Jaws!

It's Shark Week, a very important holiday in American culture, so I am in a good mood. It's good for the kids because they're wild and horrible and if it wasn't Shark Week I would have sold them all on eBay this afternoon. Local pickup. No hold price.

The last few weeks have been gloriously floodless.

We have had several hefty thunderstorms with good amounts of water and nothing has come inside. Last week the temperature went up, way up, into the high thousands I think, and we straightened out all our air conditioner problems in time for them. T also invested in a 300 pack of ice pops so we just walk around eating those and take turns sitting under the various ceiling fans in the house.

We've had a lot of fun around here lately, stemming from a lot of conversations and hanging out time between T and me. Because of the broken AC systems, we spent a few long afternoons together because it was too hot to do anything else.

And on the tail of that and the flooding and Monkey's never ending diaper rash and utter refusal to potty train, Nanny K put in her notice with her family. She has sufficiently driven T's mom to her breaking point and she showed up here with new shoes for me the day after everything went down.

Then she sat here and worried at the top of her lungs in Farsi while T yelled back at her to calm down and I giggled quietly because I could understand so much of what she was shrieking and it amused me.

In addition to our nanny-mother bonding over that, my employers seem to really be stressing over the sale of the townhouse they own and remodeled in Manhattan. I've told you about their big fancy-pants mansion for sale, but it has been E's project for six years and he's having trouble letting it go. He's holding out for an offer that doesn't exist in this economy and it's causing a lot of strain on them in various ways.

T is getting frustrated and I don't blame her. She's supporting this family right now. On top of that, she struggles with her faith. It has come up from time to time the entire year I've been here, but lately I feel like she really questions what she should do and believe.

We battled for the winning piece of a wishbone the other night and when I won, she said it was because I was a better religious person (she actually said Jewish person first and then corrected herself) than she was and so God favored me. I was kind of caught off guard, since we all know that's not true, and I told her we were equally sinners but that I was clinging to my faith and confidence in God's saving grace. She said she needs to pray but she doesn't really know how to outside of temple. We talked a little bit then and we've had some other interactions like that, but I am so greatly encouraged that there are openings for it here. I honestly didn't think that was even going to be an option when I came here.

I remember thinking, great, I can't witness here, and I just assumed that God placed me here to witness to someone else. I'm so glad He's smarter than I am. And I'm so glad that he can reach anyone, can save anyone, even a family in the middle of Jewish Great Neck, even me.

Tis amazing.

Among other amazing feelings and experiences here lately (I mean aside from Shark Week and new insight into the power of an Almighty God) I have had the pleasure of finding the perfect foot cream for summer heels, discovering the guilty pleasure of frozen bananas stuck all over with chocolate chips, and finishing several books I had been reading for quite some time.

Not to make it all sound like rainbows and sunshine over here, but it kind of is. The kids have been wild and of course they get into trouble; they're kids. And I mentioned how Monkey REFUSES to potty train, but we're all generally happy with each other and I keep getting compliments on how the kids have grown and improved since I started here so it's hard for their bad moments to get me down.

Sometimes, in the middle of my yelling at him, Monkey drops his face down and grabs onto my leg and goes, "Kimmy, I love you." And while I'm sure it's because he wants me to stop yelling and he thinks he can soften me like his fool grandmothers, it's still nice to know that these kids are responding to me more and more each day. It's a good feeling when your boss tells you you're Supermom and she wants her kids to learn from you. And it's a weird feeling when she tells you she thinks Monkey is starting to look like you. Yeah.

That's odd.

But he has adopted ALL of my mannerisms and I taught him to shake his finger and yell at people in a ridiculous voice when they tell you something you don't want to hear.

Also, he loves Shark Week.