Whew.

Ok so… ignore the last entry, essentially. After all that bitching and moaning, I worked out again before bed, was exhausted so early, got into bed, woke up VERY groggy and felt like shit…. and totally TMI- mid-day totally had a few week early monthly visitor! Thank Jesus. It explains why I felt so gross and fat and exhausted and just let down in myself. Also, before I knew what was up, I weighed myself, and I’ve lost another 4.5 lbs since I left for Cali….which after this week and all the bloating and water and gross goes away will at least amount to 6 lbs! That’s freaking awesome considering I did as much calorie torching in Cali as I could, but still ate In-and-Out and frozen yogurt with my healthy fare. YAY! That’s freaking great. I also did 2.5 miles on the tread and a mile loop of the hood w baby bro and puppy before I knew just WHY I was starting to feel like shit… so I didn’t beat myself up about getting all my tutoring out of the way during the evening and just crashing in bed at 9:30 instead of working out again. WHEW. I didn’t get up until 6:30 this am and was still exhausted! At least it’s making me feel better to get all that sleep rather then workout. I remember from my last serious foray into weightloss that I would get on that freaking treadmill every single freaking day, at least twice at 20 minutes minimum, and then if I suddenly didn’t for two days in a row, I would drop a bit extra weight and my next workout would be so much easier because of the renewal. Crisis averted, kind of.

In other news- So the tutoring thing… I’ve been nannying here around the Denver area for almost 4 years now… babysitting longer. And one of the families that had the biggest impact on me was the fam that lives in Cali now. There were 4 kids… I started watching them 4 years ago, so NOW their ages are 16, 14, 8, and 6. So minus 3 or 4 give or take their birth month (sidenote, the now 14-year-old and I have the exact same birthday!). Also, the youngest was diagnosed with Autism and was non-verbal and not potty trained at the time, the girl whose now 8 had a sensory issue, and the oldest had Bipolar and ADHD etc) Anyhoo. So I would stay with them about 8 or 9 days in a stretch and their mom would fly to Cali and work there for the week++, and I would stay and watch the kids. (Her husband was home the entire time, which is relevant). This can be VERY tiring as you can imagine with 4 different kids schedules, and then adding all the special needs, medications, and eventually special diets (The youngest started gluten-free as treatment, and the girl needed protien regularly which was a big challenge, plus feeding two freaking hungry teenage boys). Right before it ended, I was taking them to 3 different schools, 4 different schedules, sporting practices, homework, church, you name it. I was also 20 and going to school and living in Boulder, about 1.5 hours away, so if I DID go to class, I drove back and forth through the day. When I caught the-disease-you-get-from-unknowingly-eating-the-veggies-in-rural-Mexico-at-the-pyramids-and-NOT-drinking-the-water-like-you-were-told-and-drinking-tequila-instead and started watching them the next day, ALL FOUR of them caught it too, and it was one big puke/poop fest w 4 kids home sick from school fighting over watching Thomas or South Park all day, every day for a week. This happened not once but TWICE in the time I was watching these kids. It was insane. Naturally, these kids became my siblings.

Now, the Dad was here all this time, so why, you ask, would they need me there? He did NOTHING. And apparently never had. So this mom was exhausted and at her wits end, naturally. Eventually, she filed for divorce. He didn’t lift a finger, didn’t have a problem with it, and dind’t even realize how crappy it was to have to pay ME to be there because he couldn’t be bothere. He’s also bipolar and doesnt manage his disorder at all. So the mom was broke and the shit was hitting the proverbial fan all over the place. I worked for free babysitting the kids so she could go to interviews around town, etc. and eventually she had to move in with a friend, keeping the youngest with her and sending the other 3 to live with different sisters or friends across the states for an entire year. Over the course of the year I saw the son that lived in my state regularly and the other older one when he visited, and she finally got on her feet and moved back to California, and as of about 9 months ago got all 4 of her kids back together under one roof again. She’s one of the strongest people I know! And so inspiring. And these kids, they’re MY kids. My brothers and sister. They can flick a booger on me (as the 14-year-old did while we were driving home from the Angels game….ass), they can call me at 3am, they can wake me up at midnight to say they threw up, and it doesn’t strike me as odd. So the oldest with bipolar recently moved back here to live with his dad because they were just having a terrible time managing his problems with all the kids and he needs the calm. So apparently he’s failing in school. I finally sat down with him yesterday and come to find out he has an F in EVERY class. Even gym. And I’ve got 6 weeks to turn that around, or he repeats the 10th grade. UGH. It’s so hard to light a fire under a 16 year old BOYS ass. blech. Baby’s awake, more later.