Of Pimples and Photo Shoots

There are days that I move through where I spend much of the time holding my breath.

Will I forget something?

Will I get to the next appointment on time?

Have I double-booked myself?

Will this next thing go smoothly, or will people scowl at me?

What have I forgotten to put on my calendar?

Like today.

Of course, it would've not been nearly so busy if I hadn't felt the need to stay up to an absurd hour last night playing Master Boggle with Ken, and then forgotten to set the alarm. Ken got up at his usual time, showered, dressed, and hit the road, all while I was squinting my eyes shut, and quietly whispering 'five more minutes, five more minutes'.

And the next thing I knew, it was 7:30, I'd wanted to get up an hour earlier, and the kids were still snoring.

Race around, get the kids up. Feed the kids. Scour the pantry for appropriate lunch-fixings. Approve/disapprove of wardrobe choices. Help Kelly put her shirt on right-side-out, rather than how she had it (hey! At least it wasn't a pyjama shirt). Take the one full can of trash to the street. Make a mental note to fill the second can up and take it to the curb by noon. Realize that it's Half Price Day at the thrift store, and light a fire under the kids to get them to school a few moments early.

Honestly, I would've had all the time in the world if I hadn't felt the need to go buy other folks' cast-offs at half-price in the wee break between dropping the kids at school and showing up at the public library for my volunteer Guitar Lady gig.

But oh! The bargains! Even with Nate hanging onto my leg, I still filled my arms with loot. Lovely baby outfits for a dollar. Yes, it's true, I do NOT have a baby any more... but I love having a stash of "hand-me-downs" to give out to folks who need them. And the dresses?!?! Bliss! Kelly's got a few more nice ones, as does her 10 year old cousin up in Canada. Whenever we go north, the first thing Montana always asks me is "Auntie Kemma, did you find cool stuff at the thrift store?" And of course I want to oblige her, and now I can, when we head up there for Christmas.

But the thrift store needed to be a quick in-and-out, so that I could get to the library at 10:00. It was the last Baby Music sessions this morning, and I wouldn't want to be late. Call me petty and immature, but I was kind of hoping that I might get some little tokens of appreciation from one or more of the 120+ parents that I serve each week.

I came away with a single candle. But hooray for the mom that remembered. It really did make a world of difference.

Fred, the fellow that takes care of Nate while I play guitar, wasn't there today. He'd had a heart attack yesterday, and is in the hospital. Note to self: Get up to the hospital with some flowers tomorrow!

Back home at noon, I discovered that the mom in charge of the 'graduate' portion of the yearbook wants to do all the Class Personalities pictures today. Egads. So much for my afternoon nap. And Nate was pretty bent out of shape, too. But I loaded up with fresh batteries, and a 1G memory stick for the camera, and off we went. Pictures took longer than expected (is anything EVER easier than it looks?), and I was still photographing when Kelly's class got out. She's very easy-going, though, and just waited for things to wrap up. I took the props (yes, I had props for all the personality categories, too) back to the car, and then went into the all purpose room to help Kelly with her homework until Skip's class got out.

And now we are home. The trash collectors threw me for a loop by picking up the trash early in the morning, so I never got that second trash can out to the curb, and I'm just catching a bit of a breath before leaving early for Ragazzi.

Which brings me to the subject of today's entry.

Skip's getting photographed for the cover of the latest CD. It's a vanity cover. There are a number of boys being photographed, and then there will be short runs printed of each photo. Yes, it's a vanity, but when I talked it over with Ken, we decided that Skip *DOES* sing all the songs on the CD in this season's concerts, and he does sing with the group that recorded the CD. And our parents and grandparents will NOT be as with-it when the next CD comes out, so we are striking while the iron is hot, as it were, and will have multiple copies of Skip-On-The-Cover to give out as Christmas presents for the elderly relatives, and the elderly near-relatives (older people who have been LIKE family to Skip, and would be tickled pink to get a CD with his picture on the cover).

But of course, as he gets into the Pilot this afternoon, on the way home from school, I notice... IT!

Yes. IT.

It. It is a ZIT.

And not just one. There are two.

Two zits on his NOSE! Where did THESE COME FROM?

And why TODAY?

It's all I can do not to pull out the concealer stick, and try to work some Ivory Beige magic.

But I know that'd just make it worse. I'll just scrub with a rough cloth, and hope that the white heads aren't as obvious in print as they are to a mother's eye.

And with that, I vanish, as the photo shoot is in 45 minutes.