I’ll have to ask Super Yoshi to have a looksie… sorry to the 1.25 of you out there who still stop by to see if I’m alive…

1) Yes, I’m alive.
2) More importantly, I’ve reconnected with Ashlyn…and that’s going well. I sure missed her!
3) I’ve been playing too much WoW again…but it’s fun… and the expansion comes out next week.
4) Despite all the above… I promise to write more… I’ve actually had some funny stuff to say, but I refer you to #3, as to why I haven’t been saying it.

:O

EDIT: OK I’m fixed!!! And so is my website! /snicker And… *beams* I think I did it without the assistance of Super Yoshi! (But, probably not, he likely ninjaed in here and did something.)

I’m really enjoying American Idol this year. I really wish that Kristy Lee Cook girl would have gone home for her crime against “8 Days a Week”.

Life keeps going by so fast and I seriously doubt any of you would be interested in what I have to say. Oddly, that’s where I was before I started to blog back in 2006…so maybe you WOULD be interested.

Ashlyn got accepted to the college of her choice. She’ll be staying at home, at least for the first year, since it’s just down the street a few miles. I hope she sticks with it and finishes her degree. Now we just await the end of her Senior year. She goes to her senior trip next month, 4 days at Disneyworld in Orlando. Lucky her, I didn’t choose to be a chaperone. LOL

Insomnia is still a part of my daily life. I am going to have a sleep study done next Friday. Of course, that begs the question…how can they do a sleep study on me, if I don’t really sleep? Hmmmm…

In case you were wondering where Canadians go for vacation…it’s Myrtle Beach. I’ve been trying to think of sneaky ways to get them to say “aboot”…but so far, I’ve not been successful.

First, Ashlyn turned 18 on October 2. She informed me she was going to “ride that ass!” then she giggled as I picked my heart & jaw up off the floor. She was of course, referring to the donkey at the Fiesta del Burro Loco. Ai yi yi.

Then on October 5, she wrecked our Cadillac…

I received a phone call from Ashlyn beginning with “Mom, first let me say, it’s not my fault.” You can imagine my thoughts at that moment. I have to say, I’m quite proud of how she dealt with her first wreck. She was calm as a cucumber through the whole ordeal and not one tear was shed.

As she was leaving school, the girl driving the car behind Ashlyn was fumbling with a radio or something and plowed into the back of Ashlyn, sending her into the car ahead of her. In total, 4 teenager vehicles were involved, and ours was the only one that had major damage. Most importantly, no one was hurt. Cars can be replaced, kiddos can not.

The insurance company totalled our car. ::mourn paid-for Cadillac::

Halloween was fun. We got a new jack-o-lantern kit courtesy of Mr. Potato Head. Ashlyn and her boyfriend (also acquired during my blog vacation) Elliott assembled our “Pirate” with the help of one of our neighbor kids.

And I hung out in the yard again…

Ashlyn bought her first car in mid-November with some help from Grandparents and us!

She wrecked it 6 weeks later…

Amazingly, this one wasn’t her fault either. However, the jackass who backed in to her while on his cell phone and not looking (a 44-year old man, no less) lied to both the police and his insurance company that she had hit him, defying the laws of physics…his insurance company initially denied our claim…

I should have been a detective/lawyer…they say that pictures are worth 1000 words. In this case, it was worth just over $1200. There was a perfect mirror image of her tire and the word “Rotation” on his bumper. We argued how could this image be so clear if her car was in motion? He clearly, hit her. He also was paying so little attention, he didn’t even realize which side of his truck was involved. I also pointed out that inaccuracy. End result: a check to repair her damage and a rental car voucher for the time it’ll be in the shop. Lesson I hope that jackass learns: Don’t F*** with tiggerprr’s daughter and stop being a big, fat liar!. Lesson I hope Ashlyn learns: Honesty and a billion pictures of everything is the best policy.

And she wonders why I hesitate to let her drive my car…

Hubby has a growth coming out of his head…

And Ashlyn and I get to go to the Democratic Presidential Debate held here in Myrtle Beach this coming Monday…woo! I’m more excited for her, since this is almost like being a small part of history.

How have YOU been?

Ashlyn had her wisdom teeth extracted today, all of them. Here’s a nice picture of her in recovery just before she used her cell phone to communicate the above statement to me…

She was quite amusing to me, since she kept explaining how good she felt (through a mouth filled with gauze) and wrote that she felt like Angelina Jolie (I assume her lips were feeling plump – either that or she had delusions that she was going to go home to Brad Pitt. hehe). She even spelled out a few lyrics from James Brown’s “I Feel Good” in between moments of complete stupor. Yes, I saved those post-it note ramblings for posterity too.

She’s now on the couch, sleeping the drugs off and icing her jaws. Being 17, and a (if I do say so myself) not hideous looking kid, she was pretty concerned about how fat her cheeks looked. I think she looks pretty good for having four wisdom teeth removed and I have to say I’m quite proud of how she went into this day. I asked her if she was scared on the way in to the oral surgeon’s office and she replied that she wasn’t, that she’d be asleep and that it would stop her other teeth from hurting when she eats (as they had been lately). She held my hand as they put her under, and then wanted a hug when they brought me back to their recovery area.

Despite the discomfort I know this is causing her, I’d say she took it like a trooper.

It’s interesting to me, the dynamic of loving someone so much that you are willing to yell, coax and cajole them into doing something that’s painful to them, for their greater good. Such is the foundation of parenthood I suppose.

I’m still hating my job. Just waiting for that moment that I can give them my notice and move to greener pastures it will only be the 3rd time I’ve ever quit a job to go to a different one. It has never ceased to amaze me that companies whose primary function is to provide other companies with human resource “expertise” never fail to treat their own employees like dirt. Yet, I stay in the industry… go figure. Codependant anyone? LOL

I’ve been watching “So You Think You Can Dance” this season, I love this show, and I don’t know why! Perhaps it’s the sadist in me that enjoys turning to look at my hubby to make sure he’s watching, when I know he’d rather have badgers nibbling at some tender spot on his body than to be watching this show voluntarily. Noooo, I’m not that mean… much. I couldn’t believe they tossed that poor girl this week (can’t remember her name!), I thought her and Pasha (notice I DO remember HIS name) looked smoking hot together and danced well. ::sigh:: My guess is they were afraid she’d keel over dead in the middle of a routine. The world will never know. I do think that Pasha will be hosed now for a partner, hope that doesn’t cost him in the big picture.

Evan Almighty, go see it. It was better than Bruce Almighty, IMO. Those of you who’ve read my blog for a while know that I do not cry at many movies. I did get misty at one point when all the animals were there waiting to get on the ark. I get misty at the beginning of “The Lion King” when all the animals are heading to Pride Rock to see Simba for the first time. What on earth is it about the majesty of all animalkind congregating that thaws my icy heart so? It’s so embarassing but yeah, animals get me all choked up.

So, that’s what’s been going on in my 100 Acre Woods. How are all of you?