Bunk in the Trunk: UPDATE!

I told you that I'd try to take pictures next time... and I did! I took these last week, but I just didn't have to time to post 'em.

Notice the striping pattern across the grain? This is Tiger Oak. Yeah, nothin' but the best for my boys!

These will become part of the headboards and footboards. They used to be 8ft planks 5 inches wide. A whole lotta cuttin.

These are the corner posts. 2 and 7/8th inches square. Sweet tools in the background.

Bunk in the Trunk

Our family has been blessed with a great home, but it's starting to get tight with our growing family. To make more room for our kids, we've decided to get bunk beds for the boys; however rather than purchasing them, I've been excited about making the beds. It will save us money, we can customize it any way we want, and I think it'll be something to take pride in. But I can't do it on my own.

Fortunately, the man we rent our home from is a master carpenter. He has modified his entire garage into a woodshop with more tools than I can name; it's really impressive. Wayne has been gracious enough to allow me to help him build our beds and we started work yesterday.

Becky and I found a design on the Pottery Barn Kids website that we really like and fortunately they list most of the dimensions of the set. Armed with the measurements and several pictures, Wayne and I have began an adventuring in woodworking. We spent several hours chopping, ripping, joining, planing, and glueing. It's pretty much as close to building it from scratch as you can get without growing the tree in your own yard.

In retrospect I wish I would have taken a few pictures to document the process, I'll work on that next time I go in. What projects do you have going on?

NFL preview: Browns v. Lions

This is a big week in the NFL. You may think that last weeks Pats v. Colts was a big game, but it pales in comparison to the match-up at Ford Field on Sunday. The lowly Detroit Lions take on the deplorable Cleveland Browns to determine which football team is the biggest disaster.

Both teams have continually proved to have confused defenses, ineffective offenses, and no clue how to win football games (don't even talk about the lions special teams. They have redefined just how badly 11 men can play at the same time). Both teams have a 1-8 record so far this season, but Detroit has only won 2 of their last 33 games.

And once again, there is no chance that I'll be able to watch the game on TV. The team has announced that they are still 7,000 tickets short of a sell out. No sell out = no TV broadcast (we've already established the stupidity of that rule here).

My prediction? I think the Browns will win. Detroit has more talent, but they can't ever seem to pull it together.

Rise and Sing

I have purchased a slew of new music recently and now I'm trying to catch up on listening to all of it. One of the CDz I bought was the new release by Fee called "hope rising". Yes, I actually buy the physical disc. I know it's not as cool as downloading it, but i just prefer to have something I can touch and see.

Anyways, I haven't listened to every song yet, because I keep replaying the first 3 over and over. The first song is a rock anthem called "rise and sing". It's reminiscent of the breakout hit "we shine" from their last CD, yet fresh and new a the same time. Watch the youtube clip (not the greatest audio, but you get the idea)...

... then buy the album. Any recommendations from you?

Words of Wisdom

Yesterday, Nov 12, Tennessee native Corey Zickefoose was held up at gunpoint by 3 young men. Corey and his companion showed the robbers that they didn't have any money and the robbers made a quick getaway. In many cases that may be the end of the story, but not this time.

The 3 'alleged' robbers were found to be 3 University of Tennessee football players. Nu'Keese Richardson, Janzen Jackson and Michael Edwards allegedly held up Zickefoose with an air gun and are are being charged with attempted robbery. The University hasn't yet made any announcement as far as punishments are concerned, but poor 'ol Corey has made his opinion clear:

"I think they should still be able to play football, regardless," he said. "Tennessee is my place. It's my football team."

"Even after they put a gun in your face, you say let them play football?" 6 News asked.

"Yeah, it's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes," Zickefoose said. [source]

Hun?? Is this guy serious? I definitely think that our culture is too eager to sue and get revenge, but this guy needs to get his priorities straight. It's horrible to think that he would rather have them not be punished just because he doesn't want to hurt his fav football team. They are the ones who made the choice to put their egos and greed ahead of the team. They need to learn a tough lesson.

And if that's the way it is sometimes in Tennessee... yikes!

Subway Survival

I was reading my friend Adams recent blog post about a very close call when a woman fell on the tracks on a subway. It reminded me of this amazing near disaster the saw recently:

If you didn't know, a pram is a baby stroller (short for perambulator). It is a miracle that the baby was (practically) unharmed. Stroller technology and God are a pretty good combination:)

And now, the circle is complete...

Wednesday night. I get to watch one of my fave shows, Man vs. Food. [you can read my previous thoughts on MvF here and here]

The host, Adam, travels to cities around America looking for the best places to eat, as well as tackling some of the most outrageous food challenges ever conceived. Tonight's stop was... DETROIT!!

He opened up by trying out Coney Dogs at two competing Coney restaurants which are located next door to each other downtown. Then he tried a "Triple Threat" at Slows BBQ (bacon, pulled pork, and ham on a poppy seed bun). And finally, his challenge was to break a world record by eating a 190 pound hamburger. Not a typo: one hundred and ninety pounds.

Of course, he didn't attempt it on his own. He had a 40-man team eating along with him, but they had to eat it all within 2 hours. They managed to get about 160lbs. of it down, but they fell short in the end.

I was sad to see them not accomplish the task, but proud of my city. When I checked out the official website I found a vlog of Adam visiting the Heidelberg project! I was just there and just blogged about it!

Cool.

Detroit Art

This morning I took our youth group to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. They didn't have school today because it's an election day and I thought it'd be a great way to get involved in the heart of this region that is suffering so much. We had a fantastic turn out (18 middle and high schoolers) and we hung up clothes to allow the homeless to "shop" for their clothes (much more dignifying than taking a hand-out). We also packaged food into boxed kits for a couple of hours. We ended the day by eating lunch at one of the centers where they serve warm meals to homeless and struggling folks. In between those two events we took a trip to drive through the Heidelberg Project. I've heard of this art experience but didn't really know much about it; now it know that it's really cool.

It's an entire block (both sides of the street) that has been claimed as an outdoor art exhibition/experiment to draw attention to the center of this struggling community. The project is a multitude of sculptures and art pieces all constructed from trash.

It is really hard to explain in words, so just check out the website... or visit it sometime.

Also, here's some info on the Capuchin Soup Kitchen if you'd like to support them too.

Your backyard friends the...

BACKYARDIGANS

Halloween is an awkward event. Culturally, it is a celebration of fear and horror, and while much of it may be "in good fun", it doesn't feel right to me. In my opinion devils, demons, and evil creatures shouldn't celebrated. I don't think my kids (or most people) will turn around and start worshipping that stuff, but it lessens our defenses; it turns evil into a plaything when we should be centered on Christ alone. But I love the chance to dress up and act a fool. Trick-or-treating was always a fun family event growing up. And I want, I choose, to make this a fun family event for us.

I know most of you have already seen these on my facebook page, but here are a few pictures of us from this past Halloween weekend. We were dressed as the popular children's tv characters, the Backyardigans. There are all homemade; we did alot of thrift store shopping and Becky did some amazing work on all the details.

Lady and Gentleman, I give you...

TYRONNE

UNIQUA

TASHA

PABLO

AUSTIN

THE WHOLE GANG

Danna- danna- danna-danna BATMAN!

Manu Ginobli is a phenomenal basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs. And his mythos just grew as he swatted a bat out of mid-air during a game yesterday.

Yes, he knocked a bat out of mid-flight during a basketball game on HALLOWEEN NIGHT!

You've got to see it to believe it: