Time to Call the Nanny!

I have been a nanny for over 10 years, so I think I have some great advice for new mom's or any mom's who are curious what it is like to stand in the nanny's shoes. 

First, let me just start out by saying, anyone who tells you that getting a nanny means you are giving up is off of their rocker. Yes, I know Grandma and your Mom both had 5 kids and did it all on their own BLAH BLAH BLAH...it is 2015, where woman actually have careers and FREEDOM OF SPEECH...we live in a different world, this isn't the 50's anymore, asking for help makes you a BETTER parent...not a worse one. 

Ok, after you decide it is time for some help where should you start to look? I highly, highly recommend Care.com. It is a website where, you as the parent, can browse sitter's profiles in your area or even write an ad for the position you are hoping to fill so nannies can contact you! (when writing your own ad be sure to be very specific as to what your are hoping to find) Check it out if you haven't, it is a great outlet for not only nannying but pet sitting and many more things too! 

Once you have found a couple of candidates you like, whether that be you scrolling through and messaging them or they respond to your ad, you can now begin the interview process. Being a nanny, I know how scary it is to go interview in general, but there is just something a little bit more uneasy about walking into someone else's home. Try meeting at a Starbucks or more public place for the first meeting. Do not bring your children, this is a big one...upon the first meeting you as the parent really want to get to know the potential nanny and you wont want to have to deal with any distractions. Plus, another reason why I say to leave the kids at home is because your children are going to be so bored of going on all of these interviews and their actions may cause some potential nannies to pull away. Wait until you have two potential keepers and then have them meet the children and go from there! 

As far as what to ask on the first interview; every family's needs are different, make it clear what type of person you are looking for and frame questions to see if their answers are the right for your needs! For example, if your son/daughter has an allergy to nuts you may ask, "Do you have experience working with children with allergies?" and go from there. Or maybe you want a nanny to encourage your child to read more, even though your child hates to read. You may ask, " How would you handle a situation where a child is being uncooperative and you are trying to make them focus on a task?" MAKE SURE TO NOT GIVE AWAY TOO MUCH ABOUT YOUR FAMILY BEFORE THE FIRST INTERVIEW....people are always going to say whatever it takes to get hired. Like in the examples used above, if in the interview instead of asking, " Do you have experience working with children with allergies?" You say, "My daughter has allergies, do you know how to deal with that?" can help the interviewee know what kind of answer you are hoping to hear. Do not encourage the answer in the question!!

After you have made your final selection amongst your applicants, pick your top two and schedule working interviews (paid, of course) with each one. This is a way to throw both applicants into your world and see if it will be a good fit! Make sure you step back and let the potential nannies show you what they do best. I know it is hard to walk away from you little prince/princess but even hiding behind a corner can give you a different perspective. Once you have made the decision as to which applicant you are ready to hire, do not throw away the runner up's information, they may be a good back up sitter one day! (you may want to propose that to your runner up, as an on call nanny or date night sitter..trust me you can never have too much back up!) 

A couple of last things I would like to touch on:

Payment; every county, town, city, state has a different price they will pay for child care. I encourage you to pay your nanny what they deserve,  I cannot tell you how many times people want to pay me too little when I am CPR certified, I have a background check, plus MANY years of experience and references to back it up. I am telling you as a nanny who works hard and loves my job, anyone selling themselves short either doesn't have the experience or is hiding something else. My Momma always taught me, "You get what you pay for," and if your children's lives aren't something you are willing to spend more on but you are holding that Michael Kors purse close...you may want to re-evaluate your life. 

Hovering; if you have made the decision to hire a nanny, why are you still playing with the kids? There is nothing more annoying then when a parent cannot let the nanny take over and do the job they were hired to do. Once the trust is established, please just try and pull yourself away from your children, and there is no harm in getting a nanny cam to ease your mind. 

Please comment with any other questions/comments/etc!

THANKS FOR READING!

XOXOOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Happy New Year

Happy Happy New Year! 

Wow, time is such a crazy thing...one second can seem like a lifetime whereas some days a lifetime can feel like a second! Let's remember to cherish this year, as it won't be too long before I am writing a post about 2016!

In this post I thought I would share my New Years Resolutions and I would love to hear what every one else is resolving this year! So here we go...

Well for Christmas I received a Fit Bit Charge and so hey, might as well put it to some use other than tracking my sleep! ;] My boyfriend and I also bought each other bikes for Christmas so I am hoping to utilize those as well! 

2015 Resolutions:

• Run/ Walk once a day (w/ Willow)
• Bike at least every other day
• Drink more tea
• Drink more water
• Eat more donuts than last year ;]
• Stop giving a f*ck about other's opinions
• JUST WEAR THE LEGGINGS/ YOGA PANTS....do it girl, you know it feels good
• When looking for which path to take in life, always choose the path to happiness
• Start meditation
• Do yoga at least every other morning
• Call my all of my girlfriends at least once a week
• Call my mom once a day
• Don't look back...let it all go  
• Stop making resolutions and start living for the HAPPY

As you can see, I take my resolutions very seriously! :P Hope you liked this post and please share your resolutions or what you plan to do differently in THE NEW YEAR! :D

XOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOOXOXOXOXXOXOOXXOXOXOXO               

My Crazy Remedies

Oh what fun it is to blog on a cold and sick day...HEY!

Blegh, yes I am super sick today. I am congested, coughing and overall just feeling under the weather! So I figured hey(!) I will write a "sick" post about my many (as Shane would call them "crazy") remedies that help me get back on my feet in a jiffy! :]

Normally included in my everyday routine, I will oil pull first thing in the morning. I do have to confess that after I added this into my routine not only did my mouth and teeth feel extra clean, but I noticed that I did not get sick at all in comparison to the prior year of not oil pulling. I do realize after writing this that I could write one whole post on the benefits of oil pulling and why I love it so much (stay tuned for that) but for now I will just share this link with you and leave it at that...
----> OIL PULLING <-----


Ok, besides oil pulling I always like to drink tons of water throughout the day...but it is not always cold or plain. I like to first wake up and drink 2 hot glasses of water with lemon (sometimes ginger), then throughout the day I will always have a bottle of water with me...sometimes it has a mixture of fruit, other times only lemon...it just depends on your preferences! :] Lastly, before I go to sleep I drink one tall glass of water along with one warm glass of lemon water (yes sometimes I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee :[ )  Not only does this help with my immune system, it helps my skin and also helps me sleep consistently through the night!

Along with water I drink a lot of tea...all different kinds... find what you like and drink up! There are so many amazing benefits from drinking tea! I love all kinds of tea, but there are certain types you should be drinking depending on the ailment in which you are trying to aid. Here is a helpful chart with Medicinal teas on it---------------------->






Besides oil pulling, water and tea... I also take supplements. I take one multi-vitamin, a garlic supplement, B12, and sometimes other ones given whatever I am trying to cure.

Let's start first with my multi-vitamin...I LOVE IT!!!!! One of my favorite things about it is that it is all made from plant based products therefore, you can take it on an empty stomach (I always take it first thing in the morning with my warm water)! Most vitamins will make you LAUNCH if you try to take it on an empty stomach (hello major warning signs as to WTF you are putting in your body!?!!?) anyways, it is also made with farm fresh ingredients and it is NON-GMO! woop woop you can read more about it and order it here-----> Mega Foods Vitamin
This vitamin comes in women's, children's, prenatal, and men's...so knock your socks off and use this as a stocking stuffer this year!!!! The gift of health, what could be better!?

I would have to say that garlic HAS GOT TO BECOME ONE OF YOUR BEST FRIENDS...sick or not (but ESPECIALLY when you are sick!) There are so many healing powers that come with garlic...you will feel like a wizard when coming up with some of these concoctions.  When I am sick, as I am today, I will not only take my garlic supplement, but I will eat raw garlic, add garlic to my warm water etc...because ain't nobody got time to be sick! :D 

Here is a link to all the amazing benefits of garlic--->YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND!





In closing, I am sharing this all with you because I truly believe in the power of natural medicine (no I am not against modern medicine...I'm not an idiot) but I do believe that you always have options with your body...and it all boils down to being your choice. You know your body best...do what feels right! Thanks for reading! These are only a select few of my "crazy remedies" so keep an eye out for more updates! :]


XOXOXOOXXOOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Willow Anne

Willow is my best friend, my spirit animal if you will. She has always given me her 100%, so I always want to give her the best care possible. 

Willow has been spoiled since the day she got into the car with us to go home. She has always had the best of the best; a lavish bed, crazy amounts of toys but most importantly she has always been fed the right kind of food. Willow is now going on 3 years and is in amazing health and we are complimented consistently on her soft, shiny coat. Whenever people (vets included) ask, "How did you get her coat to look this good, you must groom her a lot?" My answer is always the same, I believe its 100,000% due to her diet. 

Rewinding a bit back to when Willow was a puppy and Shane and I were trying to decide what food was going to be best for her....A lot of close family members and friends warned us to not feed Willow the generic dog food that you can buy at say a Petco or Walmart because of all of the additives and grain that

is hidden inside of those sneaky bags. I couldn't help to wonder then, why are multiple vets encouraging and promoting these "horrible" foods..so I had to do some research of my own. 

When I took to Google and looked into the dog food industry, I was shocked to say the least. Now keep in mind before going further that you have to dig deep for this kind of information. Huge companies such as, Science Diet/Hills Dog Food/, have so much money and control that they make it nearly impossible for credible publications to come out to the masses. Hence why a lot of my research came from forums and review sites such as:

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/science-diet-killed-my-dogs/

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/science-diet-killed-my-dogs/

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/science-diet-killed-my-dogs/

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/purina-dog-chow/

And the list goes on!

On those forums/review pages, you can read many horribly tragic stories of different issues, some potentially fatal, that Science Diet in has said to have caused. I encourage you to read the comments of real people's experiences with these foods. There are plenty of other HUGE dog food companies out there that have almost the same reviews (IAMS, Purina, etc.). I am not here to write out all of the brands to NOT feed your fur baby...but what I will do is provide you with the top 10 dog food brands in my opinion! 

Top Ten (Dry) Dog Foods:

1. Orijen 

2. Acana

3. Fromm

4. Pinnacle 

5. Merrick 

6. Pure Vita 

7. Natural Planet

8. Taste of the Wild 

9. Nature's Variety 

10. Blue Buffalo 

Once Shane and I finally made the decision to put Willow on Nature's Variety Instinct we had a few more speed bumps to face...

We received a lot of concerning looks from our Veterinarians (we had a few due to us moving!) after they discovered that we were feeding her an 'All Life Stage Formula' and they would always try to push, more commonly then not, Science Diet on us as the best food to be feeding our babes. 

The first time this occurred, I was concerned, I thought, "how could my 30 minute Google search be right and this Vet who went to school for this specific category of medicine be wrong?" So yet again I was off to another Google searching party...and after hours of reading different forums, reviews and actually talking one on one with some, my mind was made up...somehow that trained professional was wrong.

After diving deeper into information and research on this category, I came across a retired Veterinarian who informed me that big name companies such as, Science Diet, Iams, Purina, etc. offer to pay veterinarian students school bills (his included), as long as that student will promote the brand once they are an established Veterinarian.  Once I heard this fun little fact, it all became crystal clear as to why all of those damn vets were pushing these bad foods on not only us, but every customer who walked into their practice. 

One night, after coming home from a Vet visit with a complimentary bag of Science Diet to "just try," insisted by the vet... Shane and I  couldn't help butcompare the Acana dog food  (what Willow is on currently) with the Science Diet, we went down the list of ingredients side by side and this is what we found...

Ingredients found in Science Diet:

Chicken, Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Wheat, Cracked Pearled Barley, Whole Grain Sorghum, Whole Grain Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Dried Beet Pulp, Wheat Gluten, Lactic Acid, Potassium Chloride, Flaxseed, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, 

Supplements

(Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Dicalcium Phosphate, Oat Fiber, Mixed Tocopherols added to retain freshness, Citric Acid added to retain freshness, Phosphoric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract, Dried Apples, Dried Broccoli, Dried Carrots, Dried Cranberries, Dried Peas 

Ingridiants found in Acana:

Deboned chicken, chicken meal, green peas, turkey meal, chicken liver oil, field beans, red lentils, deboned turkey, whole egg, deboned walleye, sun-cured alfalfa, pea fibre, chicken liver, herring oil, apples, pears, pumpkin, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, spinach greens, cranberries, blueberries, kelp, chicory root, juniper berries, angelica root, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, lavender, rosemary.

Supplements

Vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product.

Here is a link that will let you compare some of the most popular "bad dog foods with Blue Buffalo----->  http://bluebuffalo.com/true-blue-test

Highlighted in Yellow:  I have highlighted the things that you should STAY AWAY from when looking for a dog food...and hey I didn't even have to add any in...Science Diet covered all the bases by putting in a plethora of things dogs shouldn't be eating!! The most uncommonly known fact is that dogs are not suppose to have grain (note that there are MULTIPLE kinds of grains in the Science Diet ingredients list)  

What I really wanted to do was highlight all of SD's ingredients however, dogs do like chicken ;]  

Another thing to note is that if you look under the supplements area on SD, you can see they put a lot of dried vegetables versus Acana who use fresh vegetables in order to get the full nutritional benefit out of each one!! 

Here is a link to read more about dogs and grain---> 

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com

In closing, I would like to just mention that I do realize that the better foods are more expensive however, you get what you pay for. Science Diet and others are the McDonalds of the dog food world.... and we all watched 'Super Size Me', ain't nobody should be eating McD's everyday! :D 

Thanks for reading... I would love to hear my reader's personal accounts and opinions on this matter...they more conversation the more progress we will have! 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

***Although the top 10 foods are listed as best 'dog' foods...all of those brands make cat food as well...and the same arguments can be made as to why you should switch your little meow over to a food that will help them live a longer happier life! :D 

Italian Christmas Cookies!

Today was a rainy day in for me! I spent most of it daydreaming about this blog. I'm so excited to be able to share my thoughts and ideas... I just don't know where the start! Hehe ...

Yesterday is a very fun day to talk about, more eventful at least! ;)

 Yesterday was a day full of family and a reminder of how special time and life really is. Every year, about 2ish weeks before Christmas, my family and I go over to my grandparent's (Papa and Gram) house to have our Traditional cookie baking day! This tradition goes back many generations... My great grandmother, Mimi, would make upwards of 500 cookies for the holiday season and I am so proud to be keeping this tradition alive! 

My grandparents are both full blooded Italian so of course the types of cookies we make are Italian! We make mostly biscotti cookies (which are known more commonly a Italian Christmas cookies and not the kind of biscotti cookie you are imaging)! They are delicious, vanilla, doughy yet crunchy cookies and I absolutely love sharing this tradition with mi familia and now you! 

The day normally starts off with a giant feast of pasta, yesterday it was marinara with fall of the bone chicken! My grandparents know how to cook, let me tell ya! 

Anyways, we start off with the feast and talk about our plan of attack...making this  many cookies is no easy feat! 

After we have eaten ALL of the pasta my Gram has loaded on to our plates we are ready to get baking! :D  Papa is the man in charge when it comes to making decisions, but Gram is the one who keeps him sane! They bicker back and fourth about who's families' reciepe is better (given that my grandparents are both from opposite ends of Italy! My Papa is Calabrese and my Gram is Sicilian ..so one from the north and the other from the south!) I wouldn't have it any other way...to have both families make the "same" cookie but with different little tips and tricks on their recipes really make the two stand apart.  I am partial to my great grandmother, Mimi's, (my Gram's mom) recipe but I think that is only because I was fortunate enough to have been able to share cookie memories with Mimi before she passed. 

Here is my Mimi's Recipe:

For the Cookies:

4½ cups flour

¾ cups of Crisco

4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

¾ teaspoons of salt

4 eggs               

½ cup of Milk

2 cups of sugar

3 teaspoons of vanilla

For the Frosting:

Milk (as needed)

About 1 box of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

 Rainbow or red and green sprinkles

The process of making these cookies are not hard but can get confusing.

             A. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl         (includes Crisco)

             B. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl (includes Sugar)

             C. Make a well with the dry ingredients and pour in the wet to start mixing

             D. Start with mixing the ingredients with your hands until you cannot feel any clumps                    add flour to your hands as needed until you have a beautiful dough

             E. Then make little logs and place about an inch a part

              F. Bake for 350 degrees for about 5-10 mins or until golden brown on bottom

              G. When done let cool before you ice 

For the Icing/Glaze:

 Pour about a ½ of a box of powdered sugar into bowl and eye ball the amount of milk while stirring it all together until it turns into a glaze constancy. (add more milk, vanilla and sugar as you'd like)

 Glaze over top of cooled Biscotti cookies

Immediately after glazing apply sprinkles

And there you have it....you will be making these cookies like an Italian in no time! :D One of the many benefits of these cookies is that you can make a ton with inexpensive ingredients that are sure to satisfy your holiday guests! Please enjoy and help me keep my Polisso family cookie tradition alive!

I have been making these cookies with my Papa and Gram for a long while now, however it wasn't until yesterday when my Papa uttered the words "Hopefully I will be here next year to do it again!"...and that is when it hit me, like an ice cold snow ball straight to the face. He wasn't trying to be funny or serious...he was just being honest. Him and my Gram both have such young hearts and spirits, if only their bodies would allow them to be what they once were. After he murmured those words a storm of thoughts came raining down inside of my head:

~Will my kids ever get to know Papa and Gram? 

~Will they get to experience having a great grandparent like I was so fortunate to have?

~Next year if even one of them has been taken from me, how could I ever bake these cookies again? 

That is when I truly realized that life is all about the PRESENT...and what a gift it is! I love my family with every ounce of my soul and I am so happy and blessed that I am able to make these memories that I can cherish for a lifetime.  So with that I will close by saying, even if they aren't my cookies or cookies at all  CHERISH every second you have with the people you love. There is never anything more important than family (whether that be blood or not) so please hold on to what you have! I hope this has inspired at least one person to start a tradition...any kind of tradition that brings you close with those who love you most. Don't ever take for granted the now because tomorrow is only hours away and then it becomes the past! Make memories to hold on to even after the tradition is over! 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

It's Me!!!! :D

Welcome to My Life:

Life is such a funny thing...one day I think, "I am going to be... the next Anna Wintor, then I change to maybe a psychologist, and possibly the next day I will want to be an Anthropologist or perhaps a manicurist. But today, today I will be a blogger. 

I sit at my computer today in hopes of opening a window, a window into my life for those who might happen to want to know what I have to say! I am a shy person and it takes a lot for me to open up, but I am hoping this "window" just might lead to a door. 

On here I will be letting you into my gypsy life and all of the different things I encounter! My most favorite hobbies are knitting, baking, running, and playing with my pets..so that is what you can expect to read most about!! :D 

<---Here is one of my

 most favorite scarves! 

(I am known as "the knitting kitty" 

on both FB and Insta...check me out!)

A little bit more about me; I have one 100lb black Labrador, Willow, who will be 4 soon and I have a 3lb 3 month old Torbie kitten names Mollie (she looks like a calico but she is half tortuous half tabby!) ! My animals are my babies and mean the absolute world to me! :D I have been in a relationship for 4 going on 5 years with my soul mate! I love him more than the world and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him! Below is a picture of my little family, my whole world 

Thanks for checking out my blog! I hope that the chaotic style didn't drive you too crazy! ;] Any suggestions on topics or things you would like me to show you how I do, let me know!!!