Adventures in Babysitting

It's (fairly) late Monday evening, and I'm all wound up from eating my weight in chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to a point where TV alone will not satisfy, and bedtime is not yet an option. So I thought I'd take to my favorite past time, and write about something that has been bugging me for a while.

Being that both hubs and I are from a city far, far away in lower Alabama, we have no family even remotely near to help us take care of our sweet little one. So far, the day to day has been tough, but totally doable - but what do we do when we want to leave her behind to venture out into the now unknown - a bar, or a movie theater?

Simple answer - we don't. Or we wait until we're in our hometown where our available resources are more than willing to watch our angel for peanuts, or nothing at all. Here's the thing - it's not that I'm not willing to let a stranger into my home to preside over my most precious possession - provided that stranger is at the very least a friend of a friend with trusted references. But the truth is my daughter goes to bed at 7 on the nose every night, and if we want to catch a 6 p.m. dinner and an 8 p.m. movie, we're lucky if we'll get away with paying no more than $65 for someone to do a menial amount of work and then sit on our couch and drink wine (yep, I'm that kind of mom) and catch up on Mad Men for 4 hours.

Granted, I know that you're paying them to give up their time too, and with a full time working husband, likely the price they'll pay is a Friday or Saturday night. But when I was a high school student, and much into my college days as well - I was happy to make even a few extra bucks, even if it meant forgoing the usual and tired bar scene (such a saint, I am, I know!). I never gave a price range. I took what I was given for the work and was grateful for it. Sure, I was more willing to clear my schedule for the higher paying clientele, but always the end of the night, no matter how much cash was handed over, I said my thank you's and my goodbyes and I went home happy.

I feel like finding a sitter willing to be paid what I can pay them for (let's be honest) doing a whole lot of baby-sitting around is near impossible these days, and I'm honestly scared to even try. Is it so wrong to expect to be paid what I think you earned? My first job making more than minimum wage was a tireless customer service position that paid a whopping $7 an hour for an entire summer. And I was psyched about it. It allowed me to move into my sorority house for an entire semester and gave me some of the best times of my life. So tell me the truth, my loyal listeners, do I stand my ground with my honest wage, or do I give in and accept the times?

Thanks as always!

Happy Monday (night) and Tuesday!

Love,
Dominique