do when we get there? Ice cream. My man has a deep love of all things chocolate.

Why yes, I do know where the cameras are on all the rides. ;)

Then we draw characters. The only one of mine worthy enough for public viewing...

*Please excuse my lack of editing and all that jazz. I don't have a real camera or photo editing software. It's a work in progress. I can't use Photoshop for crap and don't know what else is out there.

We did spent nine hours walking around in the sun, so I did end up with a bit of a sunglass tan. That picture is on Instagram. I'll save you the repost, tab is above! (: Also, y'all forgot to bust my ass for forgetting Seven Questions Sunday. I'm trying to get onto some kind of schedule, but don't want to overwhelm myself when I start working again. I don't know how much will be too much to handle with working 45-50 hours a week starting hopefully in the near future!

xoxo.

Friday's Letters

Howdy folks! (:

Pretend it's still Friday. My day consisted of an interview, a four hour pain induced nap, getting my nails & eyebrows done, and a date with J. From now on, my Friday posts will consist of Friday's Letters, a link-up with Ashley over at Adventures of Newlyweds.

Dear Parents Looking For Nannies; please take into consideration the nannies that you decide not to hire. Please remember that they're probably jobless and need something as soon as possible. If you could let them know that you hired someone, even if it wasn't them, that'd be great. No one likes to be left hanging. Right?
Dear J; Thank you for our out of the ordinary date night. Skipping the movies for something new was FUN. Take note that I will master "Extreme Hunting" one day...and be better than you. (:
Dear Friends; I love y'all. I love that Key is texting me accounts of her night out as I write this blog post. I can't wait to visit you and meet Mel and Gus and Sissy. I'm so excited and we haven't even planned my trip yet.
Dear Summer Sun; I'm spending the day at Pharaoh's Water Park tomorrow. Even though my skin will be protected, if I forget to re-apply, be kind to my skin. Remember, "tan not burn". Mmkay? I'll be the only in the lazy river. I don't do water slides.

Head on over to Ashley's link (above) and add your info to the list. If you have Instagram, take a picture of your post and tag it #fridaysletters, so we can connect there, too.

Happy Weekend! Stay safe. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! 

EV is over & out. 

<3