True au pairs aren't paid a real salary (they get room & board and a small monthly sum), but then they are also not trained and can't stay more than a year.

Sounds like a typical day in his life! What was the play?

It's called Compulsion, and it's a not-at-all-veiled dramatization of Meyer Levin's obsession with the Anne Frank story, and how he went from representing Otto Frank's interests in negotiating with American publishers to suing the publishers and Otto Frank for having stolen his ideas for the Pulitzer-winning stage play based on the book. He really went off the deep end, and by the 1970s he was accusing Lillian Hellman of stealing his mail.

Patinkin was fabulous in it, but it was not a happy play, given the subject matter. Very well done, though.

yeah I have just been reading up. I could probably swing it, I would just need to identify us as a special needs situation and interview any potential matches. I think I am going to talk to my parents about it and maybe call a few agencies.

I need a vacation FOR home improvement. So many things I'd like to get to, but simply not enough time with daily life, especially my daily life now. I'm not complaining, just still adjusting.

I wish I had your drive to actually DO home improvement. I really admire what you've done, and continue to do.

Well, part of it is that there's stuff I want to do, but I still feel like it's "The Boy's house" when it comes to actual home improvements. I call it "our house," and I feel that way most of the time, but then when I think about putting up shelves over the desk, I feel like I'm asking him to make a Big! Structural! Change! to HIS HOUSE.

I realize that's kind of insane, but I'm still adjusting to living somewhere the landlord doesn't just come fix the a/c when it goes out.

Msbelle, if you have more questions, we have a great au pair living with us.

Eta: we used Au Pair Care as our agency.

Not sure how it could all work, and it would to be someone trained with difficult kids.

Maybe a grad student studying Mac stuff? You could be credit.

Aw, thanks Steph. I'm still kinda amazed I do this shit. A couple years ago, my weekends were pretty aimless, and I could barely get the basics done in the time allotted. Now? I am still startled at the shit that gets done. I can see how it would be infinitely more complicated moving into an already existing... existence. I suspect part of my motivation is sheer greedy MINEMINEMINE.

Voting msbelle talks to Stephanie!

I could probably swing it, I would just need to identify us as a special needs situation and interview any potential matches.

Yeah, what Trudy said--maybe a student who was studying that kind of thing? Of course, I could see someone wanting to be studying and then not live it, but who knows. There's gotta be a way.

I am so embarrassed--I am on a board, and there was supposed to be a conference call tonight (we have one once a month). The chair couldn't make it, and I volunteered to run the meeting. Only a few of us could make it, and we talked about canceling it, but didn't...but then I completely FORGOT, and blew off the meeting, and an HOUR AFTER, opened up my email to some questions of "um, are we having a meeting?" SHIT. And it's not like I was even doing anything--just sitting around watching TV and reading. I just didn't realize what time it was, and/or connect that with the meeting (and my phone was in the other room and I didn't hear it go "beep! meeting!")

If you want to go the au pair route I can also get you the name of my sister's agency; she had really good luck over the years. Heck, one of the two people I was visiting in Toronto was her first au pair, originally from Brazil.

If you're offering room and board, you might contact/put up ads at the local college -- I'd go with the education department, psych dept, counseling area, career center.