What is Wrong with Tammy?

What is wrong with Tammy? All week long I have been asking myself this question. I have not been in a bad mood but I have not been myself at all. I just felt lazy all week and did not want to really do anything at all. I guess you could say I have been in a major funk !!! Well I have finally figured out what is wrong with me ... I am homesick. A few weeks ago I posted a blog about the Indy 500 and how I just lost interest in it and quit going after 37 straight races. Well this is the first year since I was 2 that I have not walked in the gates to the track. We were suppose to go to pole day last week but allergies and sinus problems kept me from going. Carb day is always something that I look forward to all year long but I forgot to tell Jeff to take that night off of work and it would not be fun without him.
So, I know that I said the race has lost a lot of its luster and I still believe the best drivers were from the 60's,70's and 80's (Today's drivers just have it way too easy and in my opinion they are too pampered) That being said, there is nothing in this World that compares to Indy on race day morning. I guess it just doesn't really matter who is behind the wheel, when you see those cars come around the 4th turn going 225 mph I dare you to not get goosebumps. So ~ I am homesick!!! I miss my town of Speedway, I miss my friends, I miss decorating my house for the race, and I miss the Race. This will not happen next year because I will be attending the 100th running!!!

"Neat Freak-itis" ???

Well Jeff and I took a week off from work to hang out with the kiddos. Our initial plans were to go camping... we checked out the forecast and decided to cancel the camping and to just hang out around the house and run around with the girls all week. We had a lot of fun! It was my birthday week and there was also Mother's Day~ so just having the time to be together as a family and devoting our time to the girls made it special.


My little one sitting in a garden looking cute, and...

My goofy oldest showing me how much she likes the park.

I am a very organized and task oriented person when I am at home. It is like I have this internal time schedule/to do list.. and if I get off schedule it just really puts me in a funk. I am trying very hard to change this but it is not easy for me. This past week I just let things go ~ I didn't worry about yard work, I didn't panic if there was a dirty dish in the sink or cookie crumbs on the floor... We stayed up late and we ate junk food and we got dirty and sticky and we had FUN!

I doubt if there will ever be a total cure for my "neat freak-itis" but this past week has made me realize just how short life is and sometimes Momma just needs to Chill and let things go.

All that being said now it's time to go back to work - I will sure miss all the extra time I had with the girls!!! We will try the camping again next month.

Note to self ~ No Junk food !!! , that means No Chips (you don't need the salt !!!!) No ice cream, No fried foods,NO real coke, and moderate chocolate intake!!!! also... FIX your Hair!!!! omg!!! You are looking like Bonnie Raitt!!! Yikes!!!

Camping

Well right now I am officially on vacation. No big plans this time.. get a few things done around the farm, do a little camping and have some fun with the girls. After working all night I really wanted to come home and sleep for a few hours but it was so nice outside that when I picked up Abby from school I decided to take the girls on a little picnic. I had hoped to post a few pictures but when I turned my camera on it "crashed" ... I will assume that "somebody" dropped it and has not told me yet. Not good... and at the start of a vacation! Isn't that the way it always goes.
~ Camping ~
One of my favorite things to do! Before Kids!!! I am sure things will be a little different when the girls get just a little older, but right now the words camping and vacation should not be used together. Here is my typical Camping Day with the kiddos...

I wake up at 6am because I have to pee (very badly) I don't dare get out of bed in fear of waking the little ones. They are both early risers and I want to wait as long as possible before I go into "mommy mode".

Fix Coffee!
Fix breakfast (my favorite meal of the day when camping) Why does eggs and bacon always taste better when you camp???
Clean up dishes, pots and pans, table...
Get girls dressed
Send girls outside with Jeff
Make the beds, tidy up camper
Get myself dressed
Sit down in chair with book (love to read when camping)
Watch the girls every 10 seconds...
Go on hike
Use about 20 wipes to clean off girls
Fix lunch
Clean up (usually isn't too bad at lunch)
Sit down in chair with book (still on page #1)
Girls holler for a drink
Sit down in chair with book (still on page #1)
Girls holler for a snack
Use about 10 wipes to clean them off again
Sit down in chair again with book (still on page #1)
Watch Jeff start fire
Jeff wants to know where something is ... I tell him exactly where to find it.... he still can't find it.... he tells me not to worry about it and to relax and enjoy my book...
I get up and get whatever Jeff was looking for.
Play more with the girls
Fix dinner
Clean up dishes, pots and pans, table...
Sit around fire.. eat smores
Take girls to shower house (this is always a challenge!)
Put girls to bed with a movie
Jeff and I sit by fire and talk
Pop open a bud light-drink
Girls holler for a drink
Pop open a second bud light-drink only half
Go inside camper up to bed with book (still on page #1)
Jeff says lets watch a movie.. made it to page #3 =)
Goodnight

Well that is pretty much the routine unless we are camping and site seeing too.
There is a pretty big chance of rain next week so we may be changing our plans a little. Nothing worse than camping and being stuck inside on a rainy day with not a lot to do. I will just leave it up to Jeff, he is really good about coming up with fun things to do.. You just never know what you will be doing =)

Will Tammy ever get an ipod?

Caroline helping Mommy get ready for the Yard Sale




Well I can't tell you how glad I am that last weekend is over. Because of my 2 little ones the past 3 years I have had a yard sale - and it is really hard work getting things ready, and now I am so relieved that it is over!

The sale went really well and my plans for some of the money was to get myself something that I have been wanting for awhile... an ipod. Before having kids when there was something I wanted I just went and got it. I never had to wait for something to go on sale, for example, if Nike came out with a new shoe that I really liked I just went and got it ~ Longaberger and Coach at that time were not unthinkable. Now because I feel the need to save for our Kids so that they can have the best possible future I don't buy new clothes to often and I only buy new Nikes when I need them and not when I want them. So.. anyway, I was really excited about getting an ipod!!!! However, I was watching TV and saw where this thing called Walking with the Dinosaurs was coming to Louisville and Abigail LOVES dinosaurs! I get online and look at tickets... the ticket prices? Absolutely ridiculous !!!! So much for my ipod... the look on Abby's face will be priceless.

Changing the Subject...


This is the way Abby's room looks (most) of the time. She is really good about keeping things picked up and keeping her room neat. But..... I will have to say that her little sister is a bad influence....



This is what I woke up to the other day. They were both totally oblivious to the fact that I was even taking pictures... I almost started crying...

For Race Fans Only

The month of May is almost here! May has always been one of my favorite months of the year, second only to October. A few years ago you would always know where to find me during May ~ I would be at the Indy 500 track sitting in the stands with my friends, drinking beer, and stalking race car drivers. For 32 years I lived only a short walk from the famous Speedway and I LOVED it! My parents started taking me to the race when I was only 2. As a kid my dad use to work at the track as a yellow shirt and before that he would hop into the trunk of a buddys car and sneak in for the race. Both mom and dad loved AJ Foyt so he became my favorite driver too. The first race I actually remember was the 1973 race - we were sitting near Salt Walther's crash and to this day it remains one of the worst crashes I have ever witnessed at the track. As bad as it might sound, that is what got me hooked... it was the element of danger.


Abigails first time at Track


During the month of May when I was in junior high my mom would even call me in sick to school so we could go to the track for the day. One time we were walking to the track with a cooler in hand and we ran right into my vice principal. Without blinking an eye mom said we were heading to Rosners drugstore to get me some cold medicine and we had to put it on ice... then she told him the truth without even slowing down because we were in a hurry because it was Fast Friday.

I mentioned that I was a race car stalker.. Yes it is true. I could not tell you how many hours I have spent in the garage area waiting to see, talk, or get a picture or autograph of my favorite driver. I have so many great memories of the times I have spent in the garage area.

Like I said, AJ Foyt will always be my favorite driver! The best memory I have of him was the first time I went to the Indy 200 in Disney World. I was there with my parents and we stayed in the Polynesian Resort. We were just getting in from a long day at the parks and I went outside on the pier in my PJs to watch the fireworks. I heard someone talking and looked over and couldn't believe it... It was AJ !!! I can't tell you how excited I was... I ran like lightening back to the room to change my clothes and told mom and dad to get dressed again and then we went into stalking mode.... He was having a late dinner in the lobby and I sat outside the restaurant and waited. When he finally came out I asked him if I could get my picture with him and he was actually really nice. I was so nervous because my dad invented the word slow and it seemed like forever until he took the picture. So worth it!


He has always been one of my heroes!

Most of my times and memories at Indy were happy, but when Scott Brayton was killed during practice in 1996 I remember being really sad. He was on the pole for the race and just a few days before his wreck I got to meet him at a downtown fan fair. He was so funny and you could tell that he was just a great guy.

I made it to 37 straight Indy 500s and I never thought I would ever miss a race but when the IRL and Cart split happened it slowly became less exciting for me. Without the names Foyt, Andretti, Mears, and Unser it just lost my interest. This year will be my 3rd Indy 500 that I will watch from home and Yes I will be sad and probably cry a tiny bit when I hear "Back Home again in Indiana", and when I hear" Gentlemen Start Your Engines" I will get goosebumps as always, and when they wave the checkered flag I will raise my glass of beer and smile ~ for me, the race has lost a lot of its luster, but for some reason the history of the race and everything that goes on in the town of Speedway during the month of May will never leave me, and I will always treasure my times at the track with family and friends.

Jeff and I get so mad because we are both from Indy and now living in Southern Indiana we just hate the news here. Right now all we will hear about is the Derby- but you will be lucky to find out the winner of the Indy 500 come race night. So frustrating! **** I have paused a few minutes to think why did I just write a blog about the Indy 500???? I guess this time of year I tend to get homesick. I have no family there now but Speedway will always be my home.
Jeff at Indy

Meanest Mom in the World

My Mom in High School

Me with Mom and Dad

MEANEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD

I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids had candy for breakfast, I had to eat cereal, eggs and toast.

While other kids had cola and candy for lunch, I had a sandwich. As you can guess, my dinner was different from other kids' dinners, too.

My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were on a chain gang or something. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing.

I am ashamed to admit it, but she actually had the nerve to break the child labor law. She made us work.

We had to wash dishes, make the beds and learn how to cook. That woman must have stayed awake nights thinking up things for us kids to do.

And she always insisted that we tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

By the time we were teenagers, she was much wiser and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the car horn for us to come running; she embarrassed us to no end by insisting that the boys come to the door to get us.

I forgot to mention that most of our friends were allowed to date at the mature age of 12 and 13, but our old-fashioned mother refused to let us date until we were 15.

She really raised a bunch of squares. None of us was ever arrested for shoplifting or busted for dope. And who do we have to thank for this?

You're right, our Mean Mother.

I am trying to raise my children to stand a little straighter and taller and I am secretly tickled to pieces when my children call me mean. I thank God for giving me the meanest mother in the world.

Our country doesn't need a good five-cent cigar. It needs more mean mothers like mine.

Blessings on That Wonderful Woman.

When I was younger my mom would always cut things out of the paper for me to read, I use to hate that!!! This particular article, Meanest Mother In The World, was featured by Ann Landers and my mom cut it out and had it on the Fridge because I refused to take the time to read it. Today I was thinking about that and found the article thanks to Google. I also remember Mom telling be about " paybacks and how they can be a B**** - and one day when you have kids you will understand" No truer words were ever spoken ~ I remember when I was about 5 I took my wiffle ball bat and knocked all the petals off the tulips (about 100 tulips) - yesterday was one of many "paybacks" I will be enduring as a mother ... Caroline came to me with a bucket of tulips that she had yanked out of the ground.

It looks like it will be a busy weekend for me again. We need to get our camper ready for our first outing in May, I am having a yard sale next week, and I am involved in a big project for my mother in laws Mothers Day present. Wish me Luck!

Todays Ramblings

This has really been a big week for Abigail. She finally got her outside play set that she has been wanting and she has also decided that when she grows up she wants to be a paleontologist. Right now her 2 favorite things are the Disney Princesses and Dinosaurs. Last year we took her to the Children's Museum and since then her little 5 year old mind has been preoccupied with the T-Rex and all of his prehistoric friends. If the show Jeopardy had the dinosaur category she would not lose.

Last week was not a good week for me at all! No good reason, I am not really sure why... I was just so tired! This week has been good! Good work week for me and my energy level has been way up. Maybe I can contribute that to eating better.

Today I had a pretty long "To Do" list and I hate to say it but nothing was checked off. It was all yard work that needed to be done but .... We have had this bush in the back yard that I have hated since the day we moved here. One year Jeff took a chainsaw to it and it grew back, we have poured root killer on it and have tried to dig part of it up with no luck. It is the bush from Hell !!! It stands about 12ft high and there are several other small trees and "things" that are growing in the middle of it. You can't mow or even walk near it without it grabbing you and drawing blood. Today I walked out there and gave it my evil eye look, like I always do... however, today was the day that I had enough!!! I poured some lighter fluid on it and set it on fire. Before lighting it up I trimmed some branches and I hate to say it but I do believe the bush won again... My arms look like I was attacked by about 20 cats and I bet I spent about 5 hours on that stupid bush and didn't accomplish anything, You just can't kill it!!!

Another random thought.. We are only a few weeks into this nice spring weather where the kids play outside most of the day. I swear at the end of the day when it is time to go inside I would pay someone $100 to clean them up. How can they get that dirty??? I was trying to tackle the bush and Abby comes to me and says.. " Caroline just pooped up in the fort" I go over there and climb up only to find a big turd sitting on the floor. Will there ever be an end to the poop stories?