Monday, January 19, 2009
Quilting - My New Addiction...Part 2
I thought I'd post the pieces of my quilt as it gets put together. I'm really excited that its starting to actually look like a quilt! This is just the top part. All of my squares have been sewn together, and my border has been sewn on. The next step is adding the batting and backing and then actually quilting it together.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Quilting - My New Addiction
Last Christmas I got a sewing machine as a present from my in-laws. It was something that I wanted, but I hadn't gotten around to taking it out of the box, mainly because I had no idea how to use it. When I moved to Oak Harbor, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to take a quilting class with her, and since I had nothing going on, I thought "sure, why not?". Granted, quilting had never really crossed my mind but I like attempting to be crafty so I thought it would be fun :-). The quilting teacher told us to bring sewing machines to class if we had one, so I was laughed at and lectured for being the only person who showed up with the sewing machine still in its unopened box :-). I thought quilting would be hard, but in reality its actually very easy. Its tedious work, that requires a lot of time and concentration, but once you get the hang of it, it is easy to do.
Last night I started putting my quilt together. Up until this point I had only made 12 different squares. Once the squares are binded together, I'll add the batting and backing and my quilt will be done! This was a beginner's quilt obviously, so we had picked a color scheme and then we were taught how to make different basic quilting squares. Each square is different, which isn't typical of a quilt, but I like the way this one will look. I love that it will always be the first quilt that I made and for some reason, I think its going to be kind of neat putting 12 different squares together. I thought I'd show you the squares that I've made and when I am done binding the quilt I'll post the finished project!
(Cat's Cradle)
(Loop the Loop - this one is my favorite)
(Hourglass)
(an applique fan)
(Spinner)
(Double Bow Tie)
(Friendship Star)
(Swamp Angel)
(I think this one was called a Bridge)
(Almamizer)
(Tea For Four)
(Weathervane)
(of course, this wouldn't be my house if I didn't receive some help from the cats...)
Last night I started putting my quilt together. Up until this point I had only made 12 different squares. Once the squares are binded together, I'll add the batting and backing and my quilt will be done! This was a beginner's quilt obviously, so we had picked a color scheme and then we were taught how to make different basic quilting squares. Each square is different, which isn't typical of a quilt, but I like the way this one will look. I love that it will always be the first quilt that I made and for some reason, I think its going to be kind of neat putting 12 different squares together. I thought I'd show you the squares that I've made and when I am done binding the quilt I'll post the finished project!
(Cat's Cradle)
(Loop the Loop - this one is my favorite)
(Hourglass)
(an applique fan)
(Spinner)
(Double Bow Tie)
(Friendship Star)
(Swamp Angel)
(I think this one was called a Bridge)
(Almamizer)
(Tea For Four)
(Weathervane)(of course, this wouldn't be my house if I didn't receive some help from the cats...)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Babysitting Rant - The Drama Continues *second update*
And the babysitting rant continues....
I have officially decided that this woman is crazy. Maybe things are different in Washington. I don't know. But here is what happened today...
I am having sinus surgery next Wednesday. I was told to stop taking any aspirin or ibuprofen 10 days before the surgery. Since I have horrible chronic sinus problems I pretty much live on Advil Cold and Sinus. I don't take it every day, but I do take it quite often and it helps get me through the day when my sinus headaches get too bad. I also take a lot of Excedrin Migraine when I have a debilitating sinus induced migraine, which also happens often. For the past few days I haven't been able to take either of my 2 miracle drugs. So of course that means I would get hit by the worst sinus headache in the history of my life. I've been feeling pretty miserable for the past few days, and have been laying around on the couch all day. I've gotten up occasionally because the headache subsides a little, but then it always comes back.
Tomorrow I am supposed to babysit for Mrs. $3 an hour again. I'm really not feeling up to babysitting. I'm really not feeling up to doing anything at all. If I was making more money I would probably force myself to push through the day. But for $3 an hour it just doesn't seem worth it. I'm not even saying that to be nasty about the situation. I just don't think that my complete misery for the day is worth only $24.
I talked with a friend of mine to see if she would cover for me tomorrow. She agreed to, but since she is a little more confrontational than I am, she decided that she would tell this woman right up that she charged at least $7 an hour. I thought that was a great idea. Neither one of us expected her to be happy about that, but we never anticipated that this woman would freak out the way she did!
Here is the shortened version of what happened this afternoon (I'll call my friend Ms. A :-)):
I called the woman and told her that I've been having major sinus problems and I can't take any medicine for it. I told her that I really wasn't up to babysitting tomorrow, but since this was last minute, I didn't want to leave her hanging, so would it be ok if Ms. A took the job for me tomorrow?
Woman says "sure!"
She calls Ms. A and Ms. A doesn't have a car here. A while ago when I mentioned that Ms. A could take over for me occasionally, Crazy Woman agreed to drop her daughter off at her house because of her no car situation. For whatever reason, she didn't want to do that tomorrow so she freaked out a little and asked me if I would be willing to pick up Ms. A and drive her to babysit. I wasn't really interested in that, because I didn't want to do anything tomorrow including waking up early, but whatever, I said "ok". I figured I could just go back to sleep when I get back home.
So Crazy Woman calls Ms. A back and Ms. A says "I just want to let you know that I charge $7 an hour." (I'm very proud of Ms. A :-)).
Crazy Woman FREAKS out!! She tells Ms. A something along the lines of "Are you KIDDING me? NO ONE charges that much money. That's INSANE! Oh my God! I can't afford that. Are you KIDDING me? I only pay $3.50 an hour for my son to go to preschool. I don't need a licensed home daycare, I just want someone to take care of my daughter!"
Ms. A tells Crazy Woman that she just wanted to let her know so that it didn't come as a shock later on. Crazy Woman continues to freak out and say something along the lines of "Well this IS a SHOCK! No one in their right mind charges more than $3 an hour to babysit. I simply can't afford you."
Then Crazy Woman calls me back and freaks out on ME! "Oh my God!! Ms. A charges $7 an hour. Are you KIDDING me?? Who does she think she's going to get that kind of money from? I have NEVER heard that anyone charges more than $3 an hour to babysit. I can't afford her. WOW. I simply CAN'T believe this."
She continued to go on and on and on and on while I sat there silently in complete disbelief, not knowing what to say. I never once imagined that she would react this way.
Once Crazy Woman calmed down a bit, she then freaked out that now she has no babysitter for tomorrow. (I felt like saying "Sorry lady, I provided you with a backup plan and you didn't accept it. Its not my problem anymore.") So since I am a wimp and can't stand up for myself, I told her that I'd still babysit tomorrow, but I can't move around a lot and play and run and chase her daughter all around. She told me that was fine. She told me I could lay on the couch all day tomorrow as long as her daughter is safe.
So here's my plan for tomorrow. I'm going to be nice and babysit. I am bringing a book and some movies, plopping myself onto the couch, and hanging out for the day. As much as I hate to do this to the little girl, I am simply NOT feeling up to being a very interactive babysitter tomorrow. I will make sure she eats, sleeps and has clean diapers. I'll do my best to make sure she doesn't get hurt in any way, and I'll pick up the phone and call 911 if anything happens. Other than that, I'm not doing a thing. I'm not playing with her. I'm not coloring with her. I'm going to do exactly what she said I could do. I'll lay around on the couch all day. That could be worth $24.
Then, when my surgery is done and I'm completely healed, I am simply NOT going back to this job. I have been trying to figure out a way to approach the pay situation, but its clearly obvious that that is a lost cause. I am hoping that whoever replaces me during my recovery time will also tell her she charges $7 or more an hour. I'm also hoping that whoever replaces me will be so well liked that she won't even want me to come back. Otherwise, I definitely need a good reason for not coming back.
Oh...and get this...in the midst of all this, she had the nerve to ask me if I could guarantee that I would babysit on February 10th. For whatever reason, she wants me there that day, and not a replacement. Now its my turn to freak out. Are you KIDDING me lady?? I have explained my surgery to her over and over. I have explained that this is the 3rd time I am having this surgery. I have explained that they are going above and beyond anything they ever did before by completely reconstructing my entire nose, nasal passage and sinuses. I have explained that recovery instructions include not picking anything up over 10 pounds for at least a month. Her daughter is definitely heavier than 10 pounds and I do have to pick her up occasionally. I have explained to her that the last time I ignored that recovery instruction, I ended up with a bloody nose that wouldn't stop bleeding. I have explained to her that part of my 2nd surgery involved fixing part of my 1st surgery that was broken by a child! I had my septum fixed the first time around, and a month later, a 2 year old boy was sitting on my lap. He threw his head back, hit my nose and I have never experienced anything so painful in my life. That caused my septum to re-deviate, which led to my 2nd surgery. The doctor specifically told me to stay away from small kids and large animals during my recovery - basically, anything that could jump or hit me in the nose somehow. Lady, I am NOT disobeying that order! I refuse to have a 4th surgery if this one gets wrecked by your kid!!! I told her that I absolutely can't babysit on the 10th. Thats not even 3 weeks after surgery. I won't heal completely for almost a month. I know I will be capable of getting up and about in general sooner than a month, but I simply refuse to do anything that will jeopardize this procedure. As much as she might think I do, I simply don't enjoy having my sinuses operated on again and again! Ugh I am so irritated beyond belief right now.
I'm thinking of giving her the websites for care.com and sittercity.com tomorrow. Mr. V actually made that suggestion. His idea was to play nice, give her the websites and tell her that she might be able to find a replacement babysitter from the sites (since she is clearly not using Ms. A while I'm recovering like she originally planned). Most people on that site ask for at least $8 an hour and usually more than that. I've seen people ask for even less than that, but I've never seen anyone ask for anything even close to $3. Plus the rate calculators are on the sites too. This way, she'll see for herself that Ms. A isn't crazy for asking for $7 an hour. I kind of like his idea.
When I finally got off the phone with Crazy Woman and had a chance to call Ms. A, her husband got on the phone with an even better idea. He thinks that we should call her place of employment and tell them that she thinks $3 an hour is an acceptable amount of money to pay an employee. I think I like his idea too :-).
So who thinks this is going to end well? Not me!
I have officially decided that this woman is crazy. Maybe things are different in Washington. I don't know. But here is what happened today...
I am having sinus surgery next Wednesday. I was told to stop taking any aspirin or ibuprofen 10 days before the surgery. Since I have horrible chronic sinus problems I pretty much live on Advil Cold and Sinus. I don't take it every day, but I do take it quite often and it helps get me through the day when my sinus headaches get too bad. I also take a lot of Excedrin Migraine when I have a debilitating sinus induced migraine, which also happens often. For the past few days I haven't been able to take either of my 2 miracle drugs. So of course that means I would get hit by the worst sinus headache in the history of my life. I've been feeling pretty miserable for the past few days, and have been laying around on the couch all day. I've gotten up occasionally because the headache subsides a little, but then it always comes back.
Tomorrow I am supposed to babysit for Mrs. $3 an hour again. I'm really not feeling up to babysitting. I'm really not feeling up to doing anything at all. If I was making more money I would probably force myself to push through the day. But for $3 an hour it just doesn't seem worth it. I'm not even saying that to be nasty about the situation. I just don't think that my complete misery for the day is worth only $24.
I talked with a friend of mine to see if she would cover for me tomorrow. She agreed to, but since she is a little more confrontational than I am, she decided that she would tell this woman right up that she charged at least $7 an hour. I thought that was a great idea. Neither one of us expected her to be happy about that, but we never anticipated that this woman would freak out the way she did!
Here is the shortened version of what happened this afternoon (I'll call my friend Ms. A :-)):
I called the woman and told her that I've been having major sinus problems and I can't take any medicine for it. I told her that I really wasn't up to babysitting tomorrow, but since this was last minute, I didn't want to leave her hanging, so would it be ok if Ms. A took the job for me tomorrow?
Woman says "sure!"
She calls Ms. A and Ms. A doesn't have a car here. A while ago when I mentioned that Ms. A could take over for me occasionally, Crazy Woman agreed to drop her daughter off at her house because of her no car situation. For whatever reason, she didn't want to do that tomorrow so she freaked out a little and asked me if I would be willing to pick up Ms. A and drive her to babysit. I wasn't really interested in that, because I didn't want to do anything tomorrow including waking up early, but whatever, I said "ok". I figured I could just go back to sleep when I get back home.
So Crazy Woman calls Ms. A back and Ms. A says "I just want to let you know that I charge $7 an hour." (I'm very proud of Ms. A :-)).
Crazy Woman FREAKS out!! She tells Ms. A something along the lines of "Are you KIDDING me? NO ONE charges that much money. That's INSANE! Oh my God! I can't afford that. Are you KIDDING me? I only pay $3.50 an hour for my son to go to preschool. I don't need a licensed home daycare, I just want someone to take care of my daughter!"
Ms. A tells Crazy Woman that she just wanted to let her know so that it didn't come as a shock later on. Crazy Woman continues to freak out and say something along the lines of "Well this IS a SHOCK! No one in their right mind charges more than $3 an hour to babysit. I simply can't afford you."
Then Crazy Woman calls me back and freaks out on ME! "Oh my God!! Ms. A charges $7 an hour. Are you KIDDING me?? Who does she think she's going to get that kind of money from? I have NEVER heard that anyone charges more than $3 an hour to babysit. I can't afford her. WOW. I simply CAN'T believe this."
She continued to go on and on and on and on while I sat there silently in complete disbelief, not knowing what to say. I never once imagined that she would react this way.
Once Crazy Woman calmed down a bit, she then freaked out that now she has no babysitter for tomorrow. (I felt like saying "Sorry lady, I provided you with a backup plan and you didn't accept it. Its not my problem anymore.") So since I am a wimp and can't stand up for myself, I told her that I'd still babysit tomorrow, but I can't move around a lot and play and run and chase her daughter all around. She told me that was fine. She told me I could lay on the couch all day tomorrow as long as her daughter is safe.
So here's my plan for tomorrow. I'm going to be nice and babysit. I am bringing a book and some movies, plopping myself onto the couch, and hanging out for the day. As much as I hate to do this to the little girl, I am simply NOT feeling up to being a very interactive babysitter tomorrow. I will make sure she eats, sleeps and has clean diapers. I'll do my best to make sure she doesn't get hurt in any way, and I'll pick up the phone and call 911 if anything happens. Other than that, I'm not doing a thing. I'm not playing with her. I'm not coloring with her. I'm going to do exactly what she said I could do. I'll lay around on the couch all day. That could be worth $24.
Then, when my surgery is done and I'm completely healed, I am simply NOT going back to this job. I have been trying to figure out a way to approach the pay situation, but its clearly obvious that that is a lost cause. I am hoping that whoever replaces me during my recovery time will also tell her she charges $7 or more an hour. I'm also hoping that whoever replaces me will be so well liked that she won't even want me to come back. Otherwise, I definitely need a good reason for not coming back.
Oh...and get this...in the midst of all this, she had the nerve to ask me if I could guarantee that I would babysit on February 10th. For whatever reason, she wants me there that day, and not a replacement. Now its my turn to freak out. Are you KIDDING me lady?? I have explained my surgery to her over and over. I have explained that this is the 3rd time I am having this surgery. I have explained that they are going above and beyond anything they ever did before by completely reconstructing my entire nose, nasal passage and sinuses. I have explained that recovery instructions include not picking anything up over 10 pounds for at least a month. Her daughter is definitely heavier than 10 pounds and I do have to pick her up occasionally. I have explained to her that the last time I ignored that recovery instruction, I ended up with a bloody nose that wouldn't stop bleeding. I have explained to her that part of my 2nd surgery involved fixing part of my 1st surgery that was broken by a child! I had my septum fixed the first time around, and a month later, a 2 year old boy was sitting on my lap. He threw his head back, hit my nose and I have never experienced anything so painful in my life. That caused my septum to re-deviate, which led to my 2nd surgery. The doctor specifically told me to stay away from small kids and large animals during my recovery - basically, anything that could jump or hit me in the nose somehow. Lady, I am NOT disobeying that order! I refuse to have a 4th surgery if this one gets wrecked by your kid!!! I told her that I absolutely can't babysit on the 10th. Thats not even 3 weeks after surgery. I won't heal completely for almost a month. I know I will be capable of getting up and about in general sooner than a month, but I simply refuse to do anything that will jeopardize this procedure. As much as she might think I do, I simply don't enjoy having my sinuses operated on again and again! Ugh I am so irritated beyond belief right now.
I'm thinking of giving her the websites for care.com and sittercity.com tomorrow. Mr. V actually made that suggestion. His idea was to play nice, give her the websites and tell her that she might be able to find a replacement babysitter from the sites (since she is clearly not using Ms. A while I'm recovering like she originally planned). Most people on that site ask for at least $8 an hour and usually more than that. I've seen people ask for even less than that, but I've never seen anyone ask for anything even close to $3. Plus the rate calculators are on the sites too. This way, she'll see for herself that Ms. A isn't crazy for asking for $7 an hour. I kind of like his idea.
When I finally got off the phone with Crazy Woman and had a chance to call Ms. A, her husband got on the phone with an even better idea. He thinks that we should call her place of employment and tell them that she thinks $3 an hour is an acceptable amount of money to pay an employee. I think I like his idea too :-).
So who thinks this is going to end well? Not me!
Babysitting Rant *update*
I just reread my post about my babysitting rant. Wow... I sounded bitter in that post. I just wanted to clarify for anyone who thinks I'm a horrible person now, that I am NOT that insensitive. I'm also not unreasonable. Just because my usual pay is $10-$15 an hour doesn't mean that I won't take less. Like I mentioned before, I worked for $4 an hour once and for that situation it was something that was okay.
I think my biggest problem with this situation is that pay was never discussed and that's weird to me. I've taken over other people's babysitting jobs before and I was always talked to about pay. I just think that a "This is what I paid her, is it ok if I pay you the same?" or something like that, would have been more appropriate than nothing at all...which is what I got. For all I know, maybe she can't afford more than $3 an hour, or maybe she doesn't know what the going rate is, but the fact that it was never discussed is what annoys me more than anything.
Anyway, I just wanted to clarify, that I'm not a greedy bitch :-). My issue is more with the situation itself than the pay. Does that make any sense?
*Side note: Thanks for the comment TronWife. I have to agree with you that honesty is the best though maybe only partial honesty is good in this situation. Thats my other issue - how to approach her. She is a person I will probably see around quite often, so I'm thinking that asking for more money may not be the way to go in this situation. However, severe sinus problems and new quilting tasks seem like good excuses/reasons to me :-).
I think my biggest problem with this situation is that pay was never discussed and that's weird to me. I've taken over other people's babysitting jobs before and I was always talked to about pay. I just think that a "This is what I paid her, is it ok if I pay you the same?" or something like that, would have been more appropriate than nothing at all...which is what I got. For all I know, maybe she can't afford more than $3 an hour, or maybe she doesn't know what the going rate is, but the fact that it was never discussed is what annoys me more than anything.
Anyway, I just wanted to clarify, that I'm not a greedy bitch :-). My issue is more with the situation itself than the pay. Does that make any sense?
*Side note: Thanks for the comment TronWife. I have to agree with you that honesty is the best though maybe only partial honesty is good in this situation. Thats my other issue - how to approach her. She is a person I will probably see around quite often, so I'm thinking that asking for more money may not be the way to go in this situation. However, severe sinus problems and new quilting tasks seem like good excuses/reasons to me :-).
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Babysitting Rant
I feel like a lot of the things I have been talking about lately have been pretty negative (in real life and in this blog). I promise I'm not an unhappy person, I've just found that lately, a lot of stuff has been bothering me. The latest thing bothering me is my latest babysitting job.
I met a lady several months ago when I first moved to Oak Harbor. She has 2 kids. One is in preschool and the other one is 1 1/2 and stays home all day (or goes to someone else's house). The little one had been going to another girl's house 3 days a week. The mother was paying $3 an hour for this care, which is what the other girl charged.
Fast forward to now. This little girl's original babysitter is pregnant and about to have the baby any day now. She stopped babysitting and offered the job to me. I hemmed and hawed and debated this, because I know that she only charged $3 an hour, so thats what the mother would be expecting to pay me, which is simply NOT enough money. I thought of various different ways to ask for more money or for me to turn down the job. In the end, Mr. V and I decided that I should take the job for 2 weeks and then "quit". I will be having a 3rd surgery on my sinuses next week, so we thought that we would be nice, I would help out by babysitting for a few days at the beginning of the month, have my surgery and then not go back to the job.
The idea of $3 an hour to babysit actually horrifies me. I was making more than that when I was 12 years old. Minimum wage in Washington was just raised to $8.55 an hour. I could make more money working at McDonald's and I wouldn't have any diapers to change. I was hoping that when I agreed to the job this lady would ask me how much I charged. If she didn't ask, I was hoping that she would tell me how much she paid, with a "Is that ok with you?" afterwards. I have never in my life babysat for someone who didn't ask me one of those 2 questions. Usually they ask how much I charge, and rarely they simply tell me how much they pay, but either way, I'm always clued in before the job begins.
Thankfully, I went into this job knowing that the last babysitter made only $3 an hour. If I hadn't known that I think I would have cried when I got my check at the end of the week.
So here's what happened. I agreed to babysit for 2 weeks, for 3 days a week. Last week was my first week. I was never asked how much I charged, and she never told me how much she pays. At the end of the week she handed me a check for $66 (yes, you can go ahead and tell me that I'm absolutely crazy to accept that amount now). Like I mentioned before, I knew that I would probably get $3 an hour, but I was still shocked that she never once discussed pay with me. Now I'm just simply annoyed.
I have been babysitting for years and typically make between $10 and $15 an hour. Occasionally, someone will pay $7 an hour. The lowest I ever worked for was $4 an hour, but that was a special circumstance, not an ordinary thing. I just simply can't believe that anyone in their right mind would think that $3 is enough to pay someone.
When I was living in Jacksonville, I was shocked by Craigslist ads looking for babysitters with people offering to pay $5-6 an hour. I never thought I'd see someone go lower than that.
I posted a few websites that I like on my blog, and 2 of the sites are care.com and sittercity.com. I posted these sites because I think more people need to see these sites. Each site has a rate calculator that tells you how much to pay a babysitter based on age, experience and location. The care.com rate calculator says that I am worth $11 an hour. The SitterCity calculator says I am worth $10.25. Yet I actually worked for $3 an hour.
The more and more I think about this, the more I don't want to babysit for 2 more days. In a way, that kind of pay is kind of insulting. I have no idea how to even approach the topic because this woman never brought up pay terms in any way. Thats unusual to me, and I am not a confrontational person, so I feel kind of stuck right now. I do know that she expects me to continue babysitting for her once I am recovered from my surgery, but I think she has a surprise coming to her when I don't return. As much as I need a job and could use more money, I just can't bring myself to accept that kind of pay. I thought I would be able to stick it out for a few days, but each day I get more and more annoyed. I'm not really sure why Mr. V and I agreed to be nice to her and just do this for 2 weeks, but I am regretting that decision every day.
So...any ideas on how I can ask for more money? If not, any ideas on how I can politely tell this woman that after my surgery I won't be coming back to work for her?
I met a lady several months ago when I first moved to Oak Harbor. She has 2 kids. One is in preschool and the other one is 1 1/2 and stays home all day (or goes to someone else's house). The little one had been going to another girl's house 3 days a week. The mother was paying $3 an hour for this care, which is what the other girl charged.
Fast forward to now. This little girl's original babysitter is pregnant and about to have the baby any day now. She stopped babysitting and offered the job to me. I hemmed and hawed and debated this, because I know that she only charged $3 an hour, so thats what the mother would be expecting to pay me, which is simply NOT enough money. I thought of various different ways to ask for more money or for me to turn down the job. In the end, Mr. V and I decided that I should take the job for 2 weeks and then "quit". I will be having a 3rd surgery on my sinuses next week, so we thought that we would be nice, I would help out by babysitting for a few days at the beginning of the month, have my surgery and then not go back to the job.
The idea of $3 an hour to babysit actually horrifies me. I was making more than that when I was 12 years old. Minimum wage in Washington was just raised to $8.55 an hour. I could make more money working at McDonald's and I wouldn't have any diapers to change. I was hoping that when I agreed to the job this lady would ask me how much I charged. If she didn't ask, I was hoping that she would tell me how much she paid, with a "Is that ok with you?" afterwards. I have never in my life babysat for someone who didn't ask me one of those 2 questions. Usually they ask how much I charge, and rarely they simply tell me how much they pay, but either way, I'm always clued in before the job begins.
Thankfully, I went into this job knowing that the last babysitter made only $3 an hour. If I hadn't known that I think I would have cried when I got my check at the end of the week.
So here's what happened. I agreed to babysit for 2 weeks, for 3 days a week. Last week was my first week. I was never asked how much I charged, and she never told me how much she pays. At the end of the week she handed me a check for $66 (yes, you can go ahead and tell me that I'm absolutely crazy to accept that amount now). Like I mentioned before, I knew that I would probably get $3 an hour, but I was still shocked that she never once discussed pay with me. Now I'm just simply annoyed.
I have been babysitting for years and typically make between $10 and $15 an hour. Occasionally, someone will pay $7 an hour. The lowest I ever worked for was $4 an hour, but that was a special circumstance, not an ordinary thing. I just simply can't believe that anyone in their right mind would think that $3 is enough to pay someone.
When I was living in Jacksonville, I was shocked by Craigslist ads looking for babysitters with people offering to pay $5-6 an hour. I never thought I'd see someone go lower than that.
I posted a few websites that I like on my blog, and 2 of the sites are care.com and sittercity.com. I posted these sites because I think more people need to see these sites. Each site has a rate calculator that tells you how much to pay a babysitter based on age, experience and location. The care.com rate calculator says that I am worth $11 an hour. The SitterCity calculator says I am worth $10.25. Yet I actually worked for $3 an hour.
The more and more I think about this, the more I don't want to babysit for 2 more days. In a way, that kind of pay is kind of insulting. I have no idea how to even approach the topic because this woman never brought up pay terms in any way. Thats unusual to me, and I am not a confrontational person, so I feel kind of stuck right now. I do know that she expects me to continue babysitting for her once I am recovered from my surgery, but I think she has a surprise coming to her when I don't return. As much as I need a job and could use more money, I just can't bring myself to accept that kind of pay. I thought I would be able to stick it out for a few days, but each day I get more and more annoyed. I'm not really sure why Mr. V and I agreed to be nice to her and just do this for 2 weeks, but I am regretting that decision every day.
So...any ideas on how I can ask for more money? If not, any ideas on how I can politely tell this woman that after my surgery I won't be coming back to work for her?
Sunday, January 11, 2009
2008: Year in Review
Since I started this blog at the end of 2008, I thought a review of the entire year would be appropriate, now that its the beginning of a new year. Thanks to Mugs for letting me steal this off of her page :-).
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Take an amazing cross country road trip, stopping in 14 states along the way. (12 if you don't count the Florida, where we started, and Washington, where we ended.)
2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't even remember what my New Year's resolutions were last year. Obviously, they weren't important enough to me, so I'm going to have to say that no, I didn't keep them.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope - but there will be some new babies this year!
4. Did anyone close to you die? no but the greatest pet I ever had died at the end of 2007, the sadness and shock unfortunately carried over into 2008
5. What countries did you visit? Canada! I saw an old college friend in the National Tour of Hairspray. Although, I guess Canada isn't that exciting considering the fact that I saw the play in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is closer to me than Seattle is.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? sunlight! Although, that was only lacking at the end of the year, since I was fortunate enough to spend the first half of my year in Florida.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 14th - My Wedding! :-)
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? moving across the country to Washington, a state that I would have never chosen to live in on my own, and dealing with it better than I anticipated I would
9. What was your biggest failure? When I first found out that we were moving to Washington, I burst into tears. I was so upset even though I knew this move could happen. I consider that a failure because I married a guy in the Navy, so I know that moves will happen, and I need to learn how to deal with change better.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing new, but in November I found out that I would be needing a 3rd surgery on my sinuses (which will be happening this month - January 2009).
11. What was the best thing you bought? Our first house!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Honestly? I think my own. I was upset about moving here, but I did manage to adapt to life in Washington with less tears than life in Texas. I think I'm on the road to dealing with change better, I'm just not completely there yet.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The majority of people in this country, but that's another vent for another day.
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My cross country road trip (note: I did NOT say I was excited about my move to Washington. I was, however, very excited about the trip we took on the way to Washington.) I also flew to Hawaii to meet Mr. V there when his Navy job required him to go there for a week, which was incredibly exciting!
15. Where did most of your money go? Our new house
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts; it was my wedding song :-)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer? Happier because I married the man I love and because we have finally settled in a place we will live in for more than a year. Sadder because that place is Washington which I'm not very thrilled about. I'm not thinner or fatter. I've managed to stay at the exact same weight for years and years. Poorer because we bought a house and paid off a lot of our debt, leaving us without a lot left over. Richer because we have less debt to worry about.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Reading and relaxing. My life has been non-stop busy for too long and I miss just curling up on the couch with a good book.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? procrastinating
20. How did you spend Christmas? In New Orleans with Mr. V's family. My mom and my step-dad also came out to spend the day with us.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? no, but I did get married, which was a result of falling in love :-)
22. What was your favorite TV program? American Idol - I admit it, I am completely addicted to the show and revolve my life around it when its on.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I hate the same people now that I hated at this time last year. Amazing how that feeling doesn't go away easily.
24. What was the best book you read? I started reading the Twilight books at the end of the year. I just finished reading them a few days ago but since I started them in 2008, I'll call them my favorite books of the year :-).
25. What was your greatest discovery? I love quilting! I started taking a quilting class when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join her. I never in my life thought I'd enjoy quilting. In fact, I never gave it a thought. Now I'm completely addicted.
26. What did you want and get? I wanted my very own house, that I owned. No more apartments and renting for me. I now live in a tiny little home, that's all mine (and Mr. V's) and I LOVE it!
27. What did you want and not get? I wanted to stay in Jacksonville for Mr. V's sea tour. The Navy had other ideas.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Its not really a film, but the final production of RENT was filmed on Broadway and then played in select movie theaters around the country. I'm a huge Rent fan so it was really exciting to see the final production while I was in Washington and not New York.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 27 and went to Georgia to see my mom, my aunt and my cousins. She bought me a Carvel ice cream cake (a birthday tradition) and we toured the Coke museum in Atlanta. Not super exciting, but it was fun.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Jeans and t-shirts. I'm clearly not a fashion diva.
32. What kept you sane? Cold Stone Creamery (at least for the first half of the year when it was right down the road), my cats (yes, I know I'm an old cat lady), Mr. V (when he wasn't driving me crazy)
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Daniel Radcliffe; I met him at the end of 2008 and I'm still incredibly star struck about that :-).
34. What political issue stirred you the most? illegal immigration, after living in Corpus Christi, don't even get me started on that issue
35. Who did you miss? I missed my family in New Jersey and my friends in North Carolina. I was able to see them more often when I still lived in Jacksonville, but after the move to Washington, I became completely secluded from them :-(.
36. Who was the best new person you met? I'm going to say Mugs, and I'm leaving her answer to this because my answer is the same. [her answer: Brooklet, a new friend in Washington, who's equally tepid about the Navy life and Pacific northwest.] I'm also thankful for meeting Allison. She became my first friend here in Oak Harbor, and rescued me when I was stuck in a hotel, by myself with all of my cats, while Mr. V played in Hawaii for a week.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. I learned that I grew up in a bubble. There are only 500,000 people living in the state of Wyoming, which is less than the number of people living in the county I grew up in in NJ. I never saw the western part of this country and I was and still am stunned by the fact that I thought I was a cultured person. Apparently, I wasn't.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. " I set out on a narrow way, many years ago, hoping I would find true love along the broken road. But I got lost a time or 2, wiped my brow and kept pushing through. I couldn't see how everyign pointed straight to you. Every long lost dream led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars, pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true, that God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you." Rascal Flatts - Bless the Broken Road (and that's a little more than just a lyric, but it was my wedding song and somewhat sums up my whole year)
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Take an amazing cross country road trip, stopping in 14 states along the way. (12 if you don't count the Florida, where we started, and Washington, where we ended.)
2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't even remember what my New Year's resolutions were last year. Obviously, they weren't important enough to me, so I'm going to have to say that no, I didn't keep them.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope - but there will be some new babies this year!
4. Did anyone close to you die? no but the greatest pet I ever had died at the end of 2007, the sadness and shock unfortunately carried over into 2008
5. What countries did you visit? Canada! I saw an old college friend in the National Tour of Hairspray. Although, I guess Canada isn't that exciting considering the fact that I saw the play in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is closer to me than Seattle is.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? sunlight! Although, that was only lacking at the end of the year, since I was fortunate enough to spend the first half of my year in Florida.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 14th - My Wedding! :-)
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? moving across the country to Washington, a state that I would have never chosen to live in on my own, and dealing with it better than I anticipated I would
9. What was your biggest failure? When I first found out that we were moving to Washington, I burst into tears. I was so upset even though I knew this move could happen. I consider that a failure because I married a guy in the Navy, so I know that moves will happen, and I need to learn how to deal with change better.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing new, but in November I found out that I would be needing a 3rd surgery on my sinuses (which will be happening this month - January 2009).
11. What was the best thing you bought? Our first house!!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Honestly? I think my own. I was upset about moving here, but I did manage to adapt to life in Washington with less tears than life in Texas. I think I'm on the road to dealing with change better, I'm just not completely there yet.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The majority of people in this country, but that's another vent for another day.
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My cross country road trip (note: I did NOT say I was excited about my move to Washington. I was, however, very excited about the trip we took on the way to Washington.) I also flew to Hawaii to meet Mr. V there when his Navy job required him to go there for a week, which was incredibly exciting!
15. Where did most of your money go? Our new house
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts; it was my wedding song :-)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer? Happier because I married the man I love and because we have finally settled in a place we will live in for more than a year. Sadder because that place is Washington which I'm not very thrilled about. I'm not thinner or fatter. I've managed to stay at the exact same weight for years and years. Poorer because we bought a house and paid off a lot of our debt, leaving us without a lot left over. Richer because we have less debt to worry about.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Reading and relaxing. My life has been non-stop busy for too long and I miss just curling up on the couch with a good book.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? procrastinating
20. How did you spend Christmas? In New Orleans with Mr. V's family. My mom and my step-dad also came out to spend the day with us.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? no, but I did get married, which was a result of falling in love :-)
22. What was your favorite TV program? American Idol - I admit it, I am completely addicted to the show and revolve my life around it when its on.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I hate the same people now that I hated at this time last year. Amazing how that feeling doesn't go away easily.
24. What was the best book you read? I started reading the Twilight books at the end of the year. I just finished reading them a few days ago but since I started them in 2008, I'll call them my favorite books of the year :-).
25. What was your greatest discovery? I love quilting! I started taking a quilting class when a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join her. I never in my life thought I'd enjoy quilting. In fact, I never gave it a thought. Now I'm completely addicted.
26. What did you want and get? I wanted my very own house, that I owned. No more apartments and renting for me. I now live in a tiny little home, that's all mine (and Mr. V's) and I LOVE it!
27. What did you want and not get? I wanted to stay in Jacksonville for Mr. V's sea tour. The Navy had other ideas.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Its not really a film, but the final production of RENT was filmed on Broadway and then played in select movie theaters around the country. I'm a huge Rent fan so it was really exciting to see the final production while I was in Washington and not New York.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 27 and went to Georgia to see my mom, my aunt and my cousins. She bought me a Carvel ice cream cake (a birthday tradition) and we toured the Coke museum in Atlanta. Not super exciting, but it was fun.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Jeans and t-shirts. I'm clearly not a fashion diva.
32. What kept you sane? Cold Stone Creamery (at least for the first half of the year when it was right down the road), my cats (yes, I know I'm an old cat lady), Mr. V (when he wasn't driving me crazy)
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Daniel Radcliffe; I met him at the end of 2008 and I'm still incredibly star struck about that :-).
34. What political issue stirred you the most? illegal immigration, after living in Corpus Christi, don't even get me started on that issue
35. Who did you miss? I missed my family in New Jersey and my friends in North Carolina. I was able to see them more often when I still lived in Jacksonville, but after the move to Washington, I became completely secluded from them :-(.
36. Who was the best new person you met? I'm going to say Mugs, and I'm leaving her answer to this because my answer is the same. [her answer: Brooklet, a new friend in Washington, who's equally tepid about the Navy life and Pacific northwest.] I'm also thankful for meeting Allison. She became my first friend here in Oak Harbor, and rescued me when I was stuck in a hotel, by myself with all of my cats, while Mr. V played in Hawaii for a week.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. I learned that I grew up in a bubble. There are only 500,000 people living in the state of Wyoming, which is less than the number of people living in the county I grew up in in NJ. I never saw the western part of this country and I was and still am stunned by the fact that I thought I was a cultured person. Apparently, I wasn't.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. " I set out on a narrow way, many years ago, hoping I would find true love along the broken road. But I got lost a time or 2, wiped my brow and kept pushing through. I couldn't see how everyign pointed straight to you. Every long lost dream led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars, pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true, that God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you." Rascal Flatts - Bless the Broken Road (and that's a little more than just a lyric, but it was my wedding song and somewhat sums up my whole year)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Whidbey Weirdness
At first I thought I was imagining the weirdness of this town, but with each new experience I realize that my initial assessment of the locals was pretty accurate. Yesterday I had my 3rd weird experience with some locals so I thought I would explain ALL of them to you to better illustrate my point.
Experience #1: When we first moved to Oak Harbor it took almost 3 weeks to get our internet set up at home. Mr. V and I spent a lot of time at the town library checking our email and playing around on the internet. One day I showed up at the library and had this conversation as I sat down at an open computer:
Random creepy looking man: "HI!!!!"
Brooklet: "Hi."
(random creepy looking man continues to stare at me)
Random creepy looking man: "Are you Daniel's sister?"
Brooklet: "No, I'm sorry. I'm not."
Random creepy looking man: "Oh I'm sorry. You looked just like her.Amazing."
Brooklet: *smiles politely* "No problem."
(I continued to check my email, not giving another thought to the creepy looking man next to me.)
(fast forward to 2 weeks later - I'm at Kmart picking up some random items.)
Brooklet: *pays for items and begins walking out of the store*
Random creepy looking man: "HEY!!!!"
Brooklet: *looks at man confused - doesn't recognize him*
Random creepy looking man: "You're the girl from the library!!"
Brooklet: "umm....?"
Random creepy looking man: "You remember. I thought you were Daniel's sister!"
Brooklet: *starting to remember* "Oh hi!"
(I continue walking out of the store, my hands filled with bags.)
Random creepy looking man: "So how are you?"
Brooklet: "Umm, I'm good. Just picking up some stuff that I needed for the house."
Random creepy looking man: "I'm John!" (note: I have no idea what his name really was, so for the purpose of this story I'll call him John.)
Brooklet: "Oh. Hi John." *begins the process of figuring out how to get to my car and away from this guy."
John: "And what should I call you?"
Brooklet: "Oh I'm sorry. I'm Brooke."
John: *tries to shake my hand even though I clearly have my hands filled with bags* "Its so nice to meet you Brooke. Did you know that I'm writing a book?"
Brooklet: "uh no I didn't." *wonders why I should have known he was writing a book*
John: "Yep. Its a true story. Its all about my life and the things I have gone through. That's why I was at the library. I was working on my book."
Brooklet: "Oh" *takes a step closer to the parking lot*
John: "Yep I'm writing a book. But I have some problems spelling words. That's why I use the computers at the library. They tell me if I spell something wrong. Its a beautiful day isn't it? Its not often you can see the sun around here."
Brooklet: "Yeah I've noticed that."
John: "I was in the Navy. That's why I live here. Because I used to live here when the Navy told me that I had to live here. I worked for the FBI too. After the Navy. I worked for the FBI but I don't anymore so I live here again."
Brooklet: *stares at man's nasty crooked rotting teeth and rudely wonders if he was a janitor at an FBI office because there is no way this guy was actually IN the FBI*
John: "Are you in the Navy? I was in the Navy."
Brooklet: "No, my husband is in the Navy. We just moved here so I should get going. I still have lots to unpack."
John: "Oh ok. Well it was nice meeting you. What's your name again?"
Brooklet: "Brooke"
John: Oh thats right. Brooke. The girl from the library. Maybe I'll see you at the library soon." *his face lights up* "You can proofread my book! Like an editor. I'm sure you can spell better than me. Will you help me and proofread my book?"
Brooklet: *knows the internet will be set up at home in a day and probably won't return to the library for a while* "Uh....sure...I guess."
John: *looks at his watch* "Oh! Look at the time! I should probably go home. See you later!"
(he's gone before I had a chance to blink)
I chalked up this particular incident to bad luck on my part, and a random strange guy on his part. When I told Mr. V the story, he concluded that the guy was probably a serial killer. Awesome.
Experience #2: Mr. V and I are bargain hunters. We love garage sales, thrift stores, antique stores and anything of the sorts. We've found some amazing things throughout our bargain hunting experiences, including some items that are almost brand new (and some that are completely brand new). If you look around enough, its amazing what people will throw away, when there is no need to throw it away. So one day we were driving by a neighborhood that had a "Free Stuff" sign on the street. We decided to swing by and found out that this family had a garage sale the day before, and anything they hadn't sold was being given away for free. (note: Since this is a huge military town, LOTS of people have garage sales all summer long, and when they are over, the leftovers are given away for free. We have found that its all people who are moving to a new location and they are happily selling things that still look brand new. Its worth it to check out once the nice weather rolls around again.) I had been looking for a magazine holder for a while, and one of the first things I noticed was that there was a free magazine holder on the street. It was dusty, but otherwise looked brand new. So of course we stopped. I grabbed the magazine holder and Mr. V picked through some other things. As we were looking through stuff, the owner of the house was still bringing stuff outside and encouraging us to take everything. We ended up with the magazine holder, some flower pots, a space heater, toaster oven, interesting pieces of driftwood and some other random things. As we were hunting through stuff we ran into Weird Whidbey person #2.
Random man: (to Mr. V) "Oh hi! Do you live in this neighborhood?"
Mr. V: "No we live across the street a bit. We just stopped by because we saw the sign for the free stuff."
Random man: "Yeah this is great isn't it? I live in this neighborhood and people are really nice around here. These are my kids - *points to 2 kids on bikes* - This is Tommy (again, I have no memory of their actual names so I'm making some up), Tommy is 10. This is Jason. He's 8. I have 3 other kids. Let's see....Anthony is 7 and Carla is 5. And oh! Matt is 11 and I'm their dad. They love their dad. They love spending time with me. And I love spending time with them. See? These guys on the bikes with me. We're just out riding around having fun."
*As he's talking, Tommy or Jason losses interest in his bike and starts picking up random things from the free pile. I cringe as he picks up MY magazine holder that I've claimed and drags it across the street, probably scratching it up, then drops it hard on the ground. Images of my perfect magazine holder disappear as I realize its probably scratched and cracked. Thankfully, no damage was done.*
Random man: "Hey do you like the outdoors?"
Mr. V: "uhhh yeah I do"
Random man: "My family and I go hiking a lot. We like Deception Pass, and we also like Mt. Erie and this place and this place (he goes on to mention several other hiking areas). We go hiking whenever its nice outside. But we didn't go this weekend. No. This weekend we're just riding our bikes around having fun. You should come hiking with us. Not next weekend because we won't be here. But the week after that. Yes definitely, you'll come hiking with me, my wife, and my 5 kids. Because we love hiking and we like hiking with our friends. You can be our friend now too."
Mr. V: *stares at man with baffled expression*
Random man: "Hey have you been here long? Let me guess, Navy right?"
Mr. V: "uh yeah"
Random man: "Oh wow! I was in the Navy. What do you do?"
Mr. V: "I'm a pilot."
Random man: "A pilot. WOW! What kind of pilot?"
Mr. V: "P3's"
Random man: "You know I know we have P3s around here and we also have Prowlers. Those planes are different from each other. I used to work on planes. A long time ago when I was in the Navy. I worked on planes. On the ground though. WOW! So you're a pilot huh? What are you going to do when you get out in...what...2 years?"
Mr. V: "No actually I have about 6 more years before my commitment is up."
Random man: "WOW 6 years? Thats a long commitment. But you can fly commercial aircraft then right? Will you do that? Will you work for an airline? I would work for an airline. Because then you can still be a pilot!"
Mr. V: "uh huh..."
*During this time, another child has shown up, along with several other people who are now digging through the free pile. The 3 children continue to play with items in the pile, making me nervous, because they look like they are about to destroy everything I have claimed. Meanwhile, Random man has somehow lured us away from the free stuff, so now the neat little pile that we collected is in danger of being claimed by some other person. I am getting annoyed quickly.*
Random man: *goes on and on for a while about flying, while Mr. V stares blankly at him trying to figure out how to get away.*
Brooklet: *sighs loudly*
Mr. V: *Takes my cue and starts wandering back to his pile of stuff and moving it into the car*
Random man: "So yeah we should definitely go hiking next week. I like making new friends. I'll call you ok? Oh wait, I can't get your phone number because I left my phone at my house. My house is only 3 streets away. You can wait here and I'll go get my phone..."
Mr. V: "no no no...its ok. Look just give me your number and I'll call you." *obviously attempting to NOT give this man his phone number*
Random man: "No! I know what we can do. You can call me. I'll give you my number right now. Thats right, where's your phone? Ok are you ready? Type this number in, and then call me. Right now. Call me. Now you're number will be on my caller ID and I can call you back! Great idea!"
Mr. V: *does what he is told...unhappily*
*after a few more weird exchanges about the Navy, hiking, and airplanes we managed to get away from this guy when I started carrying stuff over to the car, and standing next to the car. Mr. V said he had to help me and we booked it out of there. We concluded that this man must also be a serial killer. Thankfully, he must have met a new friend after us because we never got a phone call from him.*
So this brings me to my 3rd incident. This one happened yesterday and confirmed my theory about this town being crazy.
Experience #3: Around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, our doorbell rang. I opened it to find 2 elderly people standing there with smiles on their face.
Woman: "Hello there!"
Brooklet: "Hello..."
Woman: "We're your neighbors. We live behind you."
Brooklet: *wonders what we did wrong since we have lived here for 5 months without ever seeing these people* "Oh...hi. Nice to meet you."
Woman and Man: "Nice to meet you too."
*silence*
Woman: "So we just wanted to let you know that we have a cat."
Brooklet: *thinks they must have noticed the 9 cats living in our house* "Oh?"
Woman: "Yes our cat. He's black."
Brooklet: *trying to fill in silence and figure out whats going on* "Oh...I like black cats."
Woman: "OH! How nice! I thought you might be a cat person because of your decorations!" (we have a cat garden decoration in our front yard)
Brooklet: "yeah. We have a house full of cats. 9 of them actually."
Woman: "WOW! 9 cats? Oh good. Then I know you like cats."
Brooklet: "....."
Woman: "Our cat likes to roam around. Sometimes he jumps over the fence that separates your yard from ours."
Brooklet: *making a connection* "Oh! We've seen a black cat in our backyard. We put food out for him because we didn't know if he was a stray or not. He doesn't seem very friendly, but he's not wild either."
Woman: *giggles* "Oh he's not mean. He's just shy."
Brooklet: "Well, I'm glad that we know he belongs to someone now. All of ours our strays and we had been wondering about him. I'm glad I didn't take him inside if he is yours."
Woman: "Oh well he may not be our cat."
Brooklet: ".....???"
Woman: "There are several black cats that roam around here. Our neighbor has one. We have one. And another house has one. But ours jumps over the fence a lot. And over the fence is your yard."
Brooklet: "Well, we've only seen one black cat in our backyard and when he leaves, he jumps over the fence to your yard."
*Mr. V appears at this time*
Mr. V: "Maybe we can take a picture of him the next time he is here and you can see if its him."
Man: "oh we probably couldn't tell if it was him or not."
Brooklet and Mr. V: *blank stares as we try to figure out what the heck these people want*
Woman: "Your cats don't go outside do they?"
Mr. V and Brooklet: "no..."
Brooklet: "We're kind of paranoid about letting them out. Plus one of ours ran away from us, and didn't come back home until 3 months later. We don't want to go through that again."
Woman: "Oh how nice! He came back home?"
Mr. V: "Well someone found him and returned him to us."
Man and Woman: *look amazed*
Brooklet: *seeing that that didn't 'get' it* "Well he had a collar on with our phone number. So a man found him, read his tag and called us."
Woman: "Oh. We used to put collars on our cat. But I don't like them. If someone were to grab my cat, the collar just makes it easier for them to grab. And I don't want someone to grab my cat." (note: I have heard of people with cats who don't like their collars. I've heard of people who are afraid of collars that don't stretch or snap because they cat can get caught and choke to death. I have NEVER heard anyone say they don't like collars because someone might grab the collar and therefore grab the animal.)
Mr. V and Brooklet: "Oh..."
Woman: "Plus he's a black cat and they are targeted more." (note: I knew that. Humane societies put out notices every year at Halloween telling people to be careful with their black cats, so of course I'm now wondering why this woman lets her cat outside if she thinks there are too many dangers outside.)
Man: "Yeah we don't want something bad to happen again."
Woman: "I had another cat. I had to take him to the vet because he was constipated. They X-rayed him and found a pellet in him. Someone shot him with a pellet gun! Can you believe that? Its so dangerous for them outside. That's why we only let ours out at 7am every morning. He comes in at night." (because clearly, the world is only dangerous at night. There is no way someone would shoot him with a pellet gun during daylight hours...)
Mr. V: "If you let him out at 7, we usually see the cat around 8 in the morning. So I bet its him."
Man: "Artie."
Mr. V and Brooke: "Artie?"
Woman: "That's his name."
Brooklet: "Oh....well if I see him again, I'll call him Artie...."
*This random conversation continues for a few more minutes. They eventually leave, without ever telling us why they came to our house. Did they come over just to tell us they had a cat? Did they come over to make sure we liked cats since their's apparently hangs out in our backyard? *
Side note: Mr. V decided too late that when they mentioned the dangers of letting cats outside, we should have said "Oh you have a black cat? That's really too bad. I hope it wasn't the black cat that we saw squished on the road last week..."
So, in conclusion, WHY do they weird ones keep talking to us? Who are these people? None of those conversations made any sense, so we're starting to wonder why these people seem to flock to us. Maybe its US. Maybe we are the weird ones because we just don't 'get' these people....ugh...who knows....
Experience #1: When we first moved to Oak Harbor it took almost 3 weeks to get our internet set up at home. Mr. V and I spent a lot of time at the town library checking our email and playing around on the internet. One day I showed up at the library and had this conversation as I sat down at an open computer:
Random creepy looking man: "HI!!!!"
Brooklet: "Hi."
(random creepy looking man continues to stare at me)
Random creepy looking man: "Are you Daniel's sister?"
Brooklet: "No, I'm sorry. I'm not."
Random creepy looking man: "Oh I'm sorry. You looked just like her.Amazing."
Brooklet: *smiles politely* "No problem."
(I continued to check my email, not giving another thought to the creepy looking man next to me.)
(fast forward to 2 weeks later - I'm at Kmart picking up some random items.)
Brooklet: *pays for items and begins walking out of the store*
Random creepy looking man: "HEY!!!!"
Brooklet: *looks at man confused - doesn't recognize him*
Random creepy looking man: "You're the girl from the library!!"
Brooklet: "umm....?"
Random creepy looking man: "You remember. I thought you were Daniel's sister!"
Brooklet: *starting to remember* "Oh hi!"
(I continue walking out of the store, my hands filled with bags.)
Random creepy looking man: "So how are you?"
Brooklet: "Umm, I'm good. Just picking up some stuff that I needed for the house."
Random creepy looking man: "I'm John!" (note: I have no idea what his name really was, so for the purpose of this story I'll call him John.)
Brooklet: "Oh. Hi John." *begins the process of figuring out how to get to my car and away from this guy."
John: "And what should I call you?"
Brooklet: "Oh I'm sorry. I'm Brooke."
John: *tries to shake my hand even though I clearly have my hands filled with bags* "Its so nice to meet you Brooke. Did you know that I'm writing a book?"
Brooklet: "uh no I didn't." *wonders why I should have known he was writing a book*
John: "Yep. Its a true story. Its all about my life and the things I have gone through. That's why I was at the library. I was working on my book."
Brooklet: "Oh" *takes a step closer to the parking lot*
John: "Yep I'm writing a book. But I have some problems spelling words. That's why I use the computers at the library. They tell me if I spell something wrong. Its a beautiful day isn't it? Its not often you can see the sun around here."
Brooklet: "Yeah I've noticed that."
John: "I was in the Navy. That's why I live here. Because I used to live here when the Navy told me that I had to live here. I worked for the FBI too. After the Navy. I worked for the FBI but I don't anymore so I live here again."
Brooklet: *stares at man's nasty crooked rotting teeth and rudely wonders if he was a janitor at an FBI office because there is no way this guy was actually IN the FBI*
John: "Are you in the Navy? I was in the Navy."
Brooklet: "No, my husband is in the Navy. We just moved here so I should get going. I still have lots to unpack."
John: "Oh ok. Well it was nice meeting you. What's your name again?"
Brooklet: "Brooke"
John: Oh thats right. Brooke. The girl from the library. Maybe I'll see you at the library soon." *his face lights up* "You can proofread my book! Like an editor. I'm sure you can spell better than me. Will you help me and proofread my book?"
Brooklet: *knows the internet will be set up at home in a day and probably won't return to the library for a while* "Uh....sure...I guess."
John: *looks at his watch* "Oh! Look at the time! I should probably go home. See you later!"
(he's gone before I had a chance to blink)
I chalked up this particular incident to bad luck on my part, and a random strange guy on his part. When I told Mr. V the story, he concluded that the guy was probably a serial killer. Awesome.
Experience #2: Mr. V and I are bargain hunters. We love garage sales, thrift stores, antique stores and anything of the sorts. We've found some amazing things throughout our bargain hunting experiences, including some items that are almost brand new (and some that are completely brand new). If you look around enough, its amazing what people will throw away, when there is no need to throw it away. So one day we were driving by a neighborhood that had a "Free Stuff" sign on the street. We decided to swing by and found out that this family had a garage sale the day before, and anything they hadn't sold was being given away for free. (note: Since this is a huge military town, LOTS of people have garage sales all summer long, and when they are over, the leftovers are given away for free. We have found that its all people who are moving to a new location and they are happily selling things that still look brand new. Its worth it to check out once the nice weather rolls around again.) I had been looking for a magazine holder for a while, and one of the first things I noticed was that there was a free magazine holder on the street. It was dusty, but otherwise looked brand new. So of course we stopped. I grabbed the magazine holder and Mr. V picked through some other things. As we were looking through stuff, the owner of the house was still bringing stuff outside and encouraging us to take everything. We ended up with the magazine holder, some flower pots, a space heater, toaster oven, interesting pieces of driftwood and some other random things. As we were hunting through stuff we ran into Weird Whidbey person #2.
Random man: (to Mr. V) "Oh hi! Do you live in this neighborhood?"
Mr. V: "No we live across the street a bit. We just stopped by because we saw the sign for the free stuff."
Random man: "Yeah this is great isn't it? I live in this neighborhood and people are really nice around here. These are my kids - *points to 2 kids on bikes* - This is Tommy (again, I have no memory of their actual names so I'm making some up), Tommy is 10. This is Jason. He's 8. I have 3 other kids. Let's see....Anthony is 7 and Carla is 5. And oh! Matt is 11 and I'm their dad. They love their dad. They love spending time with me. And I love spending time with them. See? These guys on the bikes with me. We're just out riding around having fun."
*As he's talking, Tommy or Jason losses interest in his bike and starts picking up random things from the free pile. I cringe as he picks up MY magazine holder that I've claimed and drags it across the street, probably scratching it up, then drops it hard on the ground. Images of my perfect magazine holder disappear as I realize its probably scratched and cracked. Thankfully, no damage was done.*
Random man: "Hey do you like the outdoors?"
Mr. V: "uhhh yeah I do"
Random man: "My family and I go hiking a lot. We like Deception Pass, and we also like Mt. Erie and this place and this place (he goes on to mention several other hiking areas). We go hiking whenever its nice outside. But we didn't go this weekend. No. This weekend we're just riding our bikes around having fun. You should come hiking with us. Not next weekend because we won't be here. But the week after that. Yes definitely, you'll come hiking with me, my wife, and my 5 kids. Because we love hiking and we like hiking with our friends. You can be our friend now too."
Mr. V: *stares at man with baffled expression*
Random man: "Hey have you been here long? Let me guess, Navy right?"
Mr. V: "uh yeah"
Random man: "Oh wow! I was in the Navy. What do you do?"
Mr. V: "I'm a pilot."
Random man: "A pilot. WOW! What kind of pilot?"
Mr. V: "P3's"
Random man: "You know I know we have P3s around here and we also have Prowlers. Those planes are different from each other. I used to work on planes. A long time ago when I was in the Navy. I worked on planes. On the ground though. WOW! So you're a pilot huh? What are you going to do when you get out in...what...2 years?"
Mr. V: "No actually I have about 6 more years before my commitment is up."
Random man: "WOW 6 years? Thats a long commitment. But you can fly commercial aircraft then right? Will you do that? Will you work for an airline? I would work for an airline. Because then you can still be a pilot!"
Mr. V: "uh huh..."
*During this time, another child has shown up, along with several other people who are now digging through the free pile. The 3 children continue to play with items in the pile, making me nervous, because they look like they are about to destroy everything I have claimed. Meanwhile, Random man has somehow lured us away from the free stuff, so now the neat little pile that we collected is in danger of being claimed by some other person. I am getting annoyed quickly.*
Random man: *goes on and on for a while about flying, while Mr. V stares blankly at him trying to figure out how to get away.*
Brooklet: *sighs loudly*
Mr. V: *Takes my cue and starts wandering back to his pile of stuff and moving it into the car*
Random man: "So yeah we should definitely go hiking next week. I like making new friends. I'll call you ok? Oh wait, I can't get your phone number because I left my phone at my house. My house is only 3 streets away. You can wait here and I'll go get my phone..."
Mr. V: "no no no...its ok. Look just give me your number and I'll call you." *obviously attempting to NOT give this man his phone number*
Random man: "No! I know what we can do. You can call me. I'll give you my number right now. Thats right, where's your phone? Ok are you ready? Type this number in, and then call me. Right now. Call me. Now you're number will be on my caller ID and I can call you back! Great idea!"
Mr. V: *does what he is told...unhappily*
*after a few more weird exchanges about the Navy, hiking, and airplanes we managed to get away from this guy when I started carrying stuff over to the car, and standing next to the car. Mr. V said he had to help me and we booked it out of there. We concluded that this man must also be a serial killer. Thankfully, he must have met a new friend after us because we never got a phone call from him.*
So this brings me to my 3rd incident. This one happened yesterday and confirmed my theory about this town being crazy.
Experience #3: Around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, our doorbell rang. I opened it to find 2 elderly people standing there with smiles on their face.
Woman: "Hello there!"
Brooklet: "Hello..."
Woman: "We're your neighbors. We live behind you."
Brooklet: *wonders what we did wrong since we have lived here for 5 months without ever seeing these people* "Oh...hi. Nice to meet you."
Woman and Man: "Nice to meet you too."
*silence*
Woman: "So we just wanted to let you know that we have a cat."
Brooklet: *thinks they must have noticed the 9 cats living in our house* "Oh?"
Woman: "Yes our cat. He's black."
Brooklet: *trying to fill in silence and figure out whats going on* "Oh...I like black cats."
Woman: "OH! How nice! I thought you might be a cat person because of your decorations!" (we have a cat garden decoration in our front yard)
Brooklet: "yeah. We have a house full of cats. 9 of them actually."
Woman: "WOW! 9 cats? Oh good. Then I know you like cats."
Brooklet: "....."
Woman: "Our cat likes to roam around. Sometimes he jumps over the fence that separates your yard from ours."
Brooklet: *making a connection* "Oh! We've seen a black cat in our backyard. We put food out for him because we didn't know if he was a stray or not. He doesn't seem very friendly, but he's not wild either."
Woman: *giggles* "Oh he's not mean. He's just shy."
Brooklet: "Well, I'm glad that we know he belongs to someone now. All of ours our strays and we had been wondering about him. I'm glad I didn't take him inside if he is yours."
Woman: "Oh well he may not be our cat."
Brooklet: ".....???"
Woman: "There are several black cats that roam around here. Our neighbor has one. We have one. And another house has one. But ours jumps over the fence a lot. And over the fence is your yard."
Brooklet: "Well, we've only seen one black cat in our backyard and when he leaves, he jumps over the fence to your yard."
*Mr. V appears at this time*
Mr. V: "Maybe we can take a picture of him the next time he is here and you can see if its him."
Man: "oh we probably couldn't tell if it was him or not."
Brooklet and Mr. V: *blank stares as we try to figure out what the heck these people want*
Woman: "Your cats don't go outside do they?"
Mr. V and Brooklet: "no..."
Brooklet: "We're kind of paranoid about letting them out. Plus one of ours ran away from us, and didn't come back home until 3 months later. We don't want to go through that again."
Woman: "Oh how nice! He came back home?"
Mr. V: "Well someone found him and returned him to us."
Man and Woman: *look amazed*
Brooklet: *seeing that that didn't 'get' it* "Well he had a collar on with our phone number. So a man found him, read his tag and called us."
Woman: "Oh. We used to put collars on our cat. But I don't like them. If someone were to grab my cat, the collar just makes it easier for them to grab. And I don't want someone to grab my cat." (note: I have heard of people with cats who don't like their collars. I've heard of people who are afraid of collars that don't stretch or snap because they cat can get caught and choke to death. I have NEVER heard anyone say they don't like collars because someone might grab the collar and therefore grab the animal.)
Mr. V and Brooklet: "Oh..."
Woman: "Plus he's a black cat and they are targeted more." (note: I knew that. Humane societies put out notices every year at Halloween telling people to be careful with their black cats, so of course I'm now wondering why this woman lets her cat outside if she thinks there are too many dangers outside.)
Man: "Yeah we don't want something bad to happen again."
Woman: "I had another cat. I had to take him to the vet because he was constipated. They X-rayed him and found a pellet in him. Someone shot him with a pellet gun! Can you believe that? Its so dangerous for them outside. That's why we only let ours out at 7am every morning. He comes in at night." (because clearly, the world is only dangerous at night. There is no way someone would shoot him with a pellet gun during daylight hours...)
Mr. V: "If you let him out at 7, we usually see the cat around 8 in the morning. So I bet its him."
Man: "Artie."
Mr. V and Brooke: "Artie?"
Woman: "That's his name."
Brooklet: "Oh....well if I see him again, I'll call him Artie...."
*This random conversation continues for a few more minutes. They eventually leave, without ever telling us why they came to our house. Did they come over just to tell us they had a cat? Did they come over to make sure we liked cats since their's apparently hangs out in our backyard? *
Side note: Mr. V decided too late that when they mentioned the dangers of letting cats outside, we should have said "Oh you have a black cat? That's really too bad. I hope it wasn't the black cat that we saw squished on the road last week..."
So, in conclusion, WHY do they weird ones keep talking to us? Who are these people? None of those conversations made any sense, so we're starting to wonder why these people seem to flock to us. Maybe its US. Maybe we are the weird ones because we just don't 'get' these people....ugh...who knows....
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