Yeah, I don't know what day it is or what exactly I'm supposed to be doing here at work. The upside is, everyone else was on vacation, too, so while when I took one Friday off in December, I had 80 new emails to deal with, today I have like 20.

I'm at work. Most people won't be back until the 6th. This includes people I need to work with to move forward on some projects. I should have considered this before making my own vacation plans, alas.

Sunrise beach walk sounds lovely. I hope the new prescription thing works out well, Laura. Getting those prescriptions filled is such a pain, anything that smooths out the process for anyone makes me happy.

Working from home today, last minute decision. Considering the pros and cons of eating breakfast. Actual workload should be pretty light, at least.

ltc is back at school! t throws glitter!

I went to the pharmacy to stock up on some things and I need to do some laundry before my inlaws arrive. My house is a complete disaster area, and I sort of wish they wouldn't come today.

I don't really have the money to do it right now, but is it unreasonable to think I could find someone to both babysit and help with some housework? Or do I have to look for two separate people? Mom isn't going to be able to help for a while because of her knee.

I think as long as you were clear from the beginning that you wanted both services it would probably be possible to combine them, much depending on how involved each one is. Hiring a babysitter and then just expecting them to clean would be unreasonable. Or vice versa. And it would depend on how demanding each part of it actually turns out to be - I can imagine ltc being all anyone could handle some days

Person who has emailed me 6 times in 20 minutes to get me to do something I have already done needs to chill.

I really want some coffee but I am pretty sure I should have some food first. Going to try buttered noodles, I think.

I think as long as you were clear from the beginning that you wanted both services it would probably be possible to combine them, much depending on how involved each one is.

Speaking as a person who has never hired someone for either of those things (but who has been hired for one of them...), that sounds right to me!

is it unreasonable to think I could find someone to both babysit and help with some housework?

Nope, not at all. Nearly every sitter I've ever had has offered to clean my house for a little extra $$. (And stuff like "clean up the kitchen after you make dinner for the kids" is included in the sitter job description.)

sj, you might also think about whether or not you want to be able to generally be out of the house during that time. We have a "mother's helper" who is lead on childcare while she's here, but Dad and/or I are also around, so she doesn't have to be able to deal with emergencies, etc. Those kind of jobs can easily also have "help around the house" folded into them.

In general, I think what others have said is right. As long as you're clear on what the job entails from the outset, it seems reasonable to me.

Went home an hour early -- I really had a Bad Sleep Night. It also wasn't at all busy, literally all I did was get a computer desktop set up correctly for my own use and take around not even two dozen packages that got delivered.

Thanks, everyone. I wasn't thinking of having someone do both things at once necessarily. I was thinking more along then lines of having someone who could wash the floors or clean up the kitchen while ltc is at school and then watch ltc for a couple of hours while I either do errands or do something in another part of the house and only occasionally be interrupted to help me carry a load of laundry etc.