Skip to main content

The Best Babysitter EVER!!

We have had a lot of babysitters, and we have had a lot of really good ones...but the situation that occured during our night out at a Grey Cup party was one that made us realize that we (and especially our kids) may have experienced the greatest babysitting feat of our lives!

We got a call from our kids around 8:30 to say that they loved us and to say good night. "We saw a rat!" says Owen (5). "You mean a mouse," Nicky says. We have had a mouse in "Moby" lately and so Owen was obviously confused. We stayed at the party a while longer and got home at 10:30 or so. Jocelyn (the aforementioned "Best Babysitter EVER!!") greets us at the door and says "...I was able to trap the rat." I was convinced that she was wrong and that I would find a mouse. We went to where she had stood up some books, moved some boxes and a shelf and formed them into a closed semicircle by the wall...we looked under the desk to see a long tailed, 6 inch long, bulgy eyed RAT staring at us, it sent shivers down my spine. Really?! a RAT?! in my HOUSE?!

What ensued next was Jocelyn and I (Nicky wanted no part of it), scaring the rat first under a book shelf and then out of that as I trapped it under a bucket. I slid cardboard under the bucket and took my trapped rat outside where it met it's early demise...a shovel must have fallen on it...

As I drove Jocelyn home she told me how she was reading a book to the kids and the rat ran across the room and out. She said she reacted calmly so that the kids wouldn't freak out...seriously?! After the kids were in bed she spent the rest of the evening tracking that dirty little rat. At one point running back and forth in the kitchen chasing it around with a broom stick. She said that whenever she stepped on something soft she thought it was that rat. She told me, "it was fun!" C'mon, really?! She had this great feeling of accomplishment when we caught that rat...seriously, she is amazing! Can you imagine? A strange house and you are spending your time with this stupid rat making its horrible little squeaking noises and running around the house.

We should be working on getting her locked into a long term babysitting contract...but she may have some serious bargaining power! Plus she may never want to come back again.

Yesterday we got a cat...
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
you know...alberta has a rat patrol to ensure that we stay rat-free.

you should really consider relocating.

but - if i ever have the need to search for a babysitter...the requirements will read:

"must be able to track, hunt, and trap rats"
12:44 pm
Increasing... said…
awesome story dude - there's got to be a greatest babysitter award in the peg that you can nominate her for...
2:58 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Work Against Homelessness

I have been thinking quite a lot about homelessness (over the last two years especially) and have come to all kinds of conclusions about myself and the things that I (and the church) need to do in order to help people who are in that situation. I have been involved in a few organizations who work with homeless people and met with many people to discuss what I/we should be doing to help. I finally discovered something very important that I can do right now. I am reading t his book called Bent Hope which is a really interesting read. The author is a Youth Worker who works with young people who live on the streets in Toronto. He walks the streets and hangs out with them and helps when he can. He basically just tells the stories of his encounters with people and talks a little bit about what he has learned from them. I am loving it! So, I know what I am supposed to do to help homelessness. In his book, pretty much everyone he encounters he mentions how they come from a family situa...
8 comments
Read more

Coffee Drinking Bullies

I feel as though I am about to have a fight with a bully, I fully expect this post to be read as hurtful and condemning to many. That may be the case but here goes anyway. I have long been frustrated by coffee drinkers. I realize that probably 95% of those who are in the blogosphere are those who are regular coffee drinkers, actually *ahem* probably not regular coffee drinkers, they are people who are very particular about the coffee they drink. Most times they take one sip of coffee and declare it to be horrible, or wonderful, or somewhere in between. They do NOT drink any free coffee, especially the coffee served at churches, they do not just go to the corner store for coffee, their coffee must meet very specific requirements and standards. If they make it at home they do not just use a coffeemaker, they must use a various assortment of grinders, presses, and perhaps going as far as to roast their own beans. I know that I am not cool for criticizing coffee drinkers and their habits,...
9 comments
Read more

Mustachio

I have entered the dark underworld of a mustache growing contest, having been drawn in by Nicky's (my wife's) brothers. This is a picture of how put together I looked without a mustache. If you look at the picture below, it would seem that the mustache itself has gotten to me. I am not saying that growing a mustache means you become a drunk, sleazy, stuck in the 80s, trying-to-be-young-but-not-being-successful-at-it type of person, but that is what it has done to me. I find that when I walk I have a different gait, one that I tried to use back in Jr. High...to look cool. I find that I have a renewed passion for wearing hi-top shoes with the laces undone. I have a need to wear brigh t coloured clothing, and I have been looking for acid-wash pants at Value Village (unsuccesfully). The thing is that I also have many good friends who are growing mustaches, and have had mustaches for a long period of time, it doesn't seem to have this kind of impact on them. I work at a churc...
7 comments
Read more