Spending and saving

I made an important decision the other day. Well, two. First, I gave myself a deadline for completing the screenplay.

June 1.

I am putting it out there for the world to see. I am going to complete, no, TURN IN, the screenplay by June 1, if it kills me. That decision led to the second decision: gotta book more babysitting hours. It is worth whatever it costs to have this baby off my plate, out of my life, sitting on some executive’s desk making him (and not me) laugh, cry, gasp, sweat…and hopefully not curse me or write masses of rewrite notes. I think my contract only allows for an additional light polish, after all.

So, last week I sent an email out to my mommy group called Beach Mamas cause we meet down at the beach once a week and to Peachhead saying I’m looking for a babysitter (why does everyone call it a nanny these days even if it’s only for a few hours a week? Is it a status thing? I’m confused) for 10-15 hours a week. I’m thinking 7-8 hours on Thursday, Harlan’s longest workday, and then a few more hours on another day.

I got an onslaught of responses, many of which sounded good, but one that made it an easy process. Beach Mama Tonya let me know that our old babysitter Lindsay, who still sits for her a bit, was interested. We loved Lindsay! But she left us because another family she worked for was demanding a lot of her time and she was trying to get back into working as a photographer. We talked and she told me the other family’s out of her life and she’s got a lot of time on her hands. I booked her for two days this week and then we’ll see how it goes.

This is a huge thing for me. I’ve never left boo for more than, like, four hours during the daytime. It’s going to be rough. But I am determined to finish this sucka!

So, I’m spending some money, made easier by the “Nanny Scholarship” my in-laws sent me, good for three checks earmarked for nannying alone. I had assumed they’d really go to pay the bills, since times are tough, but my husband insists that the money is not allowed to be used for anything but childcare. So there!

And I’ve compensated for the money spent by saving in another area.

Our Aidan is the speediest, most vigorous crawler I’ve ever seen. Really. I’m not just bragging. Everyone always says something about what a terrific, fast crawler he is. I think that’s why it hasn’t occurred to him to walk yet: crawling’s incredibly efficient for him. The problem with his crawling is that he goes through the knees of his pants usually in a week, sometimes in a day if he’s in the yard a lot. No kidding. I’d been throwing them out once the holes got too unruly, but then last week I had a brainstorm and googled “iron on patches.” I found this website Laughing Lizards that had millions—kiddie ones, animals, cars, guitars—and bought a whole bunch. Spend $35 and saved seven pairs of pants. And it actually felt great to be sitting there (in front of American Idol) mending my son’s clothes. Made me feel incredibly domestic. Made me feel like a good mom. Stitching, sorting through patches, ironing them on. I should say that some of them started peeling up a bit and I had to re-iron them after a first wearing. I may have to do a stitch here or there to keep them attached, but I think I did a damn good job. And his clothes are so cute I can’t stand it!

My patchwork kid

Precious in patches