The last few days at this house seem like something from the pages Ken Kesey's book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I believe I would be Chief, the chronic, I am in this "ward" for life--come good or bad. I know you were thinking I would be Nurse Rached caring for all my young charges with the proverbial iron fist but not this week, oh no, this week I'm Chief. Somewhere between Monday and Tuesday night I have been driven to insanity.

What drove me there? Fashion. Not my fashion. Maddi's fashion. Fashion crisis.

Maddi would be like McMurphy, she isn't crazy by any stretch of the imagination but she is looking at life in this house as kind of an institution that is a nice break from life; a place to relax, have a few free meals, erupt in a little power struggle ( I guess there are moments when I am Nurse Rached) and...have a nightly fashion melt down.

If I recall properly the patients in Cuckoo's Nest existed nicely in there hospital issued garb.

Monday Maddi sat in her room till nearly 11pm in full fledged emotional melt down over what to wear to school Tuesday. Only to wake on Tuesday morning presenting herself in the kitchen wearing running shorts, a T-shirt, hooded zip-up sweatshirt and Nike sneakers. Aaaaaahhhhhh! All that for a bum be comfortable outfit.

Dare I reflect upon what her room looked like in the aftermath of the meltdown. Demi described her room as "the jungle". An appropriate and acceptable description.

Then last night what should have been an easy pull of the new shirt from the closest--purchased for school picture day--returned us to the place we left off on Monday night.

Maddi has a passion for ladies handbags. She owns more purses than I care to count. So when I suggested humorously, with a touch of seriousness, that she scrap finding a shirt that made her feel good and just hold a beautiful handbag in front her chest...well invision best you can a 13 year old female in the prime of raging and bursting hormones. Enough said!

Fast forward...Maddi woke this morning wearing nothing that danced across the room in the frenzy trial run of fashion picks. However the choice was quite satisfactory. A handpainted bead necklace that once belonged to her grandmother draped around her neck added just a bit more touch of color to her top of choice. The loose curls that enveloped her face were a sweet touch for school picture day.

I report tonight she has drifted off to sleep minus any dramatic course.

Peace has returned to our lil'nest.

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Now I don't know about you but I am sure to rest much easier tonight just knowing that Suri Cruise's physical presence has been introduced. Praise be to Vanity Fair. Really this country can rest easy, no the world, no the universe...that is it the universe has not been rotating on its axis properly till now in its anxious waiting to see the little Tomkat.

So there you have it two reasons I'll have a good night's sleep.

gute Nacht meine Freunde.