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They aren’t very durable but they are comfy.  It’s also fun to say, “HEY LOOK!  I made these shoes myself out of duct tape!”

Along with the nifty duct tape shoes, I found an insane number of pens, pencils, markers, and crayons.  I noticed some were Harry Potter Scented Markers which would mean they were probably from 6th grade.  So what did that mean?  MARKER TESTING TIME!  I was lacking ideas of crafts to start and figured coloring would be a great way to begin my crafting.

It was fun, and a majority of those 6th grade markers do, in fact, work.

Since then I’ve been trying chain maille, homemade cheese fondue, duct tape flower bouquets , making my own jewelry, and these will someday turn into a really cool basket made of newspaper.  (Click here for instructions on how to do it yourself!)

Stay tuned for more creative craftiness from yours truly!







P. S. Got a craft idea to share with me?  I’d LOVE to hear it via comment/email!

After the party I decided that I wanted to keep the decorations and fancy dollar store attire in case I ever decided to throw another luau.  I spent a little too much on everything to just throw/give it away.

My life and possessions are a semi-organized mess right now and I recently noticed there was a straw hat sitting on a DVD rack.  But there was something else interacting with the hat…my cat.  Her name is Piper and she hates you.  She is very anti-stranger though, so don’t take it personally.  So what was Piper doing with it you ask?  Why she was EATING IT of course!

Um, gross?

So deciding that I didn’t want to be the one discovering the straw infested pile of cat vomit, I shushed her away and told her no.

Maybe straw=addictive for cats?

She couldn’t resist!  She hopped right back up there and started gnawing away on it again!

After several more attempts of shushing, I realized how cute/strange/slightly obnoxious this situation was.  So what did I do?  I took the hat, put it on the bed, and photographed her nibbling the hat.

Piper and her fine dining experience.

I can hear exactly what the boy toy would say to this post:

“See hon?  We don’t even need to have kids!  We have Piper to annoy us and chew on things she’s not supposed to!”

]]> http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/straw-hats-are-delicious/feed/ 0 PeasAndCoos IMG_0680 4DF5F3D24E40AF24323D6CAA82680171 http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/moving-and-mother-in-laws/ http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/moving-and-mother-in-laws/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:39:41 +0000 PeasAndCoos http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/?p=103 ]]>

The big move is OVER!

All of our junk crap valuables stuff was shoved into a UHaul and taken off to the wonderful paradise of:

…my fiancé’s mom’s home.

(Note: I think if this blog post were a horror movie, NOW would be the time where someone important would cue scary music.)

It’s the first move, and it’s not permanent.  Our lease expired June 30th (The apartment complex wouldn’t allow us to add one more month…ugh!) and the new place we’ll be getting won’t be ready until mid-July/August 1st.  So, with an extra month between leases, we’ll be keeping good ‘ole MIL company.

It’s not all that bad I suppose.  I mean, I definitely don’t mind sharing a twin bed with Mike.  Cozy, right?  And the lack of privacy?  That’s nothing!  Just because we’re sharing a room with Mike’s twin brother and his girlfriend doesn’t mean we won’t get alone time!  Of course, I never mind if his mother decides to come in the room right after I drift off to sleep and try to discuss things with me.  Ask me a million times if I mind that the next month of my life will be spent wondering which random person put what random possession of mine where.  I betcha I’ll tell you I don’t mind at all.  Oh, and if the MIL ends up taking my luggage on a biking trip, using all my shampoo and conditioner, and nabbing a few of my shirts in the process…

I’ll just love it.

P.S. I do hope you’re all getting to know me well enough to notice this post was dripping with sarcasm.  For those who didn’t notice, check your feet.  There may be a puddle of dripped sarcasm by your feet.

First off, there’s Missa.  Her name is actually Melissa but when she was a very itty bitty wee one she couldn’t pronounce “Melissa” and it came out “Missa”.  The name stuck.  She’s nine years old with an attitude of a 14 year old, but I love her.

Then, meet Sam.  Full name: Samuel.  He is (believe it or not) a boy.  I give him props.  It’s his choice how long he wants his hair.  He knows people call him a girl.  And yet, he doesn’t care.  What an amazing kid that he can have so much confidence at only seven years old.

Last is Kenna.  Her full name is Makenna.  It’s spelled that way because my mother didn’t want to name her child “McKenna” and have people thinking of various McDonald’s food items.  She’s a peanut.  Probably the smallest five year old I’ve ever seen.  She’s the only one of my siblings that even looks a tad bit like me.  I can tell her personality is going to be a lot like mine too.  Good thing?  Bad thing?  Hm…

ANYWAY.

We started off the night decorating shirts (as you saw in the pictures above) with puff paint.  Tons and tons of puff paint.  Then came the flip flops!  We had ribbon, feather boas, rhinestones, and foam cut outs to decorate our plain, solid-colored flip flops.  The feather boas were a hit and I tied little bows out of ribbons to put in the center.  (Sam didn’t participate in this too much but he did take it upon himself to grab some markers and color a white pair of flip flops with scribbles.  Yes, he wears them.  Yes, they make his feet colorful.  Yes, he loves it.)

Kenna, Missa’s friend Courtney, and Missa
decorating shoes.

Then it was time to set the crafts aside and have Sam become my little helper.  He helped me prepare the foot soaks, grab wet washcloths, and his favorite part?  Getting to use my camera and video camera to take pictures and video of whatever he wanted.  Ahhhhh, yes.  Nothing like blurry pictures of a puff paint stain on the carpet and another picture of a lamp to take up space on my computer.  But what do I know?  Maybe he’ll become a famous photographer someday and these will be a few of his famous photos?

Getting back on track, the real spa part of the spa party!

The girls soaking their feet in a relaxing foot soak with facial
masks and steaming washcloths on their faces.

What pampered little princesses!  This post here is the reason I sometimes wish I had an older sister.  Although, it makes me feel pretty awesome to be known as the coolest big sister in the world (heehee).

I massaged them, scrubbed the dead skin off their feet, trimmed/filed their nails and I think the girls were very excited about the end product.

All done!  The toe spacers were too big for Kenna and she
was a little sad.  Pink with a purple french tip
and a glitter topcoat of course!

All in all, it was a very fun evening.  They got to stay up WAY too late but it was fun.  The night ended with lotsa popcorn and giggles.  :)

Also: did anyone notice all the girls had matching boxers?  I got all of us (including me!) some cheap-o boxers to match our decorated shirts.

]]> http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/91/feed/ 0 PeasAndCoos P6140445 P6140462 P6140494 4DF5F3D24E40AF24323D6CAA82680171 http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/dogs-love-poop/ http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/dogs-love-poop/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:17:58 +0000 PeasAndCoos http://peasandcoos.wordpress.com/?p=89 ]]> Found this post from December 13th, 2008.  I had been working at the daycare for about a month and had just started nannying for the family I just said goodbye to.  Here’s a little story about dogs, poop, and the joys of being a childcare worker!

So I was watching children today and I’ve been helping to potty train this little boy. He’ll pee in his potty, but that’s it. So I was watching him and he’s playing on the computer in the other room. I frequently poke my head in and asked him if he needs to use the potty but he just replies “nodankou!” I put his little brother down for a nap and decided I should check on the other boy again. I walk in and ask if he has to use the potty and he says yes! Oh yay, I am thrilled!

…

*sniff*

I think what he meant was that he already went? He gets up from his chair and I take one look at his pants.

Ugh.

So I take him upstairs to the changing area of the home and tell him to stay standing. I didn’t want to just leave poopy clothes in the poor family’s hamper so I decided to go get a bag. I told the boy to wait right there and not move (something he’s perfectly capable of doing). I get halfway up the stairs and he’s relocated to the top of the stairs, pants down, laying on his stomach. He mumbled something about laying down to help me. While adorable, caused much more mess. Because he pulled his pants down it got all over his legs. But then I look at the carpet and see poop all over the carpet. He had it on his socks! I have no idea how it got onto his socks, and there was quite a large amount on them.

I tell him to get up and walk back to the changing station. We undress him and I decide this will be easier if he leans over a chair.

Now let’s pause this story to add a little detail.

This family has a dog. Very old, very obnoxious. It follows you everywhere and doesn’t care what you’re doing-it will sit on you. Oh, you’re holding a baby? That’s okay! I’ll just sit on the baby too! I hate this dog. It does nothing but get in the way.

Let’s resume the story now, shall we?

So I’m wiping off the kid. He’s got poop all over his back and butt. Yeah, it’s messy but I don’t mind it too much. All in a days work.

But wait, why did I bring up the dog?

Guess who comes up and decides they’re going to be loveydovey? That’s right, the dog. I stand up to get another wipe, turn back around towards the kid, and see the dog. Oh so delightfully licking the kids butt.

EW.

Now the boy has this look on his face like “no no doggy, please stop licking me” which made me glad that he didn’t freak out or something. (I would freak out if a dog started licking my ass! Um, excuse me? NO.) So I’m trying to push this dog away and it does not care. I shove it (fairly hard) after a while and it won’t go away! So gross and so annoying!!! Finally I push it and get in it’s way too much. The dog started sniffing around and realized it could just lick the carpet. Um, yay?

So that was my eventful story. I’m doing quite well today. I’m getting a cold which makes this the 4th sickness I’ve gotten since working at the daycare. Erg. I’ve only been working there a month! Gee I love kids

I recently had my last day as a nanny for a family.  I knew this day was coming as the mother is a school teacher and won’t need care during the summer, but I didn’t think it would be so sad!  The boys were 1 and 3, and there was also an older boy (age 12) that I didn’t watch but got to know a bit.

I think the hardest part was leaving the 1 year old.  I started watching them when he was 10 months and saw him start to take his first steps.  I made his first birthday cake.  I sang him to sleep when he was sick.  I gritted my teeth while his were (painfully) coming in.  I saw him go from a crawling infant to a walking, almost talking toddler.  It’s bittersweet.  We both impacted each others lives so much, but he won’t even remember me.

I can’t spend time being sad about it.  I need to be grateful and happy that I worked for such a great family and received valuable experience as well as lifetime friends.

Why do I hate Wednesdays?

Because they just exist.  There they are.  Right smack dab in the middle.  I can’t remember a time when I felt especially excited for a Wednesday or was relieved it was a Wednesday.  Let me explain it like this:

Monday. You’re probably thinking, “GUHHH Monday.”  But that’s the point.  Mondays take one for the team!  Mondays are the days that are like, “hey man, some day has to be the one where people have to get back to their weekly lives.”  You’ve gotta get up on Monday.  You have to get back to what you do.  It’s just…Monday.  And it has to exist and push our asses into the week.

Tuesday.  Alright, I think I’m getting the hang of this.  Monday is over with (such a relief) and we’re moving on with the week.  I’m thinking I can do this.

Thursday.  ”Tomorrow is Friday” is most likely the only thought that goes through your mind.  Perhaps you’re thinking of how great it is that you’ve made it (almost) through the week and it’s almost the weekend/pay day.

Friday.  Do I need to explain?  It’s the weekend!  Pay day, last day of the work week, and I don’t know about most people but I always get a really good vibe on Fridays.  Just the excitement that you made it through another week and have gotten to the weekend is GREAT.

Saturday.  Sleep in, stay up late.  Do whatever.  Day off.

Sunday.  Sleep in.  Rest, relax, do whatever again!  A bit of a nagging feeling of dread for Monday, but you know it has to come sooner or later.

Notice I skipped Wednesday.  We’ll get to that now.  What’s the use?  You’re kindasorta through the week and you’re kindasorta closer to the weekend but it’s nothing to be excited or happy about.  Wednesdays just exist, and that is why I hate them.  Plus, what a stupid day to have off!  I would MUCH prefer to have a Monday or Friday off.  That would be nice.

Oh well, stupid and random post but it does make sense.  Anyone else share my hate of Wednesdays?

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their:

1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.

Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.  Enjoy it, because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

To discover how the nights will feel:

1. Walk around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10PM, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years.

Look cheerful.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? To find out:

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this: all morning.

Lesson 6

1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs.
4. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Lesson 7

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the cassette player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

There. Perfect.

Lesson 8

1. Get ready to go out.
2. Wait outside the bathroom for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again.  Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the road for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.

You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9

Repeat everything at least, if not more than, five times.

Lesson 10

Go to the local grocery store.  Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child.  (A full- grown goat is excellent).  If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat.

Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine-month old baby.

Lesson 12

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street, Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon.  Watch nothing else on TV for at least five years.

Lesson 13

Move to the tropics.  Find or make a compost pile.  Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it.  Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying “mommy” repeatedly.  (Important: no more than a four second delay between each “mommy”; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required).  Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years.

You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the “mommy” tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

(Author Unknown, but they must have had kids.)

Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you’ll need when you become a parent.

So what’s new in Nici’s Nannying News?  (Maybe I won’t use that little title of mine anymore.  It’s a bit obnoxious.)

I’m still learning and exploring wordpress.  So far I likes.

I worked at the daycare yesterday which was a fairly good time.  I admit that I’ll end up coming home in a bad mood after working at the daycare because the last hour is usually filled with mass quantities of screaming and fussing for moms and dads.  Let’s do the math.  8 kids, 16 moms and dads, add a couple grandparents, carry the 7, divide by 2…yep!  That’s a lot of noise.

Let’s talk about being a mom.  Something I’ve wanted to do forever, even at such a young age.  I feel telling people about it will make them think I’m crazy but let’s face it, they’re probably right.  (Haha…)  I can understand the negatives on hearing that a 19 year old wants to have a child.  Look at our economy, and look at most* of the 19 year old moms that are out there.  It’s hard for me personally because this is all I’ve wanted.  I want my JOB to be a stay at home mom.  Maybe I’ll run an in-home daycare of my own, maybe I’ll work a day or evening to bring in some form of income.  But that’s what I want to do with my life.  Having oodles (very mathematical lingo for “a lot”) of people telling you you’re wrong and you can’t?  Well, it sucks.  I can’t prepare myself any more for becoming a mother.  There aren’t any college courses or internships for “Mommies: 101″.  I believe I’m fully prepared and whatever else I have to learn I’ll be learning as I go.  Because that’s how parenting is.  No manuals, no guides.  Just learning as you go.  So while most of my friends are going to college and preparing themselves for their future careers, I’m stuck waiting.  Waiting until finances are set, waiting until my fiance says he’s ready as well.  I don’t think a lot of people understand how difficult it is to have other people in control of your dreams.  It’s something I haven’t quite come to terms with yet, but I’m getting there.

I hope people don’t take this the wrong way and think I don’t enjoy being a nanny/childcare provider.  I do!  It’s so awesome to be involved in 20+ different kid’s lives and help them learn and grow.  I just wish that I could reach my BIG goal sooner rather than later.  Nannying is a great thing to do in the meantime (which, duh, is why I’m doing it.)

*Disclaimer: I do not wish to offend anyone by the statements made about 19 year old moms.  Odds are, you aren’t offended and probably don’t care, but I’m just talking about the stereotypes I suppose.  Whatever, you get it!