Creative Chaos

I hope I don't get busted by the blog police for doing this......

but I got tagged by the wonderful Heather over at Jeweled Elegance, the inspiring Cheryl over at Art in Everyday and ever insightful Beverly at Embrace your Gifts.  If you haven't had a chance to visit these three gal's blogs, now's your chance.  All of these women are creative, inspiring souls who make blogland a better place! 

So, here's the part where I hope I don't get a blog "ticket"....because I'm going to repost my 7 weirdest things list that I did last May....Why reinvent the wheel I always say!   For those of you who have read this already, I did add a couple new ones in there. And, for those of you who haven't read it, here it is:

So you think YOU'RE weird........

Now, I'm sure your saying to yourself "well, we kinda already know 236 weird things about you, Karin.  We read your blog. Could there possibly be any more"   Sadly, yes, my friends, yes.....There is so much more.  I'm really not sure I can contain it to just 7..........

1.  I believe that chocolate is a legitimate Food Group and I am currently trying to get on the Board of The Department of Agriculture in order to classify it as the 7th category on the food pyramid.

2. I love my DVR so much I would marry it if i could legally do so.   I wrote this post awhile back to show my love and dedication to it.  However, since I am unable to tie the knot with an inanimate object, I will just continue my lurid affair.

3. In that same vein, I watch Real Housewives of Orange County.  I consider it my meth of TV watching. In that I know that it actually kills important brain cells the minute I start viewing it, and upon subsequent viewing, renders me in a partial coma.  But, yet, I still secretly watch it when my husband's not around.   Yes. I know. This falls under the category of 7 reasons I need to get a life.

4. I harbor evil thoughts of people who are perfectly healthy and able (i.e. 20 year old guy who wears backward baseball cap and shirt that reads "I dated your mom" who bounds out of 325i series bmw towards Target.)  that they will trip over an abandoned (or pushed.....) shopping cart and break their leg on the way to the entrance. I'm not asking for compound fracture or anything requiring surgery. Just a simple break requiring the use of crutches for the next 6 weeks.  Yes. I know. This actually falls under 7 evil things about me.

5.I have a degree in Journalism. Other than my stint at a small newspaper in college, blogging has been the closest I've come to using it. Oh, that, and I can edit other people's writing really well.

6.  I will throw a bag of chocolate chips in my shopping cart muttering something to the effect that they are for the cookies that I am planning to bake this weekend knowing full well that those chips will never see the light of cookie dough and will be eaten by the handful by me over the next two weeks.

7. I worked for a number of years with the homeless as a Director of a men's shelter & job program before starting my design business. 

8. I have a fantasy that QVC will call me one afternoon and offer me my dream job as an on air host.   My dream is to get paid for talking incessantly about 47 different reasons why you need the Northern Lights bedding set.  Or, if QVC doesn't come through, I would love to be a Soap Opera character.  I want to be the object of two men's undying love for me while trying to figure out how to escape from the desert island I was stranded on after my plane crashed while en route to to Paris to meet my secret lover.  All the while having perfectly coiffed hair, impeccable outfits, flawless makeup and perfectly manicured nails.

9. My husband and I used to ride a tandem mountain bike every weekend.  So much fun! You should have seen us flying down hills...... And, we once dressed up as reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh for a Christmas Fun Ride.

10. I absolutely believe the cereal is an acceptable dinner choice.

11. My love for Judge Judy borders on obsession.  I am fascinated  by the cases and the fact that there are so many people out there that   a) do not have checking accounts and pay everything by cash; therefore, never able to produce any evidence of payment.    b) how many people who have friends that can not get a cell phone in their name whereby the said "people" put the said "friends" on their cellphone plan resulting in nothing but trouble every time. and    c) The disproportionate number of females who loan money to men resulting in the men saying it was a "gift."  Plus, I love when JJ calls someone a "wisenheimer." 

12. My best friend Gail and I really want to try out for the show "Amazing Race" as the "Funny Moms Who are Best Friends and Still Think They're Kinda Hot....Even Though Their Not" category of contestants.  However, we haven't the slightest idea what we would do with our chidren if we got on the show since our husbands would still have to go to work until we won the million dollars.  I wonder if they would front us the money first.......   

13. The only ice cream I will eat is Hagen daas.

14. I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever when my kids eat a Happy Meal. None.

I could go on and on....but I will stop for now.....

Now, I'm sure your saying to yourself "well, we kinda already know 236 weird things about you, Karin.  We read your blog. Could there possibly be any more"   Sadly, yes, my friends, yes.....There is so much more.  I'm really not sure I can contain it to just 7..........

1.  I believe that chocolate is a legitimate Food Group and I am currently trying to get on the Board of The Department of Agriculture in order to classify it as the 7th category on the food pyramid.

2. I love my DVR so much I would marry it if i could legally do so.   I wrote this post awhile back to show my love and dedication to it.  However, since I am unable to tie the knot with an inanimate object, I will just continue my lurid affair.

3. In that same vein, I watch Real Housewives of Orange County.  I consider it my meth of TV watching. In that I know that it actually kills important brain cells the minute I start viewing it, and upon subsequent viewing, renders me in a partial coma.  But, yet, I still secretly watch it when my husband's not around.   Yes. I know. This falls under the category of 7 reasons I need to get a life.

4. I harbor evil thoughts of people who are perfectly healthy and able (i.e. 20 year old guy who wears backward baseball cap and shirt that reads "I dated your mom" who bounds out of 325i series bmw towards Target.)  that they will trip over an abandoned (or pushed.....) shopping cart and break their leg on the way to the entrance. I'm not asking for compound fracture or anything requiring surgery. Just a simple break requiring the use of crutches for the next 6 weeks.  Yes. I know. This actually falls under 7 evil things about me.

5.I have a degree in Journalism. Other than my stint at a small newspaper in college, blogging has been the closest I've come to using it. Oh, that, and I can edit other people's writing really well.

6.  I will throw a bag of chocolate chips in my shopping cart muttering something to the effect that they are for the cookies that I am planning to bake this weekend knowing full well that those chips will never see the light of cookie dough and will be eaten by the handful by me over the next two weeks.

7. I worked for a number of years with the homeless as a Director of a men's shelter & job program before starting my design business. 

8. I have a fantasy that QVC will call me one afternoon and offer me my dream job as an on air host.   My dream is to get paid for talking incessantly about 47 different reasons why you need the Northern Lights bedding set.  Or, if QVC doesn't come through, I would love to be a Soap Opera character.  I want to be the object of two men's undying love for me while trying to figure out how to escape from the desert island I was stranded on after my plane crashed while en route to to Paris to meet my secret lover.  All the while having perfectly coiffed hair, impeccable outfits, flawless makeup and perfectly manicured nails.

9. My husband and I used to ride a tandem mountain bike every weekend.  So much fun! You should have seen us flying down hills...... And, we once dressed up as reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh for a Christmas Fun Ride.

10. I absolutely believe the cereal is an acceptable dinner choice.

11. My love for Judge Judy borders on obsession.  I am fascinated  by the cases and the fact that there are so many people out there that   a) do not have checking accounts and pay everything by cash; therefore, never able to produce any evidence of payment.    b) how many people who have friends that can not get a cell phone in their name whereby the said "people" put the said "friends" on their cellphone plan resulting in nothing but trouble every time. and    c) The disproportionate number of females who loan money to men resulting in the men saying it was a "gift."  Plus, I love when JJ calls someone a "wisenheimer." 

12. My best friend Gail and I really want to try out for the show "Amazing Race" as the "Funny Moms Who are Best Friends and Still Think They're Kinda Hot....Even Though Their Not" category of contestants.  However, we haven't the slightest idea what we would do with our chidren if we got on the show since our husbands would still have to go to work until we won the million dollars.  I wonder if they would front us the money first.......   

13. The only ice cream I will eat is Hagen daas.

14. I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever when my kids eat a Happy Meal. None.

I could go on and on....but I will stop for now.....

The 12 Days of Christmas.......the uncut version.....

First off.... Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day!   We did over here and I will share some photos soon...... But first, I wanted to recap the 12 Days of Christmas swap pictures as I became very hapazard toward the end of the swap with my picture taking and with my counting.  Somehow I skipped right over Donna's gift.  Went right from 6 to 8.....I blame it on the egg nog.  Anyway, here are all the gift I received from this amazing swap.  I want to thank Heather for putting this all together.  It has been so much fun getting to know everyone involved in this party.   

Ok...here goes....and you don't even have to sing this time!

The 12th Day.....from Kari of Artsy Momma.......

This beautiful winter image......I just LOVE it Kari!   The colors and the picture is just perfect.  And, it has a snowflake on it.  Need I say anymore!!!  Thank You, Kari!!!

The 11th Day......from Martha of M is for Martha......

This adorable cuff bracelet enclosed in a handmade envelope.  Thank you sooo much Martha!!  The detail work and the colors are just perfect.  And as a bonus we got a hanmade envelope which is so beautiful!  Thank You!!!

The 10th day.....from Marilyn of Marilyn Healy fame....

A pair of beautiful earrings!  Love them!  I wore them to both Christmas parties I attended.  They are perfect and just my style!   Thank you so much Marilyn!!!

On the 9th day.....from Jeanne of Dream Create Inspire.....

A gorgeous shadow box Christmas ornament and....take a closer look....

a handmade soldered charm with my etsy banner!!!! On the other side is the banner from the 12 days of christmas swap.... Jeanne, I just love it!!! It's so beautiful and heartfelt!  And such a perfect way to remember this swap!!!  Thank you so much!

On the (forgotten, but never not appreciated!!!!) 7th Day....from Donna of Under the Red Roof....

The cutest little "Joy" banner!  I LOVE it Donna!!  I have no idea how it got missed in the original lineup as I had taken pictures of it.  But, nonetheless, I love it!  I adore the wallpaper used.....that color combo is great...Thank You!!!!!!

And here are the othe gifts I already blogged about but want to picture again anyway.....

On the 8th Day......from Heather of Bluhm Studio.......

A gorgeous quilted embellished apron.........It's perfect Heather!  Thank you!!!!

On the 6th Day....from Cerri of Little Pink Studio.....

A beautiful little bird in a nest of tulle!!!  Thank you so much Cerri!!!!

On the 5th day....from Tammy Gilly of Tammy Gilly Studio.....

A magic bottle of "Courage"....... Like I said before....It's the perfect sentiment for me right now!!  Thank You, Tammy!!!!!

On the 4th Day......from Holly of Holly Doodle

 

 

It's a picture frame made from beautiful vintage wallpaper and ribbons. Exquisite!!  Thank you so much Holly!!

On the 3rd day....from Shoshanna of Hannah Grey......

A silver resin pendent.  She worked with resin to enclose this acorn made from german glass glitter to make this....like I said before seems very difficult.  I just love it Shoshanna!!!!

On the 2nd day this is what I gave everyone......

I did embellished notebooks .....

And on the very 1st day from Tia of Mizsmoochie Lips......

A little Birdie in a Boot!!  So adorable!!! Thank you so much Tia!!

So sad to see it come to an end....

I would first like to thank........

York Peppermint Patties for providing me the energy for all my late night crafting and last minute gift projects.  I couldn't have done it without you.  By the way, did you know that it was considered a food?  Well, it says so right on the package.  It might even be part of a food group.  Hmmm...I'll have to look that up later......

"No more shopping" is what he muttered before collapsing on the couch at 5:30 pm last night. He didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning.  Some people just can't keep up with me.

Okey Dokey.....Now on to the good stuff...... my 12 days of Christmas Swap gifts....... By now you should know the drill.....

On the 5th day of Christmas Tammy Gilley gave to me........

A magic bottle of "Courage"....... Tammy I love it! It's so cute!  And a perfect sentiment for me right now!!  Thank You!!!!!

And on the 6th day of Christmas Cerri gave to me.........

A partridge in a pear tree!!!!  Well not exactly in a pear tree.....and I don't think it's a partridge.  But it is the most beautiful little bird in a nest of tulle!!!  Thank you so much Cerri!!!! I am so happy to finally own one of these precious little birds!!!

And on the 8th day of Christmas Heather Bluhm gave to me.......

A quilted embellished apron......... Heather I just adore it!! The colors and the design are so perfect!! I'm wearing it right now!!  Thank you so much!!!!!

Here's a little peek at what we've been doing over here.

I had my friend's two kids over and we all made graham cracker houses....I love doing these.  Heare's the little town.   Andre's little house doesn't have any snow around his house.  He lives in a better part of town with a higher tax base so his street gets plowed first.....I am so bummed that my frosting didn't set up like I thought it would.  It was supposed to dry like cement so that I could keep this year after year.  Unfortunately this is the second day and it is still pliable.  I an so sad that I won't be able to keep them.... :( 

Ok...got to run. We have Cosme's work party today.  Cookie baking to do.  And my 5th run to the post office....... So I will leave you with some things I've been doing the last couple nights while buzzed on peppermint patties....... Talk to you soon!!! Karin

A cone for another niece.....

A "Dream Box" for yet another niece...(I have 5!!)

And. of course more ornaments.....

   

Oh....and then this reindeer snuck into the house......he won't leave so it looks like we'll have to keep him.........

It's snowing in San Diego.......

Or maybe I'm just dreaming of my Michigan childhood!  Either way, I am LOVING these glitter snowflakes from Target.  Seriously, anyone within the vicinity of a mile is getting one of these for Christmas.  I'm running out today to get more.

Alright.....Everybody all together now!!! 

On the 4th day of Christmas Holly Doodle gave to me........

A gorgeous vintage wallpaper picture plaque....... Thank you so much Holly!! I just love it!  And I know exactly where I'm going to put it! 

I made this box for my 7 year old niece.  I had soooooo much fun making this!

And I'm going to use this as a gift container for a friend.  It's still a work in progress......

Ok..... We are heading out the door to do some Christmas shopping.  Not sure how good an idea this is as one of my little elves has been very cranky this morning.  So we'll see.  I've got some tricks up my sleeve to make it a bit more palatable for him.  Namely a McDonalds happy meal.  Wish me luck.   

Unbelievable........

I just got done writing this whole post and my explorer program shuts down.....Poof! Gone....I can't believe it........Arrrrrggggg.....

Ok...I'm moving on and will retype everything.

Alrighty then.....Everybody sing with me.....

On the 1st day of Christmas MizSmoochie gave to me.....

A Birdie in a Boot

It is so adorable!!!  I love everything about it ....the colors...the little bird.....Thank you so much Tia!! I've got it sitting in a prominent postion on our piano with the rest of the special ornament and gifts!

Okey Dokey...Everybody sing again......

On the 3rd day of Christmas Shoshanna gave to me........

A silver resin pendant....

Beautiful!!!! Just Beautiful.... She worked with resin to make this.  I haven't a clue as to what's involved in resin but it seems very complicated. So for now I will be in awe of this gift.....Thank you so much Shoshanna!  I have it hanging on my tree! 

Alrighty....let go again.... On the 4th day of Christm.....Whoops!  That's tomorrow.  You'll have to come back to see what Holly made for me!

But I still have more picture from my Ornament swap.  I was partnered with the ever-patient Tricia from Vintage Bliss.  Just look what she sent me......

The little "JOY" sign is so adorable!! She also made a little vintage music paper cone as well as sent two vintage ornaments.  I just love the shade of pink.  It's hard to tell from the picture but the color has so much depth.   Thank you so much Tricia!!

And, last but not least......... The reason my pants were feeling a bit tight when getting dressed for a Christmas party on Saturday night............

Perfection in a Lindor "special edition" wrapper....

Christmas Miracles do happen......

They really do!! I say that because we've seen a bit of a Christmas miracle over here at the Chaos household.  It is something that rarely occurs....a bit like a full lunar eclipse. What could it be you ask........Well let me tell you.......I started early on my handmade Christmas gifts. Yep.  I did.  I can hardly believe it myself. My typical M.O. is waiting until about 3 days before Christmas at which point I am inspired to make the most intricately complicated yet heartfelt and adorable Christmas gifts for all friends, relatives, acquaintances, postman, water delivery guy and meter reader.  Unfortunately, each said complicated and adorable handmade gift usually will average about 10 days to make. Thus finding myself repeating the same thing to everyone during gift giving....... "I was going to make the most incredible, beautiful and personal gift for you.  You should get it sometime around Easter." 

So of course, because this is all new to me I am having a bit "PPCSD" aka Post Procrasination Crafting Stress Disorder".  It involves sitting down to do a project but then have little panic attack flashbacks. For example, I'll be working on a project and freeze thinking that Christmas is 2 days away and I need to rush, rush, rush. Make quick decisions.....pick a ribbon!  Any ribbon!  Just get this done!!!! Where did I put the scissors!!!!!! And then I remember...I've got time.  I can breathe.  I can relax. I can take all the time I want to pick the exact perfect ribbon.  Hrmmpppp. Take that procrastination!  I'm actually going to do a post on conquering procrastination later on.  Because one of my goals this year was to really get better about it.  And I think I really have made progress...... Speaking of progress.  Something really amazing happened to me the other day.

I was up early one morning last week before the kids so I decided to organize my pictures on my computer.  I had picture all over the place and could never find what I wanted when I wanted it.  So I finally made a folder of all my creations.  As I was dragging and dropping, it occurred to me that I reached a goal that I had set at the same exact time last year..... which was to be more creative.  I was floored by the amount of pictures that I was moving over into the folder. One by one...picture by picture..... I realized how much I had accomplished since one year ago.  I stood back a bit and took it all in because it wasn't until that moment that I had realized I accomplished what I set out to do.   It made my day!  

On to other stuff.......I FINALLY got Tricia from Vintage Bliss ornament swap items out the door.  I fell so far behind on it.  It was supposed go out out December 1.  Well that date came and went. So I did a couple extra special things for her to make up for my tardiness......I hope she likes it!

The next picture is gifts that I made for Carlos's teachers.  I am very excited about it because I actually came up with the idea, finished it, and am ready to give it to them all before his last day of school.  Usually what happens is I would think up this fabulous idea three days into Christmas break. Or, 9:00 pm the night before the last day of school......

I'm going to fill them with some candy and a gift certificate. 

Here's another little "Cream Puff" collage I whipped up as a gift.  I love doing these little 4 x 4 collages.

Ok....off to meet Carlos at school for his Pizza party and then return with 3 extra kids to do some Christmas crafts for gifts.  I have this really cute idea we're going to do.  I'll post pictures of it when we finish.... Talk to you soon!  Karin

Welcome to the "Celebration of Traditions.......Chaos Style!

 

Jill at Follow your Bliss asked everyone to talk about a few of their Christmas traditions........ 

Well, first things first......Pour yourself a steaming cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate piled high with whipped cream.   Hmmmmmm....smell that cinnamon?  That's what gives regular hot chocolate the boot out the door in the cold.  That...and the fact that I make it with whole milk and some half & half.  I will also be standing by with the whipped cream can in case you need a topper........ Yummmmyyyyy........

I have to admit that my favorite tradition right now is the fact that Carlos still believes in Santa Claus (or Sanna Claa as Andres likes to say) I will confess that I have my purely selfish reasons amongst the sentimental.  First, it's like having a virtual servant, if you will, at your beck and call..... "Carlos, honey, can you get mommy the remote"...."Carlos, honey, can you please pick up your room and all the tinker toys Andres dumped on the floor"......"Carlos, will you please serve mommy breakfast in bed"......And it is always answered with a smile and a chipper "Sure Mommy!"  Of course, any dissention to a request is met with my shaking head and a look of consternation...."Sure hope Santa didn't see that....."   

All month-long maid service aside, I adore that he still believes.  Christiane over at Seeing Red had a great post about her kids still believing the magic.  Every year since he was 3 years old, "Santa" would write him a little note telling him why he got his gifts and what a great kid he is.  It's so much fun watching him run to the living room to see if the cookies on the plate were eaten....... The presents left under the tree...... Oh, then there was the year when "Santa" forgot to fill the stockings......Oh sure, "Santa" remembered to wrap last minute gifts....."Santa remembered to write the note to the nice little boy"......"Santa" even remembered to clean the reindeer food from the sidewalk.  But that fateful year, "Santa" forgot to fill the stockings. 

To all of you listening to this sad story, I attribute it to the fact that "Santa" was nine months pregnant with Andres.  For Carlos, however, I attributed it to Santa's tight schedule and lack of a Blackberry  and reliable cell phone service to keep track of all his scheduled appointments.  I reassured Carlos that an elf would stop by the next day to deliver the forgotten goods.  I told him that I had heard of this happening before and there was no cause for alarm.  The elf got the job done the next day.

I really thought for sure some kid at school would blow the whole thing out of the water for him.  But it didn't happen and he still believes. So this year I feel as though I got the gift of magic for one more year before he start piecing the puzzle together.  And, that tradition for this year is my absolute favorite.

Another tradition that we do every year is ice skate down at Horton Plaza.  We take the trolley downtown and meet my mom at her work.  We walk over to the ice rink and do a little bit of traditional Christmas ice skating.  If you squeeze your eyes and pretend it's not 63 degrees you almost believe you're at Rockafeller Plaza with snow gently falling on your head.......

 

After skating we always head next door to this cozy little french cafe and have hot soup and sandwiches and Hot Chocolate with lots of whipped cream....

Bringing down the decorations from the attic is a huge deal for Carlos (and now as well for Andres).  It signifies the beginning of the countdown for him.  His favorite things to put out are the Christmas Village whereby he arranges it.  And then rearranges it.  And then adds things to it. And sometimes just stares at it.....

And across the room on the piano sits the "Island of Misfits"......

Cookie Baking and decorating is another big thing over here in the Chaos household.   Now, I really need to do another post on how I let go of the "artistically designed cookie baking" fantasy and replaced it with "the cheapest grossest all-in-one cookie/decorating" kit.   Even though they were the messiest, inedible cookies you had ever seen, it was such a great time!  Letting go of perfectionist fantasies is a gift in itself....... 

Well......that's it for now!  If you are here early, I will be adding more traditions later in the morning.  Time for me to hit the sack! 

 

It's been a week.......

and no relief......Ugg.... I swear I'm not going to complain here, but if anyone listening to my moans and whimpers here has ever suffered from a pinched nerve, what did you do for relief?  I'm at the end of my Prednisone course and am going back to see my doctor this week.  But if anyone has a secret that helps, please let me know! 

Here's a picture of my gifts for a 12 days of Christmas swap that I'm doing with a bunch of immensly talented ladies.  I hope my gift makes the grade....... There has been a huge debate going on via email on whether to wait to open the gifts on the assigned days or open the gifts right now.  The group is divided on the subject with half already tearing into the gifts.  I was firmly planted in the "do not open" camp. However, now that I have opened the box, I feel myself swaying to the "lets rip it all open now. Damn the torpedos"  sect...... What to do....What to do.......

I wanted to let all give away recipients that your gift is on the way as of Monday.......I've got everything wrapped and ready to go......And Tricia that means you too!  My poor Ornament swap partner Tricia from Vintage Bliss is still awaiting her packsge from me.  She already sent hers....but I'm holding tight on opening it until I have hers safely in the mail.

Ok...I'm off to Christmas shop....Talk to you soon.....

Old ladys should not party all night long........

I say that because, of course, on Thursday we continued partying here over at the Chaos household long after the names were picked.  You know......Hot celebrity club hopping.....crazy after hours night clubs......buying rounds of drinks for everyone......rolling back home proclaiming everyone was my best friend and we need to do this next week..... So much fun......

Then, I woke up from the dream remembering that I haven't gone to a nightclub and gotten tipsy since 1989 when Duran Duran made their comeback.......the reality was, we didn't go anywhere except the living room to watch the DVR'd episode of Wizard of Oz (more comments on the fact that when I was a kid you never got to record The Wizard of Oz......It only came on once a year! ....in a bit)

So, why, oh, why, was there a shooting pain radiating down from my neck all the way to my arm?  If it didn't happen from dirty dancing on the dance floor with Jared Leto, then what happened from the time I finished watching Wizard of Oz and then crawled into my bed?   I looked over at my sleeping husband.  I looked over at the clock that said 3:30 am. I looked back over at my husband. I thought to myself, "he can't help you if you wake him up."  To which I thought, "but I need to share this pain with someone." Back and forth I went until I decided to let a sleeping husband lie and just gulp down 2 Aleeve hoping for the best.  I then passed my time by making bargains for the pain to go away......"please if the pain goes way I promise I'll take better care of myself and not pick up that 35 pound sack of potatos disguise as Andres anymore......Pleeease if the pain goes away I promise to open that Yoga tape I bought 3 years ago in order to do at 6:00 am every morning and actually do yoga........Please, if the pain goes away, I promise I won't make fun of the crazy women of Real Housewives of Orange County or the employees at "Michelles" anymore....( I actually crossed my fingers on that one because I know perfectly well when I really can't keep a promise)   

Three hours later and no relief in sight, Cosme started to stir. Which of course was my signal to pounce on him with all my tales of exruciating pain woes...... So, he got Carlos off to school and I made a Dr's appointment.  And, approximately 5 hours later, we were walking out of the Dr's office with two prescriptions and a pinched nerve in my left shoulder and arm......Ugg.

So, Friday was spent on a couch under the influence of muscle relaxants and Prednisone while I proceeded to watch tv for the rest of the day. I was in a bit of junk food tv heaven.  All my recorded episodes of Judge Judy, Real Housewives, Lock Down San Quentin, The Soup and Project Runway were waiting at my remote control fingertips.  As per usual, I was not disappointed.  I even got to see things I didn't record like the smackdown between the "Pagent Moms Unleashed" of OC and Los Angeles.  You think the Crips and Bloods are nasty....you haven't seen anything until you see these moms at judging time (of course I have sooo much to say about the pathology of sending your 6 year-old daughter down a catwalk with fake teeth, fake hair, airbrushed tan and a bikini bathing suit. Not to mention I thought Child Labor Laws were passed back in 1930...... But that will have to wait until another post)......

Oh, about the whole Wizard of Oz thing.  This was the first time Carlos ever saw the Wizard of Oz.  I was so excited for him and so excited to watch it with him as I haven't seen it for years.  So before it started, I explained to him this was one of mommy's favorite movies from when she was a little girl in what he refers to as "the old fashion days."  Not to be confused with the "old, old fashion days" which was before tv's were invented. As well as, the "old, old, old fashion days" when there were dinosaurs. As you can see, his historical timeline is very short. Although ,there was a time when he did question my existence within the "Oldx3 days" at on point as you can read here.

Anyway, I fondly recalled for him how when I was a little girl, The Wizard of Oz came on every year.  Only once. And we looked forward to it for weeks.  We were so excited the night it came on because this was it.....no do overs.  No putting it on pause while you run to the bathroom. No getting to watch it at whatever time it was convenient for you.  No rewinding the part were the Cowardly Lion jumps from the tree and roars at the Tin Man.  NOooo.....mommy only got to watch it when it came on. Once a year.  And that was it.  AND, she had to walk ten miles in the snow uphill both ways to see it.....you spoiled little children, you!!!  Hrrmmppp. 

At this point, he looks at me bewildered with the facts of my childhood only containing 5 channels, no remote control and cartoons only on Saturday mornings.   Frankly, I think he really does believe I lived with the dinosaurs.  But, its funny when I think back on it.  Because as children, we were forced to exert some amount of patience for things.  We were forced to wait for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all year long and then watch once....only once....during the holiday season.  And, I truly believe that's what makes it so special for me today when I watch it.   Even as I hold my DVR remote control in my hands and wonder how I ever lived without it all these years, I still think we had it just a bit better as kids in the "old fashion days."

Talk to you soon!  Karin