Working 5-9, babysitting demon boy, and selling this house...

Bet you can guess from the title that this is going to be a long one. I've been storing up, waiting to see how this whole messed up caos that is my life is going to play out. Still not sure, but here are some updates....

1)Workin' five to nine, what a way to make a living... I've waited to post about my new job until my first paycheck arrived. Marvelous how that little slip of paper will change your perspective on matters. I love it. I hate it. I love it because:
a) I have really great students (one signed off with "I never understood that before, but now I do"
b) I have a chance to use my brain daily
c) They pay me
I hate it because:
a) I have students who are completely unmotivated (last week I got called a "dumb b****)
b) I have to use my brain daily
c) They pay me $10.00 an hour. And that five to nine time is precious time. We have completely had to change our evening home life. Managing to have family dinner, as we have always had it, is EXTREMELY difficult. I don't get to interact with K and Abby at all. Just a few minutes in the car on the way home from school and we wolf down a meal, two hours later they come and silently give me a peck on the cheek as I drone on about, synonyms, and antynyms and context clues for persuasive writing...

2) Wouldn't you suppose that a baby--any baby--no matter how spoiled would learn to adjust in two months time? I've been babysitting this child for two months and I have had him on a religious schedule of play, eat, nap, play eat nap from day one. Only this is the way it works scream, eat, nap, scream, eat, nap. We are treated to a good three hours uninterupted, rageful screaming each day. I'm starting to lose it. I hear this child's screams in my dreams--er, nightmares. When the ladies from the church call:
Me-hello?
Mrs. Sweet Old Lady-Hello? Jessica? Honey, is that you? My word!! What is wrong with Randy?
Me-No, that's not Randy you hear. That is the little boy I keep.
Mrs. Sweet Old Lady-Oh, I'm so sorry, he must be hungry?
Me-Nope.
Mrs. Sweet Old Lady-Is he sick?
Me-No. He just screams.
Mrs. Sweet Old Lady- He screams like that? All day?
Me-Yes, ma'm. Pretty much.
Mrs. Sweet Old Lady-Well Sugar, I don't know how you do it. I'll say a prayer for you.....

Please do. I have had that same conversation at least three times this week. I feel terrible. I want to tell the mom (even though she has made him in to the monster he is) I just can't keep him anymore, but I hate, hate, hate to go back on a commitment. I especially hate to leave a fellow mom in the lurch. I don't even know if a daycare would take him. Unless he is being held and entertained around the clock, he screams. Should I,
a) invest in ear plugs?
b) tell the mom that I just have too much on my plate?
c) tell her the truth; that he is a high needs infant whose needs are not being met in our home?

3)We are selling our house. We are finishing our house. We are selling and finishing our house. We are doing our own little segment of, "Flip This House." Man, do I wish for my good friend Cari, now!! The way the market has boomed following the storm and the building of two new plants in the area, property values are up, up, up! We have decided to try to sell now while the market is good for a tidy profit. One of the deacons owns a vacant four bedroom house, which he has offered to rent to us for the almost shameful amount of $300 a month. I kinda feels as though we are stealing from the man, but in the two years we have lived here, he has not had any renters (he is very particular, ya know) and so I guess that it is $300 more dollars than what he is making now.