The Good Girl Gone Blog: Babysitting blunders

Playing Hooky

May 24, 2009

Per Kboss' orders, I stayed home from work Friday to rest. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only sick kid- my 9 year old was home with a sore throat, so I took her to the doctor. Lucky for both of us, her strep test came out negative. Plus, I had the nurse practitioner check out my throat too. The diagnosis? Everything is fine, I just have a little cough.

After our visit to the doctor's office, my 9 year old and I headed to starbucks for some cold drinks and then back to her house to watch Twilight. I'm a little embarrassed to say I got sucked in to the movie's somewhat overdramatic plot. I will say that I'm not the hugest fan of Edward- he's so pale, his hair's a mess and his mouth looks like that of a kid who's just finished a cherry popsicle. And he broods. A lot. He's not really my type...though I now more than ever want to find a guy who makes it his mission to take care of me. I'm not sure if it's scary or absolutely wonderful. Go figure.

We also ventured to the Copley farmers' market where I bought 2 basil plants and a rhubarb stalk to make this. Only problem? The recipe calls for 10 stalks of rhubarb. I probably should have looked at it beforehand. Well, at least I'll know for next time!

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Work is never boring + a recipe!

May 21, 2009

Today was interesting. I woke up super early to go to work and was promptly told by Kboss that I needed to take cough syrup. Apparently, my hacking can be heard through walls and above the hum of the computer servers. Taking medicine was all fine and dandy, except for the fact that my cough syrup has no measuring cup, and oh yeah, makes me really tired.

So, I bonded with the nice green couch today. Curled up in Paul's sweatshirt, I took a half hour nap. In the office. Wow, that's classy Alana, very classy. Oh yeah, and then when I woke up and had to leave to go babysit, I kind of hugged my boss. Maybe it was because I was slightly delirious, or because she was being all maternal and telling me all the things I needed to do to get better. Or maybe it was because she's pregnant. I love pregnant people. Anyway, I hugged her and felt awkward. Yeah, she definitely thinks I'm hitting on her now.

I then discovered the recipe for the perfect May day:

1 sunny day
1 strawberry popsicle
1 free afternoon
2 little girls who need minimal supervision playing on the playground directly in your sight
1 hot football coach to drool over
1 perfect bench in the shade
1 adorable little boy climbing all over the bench to your right

Mix. Knead. Bake. Repeat.

And the best part? I get paid to do it. I love babysitting...

Sundress Week: Day 3- Double Trouble

Apr 30, 2009

Wow, I have so many great Sundress Week pictures to post from yesterday!

I really love this dress. It's from Target and has pockets. Plus, how pretty are these flowers? I got them with my nine year old at Trader Joe's. I believe that you don't need a boyfriend to get a nice bouquet of flowers. And, because it's the last day of class, I decided to reward myself with something bright and colorful.

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Sundress Week: Day 1- The Little Teal Number

Apr 27, 2009

Hello boys and girls and happy Sundress Week! I hope you're all enjoying the nice weather...although a few of you have told me that it's not actually so warm where you live. Of course, I'm sad that you can't all enjoy the lovely Boston weather for yourselves, but hopefully these photos will cheer you up.

I did a mini photo shoot today during babysitting. My nine year old and I found a nice spot near the playground and took turns snapping photos of each other. We brought the dog. He's not really that into being photographed...he moves a lot.

My wonderful roommate is responsible for choosing today's "sundress," which is a little number I picked up last year at Target. I use quotation marks because it's actually a beach cover-up. I'm a believer that cover-ups, as well as pajamas and sometimes even lingerie (unless highly see-through and scandalous), can be worn as regular clothing.

I climbed a tree...in flip flops!

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Spring fashion via the (little) girls' department

Apr 1, 2009

When I picked up my 9-year-old today from the playground, I noticed her adorable yellow trench coat. It was the perfect springtime jacket, lightweight, bright and adorable. It also happened to look very, very familiar. Yup, I'd tried on the same jacket in the girl's section at Macy's on a previous shopping trip.

Yes, I admit it, sometimes I check out the girl's section. I'm tiny enough to fit into the clothes, so why not? Plus, everything is a lot cheaper. Needless to say, it would have been slightly embarrassing if I'd showed up to the playground wearing the same coat as a 9-year-old. What would the other babysitters and mother's have thought? Good thing I passed it up.

I desperately tried to find a photo of my 9-year-old's coat, but apparently Macy's doesn't sell it online. And that's when I found this beautiful kid's coat from Juicy. Too bad it costs $198.

Also, thanks everyone for all your support yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better today.

Hard G's

Mar 16, 2009

Oh babysitting. You provide me with so much great blog material.

To set the scene: I was with the dynamic duo again today. As we watched TV, one of the girls stared intently at the laptop screen in front of her while her bff read a magazine. I on the other hand, was trying not to fall asleep under a super-warm blanket. Seemingly out of nowhere, my nine year old looked up from her computer and innocently asked:

"What's a ver-gin?" she asked, pronouncing the word with a hard g.

After repeating the word a few times in my head, it hit me. Virgin. I have to explain to a 9-year-old what a virgin is. Great.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"Facebook."

I glanced awkwardly over at her friend who clearly understood the meaning of the word. We both kind of snickered, which only made the word seem more interesting.

"Really! What does it mean?" she asked.

"Umm. It's pronounced virgin. And...it's a person who's never had sex."

Wow. That was awkward.

And now I can't stop using the word ver-gin. I think I like this pronunciation a lot more anyway. Also, it's really fun to insert in Madonna songs...

And then they broke up

Mar 4, 2009

Remember how the 9-year-old girls I babysit for both have boyfriends? Well, today I asked one of them about the status of her relationship. She promptly informed me that they'd broken up.

Alana: Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Did you break up with him?

9-year-old: Yeah. But then we got back together. And then he broke up with me.

Alana: Oh no! What happened?

9-year-old: I don't know. He was being a jerk so I broke up with him. Then we got back together. Then he broke up with me because Sarah touched his hat.

Alana: Wait, what?

9-year-old: Sarah touched his hat.

Wow, kids are crazy these days.

9-year-olds are trouble

Feb 23, 2009

(Alternative title: Don't assume I'm insane until you've read the whole post)

As I unsnapped the front pocket of my coach wristlet in search of my T-pass, I noticed a folded piece of notebook paper. Typically, this pocket only holds my monthly T-pass, a just-in-case Charlie Card, my BU ID and my driver's license, so I was confused when my fingers touched the folded paper.

Had I written a note and shoved it in the pocket only to be forgotten? No. I knew I hadn't.

When the T finally arrived, I scooted my way into an open seat and pulled out the mysterious note. I unfolded the sheet of paper and read:

Dear A,

I love you will you marry me? I want to be with you forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and...guess what EVER.

Love you <3

Alana!

(The exclamation point contained a heart instead of a plain old dot. It also had an illustration of what looks like a diamond ring.)

If you, like Riki and Megan, think I drunkenly scrawled out this note and forgot about it, you are wrong. I blame these two. 9-year-olds are trouble!