My top 5 posts for 04.. admittedly from the last half of ’04… it’s only that long since I started…
ed. this is for the top 5 project which can be found here…
Yawn
There are 12 minutes left before I have to leave the house for work… the radio in the Count’s room is on… a constant since he moved in… at the moment he is alternately singing and praying in tongues … neither particularly melodious I’m afraid… Not that this bothers me of course…
I went to bed before 8pm last night and was asleep very shortly thereafter, this is an extremely rare occurrence, 11pm is more normal and 12.30-1am is not unusal at all… I think my weekend caught up with me… for the record this is what I did… I think it even eclipses the last weekend…
- Friday night babysitting-full report in previous post
- Saturday morning breakfast at Blue Water with Bet and her friends… a farewell before heading home to Germany for Christmas
- Saturday afternoon babysitting in a MANSION in Shelly Beach… totally stunning, a party going on above stairs and me and another nanny looking after 4 under twos… Challenging as one of them was a handful and a half…
- Saturday evening collect Charm and Just from the ferry terminal and bring them home before going out to dinner and home
- church
- out to lunch to hear String play at a local Mexican restaurant
- airport to drop off Charm and Just
- Church to live stream the service – site was broken so was redundant
- bed – thankfully
Charm is a friend from youth group days, and was travelling here to play her instrument for the masses… she is very good at it too, I have been listening to her cd. (Love it babe… thanks!) It was brilliant to totally pick up where we left off and not have any awkward moments given that the gap between setting sight of each other is over 10 years… It’s a very cool thing too when your friends marry people who will be friends too… Just is one of those… Hooray!
So, in all a bl**dy great weekend… roll on the holidays though…
Bu**er , it’s 8.30… see you later
Night of 1000 dramas, I mean dilemmas
Well, not actually 1000 dramas, dilemmas.
More like one really…
Anyway, it was a baby sitting situation, Mum and Dad and kids x2 are staying in temporary digs while their house is having renos done. I arrive to babysit and am introduced by Mum to Hostess (I think s-i-l) who will be relieving me later in the evening as Mum and Dad are planning to have a big night.
The money is left on the counter and Mum, Dad and Hostess leap into cab and toddle off while I settle in to watch Bruce Almighty on the telly
All is quiet on the Western front…
… Still quiet…
… yawn…
Time passes…
12.00am. Sounds of door slamming, car doiong a u-turn and keys fumbling into the keyhole…
Door opens…
Hostess stumbles in… very much the worse for wear…
Slurs a hello, responds rather negatively to the question “How was your evening?” and flops down on the sofa.
Falls asleep immediately.
Snores…
Time passes…
… still snoring.
I look over, Hostess and dog called Archie are both snoring…
and drooling on the pillow…
I decided to watch the conclusion of Bruce.
Hostess is still snoring.
Crash heard from upstairs… baby screams… fallen out of bed…
Drop everything and run upstairs to cuddle Baby and snuggle her back to bed… Return downstairs… Hostess and Archie still snoring on the sofa…
Bruce concludes… I remain…
Question: Should I leave kids in care of comatose Hostess?
Hover…
Tis 12.30am… need sleep… Mum and Dad can’t be too far surely?
Shake Hostess to tell her goodbye and officially hand over responsibility…
Shake her again…
Shake and shout “see you later”…
Still comatose…
Decide to leave.
Guilt leads me to SMS Mum and Dad from the car… “Have left home, owe you $30.00 will return tomorrow. Am concerned as Hostess in bit of a state… Are you far from home?”
Skip forward to today…
Arrive to drop off $30.00 and Hostess opens the door… Is on the phone.
I hand her the envelope and she tells me sorry about last night… special circumstances… would have woken up if anything happend…
I didn’t think I could tell her… “Baby fell, Baby screamed, tried 3x to say goodbye, while you slept on”… without looking like a b*tch.
So I nodded and smiled and didn’t feel guilty at all for the SOS SMS*…
(SMS is Australian for text message)
Integrity as a Means of Getting Dosh
Integrity is a bit of an old fashioned word isn’t it? I mean, you don’t hear it that often, yet when someone doesn’t have it you really tread carefully with them, right?
You may remember that a girl bailed on moving in with me before the Count moved in… I thought she was all keen to be my new flatty but she was really just keeping me as an option. Actually, I think she had initially really planned to move in but as the time drew out while Bliss stayed around, the idea began to pale.
Anyway, clearly in my view her integrity was shot given that she upped stakes so close to desperate Dee day. So, when she offered to pay me 2 weeks rent in lieu I accepted her offer yet didn’t actually expect to see the dollars. A couple of weeks passed and I decided to take the bull by the horns and mention it.
I sent a simple email just indicating I would be happy to supply my bank account details. No pressure and no strong demands, just a note by way of gentle reminder. I heard nothing… I shrugged.
Another couple of weeks and still nothing so was feeling as though my lack of faith in her producing the dough was justified. However, I got a reply eventually saying she hadn’t actually budgeted for the money at that point and wasnt getting paid till December. but would see what she could do. I nodded and smiled but kept my expectations low.
Imagine my surprise yesterday to receive an email with a receipt attached for close to the amount in question.
Faith restored.
The thing is, it was never about the money though it will be useful. I had felt prompted to contact her because having given her word, if she had never paid, or if she hadn’t rung and reneged it would always be ‘out there’ when we met at church. I wasn’t prepared to live with the awkwardness of having me expecting the money and her feeling guilty over our heads.
I would have been happy with either the money or by her backing out of the deal and apologising because it indicated she had the integrity to do one or the other. (Pardon me Dee, but your judging (ISTJ -Myers/Briggs) streak is showing.)
As it is, I am happy because I got the money AND I can sleep at night, having the rent up to date, and she can rest for having kept her word.
A Win/win I think.