grandpa ben's dresser update...

a few weeks ago, laura and i updated "grandpa ben's" dresser. we had yet to apply the finishing touches and now we are officially done with it. here it is...finished.

until the next project...

my wish list

recently, my wife made a post related to a "wish list" of things that she would like to have for our new apartment.  so, here is my wish list...

1.  tiger woods pga tour 2010:  due to the fact that golf is extraordinarily expensive these days, i would like to cut costs by purchasing this wii game.  this $39.95 would end up saving several hundred dollars in golf expenses...its logic.

2.  ping g10 driver: if for some reason the above purchase does not occur then this item is a necessity.  my old driver is exactly that....old.  and...i just want it.

 3.  imac (24 inch) desktop: we are about to move into an apartment that actually has a desk and both of us have laptop computers & i've always wanted to have a mac desktop computer, so...i believe this would solve that problem, completely.

4.  1970 ford bronco:  during an "off day" lunch with laura's work associates (regina & haley), we ran across this beauty and it reminded me of how much i have wanted one of these.  in the parking lot of young avenue deli (an amazing deli place in midtown), i walked across this gem & this is my final item on my wish list....

these are pretty reasonable requests, right?

"ode to bama"

anybody seeing this in our new apartment or future home(s)?? found this gem in a searcy antique store and the only thing that kept this from being laura's first xmas present from me was that it had a price tag on it.  just had to share this one...

weekend at donny's...

yesterday morning, i awoke with the sun and traveled to  searcy, arkansas to help my brother & his fiance move into "their" new apartment.  no, no, no...they are not "shackin" up pre-marital style, but my brother has been allowed to move in early & live there alone until novemeber when they get married... anyway, i went to help my attention deficit brother move and the process ended up being quite an adventure.  when i arrived at his old apartment, i was expecting things to be packed and ready to go, but to my surprise this is what i found...

absolutely nothing packed...and

dirty dishes stacked in the sink...and

piles of dirty clothes....and

did i say absolutely nothing packed?!

needless to say, we had a lot of work to do.  i started at 10:00 am & we did not finish all of our projects until 3:00 am.  during this long 17 hour day, donny and i:

• unloaded a u-haul trailer full of furniture
  
• washed five loads of clothes
• built a 6 ft x 4 ft headboard & 4 ft x 2 ft coffee table
• painted an old tv stand...AND
• slept 4 hours

after 17 hours of work, here are some of the products of hour labor...

and the headboard...

grandpa ben's ole dresser...

yesterday, laura and i undertook our first family restoration project. her grandmother's father (grandpa ben) left a good deal of furniture to laura's grandmother when he passed away & when laura went to harding she took a 4-drawer dresser of his. after we were married, this piece was moved to the lemmon's attic for keeping...until yesterday. leslie jerkins gave laura a picture of a bedside table that had been redone by using pieces of molding to cover the cabinet fronts back in the fall/winter, and yesterday we decided to use this same effect on ole grandpa ben's dresser. sadly, i do not have before pictures because i didn't think about it, but here are some pictures of the progress from yesterday. we have yet to put hardware on the front of the drawers and we want to add one more coat of paint before we are completely finished, but without further ado...

what about bama?

in the spring of 2006, i began searching for a puppy.  i had really never had a dog of my own before then and i decided that enough was enough.  i really wanted a miniature daschund.  i got a call from a lady in conway, arkansas and she offered me a five week old "runt" that otherwise would not make it due to the size of the rest of the litter.  i jumped at the opportunity & in march of 2006 i brought home this little guy...

bama has been with me for a little over three years and he has been an incredible dog.  i really don't know how i got so lucky.  so, in honor of man's best friend.... here are five reasons i love this dog:

5.  no matter what, he will always be small & less than 25 lbs.  i'm not saying that i don't like big dogs, but it's nice to know that I don't have to worry about "what he might get into"

4.  it's good to know that in any situation....bama has my back.  honestly though, he is very protective.  sometimes i really appreciate it, but when he barks at anyone & everyone....it gets real annoying.  still, i appreciate his loyalty.

3.  he loves laura!  ever since i started dating laura, she & bama have gotten along just fine.  laura is a "dog person", but i was a little nervous that he wouldn't accept her right off the bat.  however, bama proved me wrong and is now more protective of her than me.  he loves his momma....can you blame him?

2. & 1.  he is the definition of hilarious.  i can't tell you how entertainingly funny this dog is, so to give you an idea here are some pictures...

what a long strange trip it was...

this past weekend, laura and i traveled to cherokee village, arkansas with the carter's for a little r & r. we left thursday night a little earlier than we expected and headed off for our first "vacation" with another married couple. i can't speak for the carter's but we had an awesome time. one of the highlight's of the weekend was being able to go to viola, arkansas and hang out with my buddies john & greg. it was really good seeing them and getting to spend some time with them before they start their school years. between great food & little trusty, the weekend was everything we could need. so, here is my top 5 favorite things about being at the lake...

5. reese's puff cereal...i have all but eliminated "sweets" from my diet, but when i go to the lake i look forward to eating several bowls of my favorite cereal.
4. skiing & tubing on the lake! i was introduced to skiing on lake thunderbird in cherokee village, arkansas and i've loved it since then. it is definitely one of the things that i look forward to while i'm at the lake. however, tubing is by far my favorite of all water sports. it is the primary thing, as far as water sports go, that i have to do while i'm at the lake.
3. fishing, fishing, & fishing. there is one thing that you can bet on if i'm at the lake...i'll be fishing. grandad normally prepares ahead of time for this by filling two cricket cages full of crickets. the best part about fishing off of the dock at the lake is that you really never know what you are going to pull up out of the water. whether it's brim, catfish, bass, perch...you name it, it's there.

2. simply put...the food. every time i go to the lake, i go ahead and concede the fact that i will probably gain 10-15 lbs. there is no denying it. whether it is eating ribs, steaks, homemade dips, fried fish, corn, hamburgers, and dozens of desserts (of course), your stomach will always be happy at the lake. always!

1. trusty...(and grandmother & grandad too.) even though i am not an immediate member of their family, ever since i first showed up at 19 wyandotte i have been treated like one of their own. they are very loving and giving of their time (and space). it just makes trips to the lake that much sweeter. then there is trusty. besides my own dog (bama), trusty is by far the most awesome dog that i've known. he is just a one of a kind dog & to understand this you just have to meet him.

"if your lucky enough to live at the lake, your lucky enough."

bama is back

today, alabama football returns! I would say that I am an average to above average fanatic when it comes to alabama football and my wife (begrudgingly) can attest to it. in honor of the return of my favorite time of the year, these are my top 5 favorite alabama football memories...

5. (1998) alabama beat auburn in auburn for the first time in the long history of the rivalry. ever since that game we have not been able to beat them again in auburn, BUT we play there this year and hopefully history will repeat itself.

4. (2005) alabama played tennessee in tuscaloosa in a primetime afternoon game on CBS. i was living in searcy at the time and i was watching my undefeated tide play tn. with the game tied at 3-3, roman harper hit a tn fullback streaking towards the endzone for a touchdown causing the fullback to fumble out of the back of the endzone for a touchback. alabama was able to drive down the field and kick a field goal with seconds left to remain undefeated and beat tn 6-3.

3. (2005) alabama had a great season this year with losses only to lsu & auburn. however, two games from that season are memorable because of the setting and the people that i was with. first, we played florida in the fourth week of the season. i went with a bunch of my buddies to viola, arkansas to hang out and i planned to watch the game there. they gave me grief all day before the game saying, "alabama is gonna get killed", and "there isn't a chance ya'll will win", etc... but, alabama came out and routed florida 35-13 in dominating fashion. the other game was the before mentioned lsu game. espn gameday picked that game as the game of the week & i actually had tickets to the game. i took my buddies john & greg for their first trip to tuscaloosa. it was insane. there were people everywhere and gameday was awesome, and even though we ended up losing in an OT heartbreaker it was an awesome experience.

2. (2006 & 2008) throughout my college career in arkansas, i delt with a lot of razorbacks. i personally witnessed two gut wrenching losses in fayetteville that we had no business losing which ultimately made me very bitter towards arkansas. however, in 2006 i got to take laura (now my wife) to her first alabama game and it was against arkansas in tuscaloosa. arkansas was picked to win the game, but in the closing seconds john parker wilson hit matt caddell in the back of the endzone for a last second touchdown and the win! it was crazy and i loved it! Also to further ease the pain suffered from several losses in fayetteville, laura & i traveled to arkansas to watch the alabama game in 2008. i was nervous because every time i had been to fayetteville for a game we ended up losing, but...alabama ROUTED arkansas in a 49-6 beat down and to make things sweeter... the guy that had been ragging me for four years about the previous arkansas games was sitting right beside me.

1. *not including the 1992 national championship* (1999) this was the first season that i really became intense about alabama football. this season we won every single game except the lsu game and the orange bowl game against tom brady & michigan, but alabama was the outright western division champion and played florida in the SEC championship game. alabama had beaten florida previously in the season on an OT field goal in gainesville and weren't given much of a chance to win, but alabama came out with all guns firing and dominated florida to become SEC champions. this is the last time that we won that title, but hopefully history will repeat itself soon....

until september 5th....roll tide roll

top 5 reasons i'm excited to move...

5. We will be doubling the square footage of our current apartment (from 864 sq. ft to over 1000 sq. ft)

4. We will actually have walls in our apartment! At the present time, we only have walls around our one bathroom and one closet, so this is a drastic improvement.

3. We will have an extra bathroom! Yes! Right now we only have one bathroom, so you can imagine the difficulties associated with that situation.

2. We will be moving from the FOURTH floor to the FIRST floor. This really wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that I normally have to walk Bama (my dog) down FOUR floors to the ground floor, but now I will just be able to open the door and let him walk out.

1. We will be paying $200.00 less for a TWO bedroom TWO bathroom apartment than our current ONE bedroom ONE bathroom! Normally, this would probably not happen, but we were at the right place at the right time! Praise.