About 5 years ago we rented a small house while we waited for the construction on our home in Oak Ridge to be completed. When we moved in, the garbage disposal was not working, and the kitchen sink kept clogging. Our landlord said he had already purchased a new disposal, and would install it for us right away. One afternoon I returned to the house to find this note taped to the kitchen sink. The note is a masterpiece in simplicity and profundity. Any job gone awry can be blamed on one or both of Poli's reasons: no tools and/or no expertise. Mark and I got such a kick out of Poli's honesty that the note has hung in our kitchen ever since as a reminder of why our home improvement projects don't get done.No tools and no expertise was also Mark's mantra whenever the topic Brandon's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby came up. Ever since receiving the official race car kit in December, Mark did his best to try to deny the fact that somehow he would have to use his non-existent wood working skills to build a car. Mark's own scarred memories of racing a block of wood with quarters taped to the bottom when he was a scout did little to boost his confidence. It seems carpentry is genetic.
Two weeks before the big race we had a brainstorm--ebay. There is actually quite a market for Pinewood Derby cars on ebay. Some "proven winners" were priced over 100 dollars. Luckily, we weren't looking for a winner. We live in a city filled with rocket scientists and propulsion engineers, and had heard how much work some dads put into their cars. We wanted something simple and cheap that Brandon could make his own, and maybe have a bit of success with. To our surprise, we ended up with a little beauty that Brandon dubbed Green Lightning.
For all it's simplicity, Green Lightning was an amazing car. It won many of it's heats and ended up taking second place over-all. Mark was a little embarrassed as he hadn't expected his ebay car to get so much attention, but Brandon was ecstatic, and all in all it was a great day. Big thanks go out to our new cyber-friend Derbydezign for the great car. I'm sure it will be sanded down and repainted to use again next year.
6 comments:
absolutely HIL-arious. i didn't know there was such a market for this type of thing. though, i do think it takes a lot of the "fun" out of it. kinda like the big market sports teams that can afford to buy up all the good free agents when everyone else is out of money... then again, with neither tools nor expertise, what else can you do? congrats to mark and brandon for outsmarting the competition
I have to comment on this one. 2 years ago Mel took Zackary and his car over to our hometeachers home and he cut and sanded it in just a few moments. Well, last year neither Mel or our hometeacher could get their schedules together to help Zackary. So, I went to the Scout office, bought a little tool kit with a saw, and Zackary and I went to town on that car. We cut the entire thing by hand and sanded it. He got 2nd place overall. I was pretty pleased with myself that as a woman, I helped my son build a better car than most of the other cars out their.
Tim, "fun" is relative. And Kim, WOW! You are a better mom than I am!
I had to truly laugh out loud with that one. It truly shows what is one mans trash is another mans treasure. I have to admit that cub scouts has not been one of my favorite things in the world. I still have two more years before I have to do it again. I will also have to tell Todd how to make a little extra money. (we have three derby cars up in his room right now.)
We can add writing to another one of your many talents Cindy! Thanks for letting me peek...I'm adding you to my blogroll :) And I like your butterfly kids on your banner!
That is too funny! You have a way with words! Glad I found your blog!
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