NASCAR Returns

God bless the return of NASCAR! And, as always, we start with the granddaddy of 'em all - The Daytona 500. This season is going to be extremely interesting...Gibbs switched to Toyota, the Car of Tomorrow will be driven every race, Jeremy Mayfield has a full time ride again, Junior is now driving for Hendricks, a whole flock of open wheel drivers are coming over to NASCAR... yep, an interesting year.

GO JEREMY! Good luck with your first full time year with Haas in the #70 Chevrolet. We know you will have a great year and show the skeptics what your long time fans already know....you kick SERIOUS ass! For anyone interested, check out the absolute BEST driver fan site: Team Mayfield (http://www.team-mayfield.com/).

Cats are Funny

OMG! Have you all seen the site LOLcats (http://icanhascheezburger.com/)? It is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. The pictures above are samples from the site. I haven't stopped laughing since I found it. And I am turning into a LOLcat spammer. I can't tell you how many people I sent pictures to. So now I have to share it with all of you.

Chan Pie Gnon....uh...what?

I love these! Chan Pie Gnon are mushroom shaped teethers that come in pink, blue, and yellow. I think they are adorable and am planning on buying one for Addison. Actually, I think perhaps we will ask the Easter Bunny for one next month (can you believe Easter will be here so soon?). I know you can find them on http://www.amazon.com/ for about $13. Aren't they cute?

Sidebar: Savannah did not like teethers at all, but I am hoping Addison will enjoy it. Is it possible that she will be as "toothy" as Savannah? That child got teeth early and they just kept coming.

Living with an Addict

My husband has been clean and sober for 9 days today. He is an alcoholic and an addict. He goes on drinking or drug binges once or twice a week or so. He is working to stay sober. He is going to meetings, started going to church again, and yesterday started seeing an addiction counselor. But this post is not about him; it is about me. It is about the person on the other end of an addiction - the person left at home.

Through the last year or two I have slowly been broken down by the addiction and the addict. I have been broken mentally, emotionally, and even physically. Nine days ago, he left on a binge and was gone for three days. Yet again, I felt that I could not take one more relapse, one more day or night wondering where he was and what to do. Of course I want to help him get clean in any way I can, but I also know my most important job is to protect my daughters and myself. He never comes home drunk or high. He stays gone and sulks back the next day. How many times have a questioned whether to leave him? Too many to count. How many "discussions" have we had the day after about how we can prevent it from happening again? How many promises have been broken?

I cannot decide if I am an incredibly strong person for staying or an incredibly weak person. This is what I do know. I know that I want to give my daughters the chance to have and know their father. I want to give myself the chance to grow old with the love of my life. Because even with all of the pain I have endured, I know what this man wants to be and what he can be. I have seen it in him. So, here I remain praying with all my might that he can beat it, that he can win. Because if he wins, so do we.

My Bucket List

I have had a "List of things to do before I die" since I was in college. I have actually completed quite a few! Out of the 39 items that are currently on there, 13 have been checked off including pet a tiger and publish a poem. I wanted to share a few of the items on my list that I have not yet checked off, that I hope to accomplish before I kick the bucket. Here are a select few:

• Sail a boat


• Drive a dog sled


• Get "locked" in a cell in Alcatrez


• Ride in the pace car at a NASCAR race


• Learn to tango


• Swim with a dolphin


• Learn to throw a lasso


• Ride on an elephant


• Publish a photograph