Michael & Liz are Bloggable

So about 2 weeks ago, Liz and I disagreed about the number of items in the shower. It came down to me only needing a bar of soap, and she needing more than a bar of soap. For a long time it wasn't a problem because we had a metal shower hangy thing where things were stored. Then we replaced the standard shower head with a fancy shower head that included a hand held cord. That cord then got in the way of the metal hangy thing causing us to have to get rid of it. This got all the items on the metal hanger demoted to the ground. That demotion was the cause of the conversation about the number of items in the shower.

So my handiness kicked in and thought "I could build a shelf!" A couple hours later of cutting, screwing, sanding, painting, and we have a shelf. I realized today that I am very good at starting projects, but terrible at finishing them. So I got motivated tonight and finished this project at least. I built it kinda fancy so that the base of the shelf doesn't sit against the wall. I figured with water, steam, and mist, the least amount of contact with the wall the better. The shelf may not look level in the picture, and I think that's due to the shadows because it's dark and the angle of the picture, but I assure you, it is level. Maybe the shower frame isn't level... hmm....

Just wanted to post pictures of my most recent woodworking project. There aren't too many pictures of the steps I took to do it, but I'm loving the results and wanted to share them. Here are all the pictures:




What took the most amount of time was the stenciling of their names and signatures. It was about a half hour per letter if you include the drying. Also the paw signatures were created using a combination of a chopped off PVC pipe and the center hole from my athletic tape. We figured the way their names are written match who they are. Gryffin is a male and usually don't care about their signature. We figured he'd write in block letters. Daisy is a female and more fancy and we figured she'd have more curvy writing. Also Daisy is smaller than Gryffin so her signature is smaller.

I did learn one thing when working on this project and that is that white paint cannot be polyurethaned. You cannot see it in the pictures, but there is a slight yellow tint to the white paint. I was very upset about it at first but really, it's hard to see and no one would see it at first glance. Also as it was pointed out to me today, they are dog bowls and will get dirty anyway.

Also through this project, I have been asked to make 3 more dog bowl dishes, 2 for my sisters and 1 for my Mom's friend who will pay for the wood. I love having projects to work on. Although it seems like my deadline is Thanksgiving. I also have a Secret Santa woodworking project to work on as well. I better get hoppin' in October.

w00t October! More on that later!

As most people who read this blog know, I like to make things out of wood and more specifically, I like to make birdhouses. Well back in March, Liz and I went to the Raleigh birdhouse competition and it has inspired me to compete next year in it. I was prepared to walk in and be floored by the talent and super glad I didn't try to compete. But honestly, the houses there were not spectacular. I got confidence that whatever I make would and could do well. For more information on it, this is the site from this year.

What I learned from going to this is that the concept and idea of the birdhouse is MUCH more important than the talent or skills it takes to make it. I think a creative birdhouse would win over a nice looking one. So that's why I'm posting today. Can you give me some ideas for a sweet birdhouse design? Here's what I'm thinking about so far to get you started:

First Idea:
How sweet would a birdhouse look with the face of a transformer on it? The hole entrance could be the eyes or the hole at the top? Both front and back sides could be different transformer logos or the same logo on each side:
















Second Idea:
A bird house shaped like a beehive. I could get a branch from a tree outside and hang the beehive birdhouse from the branch to make it seem like it's an actual beehive and it will have an open slot for an entrance. I have no pictures of the idea, but I do have the concept mapped out in my brain.

Do you have an idea of a sweet birdhouse design? I am not looking for easy simple ones either although those are always appreciated. That Transformer birdhouse will be RIDICULOUSLY difficult to build (especially with my limited toolset). Any idea is a good one. Let me know what you think!!

Well football starts again today and I decided to log in and make my prediction for the Bengals. I am torn this season.

I love the Bengals and I want them to do well. I want them to win. But since last season I have started following a blog that I have come to enjoy and agree with. It's called the Who Dey Revolution. The goal is basically to call out and expose the crappy Bengals management in order to get changes made to the way the team is run. The guy, as cynical as he comes off, is 100% right about almost everything. He makes it obvious how terrible the Bengals organization is run. It's painful to say, but any success the Bengals acheive is pure dumb luck. They really will be the siberia of the NFL until they get competent management. Did you know the Bengals only employee 1 scout? Yes that's right, 1 NFL scout for 1 NFL team. There are only 6 teams in the NFL who don't have a GM. Those 6 teams include either extremely successful owners (Jerry Jones) or extremely unsuccessful owners (Mike Brown and Al Davis). There is no in between. You'd think with 19 years of crappiness, maybe going a different route for success would be good?? Those are just a few of the topics the blogger at Who Dey Revolution brings up.

So as you can see, it's understandable that I'm torn on rooting for them to win.

Regardless, I enter another year hoping for the best and expecting the worse. Can you believe last season I actually predicted that the Bengals would be ruined by injuries? Check it out. Well I didn't get it all right, Rudi Johnson didn't do well in Detroit, but Carson took the year off with an arm problem so I got that right at least. This year I can't help but be optimistic. Carson is back and doing well, Ochocinco is reenergized and talking about playing in the Super Bowl, apparently Cedric Benson is playing this year at the same weight he was in college (his last good football season), and the defense has added a bunch of new players and is expected to improve their 12th ranked defense from last year. How could this not be a good team?

If only they weren't Cincinnati. I'm afraid the higher my optimism is, the higher my disappointment will be. I read somewhere that the Bengals could potentially win 10 games this year. I say bogus, we aren't going to split with BOTH Pittsburgh and Baltimore. I'll believe it when I see it. My prediction is that it will be an up and down year. Our offense will disappear for a few games and I think we'll end up 7-9. I don't think Benson is going to make a big impact this year and Bernard Scott may have to come in to pick up the slack. Unless any of the wide receivers or Carson get hurt, I think they'll all have a decent year. The defense will improve but will be mediocre and stay around 12th ranked in the league. We're better than we were last year but not as good as we were in 2005. If we had an easier division I'd be a little more optimistic about our record, but I just can't see us having a winning record.

And if you just read all that, congratulations, I could barely stand to type it myself.

It may not be clear by the post above but... Go Bengals!

Also I can't wait until October.