zoo keeping

Wednesday afternoon I was in the sports store trying on some swim suits to wear at the ocean swim, when I got a call from an unknown number. I answered it to a lady saying she found my profile on nannies4hire and that since I had my phone number posted she would call me and see if I could help her out. She lives 1/2 hour from where I live in Kailua, but only about 10 minutes from my boyfriend, Jamie, so I know the area. She said she has two little kids and she is moving on Wednesday the following week..and her nanny just stopped showing up to work the past few days and she needed help. She said her girls were 3 and 5 and that she would need my help for 6 days straight.

My boss is on maternity leave right now because she just had a baby, and I have been helping her for about 2-3 hours a day for the last week. Other than those hours I have not been working at all. I figured this is the best time for me and for my employers for me to take a week off and help this poor woman, right? Well I explain to the lady that as long as I can work the wednesday she leaves for the family I live with that I think I should be able to help her out. She goes "Oh thank you! I'm sorry I think I'll only be able to pay you $1000..." She may have said something else but I was stunned and didn't hear it. Did she say 1000 dollars? In a week? Sign me up!

I drove home to ask Wendi, my employer, if she would be okay for the next week and explained the situation to her. She said she would think about it. She asked my Boss, and after a few hours they came and talked to me. Turns out they were offended, and they practically told me that if I took the job that they wouldn't need my help anymore except on Wendesdays, and that they would only pay me 8 an hour on Wednesday. They will still let me live with them and use their car and eat their food until I leave and their new nanny shows up.

(I was already planning on moving- which my my decision, not theirs- so its not like I was fired, its just that now they were kinda getting the ball rolling on hiring a new nanny since I was going to need this week off to help the lady. I am also going to need the next week off because my SISTER IS COMING TO HAWAII! I can't wait to see her. But its a week away, and that week is going to creep by.

So Wednesday night i drive over to Hawaii Kai to meet the lady and her kids. I find their house and walk in, its REALLY fancy. I talk to the mom, who looks really young to me, and later she tells me she is 31, so only a year older than Jamie- no wonder she looks so young to me. Well we sat and talked and while we talked her daughters who are very cute little girls were giggling and running around showing off. They also managed to make a huge mess in about 2 minutes in whatever room we were in. I could tell I would be doing a lot of cleaning during the next six days.

Thursday. I show up to work at 8 o'clock and the girls are just waking up. They are both tired, and I start trying to talk to them. The mother doesn't tell me anything to do. She just goes and sits at her computer and works. I decided to try and get the girls to notice me and realize that I was in charge so I started trying to get them dressed and ready for the day. The three year old just starts screaming and pulling away from me and trying to run to her mom. Well I know its my job to keep t he girls happy and entertained but this girl was throwing a major fit! finally the mom comes in and aks the girl what she wants for breakfast, and she says " I WANT PIZZA!" so the mom laughs and reaches into the fridge and pulls out pizza. The girls eat pizza for breakfast. Instantlly I think "NO! DON'T GIVE THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT!" but I dont say anything, in case this is just a one time thing. The rest of the day just creeps by. Both girls are spoiled brats and throw fits, but will randomly be really cute and sweet. Probably how they charm their mom into continuing to spoil the living daylights out of them.

Friday. Theta, the oldest, wants to play with her friends all the time, and the younger girl wantes to tear up the house. Somehow I have to keep an eye on both of them, though Theta is outside and Kaia is inside. I have to keep trying to manipulate the younger into "wanting" to be outside but she just says "You're not my friend! You get out of my house!" and stuff like that. Theta's friend Haley comes over to play and while we are on our walk to get her Theta tells me "If you dont carry my shoes for me I am going to stab you. My aunt is going to come here and kill you with a knife" I am floored. How did this little girl learn to talk like this?! That is SO violent for a 6 year old! And to say to someone for something so small. I try and put her in timeout which leads to crying and more death threats and I basically just want to push her on the ground and get in my car and go home. This is going to be a LONG week. I NEVER hate kids, usually even bratty ones- but I feel little to no emotion or need to be liked by these children. I just have to get through the next five days and try to keep them safe and happy until I can get paid.

Saturday. SURPRISE! Theta is having a birthday party! I think this will be fun and maybe I will get some time off since there will be moms here and Theta's mom wont be working. NOPE. The mom comes and finds me hours before the party starts and says "I need your help. My cleaners cancelled on me and I have to go shopping. Will you clean my house?" Can I say no? I instantly snap into i-love-doing-work-that-you-should-do-youself-for-no-extra-pay mode and say "OH, yeah! Go shop, I'll clean up!" She says she'll take the youngest girl, and instantly I'm happier. The less time with that little devil the better. While she is gone i put a movie on for Theta and clean the house inside and out top to bottom. It looks really good considering I dont know where anything goes. It takes me two hours. Theta's movie ends and her guests start arriving and still mom is not home. I try and entertain her guests and their moms for a while and then Theta's mom shows up. Soon guests are coming in and out. All of these kids are very rich, and VERY spoiled. They are all used to getting whatever they want, which is obvious by the complete lack of sharing and temper tantrums every few minutes. I dont know how I got myself here, but I am thinking $1000 is just not enough. Too bad I already agreed to stay through next Tueday! Aah! Kill me. During the actual party I am running around like a mad woman trying to make sure the little kids are not drowning in the pool, and the older kids aren't painting on the house ( they were) and that I can clean a bit here and there. The dog keeps barking out of control at the kids in the pool and I have to keep telling her to be quiet. It doesn't take long and the neighbor yells out the window and curses saying we need to shut the dog up and we are idiots because dogs aren't hard to control. haha! What a nut! He was old and not wearing a shirt and he left his window open. If you dont want to hear the dog shut the window right? haha!

Well after about 6 hours of entertaining and scolding and dealing with a party of animals and their non-helpful parents its time to go inside and get ready for bed. Well I get the kids inside and in their PJ's and set them up with a movie, kids are running everywhere and like 1 kid is payng attention to the movie. I want to pull my hair out and the doorbell rings, dog starts barking like crazy and runs at the door. I open the door and there is a cop standing there. (GREAT! haha! Am I on camera? seriously!) He asks if he can talk to me and I stall him saying its not my house or my dog. All the little kids come around the corner to see why there is a cop here. (Who calls the cop on a 5 year old party?!?!f HAHA! Yeah---We're ragers! Better get out of town!) Anyway the cop says the crazy man callled the cops about the dog. haha.

I go calm the girls down who are crying that they are gonig to go to prison. Haha kids are funny when they being bratty. I finally get them calmed down and in bed and Thetas mom comes down and says "WHO WANTS A LATE NIGHT PIZZA!" the ruselt: Pandamonium. I dont know how you spell that but it was nuts. Kids love pizza. and I just had them in bed. I tell the mom that I had to leave since my shift was up, and got the heck out of there. I drove home stressed out of my mind just to get home and hear that my best friend made out with a really cute boy who I have a crush on (but wouldn't do anything about ever because I have a boyfriend who I love) and HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND TOO. Which disappoints me. I also find out that I missed the Jason Mraz concert! NO! I LOVE JASON MRAZ (details in the fabric is one of his songs). My boyfriend Jamie went and said it was like a pot smoking and drinking festival and that he went for only half an hour and left because of all the partying. He saw three Jason Mraz songs though, SO lucky! Then he tells me he drank a beer. Why?! I am not going into detail about why this upsets me like it does, but I have finally had enough of this terrible day. I start bawling and cry through the night, and am unusually rude to Jamie which I feel terrible about.

The next day I inch through the day and just do whatever I can to continue keeping the kids spoiled and rotten so that they dont scream at me. I get whoever asks me for something whatever they want, which is what the mom wants...and it makes them only threaten me a few times and way less temper tantrums. Can I have a knife? Sure, here you go, heres your knife three year old. I get through they day and go to Jamies house for some snuggling and de-stressing. I miss him. I felt bad for being mean and we cuddled it out. haha.

Now I'm off to work. just today and tomorrow and I'm out of this terrible place. I should ask for like 4000 instead since I did WAY more than watch two little girls for six days. Housekeeper, zookeeper. Sure, sign me up. I'm exhausted.

Just two more days, just two more days. oh boy.

When my sister gets here on Saturday I am going to get things worked out so we can go skydiving right away. I just might need to jump out of an airplane to get rid of the stress of the past week. Did I chose this career?