The Pros and Cons of Being a Working Woman

Now you have to understand that this list is from the point of view of someone who previously didn’t work for cough*her entire life*cough and is now a full time nanny. If you’re a little slow to the pick up, that someone is me. Your pros and cons list might be extremely different from mine. And probably way better too. Because everyone thinks they’re so frickin’ great these days.

Pro: I get to play and be silly.

Con: I have to wake up at an hour where playing and being silly is the equivalent to death.

Pro: Kids are super honest and you always know where you stand with them.

Con: I’d rather not know.

Pro: I don’t have to get dressed up.

Con: I don’t have to get dressed up 😦

Pro: I meet lots of fun kids every day.

Con: Fun kids can be flu carriers. Not fun.

Pro: I get to eat like a kid!

Con: I have to walk like a kid.

Pro: I don’t really have to work out because I’m on my feet all day.

Con: When I come home I want to murder everyone.

Pro: I make my own money!

Con: I have to spend my own money 😦

What’s the best thing about your job? What’s the worst?

Doing Nothing Is Actually Something

I’ve had a great life. I don’t let things stress me out too much. I didn’t struggle in school and I’ve never had pressure to get a job. Often times, my friends would question my lifestyle, not able to comprehend it’s luxury. So wait, what do you do all day? I would get asked during summer vacation. You don’t have a job? Do you ever get bored?

I can’t explain to you the amount of people that would ask me these questions. Adults, teenagers, even the kids I babysat knew something was weird. I thought you were a grown-up. Grownups have jobs. Grownups also don’t have to babysit children, but look, here I am.

I would try to come up with things in my head, spitting out unimportant errands that I ran, trying to prove that I was doing something of worth while I wasn’t working. I put pressure on myself. Come on, sound impressive. Make excuses. Say you applied for jobs but no one was hiring. Something. ANYTHING.

I felt embarrassed to have free time. Any time I relaxed I felt a pang of guilt. People my age were on their feet working and I was tanning outside and then taking a nap.

However, in my mind, the embarrassment of being unemployed wasn’t half as bad as actually being employed. Trying to come up with activities that I did during the day surely wasn’t as painful as having to be somewhere and do work.

I never could understand the people who would work all day and then go out with their friends afterwards. Where is their energy coming from? Why are these people punishing themselves? But that’s how everyone was. No one had a similar situation to mine.

Moving to Canada kept me in the same situation. I didn’t have a work visa so I couldn’t actually get a proper job. I still volunteer twice a week and babysit occasionally, but I have lots of free time. Time to read and go online and play video games. Time to go on walks and bake and window shop. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I don’t think I’m wasting my life by enjoying myself. I’m just one of the lucky ones. I’m no longer going to feel embarrassed for having something that people wished they had.

Forever Young

It’s official. I’ve been married for one whole year today. I feel so old when I tell people it’s my anniversary. Not that I’ve told anyone besides my own reflection in the mirror, but still. My reflection gave me a look that was like, “sick you’re so old.” It was hurtful.

I’ve realized that I am getting older though. Maybe not wiser, but definitely older. There are a couple of things I’ve noticed that I do now that old people do ( Old= 45 and up. Sorry, I don’t make the rules).

• I watch HGTV. Home and Garden Network, for those of you who don’t know what’s up. I’ve taken an interest in fixing up houses, decorating, buying property, etc. Meanwhile, I’ve never paid a bill in my life and I literally don’t know how mortgages work. I find that watching HGTV makes me feel a little more knowledgeable when it comes to buying a house…some day.

• I wear my glasses a lot. I’ve had glasses since I was in 1st grade. I never felt pretty when I had glasses on. In high school I barely ever wore my glasses even though my optometrist said I would get a lazy eye if I didn’t wear them. I decided it was worth the risk. My thought process was “I’d rather have a lazy eye than wear glasses.” Normal. Now I wear my glasses all the time. I might as well invest in one of those sweet bands that hooks onto the ends of glasses so they can act as a necklace when they’re not on my face. So stylish.
  

  Look out for these on the runway. Fall 2012.

• I get allergies. I guess I had allergies when I was young too, but I just never acknowledged them. This summer I sneezed a total of 28,000 times. I counted. It was so annoying. I took every pill possible to cure my allergies, but nothing worked. Until I came across some nasal spray. How embarrassing is that? I have nasal spray. My husband kindly wrote is initials on his spray so that ours wouldn’t get mixed up. He wrote “butt spray” on mine.

• I have insoles in my shoes. Like some kind of retiree, I walk around with insoles because one of my toes has a neuroma in it. Sounds fun right? It’s like a tumor in my toe, but not really because it’s not cancerous. It’s just this mass that makes my toe hurt or feel numb. Isn’t my life great? How did I get so lucky to have a neuroma in my foot? It’s like all my dreams have come true.

But don’t worry. There are still parts of me that have remained child-like and carefree.

• I’m the worst at eating healthy. When I’m by myself I’ll eat pizza for lunch and popcorn for dinner. I love eating popsicles and chicken nuggets. Ramen noodles make my world go round. And I wouldn’t be happy unless I had a jar of Nutella in my pantry at all times.

• I play video games daily. Not games like Halo or Grand Theft Auto. Mario Games, Crazy Taxi, games for N64 and Wii. One of my favorite things to do is to curl up on the couch and play video games and listen to music. I’ve been doing this since the 4th grade.

• I love going to Disney World. It’s honestly one of my favorite places on earth. And I’ve been to a lot of places on earth, so take it from me. It was fun for me when I was 6, and it’s still fun for me even though I’m almost 25.

• I still swing on the swings at parks. Whenever I walk past a park, or go to a jungle gym with the kids I babysit, I make sure that I hit up the swings at least once. Swinging is just so fun. I still jump off the swings in mid-air too. Like a pro.

I guess, technically, I’m getting older.  But it makes me happy that I still keep myself young by doing all the stupid stuff that I did when I was younger. I’m still the same old gal, havin’ fun and livin’ life.

Adventures in Babysitting

I’ve babysat a lot in the past 8 years. It’s the perfect job when you think about it. You get to make up your own schedule, taxes don’t get taken out of your money, and you get to play and watch movies most of the time. However, there have been moments in my career where I’ve been a less than perfect care-taker. But that was in the beginning–when I was younger and didn’t really know what I was doing. Now I think of myself as some sort of babysitting professional.

I’m going to explain this post beforehand as to avoid any confusion for those of you who don’t understand what I’m trying to do here. Lately on tumblr, people have been using gifs (the moving pictures…for those of you behind the times) to describe how they’re feeling. I’ve peppered some of my older posts with them, but today I’m going to use gifs and pictures as the anchor of the post. Enjoy.

When I arrive at the house:

When the kids would ask me if they could have some of my gum:

When I would have to burp a baby after feeding it:

When I would look at the clock and it would only be 11am:

When the kids would ask to play tag:

When I had to make lunch:

When we finished watching Monster’s Inc.:

When I looked for something delicious in the family’s pantry:

When the kids tell me they’re allowed to have soda:

If one of my friends babysits with me:

When I give the kids a treat:

When I pop in a third movie:

When someone asks me how my day was:

At night:

Awards!

I’ve been nominated for more awards! Can you guys believe how great I am? Me either! I’ve been terrible at following up on the acceptance part of the virtual awards. It’s not that I’m not grateful, because I totally am! It’s just that I always second guess everything! I look to see if other people have accepted them, and if they don’t, I just wait for the proper time. But now, I don’t care. I’m proud of my little blog, and the greatness it’s achieved!

I was awarded The Versatile Blogger Award from Adamsdaughter, I’ll Sleep When They’re Grown, and Random Female Blogger (or No Blog Intended). Each of these ladies makes me laugh or teaches me something on a daily basis. Seriously check them out if you haven’t already done so!

I’ll Sleep When They’re Grown also nominated me for the Tell Me About Yourself Award. The rules to both awards are pretty much identical. Here they are:

1. Thank the person/people who gave you the award.

2. Reveal 7 things about yourself (I recently wrote 10 things about myself, but I GUESS I could find more things to share..).

3. Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers. Let them know that they’re awarded!

About Moi:

1. Colin Hanks recently tweeted me back. Having a twitter account is now worth it.

2. I have a younger bro who’s almost done with college. He’s one of the funniest/strangest people that I know.

3. I’ve never actually had a real job. I’ve only ever babysat or volunteered. Babysitting is such good, tax-free money that it’s hard to resist.

4. I have a degree in History. I literally forget everything I’ve learned though. Seriously, its so embarrassing.

5. In the Chinese Zodiac I’m a Fire Rabbit. I’m a Fire Cat in the Vietnamese version. My astrological sign is Libra.

6. I’m 24 and married. My husband is 30. I would say our maturity levels meet at age 27. Does that make sense?

7. I’m not afraid to leave the house without makeup on. Actually, I prefer it.

Those awarded for both awards (in no particular order) :

Mooselicker

Michael Cargill

Adair You

Becoming Bitter

Evolution of Insanity

Brunch for Every Meal

You’ve Been Hooked

Guapola

Fyeahandroidtomato

Annndd yeah. That’s all the friends I have on here…! Tell me if I forgot about you!