Because we're cruel like that,

we subjected our poor lil' Princess to her 'rents redneck hobby and took her to the races. The dirt track races, just to add insult to injury.


We had grand plans that she would sit in awe of the cars racing by. Or that she would clap her hands when the crowd cheered. Or that maybe, just maybe, she might smile and we'd get a glimpse of some pearly whites. But not our little diva....


Even the purchase of a ridiculously expensive light-up butterfly didn't do the trick.

While she thought her "ear muffs" were cool, she wasn't fond of the dirt or the noise or that fact that there were people coming up the steps in the stands. And so, she couldn't walk up and down them 158 times like she wanted. Poor, poor thing...


Luckily "white b" came along for the action and the two of them spent their time conspiring on how the heck to get outta there.


Oh, and there was kissing. Lots of "white b" kissing.


Finally at 9:30 at night (the latest she's ever stayed up, let alone out in public), she had an award winning tantrum complete with real tears, kicking and screaming. Really, it was impressive. And I'm sure as much as the rest of the audience wanted to see other Academy Award performances from her, we decided it was time to go.


Next time we're takin' Jacob because he'll enjoy it. He's got more of the Hubsters redneck, race car-lovin' genes in him then Fancy Pants does. Plus, he won't complain about the dirt under his fingernails ;)

Seatbelts and racing junkola

I hate putting my seat belt on. I hate it. I know you should because it's safest, blah blah blah, but it's annoying. When I had the Infinity and the truck, I would slack off occasionally and not buckle myself in. But with this Durango, there is an alarm that sounds within seconds if you don't buckle up. I despise this alarm because it's so obnoxiously loud. But when Justin and I had Lauren, he made me promise to wear it at all times because Lauren needed her momma. So I agreed and I have done so faithfully.

So anyways, a few days ago, we were getting into the Durango and I had started it up before putting my seat belt on. Well the stupid alarm started beeping to "remind" me to buckle up. Annoyed, I turned and asked Justin "Is there a way you can disable this dumb alarm?" to which he replied" Yeah, it's called bucking your seat belt". To say my husband is a smart a$$ would be an understatement. Good thing he bought me a Slurpee that night or he'd have been sleeping on the couch :)

I guess while we're on the subject of cars, I will share a couple photo's of the Hubster in all of his Street Stock Glory. If you've never seen Dirt track racing, you're in for a special white-trash treat because these pics are the epitome of what high class racing looks like...Ha!! And although the main course entree at the dirt track is hot dogs (with mustard if you're lucky!), and the fact that most of the drivers are named "Bubba" and the fact that most patrons there are missing a few teeth, we have a pretty good time. I just wear my best flannel shirt and clean overalls and I fit right in with all of the other Rednecks :)

Anyways, here's my #36 a few months back. Justin's quite proud of the condition his car is in...he lives by the motto "Rubbing is Racing" so having a few dents and dings on the car is supposedly a good thing. If we had to repaint the car every time the paint got messed up, we'd be broke...hence, the flat black spray paint he has goin' on :)

Drive baby drive!

With a huge trailer in our driveway, a hideous dirt track race car in our garage and gallons of oil and other car crap that has stained our once-white driveway, I think it's safe to assume that our family has a little bit of white trash in us :) What car obsessed, engine-fuel-lovin' kind of family isn't? I'd love nothing more than to blame it on my husband but who am I kidding? I love the dirt track just as much as he does...I just hate to get my nails dirty! So I sit in the stands with the other white trash, beer-drinkin' toothless folks and cheer my husband on while he kicks some Hillybilly booty! Haha!

So is it any surprise that our daughter has inherited some of these less-than-stellar qualities? Can I help it that the child likes the racetrack like her mommy and daddy do?!?! I mean, I gave her the option of which shirt she'd like to wear and being the Brown that she is, she chose this one and made her daddy grin with pride:


For those of you who may not recognize the Redneck racing symbol, those are checkered flags on her shirt. I couldn't resist buying the onesie and, being the sweety that she is, she happily "agreed" to sport her daddy's favorite baby girl article of clothing. Here's a closeup of what it says:

"Future Dirt Track Racing Star", complete with hot pink stars, purple letters and the all-important checkered flags. But don't worry...we haven't gone overboard yet. She's got a helmet lined up, fire-proof racing gear in size 6-9 months and a booster seat to reach the steering wheel, but we haven't actually gone out and bought her a car yet :) But when we do, you can bet it will be decked out with pink, purple and have a giant crown on the hood because afterall, she is our little Princess Piddle Pot :)

Poor Justin

How much bad luck can one person have? I can assure my husband has had it all! Tonight was race night and once again, his car broke. This is the 10th time that something has happened to car, preventing from finishing the race. In fact, he's finished twice this year. Between the radiator, axle's, tires, starter and other car crap, he has nothing but bad luck. Well tonight, as usual, someone lost control of their car and plowed right into him, breaking the axle and leaving his tire hanging. And because he had minimal time to fix everything before the main event started, he had to sit it out, once again, and watch as his competitors have a blast.

I'm not one who believes in curses, witches, ghosts and goblins, but I am seriously thinking that Justin's car is cursed. I mean, something happens to that freakin' car every single time he races! And if you know Justin, you know he's very mechanical and works on his car a lot to make it perfect. He's good at fixing and adjusting things on the stupid race car, which is why I feel for him.

So he came up into the stands after the accident and I could tell how upset he was. He sat down and said "I just wanna finish a race. I don't even care about winning anymore". Ugh! Man, if there was anything I could do to take away his sadness and frustration, I would in a heartbeat. So I suggested that maybe we get him another car and sell the hunk of junk. But apparently, buying another car that doesn't have problems costs about $4000.00. And because of my recent medical bills, we simply can't afford another one right now. So, if you happen to feel generous and would like to donate money to a good cause, I'd be happy to give you our address ;)

So, to cheer Justin up a bit, I came home before the races ended, made this sign and hung it on the door before he came in:

My hope is that it brightened his day...at least a little.

On a side note, Miss Annie wore her cute little hat today:

It was so cold this morning and besides, I had to buy the hat because she needed one! Oh, and every girl needs matching boots, right???

Hmmm, perhaps I should lay off buying all things pink and girly so that my sweet husband can get a new race car....Nahhhhhhh :)

Saturday happenings

Forgive me if this is a bit jumbled... it's 5 am and instead of sleeping, I'm blogging. Why you ask? Oh, because Miss Flirt McNert decided to skreeeeech loudly at 4:30 am until Mommy came and got her outta the crib. And of course it wasn't because she was hungry...it was just time to party. So here we both sit, me in the computer chair and her in her exersaucer...who cares if it's still dark outside and my husband is sleeping soundly in bed (where I should be too!) :0)

So Saturday morning before the big race started, I set out Annie Banani's clothes for the day and asked Justin to put them on while I hopped in the shower. I set out a little shirt and a skirt for her...and the shirt had "ruffly" things on the collar so it shouldn't have been hard to put on right. Ha! I came outta the shower and found her like this:

Apparently for a daddy who has never dressed anyone in baby girl clothes, this was quite a task for Justin. Yep, her shirt is on completely backwards....but hey,he tried, right? :o)

Anyways, when racing season began back in April, Justin was looking forward to really tearin' 'em up, since he was a rookie last year and was learning the ins and outs of dirt track racing. Unfortunately, he's had the worst luck this year...between the engine, starter, rear end and a few cut ties, he's finished about 3 out of the 10 races he's raced. At the last race, THREE parts of the car broke and he was unable to finish the race once again. He was very"beaten down" as he calls it and had considered taking a break because he was beyond demoralized with the hunk of junk, otherwise known as the race car.

So the last race he set himself out but Luis and I made him go watch...and our plan worked! He wanted to get back out there and kick some dirt track butt! So the guys worked every night this week, sometimes staying up 'til 2 am to get the POS working. So Saturday was the first race Justin went to since it broke about 5 weeks ago. All day long I just kept hoping and praying that he would finish...not win or even "place", just finish. Well, not only did he finish, he took THIRD place! This ROCKED because he started 12th place (out of 21 cars!) and he seriously fought to pass some of the other racers. On top of that, he really didn't know how the car was gonna handle after all of the work they put into it so it was like driving a completely different car. After the race, he walked up into the Grandstands with a HUGE smile...it was soooo nice to see him happy and excited after a race :)

He got 2nd place in his heat and third place in the main. He did AWESOME and I am so proud of him for not giving up and giving it everything he had!

Yay #36!