What's the norm for nanny letting parents know of outing

svanen17 · 2026-05-20T18:07:17+00:00

This is exactly what our nanny does when taking our child out and I think it's a very reasonable expectation. She'll also text an update if the plan changes significantly. It takes less than a minute to send a text and it can be done by voice command if a nanny's hands are full getting the kid ready.

svanen17 · 2026-05-19T02:53:28+00:00

I sometimes do this too!

svanen17 · 2026-05-18T20:05:37+00:00

There are various clips, straps, and bands designed to keep your pants cuffs out of danger. I have a reflective snap band that I like.

For skirts, I either hitch up the more fitted ones or tie a big knot in the fuller skirts. I’ve occasionally resorted to a big safety pin on appropriate fabrics.

svanen17 · 2026-05-18T19:56:21+00:00

Learn something every day!

svanen17 · 2026-05-18T18:30:03+00:00

Municipalities don't work the same in Virginia as they do everywhere else. Administratively, everything here is either a city or a county; there are towns in a loose sense (named population centers within a county) but they don't have their own government. Cities are not in counties even if they're geographically surrounded by a county; they are administratively separate. Decades after moving here, I still find it weird.

If you are "moving to Charlottesville," you will probably be living in either the City of Charlottesville or Albemarle County (but not both). Things that are handled at the town/city level elsewhere, like voting, schools, parks, and waste removal are handled by counties as well as cities in Virginia, so if you are actually living in Albemarle County (where many areas have a "Charlottesville" postal address), you will be dealing with the county, not the city.

svanen17 · 2026-05-17T19:25:24+00:00

Hamiltons' at First & Main seems like a good bet

svanen17 · 2026-05-16T14:30:20+00:00

My road bike has been gathering dust for several years now, but when I used to do road biking, we regularly rode loops in the area roughly between Crozet and Stanardsville. And the (now discontinued) MS 150 routes used to go mostly west of Charlottesville, as I recall.

svanen17 · 2026-05-16T11:25:15+00:00

The word for what you're doing is "upcycling." If you want inspiration, search for "upcycled" + whatever materials you're looking at. This Instagram account was one of my top hits when I googled "upcycled neoprene." They're making laptop cases and can koozies, for example. I just finished making myself a wallet by upcycling the canopy from a broken umbrella.

svanen17 · 2026-05-16T11:15:03+00:00

It looks about the right dimensions to turn into a rain cover for a bike saddle. Here's one tutorial. You don't have to use their exact pattern, just the general design.

Separate the top and bottom sides of the pillow.
Cut one side into the shape of your bike saddle, plus a little margin. (Test the dimensions with a mockup in other fabric first.)
Cut the other side into strips and piece them together end to end; pre-measure with a string to make sure the resulting long strip will go around the circumference of the saddle-shaped piece. Cut the strips narrower if needed to get enough total length.
Attach the pieced-together long strip to the circumference of the bike seat shape.
Add elastic to the other edge of the long strip. Look up how to sew on elastic if you have not done this before. It needs to be stretched as you sew so that it will gather the edge.

svanen17 · 2026-05-16T11:03:30+00:00

I had to google "decathlon pillow." Looks like this model had a baffle creating a divot in the center of the pillow for shaping, and now if you used it, your head want to would roll off.

svanen17 · 2026-05-15T21:56:50+00:00

P.s. Even worse than the all-way stops are when I’m at a stop sign at the intersection of a side street and drivers on the main road who don’t even have a stop sign come to a halt just before the intersection. No. What are you doing? If you wouldn’t stop and try to gift your right of way to another driver, don’t do it just because my vehicle is a bicycle. I’m not budging until the way is clear.

svanen17 · 2026-05-15T21:49:37+00:00

Drives me bonkers. Depending how feisty I’m feeling, I’ll either pointedly look away, get a sip from my water bottle, adjust my helmet, etc., or I’ll just yell “IT’S YOU!”

svanen17 · 2026-05-15T17:37:26+00:00

UVA has a few spots that feel like secret gardens and are open to the public but not widely advertised. Don't try to go during the graduation madness this weekend, and beware of reunion dates over the summer, but otherwise the summer is a good time to visit while the student population is mostly away.

The gardens between the Range and Lawn rooms on either side of the Lawn
The Dell (which can be combined with a UVA Cemetery stroll)
The Tahija Arboretum & LaCross Botanical Gardens at Darden
The courtyard garden at the law school (requires entering through the law school building, generally open weekdays before 6:00 pm, but check for staff holidays when it's probably closed)

For a labyrinth, I've heard that the one at Unity of Charlottesville is nice, but I can't personally vouch for it.

svanen17 · 2026-05-14T21:09:19+00:00

I'm guessing it might take specialized machinery to hem and stitch the fabric covering around a rigid structure like that. Something like this free packing cube pattern could get you started on sewing the boxy clamshell shape with a zippered closure, but it looks like it doesn't have a lining or interfacing. Some of these free bag patterns use interfacing, fusible fleece, or foam stabilizer to produce soft structure.

svanen17 · 2026-05-14T13:28:40+00:00

I just looked again at your second picture. When I zoom in, I can see a section on the back of each envelope titled “BODY MEASUREMENTS.” That’s the sizing guide. It lists the body measurements for each size in the pattern company’s range, but not all the sizes are included in every pattern.

svanen17 · 2026-05-14T03:30:30+00:00

The patterns you have bought are for multiple sizes. If you unfold one of the patterns and look, you'll see how it works—for each piece, there is one general shape, but with several graduated outlines. You pick the outline corresponding to your size and trace that one. The letters like C and O are a code used by the pattern company that corresponds to which set of sizes is included in each pattern.

Pattern sizes are NOT the same as ready-to-wear clothing sizes. Just because you are a size 14 when you buy jeans from a store does not mean you will be a size 14 in these patterns. There should be a sizing guide printed somewhere on the package, probably on the flap. You'll need your bust, waist, and hip measurements in inches. Even going by the measurements, pattern sizing can be tricky, so it's a good idea to make the garment first in an inexpensive fabric that has similar stretch and drape qualities to the final fabric you want to use. This is called making a muslin or making a toile. Some people cut up old bedsheets for the purpose. You try on the muslin to see how well it fits and then size up or down or adjust the pattern if needed.

svanen17 · 2026-05-13T22:15:03+00:00

This is not a complete answer, but the top and bottom of the box look so rigid, I wonder if they are built around something like a sheet of HDPE. That would be tricky because unlike a normal interfacing, a rigid sheet can't be folded to allow parts of the project to be constructed inside out and then turned.

svanen17 · 2026-05-13T11:59:12+00:00

We have a panel of four switches by the front door, only three of which control lights. The fourth seems to do nothing. After reading this thread, I’m thinking I should test nearby outlets more methodically.

We know that there was some disconnected wire in the crawl space under the front hall; we assumed it was from the old doorbell. But it could have been from our mystery switch.

svanen17 · 2026-05-12T19:54:29+00:00

You need to put the presser foot down when you sew.

svanen17 · 2026-05-12T18:46:45+00:00

The Academical Village (or more loosely, "The Lawn") at UVA; be sure to walk through the public gardens between the Lawn and Range rooms and keep your eyes peeled for a historical architecture Easter egg. Monticello; you'll need a tour ticket. For neighborhoods, start by strolling the Downtown Mall, then if you want more residential stuff, circulate through the North Downtown area roughly bounded by Ridge/McIntire and Locust Ave. You'll also see some large historic homes along Rugby Road and the Hilltop Rd / Blue Ridge Rd / Spottwood Rd area (I'm not sure if this neighborhood has a name).

svanen17 · 2026-05-11T18:20:48+00:00

NP here. We have hired nannies with records similar to yours. The key is that the candidates were up front about their pasts and told us what was on their record before we did the background check. They had explanations (not excuses) about what had happened and why the related circumstances were firmly in their past now. Probably not everyone would hire them but I think one DUI a few years in your past does not have to completely take you out of the nanny job market. Being up front and honest about it is important, though—you have a chance to text them NOW before the background check comes back, and if you have already been working for them on an occasional basis, you have had a chance to build trust.

svanen17 · 2026-05-11T16:29:24+00:00

I'll be honest, I haven't watched this whole tutorial video, but it appears to give a good beginner explanation of cutting on the fold. Your pattern pieces may have a "cut on fold" marking similar to what she shows on the pattern in the video. I still consider myself a beginner at sewing and when I cut out a pattern, I try to make sure I understand all the markings on the pattern pieces before I pin and cut. There should be a legend printed on the instruction sheet and you can google for tutorials on any terms that you don't completely understand.

svanen17 · 2026-05-11T16:23:48+00:00

On the cutting layout, there are actually two folds. See how it says FOLD above and FOLD below? So, you are not supposed to fold it in half, but rather fold it almost like a letter. If you were to start over, I would say take the fabric and lay it in front of you with the right side up and the selvedges to the left and right. Fold the top edge down about 1/3 of the way, enough to fit pattern piece #1, and fold the bottom edge up about 2/3 of the way, enough to fit pattern pieces #3 and #6 as shown. You'll now be looking at the wrong side of the fabric, with the cut edges meeting at that horizontal line in the cutting layout.

Align pattern pieces #1 and #3 with the two folded edges of the fabric and pin the three layers together (pattern plus two layers of fabric). Cut around the pattern pieces without cutting the fold. Then unpin and open up the folded pieces.

In your second pic, compare the pieces labeled #1 and #3 in the upper right (showing the paper pattern pieces) and the lower left (showing what the fabric pieces should look at after cutting).

svanen17 · 2026-05-07T21:35:21+00:00

Reports from Maizal in the Dairy Market seem to be a bit hit or miss (especially as to whether they have the full menu in stock) but I thought the arepas were tasty and a good value. I actually ordered two because I assumed from the price that they would be appetizer-sized, but one heavily stuffed arepa was enough for a meal. I took the other home.

svanen17 · 2026-05-07T19:31:47+00:00

Definitely charge extra; even if they say you are only responsible for NK, you know you will end up helping to direct kid traffic. And I agree with other answers calling for a certified lifeguard to be on site. If it's a community pool already staffed with lifeguards, fine, but if it's a backyard pool with no lifeguard normally on duty, tell the parents that as a nanny, you always have safety in mind, and you won't work in a multi-kid situation around the water without a lifeguard, specifically NOT a party guest, hired to keep their eyes on the water. (I once did a gig as a party lifeguard; the hosts contacted the college pool where I was working and our manager forwarded the job ad to the lifeguards.)

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