A Needle in a Haystack

So, to my surprise, my dad actually came to visit me today (Daddio has a slight history in bailing out on me), and we went to dinner, grabbed some Cold Stone ice cream, and then enjoyed one of my favorite past times: a fall drive. I absolutely LOVE fall drives. They combine 2 of my favorite things, which are beautiful fall colors and viewing great architecture. My area in St. Louis has some very interesting older homes, and the vibrant colors of the trees make them look even more interesting and appealing.

However, while on our drive throughout University City and Clayton, I was overwhelmed at the amount of Obama/Biden support signs in several yards. Actually, being the avid McCain/Palin supporter that I am, I was quite grossed out by them.

When I look out my own front door, I see several Obama/Biden signs polluting the yards down the street... not to mention the obnoxious one found in my own front yard. I was obviously not the one to put that crap in the yard... that faux pas goes to the landlord. Of course, I ordered a campaign sign to put on the other half of the yard... and I unfortunately didn't read the fine print on my lease. Apparently, no yard signs are allowed by the tenant. Pshhh.

BUT my landlord, being the swell guy and friend that he is, allowed me to put a McCain/Palin sign in the yard... with one stipulation: it could only be 2X2... INCHES. Me, being the smart ass that I am, jumped on it. I immediately went to work making a 2 inch by 2 inch campaign sign. That sign can barely be seen by the naked eye, but it is proudly displayed in the front yard. For any McCain/Palin supporter living in U-City, my little sign might be like finding a needle in a haystack... it's small and ranges from difficult to impossible to find, but it's awesome when it's found! Thanks for the smidge of political freedom, Jeff. :)

So... it's almost one day from E-day, and the polls are continuing to tighten up. My friends, THE MAC IS BACK!

P.S. Apparently the landlord and I were on the same brainwave the other night. These signs have been in the front yard for a few weeks now, and we both coincidentally decided to write a blog about our political battle. His story is crap, but you can read it and have a laugh here at Pomranka.net.

Candlelight on Halloween Night

Well, I'm sitting here on the couch (like the loser that I am) in my candlelit living room waiting for my favorite Halloween movie to download... Young Frankenstein. It's taking awhile to download, so it gave me a chance to think about how quickly October has completely flown by! Thanksgiving is LESS than a month away! Can you believe it?

October has been filled with its ups and downs... I think enough ups to carry me through the downs. Last week, some hooligan through a boulder through my front driver side car window and stole my iPod. Gotta love city life, huh? So, until I had a spare moment to contact my insurance, I covered the window with clear plastic. As my luck would have it, the next two days brought rain, and I had to meet my boss the next day for a Trivia Night meeting in Chesterfield. On my way to meet her, the wind took hold of my plastic and my shield from the rain was gone. Luckily, I was able to park in the parking garage at St. John's Hospital at our meeting place. 

More trouble occurred on the next day, which was last Friday. I made a quick stop to the DSA office before I was on my way to my boss Julie's house for her kids Matthew and Natalie's birthday party. When I came back to my car to leave, it wouldn't start. Apparently, my anti-theft system had kicked in. Crap. So, I called the tower and my car was hauled away... no party for me.

After hanging around the office for a couple more hours, I decided to walk the 2 1/2 miles home. Again, as my luck would have it, it began to rain when I still had at least a mile to go. When I finally had gotten home, Michelle felt sorry for me and was awesome enough to let me borrow her car for the birthday party. (I had spent about 3 hours the night before carving "Happy Birthday Natalie" and "Happy Birthday Matthew" pumpkins, so I was super bummed). The Friday night traffic SUCKED getting to the party, but I'm glad I got to go.

From Friday until Wednesday, I was stranded without a car. Aside from Michelle letting me borrow her car again on Saturday for work at the salon, I had to miss one shift at the salon and walk that 2 1/2 miles to work at the DSA on Monday and Tuesday. 

My series of unfortunate events was topped off with a black eye that knocked its way onto my face Tuesday morning. I had decided that my backpack would be more conducive for my long walk to work.. and of course it was on the tip-top shelf of my closet. Typical me was too lazy to get a chair to stand on to retrieve it, and the jump-and-reach caused my massive tote of purses to come tumbling down... and my reflexes were too slow to perform a successful duck and cover. Julie promptly gave me a "P" to pin on my shirt to turn me into a "Black Eyed P."

Since the last few days had brought some hard knocks in the Ashley world, my mom knew just the thing to cheer me up: a trip to the pumpkin patch! She drove out of her way to pick me up to go to the Eckert's Fun Farm in Millstadt with herself, Peyton, and Alex for a fun-filled fall day and a delicious dinner at Cracker Barrel (mmm, Chicken n' Dumplings!) Peyton had and absolute BLAST and it was great to see Alex since I never, ever see her anymore. We went on a hayride (Peyton's favorite part) to pick some apples and some pumpkins.

We also bought Peyton's Halloween costume... and of course, I wouldn't let him leave without trying it on. We chose a black cat because he does a super adorable cat sound... what a studmuffin.

And of course, me being the Republican that I am, I decided to carve my pumpkins accordingly. Needless to say, I'm quite proud of them. (Pardon some visible wires on the Palin pumpkin... there were some tedious areas that ended up requiring some minor facial reconstructive surgery.)

Speaking of the election, I have come to the decision that I have become to emotionally invested in this whole thing. Anyone who knows me knows that I wholeheartedly love Sarah Palin, and all of the media crapping on her has really started to upset me for the past few weeks. I seem to be watching Fox News 24/7 these days, and I'm remaining hopeful that America will make the right decision for our country and vote McCain/Palin. Osama- er, Obama- just has waaaaay too many links to some really shady people... not to mention the lack of experience to run our country in a time of trouble.  Why is everyone so blinded by his charisma? Oh well, hopefully my stress and emotional turmoil will end on Tuesday. The polls are tightening up... so hopefully things will go well.

The remainder of the weekend brings me working tomorrow evening (unfortunately), but hopefully plans will work out and Dad and Alex will pay me a visit. I haven't seen my dad in about 2 months... so hopefully I can enjoy a nice free dinner :) and visit with him.

Busy Beaver

Well, I guess the last time I wrote was when my computer was on the fritz. Thankfully, the Apple rockstars were able to back my stuff up... and didn't charge me the $150 fee! What what!

Anywho, all of August and September has passed by, and a lot has happened. For one, I moved to St. Louis, and I am really enjoying myself so far. I'm only about 1-2 miles from the Down Syndrome Association, so it takes very little time and gas. I've been keeping busy there... since July, we've had the annual Walk in the Park (which was a big hit), I've successfully completed the design of the 2009 calendar, and we just had our Harvest Moon Wine & Cheese tasting event. I'll be really bummed when I have to leave there, but I guess I need to make those dollaz somehow.

Also, probably one of the main things that happened since I last posted is that I am now another year older... which means that my buddy Peytie Pie is also another year older. What a studmuffin. Just the other day, he took his first unassisted step! His therapist thinks that he'll probably be taking a couple steps by Halloween, so we'll see. Every time I see him, he always has a new "trick." The latest is that he can sneeze on command. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen! We will fake a sneeze, he concentrates, and then actually sneezes! He's really become quite the pro at mimicking... anything from an action, to a sound, to an expression. He's a smart little guy, and he's starting to catch on to life. Now that I live closer I get to see him about once a week, and he continues to amaze me every time.

Well, anywho, I'm off to pack for Carbondale! I can't wait to see my loves and have a splendid time! I love Carbondale in the fall!

Oh, and Shannon, since you're probably the only person who ever reads my blog, I miss you most of all. I can't wait.

Help me, Genius Bar!

You might not get a good post from me for a while... my computer is having an issue. The screen is black and won't do anything. SO, make sure and say a little prayer tonight that my friends at the Apple Genius Bar can help and bring my computer back to life. I have an appointment at the Galleria at 2:00 tomorrow... and losing my stuff would be a DISASTER. Eeep!

"Why do blessings wear disguises? If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked." -Sophia Petrillo

I've watched and laughed at The Golden Girls since I was a little kid (weird, I know), and I was so bummed to hear about the death of Estelle Getty/Sophia Petrillo yesterday. She was so cute, and she was such a riot on the show. I know she had been sick for a long time, so I'm hoping she's in a better place now... and NOT at Shady Pines. So, R.I.P. Sophia, and thank you for being a friend.

I'm also quite bummed tonight because my mom took my adorable and incredibly moody dog Lilly back home. I'd been keeping here here in Collinsville for the past couple weeks and she had been such great company. She's very easy to irritate, but boy can she cuddle! My bed is quiet tonight without her loud snoring next to me. Here are a couple pictures to highlight the time that Lil spent here with me: 

I also decided to take Lilly to my personal beauty shop and gave her one massive haircut. She was NOT happy... but given the result, I can't say that I blame her. But in my defense, she wouldn't hold still!  (notice her uneven mustache) Pretty bad, huh?

However, on a much happier note, I got to see my brother/favorite buddy Peyton today! I hadn't seen little Petey in about a month, and beli me, he's not so little anymore! I swear he grew an inch! It's crazy- he's dropping the baby fat and looking less like a baby and more like a little boy. He scoots all around the house, cruises around the furniture, and he even climbed a couple stairs last week. He says "Ash" (Ath), "Alex" (A-ekth), and a broken version of "I love you," and has an extensive portfolio of sign language knowledge. His newest sign is "swim." It's funny, mom's frustrated that he says mine and Alex's name, but still calls her "Nana" instead of "Mama." haha. Since I hadn't seen him in so long I wondered if he would fully remember me, but he smiled at me and right away said "Ath." Mom told him that they he was going to see me. Aww.

I joined Petey and mom at Petey's walking therapy appointment (he's made a lot of progress), and then we chose to eat lunch at P.F. Changs, a favorite of mine. I think mom likes it when I'm around because I assume all Peyton duty and it gives her a break. I enjoy it, and Peyton likes having his freedom to be a little monkey under my care... and mom is relieved to get a break from the kid's never ending energy.

But my day ending with unfortunately having to go to work, but when I came home, Joy had made a super chocolately and fabulously rich cake. Needless to say I overindulged and I had probably the least healthy supper that I have ever had in my entire life. Eh, you only live once, right? After that "dinner," my one time of living might have decreased a bit.

What Should Ferris Do?

Well, if Ferris Bueller ever gets another day off, he should go to Six Flags. That's what Joy and I did today on our days off, and it was fabulous. Joy has a season pass and gave me one of her vouchers to get me in too, so we had a grand day on an extremely low budget. AND, even though we had a lot of fun, this day was most definitely not void of Joy and Ashley's innate ability to have unfortunate luck multiple times throughout the day.

We spent a good chunk of the day at the Hurricane Harbor water park, of course, 1) because it was 90+ degrees and sunny and 2) because there are few things that we love more than a good splash down a water slide. Well, when we got in, Joy got in line to get a locker to put our crap in ( I won't even tell you how much that cost because you would wet yourself with shock), and I got in line to get us each an $8 (!) tube. SO, we lugged these darn tubes into the crowded locker room (which I'm sure the other people did not appreciate), threw our junk in the locker, and walked in our bare feet on the hot concrete into the park. Come to find out, we could have worn our shoes in the park and put them in cubbies, but that's a disappointment in and of itself. So imagine us, lugging these huge tubes around this water park, and then imagine the looks on our faces when we realize that we didn't even need them in the first place! Neither of us had been to Hurricane Harbor in a long, long time, so we assumed that you needed to rent these tubes in order to ride on the slides. Come to find out, tubes are provided... who knew? Okay, I'm sure everyone but us knew. So, we took a spin on the lazy river, and then we found a really intense and hasty dad that we sold our tubes to for $5 each. We ended up losing a few bucks, but oh well.

So after our hunger was overtaking our ability to see straight, we went into the amusement park, ate a mammoth turkey leg, and rode some rides. Well, apparently Six Flags doesn't allow you to carry your bags onto rides now, so we rented a ride locker near the Excalibur for $1. After standing in some long and some short lines, we saved our favorite- The Batman- for last. There was absolutely no line, and we walked the 3 miles down and up the path to get to the ride only to find that the ride was temporarily closed for a problem. They didn't know how long it would take to fix, but we were stubborn and decided to wait. So after about 10 minutes of waiting we rode it, then returned to our locker to get our stuff.

Well, the locker "key" was a barcode printed on a piece of paper, and I was incredibly proud of myself for not losing it and even keeping it relatively dry after riding Thunder River and the Log Flume since I tend to lose things more often than not. So as I was scanning it to open the locker, Joy reads a small sign that noted that locker use was limited to 2 hours... we had been using it for a good 4! Needless to say, our locker wouldn't open, and we had to find some master key guy to come and open it. Even more needless to say, he wasn't happy.

Oh, and we also didn't bring sunscreen, so you can decide the conclusion on that one.

Amusement parks are great, but they really know how to get ya on all of the little extra costs... and they also really get my mind thinking about all of the nasty hands that have touched the handrails and sweaty bodies that have sat on the rides. And don't even get me started on the pools in the water park... you might as well have someone come and just pee directly on me. EW. All that's enough to make me gag on a bit of vomit.

But really, we had a blast... it was great to actually do something for a change. I have officially decided that when I make my millions, there will most definitely be an intense roller coaster and a mile-long water slide in my bag yard. All of my readers are invited over for a party. Joy and I have also decided that we would like to use the roller coaster as an alternative to a hair dryer, because it works and it's a heck of a lot more fun.

On a final note, check out this picture my mom e-mailed to me. My family went to Boston for the National Down Syndrome Conference last week, so apparently this is a picture of Peyton with a Boston crab hat on. I haven't asked yet, but I really hope they bought this for him. I think it will be a great conversation piece at home.

I'm BAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!

I got a little frisky (and bored) today so I decided to pull up my old blog that I had to do for my Interactive Advertising class. (All of those old posts suck, not to mention they're boring, so pretend they're not even there.

I guess I don't particularly have anything to 

actually blog about, but I figured it might be interesting to pull this up down the road and l

augh about how incredibly uneventful my life used to be... granted it's more eventful down the road.

By some miracle of God I have the evening off tonight and I didn't go into the office today, so it's been quite nice. I slept in, scruffled with my doggie for a bit, watched the E! True Hollywood Story documenting the life of Heath Ledger, sat 

on the deck to give myself a bit of sun coloring, and took a shower. I just finished up with a nice bowl of cold watermelon and I'm relaxing on the couch while the doggie snores next to me. I'm really going to hate when Mom comes to get her next week- she's been great company.

Joysie and I are going to look at our (hopefully) new place tonight. I'm pretty stoked. I'm not really looking forward to the actual act moving again since I just did 2 months ago, but whatever, I'll be glad to move into the city. I g

uess I have apartment ADD... but hopefully I'll sta

y in one place for a little while. Frankly, I'm just tired of having to get my mail forwarded to new addresses. Post Office people are NOT jolly.

My final thought, I haven't seen a good sunset like this in a while. This is from when I was home last month: