Sunday, February 24, 2013

Stress Bomb

There's a twitch under my right eye that has been steadily beating away for about three days now. But I knew I was stressed before then. Its my lot right now, my choice really. To choose freelancing over a staff job when you also have to think about child care is a bit tricky. It never bothered me before about the renewal of a contract on a Friday for a Monday. But now trying to book childcare this way, without the benevolence of our dear friend nanny who has to leave us now to have her own baby, is proving to be tricky indeed.

It's just that she's the most precious thing that we have ever been in charge of. And yes, we have to hire a total stranger to be responsible more waking hours of the day than we are with her. Oh god, I'm making it worse. Breathe. Unclench jaw. Wait. (I'm waiting to hear on a nanny share, but if they turn us down, it's back to the drawing board.) (Oh right, as soon as I know I am booked.)

And then on top of all this running static in my head, we decided to speak to a mortgage broker to get a pre-approval letter in case we see a house we might like. Owing a house has never been a big passion of mine. I'm not nuts about spending money in general, let alone tens of thousands of dollars for a down payment. I've been keeping tabs on Chicago real estate for months, so when I found out what we should be spending, I got a bit disinterested even more. Motoboy put me at ease by reminding me that we are not going to buy just because we can. Renting is always an option, and in Chicago you can rent in just about any neighborhood or school district you fancy. So that's just another thing to put on the busy burner that is my mind of late.

Work. Baby (which is the fun part). Nanny? House Winter. Work. Booked? Baby. WINE.

Wine and open mouthed baby kisses on my cheeks filled with teeny tiny baby teeth make it all worth it.

xx

2 comments:

  1. Hang in there with the stress. I'll keep fingers crossed that you get into the nanny share. We loved ours - I felt like it was more of a grandma rental than anything else.

    And home ownership kind of blows. I say this as someone who is going to have to write an $800 check for a porch repair on a place where I don't even live anymore.

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  2. Ooof the childcare thing is so tough! the toughest part of working outside the home, for sure. Have you read Girl's Gone Child's stuff about caregivers? Good stuff. Best of luck with your ongoing search!

    And I can only second Jen's comment. DON'T BUY A HOUSE. I have yet to realize any advantages to it, really. Maybe in a few years, when you can spend lots of time finding something PERFECT that doesn't need any work or when you'll have the time and energy to get a place that needs work, and have fun doing the work. Totally unnecessary stress for right now.

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