Dirty Laundry Blog by Jennifer Hynes

Nanny Drama

June 24th, 2015
I’m very disappointed, my new nanny completely flaked on me. I really liked her and so did the babies. I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about all her fantastical stories she told me when she couldn’t come to work. But how good she was when she worked and how we got a long so well. I turned her onto a job for another twin mom working Tuesdays and Thursdays. When she called in on Monday after “the death of her aunt” I texted Tuesday to make sure she was OK and was coming to work today. Fiona has her hearing appointment and I need an extra set of hands. She had sent me a text on Monday saying she would definitely be here Wednesday and Friday, but I just wanted to confirm. She finally texted me back saying that she got a bunch of bad news and needed to go home for the service. She said I should find someone else. I feel bad for her, I believe everything she has told me, Alan hasn’t believed one word. I called the other mom I recommended H to, to give her a heads up, “H’s apparently having a hard time, and I feel bad I recommended her to you. She just sent me a text saying she had to go home for a while. You might want to look for someone else too.” To my surprise H worked for D Tuesday and didn’t mention anything about her aunt. She was also planning on working for D today, and every other day Monday through Friday. She told D I was being flaky and cut her hours. She asked D if she was friends with me and if we “talked” before going down that path. There’s so many strange parts to all of this, but my biggest question is, H if you read this, “Why not just tell me you didn’t want to work for us? Why not be honest? Why did you act like you liked this job watching jack and Fiona? It seemed like we really got along well, why couldn’t you talk to me?” The most bizarre part is she took $15 an hour from D when I was paying her $20 because of her experience. When I got out of bed this morning I had another thought. Today we were supposed to go to Early Start, H didn’t like it there when we went last week. Maybe that was part of it. Alan thinks the job was simply too hard for her. It is a lot of work taking care of Jack and Fiona. I’m going to have a hard time finding anyone as good as Ramona.

I definitely learned from this experience, my gut instinct about people is not as reliable as I’ve always thought. I’m going to have to be a lot more careful the next time I hire a nanny. It makes me feel like not hiring a nanny, now I don’t trust anything they say. I automatically assume people are committed and loyal. That when people take a job they want a job or at least need to make money. I worked for Nordstrom’s for seven years and never called in sick once. But I guess that was probably dumb and being overly loyal to a company that wasn’t loyal to me. I’m just that type of person, I’m a diehard committer. I have a big problem with flakiness but a bigger problem with lies. I am honest to a fault, seriously. I can’t lie very good. I assume others are like me. It feels daunting to have to search for a new nanny. I’m bummed.
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Two Sleeping Babies in The Car

June 23rd, 2015
Monday Heather called in again, her Aunt died, she needed a day to mourn. I feel bad for her, she’s been having a difficult time. I don’t know her that well so I can’t say if this is normal or extra ordinary circumstances. But something has happened to poor Heather to prevent her from coming to work or being to work on time more days than not. I was really looking forward to my break yesterday, but Jack, Fiona, and I had a nice day. I didn’t have time to write though. linda came in the morning and I was so tired when the babies took their nap I watched the final episode of Married at First Sight! What a disappointment! No one stayed together!

We just got back from the discovery museum. The babies are sleeping in the car.

I decided writing or reading would be the perfect thing to do in situations like this. I just park my car under some nice trees and shade in the mall parking lot and I’ve got my quiet time! Genius. Jack and Fiona had so much fun at the museum today.

It’s gorgeous. Life is good. I mean that’s what I need to focus on anyhow. This morning I decided to read the news. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548

The first article I read was how so many species on the Earth are becoming extinct and mankind is on the road to ruin. Then I read about how many people have died in Pakistan and India from the heat wave. Last I read about how skinny jeans may be bad for your health.

The first article on extinction really made me sad. It always does, it reminded me about when I was young learning about the dinosaurs and how they became extinct. I loved that lesson, drawing them, learning their names. It also made me think about how we were taught about conservation and protecting the Earth. I wonder what I will be teaching Jack and Fiona? That I’m sorry, it’s too late, the world is doomed? Only the rich will be able to survive? What will be the message? My generation and my moms generation haven’t been able to stop the destruction of the Earth. The poor Lemurs and bees. But I can’t let myself go too far in that direction of thinking or I might need to start taking Zoloft again. I hear Jack snoring, they are sleeping so soundly as I sit here and type on my new fangled typing machine. My IPhone! It’s hard on the wrist and hand, but it gets the job done!

It’s the little things that count now. I told myself the other day from now on I’m going to be proud of what I’ve done so far, I’m not going to worry about what I’m going to do or haven’t done yet.
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Father’s Day 2015 and thoughts on Language

June 21st, 2015
This Father’s Day I was to be all prepared. I knew the day ahead of time and would go shopping on Friday. I wanted to make it special for Alan. Well, Heather called in sick and Jack was not feeling good enough to go shopping so I couldn’t get out of the house and prepare for the special day. I decided to make a card with the help of Jack and Fiona! I’m not a crafty person, I have no restraint and I go overboard whenever I try to make cards for people! I had to cut out the hands and feet that came out the best off the original card because it got really messy! I glued it all to a new piece of paper and it was done! I don’t really know what is supposed to happen on father’s day. Since my dad’s never really been in my life we never celebrated father’s day. There’s no tradition for me to fall back on or recreate, no nostalgia to mine from. Alan didn’t celebrate Father’s day in Ireland, so he has no specific expectations. I think he liked the sentiment and we’ve had a nice relaxing morning so far. The babies are actually taking a nap! Yea! Alan is working in the office and I get my break! Yea again!

Since visiting Early Start last week I have been thinking about language and communication a lot. I was reminded of a fiber artist I learned about a few years back, Judith Scott. Here is her story:

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=3563

She didn’t talk and never learned language but had so much to say and expressed it through her making of things. Her case is extreme, who’s to say how her life would have been different if she wasn’t raised in an institution. I’m sure she would have learned to communicate English in some variation. I feel like everyone is beating the drums to a path of “normalcy” for people who are born with other than normal physical expressions of self. The stories I constantly hear about people with hearing loss is how they are living such normal lives, they can talk almost perfect, they have great jobs, they are spokespeople for the hearing impaired community. I think all this stuff is great and agree life is easier if you can speak and write your native language. But what about those that aren’t exceptional in surpassing expectations and becoming mainstreamed? Isn’t there something we can celebrate in their lives? Can we be different and our lives be equally as valuable? I was having this discussion with Alan, I said Fiona might not be able to talk well, you never know. He always gets upset when I say things like this, and he said it was really important that she could talk and communicate in English, otherwise she wouldn’t have any friends. I said does she need friends that won’t take the extra time to try to understand what she’s saying?
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