THIS LAST WEEK WAS THE BEST IN SO MANY WAYS, but also one of the worst.
On Tuesday, I was hired by a very kind woman in my ward to watch her two youngest children for her all day while she was at work. The little girls were 1 and 2 years old, and very sweet, so the job was not at all that demanding. It was actually quite fun! I worked for this woman for the rest of the week, from 7:30am to about 5:30/6:30pm. On Wednesday, my family left town to stay with my grandparents who live about an hour and a half away from us. I was informed over a phone call that I would be staying home alone for the rest of the week. They took the internet and TV cable with them for my safety. So every morning I would wake up around 6am and hurry to get ready, babysit the little baby girls all day, and come home alone.
The first night that I arrived home all alone, I was really freaked out. Living with 9 people makes it hard to adjust to complete silence. We live in an apartment, so I could hear our above neighbors' conversations, as well as--our clock?? I didn't even know it made any sound at all until that first night! There was no food in the fridge, I couldn't get the TV to work, and I was unable to check my email, Facebook, and blog, as is part of my every-day routine. I sat in the middle of the floor for nearly an hour trying to think of something to do. When I finally found some canned beans and was able to get the TV working to watch a movie, my friend Dalia called me. She said, "Heyyy...I'm home alone and I'm really bored." I said, "No way! My whole family is out of town and I'm so lonely I can't stand it!" "Oh, well let's be lonely together," she suggested. "Come sleep over with me and my dog. I ordered pizza and we can watch this BBC Sherlock series on Netflix." So I asked my mom, and she said yes! This was a big surprise, as no sleepovers is one of my family's biggest rules. But my mom said that I'd been a good girl, and she knew Dalia from our church, so she let me go. Dalia lives close, so she walked over to my apartment and we walked to her house together at about 10pm. We ate pizza and fruit smoothies and popcorn as we watched Sherlock until after 3am. I was exhausted after such a long day babysitting and I really needed sleep. But Dalia didn't have any other beds, so we shared her mom's bed. I was SO paranoid about talking/snoring/moving too much in my sleep that I could not even sleep for a minute. I got up at 6am to start another day at work.
The babies were great. We had a fun day, making cookies and playing games, reading stories, singing songs, etc. I was able to take a two hour nap with them, which really helped my tired brain. Their mom got back at 5:30pm, but dropped off her other two kids, saying that she needed me to watch them for another few minutes while she ran a few errands. She ended up being gone for over an hour, and there was a big problem....I'll admit all fault right up front. I should never let the baby play with my phone. It's too risky. But she just loves it so much, so I let her. Well, when her older sister got home, who is almost 7, she followed her to the bathroom. I was busy teaching the oldest boy a song on the piano, and knowing that the girl was older and somewhat responsible, I didn't think much could happen. When I came to check on them just a few minutes later, there was toilet water all over the floor. Turns out that as the older girl was using the restroom, the baby was playing in the toilet water behind her. (ARGH!!!) Then I saw my phone and my heart sank. The screen wasn't turning on. I just froze and started praying out loud and crying because this was my ONLY COMMUNICATION with the outside world as I was home ALONE, and in DOWNTOWN DALLAS. I was really scared. :/ I was able to gather myself before the mom got home, though. She was SOOOO nice. As soon as she learned what had happened, she went to get her old Blackberry phones to see if their batteries could fit in mine. They didn't. So she jumped in the car and drove me to the AT&T store. They were out of the batteries we needed. So she then drove me all the way to the Dallas Northpark area to a Batteries Plus department store. They had it! I was going to buy it myself, but she didn't let me. She bought the 40 dollar battery in addition to the 80 dollars that she'd payed me that day!!! My phone still didn't work, though, and she was very worried about me being at home alone with no way to call in case of emergencies. She gave me her very nice iPhone to use for the night. I felt terrible, but she insisted that nothing was my fault; that it was her baby and that she would take care of it. Fortunately, after blowdrying my phone out when I got home, and with the new battery, it worked! It was a huge blessing. She also continued to check on me throughout the night. She is one of the kindest women I have ever known, and she has payed me very well all week long. I really love her and her family!
On Friday, she got home around 3pm, so I was able to head to Frisco for what I thought would be one of the most exciting weekends of my life. Blegh. Well, my family came and picked me up from her house. It was really good to see them again after being away from them for a week. On the way to Frisco (oh, and Frisco is a really neat town where we lived just a few months ago), we checked out our house (we saw that there was a big electrical fire that had burned the back of it....sad....) and got Chickfila for dinner. Then they dropped me off to babysit for another family that I LOVE who I used to babysit a lot for when we lived there before. It was a really fun night, and this mom, too, was also very liberal. She called it a "Christmas bonus." Sheesh. It was WAY more than I deserved! You can now officially call me "Miss Moneybags." :)
That night, 12.30.11, I stayed the night with my "cousins." They are the Dormans--my uncle's wife's uncle, aunt, and cousins, and some of my closest friends. The plan was to stay with them over the weekend and through Monday, mostly just to spend time with them since I haven't seen them in a while, but also to attend the big Stake New Years Eve dance together and to help out Sister Dorman with her housework. The next morning, I meant to wake up at 8:30am to help Sister Dorman with her work right away. I came downstairs but unwillingly fell back asleep on the couch until nearly 11am. I was extremely tired. But Sister Dorman was very gracious and didn't mind. She took me and Sarah, her daughter that is my age, to this super fancy nail salon. We got manicures (yay acrylics!) and I got my eyebrows waxed, too. We spent way too much money, but it was worth it. We then got lunch together at Wendy's. Then I switched buddies and went with Sarah's younger sister, Shannon, and Sister Dorman to support Shannon's friend at her HS basketball game. Shannon made it super exciting, going all out with costume, facepaint, several creative posters, dancing, and singing. Around this time, my stomach was really starting to cramp and I was getting really, really, reallllllyyyyyyyy tired.
Back at the Dorman's house, I helped Sister Dorman sew some scripture cases for her Sunbeams class for a few hours. I was barely functioning at this point, and was doing a terrible job. Afterward, Sarah and I got ready for the New Years Eve dance! Shannon curled our hair with my awesome Remington Hot Stick, and we had nice clothes to wear, too. I looked great with my new nails and perfect eyebrows and makeup. ;) Sarah let me wear some of her jewelry, too. We then went downstairs to enjoy Sister Dorman's very nice meal. She made it super fancy, with china and candle light. There were three courses consisting of Caesar salad, brown sugar carrots and grilled chicken, and Brother Dorman's signature pie made COMPLETELY from scratch (homemade pumpkin puree and all!). It was very yummy. And Sister Dorman was the perfect waitress. :) Thank you, Dormans!
After dinner, we took tons of pics (Shannon took them with her camera--if I am able to get them then I will post later). One of the girls' dads then picked us all up to take us to the dance about 40 minutes away in Lewisville.
Okay, so I was DYING. My stomach was killing me. I was dizzy and wobbly with terrible nausea. It didn't help to sit in the back of the van on the way there, either. But I made it through most of the dance. I would go in and talk to some of my friends, and if I started to feel really bad, I'd just go put my head against the cold bathroom stall until I felt better. I was able to get in one nice dance with a kind young man, and two line dances. I was in the bathroom the rest of the time, though. And it was also very unfortunate because the 5 main people that I came to see were all unable to come, for various but acceptable reasons. Still slurped for me, though. Anyways, around 10:30, I got that feeling. You know, that feeling where you know you're gonna throw up in exactly 10 seconds so you'd better run as fast as you can? Faster, faster, oh my gosh faster....hold your breath, oh, oh, you made it!!!! Hurrrlll..... just in time! Well, a little on the wall. That was a pain to clean up. But other than that, immediate relief. I just needed that out of my system. But then came the 25 mins of cold sweats and shaking. And then I had to throw up again and again. When we got home, I told Sister Dorman. She was very empathetic and helped me get new sheets and get my room ready for a long night. Brother Dorman drove to the store right away to buy me some Sprite, which helps your stomach feel a little better. I was up until about 4am, leaning over the toilet and throwing up every 30 minutes to an hour. When I felt better, I took a nice shower, and slept in until 10am. Sister Dorman made me toast and more Sprite for breakfast. I had gone 6 hours without throwing up and I was very happy. :) Still not hungry, though, and a little nauseous. My mom came and picked me up. And then I took a five hour nap. I'm all better, now.
So that was my wonderful but hectic week. It was fun to be a little independent away from my mommy and daddy, but I quickly learned how much I really do need them. Hahaha. I am very sad that my New Years Eve--a night I'd been counting down towards for months--was ruined. But, oh, well. There's not much I can do about it. And it could have been a lot worse! At least the Dormans were so kind and hospitable. I love them very much.
Today is our last day off of school for DISD's staff development. AND it's my Daddy's birthday, so you'll be hearing about that, soon. Tomorrow I've gotta hit the new semester hard, as it is my last semester of high school. Eeek!
I hope you all have a great new year!!!! Go 2012!