Life stages

I have spent a little time looking at old pictures while waiting for my wounds to heal and since I have nothing to really blog about I thought I would give you a glimpse at how I developed into the gorgeous beauty queen you see above.

I was a bald baby, didn't grow hair until I was almost 2 or maybe 3.
(OK, I think that's a picture of my mother but I looked just like her when I was that age.)

Once I grew hair, grow it I did. My hair and I, we have always had a love/hate thing going.

I had a thing for milking cows, if I saw a cow, I milked it, OK, I was a little freaky that way. (well, in other ways too but that's another blog post) This was obviously before my love of pigs, which by the way, I never tried to milk.

My mother made that dress. It started my love of frilly flowery dresses. OK, truth is I thought that dress was hideous but my mom made it, so I wore it, once. Those white socks and pointy shoes complete that dashing ensemble. I would probably wear those pointy shoes today but not with white socks.

Army pants, green shiny belt, black tube top, long hair tied back, can you say "HAWT"? yeah, me neither.

I know, I know, What the fuck happened to my bangs? It also looks like something is wrong with one of my eyes. And how about that long hair curl on my shoulder? Once you stop focusing on all that, I was pretty cute, huh? Little did I know that the red bow in my hair would be a precursor to my current love of all hair adornment. (refer back to current picture, top of post)

So there you have it, a little bit of me. A sample of who I was then which led to the beauty that is me now. I have a few more pictures which I may or may not post. Depends on who begs and how many of you looked past the bangs and saw the cuteness.

Starting off with a bang

As you may know 2008 was a year I would like to forget. But being the optimist I would like to think I am , I was looking forward to "new beginnings" in 2009. New Years eve was filled with "happy new year" wishes and someone went as far as to tell me that with 2009 I had "nowhere to go but up". Bullshit I thought but my optimism responded, with "yeah, I am sure it will be better". Bullshit.

2 days into the new year and I am starting off with a bang. Well it was actually a fall, yep, I fell, down the stairs. Yep, I had nowhere to go but down. And down I went. (it wasn't "going down" in a good way either!) I am cut, scrapped and bruised. I also have a lovely bump on my head. And damn, I ache all over.Thats my knee, which faired pretty well because I was wearing jeans at the time. This morning the beginning's of a lovely bruise is in the development stage. And it hurts to put pressure on it.
This lovely picture is my forearm. It's also bruised and swollen this morning.

This is my elbow, taken last night before it started sporting a lovely shade of purple, it's swollen and uglier than this picture shows.

I also have a few other scrapes and bruises. Including one nice round bruise on my very nice round ass. Which I tried taking a picture of but frankly I am just not ready to share pictures of my nice bruised ass with you. Not that I don't trust you or anything. It's just that since you have yet to see my Happy naked dance (which I haven't done in a while for obvious reasons) then I don't think you should be privy to pictures of my nice bruised ass. You have to see the whole me before you can put the ass part in perspective. Maybe after a few shots of Puerto Rican moonshine you can talk me into it, but for now, you just have to take my word for how badly bruised my ass is. And my back, did I mention that my back is also scrapped and bruised? I am walking slowly because everything hurts. Trying to stand from a sitting position takes a moment because I can't put much pressure on my knee. Yeah 2009 , nowhere to go but up, fucking bullshit. Not that I'm bitter or anything ...

The optimist in me keeps whispering that this is just a minor set back, the accident could have been much worse, I have no broken bones, I still have the ability to swear, it could have been worse. And as I bandaged up all the bleeding parts last night (I didn't want to get blood on my sheets, I am so practical that way) I kept thinking yes, it could have been worse, I am just starting the year off with a bang, perhaps just getting the bad out of the way early. There's nowhere to go but up. Optimism ... my nice bruised ass, what bullshit! Please tune in tomorrow my optimism might be back by then.

We Three Kings

As most of you are now winding down from all the holiday festivities, I am still stuck in holiday hell. In Puerto Rico the party continues until 3 kings day. (January 6) Supposedly our best gifts are yet to come. Ya see santa only brings the small stuff to the island but the 3 Kings they bring the good stuff. The gifts and wishes we really long for. (maybe that's when my goat arrives)

El dia the los Reyes as it is known here in Puerto Rico is also known as the feast of the Epiphany. Epiphany derived from the Greek word epiphania meaning revelation is based on the biblical story that tells of the Magi or 3 kings (Caspar, Melchoir and Balthasar) who saw a bright light on the night Christ was born and followed it to Bethlehem. There they found the Christ child and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 3 kings day is also known as little Christmas, and the Twelfth night. 3 Kings day is the official end of the holiday season's "twelve days" of Christmas, counting from Christmas December 25th to the Epiphany on January 6th.

Because you know I love keeping you informed here's a little info on the 3 Kings:

El Rey Melchoir was the Sultan of Arabia. He was the oldest of the Magi and was considered a small and gentle man. Melchor had a long white beard and wore elegant crimson robes. His gift was gold which was much used by the Hebrews for the Temple and was plentiful in the time of David and Solomon. Gold was not coined until after the reign of King David, was an article of commerce and was sold by weight. Saint Melchor's feast day is January 7th. Saint Melchor's figure always goes before the other Kings in a manger scene.

El Rey Baltazar was a Nubian King and ruler of Ethiopia. Baltazar was dressed in exquisite robes. As were all the Kings. His gift was myrrh, a precious and aromatic resin that comes from the bark of thorny African trees and symbolized suffering. Myrrh was a precious commodity in the Middle East. It was one of the ingredients of the holy ointment, (Exodus 30:23), and an embalming substance. (John19:39) It is also used in medicine and as a perfume. Legend tells us that Baltazar died soon after seeing the Christ child, in the presence of the other Wise Men. Saint Baltazar's feast day is January 8th.

El Rey Gaspar was Emperor of the Orient and ruled over all oriental lands. His clothes were gilded in gold. King Caspars gift was frankincense, an exceedingly aromatic gum used as sacred incense for temple services. It is distilled from a tree in Arabia. Frankincense was priceless, the "in" gift for kings and symbolized prayer. It was burned in temples to honor God. It is said the Gaspar traveled the furthest to visit the Christ child. Saint Gaspar's feast day is January 6th.

Traditionally kids all over the island will be searching for boxes, will be filling them with hay, camels (as happens with reindeer) do get hungry on long journeys, placing the box under their bed on January 5th. Then they will go to sleep because as with Santa, if you have to be asleep for the 3 Kings to show up. The next morning the hay is gone and in it's place presents! I'm on a quest to find a box perfect in size for a baby goat, I just have to figure out how to get the damn thing under my bed.

There will be plenty of merriment, roasted pork, arroz con gandules, a hell of a lot of moonshine and music so loud you can't hear yourself think. But at days end the holidays will be over, officially. Well almost over because on January 7th it's my birthday and no holiday season is complete without celebrating the day of my birth.