Day 21: Babysitting

Okay, so here's something I never thought this whole gluten crap would effect. Babysitting.

Haha. I know, I sound like I'm a preteen girl. But really, I've been babysitting since grade eleven in highschool. When I only had a part-time job, I was sometimes babysitting 4-5 times a week. Mostly for the same family, but I have sat on lots of other children. I haven't managed any children alone at their house since December, so I kind of forgot about it all, except for my once-regular family. I'm still hoping to steal them from their daycare one of these Saturdays.

Anyways, I got a call tonight just after work from a family I've met briefly, but I knew they had my number to call for sitting. They asked if I could watch their kids (who I haven't really met) tonight. Since dinner was almost done, I said yes! Ah, the spontaneous life.

So yesterday, I stuck a pound of raw ground beef in the crock pot all day to make something for dinner, but my husband remembered he had a concert to go to, so he took off before I even got home for work. So at lunch today, I took that pound of ground beef, and threw it back in the crock pot with half a can of pasta sauce, a can of tomato paste, enough water to make it soupy, and a cup of pureed chickpeas (I got brave) and a bunch of spice. Left it on low all day, and the house smelled amazing when I got home. Since hubby gets home before me, he started a pot of water boiling for pasta, and I just had to throw some rice spaghetti in. Let me tell you this, I do not like that rice spaghetti. It was the first gluten-free pasta I'd had at home, and now I've had all of two. But people also keep telling me that pasta is the best GF thing. And this pasta, is not. No way. It's mushy and tough and foams and is weird. The vegetable pasta I have doesn't do any of that. It cooks and tastes exactly like pasta. So now I know which kind I am not buying again... So I added the yucky pasta to the simmering sauce, and it was less than fantastic. The beef had been cooked to the point that it was powdery. I tried to blame it on the chickpeas, but they were not at fault here. The beef was powdery. I guess the crock pot was too warm, or next time I just add the beef right before dinner. Hmm.

So that was dinner. Didn't take long, and then I ran out the door to go take care of two toddlers who had never met me so their parents could go car shopping in the bigger city.

They're asleep now, I'm actually writing this at their house. They were the best kids. The younger one met me, and asked me to pick her up. She curled up in my lap, and poked my nose. Just super friendly, super well-behaved children. I watched a movie with them, read them a few books, gave them a snack, and shipped them off to bed. Then I watched Sleepless in Seattle. And then five minutes before it ended, their mom called to say they'd be home in about an hour.

Of course, I was hungry. I'm always hungry lately. I often munch at babysitting houses, on cereals or fruit or whatever the kids usually snack on, so I know I'm not ruining meal plans. So I looked, and they have Timbits... Mmmmm... and Cheerios. Which would have been perfect, and my favorite brand of bread, and then I had to leave the kitchen. It's easy for me to eat at home because everything I can see, I can eat, but munching at other people's houses is far from safe.

So now I'm hungry, and yet again chastising myself for not carrying snacks everywhere I go. Blurgh.

Lessons learned today: Don't over crock-pot beef, and pack snacks and stop just saying you're going to!