Elvis Who?

It's NASCAR Monday! Wait, don't go, this is not a boring race recap post, I promise. However, it is a boring How I Spent My Summer Vacation post. Enjoy!

On Friday, we made the 4 hour trip to Memphis to watch the trucks race. Despite it being the hottest day of the year we had a great time. The boys handled the crowd and noise very well and proved themselves to be very good race fans. I think we'll be taking them on our annual trip to Texas for the Cup car race next year.

Did you know there are a million things to do in Tennessee? We packed in as many activities that our budget and time would allow for one weekend. We went to Mud Island, the Fire Museum, the Children's Museum of Memphis, the aforementioned truck race, Neely's BBQ, and America's Incredible Pizza Company. And I did NOT have to go to Wal-Mart even once! That made it a perfect vacation for me!

Homestead

After having a couple of busy weekends lately, this past one was pretty uneventful. The only productive thing I did was get rid of the jack o'lantern that was on the front porch. The above is a before picture and trust me, you do not want to see the after picture of a carved pumpkin that's been out in the elements for a month.

Let's see, what else was going on this weekend...Oh, I know, the last race of the NASCAR season! I guess it's no surprise that Jimmie Johnson won the championship. That's 3 championships in a row for him. I've accepted that Elliott Sadler will never win the Cup, all I want is one race. That's it. To see him win just one race will make me happy. He was having some brake issues yesterday and ended up finishing 28th. That puts him in 24th position in the season's final standings. Oh, well, better luck next year.

Carl Edwards gets the win for yesterday's race, Jimmie Johnson wins the championship, Kurt Busch gets the red lantern, and the Daytona 500 is February 15, 2009.

Phoenix

We had another busy weekend of traveling. We went down to Pine Bluff (AR) for WD's family Thanksgiving dinner. And from now on, whenever I go out of town, I would like to impose a no-blogging rule. Man, you guys are prolific. I guess laundry today will just have to wait. Darn.

I was able to watch most of yesterday's Nascar race before we had to head home. As an Elliott Sadler fan, I knew I wasn't going to miss much. Someone got into him early in the race and he dropped to last place. He was able to work his way up and finish in 30th place. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the Chase and needs to finish 36th or better next week in order to clinch the championship title.

There were a couple of red flags--one was for rain (!) and the other was for the #38 car landing on top of the #83 car (!)--that made the race last longer than expected. So at 7:30 pm everyone was instructed to turn the channel over to ESPN2 to finish watching the race. Apparently, you do not want to mess with all of the Extreme Home Makeover fans out there.

Jimmie Johnson gets the win, Martin Truex Jr. gets the red lantern and we are at Homestead next Sunday for the final (!) race of the season.

Edited to add: Ooops, it wasn't Extreme Home Makeover that ABC cut to, it was actually America's Funniest Home Videos. But isn't that worse?!

Ki-yip-pee-Yi

Hey, look, it's me and WD (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Texas. Well, maybe not (clap, clap, clap, clap) deep in the heart of Texas but certainly the outer layer of the pericardium of Texas. We traveled to Texas Motor Speedway this past weekend for the NASCAR race.

Before we left home, I made sure to clear some room on my camera and charge the batteries. While in the motel room I played around with the settings, getting it ready for fast action shots, and then...I forgot to take it to the track. (The above pic was taken by WD's dad.) I guess the good thing about that is that it was one less thing I had to keep up with.

We had a great time even though Elliott Sadler came in 35th. Jimmie Johnson leads the Chase with only 2 more races to go.

Carl Edwards gets the win, Juan Montoya gets the red lantern, and we're in Phoenix next Sunday.

Atlanta

We had a nice weekend here at the Home of the Lazy Dog. We went to the Fall Carnival at Big pup's school Saturday night and had a great time. The boys played games, won prizes, and ate candy. Remember the horrible April Fools Joke I played on him earlier this year? Well, he finally got his revenge. He put me in jail at the carnival and my bail was set at 4 dollars. After 5 minutes, I was released. I think the school probably paid for their new cafeteria from that game alone.



It's Nascar Monday! Yesterday's race was in Atlanta. At the spring race at AMS, Elliott Sadler finished dead last. He did a little better this time around finishing 25th. At the end of the race Elliott asked his crew chief if they had adjusted the track bar like he asked them to. His crew chief's response? No. ::sigh:: Why wouldn't they listen to their own driver? Elliott had a potty mouth during this race. He wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. Maybe they can get things worked out during the off-season and we all can enjoy 2009.

With only 3 more races to go, Jimmie Johnson continues to lead in the points standings.

Carl Edwards gets the win, Scott Riggs gets the red lantern, and we're in Texas (literally!) next Sunday.

Charlotte

I was reading a bedtime story to the boys last night when I heard barking in the backyard. It takes a lot for huskies to actually bark so I looked out the window and saw them focused on 2 copperheads. WD killed the snakes but not before Howard got bit. I called the vet and she said he'd be fine so I did some googling and found out that copperhead bites to dogs weren't fatal. I relayed all this info to Howard but he wasn't buying it. Like any husky, he was VERY vocal about how much pain he was in. I felt so bad for him. If he would've asked me for a pony I would have bought one.




It's Nascar Monday!

The race was in Charlotte Saturday night. The bad thing about night races is that they usually end past my bedtime. And sure enough, I fell asleep on the couch with about 50 laps to go. How old am I that I can't stay up past 10 o'clock these days? Next thing you know I'll start buying metamucil and reusing aluminum foil.

Elliott Sadler's car was a little on the loose side. Actually, I think he said it was "out of control." He finished 20th. Jimmie Johnson is still leading in points but not by a landslide. It's looking to be an exciting finish to the championship with just 5 races to go.

Jeff Burton gets the win, A.J. Allmendinger gets the red lantern, and we're in Martinsville next Sunday.

Talladega

I'm being featured today over at La Dolce Vita! Head on over there and leave a comment please--LOTS of comments. If I get a whole bunch I might win a necklace which would be great because Kristen makes such beautiful jewelry.

Welcome to the Home of the Lazy Dog! On Mondays, I provide a short Sadler-centric recap of the previous days NASCAR race. No, I'm not kidding. But it's very short. I promise.

Yesterday's race was at Talladega. A track known for 'the big one' (wrecks). Yesterday, it was also known for exploding tires (bringing out 10 yellow flags and 2 red flags), 64 lead changes among 28 drivers (a record), and an exciting finish.

On the last lap, Regan Smith passed Tony Stewart on the inside and crossed the finish line for the win. But officials wouldn't allow it because he had dropped below the yellow line to make the pass and that's a no-no. They ended up scoring Smith in the 18th position.

Elliott Sadler had a good day. He managed to squeeze by all the wrecks and had a good shot of winning the race. On the last lap he made his move but nobody would bumpdraft him so he fell to 10th place. Not bad after starting 40th.

Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the Chase for the Cup in points.

Tony Stewart gets the win, Ryan Newman gets the red lantern and we're under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway Saturday night.

Kansas

It's Nascar Monday! Nascar not your thing? Nail polish is? Read all about it over at Angie's pretty purse.





What a busy weekend! We took a whirlwind 24 hour vacation in Oklahoma where we spent A Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine. The boys had such a great time that Big pup wants to live there when he grows up. That's fine. As long as he visits me every Saturday to mow my lawn. I didn't have boys for nothing you know!


On to the race! Elliott Sadler had a great run in Kansas yesterday. He started 4th and finished 10th. I don't think he ran worse than 12th the whole race. His team is the most inconsistent team ever. How can they place 10th one week, 24th another, and 34th a couple races before that? I don't get it.


The final lap was exciting. Carl Edwards passed Jimmie Johnson on the inside, went high, scraped the wall which slowed him down enough for JJ to retake the lead and the win. JJ leads the Chase for the Cup with 7 races to go.


Jimmie Johnson gets the win, Martin Truex Jr. gets the red lantern, and we're in Talladega next Sunday.

Dover

Angie's talking about Sarah Jessica Parker over at my pretty purse. I think I'm probably 1 out of 15 people who never watched SATC.


Hey, do you have a 4 year old running around your house? If you do, ask him/her to say the name "Bobby Labonte." It's very entertaining.


I had to do something to entertain me yesterday during the NASCAR race at Dover. Elliott Sadler had a another disappointing day and his in-car audio was messed up so I don't even know what what the problem was. He started 12th and finished 27th.


Carl Edwards is in the lead with 8 races remaining.


Greg Biffle gets the win (for the second week in a row), Kyle Busch gets the red lantern (that's too bad. I'm not a fan but he deserves the Cup), and we're in Kansas next Sunday.

New Hampshire

Angie's talkin' perfume today. Gwen Stefani's perfume to be exact. Check it out!



Yesterday's race was in New Hampshire. A track where Elliott Sadler finished 5th back in June. Unfortunately, he got nowhere near that yesterday. I'm not sure what happened because I didn't have access to his in-car audio but within the first few laps he dropped 10 positions. That's not good. He ended up finishing 24th. That's not good either. Especially at this point in the season where you're going for the win, not points.


Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson are tied for the lead with 9 races to go.


Oh, by the way, John McCain is courting the Nascar crowd. He was at yesterday's race and said a few words. But don't ask me what he said though. I was too busy wondering why Cindy McCain wore pearls to a race track.


Greg Biffle gets the win, Joe Nemechek gets the red lantern, and we're at Dover International Speedway next Sunday.

Richmond

Oh no she didn't. Oh yes she did. Angie went and got herself a Chi. Read about it here and then try to convince her to give it me, please.


My head hurts. I've spent the last couple of nights banging my head against the desk trying to set up a separate cooking blog. Blogger owes me 3 bottles of Advil. Importing posts to another blog? Great! Importing the comments that go with each post? Aaarrrghhhh!!!! I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that glitch will be worked out this week, then start working on it again this weekend. But just in case it's not, remind me to put a bottle of wine in the fridge Friday morning okay?


It's Nascar Monday! But like I said, my head hurts, so this will be a short update. Sadler started 21st, finished 37th, and fell to 22nd in the points standings. Yesterday was the last race of the regular season so he is officially out of contention for the championship. Maybe next year.


Jimmie Johnson gets the win, A.J. Allmendinger gets the red lantern, and the Chase for the Cup begins in New Hampshire next Sunday.

California

Happy Labor Day!


Angie's got some great tips for baby oil today. Head on over to her pretty purse and check it out!


I like night races more than anyone but can they please be over at 10 pm? I tried to stay up later but I fell asleep with 60 laps to go. It was no surprise this morning to find out that Californian Jimmie Johnson won. He led 227 of the 250 lap race.


Back in February for the "spring" race, Elliott Sadler had some bad luck here. His race car was in horrible shape and he finished 24th. I'm not sure what exactly was going on with his car yesterday, I didn't have the in-car audio turned on, but it wasn't good. After starting 6th, he finished 34th. He remains unchanged in 20th place in points.


Jimmie Johnson gets the win, Joe Nemechek gets the red lantern, and we're in Richmond Saturday night.

Bristol (And Yet Another Anniversary)

It's my Blogiversary! A year ago today, I started this blog with a letter. It was "written" by Lexie the Husky to a dead raccoon. Complete with pictures. Sorry, raccoon lovers. What a way to introduce myself to the internet, huh?

No to Nascar? Yes to jewelry? Angie's talking about rings over at her pretty purse today. Check it out!


The good thing about the race at Bristol Saturday night was that 168,000 fans set a new record for doing the wave. the bad thing about Bristol was Elliott Sadler's performance. He had a few things go wrong during the race. He had a bad pit stop due to the positioning of his pit stall, then he had to pit because of a loose seatbelt, and then he exited pit road too fast and had to do a pass through penalty. He started 10th, finished 32nd, and remains unchanged in points at 20th.


I know a lot of people think that bump and run racing is just good hard racing but when you're going for the win, it's not right. Boo Carl Edwards. He's doing a good job of making a lot of enemies these days.


Carl Edwards gets the win, Sterling Marlin gets the red lantern, and we're in California next Sunday.

Michigan

Happy first day of school! Fortunately, Big pup didn't wake up at 5 a.m. like he did for his first day of Kindergarten last year. I've got to go wake him up in few minutes and I'm hoping everything will run smoothly this morning.


As usual, if Nascar isn't your thing, head on over to Angie's pretty purse. I believe she's talking about rainboots today.

Yesterdays race was up in Kristen's neck of the woods. Brooklyn, Michigan. Elliott Sadler finished 9th there back in June and guess what? He finished 9th again! But he still remained 20th in points standings. I was hoping he would move up a little but that didn't happen. Not that it matters this late in the game. Only 3 more races until the Chase for the Cup begins. I haven't decided who I'm going to root for yet. I'm thinking Kevin Harvick. Or maybe Jeff Burton.

Carl Edwards gets the win, Marcos Ambrose gets the red lantern, and we're in Bristol Saturday night.

Watkins Glen

Angie's on vacation this week and guess who's doing a guest post: Yours truly, that's who! So head on over to my pretty purse to read about some of my favorite baby items.



Oh, speaking of babies, mine came home from their grandparents house a day early. They changed their minds about going to Tennessee to watch the truck race. It seems that 6 and 4 year olds aren't too keen on getting up at 5 a.m. and traveling 8 hours without mommy around. They had a great time in Pine Bluff (2 computers, train set, play doh, pizza, ice cream, fun) but I'm glad to have them back. I missed them:)



On to Nascar. I had made a mental note to compare the lack of cautions and accidents during yesterdays road race to the caution filled Indy race until...the Big One. With 7 laps to go David Gilliland and Michael McDowell got into each other causing a huge pile up. Ten cars suffered heavy damage, Bobby Labonte was sent to a local hospital, and Gilliland and McDowell were sent to Nascar's version of the principals office. Officials stopped the race for over 30 minutes until the mess was cleaned up. Fortunately, Elliott Sadler wasn't involved and finished 15th, moving him up one spot to 20th in the standings.



Kyle Busch gets the win, Max Papis gets the red lantern, and we're in Michigan next Sunday.

Pocono

Nascar not your thing? Wanna talk make-up? Head on over to Angie's pretty purse!


Forget the Sprint Cup race at Pocono, did anyone see the Nationwide race in Montreal Saturday? If you did, you watched history being made. It was the first Nascar race that was run in the rain. How funny were those little windshield wipers on the race cars? Very, if I do say so myself.

But back to the Sprint Cup race, which had its own issues with rain yesterday. They took a break for a shower to pass through, got the track dry, and then we all waited to see who's pit strategy reigned supreme: Kasey Kahne (instead of pitting before the red flag, he stayed out in first and hoped that the race would be called off) or Carl Edwards (he did pit before the red flag, stocked up on a lot of goodies, and waited in the 22nd position hoping the rain would let up). And...the rain let up and Edwards made his way back up to first when the checkered flag was waved.

Elliott Sadler finished 27th and remains unchanged in points at 21. I accept the fact now that with only 5 races to go until the Chase for the Cup, he's not going to make the top 12. But, come on, he's about to be passed by Travis Kvapil. Travis Kvapil! No offense Kvapil fans. I know he's an excellent truck driver, but, come on!

Carl Edwards gets the win, Michael Waltrip gets the red lantern, and we're in New York at Watkins Glen International Speedway next Sunday.

Indianapolis

Angie's talking about music over at my pretty purse today. Check it out!



So, yesterday, Nascar was like "Hey, drivers, Goodyear hasn't tested their tires on this track yet so there might be a few problems" and the drivers were like "Oh, yeah, there's gonna be MORE than a few problems" and Elliott Sadler was like "What tire problems?"

Elliott's tires held up better than a lot of the other cars. His team made some good moves throughout the race (great pit stops) and after 160 laps and 11 yellow flags (7 of them were competition cautions because of tire concerns) he had his best finish of the year. FOURTH! This moves him up 2 spots to 21 in the standings. Top 12 makes the Chase.

Jimmie Johnson gets the win, Michael Waltrip gets the red lantern, and we're at Pocono Raceway next Sunday.

Nascar-less

Angie's talking about sunglasses today over at my pretty purse. Check it out!

Nascar took the day off yesterday so I'm taking the day off today. Which is a good thing because we had a family get together yesterday where nobody touched my sangria so I was forced to drink all of it last night. So...having today off...very good.

Get ready for Sunday's race at The Brickyard in Indianapolis.

Chicago

Angie's talking about her favorite summertime shoes over at my pretty purse today. Check it out!

A few good things happened this past Saturday: I got a much needed haircut, my sister came to visit for the day, and there was a night race in Chicago. I just love it when they finish under the lights. Maybe that's why I like going to the November race in Texas so much. It ends at night, too. There's just something about the sun setting on a race track.

Have you ever watched the National Anthem being performed on tv and had to change the channels because it was so embarrassingly bad? That's what I did for this race. Sorry Gavin DeGraw (can I get a collective "who?")

I don't know, I just didn't find this race very exciting. Yeah, Busch and Johnson fought for the win on the last lap, but, whatevs. Elliott Sadler did a good job though. He started 26th and finished 12th. That moves him up 2 spots to number 23 in the standings. I'm happy with that. Know what else I'm happy with? My new haircut! Look for pics on Wednesday.

Kyle Busch gets the win, Michael McDowell gets the red lantern, and Nascar is taking this coming weekend off. Gearing up for Indy.

Daytona

Angie's talking Starbucks today! Check it out!


What a weekend! We celebrated Independence Day with great food and fireworks. The boys had so much fun with the sparklers, party poppers and snakes. Now I just need to sort through the 957 pictures I took!


Elliott Sadler was running great in Daytona Saturday night. He started 38th and at the half way point he was running in the top 10. I went out to feed the huskies and when I came back in, Sadler was in the garage with extensive damage to his car. It seems he blew a tire (hello Infineon) and hit the wall pretty hard. He eventually made it back out onto the track and finished 39th. He continues to hold steady in the points at 25.


This was such an exciting race and was so much fun to watch. I wish I could adequately describe how awesome it was but I inhaled way to much smoke from the smoke balls Friday that's left me incapable of putting together words. Or is it...putting words together? Anyhoo, Daytona! Exciting! Fun!


Kyle Busch gets the win, Greg Biffle gets the red lantern, and we're in Chicago for another Saturday race this weekend.