I WON!!!!!

Well, for once in my life I finally won something. The day we went to get our dresses, they had some drawings and stuff from different vendors. I got a phone call today that I won a free engagment picture setting with Smith Photography in Joplin. We get the setting and 1 free pic. That's fine with me, they do an excellant job. I was quite excited about that. I don't have the appt. yet, I have to wait and see what Tony's schedule is like since he leaves for CA on Wed. Brooke is going to come and pick out our outfits (she's good at that stuff). I wanted to have a pic with Tony's race car, but it's tored apart at the moment. So we'll do those in spring.

This will be a great week! I get to see Kenny Chesney for the 10th time on Wed!!!!! Tony was supposed to go, but he's leaving for CA. Sarah is going again! YEAH!!!!

Racing Season

Well, Tony's racing season is officially over as of last Sunday. He got home from NY a few days early so we went racing on Sunday. I was really hoping he'd do well so we could race the 5oo today. During Hot Laps, he was smoking because of a water leak. So we had to put on new gaskets and put everything back together. During the heat, it started smoking again and then his car fell apart. The pulley fell off (holds the power steering belts) and is connected to the crank and the fan. Anyway, so he had to towed off and that was the end to our night. We were hoping he just had to replace the pulley. After Tony took it apart the motor is shot. So, needless to say our racing is over until next season. We are going to go watch the Bomber 500 2 nite instead. Here are the videos from that night.

Grandstand view


In-car cam

Reception NIGHTMARE!!!!

Okay, well I'm apologizing now if I start ranting on here! This last week has been very stressful. We (my mom and I) have been trying to find a place for my wedding reception. If you know me, you know my mom and I don't get along well. We are two totally different people so you know where this post is headed! Originally, I wanted to have an ALL reception at the church and an invite only one elsewhere. Adam and Julie did this and it seemed to work well. My mother didn't like that idea as it excluded people. I wanted dancing and champagne punch so we couldn't have it at the church. Plus our church basement isn't the best for receptions as it's divided into 2 rooms and is fairly small. So began the searching process. Mind you, there will be 150-200 people at this shin dig. My mother made it very clear she DID NOT want to clean up period! My father and Tony want food (since it's late afternoon). Option 1: Butcher Block. Cost $13.99 per person for the appetizer buffet. Not including the $30 per server and to pay for the bar service. Option 2: Granny Shaffers. Cost $12.99 per person. Total cost for these two places around $3000, just for the venue and food. Now, as much as I would've liked to have it at the Butcher's Block I couldn't let my parents pay that much $$. Option 3: First Methodist Church in Joplin. We have some friends that attend there. We could rent their gym for $550, pay their cleaning ladies to clean up, they would do the catering and we could use some of their decorations. Downside, no dance floor and no champagne punch. To my mother, not cleaning up this was the winner. Not for me! Option 4: Jack Lawton Convention Ctr. in Joplin. only holds 100-150 depending on how the tables are set. Option 5: Holiday Inn. 3 rooms=$750. Here's the kicker, no outside catering. Cost for that a min. of $5000 food and beverage. If you spend the $5000, the rooms are free. I'd hope so! Option 6 and final Carthage Memorial Hall. I know quite a few who have had theirs there. Rent has gone up to $325. In order to have liquor or any alcohol (champagne punch) you have to have a liquor caterer and then hire security ($50/hr). The liquor caterer would have an bar (people pay for that they want). Here's where the fighting begins! My mother seems to understand that this is my wedding. She tells me that people might not come if there is alcohol there and will be offended. UGH! I said they won't know till they get there and she says well then they might leave. GOOD! Let them leave. If they are offended and are leaving for that reason I don't want them there in the 1st place. It's not any different than going to a restaurant. You have a choice to buy alcohol and you have a choice not to. It's their money if they want it they can buy it. Then she thinks there will be scene. I asked who I was inviting would cause a scene?? She couldn't give me an answer. She couldn't give me one either on who would be offended. I said the only person that will cause a scene will be me if things keep up like this! I said this is my wedding, you had yours. She's worried about what everyone else will think and not what I want. I was sooooo ANGRY! So, after many aggravating and crying phone calls to people the consensus was my mom is nuts for thinking that and it's not right. In the process I call Tony to talk to him about this. He gets on me thinking we need to send our invitations now. Are you kidding me??? He thinks that people have to ask off work 6-8 months in advance. Ha! I said it wasn't going to happen and if he was that worried he could do it himself. End of that story! Back to my mother... I called my father thinking my mom was at church. Apparently, I gave her such a headache she didn't go. I told him what she said and so he confronted her and then got mad at here. Brooke asked come adults in choir at church that night what their thoughts were and if they'd be offended. ALL OF THEM SAID NO! It was their choice and their $$. DUH! Results of this: I called my mom and told her it was her $$. If she wanted to pay $3000 for Butchers Block she could or pay for Memorial Hall. The only date open at Carthage was July 11 so we had to decide quick. My mother also though it would cost $500 to rent table clothes-UM NO!!!! She was worried about decorations too. I have plenty of friends who have stuff for me to borrow or know where to borrow them from. MSSU rents tablecloths. Joplin HS rents out props. That's the fun is decorating. The girls at school volunteered to serve food. There will be plenty of people willing to help clean up after. Clean up required: clean kitchen if used, take out trash, and pick up decorations. NOT THAT HARD!!!! So the decision: Carthage Memorial Hall, since it's all about me mother said. She was being sarcastic in that tone!!!! No onto catering. We have a friend who is head of catering at Red Hot and Blue/Charlie's Chkn. It would be $1200 for RHB and$1400 for Charlies. That is including all the utensils/plates/and food warmers. Table clothes are $3 at MSSU. The liquor caterer is around $600 and if you use them for food they give you a discount. I asked my mother after the talked to liquor caterer if there was anything else I need to know before we booked the hall. Her response was no. So we booked the hall. Needless to say my mother and I were not on good terms!!! When are we?? Thursday, mom and dad were down and things were fine we got along. Friday, they were here again. She brings up the champagne punch and that the liq. caterer has to do it and he charges $1 per cup. What the heck? That's like $200 for 1 cup each. I know people will want more than 1. I was furious as to why I wasn't informed of this before. My mother stated that she didn't think about it. UGH!!!! That would've made a big difference. So that started another round of fighting! I decided I would pay for that part myself. I informed her that I would be drinking all $200 worth if things kept going the way they were. This is ridiculous and we are still 10 months out! She is too busy trying to impress of her friends and wanting everyone to think I'm this little perfect princess who does nothing! WRONG!!! I'm totally the opposite. If people don't like it they can leave. That means they're not really there for me. So, that's the end of my little story. I'm sure there will be more drama to come!! Not sure if it can get much worse. If it's any consolation I bought (well my mom) my wedding dress last Sunday. It's so gorgeous! The girls bought theirs too since they got $20 off. At least it's one thing we didn't argue about!

Grad School-Easy A

Well, I had my first night of MAT class on Tuesday. It will be very simple, however a little more difficult for me since my kiddos don't read. This is a reading class! There is only one other elem. teacher in there (2nd grade); the rest are upper elem. or hs. The teacher is really nice; she rambles a lot and knows it! We were done by 6:45 and will be done by 7:30 every week. The class isn't supposed to be over until 8:20. We have all of our assignments which are simple. We have 3 presentations to do. One: pick an age appropriate vocab word, write the definition on the board, use it in a sentence, and then the class (MAT class) has to use it in a sentence. Okay.. age appropriate for me is dog, cat, potty, yes, no...lol. My word I decided is going to patience! I have to say this a lot in the last week. We have to pick 1 reading strategy and create a lesson using it. Our 3rd presentation is to read to the class for 5 min. (it can be anything). Each week, we have a short assignment due. Class time will consist of the teacher going over 2 reading strategies, then followed by the 6 presentations (2 for each thing), and then we're done! Hopefully, I can stay on top of everything! Now if all my classes would be like this!!

Lots going on!

Well, lets see so much has happened in the last 2 weeks. We had my Uncle Gail's' funeral on the 13th. It was very nice and I learned a lot about him that I didn't know before. My dad's brother, his wife, and their son came up from GA. They didn't stay long though. Now, we're going through the cleaning process of Gail's stuff.
We had our first night of racing last Sun. on the 17th. Tony came in 10th and he didn't wreck. We brought the car home in 1 piece and if you know Tony that's doesn't happen a lot. He did a very good job. I was very happy for him that he finally got to take the car out. He's been waiting a long time for this and I could tell by watching him that he was thrilled. I love seeing him so happy and doing what he loves. Here's a few pictures from that night.







Here is the video I took of the heat race:

Here is the video from his in-car cam heat race.


My video-feature


In car-cam feature


School has officially started. We started on the 14th, but I didn't get my kiddos until the 19th. Needless to say, I've been exhausted these last few days. My morning class is 3-year olds and my afternoon class is 4-year olds (who got to K next year). The AM class is handful and wear me out! The PM class is great and they all are a bunch of clowns. Everyday they make me laugh with some silly story or question. All in all it'll be a great here. We've had some issues already this year, but nothing that won't keep me from doing my job. The days seem to be going so fast! Hopefully that'll stay!
Tony is gone for 2 1/2 weeks to NY for his job. He hasn't been gone this long in a while. Last night I went to the drive in the girls and George. We saw The Dark Knight and X-Files. Both were good. Today I went and bought my wedding dress!!!!! I'm so excited and it's so beautiful. The girls ordered their dresses. I wish I could post the pics we took today, but Tony's not allowed to see.
I start Grad. school on Tues. Not sure how I feel about going back to school. I want to and all but getting back into the studying and all is not what I want. I'll have reg. school, grad. school, and wedding stuff. My plate is very full. I'm done rambling now! Hope everyone has a great week and a good Labor Day weekend coming up.

My Uncle's Obit.

Well, these last few days have been absolutely crazy. I started my 1st official day of school on Monday (meetings and stuff) and again today. Lucky for us, we're not starting our kiddos until next Tuesday. The rest of the kiddos start Thurs. I've been working for what seems like weeks now and still don't have it all done. Granted, it's only been about 10 days since I left school. It'll all come together just not as organized as I would hope.

Tomorrow is my uncle's funeral. Here is his obit from the Neosho Daily News. There was also one in the Joplin Globe on Sunday.


Newtonia, Mo. - Gail L. Elery, a retired machine shop owner, passed away, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008 at Freeman West Hospital, Joplin.

He was born Jan. 5, 1925 at Anita, Iowa to William (Will) Elery and Winifred (Winnie) Steinmetz Elery. Gail graduated from Neosho High School, May 20, 1943, as salutatorian of his class. He was inducted into the U.S. Army shortly after graduation and trained at Ft. McClelland, AL. Gail was a member of I Company, 116th Inf. Reg. 29th Division. He served in Scotland, England, France, Belgium and Germany, receiving his first combat service on Omaha Beachhead on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He came ashore on Omaha Beach at 7:05 a.m., part of the initial landing force. Two days after landing, he was wounded in action in France in 1944.

Gail was then hospitalized in England for several months before being sent back to mainland, Europe. He was discharged in January, 1946 at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis.

Gail received the Purple Heart, ETO ribbon with three battle stars, bronze arrowhead, Presidential citation, a good conduct ribbon and unit citation for outstanding merit. Upon his honorable discharge from the service in 1946, Gail returned to live with his parents in the Newtonia community. He was a well known and highly respected machinist, working 11 years for Roderick Arms and Tool Company in Monett and later established his own machine shop in Newtonia where he did precision, custom and contract work. Gail was a longtime member of the former Newtonia United Methodist Church and currently a member of the Wanda United Methodist Church. He was treasurer and city clerk for the city of Newtonia for 16 years and was currently serving on the water board. He was an active member of the Newtonia Civil War Battlefield Association. Gail was instrumental in restoring old headstones in the old Newtonia Civil War Cemetery and did much volunteer work at that cemetery, fabricating various metal supports to protect the very old headstones and casting concrete headstones in the shape of a Cross for unknown graves. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Grace Jackson and Louise Mefford. He is survived by two nephews, Howard Jackson and wife, June, Manchester, Ga. and Paul A. Jackson and wife, Janis, Webb City, Mo; three great nieces and 1 great nephew, Catherine Maddox, Warm Springs, Ga.; Angela Burke, Warm Springs, Ga.; Darlene Kate Jackson, Webb City, Mo. and Kevin Jackson, Warm Springs, Ga.; and several great nieces and nephews.

Services will be Wed., Aug. 13, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. at the former Newtonia United Methodist Church, Pastor Steve Thomas will officiate. Burial will be in the Neosho IOOF Cemetery, with full military honors to be conducted at the graveside service. Friends may call at the Clark Funeral Home, Granby on Monday from noon to 5 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The family will receive friends on Wednesday morning from 9:30 a.m. to service time at the Newtonia United Methodist Church. Contributions in memory of Gail may be made to the Wanda United Methodist Church, c/o Clark Funeral Home, PO Box 26, Granby, MO 64844. Online condolences may be posted at www.clarkfuneralhomes.com

My Uncle Gail

I know in earlier posts I stated I would post a blog regarding my Uncle Gail's health. Well, sad to say this blog has come a little too late. He passed away about 30 minutes ago. I'm sure you're asking, "what in the world are you doing on here?" At the moment in time there's nothing I can do. My parents are with him at the hospital waiting for the funeral home. He's in Joplin and I'm in Neosho and the funeral home is in Neosho as well. My luck by the time I got there it'd be too late. Best thing I can do is stay home and wait and pray. So I guess I will go ahead and update on the my uncle's condition. I guess it all really started last Nov. when he came for Thanksgiving he had lost a lot of weight, wasn't eating hardly, and said he was dizzy. His chiropractor related the dizziness to his bp meds I think.Gail is not one for Dr.'s and doesn't go. So during this time between Nov. and May nothing had really been done. He was still healthy in everything else including his mind and spirit. Granted was 83, so his age did play a part. The tornado came and gone and one day his insurance agent was out at the house and Gail received a phone call. He needed to go immediately to the hospital as his kidney function was 40%. The very nice insurance agent drove Gail from Newtonia to Joplin (45 min. drive) where my parents met them. He was admitted with high bp, UTI, and kidney failure. He spent a few weeks there and was in good spirits but knew his time was probably coming to end. He had to go on dialysis so he had a tube thing inserted to make it easier I guess. We moved him to a nursing home about 3-4 weeks ago. Yesterday morning my parents received a phone call stating they had taken him to the hospital. His kidneys were functioning at 4%, he had some rash (still unsure what is was) and another UTI. He has had a catheter this whole time mind you. My parents stayed most of the time and went home around 9:30. I got a phone call at 11:45 that the hospital had called and said my parents needed to get there. Not too long after my parents had left that night, Gail had started slipping away and was on meds to keep him calm and that it wouldn't be much longer. My mom called this morning saying it wouldn't be much longer. Only 2 people could go in so I didn't go first thing. Tony and I were going to leave and go this afternoon when my mom called and said he had passed. He went peacefully so that was a good thing! So now you have the rest of the story-sorry it was just a little too late. Please keep is in your prayers over these next few days!