My morning, babysitting, minor repairs

My morning started off with some excitement – sort of. One of the tires on the little truck blew out on my way to work. Fortunately, I was not far from home when it happened and since Grandpa and I had worked on the truck just a few days ago I knew the spare was no good. So I pulled off to a safe place and texted Victoria. I knew she was either up or getting up to go get the kids Mama and Grandma have been watching.  That was at 5:05 a.m.

I drove the Flex to work and I will have to work it out with Grandpa to get the truck back to the farm. I can always call triple A and have Mama meet them to get the truck hauled back but I will see what Grandpa wants to do first. The bad news is that now I have two vehicles that need new tires. That could put off getting me and Mama moved to the apartment for a few more weeks. Oh, well.

Mama and Grandma have decided that watching these children will not continue past this Saturday. It is a lot of work on Grandma who is really not up to it. Just the couple hours I have been home before the children have been picked up is enough to drive me completely crazy. I never realized how much more lenient Mama and I are with children than Grandma is. Her, “children should obey instantly and without question” does not translate well in practical applicability especially with children that have no real discipline in their lives.

On Mama’s part, I do not think she fully realizes just how much work was being done by the children she had in the home while she was babysitting children in the past. Now that the full load of the responsibility falls to her she is beginning to think she is getting too old to do these once familiar tasks. When you have three to five helpers it is far more pleasant to care for young children. Doing it all on your own is often tedious and tiring.

Much of what I have done on the shop and apartment I have done by myself so I am familiar with the pitfalls of taking on too much work at one time. Besides, with Mama still not fully ambulatory, it makes the labor involved very strenuous. Even taking the little one to potty requires movement that is painful for both caretakers. So I think they are done with this experiment.

Grandpa and I will rework the garage door over the next couple days and I am almost confident that we can get it operating properly. When we do accomplish that it will change how we are able to work in the shop and with the cooler days upon us, it will be nice to have a garage door to open.

I am looking forward to next week. The training I have to take in Houston will not be too taxing and the following days of vacation and visiting are timely for me. It has been pretty busy at the office. With the end of the year upon us we are starting the reviews and rankings that we go through each year to determine raises and bonuses for each individual employee.

It is my least favorite time of the business year.