We’re moving. Woohoo! To the Nashville area, or to Murfreesboro, TN, to be more exact. I’ll be going to MTSU and Daniel will hopefully get in school too this semester. If not, definitely next semester. We’re going up there on Tuesday to try and find an apartment with a lease starting mid-August. So we are pretty much just going to be throwing our whole life in a u-haul and driving the 4 or so hours up there.

We sold the Pontiac today. Back to my mom, who has now essentially paid for that car twice.

Spent a week in Florida with the LU girls. It was 97% hella fun, and around 3% of everyone getting sick of each other. But I actually got to go parasailing which was amazing.

Next time I write in this thing it will probably be from the Boro… can’t wait!

-Went to Spring River in Hardy, Arkansas for the 4th with Ericka and Chance. Was actually pretty fun!

-Got a new iPod to replace my nano.

-Started my new jobs with the Webbs (kids: John, 4, and Jake, 1) and at John Casablancas. So far: Webbs- ehh; John Casablancas,

-Got a sunburn despite putting disgusting amounts of sunblock on my skin

I do believe that’s it.

So I have tentatively found a job! Yay. MWF 9-4, $230 a week, and I’ll have to get a second afternoon job.

Then tonight, some people emailed me from craigslist. They need a sitter MWF 8-4, around 25 hours per week, and wanted to know my rates. I told them $300/week, which is what I normally charge- $12 an hour. They called about 5 minutes ago and said, “Hi, we’re the people that just emailed you. We just wanted to let you know- there is no WAY we would be able to pay you $300 a week. I’m a medic and he’s a something-or-another. We pay our babysitter now $75 a week.”

1) The reason you pay a nanny more is because she’s not a 13 year old girl (aka “babysitter”) looking to make some cash to blow on lip gloss and babydoll tees at the mall.

2) $75 a week? A WEEK? Even taking a serious pay cut at my new job, I’ll make that in a day.

3) $75 a week divided by 25 hours work is $3 an hour. Did you know gas is $4 a gallon? Also, did you know $3 an hour is poverty wages?

4) Have you ever heard of a daycare? Try one in Frasier. They should be able to help you out for $3 an hour.

In all seriousness it shocks the hell out of me that people are so stingy about paying for their childcare. If you won’t pay good money for someone to take care of your own flesh and blood, what are you going to pay for? Prada bags and $400 car notes for your Escalade? Okay, meanness aside, if $75 a week is all you can afford, that’s fine. But don’t waste my time and don’t insult me. Call a low-rate daycare (because yes, even most daycares charge way more than $75 a week) or an old lady on a fixed income who needs a few extra bucks at the end of the month.

And what bugs me the most is that I know these people thought I was CRAZY for asking for that kind of money. Being a nanny is hard work. Just because I don’t have my degree yet doesn’t mean I’m not as professional a childcare giver as you’ll find.

Though I want the best for Henley, I secretly selfishly wish the Robertsons would stay.

The Robertsons are moving to Chattanooga so I am out of a job in about a month. Let the job searching begin.

To reinforce what I said earlier, UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I got an elliptical, which has only added to the clutter of our 750 sq. ft. apartment. But if it saves me the $25 monthly gym member ship, I’m all for it.

Still haven’t found a second job and my situation has gotten infinitely more complicated. I decided that I would just ask the Robertsons if I could work an extra day through the week so I could make a bit more money. That would save me from a second job and I would still be flexible with my hours with them. Surprise: They’re going to give me a raise, without asking me to work too many more hours, but might be moving. They won’t know until the middle of July. :/ On top of all that, they’re going on vaca in July too, and I have no idea if they’re going to give me a paid vacation. PLUS they have some friends who may or may not need a nanny when their kid is born in August. So I basically am just going to be hanging on tenterhooks for another month. Who knows what I’ll do if they end up moving and their friends don’t need a nanny. Probably wait tables a few days a week and on the weekends until I can come up with something better. BLAH.

The costs of gas, food, cable, and cat food are rising. Health care was expensive to begin with. And my weekly salary is the same as it was 8 months ago. A part-time job is in my horizon.

Today I retire my old (well, 2 years old) Kodak Easyshare C330 digital camera. It has served me well with its 1.5″ screen and 4 megapixels. It was the first “expensive” thing I bought when I started working for Chili’s in high school and actually started earning some real money. It’s the only electronic thing I’ve actually taken extremely good care of–kept it in a leather case and it has no scratches, not a one. For 4 MP, it’s actually a really good camera.

In place of it I have gotten… drumroll, please… a new Kodak Easyshare M763! No, I couldn’t escape. I don’t even use the easyshare function on these cameras but they are so good. 7 MP with a 3 year protection plan. This one is blue instead of silver and has something like a 3″ LCD screen, with 1600 ISO. It’s still just a typical point and shoot camera but that’s all I need.

“Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other is gold.”

I always thought I wanted to be a young mom. I do still, but damn. Isn’t it just better for the kid to wait until you get out of college and get a good job? I hope my someday kids eventually appreciate that even though I’d somewhat like to meet them now, I’m going to wait so they they can get that Xbox 360 they really want on their 10th birthday. Also, traveling with bottles, baby wipes, diapers, and pacifiers, and screaming one year olds in Europe does not sound fun.

Daniel’s sister, her boyfriend, and her best friend graduated from Olive Branch HS today and we just got back from the ceremony. As horribly long graduation ceremonies go, it wasn’t too bad. What was really funny was the salutatorian’s speech with this long drawn out metaphor about how people are like trees, and then the valedictorian’s speech with again, a long drawn out metaphor about how people are like houses.

Yay Sarah, the first Crenshaw in a long time to graduate and walk!

Now for the rant. Today Lauren and I went to this “upscale” consignment store called Plato’s Closet. I took some pairs of brand new shoes, shirts with the tags still on–about 50 things total. Lauren took over 100. So what did they buy from me? Not the brand new wedge shoes with the tags still on. Not any of the summertime dresses or shirts. Although they weren’t taking “winter wear,” they took a long sleeved sweater and a pair of winter shoes, a purse, and an old t-shirt, for a grand total of $20.50. As for Lauren, she sold a few pairs of jeans and a few shirts for about thirty bucks. Their explanation? “We can’t buy most of this stuff because of excessive wear and staining.” Staining? If I have something old and stained that I won’t wear, why would I think someone else was going to wear it? Even after that poor excuse for reasoning, half the things they were selling there were old and out of style. Crappy old tennis shoes bent in half, and about a million t-shirts. Won’t sell anything to them again.

Okay, end rant. All in all a good day.

Yesterday when I was at the gym, I saw this woman working out close to me. She was wearing Daisy Duke workout shorts that were extremely tight, and a workout bra, and nothing else (well, shoes). This woman wasn’t Jabba the Hut, but she definitely wasn’t America’s next top model either. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen her working out in next to nothing. And it BOTHERED me! I really did not want to see 90% of her skin. I really wanted her to go put some clothes on. Not because she had fat jiggling around everywhere or anything like that- she didn’t. And then I wondered why it was bothering me, and I thought about other “non-conservative” things that bother me. There’s this guy at my bank who’s probably in his late 20s or early 30s. I go to the bank once a week and he is the teller pretty much every time I’m there, and he’s always like- “Hey, man, what’s up?” “Yo.” “So what do you wanna do with this thing, cash it?” (Ok and on top of this he is a complete jackass. He does things like ask me if I have an account with them when I just wrote the account number on the check I just freakin endorsed.) Is it weird that I would just rather him be like, “Hi, how can I help you today?” and give me my damn money and that be the end of it. I don’t want someone who is acting like a kid doing my bank transactions, I want someone who knows how to act like a professional.

But then on the other hand someone walking around with a million piercings and tattoos doesn’t bother me, and those things beg for just as much attention as someone walking around half-naked. I don’t care if you get drunk at the bar and I’ll even join you at a dive club where I will undoubtedly have tons of fun despite the roaches and rats and cheap beer but I count my pennies religiously and I’m a staunch advocate of the second amendment who still happens to believe that under most circumstances a woman should have the right to choose. I am a Christian who believes wholly in the separation of Church and State and I think the Religious Right is more like the Religious Wrong, because if the government and politicians try to force people to be Christians, they will become resentful and it will make it harder for us to ever truly turn them to Christ, and I believe that if you don’t like gay marriages then don’t get one, but I want you to put some clothes on, damnit!

I would never identify myself with a specific political party because of this. Because the minute I call myself a Democrat (because I would die before calling myself a Republican) some candidate will come along and change what people think about Democrats. So I guess I’m just a moderate.

“I’m not a hippie who only eats organic and meditates and goes to the school of the arts. But I’m not apple pie and Republican either.”