Still Suffering from Sciatica

Hi my peeps in blogland! I've missed you all.
I've been flat on my back suffering from Sciatica since April 18th which was when I hurt myself trying to organize my closet.

I've missed work all last week and all this week except for Monday. Monday I went to work and thought I was all done with the pain and on the drive home it hit me again.

I've been to my doctor and she's prescribed a muscle relaxer and pain medication plus she gave me a shot when I was there. None of it helped so she gave me a stronger pain med, Vicodin. Vicodin can even mend the pain of a broken heart...but it didn't help my sciatica!

Last night I hurt so bad that I even let my mom perform an old Mexican healing remedy. Seriously! What she does is she takes a small tea-light candle. She places it on the muscle where it hurts, lights the candle, then takes an ordinary drinking glass and turns it upside down over the candle. The candle sucks up all the oxygen in the glass and in turn sucks your skin up; therefore sucking the air/gas trapped in your veins and muscles and heals you.

Did it work? Yes, it did. I slept pretty great last night as long as I stayed in one position, but when I woke up this morning I was in agony again. We tried the candle trick again but even with the Vicodin nothing gave me any comfort.

We made a trip to the emergency room since my doctor was out of the office until Friday. After a two hour wait in the waiting room, another one hour wait in the hospital room the doctor finally came in and talked to me and his brilliant deduction was that I have Sciatica! Duh..I know that!

But bless that sweet man, he gave me a shot of Demerol and finally...finally something cut the pain. I still feel it, but not like I did.

So I took the time to let you all know what's up with me and why no posts and no Iwanna Wednesday. I'm going to go take a Vicodin right now and watch Greys Anatomy reruns til I fall asleep. And as soon as I'm back to being me 100% and not being all loopy because of the pain or the pain meds I will be back!

Sunday Favorites ~ Princess Melissa's Birthday Party

It's time for Sunday Favorites again hosted by Chari at Happy to Design. Today is the one year birthday of the Sunday Favorites meme. Happy Birthday Sunday Favorites! Be sure to go by and visit Chari and say hello. She also has a great one year birthday giveaway that I'm sure you will all want to enter.

Click on the Giveaway button below for more details. You could win a $50 gift card to several choices just for commenting on today's post at Happy to Design!




Since Chari is celebrating a birthday I thought I would share a past birthday post of my own. This one was first posted on October 5, 2008. Hope you enjoy it. It is definitely one of my favorites.

Sunday Favorite 

from

October 5, 2008

Yesterday we celebrated Melissa's 2ND birthday party. Melissa is the only one of Fred and Norma's kids to be born in a normal month with normal weather. The other three were born in the dog days of hell...SUMMER! So this one was really enjoyable, in fact...down right chilly!

Here are a few pictures. The one thing I forgot is that it gets darker earlier now so I didn't take any pictures while there was still good light, but the ones I did get I think were pretty nice. The theme was Cinderella.

Here's her cake. The funny thing about the cake is that her daddy Fred took the Prince Charming figurine away. He said to get "that vato" out of there! I told him, you know...a long time ago you were "that vato" and because of "that vato" Melissa is here today. He put the Prince back...I think he's ready to be a grandpa!




And here's CinderMelissa herself! Isn't she beautiful? I did so want to wear that crown! Ah, I remember my days in the Tiara Club *sigh* And why is the Princess CinderMelissa sad? Someone has stolen her crown! Now I know I coveted that crown, I wanted that crown, I wished it was my birthday so I could wear the crown...but it wasn't me! I promise...I did not steal the crown. I think it was her wicked stepsisters!





And happiness reigns again in the Land of Alarcon. CinderMelissa is once again wearing her crown, proving she is the most beautiful princess in the land and therefore saving her Tia Ale from being imprisoned for stealing the most precious crown!



The fairytale is over now! Now it's time to grub down on some of that delicious cake! Mmmmm, good.



And her most loyal subjects have all come bearing gifts. Too many to picture them all here. But you can see the huge Dora the Explorer doll her Nana got for her...and I believe that's a Vtech Laptop Computer in that blue box. It's never to early to get them going on technology!



CinderMelissa waiting for more presents. I think there are still a few behind you there CinderMelissa!



And a little something for the peasants! A pinata. It got a little too late and too dark to hang the pinata from the huge tree in the front yard. But being clever, her mom Queen Norma hung it from a nail on the back patio and just let each child give it three whacks, starting with Melissa and her daddy as you see in the next two pictures. Even I got a goody bag full of candy to take home! Wealth abounds in the Land of Alarcon!

And Ye Olde Tavern Alarcon doesn't do too badly either. Here you see the Old King, King Tata, CinderMelissa's paternal grandfather doing Jello shots! You go King!



And when the Jello won't come out of the cup, take a spoon to it, no shame in that!
Ahhhh, some of the peasants...up to no good! Are they about to steal CinderMelissa's birthday presents?

Yes, yes...that is what they are doing. I see one of the thieves wearing the crown! He's stealing the Crown Jewels and the Royal Scepter! And the other thief is trying to abscond with the Royal Laptop! But wait, it looks like Sheriff IkieDillo is coming to the rescue. Save us Sheriff Ikie!

There's the thief! Sheriff IkieDillo has caught him red handed!
Go Sheriff Ikie. That's the treacherous thief Freddie the Terrible! He can fight Sheriff Ikie all he wants, but he's not going to get way!

Sheriff Ikie giving Freddie the Terrible the worst punishment in the land. A tickle party from Dora the Explorer. Freddie won't soon forget this horrible punishment!

And that's all for now from the Land of Alarcon where they all lived...HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

Sciatica, Sciatica, Over the hills to Attica?

This has been the first time I have been able to blog since a bout of Sciatica hit me on Sunday afternoon while attempting to spring clean my closet!

For those that aren't aware of what Sciatica is it's is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, and/or various parts of the leg and foot. In addition to pain, which is sometimes severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness, pins and needles or tingling and difficulty in moving or controlling the leg. Typically, the symptoms are only felt on one side of the body.

My pain is on the left side of my body from the butt to my knee. So I guess I broke my butt!

I think I've sat long enough because it's starting to hurt again. I'm off to take a happy pill and take a nap. Not voluntarily though, it's the happy pills that knock me out.

A Puppy Named Chorizo

I think it's been way too long since I've done a post on the most adorable puppy ever!! My daughter April's puppy Chorizo.

April sends me pictures all the time of Chorizo from her cell phone. The other day she tried to take Chorizo to the dog park but the ground was too wet due to all the rain so she took her to a regular park where she found out soon enough that Chorizo is a duck hunter!

There was a small pond with ducks in it and Chorizo went straight for it and barked and barked at them until she could take it no more and she dove in to go get them.

Now mind you, I'm not a dog person so I didn't know that dogs automatically know how to swim. Probably where the name dog-paddle comes from right? But my first though was, "Oh my gosh, how did you get her back?" Oh wait, it wasn't a thought; those words actually came out of my mouth. April very calmly told me, "She swam back to me Mom" I could here the "duh" even though she didn't say it :-)

This puppy is such a sweetheart with such a great personality and she loves everyone and immediately rolls over on her back for a belly rub!

And you know what else this puppy is? She's polite. April sent me this picture and I couldn't figure out what she was doing.

It kind of looks like story time at the library right? But what's actually happening is the lady in the picture brings puppy treats for the puppies and Chorizo was patiently waiting her turn! Isn't that amazing? I love this puppy!

I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at Little Red House. Please stop by and see what other mosaics everyone is sharing this week!

Sunday Favorites - Measuring Cups

 Sunday Favorites over at Chari's Place, Happy to Design. I hope you enjoy this favorite from November 30, 2008. Wow! I've been blogging quite a while now.

FAVORITE POST 

FROM NOVEMBER 30, 2008

 I was going back through the archives of one of my favorite blogs, Joanna Goddard's, A Cup of Jo. And I saw these cute measuring cups...

I thought to myself, “Self…would there perhaps be other cute measuring cups on the worldwide web?” And there were, lots of them.

I like the look of these because they stack, but they're pretty. And they would probably wash up really well, not like plastic. I would definitely like these in my kitchen.

And I would also be super happy to have either one of these in my kitchen. I think they're so fanciful and almost like what I would have wanted when I was a little girl, and we should never lose our inner child should we?

This one I want sooooooooo bad for my sister. She likes anything to do with the ocean and she would love these seashell measuring cups. Maybe I'll order them for her birthday? It's not til next year in October. Surely by then I can save enough money?

And these next ones would be perfect for my mom's kitchen because she has very limited space and doesn't like anything that takes up a lot of room. So collapsible measuring cups would be perfect for her.
On this next group the only ones I really love are the magnetic ones that attach directly to your stove. These others are very pretty, especially because you can hang them and they're so decorative, but to me their cold, there's no warmth to them. What do you think?

The rest of these I just thought were unique and you can probably only find these in antique stores, or perhaps eBay?

And these would be great in you want to get kids involved in cooking because they're such fun shapes and colors. It would be really hard to lose these don't you think?

Do you remember what kind of measuring cups your mom had in the kitchen when you were growing up?

Sock it to Me Baby!!! A Blast from the Past

Do you remember the Bee Gee's, John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever, Disco, Donna Summer? Do you remember Pop Rocks, Pet Rocks, Mood Rings and Lava Lamps? Do you remember Flower Power, Polyester, Smiley Faces and The Hustle?

Well I'm about to show you pictures of people who dug way down deep into their memories and returned us all to the "1970's".

The CAPC put on a great party this past Friday night where the theme was the 70's.

First, the grooviest of chicks, my sister Lisa!

Peace my Sista!

"Make Love, Not War"
Unknown

We had so much fun, from the picking out of the costume to the hair and makeup session before the party. This was the first time Lisa had worn fake eyelashes and she picked some gorgeous, glittery purpley ones! She added the bright green eyeliner and she looked perfect!

When we got out of the elevator and turned the corner we ran into these characters and I don't think we quit smiling and laughing the rest of the night! 

"Old hippies don't die, 

they just lie low until the laughter stops 

and their time comes round again."

Joseph Gallivan

"I do my thing, and you do your thing. 

I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, 

and you are not in this world to live up to mine. 

You are you, and I am I, 

and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful."
Frederick E. Perl

We also had a surprise guest join us. 
The one and only Gene Simmons from K I S S !
(Not the real Gene Simmons) Like my disclaimer?

C'mon people, now 
smile on your brother, 
ev'ry-body get together, 
try to love one another right now.
Chet Powers/Youngbloods 

"I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one.  
And I believe it could be someday it's going to come."
Cat Stevens  

"Imagine no possessions, 

I wonder if you can, 

No need for greed or hunger, 

A brotherhood of man. 

Imagine all the people 

Sharing all the world. "
John Lennon