Maybe Lots of Pictures On This One...

Ever since I was a young Cub Scoutling I had marvelous fantasies to make the ultimate Pine Wood Derby car. It was a little tricky to do in the house I grew-up in as our tool options were somewhat limited. I built some "interesting" cars growing up using a hack saw and some duct tape. Cars with special skills and victorious looking paint jobs that would make Napoleon Dynamite proud.

Several years later with some woodworking experience and a garage full of tools, imagine my thrill when I learned that we would be having a daddy daughter derby in our ward that both my daughters would be involved in! And since Bubba loves ALL things cars, we decided we couldn't make the girls cars and leave him out. That meant I got to build not one, not two, but three cars!

So thrilled was I and so grand were my childhood dreams that it was a little hard for me to relinquish some of the control of the build to the childrens. Still, we had a lot of fun getting these cars to the end result. I procrastinated a little, so the paint jobs are more rushed than I would have hoped.

Less words. More pictures...

We went on the www and they all picked out the style of car they wanted. I decided to mock the cars up first, so I could make mistakes on those before starting the real cars. I made two blocks the exact dimensions of the actual pine wood derby cars.

Here are the mock-ups...






Once I figured out how to approach them, I got to work. Here are the real deals, mostly finished and read for paint...








First coat of primer...



Second coat of primer...







Third coat of primer...




First base coat of color...






Taped-up for flames and stuff...




Second coat of color...


Taped pulled to reveal the pink on pink flames...




Taped pulled to reveal the red on black flames...



Green to blue fade...



And here they are, ready for the races...








Bubba's hot rod didn't participate in the competition, but was pretty fast in all the non-official races he ran it in.

Jasaroo's green to blue fade racer ran the middle of the pack, lot's of 2nd and 3rd places, but sure turned a lot of heads.

Powpow's pink on pink flames was a fast car and ended up taking 2nd in the whole tournament.

Derby for life!

Maybe You Should Know...

I friggin' LOVE this guy...



New album out April 10th.

That's what I'm talkin' about!!!

Maybe Goin' Green...

No, no. Not like that! Good heck. I hate the trees and nature stuff.

No, this is a green belated St. Patty's Day post. If there's anything I hate more than trees and nature, its leprechauns. I effing hate them!!! Those dirty little gold grubbers stopped by our house while we were sleeping Friday night. They opened all of the drawers in the kids bedrooms and tossed the clothes everywhere. They toilet papered our family room, knocked over furniture, opened every cabinet and drawer in our kitchen, spilled flower on the counter and just really made a mess. The kids were aghast at the audacity. As was I. Their keen eyes spotted a four leaf clover drawn in the flower and tiny little footprints.



Dirty little devils!!!

I HATE leprechauns SO much!!!

Maybe Princetastic...

Everyone who grew up in the 80's should hurry up and watch this before it get's pulled!

Hurry!!!



So awesome.

Maybe It's All About Accountability...

Well… Hi friends.

It's that time of year again. Where we all decide who we are and who we're going to be. Am I still a blogger? Do I look like a male model yet? What am I going to do with all those dead cats in my trunk?

The New Year causes us to reflect on these things. We dig deep within ourselves and ask the tough questions about what needs to change. Every ‘goal setting’ article I have read suggests that I share with friends and family my goals for the New Year. What this does is create accountability. A fancy, tricky way of saying if I don’t hit said goals you can all openly mock me and make me feel like a failure—feel very little and insignificant. All of this seems to make sense to me, so without further ado, here are my 2012 goals for you to all hold me to:

1. 1. I have started a “Plastic Surgery Jar”. Every coin I find in the laundry, in the couches, every dollar I steal from my kids allowance, is going into the jar. Whenever I share that, the first question is ALWAYS “what are you going to have done?” If you know me, the answer should be quite obvious—my keester! I have got some junk in that trunk and just would really like to have some of it gone. The Nurse is sick of me bumping things with it all the time and stuff. It just needs to be smaller.

2. 2. Like everyone else in America, I have set a weight loss goal. To hold myself accountable I will give you my current weight: 225 lbs. And where I plan on being by summer: 110 lbs. I know it’s aggressive, but I believe I have fallen into the “trying to look like the female fashion models” trap with everyone else. We are who we are! Er… we are trying to be who They tell us we should be. Right? Damn them.

3. 3. Of course, we shouldn’t just focus on the physical. Change, REAL change, should also include bettering ourselves through talents or skills. So, I plan on using my awesome skills to procure a large sum of money by legal or illegal means in order to have my lips, nose, and eyes done. I crawled over the proverbial hill this year and turned the big 34, so obviously I need the work done.

Well. There you have it folks. Let’s check-in with each other frequently and see how things are going. Good luck to all of you with your own lofty goals. You haven’t shared them with me, so you’re already kind of failing.

Lame-o.

Maybe Kachow!!!

Bubba wanted more than anything... ANYTHING!!! to be his great hero Lightning McQueen for Halloween. Oh my gosh did he want to. We looked at the very limited store options and finally decided we would just make a McQueen costume. It is pretty much all I have heard for two months straight as I walk in the door from work: "Dad, are we going to make my McQueen costume!?"

Well... the little kid's dream came true. Not sure what else he has to look forward in life.




Yes, we do have pictures of the kid actually in the costume, but they are on The Nurse's camera, so....

Maybe The Swansonator...

I was Ron Swanson for Halloween.

It was magical.

Magical like when I was a bear...