Day 5 - Putt Putt and Commando

So Saturdays I usually make some coffee and watch A&E's Sell This House - and cooking shows on PBS. Of course I channel surf and watch parts of movies I've already seen and parts of movies I'm not totally interested in. Saturday night I like Animal Planet's It's Me or the Dog.

But not today. I slept in until 9:30 when Harley the horrible hound launched himself into my bed and started licking my face. I took him for his walk - and it was surprisingly comfortable outside. Usually by 9:30 it's hot enough to give you a sunburn in just minutes, but today it was a bit overcast and really nice. When we returned from our walk the condo was r*e*a*l*l*y quiet. So I turned on the radio and there were my boys - Car Talk! I fed Harley, made some hot cereal and did laundry and chores until about 11:30.

Time for a treat and some real writing. So I packed up my laptop and drove up to Starbucks. Got a skinny vanilla latte and found a nice corner and started working on my book (working title Peanut Butter Beach). The music was great - old early 60's Beatles - and I was smokin' on the keys. Laughing to myself, too. I worked until my battery threatened to quit and then drove home. More chores and a quick shower and it was time for babysitting.

I had agreed to babysit my almost-3-year-old granddaughter Kinsey while her parents went to dinner and a movie. I figured putt-putt would be fun and I also had invited my niece Darian (who is 11 and VERY competitive) to go with us. One of my co-workers, Mike, had heard me talking about it earlier in the week and said he would meet us there, too. Mike loves the putt putt. Unfortunately for Mike, he got a repair call - he does maintenance work at the Inn where I work - just after the 1st hole and he had to leave. We were all bummed.

That left me alone with a wild toddler and a tween-ager. And they wore me out. Kinsey insisted on holding her putter like it was a pool cue, and Darian was so bent on beating me she starting shaving points. It was wild. The course has a lot of stairs and climbing up and climbing down - one of its attractions. At the highest point you can see the beach. Darian believes in short cuts and, of course, Kinsey is monkey-see-monkey-do so instead of walking sedately to the next hole on the sidewalk, they would be climbing a hill or jumping through a bush. And if I heard myself say "Off the green when it's not your turn!" one more time I was going to kill myself!

At least I won. Well, we gave Kinsey the official win by letting her score par, but I beat Darian by 5 strokes. Go Aunt Karen! I didn't brag toooo much. The course has a nice deck area and we cooled off there with some sodas. I relaxed for about 30 seconds and then Darian announced that the lemon-tea she was drinking made her burp. Darian is renowned in the family for her loud and unsettling burps. I knew we were in trouble. Actually, I knew I was in trouble. It started - a weird cawing-burping sound would erupt from Darian, Kinsey would giggle loudly until I thought Sprite was going to come out of her nose, and I would hide my face. Kinsey at one point said, "Look - that baby is looking at us!" And that baby was looking at us! No kidding!

Afterwards I gave them each a dollar and 6 cents (hey big spender) and took them to the Dollar Store where they picked and chose and discussed and put back and finally decided what treat they wanted for themselves. Darian picked out purple hair extensions and Kinsey picked a soft ball with things pointing out of it. We drove Darian home with the top down on the convertible and woo-hooed all the way back.

I watched Dan play Civilization on the computer with his daughter Savannah (on-line - she's in Boise) and Darian and Kinsey played dress up. Kinsey is being potty trained so it was inevitable that she would have an accident and she did. I cleaned her up and helped clean up the carpet and then she pooped her pants. I cleaned her up and took the toxic trash out to the outside trash can and told Dan I thought we might have overstayed our welcome. Nah, see ya! That was Kinsey's last clean pair of underwear so I let her go commando on the way home.

I remembered we had nothing to eat at home and made a side-trip to MacDonalds. While I was ordering Kinsey kept shouting at the speaker, "I want ice cream!" so I did a knee-jerk grandmother thing and added a MacFlurry to the order. As I was paying at the window Kinsey ordered 4 more ice creams. The cashier ignored her. We drove home as quickly as was allowed but the MacFlurry was a MacMelty and the fries were cold by the time we sat down to eat.

My daughter and son-in-law arrived a little while later. She couldn't believe I had let my granddaughter ride around St. Augustine "commando" and that I had filled her up with sugar before bedtime. Kinsey just grinned at me and I grinned back at her. We had a great time.

And no TV. none. zippo.