Is it Friday yet?

I've had one of those days that feels like it goes on forever.  Jumping from one thing to another to another with no time to catch my breath.  Kind of like what I'd imagine a hackey-sack feels like.  And just as I'm starting to feel like falling onto the ground in exhaustion, I get a little help from an unexpected person.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I take care of two girls after school every day.  The younger sister is 4 years old, and the older sister is 15.  Ok, she's only 6, but she sure as hell acts like a teenager.  I don't know when it happened, but one day she's sweetly giggling at something I said, and the next day she's rolling her eyes so hard at me that I'm surprised she doesn't get headaches from the effort.  Swear to god, she has so much attitude for such a pint-sized girl.  And the thing is, I never know what's going to set her off.  We can be having a perfectly pleasant conversation, and the next thing I know she's heaving an epic sigh of frustration at whatever pathetic and irritating thing I just did.  I mean, I thought I could do teenager angst, but I'm an amateur next to her.  This girl can put so much oomph behind her sighs that you can practically feel the disdain pouring over you in waves.

Now, this is not to say that I feel like I was any better when I was a kid.  I distinctly remember a phase of elementary school when I would go around sneering at people and saying "GAG me with a SPOON!"  (I have no idea I felt a spoon was more appropriate over any other utensil for this particular zinger catchphrase.)  But look, I didn't reach that level of annoyance until 4th or 5th grade.  I guess this 6-year-old is an early bloomer.  Lucky me.

Anyway, so I was having a really tiring day, full of stupid grown-up responsibility, and when the end of babysitting came around, I just wanted to go home and kill some brain cells by watching crappy tv.  Of course, I had to stay late because the 6-year-old had created a treasure hunt for me, and said that I couldn't possibly leave without following the clues to my prize because I promised, I promised to look for the clues, no it couldn't wait till tomorrow, please please pleeeeeeaaaaassseeeeee?  Yeesh.  So I'm going through the motions, trying to find the little scraps of paper hidden around the house as fast as I can, and I finally--mercifully--find the prize, which is a piece of paper lying upside down under the couch.  And this is what I found:

It reads: The fun woudn't be complete without you!  Andrea your more then nice!  And apparently the picture is me as a Bobblehead, which (as you may know from watching The Office) is AWESOME.

That girl is a pain in my ass most days, but she sure can turn on the charm and sweetness when she wants to.  And man, am I a sucker for it or what.