words to live by: I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT AND I SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID NO

A few more notes worth mentioning before I get to the big ugly:

1.  Geraldine texted me in Sept of '16 and asked me if the Love's could use their backup sitter, so that she could bring her sick children to my house.

This was my second year of babysitting, and I had added the Love family.  (that link is totally unrelated to this story except that the germ baby in this case was Joey Love).  Mr. Love was a PT with Coach.  The mom a teacher.  We were at their wedding and they were excited when they learned that I was babysitting.  In the fall of '16, I eagerly agreed to watch 16 mo old Joey (whose parents hated their daycare) along with Theo and Carter.  Sweet baby Bailey, Joey's little sister joined the gang in Jan '18 after her mom's maternity leave.

Anyway, Geraldine WASN'T supposed to bring sick kids to my house.  She knew that the Love's had grandparents who COULD help them out, but the Love's certainly didn't want to use up their 'help-us-out' card with their grandparents needlessly. The nerve.

2.  Gerladine got stuck in a snow storm visiting a friend out east.  She texted me late on a Sunday night (1/8/17) and asked me to pick her and Carter up from the airport the next day, because their Sunday flight was cancelled.  I remember the date because the next day was Reggie's birthday.  I was relying on nap time to make his birthday meal.

I would still have Theo, who was in town with pushover-dad.  The pickup was in the middle of nap time and my high school kids had one last day of Christmas break left.  They agreed to stay with sleeping Theo while I drove to the airport.  I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT AND I SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID NO.  (words I now live by).  Coach heckled me over this and was like, 'Oh, you can do that.' .  . . so, by the way, can an Uber driver.  It boiled my blood, but I did it.

I jogged to Midway, grabbed her and Carter, stopped off at my house, loaded up Theo (who was with my teens- Geraldine never paid them for watching sleeping Theo - my boys didn't care, but to me it was a sign of utter inconsideration), and then drove them to their house.

On my way back to my house, I called the library because I realized it was the story time sign up day.  I was at a stop light.  I didn't have the bluetooth car, because I needed the big van for the carseats.  'Can I sign up over the phone or is it all online now?'  I could do it over the phone, Ms. Library told me.  The light changed.  I was on my phone.  For a moment.  I got pulled over.  I GOT ANOTHER TICKET, PEOPLE!!!!  I had been ticket free for, well, like several months.  Geraldine didn't increase my pay for the out-of-the-way-airport-shuttle service.

This is on of many dirty hair days.  

3.  Geraldine admitted to me a few months ago that she only bathes her kids about twice a week.  TWICE A WEEK!  Theo wipes himself.  These are boys.  They get dirty.

One day the boys showed up and Carter's hair was still full of the food that had been in his hair the day before.  I honestly considered skipping our scheduled outing because he looked dirty.  I didn't want people to think he was my kid.

I may not have worked out of the home when my kids were young, but I don't think I would've sacrificed the 10 minutes it took to bathe them.  Um, she has two kids.  I managed to bathe 6 - no matter how busy I was.  Besides, she picks the boys up at 4:00.  Plenty of time to give a bath before bed.  Theo liked to tell me about the movies he would watch when he got home from my house (after not watching TV at my house the entire day!) - but no time for a bath?  I can count on one hand how many times my kids missed a bath - EVER.  Seriously.