90210

It should be called 9021NO

I turned on the telly and aged a decade in the opening credits.
It is like watching a bad version of the OC coupled with the hills. I hunger for the lives of the old characters. uuuggghhhh I am ancient and 90210 might just suck.
I is 22 minutes into the show and I hate it already!
Bring back the old cast...save us all from this skinny girl crap!

CHARITY

To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world.
---Anonymous


I seriously have to do something for all the children in the world without anyone to help them, no water to drink and no place to sleep.
I am thinking of starting a charity.
A foundation.
Or something.

Maybe I just have to take some of the money I would normally donate to people on the subway, street beggars etc and take it with me on my trip to South Africa and literally buy babies food and deliver it on the doorstep of a township day care centre.

uuuggghhhhhh. What to do, What to do!

This rant is due to me volunteering at the foster home today. I have been doing this for almost a year and it still messes with my mind to see these children!

Spring is here

Oh, the weather in NYC is fantastic this week.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the sun is out and the sky is a lovely clear blue.

Lots of things coming up....

• Spring cleaning is number 1 on my list and then maybe a little decorating.
• Shawn and I are planning a trip away
• My ex-charges and I are looking forward to a sleepover when their parents go away for a weekend. I want to do a surprise internet diary filled with pics and the stuff we do while they are away and email it to the parents every evening....so I am working on that too. Does anyone know if emails reach blackberries, or is that a differant email address? Techno savvy I am not!

On another note...I have booked my ticket to South Africa and I cant wait!

I am going to be gone for 6 weeks.... 6 glorious weeks of fun and family!

HAPPY SPRING!

Love thy Nanny....

But not too much!

Click the here to read about Nannies and the Famous Men who Love them.....more than they should!

Nanny Drama

Celebrities and their Nannies......
Always a story, well here is another one!
Click the icon below for the story on Rob Lowe suing his Nanny


Click Here




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Are nannies worth it?

A friend of mine called me talk about her boss who is now after one year, complaining about her nanny rates!
After one year of top-notch care!
My friend tells me that every time pay-day rolls around the corner, her boss starts to complain about not being able to afford to pay such high rates!
This from a woman who doesnt work..oh wait--she lunches and calls it work...Her husband is extremely successful, they have an Upper East Side 4 floor home, a holiday house in the Hamptons and a country get away somewhere down south!

My friend has a teaching degree, 10 years of nannying experience, can speak 3 languages and play 2 musical instruments. How is she not worth $35 an hour?

You get what you pay for. Some families can only afford $10-12 an hour! I understand that and quite frankly, they will get what they pay for, sometimes even more than they pay for. But
for those families that can afford a nanny, and say that they deem their children to be their most prized possession, but want to pay $15, and snuff at anything more expensive, I say "shame on you".
$20-35 an hour is what nannies in NYC charge and should be considered getting a reasonable deal! Like everyone else, Nannies have to pay NYC rents people. Thats upward of $1200 for a one bedroom!
I think that if a person really cant afford it, then I would understand not going the way of the nanny. But if one can afford it, why not hire the best and pay her what she is worth!

You can have your child in the best hands ever for $35 an hour or you can buy a pair of shoes from
Payless or a hardcover book. I must admit that many NYC mothers are walking around with bags that range from the many hundreds to the many thousands of dollars and then they guffaw at an expensive nanny.
In the grand scheme of things, the mother who says $35 an hour is a lot, might be right! It just depends what you get for that hour.

For a 4 hour day, my itinerary on a winter day usually looks like this.... I know my nanny-friend who is in this conundrum has the same kind of schedule, except she adds a language here and there as well as a musical instrument!

A Theme day of Gingerbread.
1. Bake Ginger bread cookies...learn about measuring, math and have fun getting messy.
2. While oven is baking, wash up and clear activities and then read the gingerbread man story book.
3.Take out the cookies to cool. Do an art project about gingerbread men...puppet or make a gingerbread house out of a shoe box.
4. Decorate cookies...wrap some up for friends
5. Create our own story, make a book about it or a poem.

Worth $35 an hour! I think so!

For $35 you are going to get ample years of experience, fun educational activities and quite frankly, peace of mind. So to my friend, the overqualified nanny Monika who contacted me to complain about parents complaining at her rate! I say move on to someone else. In fact use that number I gave you and leave this family in the dust. Dont dare let them make you feel bad about charging your worth! dont let them make you question your value.

For those parents who complain to me about the rates....I understand that you dont want to feel taken advantage of, but when I am paying my cleaning person more than you pay yours....WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
So, take your expensive handbag and tell someone who cares. Prioritize people. Prioritize!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEES

It is my mother-in-law's birthday today.

Here she is with the two men she loves most. Her husband Pat and her son, (my husband) Shawn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEES!