Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Recently my integrity was in question, along with how I run my babysitting. The issues that caused all of this really cut me to the core, and although I just wanted to seclude myself and wallow in my pain, I had to continue working. Layla and Colby have been around me since all this started, and I've been such a wreck that I had to ask Dave for a well needed blessing. I LOVE the power of the priesthood.

Yesterday, Colby went out of his way to pay attention to me and be a friend. While he was sitting in my lap, I told this very intelligent 4yr old that the reason I was so upset and kept crying is because I've been told I was a bad babysitter. Yes, I may be taking that too hard, but it's something I love to do, watch kids since I don't have any of my own yet. When somebody attacks me that way, I take it hard, and it hurts DEEP!

When I told Colby about being a bad babysitter, he looked up at me seriously, and said something that I will never forget, and made me smile. He said "Jess, when I come over again, I'll teach you how to be a good babysitter." I told him thank you, and smiled. He and Layla have been a big help through this hard time, as well as my friends and family. The one thing I love the most about watching children are the things they say. You can not only teach a child a lot, but you can learn a lot from them as well. I know why they say be like children, not only are they innocent, but they see the world in a simple way, not complicated, and that's how it should be.

Entertainment

Today Mom wanted to take Karma to the park and work with her on her training. I told her that I wanted to work with Mason a little because he's slacking on his obedience. We not only took Mason and Karma, but Merlyn followed without a leash. He did great staying with us, and listened to me when I called him over. He really seemed to enjoy his jaunt to and from the park, and was a big help at being a distraction to the other dogs.

When we got to the park, I let Mason off of his leash and began playing fetch with him and Merlyn, while Mom worked with Karma. Just as they got to the grass, Karma took off after Mason and Merlyn, and knocked Mom to the ground. Though I shouldn't have, I laughed because it looked really funny. I profusely appologized to her, then helped her up.



I sat around and played with Mason and Merlyn while watching how Mom worked with Karma. Before she began her walk through the park, I suggest she try out Mason's PRONG collar on Karma because her choke chain was too big and wasn't doing the trick. Mom immediately saw an improvement and had less of a hard time with Karma. When I watched for a while, I approached Mom and Karma and gave them a few tips. We went home after about 30 minutes, but had a good session. Tomorrow we will work with her again, and I will find an extra link to my extra prong collar for Karma. I'm off to be with my hubby now. NIGHT!!

The New Kids

Ok, so I'm not watching Kaitlynn full time anymore, but luck would have it, this woman who works at COSTCO needed a sitter for her 2 girls, and saw how good I was with Kaitlynn and asked if I was up for the job. We agreed on a price and I started watching them just this week. This little munchkin is Meado (pronounced Meadow) and believe it or not, she's 3yrs old. This is just the adjustment period, and she's so inquisitive to the point it's almost annoying. We're working on establishing who's BOSS between her and I, and predict that she'll be no problem once she adjusts. She has really taken to Dave, and looks forward to seeing him every day. The only downfall of the situation is that she's always looking forward to playing with Kaitlynn and Kaitlynn isn't with us anymore. Instead, she spends a few hours with me without any other kids, then we get her sister from Kindergarten at 1pm. That leads us to Chloe.
Chloe is 6yrs old and a really sweet kid. She's not doing bad at adjusting to me and establishing the understanding that I'm in charge, and helps out a lot with Meado. I can tell these kids are going to be as much fun as Kaitlynn, but more of a handful. We'll see for sure how good they'll be. It's interesting, their Dad use to work for Dave Fredrickson, and his cousin is married to my cousin.
Speaking of the kids, I've gotta get going to find something to keep them from being bored. They're having plenty of fun hiding under the computer desk, but unfortunately, it doesn't last forever.

Working Miracles

Ok, so y'all know that we've got more dogs than what we care to have. We've had to keep Dante and Tika separate because Tika and Karma don't get along. Since she started obedience training, Karma has been more mellow around the other dogs, including Tika the few times they've crossed paths. Today, being unable to fight my curiosity any longer, I let Karma and Tika meet in the livingroom without any other dogs around.
Normally when you introduce dogs, they're in a controlled environment with both being on leashes, the most control this had was they had humans in the room with Shake cans. Everything went fine, they tried to play with each other, then I got even more brave, and let them in the back yard with Dante and Gus. One by one, I let the other dogs out with them until I got down to Nellie. Nellie didn't want to go outside, so I didn't make her. Tika and Karma played HARD with each other for a good hour or so, and even longer once I brought all the other dogs in. Here's what I captured while they were playing.

One Time Deal

This year, Dave and I had discussed things to do with our tax returns. Last month Emily invited me to a Jewelry party, and I attended it with her. While at the party, we were asked if we wanted to host a party ourselves, to help the hostess get more "rewards". I thought, what can it hurt, so I signed up for a party. I was surprised with how many people showed up for the party, and when all was said and done, the only one who bought anything was me. Mom and Heather wanted some jewelry, and Mom didn't have enough for what she wanted, so after discussing things with Dave, we paid for hers, mine and got Heather some at a discounted price.
Shamefully, with the jewelry we bought, it all totaled, after discounts and so called "Freebies" our total was $300. We found that we were heavily taxed on the "free" and discounted items. After the order was finalized and all was said and done, I sat down and figured out item by item how much we would have spent without any discounts and freebies, and we actually saved $500. We didn't spend our federal tax return on what we really wanted to, but we've decided that we're not buying ANY kind of jewelry for a long time.