beware the long rambling post… (mostly for journaling purposes)

No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child.

On Monday I called the family I nannied for in England to wish Tara a Happy 8th Birthday (and to wish Sean and Erin a Happy belated 5th and 11th Birthday.) I try to stay on the birthday ball but sometimes it gets away from me.

I call them every … oh … 4 or 5 months or so. Not too often but kids don’t really have a lot to say on the phone anyway. You know, a lot of “How’s school?”…”Good.” “Did you have a nice summer?”…”Yes.” “Did you have a fun birthday?”… “Yes.” You know the drill. But I can’t just not call. I love these kids. Also I think it’s strange for a child to have someone that is a part of their life every day and then to just be gone with no contact. That’s weird right? I think especially for younger kids. I’m not saying that I was so special and that they can’t live without me. But it doesn’t seem fair to spend pretty much every single day with them, take care of them, play with them, love them… and then just bail on them?? Then all the smiles and hugs and laughs and love are a lie. Maybe I’m making a big deal of nothing… probably. And maybe I won’t stay in touch forever, but I hope I’ll do my best. And it’s fun to catch up with Mary and David (the parents) and hear what’s going on with them and their families.

Could I have found a longer way to say “I love these kids”??? Probably! So count yourselves lucky!

So I call and Mary says “Oh Vanessa!” and immediately general mayhem ensues on her end. I can hear Tara asking her if I’m calling because it’s her birthday and Mary says yes and passes her the phone. I wish you could hear the way she says “hello”… it’s so cute and so English. I listen to her tell me about her party and she says proudly that is was a make up party. She’s a fancy 8 year old. And then she tells me that “Erin wants a quick word” (again so English… Erin’s five.) Erin gets on the phone and and says “Hello Vanessa. When are you coming back to my house to see me?” It’s still a trip for me to hear her speaking in complete sentences. A few weeks before I left them she started saying: “Nessie going airplane Utah. Erin talk phone Nessie. Come back Nessie!” ♥ I die! She didn’t have much to say but what she said was cute.

And I talked to Sean for a few minutes. He told me about school, football and that he no longer has to go to Kumon. Score! Mary filled me in on her family and her sister’s kids and the news from Denham Green. She asked if I had plans to come visit and of course I do but the timing never seems to work out. She tells me everytime we speak that I’m always welcome (“oh whenever!” as she says) and that I can come anytime. That means a lot to me. They are so generous and kind. The called ended with Tara and Erin shouting, “VANESSA… IS… THE… BEST… NANNY… IN… THE… WHOLE… WORLD… EVER!” Which was followed by:
……………..crash
………………………………………………………“ouch”
……………………….“I fell”
……………………………………..“Erin get off me”

Oh kids!

So yeah, I talked to “my family” in England. It was a total warm fuzzy high for the day. And of course it sent me on a little trip down memory lane. You’re welcome to join me….

Tara and I would watch Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen over and over and we’d sing the songs from it any time, any place.

After watching the aforementioned movie repeatedly, we’d always say “Goodbye my chicken” to eachother when I’d drop her off at school. I love that little chicken.

Sean was the easiest kid…so mellow and good. He got a Monopoly game based on the Chelsea Football team and we’d play it over and ooooover again.

Painting Tara and Erins nails… adding little rhinestones and flowers and whatnot. I got really good.

One night we were all home and I was getting the kids’ dinner (or tea if you’re in England) ready and Tara asked me if she could have some juice please. As I was getting it Mary told her how nice it was that she said please to which Tara replies, “Vanessa will do almost anything for a ‘please’.” And I said that that was right. Then Erin chimed in with, “Nessie like it say pleeeeeeeease!” (which translates to “Vanessa likes it when you say please.”)

Sean telling me every Monday that Kumon made it “the worst day of his life.” Silly kid.

The kids forever wanting to have “parties” in my room.

Erin announcing one morning out of the blue that “Erin best friend Nessie.” Again, I die! ♥

Letting the kids run wild at Zoom and Odd’s Farm.

Erin telling me “Bye bye buh-fly” as I was getting ready to leave for the airport to come home. (That’s “bye-bye butterfly” for those who don’t speak toddler)

The point of all the rambling? I need to get my passport renewed (if finally expired) and go back for a visit!!

I’ve never fully appreciated our chickens but I do now!

Last weekend someone stopped at our house while my mom was outside and asked if his kids could play with our chickens. My mom told him that chickens didn’t really “play” but the kids were welcome to come see them and give them some food. While the kids were having fun with the chickies the guy asked my mom about our palm tree that’s in front of our house. My mom hates this tree. It’s impossible to trim, it’s messing up our fence and according to my mom, messing up her life. So she tell this guy that she wishes she could get rid of it. Then he tells her how he bought 2 of the same type of palm tree (it’s a dwarf palm) for $10,000.00 for his wife. Yowzers! (Apparently this guy and his family lives in Audrey Meadows old house in Beverly Hills which is pretty cool.) So my silly mother tells him she’d be happy just to give the tree away to have it gone and he says that maybe they could work out a trade and that he has a car dealership in LA. And my cute, cute but silly mom tells him that I’m looking to buy a car within the next 6 months to a year. They exchanged numbers and he’ll call if they do actually want the tree.

A car for a tree?? Heck yes!

Thank you my little chickidees! ♥

I’ve never fully appreciated our chickens but I do now!

Last weekend someone stopped at our house while my mom was outside and asked if his kids could play with our chickens. My mom told him that chickens didn’t really “play” but the kids were welcome to come see them and give them some food. While the kids were having fun with the chickies the guy asked my mom about our palm tree that’s in front of our house. My mom hates this tree. It’s impossible to trim, it’s messing up our fence and according to my mom, messing up her life. So she tell this guy that she wishes she could get rid of it. Then he tells her how he bought 2 of the same type of palm tree (it’s a dwarf palm) for $10,000.00 for his wife. Yowzers! (Apparently this guy and his family lives in Audrey Meadows old house in Beverly Hills which is pretty cool.) So my silly mother tells him she’d be happy just to give the tree away to have it gone and he says that maybe they could work out a trade and that he has a car dealership in LA. And my cute, cute but silly mom tells him that I’m looking to buy a car within the next 6 months to a year. They exchanged numbers and he’ll call if they do actually want the tree.

A car for a tree?? Heck yes!

Thank you my little chickidees! ♥

I’ve never fully appreciated our chickens but I do now!

Last weekend someone stopped at our house while my mom was outside and asked if his kids could play with our chickens. My mom told him that chickens didn’t really “play” but the kids were welcome to come see them and give them some food. While the kids were having fun with the chickies the guy asked my mom about our palm tree that’s in front of our house. My mom hates this tree. It’s impossible to trim, it’s messing up our fence and according to my mom, messing up her life. So she tell this guy that she wishes she could get rid of it. Then he tells her how he bought 2 of the same type of palm tree (it’s a dwarf palm) for $10,000.00 for his wife. Yowzers! (Apparently this guy and his family lives in Audrey Meadows old house in Beverly Hills which is pretty cool.) So my silly mother tells him she’d be happy just to give the tree away to have it gone and he says that maybe they could work out a trade and that he has a car dealership in LA. And my cute, cute but silly mom tells him that I’m looking to buy a car within the next 6 months to a year. They exchanged numbers and he’ll call if they do actually want the tree.

A car for a tree?? Heck yes!

Thank you my little chickidees! ♥

There are some really good reasons why I like Harlow.

1. She realizes that sometimes a girl needs to sleep… as long as this girl realizes that sometimes a puppy needs to pee at 5am. And by sometimes I mean always. But after we get that over with she is perfectly happy to curl up on her blanket at the foot of my bed for a little snooze. And let’s face it… I can barely make it all the way through the night without my bladder screaming at me so I can’t blame her for needing to get up either. She actually sleeps in a crate so she can’t just get up and go.

(Just as a side note for any one who is anti-crate I’ll just say hers is very open and has the very comfy bedding and the little stuffed animal she likes to sleep with. Also, I plan on traveling with her so I want her to have a place she’s used to. It’s also really helped with potty training. Besides that she likes it. She told me.)

2. She is always concerned for my safety. Harlow believes very strongly that the bathroom is not a safe place to be alone. She is especially against people showering unsupervised. If you do close the door on her when you are in the bathroom she will frantically call to you through the door to let you know how dangerous what you are doing is and how she doesn’t approve. Really, if you think about it it’s very thoughtful.

3. She is polite. I am so glad I don’t have a yappy dog. If Harlow feels like I’m not paying her enough attention she will come and sit by my chair and just sit there looking up at me. Usually just looking down at her cute little puppy face is enough to make me stop what I’m doing to play for a few minutes. But if I can’t then as soon as she realizes that her good manners are getting her no where she will toss her head and give a loud SNIFF! of disgust. If that doesn’t work well then all bets are off. Her cuteness will not be denied!

4. She’s everyone’s BFF. Harlow is convinced that every person that walks in my door is there to see her and there is no convincing her otherwise. She is such a friendly pup and has no fear of strangers and she has to greet everyone we run into with a sniff and a wiggle of her bottom. She is, however, afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

5. She’s nuts. She has the funniest personality. She has these little dog treats that she gets in the morning before I leave and she loves them. I think she can smell them when I open the bag and she can barely contain her excitement. She’d sell me down the river in a heartbeat for one of them. I guess everyone has their price. Also when she’s happy her run turns into more of a gallop. She’s also learned how to jump into the bathtub … now we are just waiting for her to learn to jump out. But really I think she likes the way it echoes when she barks in there. Whatever.

6. She likes me. She doesn’t care how tired, dirty, or crabby I am. The other night she fell asleep in the living room while we were watching the Olympics and I got up and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Maybe three minutes later she comes running in and flops down on the floor and falls asleep again against my foot. I’m sorry but that’s cute.

There are a lot of reasons that I like her. I’m just sorry all of my friends can’t have her for a puppy too because she’s a really good one. So now that I’ve proven myself to be one of those crazy pet ladies… I’ll try and think of something else to blog about.

Dear Blogger,

The end.

I just wrote a whole longish post, saved it, published it, went back to edit one little word… and the whole thing except for the first few lines are gone.

So I was excited to blog and now I’m over it. I may never blog again.

… off to pout and grumble …

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
-Anais Nin

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
-Anais Nin

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
-Anais Nin

blueberries
One of my favorite fruits. When I was little I wouldn’t eat them because they were blue… and blue was for boys. Ha.

The new Sharpie pen.
Because I need more pens.

Jason Mraz
I love this CD. I’ve listened to it approximately 458 times in the last 2 weeks.

Acuvue Oasys
Best contact lenses ever. I’ve never stuck something so comfortable in my eye. I loooove them!
Good Magazine I read it while I was staying at my friend’s and really enjoyed it so I finally broke down and subscribed. And the awesome thing is that when you subscribe 100% of your payment goes to the nonprofit of your choice. Awesome.

Flights to the UK
I’ve been pricing flights to England because I need to go! I miss it in the worst way. Virgin has pretty cheap flights in the fall and yes, I’ll admit I like their ads. I’m an easy sell I guess.