In the Field: Elliott Sadler (cont'd)

I've finally been able to do that with my own house, where I was able to design it and go through it working on every detail. It's been a blessing in disguise and a lot of fun to get it done and to get into it.

Maybe the greatest thing has been how peaceful and quiet it is to be in there. I lived in an apartment for four years in Charlotte and in an apartment complex there's always cars riding by late at night and people spinning tires and your neighbors are always up all the time -- or not up, because I have such weird hours from traveling all the time.

But when you've got your own house, there's so much peace and quiet. And that's been the biggest surprise. It can just get as quiet as it can be, it seems like, especially early in the morning -- so that's been pretty cool.

The one thing that's been a surprise, or a shock, to me is my landscaping. I'm not a flower guy, a bush guy or a shrub guy or a grass guy, at all. I used to have to cut my parents' yard every week, when I was a kid, so I pretty much got tired of it.

I pretty much wanted to throw something on it to kill it all so I wouldn't have to cut it. But now when you've got your own house you want all that to look good -- so I've been going through a mess with the landscaping stuff, trying to make it look good and to make the house look nice.

So that's kind of the biggest thing that I've been going through right now -- and I'm kinda upset at my landscaping people, because they're not doing a good job -- and I've been trying to go out there and help them a little bit, pulling some extra weeds and stuff like that.

The good thing is, it's a buyer's market, and I'm working on that right now, trying to switch up -- because I want my stuff to look nice because I've put a lot of effort and heart-and-soul into it and I want it to come out looking good.

And now that I've been in there a bit, thank God there's nothing major we need to do -- but my pool furniture is not enough. I've got to get some more comfortable stuff for out there.

My mom and dad have been spending a lot of time in Charlotte with me lately and I need some better, more comfortable stuff for them when they want to hang out by the pool.

Me, I just went to the nearest store and went, 'That looks good -- load it up.' And now I get it there and I'm like, 'Aaah, no.' So I've got to upgrade a little bit on that, because I didn't know how much I was gonna use it, and I'm using it more than I thought I would -- so that's a good thing.

And as far as the rest of the furniture I figured out I'd need, to kind of the flesh the place out all the way, it's still coming in.

Have you ever noticed that every time you try to order something that you like, it's on back order? Everything I like that you see in a magazine is on back order. And I ordered it six months ago, because I knew when I was moving in -- and everything's still on back order.

But I'll tell you the one good thing that I do. Once I make up my mind, the switch goes off and I don't keep seeing things and saying, 'Well, maybe that would look better.'

I switch it off and figure, that's what I liked first, and usually your first impression is your best one. I've just got to be patient and wait for them to get there -- but I just don't like trying to understand why everything is back ordered.

I mean, you're giving them that much time; they ought to be able to deliver. It's frustrating.

Elliott Sadler, now in his ninth full season in the Cup Series, shares weekly with NASCAR.COM readers life on the road through staff writer Dave Rodman.