Martinsville

Elliott Sadler did not take home the coveted Grandfather clock in Martinsville yesterday. As a matter of fact, it was questionable whether he would be able to even participate in the race in his home state of Virginia. He injured his back earlier last week and was in a lot of pain. He went ahead and started the race but kept Dennis Setzer on standby, just in case he couldn't finish. Setzer won the truck race a day before and to be honest, I was kind of, sort of, maybe, wishing, hoping, thinking, wondering if Setzer took over if he could pull off a top 5 for the number 19 car. But Elliott took a few Tylenol and felt fine during the race, so Setzer left after lap 60. He finished 15th in the race which moved him up to 19th in the standings.

Denny Hamlin gets the win (and the clock), Dave Blaney gets the Red Lantern (and no clock), and we're in Texas next Sunday (where the winner gets custom-carved wooden boots with real spurs).

For Plug

A note from Gramma Deb: Plug was found Tuesday. His spirit has crossed the rainbow bridge. He was a star till the end.


Rest in peace, Plug.


Kissing A Horse by Robert Wrigley

Baked Pork Chops

Here you go, meat eaters. A big ol' plate of pork chops. No fancy smancy recipe this week. No squeezing or whisking or drizzling here. Just your basic, run of the mill, everyday pork chop.

It's also the most mouthwatering, delectable, tasty pork chop I've ever eaten. And with only 2 ingredients, this is very easy dish to make. So go make it! Right now! Chop chop!

center cut bone in pork chops (I only prepare 3 chops since Big pup doesn't eat them)
1 box Lipton dry soup mix (I like the beefy onion flavor)

Cover both sides of pork chops with the dry soup mix. Wrap pork chops in foil and place on a baking sheet. You might want to spray the foil with a nonstick cooking spray. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Awards Assembly

After the last awards assembly, Big pup came home from school wondering why I wasn't there to watch him get his awards. I felt awful that he thought I didn't care but honestly, I didn't know it was that big of a deal. I remember the awards assemblies we had in school and it wasn't the type of thing that parents attended. Apparently, times have changed. So I promised him that I would go to the next one. Which happened to be last Wednesday.

As his class filed into the room, I watched him scan the crowd of parents and then he spotted me. It was very cute. Every time he made eye contact with me he would look away and scrunch up his mouth trying so hard not to smile. He whispered to his teacher that his mommy was there and pointed me out to a couple of his friends. I don't know who was more proud--him or me. In the video he is sitting on the bottom row wearing overalls. He got 2 awards--one for honor roll and another for good citizenship.

(Please pardon the shakey video. I had a very antsy 3 year old on my hip.)

Easter 2008

Awwwww.....look how cute my boys are. And Big pup is actually letting me take his picture! Just this once, because it's Easter, he said.


You know, it never fails, we are always thisclose to being late for church. I've tried getting everyone up extra early but we still get there right at the buzzer. I've even tried pretending that church starts 15 minutes early but that doesn't help either. I thought this past Sunday was going to be different. Everyone finished their breakfast quickly. Everyone got dressed on time. I thought we might actually be early for a change.


But then Big pup fell in the potty.


While I was combing Little pup's hair in the bathroom, Big pup came in to show me his new truck that he got for Easter. He sat down on the toilet but the lid and seat were up and he fell in. Needless to say, his pants and underwear were soaked. As WD put new underwear on him, I dried his pants with the hairdryer.
Then I took a quick picture of them out in the front yard with their Easter baskets and we raced to church. And, as usual, we made it just in time.

Day Off

Nascar took a break for the holiday yesterday so I'm taking a break today. After all, it is Spring Break--yay!


Easter pictures coming tomorrow, a video of Big pup's awards assembly on Wednesday, a recipe for Thursday, and a poem, as usual, for Poetry Friday.


Next Sunday's race is in Martinsville.

Good Friday

Keep your eyes on Jesus,
our leader and instructor.
He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross
because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards;
and now he sits in the place of honor
by the throne of God.
If you want to keep
from becoming fainthearted and weary,
think about his patience
as sinful men did such terrible things to him.


After all,
you have never yet struggled against sin and temptation
until you sweat
great
drops
of
blood.


--Hebrews 12:2-4