Care.com

Posted on November 5th, 2012 by Jean

Happy Fall Break! My daughters are out of school from now until November 26th. What typically happens during a long school break is that my husband and I, who run our business out of our home, juggle the necessary work load and child care responsibilities. By break’s end, our nerves are frazzled.
 
This time, I’m excited to have the help of a nanny! It has been at least 3 years since I’ve had hired help, and honestly didn’t know where to start looking. A quick google search lead me to Care.com specializing in child care, pet sitters, housekeepers and more! There is no cost to sign-up, post your job, and receive responses. There is a fee for premium membership which allows you to contact job candidates. You can pay per month, and cancel at any time. About 2 days after I posted my job, Care.com emailed me a 20% off code, and that is when I upgraded my membership. Within 24 hours of posting my job, I had 2 candidates, and by week’s end I had a total of 6 caretakers apply for the job. Care.com makes it easy to turn down nannies with their “No Thanks” button and form letter, and easy to hire your nanny with their “Add To My Team” button.
 
After meeting with Lisa, we knew she would be the perfect fit for our family. We were able to interview her on Saturday, and she started working for us today.
 
Two hours after her arrival, she and the girls had already played Apples To Apples, Go Fish, a memory/matching game, dominoes, and colored with chalk outside. Now they have had lunch, drawn Thanksgiving pictures, played twister, and are painting.
 
For as little as $5.00 per hour, you can have help too. Whether you’re looking for a babysitter, a nanny, a pet-sitter, a housekeeper, give Care.com a try!
 

Tags: babysitter, care, childcare, fall break, help, nanny, pet sitter, provider, qualified, school break, tutor

GoDaddy Bites

Posted on July 9th, 2010 by Jean

I’m so used to sharing advice, tips and tricks, but this time I’ve hit a wall. I’ve been dabbling in switching from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. Everything I’ve read says how easy it is. Just export your files here, and import there. It isn’t that easy though. I purchased a domain name and three months of WP hosting from godaddy, but the import failed due to my Videopress files.
 
Godaddy customer service is no help at all, suggesting I post questions at the wp.org forum. I posted, and am waiting.
 
Meanwhile, I tested some wp.org features. On the up side, they have a ton of templates! On the down side, you need a plugin for practically everything! Your dashboard doesn’t show stats. You need a plugin for that. You can only add one box of text to your sidebar, unless you stall a text widget. Askimet, the spam blocker, is a plugin. Here area few others: Top Comments, Search This Blog, Feedburner, and Contact Form. Features we take for granted at wp.com.
 
To end on a positive note, I do want to tell you about a great blogging community, Blog Frog. It’s fun to sign in and see the What’s Happening Now topics scrolling as members post comments. If you sign up, befriend me over there, would ya?

Tags: .com, .org, Blog, blogfrog, challenge, community, difficulty, failure, forum, godaddy, headache, help, lies, videopress, Wordpress

My Bedroom Needs a Make-Over

Posted on August 2nd, 2008 by Jean

Warning: If you are not into decorating and/or home shows, reading this blog may cause excessive drowsiness and mild nausea. Other symptoms may include dry mouth, watery eyes, loose stool, difficulty breathing, and toenail fungus.
 

 
Rate My Space
 
There’s a new show on HGTV. What makes this show unique is that it started out as a website where people could post photos of their rooms. Some rooms are gorgeous, and some rooms are in need of help.
 
My bedroom is ready for an upgrade. I posted my pics on their site this a.m., and received 1.5 stars for my lack of style. I know it’s tasteless. That’s why I’m reaching out for help.
 

 

 
Nearly all of the commenters mention that my bed is not centered on the wall. The problem is that there is a vent on the floor between the bed and the arch.
 
There’s 23″ between the top of the headboard and the ceiling. Should there be knickknacks up there?
 
Here is the other area that needs addressing: the closets. I’d like to remove the saloon doors and raise (or remove) the cornices, but have no idea what to cover the openings with. Curtains? Beads? Some sort of door that would slide to the center area when we need to access the closets? Should that wall be painted a different color from the rest of the room?
 

 
None of my furniture matches. I’m thinking of finding a dresser that matches the wall-unit headboard since that is the newest piece in the room.
 

 
Our bedroom also houses my treadmill. Since the t.v. is on a wall-mounted, swivel unit, I could turn the t.v. around to face the treadmill when I’m working out.
 

 
This corner of the room used to have a crib and changing table, but the girls are in their own room now. The wall is bare, and the tiny art piece seems out of place.
 
At first, Tom wanted to keep the curtains. I finally sat him down and asked if he was in love with those curtains, or could we get something else. Well, long story short, we are going to try some new panels I found online at Target on sale for $14.24 each.
 

 
The curtains are not lined, but we have these insulated top down/bottom up blinds.
 

 
Tom also admitted he didn’t like our comforter, so we’ll be replacing that as soon as we can decide on a color.
 
Here is my inspiration room from the show Design Star.
 

 
I love how the designer, Jennifer Bertrand, free-hand painted the leaf pattern! I used photoshop to see how it would look in our room.
 

 
The leaf pattern would match the fan. I wonder if they sell stencils of big leaves?
 
Here’s the room from another angle. The giant beach ball needs to go.
 

 
Your ideas are so welcome!

Tags: advice, design, design star, help, interior, rate my space