The Nanny

My family works. There's no way around it-no ifs, ands, or buts. As a result, my brother and I have been brought up with a strong work ethic (him more than me) and a need to pull in a paycheck.

Now that I am a full time student, the money goes out but a paycheck never comes in. Trust me when I say it sucks. I am attending "math camp" for the months of June and July. I suck at math, and don't want to be in the "sink" position when the fall quarter begins. Needless to say, the first few days are slow, and its mainly administrative stuff. So, to preoccupy my mind from a)not having a car b)not having money and c) slowly but surely going insane, I hang out at bf's pad. He's not there (thankfully fully employed), but its alright. I keep Jessie company. Ok, well, Jessie keeps me company.

But in entertaining her, I've realized how much I feel like a nanny/stay-at-home mom. I even told BF this, which got a funny look, but...eventually, a laugh (I am a riot). I started off the day washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. The kitchen layout is such that there is a vent right under the sink where my feet are planted. Its cold. Sadly, the air conditioning unit just downright sucks, and while my feet are growing icicles, the rest of the house is plain hot. A side note-its broke 100 degrees the past few days, which is unheard of in this part of the country at this time of the year. Usually, these temperatures hit around July-August. Not early June.

Anyway, so while I'm loading up the dishwasher, I decide to go out and get kitchen rugs. One for the sink, and one to put in front of the stove. So I get my things ready, load Jessie up in the car, and off we go. Holy shit it is hot as all hell. I feel like I'm in an inferno surrounded by heat and...well...trees. Jessie's my copilot (although she sheds more in shotgun than gives worthwile directions), and I hate to leave her in the car for an extended period of time, so I haul ass in Target, and then out of Target, and we're back home.

Jessie's a 70 lbs. labrador retriever with a huge personality and a propensity to lick. Everything. She thinks she's a lap dog, and one of her favorite pasttimes, I've noticed, is getting right up in my grill and panting. Even though she's adorable, her breathe stinks. Its hot, and smells of dog food. Constantly. I shouldn't be complaining about her panting. All hell breaks loose when she starts licking, because her bad breathe clings to my face, neck, arms, and legs.

The only solution I could come up with is to take her to Petsmart and have them brush her teeth. Well if I do that, I might as well take her in to get a bath. So off we go to Petsmart. I drop her off, and have two hours to run all my errands. After I pick her up, we cruise around the neighborhood. She likes it when I roll the window down so she can stick her head out the window. We've done it before, but because of cars behind us, we end up going roughly 50 mph, which is a tad bit too fast for her. She likes it when I cruise at school zone speed. After doing that for about 20 minutes, we head home, and it is dinner time.

When did taking care of a dog become a full time job?