Day One of the Adventures of Stormy

“Well, my brother says Hello. So, hooray for speech therapy.” ~ Emo Philips

Today is day one of blogging! I am not an experienced writer, but I have a 15 year old daughter who loves to write and, without a doubt, she will be editing these blogs over my shoulder!

Let's see....where to start!  Lets just jump in with a current situation!

I quit my job a year ago to start a photography business. I thought I wanted to take studio photography pictures out of my home, but that turned out not to be the case. I found out I really do not enjoy setting up stilted studio photography shots or dealing with customers. So I decided to change my mind, as I always do, and just sell my photographs on various sites such as Etsy, Bonanzle, and eBay. Shameless plug here: 
( http://www.etsy.com/shop/RickStormPhotography and http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/positively_inclined ) Turns out it is harder to be an Artist than I thought!  I keep going anyway just for the love of the game!   

Bills keep piling up, so I have been selling all of my possessions on eBay to keep afloat! My boyfriend says I should be careful or I will find myself putting my last pair of pants on auction! I'm afraid he may be right, but I keep plugging along and trying to sell my photography. I am thinking of returning to work after a whole year of what I like to call "the extended vacation where I went broke".

These days I am only looking to pay off my school loans, (BFA $36,000.00...lifetime of debt Priceless), pay the regular day to day bills and send my kid to college so she too can be up to her eyeballs in debt! I'm not looking forward to going back to work, but sometimes you have to do the necessary things in life to get by.

So that brings me to my next adventure...Nanny! I just returned home from South Dakota about 2 weeks ago from being a nanny for my little brother and sister-in-law's 3 children. They have conflicting jobs, so they wanted a family member to watch their kids. Since I am "between jobs" at the moment, I volunteered to help them out, for a fee that is. The set fee was $700.00 for the month of August. Sounded good to me since my income has been 0 Zip Nada for awhile now. Pretty good gig I thought. They have a 3 month old, a 2 year old, and a 9 year old. Easy stuff right???....No.... that is where you would be wrong!

The 9 year old was a breeze, only a few fits here and there. The 3 month old slept most of the time, but only if you held her. It was...you guessed it...the 2 year old that was the problem. Wow, it has been 13 years since I have been around a 2 year old and I was not as prepared as I thought I would be, luckily I had episodes of the Super Nanny on hulu to review and put into action! I would like to take this time to say "Thank You Super Nanny"!  
When I first arrived, the two year came running up to me with a sweet little grin and bouncy brown hair. She threw her arms around my knees and said she was so happy to see me. Hugs ensued as my sister-in-law and a bundled up baby came bounding from the house. It was a happy day! That was day one!

Day two and on: ...I would wake up to a sometimes naked 2 year old bouncing on my bed yelling "wake up...wake up".  She would always start the day with a smile and a good attitude, but by the time I would get to bottom of the stairs, she would turn into her alter ego "Fi Fi" and all hell would break loose. Her favorite phrase when she would break something or I would tell her no was, " I NEED TO".  I never quite had a response for that one....Now I have thought about this phrase for awhile now and I think she is on to something. I am going to try it at home and at my next job! Just to see if I get away with it!

All in all the experience was fun! I have volunteered my nanny services to go back again on Sept. 12 until Sept. 26th. I will be reporting my progress on a day to day basis while I am there! Since I survived a month of craziness last time, how hard can two weeks really be???  I guess we will find out!

Well, I think I have given you all enough to process for now...after all tomorrow in another day entirely!
Check in daily for more fun and adventures with Stormy.

There's no such thing as fun for the whole family.  ~Jerry Seinfeld