"Just 'cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town." -- George Carlin

Monday, February 11, 2008

Le plan fou (the crazy schedule)

Recently, I've felt a little more crazy than usual. I thought that getting someone to come to the house to take care of lil' Monkey would do the trick. So I went through the effort of doing all of this research on hiring child care -- the taxes, the payroll, the background checks, etc. (in my "spare time" mind you). Then once DH and I agreed that this was a good idea and that I should pull the trigger, I signed up for a "sitter search" service and posted a job.


Within one week, we received 5 applicants, 2 of which I thought were really promising (one was previously an Au Pair, therefore, obviously had references). As I was talking to DH about it, he said that he didn't realize that I was planning on leaving lil' Monkey with this person to go to meetings. I said, "Yes, but only after a month or how ever long it takes for us to feel comfortable doing that." He then said we should scrap the whole idea because using one of these services would be the best way to snatch a kid, especially if the person in question wasn't a U.S. citizen whereby we could do a thorough background check and have a SS# should they take off with Monkey. Good point. But something I wish he would have expressed BEFORE I posted the job.


So now I'm in child care purgatory, not sure of how to proceed. In desperation for some immediate plan, I came up with a new schedule for Monkey and I. If we BOTH can stick to it, this might just work out. The hard part is getting him to stick to it (although I've been just as much a culprit in not implementing and sticking to a solid schedule). Pictured is my Excel spreadsheet of our new schedule.


Pretty crazy, huh? ON PAPER (gotta love that saying), I can get 36 hours of work done. HA. IN THEORY (again, gotta love it), this should motivate me. But in actuality, I'll probably only get 20 hours of work done, just like I have for the past 2 months (even though I've promised my employer 24 hours, I just can't seem to squeeze in that extra 4). We'll see. If I can get Monkey to nap 2-4 hours a day, this might just work. But I'll never promise anyone that 36 hours.


Therefore, a future post will be about schedules -- making one, getting your child to adhere to it, sticking to it yourself and the different theories about them.


Wish me luck, so far today, we're not too far off! Of course, instead of working I'm blogging. Go figure, mommy would be the first to blow it. :)