When do Moms get some love???

My husband fancies himself a race car driver, as do 4 or 5 of his dorky friends. While I like to make fun of his midlife career switch, I do envy him for having a hobby that lets him do some that he loves with his friends. For the record this is HIS hobby not mine. But for some reason so far for 2010 I have spent 3 entire weekends in less than 8 weeks camping in a parking lots, listening to dumb stories about the last race (and the next race), making sandwiches, cleaning up after "The Race Team", not to mention the countless hours I spent discussing and planning for these events (oops! I mentioned it). Granted I was there with my BFF, Sara but still not the way she or I would choose to spend several rainy and cold weekends.

So amidst racing, Sara and I came up with a plan for a "Girls Weekend" away. Nothing extravagant but a relaxing weekend away where we don't have to cook, clean, or worry about having the proper rain gear. April 16 to 18th was to be the weekend. Guess where I am now??? Sitting in my kitchen, yelling at the kids to clean their rooms AGAIN, wondering when is this mom going to get her time, and worrying about the budget. Where is Steve??? Camping in a parking lot, eating God knows what because I haven't stepped foot in a grocery store in at least a week, happy as a clam, drinking beer, driving cars, and telling the same dumb stories to the same dumb friends. LUCKY!

When Life Gives You LeMons...

Do you ever have a day, a week, a month when you can't even stand to be with yourself? For me it usually involves involuntarily becoming a single parent so that my present but not present husband can spend every waking moment in his garage working on the latest "piece" car that he will be racing in the not too distant future.

How do I feel about that? I think he is lucky because I don't even like being with me.

My poor children. Poor me.

The "Real" Housewives...

OF FRESNO??? This afternoon I took the kids and their friend to the movies at the mall. I was shocked and dismayed at an advertisement that was posted in the entrance to the movie theater. Could it be true? Could they be filming a "Real Housewives" here in Fresno??? I truly consider myself a fan of the "Real Housewives" series, I can't get enough of the reality drama.

Recently my friend Sara and I joked that we needed our own reality show about the stupid stuff our husbands put us through with racing. I am not kidding- it will be a HIT!

After the movie I went to further investigate the notion that Fresno is worthy of anything but being the butt of Hollywood jokes. Sure enough I found that the Open Casting Call was for women who had "less then perfect lives". Oh brother! Here we go! I can see it now real housewives with mom jeans, minivans, shopping at deserted malls, with fake nails, and too much skin showing. Sounds like a horror story to me!

I came home and found nothing on the radio station's website to indicate that such an event is going to occur. So once again... there can be a collective laugh about how gullible Fresno is, BUT at least we are romantic.

He Beat Me to the Punch...

This evening I needed to take Jack's Christmas ski cap back to Grandma for a quick fix... Dorky kid wears the too big hat EVERYDAY (that is until it got a hole in the top and Steve told him that I would have Grandma fix it). So I went to my mom's house and the kids decided to stay home with dad.

When I got home the office that I was trying to ignore its pitifulness was undergoing a transformation. The office was on my short list for Wednesday (today was the pantry). Part of me was avoiding the issue all together because I really don't like organizing or cleaning other people's stuff (I know I am a mom and that is part of the job description but it doesn't mean that I have to like it). The office in the last few months has been taken over by the auto racing "stuff" (this is a PG story) that my husband has been collecting for his newest hobby. But what do my wondering eyes do appear? A husband sick of his own "stuff" taking over the room in the house where he spends most of his waking at home moments taking the bull by the horns and fixing the problem himself. I love this man! Especially since in stead of helping him I am sitting in the very room he is cleaning and writing my blog and reading the inauguration coverage on the Internet. Maybe he thinks I deserve a break because I did all of this laundry yesterday, by myself at the Laundromat.

The laundry is a story for another day...

Here are the results of all of his hard work!

ahhhhh- The NASCAR Nap

Some how a few years ago my husband and son fell in love with everything racing- soapbox derby, pinewood derby, AND Jimmie Johnson and NASCAR. Jimmie Johnson because he drives the Lowes car and the Lowes car is a winner. Steve and Jack love Lowes (Steve for the endless supply of what ever he decides on he can't live without on Saturday morning and Jack for the chips from the hot dog stand lady). I have a feeling ladies that Lowes is like Target for men, does that make more sense ladies? In the mind of a 3 year old competitive little boy Jack learned to associate the best car with his favorite place to buy chips for breakfast on a Saturday, you have to support that-right?

Being a woman I didn't understand the passion that my husband and son share for NASCAR. I mean I am the one that laughed at a coworker when she told me that she had three cats named Dale, Earnhardt, and Junior. Sometime last Spring I came around to the idea of being a NASCAR family. One rainy Sunday Steve and Jack curled up on the couch for an important race with 500 at the end of it's name. The next thing I knew Steve was sawing logs as the cars drive around and around in circles and Jack (nicknamed Mike TV) watches most of it without moving a muscle serving as the human heating blanket for his dad. I am not a very quick study, I watched the same phenomenon happen for 2 more Sundays before I questioned Steve about his Sunday activity. He laughed and said that he thought that I hadn't noticed. He explained to me that the best part of the race is the start and the finish, and with the miracle of DVR he could sleep through the middle and watch bits and pieces of the race in fast forward until the last 25 laps. I fell in love with NASCAR at that moment, a show that you don't have to watch but you sleep through guilt free!

Since that day in March I have been a regular follower of NASCAR and better yet a believer in the NASCAR nap. I have learned that NASCAR has the best commercials - better then Super Bowl Sunday. My current favorite is the Home Depot one with Tony Stewart and the 18 year old who will drive the Home Depot car next year. I have learned to love NASCAR so much I will proudly hang my Lowes NASCAR Christmas ornaments at the front of my tree this year! Talk about turn around, who would have ever thought! I may talk a good game but today as the car started to lull me to sleep I snuck off to my room for a nap spread out in my own bed- now that is love!

Oh and the results of today's race- Jimmie Johnson pulled out a win in the last lap! Congratulations Jimmie! Chips for everyone!