Actually, today started out fairly well. There was a want-ad in the local paper for a receptionist, every other weekend, from 10AM to 7PM. I called and got the address, but the GPS didn’t like it, so halfway there I had to call The Squire and ask him for the phone number. I had omitted one digit from the address. Filled out the application and spoke with the lady at the desk, and things seem to be OK, but who knows?
I stopped to see Granddaughter-in-Love, and visited with her and the baby for a while. I had hoped to stop at a nursing home to visit two ladies from church, but I didn’t have time, as I had to stay with the other great-grandkids at 1:30, so “Mimi” (my daughter; their grandmother) could go to the dentist. Before she left, Mimi showed me where the Keurig machine was, as she knows I am a coffee hound.
That was when things went downhill in hurry. Mimi was there when I arrived, and gave me a list of phone numbers and showed me where the snacks are located. “The Princess just went down for a nap, so she should be good until I get back. Butch has been down a while, so he might wake up in a half an hour or so.” She had no more than closed the door behind her when The Princess sat up in bed and started to cry. I watched on the monitor for a few moments, hoping she’d go back to sleep, but no such luck. I went up and opened her door, but the child-proof gate was also Gran-mama proof, so I couldn’t get in to collect her. I asked if she wanted to come over and I would pick her up, but she waved me away. Closed the door and she started wailing, loud enough to wake her baby brother.
Great.
Took Butch downstairs and sat him in his highchair, and I could see she had gotten out of bed; back upstairs and lifted her over the gate. Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I carried her downstairs and the three of us sat on the sofa. She stopped crying long enough to admire my shirt, and then rolled into a ball and started to fall asleep.
Butch crawled over and pulled her hair.
I couldn’t find their phone, and discovered I’d locked my purse – and my phone – in my car. The Princess was bawling her eyes out, and I was afraid the neighbours would think I was killing her. I want my mama! Where is Mimi? Finally, I put shoes on the big one and hitched the little one on my hip, and we set off with the paper with the list on it, to knock on doors until I got somebody to call their mum. I was about to give up when a truck pulled in down the street, so we hustled over there. I introduced myself, and the fellow said he knew the children and their parents. He called my granddaughter at her work, and she came home immediately. As in five minutes!
She called The Squire, and he agreed to come up and rescue me. What else could he do, poor soul?
Granddaughter left Butch with me and took The Princess to work, long enough to clear her desk and forward the office calls. The Squire arrived a few moments later, and I told him about my day. It must be the phases of the moon, because he said he had written down the address and when he stepped out of the door the wind grabbed the slip of paper and tossed it into the stream.
And I couldn’t figure out how the Keurig machine worked.
thisendoftheswamp 
You know what I’m thinking? Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are pretty lucky. I was never fortunate enough to be within reach of my mother or MIL to get help with the tots.
We live about 15 miles from this lot. (About 24 km.) I didn’t have my parents around when our girls were little, but I had both grandmothers. This was a mixed blessing, as they had totally different ideas on handling babies! Our middle and youngest daughters live far, far away – one is in a different time zone! – so I seldom see them.
Alas, the lack of coffee is, by far, the most harrowing. But boy, does that remind me of those days when my two were young. My daughter had the knack for locking me out of the house and car. I remember the day when she had therapy and she locked herself inside the car with my keys on one of those hot and humid days back there. Then I was a basket case (my phone was also in the car) but now the story is funny.
Whew! Sounds like a fun time had by all. 🙂
Good luck with the job!