I AM EMPLOYED!!!

First off, let me just go over my day yesterday with you all. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep and had taken a lot of precautions (read: feeding the cat) in order to sleep in as late as possible after Cal left for work. Such a dream was crushed when a rather loud, obnoxious knock at the door woke me up between 9 and 9:30, and I was extraordinarily grumpy all day. But that grumpiness sort of awoke this "I cannot sit in this house any longer" sort of mood, and I went into super-Emily mode in order to apply to as many places as possible.

All up, I ended up sending out about 15 applications yesterday to various babysitting, childcare centre, and admin positions. Lots of hard work went into custom cover letters and making it sound like Such And Such Business was the only place I would ever want to work. (I hate cover letters.) After Cal got back from work, I ended up posting a couple of ads on Gumtree--sort of Australia's Craigslist. One was for admin, the other for babysitting/nannying. I thought, I've got the recruitment agency and Find A Babysitter doing these for me already, really, but why not?

The ads were short--maybe 300 words each, max--and yet half an hour later, I had an e-mail in my inbox about a full time nanny position in a suburb that's literally just down the road. For the next six months.

I sort of stared at it for a few minutes, disbelieving, and sent an e-mail back declaring my interest. I felt a bit resentful honestly. Not at the offer, of course, but at the time I spent during the day writing all of those cover letters when it appeared the only thing I needed to do was write up a short snippet about how awesome I am (along with a picture--remember, "ads with pictures are more successful"). But I was so, so, so grateful for this offer. I didn't get my hopes up too high, though. I actually scanned Find A Babysitter and realized that the woman had put up an ad there that I'd skipped over because she was asking for someone with formal qualifications, which I still don't have. Still, I thought, worth a shot.

You'll notice my FB status today sort of laid out how the day was going to go. While I feel like I can safely say I'm over my sickness (can breathe in mornings and I'm not really coughing anymore!) when I woke up this morning my voice was extremely rough, and no amount of throat-clearing was doing anything to help. It literally sounded like I had spent all night partying and screaming and whatever people do to make them sound like this in the morning. And of course, I thought, "The lady who wants me to be a nanny is going to call REAL soon, because that's how life goes." And about five minutes after I expressed this worry to Cal, she did, and asked me to meet them later that afternoon.

Luckily, a hot shower and some VapoDrops helped my voice return to normal, and in the afternoon I was off to meet the family. The only way they could be more conveniently located is if they were across the street, I swear. There's a bus stop literally right outside our house, but only three routes stop here. Two of them go to the stop that's practically right outside THEIR house, and it's only about a five minute ride. Honestly, I would consider just walking there if it wasn't completely up hill. I don't really want to arrive covered in sweat each day. (I'm probably going to walk back each day though--I did today and it's only about fifteen minutes, which is honestly a shorter amount of time than it would take just waiting for a bus.)

Basically: got there, and the family is incredibly nice. They even offered to drive me home after the interview. Their little boy is absolutely adorable. He's got these big, beautiful eyes that I'm not sure I'm going to be able to say no to. He's just over a year and a half old, and seems really well behaved and fun. Busy, obviously, and I was told he could get stubborn sometimes, but I don't think that's going to be anything I can't handle. During the interview he was laughing and picking stuff off the floor to give to me, and when I left he blew me a kiss. See? Adorable.

But DURING the interview I was thinking, "There is no way I'm going to get this." First off, I was asked if I had a first aid certificate and knew how to use an epi-pen because the boy is allergic to peanuts and eggs and the time might come when I need to use it. And I said no to both, thinking then and there that that was going to royally kill my chances of getting this job. But I did say I was willing to get one, as I was planning on it anyway (a lot of families want their nannies/babysitters to have one, and it was required for the certificate in childcare which I was looking into). One of my housemates is a nurse and she recently renewed hers, and it sounds like a pretty easy process.

They seemed to like that I didn't like sitting kids in front of the TV--it makes me feel insanely guilty, since I don't think I should be getting paid to let them watch TV!--and that I had already thought of activities for him. I've been browsing Pinterest again and found a lot of good sites for kids' activities, including one that broke down activities by age (so I was looking at the 1, 1.5, and 2 year old activities). Lots of options out there, who knew? I don't have a TON of experience with smaller children, so I was glad to see there were just as many activities for them as there were for older kids.

So anyway, at the end, the dad said, "Well, I guess we'll decide tonight or tomorrow then" or something like that, and then the mom sort of sighed and was like, "Well... I don't know, what do you think?" And then she turned to me and said, "It's just that you seem so NORMAL." Which isn't exactly what you'd hear people saying at Hollins about me, but I grinned because it sounded like there was a story there, and there is. Apparently they've gone through a string of unreliable nannies, including their latest who is 22 with an artificially-inseminated partner, and the two of them decided it was a good idea to foster three children under the age of three. I mean, making your own baby at 22 is one thing--some people on my friends list are starting to do it on purpose, that's fine if you're in the right position to do so--but I just canNOT imagine going from ZERO kids to three children under the age of three, with another on the way, especially at my age. That would be insane.

Then she gave me the job! And I start tomorrow! I am so ecstatic!

I'll be working 40 hours a week, roughly 9-5 Monday-Friday (though there may be days once in a while where I'm not needed, or I might be needed on a Saturday). She wants me for six months (or more, if I get a longer visa by then!). It's pretty much completely ideal. And the little boy has a nap in the afternoons, so if I'm not doing some cleaning odd-jobs I'll have plenty of time to get some writing done.

You guys. SO HAPPY. Also: THERE IS HOPE. Don't give up!

Also, money-wise, what do you guys think? Like I've said before, Cal and I are saving on JUST what he earns. I'm definitely going to save a chunk of my paycheck, but do you think I should start putting another chunk toward student loans, since I can? I'm not sure if I should build up a lot of savings first and then start paying off, or try to decrease the amount of interest I'll be paying as soon as I can. What would you do?

Saying oh bai for now. As I dance around the living room in complete and utter joy.