Meet the new female of the family...born on October 2nd to a very very proud Empress and an even prouder brand new aunt, I present you Kamila:

There is nothing like spending a Sunday digging for records in an antique sale with your boyfriend, ending up with Barbara Streisand and Diana Ross and the Supremes...

Ah the smell of viynl and a swell guy.

So there was a little bit of everything this weekend: sun, sand, food, lots of driving and poop.

Yeah. Shit always happens.

We were supposed to pull out at 6am for our 3 hour drive to Boqueron, but you know my brother and we ended up pulling out at 8am.  True had already went ahead since he got tired of waiting.

So, Bro, the girlfriend, me and the Kid made our way behind.

About 1 hour and a half into our drive, Miss C began to cry that she had to go "pipi".  I was like, "again?? didn't we just go pipi?"

So I proceeded to ignore her, only that she began to cry harder that it hurt.

"Are you sure it's pipi?"
"Yeah"

Ok, so we stopped because we were in the middle of no where.  Bro's gal gave me a cup so Miss C could take a whizz.

Only that, it wasn't a whizz.  It was a little, excuse my french, "Fart with a prize".

I am only going to say she pooped my fingers then stepped on her own poop and there wasn't any water or napkins or nothing to wipe myself off.  There was only enough to get her clean.

It was the longest next 2 hours ever.

I had no option but to laugh.
I think we laughed for the next hour and Miss C, was humiliated.

She begged us to stop laughing at her.
Well, that is a good sign, she gets she is the butt of the joke.

And I just finished humiliating her, here.
What are mothers for, right?

Well, after that, which couldn't be topped off with anything else, we finally caught up to True and switched cars.

We made it to Boqueron around 11am and after leaving our stuff at the house we hit the beach for a nice afternoon.

We had regular beach food, burgers and hot dogs and played UNO (our latest addiction).

When the night came round, we made our way to the town for a little pool and even True's father showed to hang out.

I nearly froze to death with the A/C in the rooms and at 9am the next morning we hit the beach again.

We finally made our way back home yesterday around 8pm to some nice Krispy Kreme donuts and Extreme Home Makeover.

It was a nice weekend overall, and a much needed one.  But now it's back to the City. Alas, not all is eternal.

After a very scary Friday, we managed to get our stuff together and have a nice weekend.

I hit the beach on Saturday with Miss C and then church on sunday.

Enjoy some pics !!

So it was a extremely busy weekend, with the Yankees FINALLY beating Boston last night, after two horrid nights of being whupped.

Thursday I made my way with a huge homemade slice of Lasagna and sat to soak in some Sex and the City...ahhh...I love Carrie.

Miss C made her way into the living room to announce her loose tooth had just gotten looser with something she ate. I thought it was going to be worse, but she took it very well and let me pull her tooth out. Gal just saved me $65 bucks at the dentist.

Of course she put her tooth under her pillow for the "mouse" to leave her some cash. We don't have toothfairies, but mice do the job just as well. She was excited with the $2 bucks she got at home, 2 more at grandma's and 20 at True's, which I quickly took back and made True give her 2 bucks. Not only is the mouse make several stops at different houses for the same tooth, but it seems the tooth business is going well.

Friday, 4th of July, we didn't make it to the beach, since I am not suicidal (and thank God I didn't because they killed a person in broad daylight; nothing like hotdogs and homicide to make a day). We decided on a lighter, less blood-shed activity like hitting Border's. Miss C loves books and she was saving some money Vietnam had given her, plus her new found riches thanks to a very generous mouse, so it seemed like a fun thing to do. She hanged on to the Wall-E display and squealed in delight with the tons of books. In the end, we had to help her with the bill, but her face of joy was well worth it.

True headed off to work (yes, he worked), I headed off to my aunt's house for some pool fun.

Saturday we layed low, did some school shopping and rented some movies.

I also decided to experiment in the kitchen and make some stuffed Manicotti. Those little suckers are hard to fill, but the final result was finger licking good. True is one very lucky man. I cook.

Sunday we hit our favorite pizzeria after church and sat our asses to a few more movies.

After the flicks, a mini nervous breakdown with the dying refrigerator, I decided that was my cue to call it a night.

Today I've got tons of crap to do for the back to school season and hopefully I can get my head around a nice nap.

How was your weekend?

So, after two months of waiting and rushing to the TV everytime the trailers came on, we went to see Wall-E on Saturday.

Thanks also in part to Empress who happened to have two marvelous V.I.P. tickets, we only had to splurge on Miss C's.

That's the benefit of having a Fairy Godmother with the right contacts.

Miss did not sleep. She had been waiting for this movie for months.

She screamed, she laughed, she got all the jokes.
I laughed, I applauded and almost even cried.

The movie is far from spectacular. I am in love with Wall-E.

Don't miss out on a spectacular family film!

After the movies, we hit the beach (we went to the first screening). We cooled off and spent the rest of the evening playing UNO with True's folks.

Yesterday we hit up church, saw the Yankees lose to the Mets and went home early to catch up on old films and a great Calzone from our local pizzeria.

To sum it all up, in the wise words of Miss C, "Momma, that was wicked!!"

Sure was kid. Sure was.

Baseball is good. We sweeped this weekend. Unfourtunately I couldn't see any game because I was all over the place this weekend.

Running lots of errands, stretching my dollars and feeling mopey.

This job situation is looking bleak and I'm actually working more and with lesser time than when I was a full time employee.

Today I plan to do nothing.
I plan to ignore the gushing fluid that is leaking from the Death Van and I plan to sleep this afternoon.

I plan to eat nothing but chocolate cake and then cry myself to bed as I finally understand why Miss C calls me soft and fat.

It's one of those weekends, weeks and months.

I dropped the bottle of detergent this morning, breaking it and spilling half of it.
I forgot my wallet, license and money.
Had to turn around to Vader's to borrow 20 bucks.
I was late for my HUGE 4 HOUR work day.
And I'm just starving and groggy.

How are you managing?

What do you want me to recap...??

That we lost this weekend series to Boston??? That we got our asses kicked.
That some dumb ass buried a Boston Jersey in the New Yankee Stadium to curse it, a la Bambino Style..?

That Miss C was so so behaved and that I was my cheery ol' self.

That my new nickname is "Little Miss Sunshine" (insert sarcasm here)
That I refused to do my hair all weekend long.
That I was a speaker at an Autism Conference held at a Mormon Church.

That I need some serious sleep.

That Miss C was being taught at sunday school all about the last supper and they gave them bread to eat and when they told her the grapejuice was the blood of Christ, she almost died...

"NOOOOOOO I don't drink Blood....NO Jesus blood!!!" insert gargling...throat noises here...

That later in the day she complained her arm hurt and I told her we would chop it off (sorry...we Puertorricans have a dark sense of humor) and she went haywire holding her arm because she thought I wasn't joking.

The kid is literal.
Bloody luck.

Did I mention the serious sleep part??
Did I mention we lost 2 out of 3 games?
That I sat with my yankees cap and screamed at the tv for almost 3 hours.
That I have a crush with Yankees new manager Giraldi...I think he's cute, not too competent, but cute.

We women, always suckers for suckers.

What have u been up to?

I think I am the only person on this planet who can proudly and happily say:

"Thank God it's Monday!"

One more day in that house and I'd crack.

That's how my weekend went.

A crying kid. A screaming Kid.
A
"iamnotgonnacooperatewithyoumothernomatter
howyoutry
tobribeme"
kid.

I took her to the park on Saturday. I had invited all the parents of the Autism Support Group.

Everyone had an awesome time.

The belle of the ball, the sight for everyone was Miss C. Crying, Screaming, Pushing, Yelling...

Just a handful.

Everyone tried to help.

But no one had any luck.

The people in the next door gazebo (the ones who weren't in our party) looked on in shock, made comments, couldn't stop looking at the kid in the corner screaming her head off, while everyone else had such a great time.

Yesterday I tried to go to church, ten minutes there and she began to scream, whine, cry:

"I wanna go home...too much noise!"

The service hadn't even begun...we were just sitting there in complete silence at Bible School.

I picked up my stuff and left. I had had it.

I wasn't doing another church Sunday in HELL.

Just as I pulled out, my pastor waited on the curb, with his leg sticking out...he motioned me to stop.

He hugged me.

He prayed for me.

Asked if I was going to leave.

"I'm tired" was all I could muster between my tears. Autism has sucked the life out of us these days.

He prayed some more.

Let me go home.

I stuck Miss C in her room all day, no tv, no contact with the human world.

She cried, she screamed, she even prayed.

"Mom, I'm praying to Jesus"

Keep praying Kid.

She only came out to eat and pee.

I gave her a shower and put her to bed, by herself.

Today she woke up with more of the same...severe attitude problem...I was sooo happy to drop her off at school.

Thursday the women of my church are gonna meet up with me to pray for me and her.

I'm exhausted but thrilled to be at the office with a pile of paperwork and a whip cracking boss...

There is no way to understand us, is there?

One word to describe my weekend:

Hell.

No, I've haven't been swiped off the blogger hemisphere...

I've had a long weekend.
And NOT in a good way.

I have a sick child on my hands.

Sick children are NOT fun.

Sick-hallucinating-on-deadly-anti-biotics is NOT FUN AT ALL.

Ok. I'm lying.

Maybe it was a bit funny.

Especially the part where she screamed she needed "more cold now" and threw herself on the floor in front of the A/C.

Or the part where she demanded "ice...ICE NOW FOR MY EXPLODING BRAINS!"

I kid you not the girl is gonna win us an OSCAR.

The part I liked the most was when she mentioned bunnies and punches and was hot and cold all in a period of 30 seconds.

And who can forget the biggest proof of our love-hate relationship.

"GOOOO...LEAVE MOMMA...LEAVEEEEEE!!!!"

"NOOOO...DON'T LEAVE ME MOMMA...PUHLEEEEEEESE!!"

Antibiotics are from hell...and she keeps spitting out the Nystatin....

She's still sick as I type right now, but for a momma who has gotten about 4 hours of sleep these past few days, it's good to be at the office.

Let me just sum this up for ya'...

Tuesday: Parent / Teacher meeting, "Miss C is great academically, but after Auditory Training, her misbehavior has skyrocketed, she'll be going to first grade, but we are all very concerned". Yeah, well join the club.

Friday: We discover she has 7 homework assignments and a project due on Tuesday. Joy. I yell at her for something and she answers with the Spanish equivalent of "fuck you" My jaw drops in shock and I try to keep my sugar together and avoid going haywire myself.

Saturday: She is haywire at True's house, writes on wall with crayons and is just plain irritable. Later on, as we are doing homework I revise her communications notebook and discover a note from her teacher, stating she "touched very hard" (bitch slap, anyone?) an assistant's face.

As I am telling her she can't do this type of stuff, she looks at me very as-a-matter-of-factly and says her new phrase again. I burst into tears, try not to kill her and True takes over with the homework.

Sunday: Before leaving church I tell her that if she misbehaves one bit, she will not be joining the other children for their Sunday class.

....So we are at Sunday...

Miss C is busy doing her thing...hitting, jumping up and down, not following instructions, wanting to eat (she is always hungry) and basically digging my grave. I take her into the bathroom and do what I NEVER do....I pull down her pants and spank her.

I apologize. But a human being can take so much. She is hitting my face, poking me, head butting me; clearly pushing my buttons.

True takes charge and tells me to go enjoy the service; he'll sit with her in the conference room.

I try to sing, try to praise, but I'm furious, I'm hellamad.

Then it happened.

Something that had not happened in years.

I saw the rest of the children dancing and waving their banners and singing...and I couldn't stand it.

The pain was way too much.

I tried to control myself, but I couldn't.
For the first time in several years it hurt to see other children. Other meaning 'normal'.

I felt a tinge of envy. For the first time in months I started thinking things people shouldn't think of.

I made my way out of the main church and into the children's room, passing by True.

I walked in the room, leaned on the wall and began to sob.

True walked in, worried as hell.

"What happened? What's wrong?"

"I can't be outside today. It hurts to see the kids".

"Why?"

"Because my kid isn't one of them".

"Oh, ..." and he started what was a speech of 'dontthinklikethatmisscisspecial' and I cut him off.

Sorry, but no one can understand unless they are in your skin

He left me alone.

He is a good man and has an idea of what I'm going through, but it's not the same.

You wait 9 months for a child and get this ball of chaos. A ball of chaos you did not sign up for.

It' s a cold hand to be dealt.

I tried to calm down, Miss C calmed down a bit, but as soon as the kids went in for their class, hell broke loose again.

If you remember the previous lines, the deal was this: be good, go to class with kids, be bad, sit with mom.

Applied Behavioral Analysis.

She cried, she pleaded, she screamed in my ear, she hit...she begged: "I WANNA GO WITH MY KIIIIIIIDSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!"

Why not let her go with the kids and free myself of this agony...????

If I did, I would defy the whole purpose of discipline. Miss C would quickly realize that she could have her way with a little bit of pressure and I'd be screwed.

At one point it was a tear fest...Me and Miss C, who'd cry and go crazy first. She grabbed my head, I'd grab hers...it was a sight.

I guess it was very loud because eventually my Pastor came in to see what was happening.

Her take, she did not agree that I should punish Miss C by not letting her be with the kids. She said I should never punish her by keeping her away from the word of God. I started to cry. But this time my tears were of sheer anger. I explained nicely that this was the way I was going to discipline her and that my intentions were not to keep her away from God, that this was the way it was going to be, period.

I left church yesterday feeling humiliated, angry, spiteful, devastated.

We eventually went out to eat to clear our minds and ended up having a much better late afternoon.

But the headache and the heartache were too much to bear and it seems that no matter how much people think they understand, the truth is, no one who isn't walking in those shoes, does.

Soak in the shock...bliss...of an engagement...look at ring with wonder...shock...amazement...bliss...shock....did I mention shock?

Ran a couple of errands.
Did church on Sunday.

Did I mention shock? Did I mention my pastors didn't take the news as well as I thought? and that Vader didn't either?

Shocker people.
Shocker.

Monday was a Holiday, so that meant I busted my butt doing laundry. Took the kid out to dinner...Bro dropped by with V...and her new Wii...

I played with Bro...as usual, he kicked my butt...
I suck at Wii.

I think I have arthritis.
I sucked at billiards, at the posing game and definitely at Fishing.

I didn't suck though on the cow racing...I kicked his butt...but I think I hurt my wrist in the process.

The night was on the verge of ending nicely until Bro announced he, his girlfriend and his dog were going to split.

Miss C went apetsh*t.

"Leaving?! You can't leave..!!? I wanna leave too!!"

It got worse when I told her she was not leaving and that it was way past her bedtime.

Wah Wah Wah Wah Wah!!
Dramatics kicked in.

As bro was leaving she clung onto his leg.

He looked at her..."kid you deserve an Academy Award".

I managed to pry her from his leg and she looked at me with eyes that could kill...

"I don't want you...I want my other family...I want my Grandpa and my uncle...my other family...Not YOUUUUU!!"

"Really???..well since you don't want me, then you'll be completely satisfied with sleeping in your own room tonight and not hogging the bed or sheets of a woman you consider a stranger".

I started to drag her into her room.

She immediately put on the brakes. She may have been hysterical, but she isn't crazy.

She dropped to her knees...clasped her hands together in prayer-mode, gave me her best pussnboots face and cried...

"But I looooooove youuuu!! don't do this to me....I looovvveee youuu....I promise....I loooove you Mom!!"

She went to my room and after about two more threats she shut up, crawled into bed and whispered in my ear...

"Mom will you read me a story?"
"No"
"Please"
"No"
"Please"
"This is the story of a little girl named Miss C who wouldn't go to sleep and made her mom extremely upset by crying and misbehaving...her mom was fed up and said, 'lights out' and turned off the lights and put her to bed. The end".

"Thank you mom, now I won't cry"

::ring ring::
It was almost 3 in the morning.

"Can you open the gate for me? I forgot my keys".
It was bro. Gotta love your bro.

I opened the gate and headed back to bed.
Half an hour later we had no electricity. It had been raining...I expected as much.

So I lay there in bed, trying to ignore the fact that it was getting hot. I was laying face up when it happened.

The bed started shaking. I mean SHAKING! Up and Down, left and right. I was rolling (it has wheels).
It was an earthquake.

I could literally hear the earth growling.
Those were the longest seconds of my life. Fear came over me. Fear of God. I started praying. I started crying...and as it got more intense the only words I could muster were: "God Please Have Mercy on Us".

I remembered the story of Abraham, when God was going to destroy Sodoma and he asked God that if he found at least one good person would he still destroy Sodoma, and God replied that he would not.

Then it stopped.
I was shaken. I called True. Poor guy probably almost died when he saw my number at 4 in the morning.

The only thing I could say was: "Pray with me".
He had not had the pleasure of feeling the Quake.

We prayed. I cried.

A Quake in the complete dark.

I called my dad because I knew he was up. He asked if I had a lantern to loan him for him to get ready for work. I went downstairs. God moved me to pray for the house. I roamed the living room with the flicker of a candle and prayed for my dad's house.

I went upstairs and knelt to pray and started to cry.
Never have I felt so sad for my Island and for the consequences of its ways.

I tried to go to bed and I started to praise God...
Half an hour later the electricity returned.

I tried to catch a wink but it was almost time to get up.

I have a huge headache, a hangover of some sorts and I would never want to experience this again.

The news says the quake was 5 point something...felt throughtout the whole Island.

Curiously enough Rwanda and the Congo were also hit my severe quakes, killing a few people in the process.

Thank God it was only my bed.

Thank God.

Saturday was a long day. We all gathered at Vietnam's pad to watch the fight. Bro, his girl, her parents, my in laws...the complete gang.

Only Vietnam was a bit drunk, upset and being a real ass.

I was trying to tie him up and keep him locked away to no avail.

I sat down angry, upset and hurt.

I thought: "The only way we'll have peace in this family is if he dies".
He fell asleep and bothered no more.

Let's fast forward to Sunday.
The theme was: "Asking for forgiveness in order for others to repent".

A kick in the butt, huh? I started to sing along in the praise, then all of a sudden I began to cry...I mean hardcore cry...I had to get down on my knees because I could no longer stand.

Then it happened. God spoke to me. I mean he's spoken to me before but what he said was mind blowing. He began to give me examples of lives he had changed...dozens of examples...then he stopped and said:

"What makes you think your father needs to die, so all will be well?? I can do that. Let me do that. Worry no more".

He took me in his arms and swayed me...he kissed my forehead.
I cried.

I stood up and True put his arms around me. We started to pray together...the band was playing, the congregation was worshiping...and then we were immersed in the current of the Holy Spirit.

I mean drenched.
I literally felt I was burning up inside, I could not control what was coming out of my mouth.
I was crying, praising, burning up...the works...
There were people around us, praying, singing...I could hear our pastors...it was a worldwind...

I finally fell down...on my knees...a cloak was placed over me...

Then it came...a breeze...a light refreshing breeze...I started to get goosebumps, and I peeked out to see where the breeze was coming from...

It was coming from God.

It was the most awesome Sunday.

I believe in the power of my God.
I believe everything is gonna be allright.

"Momma, this is what I want the Angels to bring me" pointing out to a toy in a magazine.

"Angels? What Angels?"

"Well, after Santa, the Three Kings, now Angels".

"Hell to the No".


The Chaos is over. The Holidays are officially over. We had Three King's Day on Sunday and next weekend is Octavitas, but it's all over. School starts on Thursday, yes Thursday and things get back to normal.

I can go grocery shopping without having to kill anyone for a box of crackers.

What I won't miss? The light traffic.

Hellatraffic starts on Thursday.

Can't please me...nevah.

*****
Miss C has a blast for Three King's Day. She put the grass, the cookies, water and juice. Grass and Water for the Camels. The rest for the Three Kings.

I got up at 4am to make the grass disappear and to spread some around in a trail.

Her take:

"Boy, momma, those camels sure are messy!!"

As for the rest of the weekend, yesterday I had off from work and spent the entire day cleaning.

Doing laundry.

Mopping.

Folding laundry.

Cooking.

My favorite, the cooking.

Chicken breast stuffed with bacon and wrapped in bacon slices over white rice.

Yum.

The rest of the evening went by nicely. Me and Vic (Bro's girlfriend) raiding his closet trying to get it clean and playing V-Smile games with Miss C.

And I've proved once again, that I suck at video games.

Diego was getting his ass kicked hardcore by the monkeys who throw the coconuts.

Yes, I'm almost thirty and monkeys threw coconuts at me.

Say something.

I am still alive.

I am literally counting down the days until all this mayhem is over and I can get some normalacy in my life.

We had a weekend full of shopping, stores, food food food.

Friday I tried my best to watch Pirates of the Caribbean but ended up having Jack Sparrow watch me. I was out at 10pm.

Saturday we took the Kid to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Her face and excitement was priceless.

My face was also priceless. I tried to survive those two hours with the least brain damage possible.

Afterwards we went to the outlets in Barceloneta. Outlets without outlet prices. It was ridiculous. I ended up in Marhall's to get a party dress for sunday.

In between shopping Miss C got a few spankings. It is literally impossible to shop with her. But then again I am a masochist. So it serves me right.

Sunday we had a blast at church. We sang, we jumped, we worshipped hardcore. It was awesome. After service the whole congregation wanted to go eat together, but True and I weren't in the mood for eating out with about 30 people. So we skipped out and headed to Denny's.

We ended our night at his folk's place playing Perfection. All of us.

The MIL, FIL and us.

It was good.

If this is a preview of what 2008 is gonna bring, then bring it on!

I spent the whole weekend carrying Miss C around to her AIT: Berard Method Therapies.
I don't wanna be too quick to judge, but is seems like everytime they are done, they hand over a monster.

Yesterday I just wanted them to change her back to how she was.

Crying. Emotional. Angry. Bossy.

She was all this before.

But this time it's like double the pleasure, double the fun.

*******
We got our hair cuts this weekend.

We actually look swell.

Miss C even thought so.

"Momma how pretty we look!"

*******

Miss C wants to go to the movies.

She wants to see "Chica wa wa, Chica wa wa".



********

I spent all weekend alone.
I spent my Saturday with the kid in the house putting up curtains, cleaning up the kitchen. Actually enjoying the quiet of my home. Enjoying cleaning the kitchen.

How do I know I'm screwed for life?

I actually squealed when I saw that Tilex Mildew cleaned up my sink so purty.

Yep. I'm a mother.

I took a shower put on my pj's and put the Kid to bed.

I then went to the family room and lay on the bed and watched Sex and the City reruns.

I was alone. in a clean house. with a christmas tree. watching TBS.

and I saw the episode called "The Good Fight", where Aiden moves in with Carrie and she is having a nervous breakdown with all his boxes and crap and invasion of her apartment. She has been single for her whole life and has never lived with someone.

They are arguing because he wants her to clean out her closet to make room for his stuff and then his dog chews up one of her $400 pair of shoes.

She screams. He screams.

They argue.

"Won't you just shut up?" she yells
"Shut up?"
"Yes, shut up.. All you ever do is talk...blah blah blah...all up in my face, how are you, where ya been? who've you seen? Just shut up!!".

Sometimes silence is golden.
I turned of the TV.
Admired my Tree.
And went to snuggle with the Kid.

My weekend had the following in no particular order:

Shopping miserably
Trying on clothes and realizing nothing fits
Wanting to break into a song in the middle of the parking lot
Enchanted
Food
Rain, lots of it
Bickering, even more than rain
hip hop
new clothes
kid behaving badly
opening a car door while it's in motion
getting out of car
walking
at night
mickey mouse
crying
screaming
plenty of F words
God

My middle name is now officially DRAMA.

the fact that I'm tired, sick and sleepy.

So,

• T-Day went by very smoothly. True's parents went over Vader's and we all had a civilized and nice afternoon. During some moment of the event I fell into fear due to my bro who was busy churning out jokes. Every time I heard the phrase, "...well, there once was a drunk..." I had to keep looking at him and say "PG! PG!".

• The rest of the weekend was long and boring.

• I tried to avoid the stores at all cost, but ended up taking Vader to the mall early on Saturday so she could do her X-mas Shopping. Miss C came along. Halfway through Walmart as she beated me with a sharp object I thought that just maybe I could suffer from the syndrome called: massochismdelirium. Alas, we all survived, but I don't think Vader will be wanting us to join her in anymore shopping.

• I caught up on my winter cleaning and got the X-Mas Tree up and running.

• I also managed to fix up the kid's room which is now officially Spongebob Squarepants territory.

• I tried to convince her with the Disney's princesses to no avail.

• Mickey had a plus one, or plus two...I saw another swoosh by me in the living room yesterday night. I think a cat might be in order right about now.

• True and I have been busy and although we've been spending lots of time together I feel as thought it's been time not used well enough.

• I must confess that on Sunday afternoon I was gnawing the arm off the couch.

• I been feeling under the weather these past fews days and I think my body is demanding some much needed rest, but with the Kid, the boyfriend, the holidays and mickey's plus one, who can manage to shut an eye?