One of the realities that I've resigned myself to is that in order to keep working full-time, the kiddos will be subjected to an ever-changing series of caretakers. Our goal will be to find great caregivers and limit turnover, but there's only so much influence we can impart.
After last year, when we tried to make things work with an au pair who I didn't really trust, I decided to take upon the hiring of a local babysitter myself. I specifically kicked Fritz out of the interview process, since I think he rather over-rode my instincts with that particular (bad) au pair. I wanted to see if I could do a better job without his input. I wanted to follow my instincts.
I interviewed about 8 people before I found the right fit. And I really love our current sitter - or nanny - I don't know how to refer to her - I keep changing my mind. She's working for us about 20 hours a week, sometimes a little bit more with holidays, etc.
I trust her. Which is MAJOR in making me feel okay about going to work. My grandmother told me after Noah was born, "What you need to do is find someone you can really trust to watch him. That makes all the difference." And my grandmother was completely right. But at the time she told me this, we were living in Munich and this piece of advice was completely overwhelming. I could barely make friends for myself with my clumsy German: how was I ever going to find someone I trusted to watch my child?
Every now and then I have crossed paths with someone I trust, but the stars don't always align. Or the stars don't align for a very long time. Now we have someone I trust and I am so happy about it. However, she's expecting a baby in March, so we'll be back to looking for another child care solution starting in February, at least temporarily. We MAY go back in the direction of an au pair. It's the same argument I made before: IF we could find the right au pair, I do think that the au pair (live-in nanny) really offers us some much-appreciated flexibility.
Naturally, I'm worried about making the same mistakes. No. That's not true. It's more like: I'm worried about making new mistakes and finding myself unhappy once again. I actually trust myself not to make the exact same mistake.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017
A Cloudy Crystal Ball
Starting my new architect job occurred simultaneously with having a lot of orders in the Etsy/WyseWorks store. I have some really mixed feelings about the WyseWorks store.
It's a small, small business. My brother says I shouldn't say that. But it is. At this point in time, I make a few thousand dollars from it each year. It's really nice to make some side money. But relative to the amount I'm paid to do architecture, the WyseWorks stuff pays, like, half the hourly rate. In spite of this, some people are still pretty sure my prices are rip-offs. Here's an inquiry I received about doing a custom project. Initially I wanted to justify my prices. Instead I simply turned down the work. Starting off a client relationship with antagony is not a good idea. (I, myself, could do well to remember this.) This year in particular, I really didn't have time to be forgiving / justifying / proving my worth.
What makes up for the low WyseWorks wages are that most of the customers are really cool and they have really neat ideas. I LOVE the challenge of making something that is "just right" for someone. The reviews and positive feedback are pretty great, too. Sometimes, I go read the reviews when I am in a bad mood, and they buoy me up and makes me feel so much better.
Going forward, however, it's hard to justify spending the time on WyseWorks when I'm paid more to be an architect.
But then, the WyseWorks business feels like one of my children. It's hard to walk away from it. And what if this architecture thing doesn't work out? What if spending hours and hours on Revit bores me to tears? What if the economy tanks and we have a big recession and I get laid off? I'm always one to have Plans B and C in the wings, so I guess I need to keep ahold of the WyseWorks store, but I'm not exactly sure what that means yet.
It's a small, small business. My brother says I shouldn't say that. But it is. At this point in time, I make a few thousand dollars from it each year. It's really nice to make some side money. But relative to the amount I'm paid to do architecture, the WyseWorks stuff pays, like, half the hourly rate. In spite of this, some people are still pretty sure my prices are rip-offs. Here's an inquiry I received about doing a custom project. Initially I wanted to justify my prices. Instead I simply turned down the work. Starting off a client relationship with antagony is not a good idea. (I, myself, could do well to remember this.) This year in particular, I really didn't have time to be forgiving / justifying / proving my worth.
What makes up for the low WyseWorks wages are that most of the customers are really cool and they have really neat ideas. I LOVE the challenge of making something that is "just right" for someone. The reviews and positive feedback are pretty great, too. Sometimes, I go read the reviews when I am in a bad mood, and they buoy me up and makes me feel so much better.
Going forward, however, it's hard to justify spending the time on WyseWorks when I'm paid more to be an architect.
But then, the WyseWorks business feels like one of my children. It's hard to walk away from it. And what if this architecture thing doesn't work out? What if spending hours and hours on Revit bores me to tears? What if the economy tanks and we have a big recession and I get laid off? I'm always one to have Plans B and C in the wings, so I guess I need to keep ahold of the WyseWorks store, but I'm not exactly sure what that means yet.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Like a Pre Teen
I've been reading a lot of pre-teen books to Noah lately. (Are they officially YA books? No, maybe not. Let's call them pre-teen.) Even though he's 10, I still read to him. And actually...as he gets older, and the books get more interesting, I enjoy it more.
When I was 10 years old, I read just about everything I could get my hands, including some things I probably shouldn't have gotten my hands on. (I'm looking at you Flowers in the Attic.) I read all of these things to myself. My mom was always busy; I was always self-sufficient. Subsequently, I avoided books unless they had female protagonists. Guess what? I missed out on a whole bunch of really good books. Lucky for me, I have two sons, and they seem to like the books with male protagonists. So now I'm catching up on everything I missed out on, plus everything that's been published in the last 30 years. Hatchet. My Side of the Mountain. The Wednesday Wars. And, my goodness, the Wings of Fire Series. Some of the books are humorous and some are serious and some are just plain silly. Most of the characters have these VERY raw/surface like emotions. Honestly, I can't believe how these books have sucked me in, and to some extent, have me re-framing my everyday experiences like a pre-teen once again.
It's weird - it's almost uncomfortable, really - and I wonder if I need to stop reading with Noah.
On the other hand, it's sort of interesting to feel things like a pre-teen again. Gives my life a little extra excitement, I suppose.
You know what? There have been so many changes around the Wyse House in the last year. As I neglect posting about each change, I neglect posting in general.
FORTUNATELY, I know that the cure to neglect is to just start typing. Post a little. And slowly unravel everything in my (now) pre teen like-head onto the blog.
Here are some of the topics I think I should write about. It's very pre-teen of me to just throw it out here, right? (Right.) Dyslexia. Returning to work full-time. Sitting still for many, many hours a day. Babysitters.
When I was 10 years old, I read just about everything I could get my hands, including some things I probably shouldn't have gotten my hands on. (I'm looking at you Flowers in the Attic.) I read all of these things to myself. My mom was always busy; I was always self-sufficient. Subsequently, I avoided books unless they had female protagonists. Guess what? I missed out on a whole bunch of really good books. Lucky for me, I have two sons, and they seem to like the books with male protagonists. So now I'm catching up on everything I missed out on, plus everything that's been published in the last 30 years. Hatchet. My Side of the Mountain. The Wednesday Wars. And, my goodness, the Wings of Fire Series. Some of the books are humorous and some are serious and some are just plain silly. Most of the characters have these VERY raw/surface like emotions. Honestly, I can't believe how these books have sucked me in, and to some extent, have me re-framing my everyday experiences like a pre-teen once again.
It's weird - it's almost uncomfortable, really - and I wonder if I need to stop reading with Noah.
On the other hand, it's sort of interesting to feel things like a pre-teen again. Gives my life a little extra excitement, I suppose.
You know what? There have been so many changes around the Wyse House in the last year. As I neglect posting about each change, I neglect posting in general.
FORTUNATELY, I know that the cure to neglect is to just start typing. Post a little. And slowly unravel everything in my (now) pre teen like-head onto the blog.
Here are some of the topics I think I should write about. It's very pre-teen of me to just throw it out here, right? (Right.) Dyslexia. Returning to work full-time. Sitting still for many, many hours a day. Babysitters.
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