Handle With Care

First of all HAPPY HALLOWEEN and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEW MR. TIA. I had a great weekend. Wanna know what I did? I'll tell ya. My aunt and uncle live 3 hours north of here in beautiful Orlando. They went out of town... actually, they went out of country for a few days, leaving their 8 & 10 year old daughters in my care. The best part was that my parents were also vacationing up there at the same time so I got to hang out with them. We had a great time. My mom went to my cousin's little league game and joined us for lunch and my bonus dad sent treats for the girls while he stayed back to study hard for an exam he had to take. Have I ever told you about some of my baby/house sitting stories? I have a few. Like the time I was 19 and watched a set of 7 year old triplets for 18 days while their parents went to Hawaii. And then I also took on house sitting as a side gig before moving down here. There was about a month a few springs ago when I wasn't home. I went from one house to the next watching animals and houses while the owners went on their vacations. Each time I did these jobs, I had special instructions from each parent. Example: "Every Sunday, I get the dogs cheeseburgers from McDonalds" ... "This dog has to go out before this dog. If Said dog goes out at the same time as the other dog, well, they won't go to the bathroom, they'll just sniff each other's butts" ... "I set out all the clothes for the kids (that's right, 18 outfits... multiplied by 3, well, 54 outfits) with the days I want them to wear them." That last one was really tough. I started to panic when Valentine's day was a snow day and the kids had to wear their Valentine's Day outfits on the 15th. I'm glad to say that this job was easy. My cousins were great for me. No special instructions. Just the basics: Feed them, get them to school on time, minimal tv watching, get them to bed on time and help them with their homework. Easy enough. I too, have learned a thing of two about my jobs for myself. Here's one of them. Be prepared because you never know. I have always had the attitude, "Nobody knows me, I don't care what I look like right now because I am not from here, therefore, I will never see these people again." What do I mean by this? Example: It used to drive New Mr. Tia bananas when I would run to the grocery store in my flaming bright pajama bottoms and ratty t shirt. What do I care? I don't know anyone, right? In my adventure, I had to leave the house at 7:30 am to get the girls to school on time. Dropping them off, you don't get out of the car. Their teachers come to get them. So what do I do? Naturally, I didn't do my hair, threw on my tank top and gauchos and headed out the door. We pulled into the school behind a Cadillac Escalade. When we came to the drop off stop, the girls gave me their hugs good bye and the driver of the Escalade got out to hug his children and send them on their way. Driver then turned smiled and waved at me. Who was this person? Only Johnny Damon. I wanted to get out and ask him for an autograph, but the girls were embarrassed by my ensemble. I also decided against it since his former team had just won the World Series in a 4 game sweep the night before. It has been a great story to tell since I have been back. The next morning I got up to get ready to take the girls and looked presentable in case Johnny and I (because I'm on a first name basis with him) had another encounter. I also had my Sharpie and paper. And camera. Only this time I was also hoping to catch Joey Fatone. Much to my dismay, it didn't happen. Anyone have any other suggestions?