No Photo Today

Sorry for the blog silence. I’ve been occupied with a little science experiment over here. About 10 days ago I got a medium-sized zit right in the middle of my cheek.

I’d like to believe my breakout days are over now that I’m pushing 40, but no such luck. Anyway, in the decades in which I’ve been dealing with zits, I have NEVER been able to just leave one alone. Sooooo, when this thing showed up in the middle of my face, I thought, “What the heck? Why not do what all the magazines advise, and just let nature run its course?”

No poking, no prodding and certainly no picking. I mean, I’m not looking to meet someone special, so no problems there. I work in a church, so I was hopeful people would be kind as my little buddy and I made the rounds.

So, I left it alone. For 10 days. It went on my big weekend trip with me (more details on that another day) and my sister said it was barely noticeable. Tom withheld all comment; I mean what’s the safe thing for a husband to say when his wife is sporting a whitehead for upwards of a week? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Good man.

I think the zit was relatively unobtrusive, but I did wonder if people knew that I knew it was there. I mean I’ve definitely had the secret urge to inform someone if there’s a zit on her face just ripe for the picking, as if she doesn’t realize it. But this time, I was the one w/ the elephant in the room, or on my face, that no one was talking about. The zit was on the other cheek, I suppose.

Anyway, after 10 days of delicate cleansing, toning, and absolutely leaving it alone, my zit showed no signs of budging. It was small, round and innocuous, but it wasn’t going anywhere.

Until this afternoon when I couldn’t take it one second longer. I mean, 10 days? 10 days! There are limits, people.

Now I’m having popper’s remorse.

What promised to be a quick little intervention deteriorated into major excavation. Relief did not come. There was blood. The left side of my face is swollen and red. Little lines of swollen-ness inch down toward my mouth. Bare Minerals ain’t covering this sucker up now. I wonder what Tom is going to say when he gets home.

If he’s lucky: nothing.

Friday Confession

My friend Kate over at The Big Piece of Cake likes to share “Friday Confessions” and entertain her readers with the quirky things she does. I, of course, thought I had nothing to share. Ha! Here goes one:

I just opened a birthday card and looked at the back to see how much the sender spent on me. What's up with that? I don't know if this is a habit, or whether it was the first time. After I did it, I actually found myself wondering if I could gauge how much our relationship was worth based on what they spent. It was the cutest card, adorable actually, and just my style. Retail price? $1.99. I felt a little, well, bummed.

Now I’m a bit freaked because, as you may know by now, I am notoriously… thrifty. I love to buy 10-packs of cards at Michael’s for $1.00. Does that mean my friends think they are worth a mere 10 cents to me? Eeek.

Costco has those big boxes of assorted cards with all sorts of embellishments and glitter on them. When I buy those, I think I’m being extra cool and generous because they look so fancy. The problem is, the card selection rarely changes. Soooo, if you are a regular Costco shopper (I still prefer to call it Price Club), you totally know if someone is sending you one. And at 30 + cards for a mere $15.00, you could get a bit of a complex.

Having such a storehouse of cards also makes me run the risk of sending the same card several years in a row. My friend Jenn? She seems like a sparkly, cute 3-D purse kind of a girl. Is that because of her personality, or because I keep sending her the same card?

My mother in law never forgets a holiday. She has a tight relationship with her local Hallmark store. I could get all puffed up seeing her spend a whopping $5.00, okay $4.99, on me. However, if I start to over think it, I get a little deflated. After all, she’s in the club. Does she really like me 50 times more than I like my girlfriends, or does she just love racking up those gold crown points?

I do hope this post won’t scare anyone off from sending me a card in the future. Seriously, mail is precious. If you do dare, I promise I won’t turn it over!