Dear Parent or Guardian of LYDIA GONZALEZ,

Your doctor would like you (alone or with your child) to watch a program called Emmi before your child's upcoming procedure. (Tonsillectomy...UGGG!!)

Emmi is a great way to learn about what to expect before, during and after the procedure. Patients find it very helpful and easy to watch. Emmi will answer many of the questions you may have... and even some you didn't even know you had.

To watch Emmi. Your Access Code is: 10845706554 (You also need her birthdate: 11-12-99)

Please watch it by: May 01, 2006

You'll also see that you can send questions to your doctor's office while watching the program.
So, feel free to watch Emmi as many times as you'd like both before and after your procedure. And please be sure to share it with your family or a friend. They'll find it helpful, too.

Thanks for reading and we wish you the best of health.

So here I am sharing this info with family and friends if you wish to watch. Apparently, Lily has very large tonsils and adenoids that do not leave room for the passage of air and must be removed. She is a mouth-breather/snorer/nasal talker. The poor girl can't breathe.

I haven't gotten up the nerve to check this out yet.

So last week, Joseph left me a message on my cell phone that went something to the effect of, "Hey, you need to get your cell phone fixed, because it is BUG-GIN that I can't talk to you."

Should I be worried that he's starting to sound like a member of the cosmo mafia?

I am becoming so thrifty that soon I may end up walking around sporting a hat with a dangling price tag - a la Minnie Pearl.

I have been looking for another print to hang up in my dining room, which I have been working on decorating. I am decorating the dining room with vintage ad prints. I have gone to the ZGallerie a few times and actually did buy a small Cinzano print there that cost $55 framed. I have been looking for a large print for another wall. Everytime I go into the ZGallerie at Bridgeport Village, I find nice large prints, but they cost $200+, which I haven't been able to bring myself to spend.

This (not being able to spend thing) is NEW for me. The old Michelle would've bought two. I am trying to live as if I don't have an endless money supply and trying to keep in mind that there are MANY things I want to to do my house, not just decorate the dining room with spendy art work. I want it to look spendy - but cheaply - if you catch my drift.

So anyway, I was at Cost Plus, another favorite spot (where I found my dining room table, chairs, and buffet) and saw some poster prints, not framed, but the same style I had seen at the ZGallerie. Then I saw the frames! I got the poster print and the frame and put it together myself all for $55. It is a much larger one than the one I purchased before and much cheaper than the similar alternatives.

I am so excited. I was even able to buy 2 wooden shelves that are going to go up above the buffet to display all of my liquor (including a mysterious bounty of Apple Pucker) and I still paid less than I would've for the print alone at the other store.

Not half bad. Look out Martha Stewart!! Anybody out there from HGTV want to give me my own show?

Friday morning, my kids were getting ready for school and my son was faced with the horrible, unjust task of... having to go and get some clean pants out of the dryer for school as there were no "acceptable" options hanging in his closet. He responded to this travesty with this comment, "MOM, why don't you have my pants hanging up IN MY CLOSET???!!!?!"

Then he demanded that I heat up some pozole for him for breakfast. Let me just tell you that this involves heating up the soup, chopping up onions and cabbage to throw in, and cutting up some limes for flavor. I was TIRED and not feeling tip-top due to the comsumption of various cocktails the night before (NO, I have not broken my New Year's resolution, but I did come dangerously close).

I told my son that he would have to make due with eating cereal for breakfast. I heard him say something to his sister to the effect of, "get your things," or something like that, but I was too groggy to follow what was happening.

Then Lily came in and said, "Mom, Joaquin wants me to pack up my things, because we are going to run away." She had a carton of chocolate milk, some clothing, and something else indiscernable in her arms, as if she had been trying to figure out exactly what to pack for this 'adventure'.

I started to laugh. "Where exactly are you guys planning on going?" I asked.

"The backyard," she replied.

I have to give them credit for making me smile.

Who invented the Genius Bar?

The first time I went to the Apple store in December, I noticed that they had a Genius Bar, an area where you can talk with a "genius". I then realized that it was a cute way to refer to their employees. Well, that's kind of clever, I thought.

Later that month, I had a problem with my ipod, so I took it to the "geniuses" so they could fix it. They tried to restart it, take off the software and reprogram it and they couldn't fix it, so they told me that they would get me a replacement and that it would be in in a few days. About a week later I got a call from the geniuses that my ipod was in. I went in and got it replaced. It was a fairly simple process.

Then about a week later I received a message from a "genius" that my ipod was in and that they were waiting for me to take mine in to get the new one. I ignored the message until I got another one a few days later. I called them back and told them that I had already had my ipod replaced, thank you very much, and held my tongue about the fact that they are called "geniuses".

Well, last week, I just received another phone message that they were going to release my ipod to another person, because they had been waiting for me for a month and a half to go get the one they had there for me, but that if I continued to have problems with my ipod that I should go in and they would order me another replacement.

Wow, these guys really are geniuses!

I wonder how many customers who have had similar experiences or have received poor customer service make comments to them such as:

"Obviously, anyone can be a genius nowadays" or

"How many geniuses does it take to fix an ipod?" or

"What kind of a test do you pass to become a genius anyway?" or

"What kind of Clinton-esque definition of the term "genius" do you guys subscribe to here?"

I don't know. I am running out of them, but you get the idea. I'm sure they've heard some good ones.

Lily was having a hard time getting to sleep last night. I went in her room with her to hold her hand as she fell asleep.

"Mom? Why do big people get to stay up later than we do?"

"Well, honey, you are still growing and kids need more rest so that you can grow up to be big and strong. I am already all grown up."

Thoughtful silence. "Mom, I don't want you to grow old."

"Mi'ja, we are all going to grow old someday."

"I know, but you are going to be REALLY old when I get bigger. Your hair is going to be white like Great Grandma Keesecker."

Not as long as there is hair dye, I thought to myself.

In an IM session last night regarding the all-important topic of fashion, Deb and I were discussing khaki pants.

This led to the question: What is khaki? Is it a color? Where did this term come from? Well, as soon as I had a second, I had to find some info. It's just the weirdest sounding word. Anyway, I guess it does refer to a color. It comes from the Persian KHAK, meaning earth colored or dust colored in case anyone was curious.

It was a lot more entertaining when I didn't know what it meant and it was just a funny word.