LOL

Sabrina and I have an agreement.
She's allowed to have fast food once a week.
It started out as Fast Food Friday, but I have since thrown caution to the wind, and let her pick whatever day of the week she wants, to have fast food.

Last week, we were pulling out of the drive thru at Carl's Jr, when I glanced at the girls in the rear view mirror, and happened to catch a glimpse of Sabrina examining her arm.

"Sabrina," I said "How many times do I have to tell you to put lotion on your arms?"
"You really need to put lotion everywhere," I continued. "I tell you that ev-..."
"I know, I know," she interrupted me, "I have dyslexia!"
"What?" I said, confused.
"Sabrina, do you even know what dyslexia means?"
"Of course I do!" she said exasperatedly "It means I have really dry skin!"
After a couple of seconds of silence, I erupted into a fit of giggles so fierce, I almost had to pull over to avoid getting into a car accident.
"Mama, what is so funny?" she demanded.
After I caught my breath, I said "Sabrina, you don't have dyslexia, you have eczema!
"Oh," she said "That's what I meant, eczema."

When the giggles finally died down, I explained what dyslexia was, and told her that I wasn't laughing at people that have dyslexia, it was the confusion between the two words, that got me going.

LOL indeed. I haven't laughed that hard in years.

A Melange of Sorts

First of all, I have to say this gloomy weather is killing me.
I am usually digging the gloom, but since June is reaching it's middle point, my brain is seriously confused. I mean, it's supposed to be warm, sunny even, umm, you know, summery.
No, luck though.
It's been overcast and rainy going on two weeks now, with no end in sight.
Oh well, another excuse to fire up the 'ole oven, and bake with abandon.

The other night, Sabrina casually mentions that the 4th/5th grade "Hoedown" is coming up, and would I be so kind as to pick up a "few" things at the market, you know, our contribution to the party.

"Coming up?" I ask, "What does that mean exactly? When do you need to bring this stuff to school?"
She looks away from my piercing death stare, and mumbles,
"Um, let me go get the note."
She hands me a crumbled piece of paper, and as I'm reading it, I notice the deadline to bring in hoedown items is today.
"Sabrina," I say "When did you get this note? The deadline was today."
"Oh," she says quickly, "It's okay, Mrs. V. said we could bring stuff in tomorrow too."
"Well, that's a relief," I say sarcastically.
Then she adds, "Mama, do you think you can make me some of those jeans with the patches, and a cowboy shirt?"

Okay, I love my kid, I swear, but this is Wednesday night, and the hoedown is Friday.
I am many things, but I ain't no miracle worker.
Not to mention, I have been working like a dog on a wholesale order I need to deliver soon.

I promptly tell her she's crazy, and there is no way I can produce an outfit with such little notice.

"Okay mama," she says in a sweet and gentle tone, "I understand."

Can you say, "bad mother"?

I of course, buy the hot dogs and lemonade for the hoedown, and proceed to descend into the realm of guilt, where even the best of mamas end up occasionally.

Yesterday afternoon, giving in to my guilty conscience, I attempt to produce a "cowgirl-ish" outfit for the hoedown.
I have to say, the fact that she would even want to wear an outfit made by me (she is almost ten, which says it all), is a victory in itself, and well worth the extra effort on my part, to sew it all at the last minute.
She looked adorable, and was so grateful, that I really felt like a heel for my initial reluctance.

Here's my girl:

Bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Love the jeans.

Ready to get down at the hoedown.

On another topic entirely, I have to give some props to Oscar for his transformation of my fabric cabinet. In a nutshell, I got the cabinet from Monica, who graciously gave it to me gratis.
It originally had glass panels, because I believe it was intended to be used as a china cabinet.
I kept the panels for quite some time, but since I used it to store my fabric, which most of the time, was not a pretty site, I longed for a solution that would keep everything inside, hidden.
I tried papering the glass, which was okay, but I didn't like it as a permanent solution.
Mirrors? Antiqued mirrors? It was brilliant, but I continued to drag my feet.

Recently, I asked Oscar if it would be possible to put beadboard in place of the glass.
"Sure," he said "No problem."
No offense to my lovely husband, but sometimes "projects" take a while to get done around here.
To my delight, a week later, he completed this project for me, and happily, I might add.

Here is the cabinet in its various stages of metamorphosis:

The original glass.

The papered glass.

The new and improved cabinet, with beadboard panels.

Ooh pretty.

Love the birdies.

One more birdie in flight, and check out those boss rose knobs.

I think it turned out well. You?
The knobs are from here, and the birdies, from here.

It's Friday, yay!
Enjoy.

Please forget the lyrics.

(pic borrowed from LadyGaga.com)

A couple of weeks ago, Sabrina, Chloe and I were watching Dancing with the Stars, the finale.
Sabrina is crazy for that show, and by default, I guess I am too, a little.

My favorite part though, is the results show, mostly because of the guest appearances by some pretty cool singers/artists, whatever they call themselves these days.

Anyway, the DWTS (as it will hereafter be known) finale was no different.
Lady Gaga was on.
Okay, I have seen her perform here and there, even live (although at the time I hadn't heard of her, and since she was one of the opening acts for New Kids on the Block, her performance was lost on me anyway).
I'm not sure whether to love her or hate her...until the DWTS performance.

She sang two songs, I'm not sure if the first one was "Puh-puh-puh-puh-poker Face", or "Let's Dance" but no matter, since it was the second song that won me over.

"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

I thought nothing of it, only that it was a mighty catchy tune, and the girls agreed with me.
Well, not Chloe so much, but she's only five, and still worships Barney, so what does that tell you?
Sabrina thought Lady Gaga, and the "Disco Stick" song were awesome.

The next day, as Sabrina re-watched the DWTS finale, for like the fifteenth time, Oscar happened to be in the room, right as the delightful Lady G was doing her thing.

"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

Sabrina was also getting her groove on, belting out the lyrics, at the top of her lungs.
"I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

Oscar looked at me, his eyebrow raised, and whispered under his breath,
"We can't let her keep singing that."
I quietly whispered back,
"Oh?"
"Well. you know," he said, "It sounds dirty."
"What do you mean?" I said, still oblivious to the reason for Oscar's mortification.

Boy, am I slow.

"Oh crap, " I said, "Disco stick, that does sound bad."
I'm sure our minds didn't mean to take a naughty turn into the gutter, it just happened.
Don't judge me.

Our worries were in vain however, since the next day, Lada Gaga and her now notorious song were quickly forgotten, as Sabrina's main concern shifted to what the school cafeteria was going to serve for lunch.

Until today.

Chloe and I picked Sabrina up from school, and as I was fiddling around with the radio stations, I heard the song, that apparently we all had been longing to hear...

"Let's have some fun, that beat is sick,
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

"Let's play a love game, play a love game,
Do you want love or you want fame?
Are you in the game? Doin' the love game."

"Mama, I love this song!" Sabrina exclaimed
"Uh yeah, me too," I said "It's called Love Game."
"Really?" Sabrina said, "I just call it Disco Stick."