Getting organized

Well, I had been doing well at updating regularly. Then the weekend hit, and besides Saturday night, I actually had time to relax on a weekend for the first time really since May. (Camp weekends off weren't exactly the most relaxing time, as laundry, socialness, drinking, and driving people who didn't have cars around took up most of my weekends.) It was just great to have a few days to really feel rejuvenated and enjoy having a space of my own to relax in. The couches that came with my apartment are awesooooome. 

Even my boots are organized!

Now that it's Monday again, it's been time to get back into the routine. It was really easy last week to spend my mornings doing nothing after a few weeks of having no place to live, but I was determined this week to not let that happen again. I spent the morning cleaning and organizing my living room. (That's right, my $800 a month, everything included place, isn't just a studio. It actually has a living room and a separate bedroom! Sure, the bedroom is so small that the dresser is in the living room, but still. There is a door separating the two!) Since I moved in all of my clothes have basically been spread out everywhere. Piles of shoes, of hats, of sweatshirts, of papers. But now, everything has it's place. Well, everything except a small pile of clothes that I need to buy some more hangers for, and all of my coats. I'm on the hunt for a a free/cheap/really free coat rack! Somehow my collection of coats has surpassed what can fit nicely on the back of a chair. 

When I came home from work today, it was so nice to walk into a space that was neat and tidy. People who know me know that it won't last long, and that I tend to live my live in what appears to be disorganized chaos, but I always like to at least start it off organized, so that way as it becomes messy to me at least it is still organized. So yay for a clean space!

Tomorrow's task... the kitchen.

A work in progress...

D triumphs again

D made me feel all Zesty inside once again today.

A little back story. I've been nannying for this family for about... 3 and a half weeks now. It started off a little rough. Just the as to be expected "testing the new nanny" antics. Pushing limits, trying out lies to see which ones I might fall for (none of them by the way; D makes the same lying face as A, the almost 6-year-old I used to nanny), pulling the old "my mom lets us do it!" But, this wasn't my first time dealing with children and it certainly won't be my last. Now, a few weeks later, we've gotten things figured out. The two siblings don't play excellently together, so we've developed a pattern of each of them getting to pick an activity for about a half hour. If the other wants to play, they can, otherwise they need to find a solo activity to do. It's been working out well; 95% of the time they're good about picking something they both like so we all play together. They know what I'll let them get away with (the occasional brother pulling sister's hair is to be expected) and what they can't (calling each other stupid idiots who they hate has 3 too many words that I do not like). We've found a good balance. Which makes me actually a little sad now that in a few weeks, I won't be working with them anymore as their grandparents are moving into the house, creating full-time, live-in nannies that don't need to be paid. 

Anyways. So one of my favorite parts of each day is the 15-20 minutes D and I have in the car just the two of us on the way to pick up his sister from school. He is so insightful, while also always so curious, asking questions about everything. From what the numbers on the dashboard means to what did I do that morning to how often bad guys rob banks like in the superhero movies to what is 30+40 to why there are chips on my front seat to are you sure we need to pick E up right away? We often end up having great conversations, that just constantly remind me of the innocence and curiosity of the world and how important it is to never stop asking "Why?" 

I've noticed how much I enjoy this time other days, but something about today just stood out to me so much. We were counting how many times we each said yes, while trying to trick each other into saying it. We made guesses about how long it would take us to get to his sister's school, knowing that traffic and stop lights are sometimes impossible. I tried to explain what a jinx was, after I commented that we were getting every green light and then once I said that, not getting another one for the rest of the drive. (Was not able to explain what a jinx was.) We laughed at how silly the phrase "I do do that" is, after D said it about how he does run quickly. He wasn't sure if he was saying it correctly, since "do do" sounded so funny. This of course let into a mini-talk about how if he only said "I do do" it would actually make it sound like he said "I poop." We just had such a great conversation. Classic 6-year-old/adult talk. 

And then we picked up E. Now, don't get me wrong. E is adorable and fun to play with as well, and also asks insightful questions. But, she also cries easily; whines when things seem "unfair," even when they are not, says "no thank you" to everything she doesn't like to happen (which is polite, but not necessary when she doesn't like that I had to stop at a red light); and demands things rather than ask for them politely. The car rides away from her school are always so different than the car rides to her school. Luckily, by the time we get to their house, or to the park, or wherever we are going that day, she has brightened up and become delightful again. Today was just a hard one. 

So, in conclusion, today I was reminded of the Zest that children have in them. That energetic, wise beyond their years, natural curiosity that we so easily lose as adults. Thanks, D.

A proud nanny

I love it when I have proud moments with the kiddos I work with. I've only been with this family for about a month, so I can't give myself as much credit as I did with my last family when I had proud moments, but I still love it when the kids I work with are awesome. D (the 6-year-old boy I nanny) has these remote control helicopters that he likes to bring to the park and play with. There are two of them, and sometimes his sister plays with one, sometimes I do, but more often than not, he lets the other kids who are attracted by these cool helicopters play with him. He doesn't know them and isn't at an age yet where he realizes it's polite to ask for others' names, but he will gladly let them try out his helicopter. Even to the point where he might have two other kids playing with them while he just watches. I was impressed by that. Not many 6-year-olds are so eager to share.

What really impressed me today, to the point of being my Zestful moment (today was really a good one, so there were many), was that the boy he played with today was a child who had a... I'm not sure of the PC term, but it looks like he had a birth defect. One of his hands was different than D's. D never mentioned it while they were playing, and tried to show him how to do the controls with only one hand and such. He was so great! They played happily until D was a bit too cold and it was time to go home. Once we were in the car, of course D had questions. He has questions about eveerrryyythiiiing. We talked about the other boys hand. And actually his 4-year-old sister just kept reminding us that he was just born that way and that's that. She was right. They still had fun, he was a perfectly happy little boy, him and D got along. D's biggest concern was just that he wondered if his hand would grow that way eventually too. He was happy to hear that it wouldn't, and mentioned that he would like to play helicopters with that boy again sometime, and then asked about what video game we would play when we got home. Simple as that. 

It just makes me so happy when the kids I work with just accept people for who they are. They might have questions, but it doesn't make them like them any less. And that's how it should be. Yay children with open minds!

Moving Day

All of my positivity seems to have worked! Last night I went and looked at an apartment. It's the bottom floor of a family home, one-bedroom, furnished, with my own entrance. There's no stove, but who am I kidding, cooking is not something I do often. It does come equipped with a full fridge, microwave, toaster oven, and hot plate. Perfect for me. Three comfy couches, a dining table, and a BED! I haven't slept on a real mattress a single night I've been living in the city. It's been air mattresses, camping pads, a couch, and--for one uncomfortable night--just the floor. I am definitely most excited about the bed. I swear I'm a full-grown adult, but this will also be the first non-twin bed I have of my own. 

Everything moved pretty quickly last night. After the almost 2 weeks of searching and contacting people and constantly being on Craigslist, it was nice to have such a quick turn around. I checked the place out, met the family I'm renting from, and within an hour they called me, told me I had great credit (that's a relief), and would love to have me move in as soon as I wanted. Which is today. Yay! 

I honestly feel like things are falling into place. Rent includes everything, including wifi. It's a month-to-month lease, so if I do need to leave sooner rather than later I can. The house is in walking distance of bars, restaurants, a Safeway, and a park. (Only downfall is that Forza will no longer be within walking distance, boo.) There's a Boys and Girls club across the street. Once I'm settled in, I'll be stopping by there to see if they are hiring, or at least looking for volunteers. The family is actually looking for a nanny for their youngest son. I know I said I didn't want to be a nanny again, but it might work out nicely to just nanny in my own home, at least while job searching. I haven't mentioned it to them yet though. Didn't really want to admit that one of my jobs would be ending shortly. Doesn't really reflect well on the whole being able to pay rent thing. Things just seem to be lining up nicely right now. But, I'm not getting my hopes up. First step: find an apartment. Success! Second step: Find a job. Work in progress. 

Raincoat Love

I haven't been very Zestie lately. Even before the rainy days started, I've felt in a gloom. As I said in my previous post, things have been a little challenging lately finding a place to live and a full-time job. Still feeling positive over all, but it's not the easiest.

As I walked to Forza in the rain, I made a decision. Every day, I will find something bright about the day. Something awesome. Something zestful.

For anyone who doesn't know, my camp name is Zest. I got this camp name when I was 16. I was high energy, constantly moving, loud, and a little crazy. Plus, I look damn good in orange. The name fit me perfectly. I thought about changing it when I went to a new camp this last summer, but that just wouldn't be possible. My camp persona is a part of me, even when the dreary gray days and the disappointing job news and the fighting, bickering kids push her so far down she's almost disappeared. And it's time for Zest to be a little more active. 

From here on out, I will highlight at least one positive thing about the day. Just to a reminder for myself, that even when everything is going wrong, I'm extremely lucky. I live in a beautiful, exciting city. I'm healthy (enough), have a great support system back in NH who encourage me to follow my dreams out here, and while I may be essentially living paycheck to paycheck, I still have enough spare change to give to the man on the corner who has less than I do. 

Rain can't stop me now!

Today's Zest moment is brought to you by my new North Face raincoat. I haven't really owned a raincoat since I was a kid and my mother still bought my clothes. On rainy days, I usually just wear a baseball cap and a sweatshirt with a big hood. Or this sweatshirt vest with the best hood ever and an orange, water "resistant" windbreaker that someone gave me for free one summer. Moving to Seattle though, with it's wet reputation, I figured it was about time I invested in a real raincoat. Today was the first day I really needed it, and man was it great! I walked the 15 minutes to Forza in the rain, and stayed as dry as could be. The hood is large, the sleeves can be cinched up, the pockets have zippers, it's long enough to cover my phone in my back pocket. Plus, it' s orange! (A major theme in my life.) I have definitely been convinced that everyone should own a really good raincoat. Thanks North Face! 

Recapping the last few weeks

So much for updating regularly again. I'll admit, it's been a little hard lately getting myself to write. Life has been... dare I say it?... almost depressing the last few months. I love Seattle still, but haven't been able to experience it like I envisioned. The job hunt wasn't easy, but I found a few part time things that might just make it work. It took me a while to find the jobs though. Many mornings/early afternoons were spent at Forza in Green Lake (one of my favorite places). Had a nice system of ordering a hot jasmine tea while I applied for at least one job or updated my Linkedin profile or did something job-huntyish, sometimes getting lunch, and then ending my time there with a pint of beer. Perfect! I applied for full-time jobs at first, but the longer it went where I didn't hear anything, the more desperate I got. Began looking for part-time jobs. Now, I work as a nanny during the afternoon and at a University District college/locals bar at night. May not be the most exciting jobs, but I'm getting by. My weekends at camp were ending, so I actually thought I might now have time and the means to really explore Seattle.

The housing situation has been tricky as well. Katie and I had been living in a basement apartment for the first two months we were here, but it was a temporary place. Near the end of October, I found what seemed to be an almost perfect situation. A room in a awesome house with 3-4 guys (one who I work with and get along well with) only two blocks away from where I was living, set up as a month-to-month situation. The garage even had a climbing wall built into it! Wasn't a studio on Capitol Hill, but it would do nicely. 

I had a trip back to NH planned for my birthday week, and was looking forward to the next chapter to start. Nice house, decent jobs, weekends free. Could actually start really living in Seattle! Right before I left though, the house fell through (still not sure about what happened; something about the guys fighting). I didn't have time to find something then, so now I was going to be coming back from NH to no place to live. Just a few days after I got back, my nanny family also told me that the grandparents would be moving in mid-December, so soon enough I would also be out of a job. The vision of getting to live in Seattle quickly disappeared.

In the week and a half since I've been back in the city, I have been couchsurfing a little, but mostly sleeping on an air mattress in a living room alcove in the apartment upstairs from the one I had been living with. The heat doesn't always work, there is a friendly cat who likes the air mattress more than I do (hasn't popped it yet, knock on wood), and I don't have a key to get in and out. The guys are awesome for letting me stay, but I cannot wait until I have my own space again. I've been constantly searching for a studio or a room or a sublet. It's tricky because I'm being picky. I want to stay in the Green Lake neighborhood, have a month-to-month (at most 6-month) lease, and ideally find some place furnished. But, I'm applying for jobs all over the city, so I might end up working 45 minutes away from where I'm living, so don't want to commit to anything past December. I'm looking at a place tonight that seems great, on paper at least. Well, on Craigslist. Fingers crossed it's the one!

My days have been full of apartment hunting, job searching (back to looking for full-time jobs), working two jobs, and trying not to freeze. I'm at Forza every day, to the point that some of the employees know my tea-snack-beer schedule. I'm determined to find a job that's actually in my field this time around. I could easily find another nanny job, but I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older, or I'm run down with all of the hunting and not sleeping well, or what, but I just really want to work with adults. And children. But mostly adults. I want to be supervising the adults who are directly supervising the children. Is that so much to ask for? I've been applying to a job a day and will hopefully hear back sooner rather than later. I've also started looking for camp jobs for next summer. Maybe I'll be in Texas in 6 months. Or Colorado. Or New Mexico. Wherever the job is. 

Well, that's about it. I wish I had more exciting things to say. I never really believed it before, but the job search is a full-time job itself. So that plus two part time jobs equals a tired Kat. But I'm still positive! I know everything will work out in the end. 

I think that's the biggest thing for me. I want to be here so badly, that even though I keep getting signs that I should maybe go back to NH, I'll do whatever it takes to stay here. I'll find a comfortable place to live, I'll find a good job, I'll have time to explore. I'll get a great camp job for next summer, and then maybe I'll move some place new. The possibilities are endless. Here's to the next few months of not knowing anything! 

No More Tyrannosaurs Teeth - a story by an 8-year-old

I recently came across my old livejournal diary from high school and college. It was a pretty entertaining read, full of the moaning and complaints of a teenage girl. A lot of "Oh, well I pulled another all-nighter"  and stressed out posts caused by procrastination. You'd think I would learn, huh? Nope! 

Anyways, one of the most entertaining things that I feel like sharing as an adult is actually a story I wrote when I was 8. Skilled writer in the making. I should have obviously gone into writing children's stories. I have not made any edits to the original writing from 9 years old. Here ya go: 

No More Tyrannosaurs Teeth
by 
Katherine Lindemann

One day a little Tyrannosaur bumped into a giant rock by accident, because he thought it was a long neck bending down. He backed up and ran with his mouth opened toward the rock, and BAM! he fell backwards into the water and two teeth fell out! When he got up and out of the water the rest of his teeth came out and got buried in the sand.

When he got home he tried to ask his mother what was for dinner, but instead it came out like this "moter what boe binner?" His mother was so surprised she shouted "Young man what happened to your teeth?!!" After she shouted this, her teeth fell out! When John's (the little dinosaur) father came home his teeth fell out! Soon every T-Rex had no teeth, and every tooth got buried in the sand.

The next day every Tyrannosaur was starving. John's parents, and a lot of other Tyrannosaurs, died. John was going to bury his parents in the sand where he lost his teeth and he found a tooth. He tried to put it in his mouth, but he could not because his arms were too short. So he dropped his parents and ran home, and tried a tree branch that looked like a hand. But still too short. He did not know what to do so he thought and he thought till his brain broke.

After that happened, his friend Brian burst into the room with his sister Angela. He said, "Dohn me an my sister bound a moubull ob beeth!" "Bou put bhem in my mouth." So Brian put them in John's mouth like he was told, and John shouted "Yippee! Yippee!" Then John told Brian to tell every T-Rex that was still alive to dig for their teeth where they lost them.

The next day every T-Rex helped each other put in their own teeth. After everyone had their own teeth in, they all went after food (which were long necks because that's what started it all!).

The End