i accomplished a lot today (read: i really didn’t do anything). let’s see… i bought a new lamp for my bedroom that makes it seem like it’s daylight, like i had in my old room. now it’s kind of like a gas station, or a car dealership. i find this awesome. my family finds it blinding.

oh, and i babysitted today, for those girls i babysitted a few months ago. one is 10, the other is 5. we played a game and watched she’s the man. it was only for 2.5 hours, so it was pretty alright. they behaved fine, so i had a good time. highlights included a new hair style for me, a greater understanding of the game “deal or no deal,” and balloon animals.

OMFG I MOVE OUT OF MY WONDERFUL HOUSE AND INTO MY TINY DORM ROOM TOMORROW MORNING AT 8.

this is insane. i’m so nervous, every time i think about college and moving out my stomach feels weird and my heart rate goes up. i can’t handle stress. UGH.

today was my last day babysitting, and it was all pretty basic until when we were at the pool talking to the lifeguard when a kid spent five minutes climbing over the fence, as we stood next to him, telling him to stop. he didn’t seem to understand, and when he got over he ran out of our reach. we told him he had to leave and gestured to the gate, but he didn’t respond. he took off his shirt and looked at the pool. we ran over and tried to get him to go out the gate, but at once he sprinted towards the pool and jumped in. we freaked out and b and i ran to the development’s office to get help. they told us they’d call his parents and that the lifeguard needed to remove him, so he jumped in and pulled him out and carried him outside the gate. a neighbor told us he didn’t speak english and he was autistic. so that was a new experience.

today i had the pleasure of babysitting you-know-who (who we will refer to as b) AND her four year old sister (who we will refer to as r). she’s at that stage where she’s really bossy, really cute, and really hilarious. when i asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she replied, “a policeman—like walker, texas ranger!” i asked if she would wear a hat like walker, and she said, “yeppers!”

during the day we played a board game until they got bored, and then we walked to see the ducks at a pond nearby. then we walked to the library and read numerous books out loud in the children’s section. when we got back we hung out at the pool and talked to the lifeguards, but didn’t swim. we were hungry by then, so we drove to wendy’s for lunch. we spent a really long time at the register as r tried to decide between chicken nuggets and a cheeseburger. well, originally her order was “ummmm, a cheeseburger. and fries. and chicken nuggets. umm, and a soda. and some fries. and a frosty!” the lady at the register thought this was adorable and told me i had very cute kids. do i look that old? anyway, when we got home they actually decided they wanted to swim, so they changed into their suits. the water was like 70, those kids are insane. well, their mom came eventually and goodbye hugs ensued.

so, i babysit today. i didn’t mention this before, but i most definitely wasn’t looking forward to it because this particular girl was always a problem at after school, she likes to talk back. when her mom asked for a babysitter, everyone else seemed to have something to do this week. i volunteered because, well, i like getting paid.

so i went over with low expectations. and this is going to sound crazy, and i never thought i’d EVER say this, but… i actually had a fun time! when she’s not around her peers she’s actually a really cool kid. we watched a movie (raise your voice starring hill-duff, which i will admit i brought from home, but it’s liz’s, not mine!), walked to the library and read for a half an hour (we even learned a bit about how books are organized), made sandwiches (bologna and, ew—mayonnaise, which i had to actually spread), went to tops and poked bread and made fun of cheese (plus bought dr pepper), did magic tricks (she did two card tricks, which i had actually taught her earlier this year but she seemed to have forgotten that), and played cards (i learned two new games, yay). and she never argued with me or was rude at all. it was actually f-u-n.

but the highlight of my 7 hour day was when we stopped in a gamestop on the way home so she could show me what she was getting for christmas (a DS). she tried that brain game for adults that’s really popular, and she was doing this thing where she had to subtract 7 from a high number (like 82), and then subtract 7 from the answer, and so on. she’s not the best at math (i think she has a tutor), so she kept asking me to tell her the answers. soon the two employees there and a mom that had come in with her kid were crowded around giving her tips on subtracting and helpful hints for using your fingers and such. it was so adorable. a team effort.