December 03, 2002 - 9:06 a.m.

You know you're too invested as a nanny when:

- you have a nightmare that one of the kids has run out into a street and you wake up shouting his name.

- you feel guilty when the child's teacher tells you about some misbehavior at school.

- you spend more time figuring out what to have the kids make their parents for Christmas than you do figuring out what to get your OWN parents.

Every item in the list above has happened to me. Sheesh, I knew I was dedicated, but maybe I need to get a life! Speaking of, I have been looking into auditioning for community theater productions, and I need to check on the audition times. Last time I checked, I saw productions of Sweet Charity and Cabaret. I know almost nothing about either one, but I figure I don't care all that much. I just want to get back into singing and performing again. I really miss it! It's all kind of a pain, though. I have to prepare a song, which means (being the perfectionist that I am) I will agonize over what song will highlight my abilities best but also not be too common or too obscure, and then I have to find the sheet music. With my luck, the song I pick after hours of deliberation will be one I can't find music for. Well, I guess until I check the schedule of auditions and find out exactly what I need to prepare I am putting the cart before the horse!

Today's nanny challenge (continued from yesterday, actually) is carting all three kids around without the luxury of the mini-van. See, the garage door opener decided to derail itself, and the garage door isn't working. Said door is closed, so there is no way to get the van out of the garage. So, we have to pack three children, all in booster seats, into the back seat of the Jeep Grand Cherokee that I usually drive in my off hours. I know what you are thinking, it's an SUV, it can't be that bad! You are wrong. It's an SUV, but a smaller one, and the back seat is barely wide enough for the three boosters, and then you have to deal with buckling the seat belts in between the booster seats. This usually requires shimmying the seats around a bit (with the children in them, of course, because buckling in an empty seat defeats the purpose, now doesn't it?), me having to half climb into the back seat, elbowing the child in the face a couple times, and trying not to curse, before the seat belt finally ends up buckled. Plus, due to the varying schools and schedules of the kids, we have two different drop offs in the morning, and three separate pick ups in the afternoon. And no one can come fix the stinking garage door until FRIDAY!!!! And to top it all off, it snowed last night, so the Jeep had to be cleaned off this morning, and the library books are due today, so we have to actually go out besides the usual trips to and from school... Ugh. I think I will kiss the steering wheel of the minivan when I finally get to drive it again!!!!

today's project: trip to the library (probably some Hanukkah books)

�

flutter back - fly ahead