annual Fall cruise-in

The past several weeks I have been running around like a chicken with i.............(you get the idea) collecting items to stuff the goody bags,working with vendors and local businesses to collect door prizes. I absolutely loved it!


Yesterday has come and gone, I can finally say I did it. My first event as president was a success! We work with a local Ford dealership, to have an annual fall cruise-in. Its basically like a car show, only the cars  aren't  separated into judged classes. Instead we give out specialty awards and sponsor's choice awards. Proceeds benefit the Madison County Veteran's Memorial here in the Rocket City.

Everyone arrived Friday afternoon at 5:30 @ WAF to start stuffing the goody bags and setting up everything for the show. I slept a total of four hours Friday night. I got up at 5am Saturday to get ready to go back to the dealership. I arrived there at 6:30 am along with other members and WAF employee's to start setting up the registration tent, the t-shirt sales table, and the PA system for announcements and music.

Last year was a huge flop because of all the rain, we only had 53 entrants. This year we had a beautiful fall day, it was warm in the upper 70's and thankfully there was no rain. We had 89 registered entrants this year! Which is such a blessing! We had loads of fun. There was really only one thing that went wrong, and that was the fact that our microphone decided to quit shorty before our awards presentation.

There were several vendors on site, one selling lemonade, another selling coke and BBQ sacked lunches, a toy car guy, and several automotive vendors. After the show there was plenty of food leftover so it was donated to the local food bank.

I had a blast meeting new people and making new friends. Last year Sharon {who is our MCA director} brought her niece Karen along with her. Since it rained she decided to get into a water fight with one of the members named Skip. So it was only natural for me to help her keep the tradition alive.

I asked Skip to come over to where I was, luring him into our water fight trap. Karen soaked him, which was followed by a desperate attempt of retaliation. I unexpectedly got a TON of ice cold water poured over my head. It felt nice actually since I was so hot after being up on the roof. {myself and two others went up there to get an aerial photo of the car show, the roof is white and reflected the sun right onto us & goodness it was hot}

Tomorrow I go back to the dealership to hand off the money to be donated to the local Veteran's Memorial. Its still a work in progress. It feels good to be a part of something big, and to know we are making a difference in our community.
You can find out more about the memorial at this link Madison County Veterans Memorial

I can't wait for our annual May car show now! I'm already starting a notebook of ideas!

Date Night! Yeah!

My husband and I had a rare date night. A friend offered to keep the babies. Jerry had already taken off work so that he could stay home with the babies, while I was to attend the monthly Rocket City Mustang Club meeting. So since we had a free sitter we made the most of it and went to a concert.

It was at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. It was to benefit Tools For Schools. {Its a local organization that takes up school supplies and distributes them to the kids who wouldn't normally be able to afford them}

Admission was a donation of school supplies. We each took a bag, each bag had the same items.

We were excited to see The Eli Young Band, The JaneDear Girls, and Steve Holy!
I have always loved the song ''Good morning beautiful'' by Steve Holy. I got a little teary eyed listening to him sing it in person {he was only feet away from us}, while holding my husband's hand.  It was an awesome concert! We even ran into a couple of friends from the mustang club, who also ditched the meeting!

After the concert we went to dinner at T.G.I. Friday's. We have been going there for six years, its always our first choice! So occasionally they will throw in a discount! Its nice to know that being a loyal customer is appreciated! Its rare these days! Our dinner was free! 

The Eli Young Band

                                              The JaneDear Girls

                              Danelle Leverett of The JaneDear Girls

                                 Susie Brown of The JaneDear Girls

Steve Holy

Free concert + free dinner + date night = AWESOME!!!!

April's Fury

April 27th, 2011 ~ My husband was at work, my children and I were at home. We live in an upstairs apartment, so I had a bag ready for them in case we had to leave. My daughter who was 2 at the time, said she needed her bible & wouldn't let go of it. At one point my husband called me and said that a tornado was on the ground & for us to get downstairs to the laundry room where we would be safe. I went and looked out the kitchen window and watched as the tornado headed northeast. Probably a stupid thing to do,but I didn't feel like we were in danger since it was traveling in the opposite direction. The power went out & my husband was held over after his shift was over. He came home from work almost 7 hours late. The babies went from room to room trying to make the t.v.'s and the lights work. They kept telling me to fix it, not understanding that it was something that was completely out of my control. They also didn't understand the whole candle thing & kept blowing them out. The whole house felt hot and sticky. The next morning I packed a bag to go stay with my brother and his family. There was no way I could stay at home for days with two toddlers, and no power. I ended up staying there for five days before my husband called to tell me that we had power again. During the almost two hour drive to my brothers house all I could see was tornado damage, literally in every town I drove through. I was low on gas, and due to the power being out couldn't find an open gas station. I ended up parked on the side of the road in Snead waiting for my brother to bring gas for me and the babies. During my stay with my brother's family, I went to Shoal Creek to see the damage there. It was like a war zone. My sister-in-law and I bought items to donate to the victims, and went there and passed them out. Sunday I went to church with them, and sat there crying after all I had seen in the pat few days with full gratitude that all of my family was safe. My husband was put on 12 hour shifts, with no regular lunch hour, and off days were taken away. Its the longest time I have ever been away from my husband in the entire time that I have known him. Once I was back home, I realized that the food in the freezer and fridge was spoiled. Rotten meat,eggs,etc. is something I never want to clean up again. The blood from the meat in the freezer, ran all the way down inside the fridge. It smelled dreadful, and took a good month to get rid of the smell! I felt like I needed to do something more. I cleaned out all of our old clothes to donate, and took them to the donation center. I helped volunteer with the fire department, helping to clean up debris. I cried because seeing it in person is nothing like seeing it on the news. So this made me realize something.... why do most of us wait until a tragedy happens to try and do a good deed? Why do we all not volunteer more often? Why don't we donate to the needy more? I have made it a point in my life to be a better person all the time,not just sometimes. Donate blood, donate food to the food bank. Donate old clothes, or anything no longer wanted to a charity. You never know who you are helping, or how much of an impact it makes on their lives.

Arab,AL

                                     the line to get gas was over 2 miles long

                                          Shoal Creek

                                             Shoal Creek

                               items that my sister-in-law & I bought to donate to the storm victims

                                                  God Bless America!!!!

  Harvest,AL I took this photo while helping the fire department during storm clean up.

 This family was definitely grateful to be alive! This sign brought tears to my eyes!{Harvest,AL}