Babysitting

Dear Family-

This has been an intense week. Monday we prepared to go and babysit Jonathan and Kristy’s three youngest while they went to a wedding in Utah. That wasn’t necessarily the intense part.

I had committed to edit two books and three reports before December 22. At the time, it seemed a lot, but manageable. However the second book is very dense. It’s well written, if at times redundant, and on an interesting subject, it’s just that every sentence needs to be reviewed and checked to see if there’s a clearer, more concise way to say it. The type is 11 point courier in dense paragraphs. So while I think I’m making progress, I’m just sort of slogging through it. The guy with the reports manages to say everything in the most convoluted way… so that makes things interesting as well. And he keeps coming back asking if I can’t get things to him sooner. I promised the last report on Monday.

So while I was a Jonathan and Kristy’s I spent a lot of the time glued to the laptop! Last night I told Tom, phew, I just have about 20 pages on the last report. I should be able to do that in less than 5 hours. That didn’t sound bad. Then I thought, I have 9 pages on the book to finish (It has to go to Deborah for copyediting). I can do that in less than 5 hours. Oh… that means 10 hours on Monday to get them BOTH finished. AKK. Fortunately I think I can do each in an hour or two less, but still, a full day!

Tuesday before we left to go to J& K’s we got a text: “Sorry, the heat went out, the water’s not working and I’m sick. Really looking forward to having you come!” On our way, we stopped at Menards to get some tile. We had underestimated the amount we needed when we bought the last batch. We got to their new (rental) house about 2. Fortunately the pump people were there replacing the pump. They had a wood fire in the stove and things were nice and warm. With luck the part would arrive later and be installed in the heater.

At three we went to the old house to learn how to do the animals- making sure the pigs, cat, dog and chickens got fed. The cows and sheep were on their own. We had a chance to see the house and finally they are working and making progress. They took out all the charred wood and have reframed everything. They’ve ripped out their hardwood floor that was glued down. Apparently that was a job and a half.

The new house is smaller. It’s an older house with a bit of an odd floor plan. It’s been added on to a few times, but has new flooring and fresh paint. We chatted that night… and they got up very quietly about 3 am and headed to the airport. (Oh, and the heat was fixed by that night!)

The kids were well behaved and it was really fun to be with them. I worked with David on a writing project. Emily worked with Tom on a cookie project. We got them off to school on time, fed the animals, and I worked. Sometimes we fed us as well. I fixed dinner two nights and Tom had make-it-yourself burritos on one night. We did a little Christmas shopping and some exploring of Mt. Vernon. They have some very cute old houses! Some just itched for some fixing up!

Saturday afternoon, two things happened. One, Sister S. came to replace us as kid-watchers. So we left about 3 pm to return home. The second thing was that the weather changed. The temperature dropped below freezing with a freezing mist. It was in the low 20’s when we left and by this morning it was 13 degrees.

On the way home, we had light rain/sleet that froze to the windshield. We needed to be almost uncomfortably warm in order to keep the windshield defrosted… We also stopped to pick up new wiper blades, before we even left Mt. Vernon. They made a big difference! It was good to be home, sleep in our own bed, and drink our tasty well water.

Today I worried about the roads, but there was just the barest skiff of snow on the grass and the roads were clear. I sang “What Child is This” as part of a trio. I think it went well. Tom went caroling with the youth after church. It’s still chilly and a good day to stay inside.