My Dad Is Cooler Than Your Dad

Sometimes, I want to chant that to my kids, but then I'm like, well, that's not only weird, it's just mean. And while John has his endearing qualities, my dad can just, for lack of better wording do stuff that he can't. Like build houses and finish sidewalks (he can finish crete as a specialty), and jimmy rig pretty much everything. Don't get me wrong, John can do cool stuff too, like financial planning, and our taxes, and even installing ceiling fans, but, well, you'll see....

For the record, I have inherited maybe three things from my dad: 1.) my height, 2.) my love of books and the irrational urge to buy more books the second we step into a book store even though we have 18 unread books piled next to our nightstands and 3.) we are food/beer/wine snobs. We likes the good stuff.

One of the biggest deficits in my genetic makeup is the ability to just look at something and be like, "Oh, well, I could make that" and then do it. So, I present to you, my dad's latest project: Castle Greyskull.

Oh yes. Remember He-Man from the 80's? Jack plays with my brother's 'dolls' (okay, action figures, whatever!) and wanted his own "Castle Greyskull". You can start bidding on them on e-bay for $10, or, you can go to Ikea, decorate an odd nook in your house with a little chair, take the big cardboard box the chair came in to your dad, and say, "Look, it's perfect for a Castle Greyskull".

This is what the result may be. Which, I'm pretty sure cost more in labor and spray paint than what you can find on e-bay,but this is so much cooler. Hey, I still have the doll house my grandpa made me....same concept.

If you look closely, the words Jack C are spelled out in the brick. I'll have to try and get better picture. So freaking cool. This is the back, Jack and my dad deocorated together. Check out the brick detail.

The front of the castle. My dad added the knob on the drawbridge just to make the stinkng thing easier to open. I woulda been like, "I don't see a problem, just use your fist and punch it out," because it's a fairly accurate drawbridge.

The "real" plastic version you can buy. Ours is waaaaay cooler, don't you think?