Old habits die hard.

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge NASCAR fan. Of course living in the heart of racing country makes being a fan easy. Within a 5 hour radius, I can go to 5 different tracks and visit nearly every team in NASCAR.

A lot of people that watch NASCAR are fair weather fans. They are fans of whoever is winning or doing well that season, or whoever is cute or popular. This is not the case for me. My driver from the beginning has been Jeremy Mayfield. When I began to pull for him, he drove the #12 Mobil 1 Ford for Penske Racing. I had everything Jeremy Mayfield- hats, shirts, die cast, jackets- some even signed. Then my world was turned upside down- Jeremy left Penske near the end of the season. I had to begin the Jeremy shrine all over- new hats, cars, shirts. That was it though. I had decided that if he left again, I would just become a fair weather fan…..

Jeremy began the next season with a new team driving the #19 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. Along with that came the new hats, shirts, cars….and then it happened again….after 2 years, Jeremy was moving on to another team….

Well, a year with Bill Davis Racing proved to be a flop…Jeremy made hardly any races. I did buy one shirt- a neon green #36 OTC shirt…that really I only bought cause I was going to get his autograph.

So, here we are again…. 8 years and 4 teams later. Yes, 4 teams. This year Jeremy is driving the #70, no sponsor car for Haas CNC Racing, and once again I am at a crossroads. Maybe it’s time to pick a new driver.

So, I am here to say that I have officially made a driver change. Decided to go with a taste of Cali….this Cali girl will be pulling for Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet.

But, old habits do die hard. I will still be secretly pulling for Jeremy. You know I had to make a point to let my NASCAR buddies (a Kenseth Fan, a Martin fan, and a Gordon fan) that after one race, Jeremy was ahead of them in the points.

Go BAKERSFIELD!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Thank you, my wonderful husband! I love you so much!!

Gimme a Pizza Pie....

But not just any pizza- today I have a real craving for a pepperoni and black olive pizza from Me-n-Eds back home in Cali. There are few things I miss about Cali, but this is definantely one of them. I have eaten many pizza's in my life, but none compare to Me-n-Eds.

Let me describe Me-n-Eds. If you check out their web page, you'll see a rather she-she looking pizza place- Pizzeria Moderno is what they are calling it. But this is a far cry from the Me-n-Eds that I grew up eating at. Me-n-Eds were known as neighboorhood pizza parlours. The lighting was dark, you sat at tables with benches. The wall paper was red and white stripped with some crazy pattern (i think the red stripes were velvet-like), and they had these 1/2 wine barrels hanging on the wall with 2 short Italian guys (Me and Ed...) saying funny things. Ahh, the memories...

But the pizza- ahhhh, the best memory of all. They bake their pizzas in brick ovens. There is just something about the taste of the thin, crunchy crust....and the way the dough and cheese bubbled. What I would give to have one right now....

Boopie Longstockings....

I know, right about now you are wondering what is up with the title of this post. Boopie is a nickname for my daughter. Not really sure how we came up with this, but it has stuck...along with different variations(boo, boop, boopster....). Anyways, the longstocking has to do with her new hairstyle- yes, the ever popular, never out of style pig tails.

Unfortunantely Boo is cursed with thin stringy hair. On the bright side, it is very long (about mid-back- nope, no haircut yet). Earlier this week I picked her up from day care where she was introduced to the ever popular pig tails. As I walked in she ran over to me, did a little pose, touched her pig tails and exclaimed "I show Daddy" (she also had to show Ginger- and once again- no surprise, the cat was completely un-interested). Let me tell you, she thinks she is something else with these thin, stringy, un-even pig tails. It's amazing how a hair style can make your baby girl look like a little girl.

When we got home that day, I put my own hair in pig tails. Wow, was that amazing to her. She kept touching them and saying 'ooooohhh, nice.'

I'm sure you can just imagine the look on Hubby's face when he walked in to see his 2 blondies perched on the couch with matching pig-tails. Personally I think he is just jealous....

Parental "aahhhhh" Moment #932

I can't remember the last time I had a pleasant dinner. I once read that a 10 minute dinner time period is all a toddler can handle. So once I get the little one served, I have about 5 minutes if I am lucky to scarf down the dinner before she announces she is done, and about 30 seconds after that announcement before the remains of dinner are scattered onto the floor.

This is the seat she has eaten in since she could sit up. We never had the traditional high chair- this one was much more space friendly, and not to mention portable. In the past few months we have tried different seating arrangements- the seat using the tray, the seat as a booster seat at our table, different placement around the table. Nothing seemed to prolong her dinner time frame- and frankly I am tired of cleaning the floor.


So after we got settled from Christmas, family visits and birthday parties I had a light bulb go off. How about putting her new table and chairs into the dining room and letting her eat at her own table. I mean after all, she sits at a child size table at daycare to eat.


Ahhhh, and here is the result. A happy dinner time, no food on the floor, and I think I actually tasted my food for the first time in months!

A side note- the chair is only there for dinner time. She has temporarily had her chairs taken away (except for dinner and coloring time)- she has taken to carrying them around the house to climb over or get into anything she pleases. Oh well, at least dinner time is enjoyable.

Happy 2nd Birthday To My Little Girl!!!!

My little girl turns the big "2" today.

As I remember back to this day 2 years ago, it makes me wonder "What did I ever do before I had her?" It seems that our lives revolve around her. We plan our outings around nap time, meals around her meal time, and decide whether to go someplace depending on how 'angry toddler' friendly they are. Luckily we have a few 'safe' places as we call them- places to eat, shop, entertain.

However, what I think I have done more than anything since I have had her is laugh. She does the funniest things. I find myself just laughing and shaking my head wondering what made her say or do that? Last night had she had 2 funny moments.

I have a collendar in the bath tub for her to put her bath toys in. It has been fun to watch her try to fill it up with water. But last night she discovered that it made a great hat. She insisted that 'I show Daddy,' but not even that was good enough. She insisted that the cat Ginger (or GiGi as she calls her) come and see her to. No surprise here, but the cat was completely uninterested.

Bed time came too early, so she played even after I shut her door and turned the light off. After about 15 minutes I heard silence, so I figured she was asleep. I opened the door to find her diaperless- well kinda- she had a swim diaper on. Well, sort of on...both legs were through one leg hole. She promptly stood up and said 'I wear pull up.' I told her she was wearing a swim diaper. She then had to walk into the living room to model for Daddy and tell him that she was going 'swimmin.'

She never ceases to amaze me. Everyday it's something new. Something funny. Something only a 2 year old would think of. Thank you little girl for opening my eyes to your world.

Ding Dong the pond is GONE!!!

When we bought our house in September 2006, this beautlful koi pond was the deal sealer. When we told people about the house, we always told them about the pond. It really was beautiful and made our yard probably the nicest looking in the neighborhood.

The the fall came. As you can see, the pond is build around 3 beautiful Bradford Pear trees- which lose their leaves in the fall. Skimming the pond and unclogging the pump became a daily job. Everytime I had to stick my hand in the cold water, I hated the pond even more. We were working hard to keep the pond maintained, but the final straw came shortly. My hubby was cleaning the leaves from the pump area, slinging leaves out. Later that afternoon he realized that his wedding ring was gone. After hours of draining the pond and digging through sludge, we found the ring- laying in a flower bed near the pond. But that was it, it was over. We unplugged the pump for good. We drained the pond a couple of times before we finally had the time to take out all of the rocks (probably 3 truckloads), and dig up the rubber liner. I don't have any pictures of this stage, but gross is all I can (lots of mud and muck- but hey, I'm an aggie, I've spent my time digging around in far worse).

Many hours of shoveling and moving dirt around led to this...


With the help of some warm winter days in Carolina (68 in Janaury???), we were finally able to finish leveling. Now we have a large flowerbed, mulched and ready to go for spring planting.