Eatings, Football, and Christmas

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

I hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I spent Thanksgiving dinner with some wonderful friends again this year. I don’t know if I every mentioned it here at The Park, but I am an only child so I consider these friends my brothers and sister. They are my family. We got to watch some football (well, at least that what I thought it was in Detroit) as is tradition on Thanksgiving. I have to say the Dallas Cowboys are starting to get back some things they had early in the season. I caught a little of the UT/A&M game. Poor A&M…NOT! I didn’t dare venture out at o’dark thirty on Friday morning. I don’t like to give my sleep up for shopping escapades. I am sure everyone out there got some great bargains, I got caught up on some much needed sleep.

I didn’t do much on Friday except play a little PS3 Lego Batman. If you have a PS3 I highly recommended the game. I also like the Star Wars Lego game as well. I did watch my Red Raiders beat the Baylor Bears. They looked good in the first half, but we came back on them and won. We are now sitting at 11-1. Not bad considering the previous week, we got out assess handed too us in Norman on National TV. With that being said, Red Raider Nation was cheering on the OSU Cowboys to pull one out over OU. Why? Well, if by some chance OSU beat OU, my Red Raiders would move on to the Big 12 championship game against Missouri. Well, looks like the only way Red Raiders will see that game this year is either buy a ticket and head to KC or sit at watch like I will be next Saturday. Since OU, UT, and Tech had a three way tie, the tiebreaker (which is the 5th tiebreaker) was the highest ranking team in the BCS would head to KC. Well, I really thought UT should have gone since they did beat OU earlier in the year, but OU did score 60+ points in the last three games and thus…OU will be playing Missouri next week. Where does that leave Tech this year? Well…11-going into bowl season…where will we play? Can’t really say, but I have heard the Cotton Bowl. No matter where Tech ends up, it has been a great season. We did have a few casualties from last night’s game…Michael Crabtree out in the 2nd quarter, came back with a boot on his right ankle. Graham Harrell will have surgery on his fingers on his non-throwing hand. Here’s hoping everyone gets well by the time bowl season kicks off.

As tradition, I put up Christmas decorations and the Christmas during this weekend. This year was exciting because this would be Little Smoke’s first Christmas with us. As we kept pulling out the ornaments, he got more and more excited. Here are some pictures from our Christmas decorating day.

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Of course…I couldn’t forget those NASCAR elements to our Christmas tree and room decorations. I bought a new NASCAR ornament from Hallmark commemorating the 50th Daytona 500.
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Here are the NASCAR ornaments on the tree.  The tire ornament says “Gentleman Start Your Engines”.  Of course no Christmas tree of mine is complete without that ever popular Tony Stewart ornament.  I didn’t take a picture of it, but I do have a Redneck ornament on the tree…which states “You might be Redneck if you think the last four words of the National Anthem are gentleman start your engines.  Please note the sign behind the Christmas tree…”The Bar is Open”.  Actually it says, “The Tiki Bar is Open.” (part of it is hidden by the tree branch). This is a decoration from my birthday party back in June.  I like the sign so why not have it up year round.  Of course some of you may now be thinking…”you might be a Redneck if….and to which I respond…there is no “you might be” because I am one..and damn proud!
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Here are the stockings hung by the chimney with care…I am not going to say who’s stocking is who’s, but if you are a regular visitor to The Park, then you know which stocking is mine.
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I am still working on the 2008 Trixies. I have been through most of my postings and I am tallying the votes. I am hoping to have them posted this week, but as with anything sometimes it can get crazy.

Tony-Person of the Year

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

I have to say I am a little down this morning…my beloved Red Raiders got their assess handed to them on a silver platter on Saturday night by that team from Norman. But I am ok and have come in off the ledge thanks to this…

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That’s right…”the other man” in my life has been named Person of the Year by NASCAR Illustrated.  If you have not picked up your copy of NASCAR Illustrated I would suggest you pick up your copy now.  Not only is there a great article on Tony, but there is an extra bonus…a fold out poster that is suitable for hanging in my office.   

I can’t wait until the 2009 season begins…according to the clock on my desktop..it’s 2 months, 21 days, 8 hours and 39 minutes.

Oh…and the newest Tony wear is now available for purchase at both NASCAR.com Superstore and Tony Stewart.com.

I just purchased this shirt from Tony Stewart.com. My first, new Tony shirt for 2009! Don’t worry, I will have more in my wardrobe shortly.

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I am hoping someone who really knows how much I need new Tony shirts will order this one from NASCAR.com Superstore (wink, wink Postman, Ms. H., or whoever feels the need to help a Tony fan out).  If you are not sure where to go, just let me know and I be more than happy to guide you there. I am also open to other new Tony items as well. Postman already has the new car on order from our local NASCAR dealer. Gotta love someone who takes care of this Tony fan.

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Update…I am planning to work on the 2009 Trixies over the Thanksgiving holidays.  I have quite a bit of spare time since I am not pulling off the entire Thanksgiving day dinner.  WOO HOO!!

OUch

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

That wasn’t a football game I watched last night between my beloved Red Raiders and those Sooners from Oklahoma. I don’t know what went terribly wrong. I know what I saw was NOT the Red Raiders from the previous games of the last several weeks. I think the OU Defense rattled our cages so much we couldn’t recover. There were a few little flickers of the Red Raiders that have been playing this season, but for majority of the game the Sooners kicked our Red Raider asses–plain and simple. We are still having a great season despite last night’s gams. We in Red Raider nation will be cheering on those Cowboys from Oklahoma State next weekend. For if the Cowboys can beat those Sooners, we will be tied with Texas for the Big 12 South standings. We of course would win the Big 12 south because we did beat Texas (still one of the best TTU games I have seen this season). And thus head to the Big 12 championship title game against Missouri. You cannot count out the Cowboys. The game is in Stillwater and OSU plays tough against their in-state rival OU.

Even though it was very painful to watch the game last night, I am still proud of my Red Raiders. We are still 10-1 this morning and enjoying one of the best seasons in a very long time. There is still football to be played next Saturday against Baylor in the last home game of the season. Plus there is still a lot of football to be played out there. Stand proud Red Raider nation!

Tony

/ Trixie / 2 Comments

6056748_7_1I can’t believe tomorrow will be the last time Tony will get behind the wheel of the #20 Home Depot car. All of us Stewart fans knew this was coming at the end of the season and I think we are pretty much prepared, but it is still going to be hard. It’s going to be somewhat strange to see another driver in the #20. For ten years we have watched Tony mature into one of the top drivers in NASCAR. He has 33 wins, 129 Top 5, 206 Top 10 with an average finish of 12.7 and an average points position of 4.88. And we mustn’t forget those two championships in 2002 and 2005. Tomorrow will also end the longest driver/crew chief duo as Tony and Zippy say goodbye to one another. It will be an emotional day for the whole #20 team as well as Joe Gibbs racing.

I am looking forward to the 2009 season and Tony’s next chapter in NASCAR.  It’s going to be nice to see Tony back in a Chevy and racing under his own terms.  It’s going to be interesting to see how Darian and Tony will interact. Ah…to be on the team channel next year.  I may have to get Direct TV after all just so that I can listen to the driver to crew chief chatter.  I have always said Tony could driver just anything he gets behind the wheel of…so next year will be the most exciting in a long time for us Smoke fans.  I am going out on limb and say Tony will make the Chase next year.  This change will, in my opinion, put fire in his belly and we will see Tony standing in victory lane more often than we did this year.

I will be watching tomorrow to see Jimmie can make NASCAR history and win his 3rd championship in a row joining the only other driver Carl Yarborough to accomplish this feat.  I don’t believe Carl will overcome his deficit to win the championship.  Things have to play into Carl’s hands in order for him to win the championship.  It’s going to be fun to watch tomorrow.

I am not sure about the ban on testing for the 2009 season.  I haven’t had a chance to read the articles about it.  I have been trying to get through all this adoption stuff the last couple of days.   I am still thinking about it all.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I am in the middle of working on the 2008 Trixies.  I try to post them during Championship or shortly thereafter.  It all depends on what is going on in The Park.  But don’t worry I will get them posted.

For those friends and family I have neglected and/or ignored the past 9 months, you now have my undivided attention.  The NASCAR season will be officially over tomorrow evening.  I now have some time in my schedule, well until February.  Usually it was until January, but with this ban on testing, January has now opened up for functions and parties.  I know for some us we mark off our calendars until the Daytona 500 and we try to find that replacement for our NASCAR until the season begins.  I can focus on football until the green flag flies for the 2009 Daytona 500.

Wednesday

/ Trixie / 3 Comments

It’s Wednesday.  For most people this week that’s two days until the weekend.  For me, however, it’s half a day of work and I am free until Monday.  Don’t get too excited for me just yet.  I still have to get through all the relatives, adoption day, the celebration party, and the final race of the 2008 NASCAR season.  

I haven’t been able to post pictures of Little Smoke due to regulations of CPS, but at this point of the process (we are under 48 hours) here is the newest member of my family. This was taken about couple of months he was in hour home. We went to Home Depot to make a Tony car. It’s never too early to start.
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