There's No Easy Way to Say This

But I need to write a post that is completely random--meaning, all parts of it will be random, and should probably be separate posts, and may or may not be of interest to you, my loyal readership of three.

Nonetheless, I must blog on, organized or not.

Item 1. I have had several awesome opportunities to practice my Spanish skills lately, and boy do I love it. This summer I started volunteering with Family Services (that's another Item on this list), and there are so many Spanish-speaking parents and kids who let me practice with them. They like that I'm trying. :) I'm also buddies with Jorge, the man in charge of landscaping here at our apartment building, and whenever he calls to inform me of the latest knoxious weed issues, he speaks in Spanish until I can't follow him anymore. It's a great system. He leaves me messages and calls me amiga, and I bring him water when he and his team work outside all day. And ANOTHER Spanish party happened at the wading pool last week!!! Even as I continue to nanny mindlessly (I promise I'm paying attention to the children), I'm lucky enough to improve my language skills mid-splash. I LOVE IT. I love knowing that I'm going to mix up my conjugations, verb tenses, and worst of all, gender (grammatically speaking), but there is nothing like the smile on someone's face when she hears her own language. Priceless! Warm fuzzies all around!

Item 2. Like I said, I recently stumbled into a volunteer position with Family Services at their SUPER COOL SHOP, the Baby Boutique. Most days I get to sort through huge bags of hand-me-down Gymboree overalls and miniature cowgirl boots. Then I play with toddlers while their parents shop (for FREE), and I translate when I'm needed, and I generally smile for the entire two hour period. I'm not sure if you've met me, but if you have even come within ten feet of me, you might guess this is basically my version of Nirvana. I would ask for my extraordinary sorting skills to be added to the list of scholarly skills needed to enter the Social Work program at UW, but I don't want to push my luck.

Item 3. There is a new neighborhood attraction on Queen Anne. It's been there for a week, keepin' the rent rates niiiiice and low.



Item 4. Applying for jobs is a HECK of a lot of work, especially when you actually apply. I think last summer mostly consisted of me "finding" cool jobs, and then only following through on occasion. I got lucky, because I don't think most people have the luxury of landing a job after a half-hearted job search. Then again, not everyone is as lucky as I was to have a boss that called herself the Evil Queen.

Item 5. Even though nannying is not really sending my resume to the top of any CEO's pile right now, I still have moments where I want nothing but stroller walks and baby-sized Crocs. This trip to the beach was one of those days (at least until the sand-eating contest began).