I think I am stuck in a minimum wage mindset where it is $3.35 an hour, and I used to get paid $2 an hour to babysit! Of course, that was in 1988.

understood that is all she can afford cash wise, but then why not think of a barter arrangement?

or a babysitting co-op?

She stayed on it.

Isn't the priority to stay in your ceremony? Hell, if she'd tumbled off the horse and limped right back over to the officiants, that would be been on mission.

understood that is all she can afford cash wise, but then why not think of a barter arrangement?

I was thinking that maybe there is a nice person who wants to share her house and watch the kids. Of course, maybe finding that person on Craiglist would not be ideal

I think the sudafed might be kicking in. Somehow, now that I can breathe I am really hungry.

He looks like no other kid out there though. They run, he gallops. They shuffle, he jumps and flails his arms. They run toward the ball, he sticks out a leg at it and falls. It is painful.

msbelle, I will neither confirm nor deny that I know of a boy with similar athletic prowess, but if I did, he would, I believe, be older than Mac.

eta...

I was not, aromantic bitter single that I am...

Aromantic. Okay. I parsed that as aromatic bitter and was coming up all ita = Angostura?

there was an article (maybe in The Atlantic) last month that discussed how fucked up Greece's economy is and that instead of using currency, many people were trading goods and services for their immediate needs.

I've always been attracted to this idea in theory. Doesn't work for a global marketplace, but in small communities...

I'd be much more onboard with that idea if I produced practical consumer goods rather than something ephemeral that people only seem to have money for when the economy is doing well.

msbelle, I will neither confirm nor deny that I know of a boy with similar athletic prowess, but if I did, he would, I believe, be older than Mac.

heh. I was having similar thoughts although the theoretical child I am thinking of is younger. But yeah, not raising another Emmett here.

heh. The thing is, mac is actually pretty athletic, he just lacks the confidence. He used to play soccer much more aggresively and had better ball skills. I am not sure where the disconnect is.

The argument seems to be that since s/he'd be sleeping for a number of those hours, they shouldn't count.

But you're paying for the sitter's TIME. I could understand maybe $15/hour awake, $10 asleep, but $5/hour is not an acceptable living wage in any case! (I know we're making the same argument, I'm just boggled that anyone thinks this would be okay.)

In my babysitting coop, we've all agreed that when the kids are asleep you don't "pay" more for multiples (since we're such a small building, babysitting a sleeping kid usually just means listening on the monitor from the next apartment over). But it's a points system, not cash. I would never offer to pay my regular sitter less for an overnight sit than I pay her during the day! If anything I would pay her more because it would be overtime.