Well, it ended for Skip last Thursday, with the final, final exam finishing off just before lunch. And it was supposed to end for Nate and Kelly today at noon.
But last night, Nate started complaining of a sore neck. Not one of his usual complaints (oh, I must write about his reputation as a complainer. Unless I choose to let it go. Because I am a better person than that, right?) I thought he'd probably forget about it by morning, but he actually woke up in tears, saying it hurt to move.
Of course, my mind goes immediately to things like meningitis, and all those childhood freak illnesses where kids are dead within hours. Fortunately, he didn't have the associated fever and vomiting that would've sent me straight to the ER. But it did give him a free pass to not attend school today. So it was just school for Kelly today.
She asked if she could have some friends for a sleep-over, seeing as the last day of school (heck, the last WEEK of school, it seems) is notorious for having no real pressing time constraints or need of attention (and we'd set a dangerous precedent last year when she'd slept over at her friends' house). So last night we'd collected K&M and brought them back here for a rousing evening of card games with everyone except Skip (who was out with our favourite Starbuck's barrista, going to the midnight showing of 'Super 8').
I woke up early, because Kelly had requested a batch of Beaver Tails to take into the class parties that would be happening this morning. I really should wake up earlier more often. The morning sun in the kitchen really is a thing of beauty (although it really does highlight the fact that I am a terrible housekeeper, and need to dust!)
See?
That's my kitchen windowsill. And the full-resolution photo actually shows the dust more. This one just highlights the fact that a fly managed to find a cache of cookie crumbs that hadn't been cleaned off (what are cookie crumbs doing on a windowsill? Egads!) Also? This is taken with a 90mm Tamron macro lens that I was borrowing for the week.
Anyways, I am getting sidetracked by a fly's eyeball.
We had a bit of excitement, as M had the good (?) fortune of starting her period over night. Ah, the joys of Life Changes. Fortunately, she is not the first of Kelly's friends to be visited, and I had a stash of kid-sized appropriate materials to ensure that her day went smoothly.
Another bit of excitement this morning is that I discovered that I am now being followed on Twitter by Peter Lik. This marks my first Famous Follower. What's odd is that we don't follow anyone in common, so I'm trying to figure out why this relatively famous photographer is following my humble tweets. I mean, I watch his tv show regularly, but I've never tweeted about it. It's a mystery.
Last weekend was pretty busy and chaotic for us.
Ken and I sang in a production of Don Giovanni. We got to be servants, and wedding guests, and an angry mob at the end, and Ken got to carry a body off stage. Pretty exciting stuff. Or not.
Mostly, it was a lot of being present, and trying not to make any noise backstage while we played many games of Mathdoku on Ken's Xoom.
Saturday was also the day of the graduation party for the boy that I've been tutoring this year in Chemistry. He managed to get a B as a final grade (up from the D he had when he came to me), which got him into UC Irvine, (he's convinced), and was also able to use what I'd taught him to help his teammate (they were on the school football team) pass Chemistry, so he was able to graduate, as his buddy's diploma was hinging on whether or not he passed Chemistry). We went there to wish him well, and then went straight up to the theater where Don Giovanni was being staged, to perform.
A funny aside: The day before our performance, I had commented on a friend's Facebook.
Stacy: At the pool "Hey Soul Sister" was playing and I was singing along. Hailey said, "Stop Mom! You're embarassing me." I said, "Oh, Hailey, this is nothing. Trust me, I will get much, much worse."
Me: "Hey, honey! Have you changed your pad this afternoon? I have an extra in my purse for emergencies, if you need one!" (just giving you some ideas for later...)
Of course, I had no idea how prophetic I was being. During the Finale of the first act, I suddenly started feeling a bit strange. Just put it off as stage jitters, and maybe a bit of a touch of heat-stroke, or something. Nothing to worry about. And then? As I'm about to stride onto stage in the Finale of the Second Act... you know, the one where the angry mob of villagers stalks onto stage like a herd of zombies and surrounds Don Giovanni and kills him right there before your eyes, as the stage lights all turn red? I realized that it wasn't heat stroke, it wasn't jitters. it was my period. Arriving early. So instead of my swagger, I was mincing around, trying to keep my knees together, and instead of thinking "Is it ""voce fera col pol pe" or "vieni che un pol peggior"?" I was thinking "please, don't let anything show through the black velvet skirt, please don't let anything drip on stage".
So it just goes to show you that you should NEVER mock something that your mother may or may not have said to you in public, as you were about to get onto a bus to go to summer camp... Co-ed summer camp... 30 years ago. Unless you want to discover whether your black velvet gown really *is* machine washable.
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