Five Question Friday! 7/6/12

After a busy week, I'm peering over the ledge of the "three-day work weekend" and about to jump in feet first. Wish me luck.





My cousin gets married this weekend, and I have to miss it because of work...not allowed to request holiday weekends off and who wants to switch and work a holiday weekend? Bummer.


Anyway, while the rest of my family melts in the heat, I'll be at work, wishing babies their first "Happy Birthday" and I'll be nice and cool in the air conditioning.


Ugh. I just realized...what on earth were hospital climates like before the advent of air conditioning? Heaven help us.


Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are caught up in holiday celebrations and can't be bothered.

Rules for 5QF: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP!

Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN!

Questions for Friday, July 6th: (Special thanks to Kimberly (@Blueyegirl86) from Draw Me In, Jessica (@jessiekay77) from Jessie Kay Graphics and Design, Pam (@trooppetrie) from Troop Petrie, and (two from!!) Gas Family (@gasfamily) from The Gas Family for these 5QF question suggestions! I would love to link you in a future 5QF, so come on over to my community or watch for my Thursday afternoon shout out for questions on Twitter and offer up your best question suggestions! Remember to @5crookedhalos me and use hashtag #5QF if you go the Twitter route!)

1. Is love at 1st sight possible?


2. How did you choose your pet's name?


3. What are you considering giving up (cable, home phone)?


4. How much do you pay your babysitter?


5. How "young" is old enough to babysit?


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1. Is love at 1st sight possible?
Gosh...I'm not sure. I definitely think "like a whole, whole bunch" is possible, but I really feel that you need to know someone well to fall in love. 

You need to know their dreams and desires and hopes and wishes and morals and values and goals. And, well, it's hard to get that all at first glance, you know?

I mean, look at the Mr., I saw him and was all, "WHOA. Hot man alert." But what if he hadn't wanted a houseful of children? Or maybe he was a slacker and didn't want to work hard to provide for his family. Or, gosh, what if he wore thong underwear?! GAH.

Help me.

See what I mean? You might *think* you fall in love at first sight, until you find out about his thong underwear issue. 

2. How did you choose your pet's name?

Well, Nikki came to us with her name. I would never have chosen that name, I have a weird thing about animals having people names. It's just weird.

And with that said, Dora (yes, person name, I know) is NOT, actually, named after the adorable Latino explorer we all know and love so much...

I named her Dora because I like to give animals a name that's a bit of a play on words...like naming your dog "Turtle". Because Dora is a LabraDOR, I thought it would be cute to name her "Dora".

Oh, and I also heard (once upon a time, in a dark alley, in a far away galaxy) that you shouldn't name dogs names that end in an "ee" sound..."Lady", "Daisy", "Bradly" (which violates all of my dog naming rules) because all they recognize is that "ee" sound, so if someone called "here puppy puppy puppy" all they would hear is the "ee" of puppy and think their name was being called and go running over to the stranger who would scoop up the dog, stash it in their vehicle and give an evil cackle as they rode of into the sunset with "their" new dog.

No "ee" ending names in this home. (Shhhh...don't remind me about "Nikki". Ugh.)

3. What are you considering giving up (cable, home phone)?

Gluten. 

I've heard so much about people seeing so many great benefits from giving up gluten, that I'm starting to seriously think about it.

I've also heard that people with autoimmune disorders can see improvements in their "ailment" when they go gluten-free. My cousin has celiac and was having some pretty serious issues when she went gluten-free and has had some major improvements!

I have "kind of" been diagnosed with Menier's Disease, which is an inner ear disorder and I recently learned it is auto-immune. So, there's a nagging little voice in the back of my head that keeps suggesting that maybe I should try it.

Give the ol' GF diet a shot.

And heck, what can I lose by just trying it out? 

4. How much do you pay your babysitter?

I've always struggled with this one. I want to pay them enough to make it worth their while and yet, I don't want to break the bank, either. We did a $2/hour/child rule for quite a while, but we really just ended up paying an amount that we thought was worthwhile.

For example. If we had two kids at home and were gone for 2 hours is 8 bucks really what you should pay? No. We basically did a $20 "cover charge" and called it good. What sucked for our sitters is that if they were only here for 2 hours one time and made 20 bucks but then were here for 4 hours the next time and made slightly more, I'm sure they got confused.

Depending on the age of the sitter, I will sometimes suggest we pay (at least) minimum wage. That's what they'd get if they were working...but then I feel guilty because can you really put a price on someone caring for your kids?

Ugh...see why I struggled?

Oh, and then, throw in supper and or bedtime to the mix and I felt like they needed more pay.

Please send help. 

Signed, 

Confused about Compensation

5. How "young" is old enough to babysit?

Well, here in MN, there is no "law" about minimum age. Yes, for real.

I've asked a couple of social workers and gotten the same response, "It's the maturity level and comfort level of the child in charge." Yikes. Leaves a lot up for interpretation.

With Belle being 10, we have now started leaving her in charge if, say, I have to run to the store quickly for something. Or times when we knew we would be gone for less than 2 hours...and very, very rarely at night. For her comfort.

Thankfully, we have Pal. Belle, who is very much competent in watching kids basically does the "sitting" while Pal is here for moral support.

My SIL told me once upon a time that the "rule" is: "At 10 they can watch their own siblings in their own home. At 11 they can watch their own siblings somewhere else (like a hotel). At 12 they can watch any child, any where." 

Hmmmm...that's clear as mud, ya?

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