Could it be...

I am hesitant to say anything, lest I jinx myself. But it appears that the cloud of suck may be lifting.

By the grace of the techno gods, my irretrievable data has been retrieved. No thanks to the Geek Squad, who told me there was no hope. Hey Geek Squad? Screw you. Got my data back.

I took Carlie on another ortho consult yesterday, and this orthodontist proposed a much more conservative course of treatment, though conservative does not = less costly. Help me figure this out, because I really do not know what to think.

Ortho 1: pull four baby teeth now, wait six months, pull four more baby teeth, wait for permanent teeth to come in and pull four permanent teeth, put on braces.

Ortho 2: pull two baby teeth now, put in a spacer, let permanent teeth come in and baby teeth fall out, then put on braces and an expander. Never remove any permanent teeth unless we absolutely have to.

I like the less teeth pully plan. But that's just because getting teeth pulled? ick. So how can two respected professionals in the same field have such wildly different approaches? And how am I supposed to know which one to choose?

Decisions, decisions. Things I am considering: Prices are about the same. Ortho 2 is located 10 blocks from my house as opposed to Ortho 1, 3-4 miles down the highway. Things Carlie is considering: Ortho 1 has swank prizes in his toy chest. Then again, Ortho 2 gave her a light-up toothbrush.

Even though the braces stuff is on the distant horizon, we have to make a decision soon about which course we are going to follow, because some of the baby teeth that Ortho 1 wants to pull now have cavities. So if we're not going to pull them, we need to fill them.

On the non-tooth front, I got a call yesterday from an attorney with Allstate who is "representing us in a lawsuit" which, until I got the phone call, I did not know existed.

My son rear-ended someone two days before his 18th birthday. Because he was not 18, I was the legal owner of the car. He was also on our family insurance policy. His car was totalled because it was a little P.O.S. Suzuki Esteem that went under the bumper of the car in front of him, a Pontiac Thunderbird. The Thunderbird had minimal bumper damage. I took pictures of everything.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I get the phone call that we are being sued for close to $80k for this accident. Our insurance covers us to $100k, so we're not in any personal danger here. But Allstate wants to fight it because they feel confident that the damages claimed are excessive (gee, you think?). I was the picture of calmness and zen during this phone call, as opposed to my normal picture of hand-wringing and freaking out.

I don't even know where I was going with this. I just got distracted by the phone call to schedule my $800 friggin' tune up. I'm on a mission to drive my 2001 Montero for the rest of my life. I made this announcement sometime over the summer, and my husband pointed out that in order to do this, I should probably be a little bit more diligent about scheduling maintenance. Turns out, I've never had a tune up and apparently that's, like, a thing you're supposed to do somewhat regularly. Am I really supposed to know this stuff? And if so, why don't I?

Also on the SHIT IS EXPENSIVE FRONT, I've called a spending freeze for the rest of the month of September. NO ONE CAN BUY ANYTHING with the exception of grocery items and cleaning supplies. No iTunes downloads, no new books, no clothes, no boat motors, no chainsaws. It's an experiment. I'll let you know how it goes.

Of course, as soon as the ban on spending was announced, the sole fell off of one of Carlie's dance shoes. Literally fell off. But no new shoes until Oct. 1.

Should be an interesting month.