What a lame motivation to start a blog....

It’s Thursday and I get a call from the Primary president reminding me about our ward pinewood derby set for the following evening. I confirm that it is in our plans. She reminds me each family member is welcome to bring their own car or we can make one family car to enter in that category. This is a reminder I need because somehow through weeks of announcements I missed that part. I blame it on having kids who distract me at church. I assumed (crazy me) that this Pinewood derby would be for the scouts and the rest of us were invited to spectate (no, not a word, but should be). She adds the detail that there are no set rules in building our cars.

It’s Thursday evening and I am at Wangsgards 20 minutes before they close, looking at their pinewood car options and surprising large array of accessories and decals. I choose a basic wedge design figuring it would result in less cutting than if I were to buy the block…worth spending the extra dollar. What wins pinewood derby races? Lots of weight. I look at the small metal options displayed before me. I am surprised at the cost. Why put money into buying weights when I have money at home in the form of coins that I can put ON the car and THAT money I can take off later and use for my own purposes? I reason.

It’s Friday afternoon and my working husband will be getting off at the exact time the derby starts. My 4 year old assistant will have to do. I glance around the house thinking…”weight….weight….weight…” My eyes behold it. Our beautiful silvery shining stapler. Perfect size. Very suitable weight- especially when filled to capacity. We assemble the master piece using a silver sharpie, butterfly stickers, tape, some cardboard and a picture of Ellie wearing a helmet.

It’s Friday evening and the cultural hall is buzzing. I approach the line up of miniature cars. My eyes skim the hopefuls and find them all to look fairly normal- I had expected more craziness considering the lack of restriction. My car feels a little out of place. I comfort it. “There, there little car, its okay to look different- remember you are a winner”. I don’t actually say this out loud because that would be weird. Time passes. We race. We tape the wheel back on. We race again. More tape. (Rob makes a great pit crew) We end up taking 2^nd place in the women's division (yeah, apparently there were not enough entries to make a family division- so “Millie”- named by Ellie- was lumped in with the women.) My supportive family does not complain. I don’t mind taking 2^nd- in fact I am happy that the honor went to a women whose husband used great expertise and care in designing hers- especially since his was beat out by the bishop. We accept our 2^nd prize $10 gift card to Subway and a huge bag of skittles for having the most creative car. We eat cake and we go home.

And so…my main motivation in starting this blog was because I wanted to brag about a ridiculous derby car.