Pinewood Derby

It was Pinewood Derby race weekend for pack 349.  This year I made a car for Ella and myself.  So we had three cars racing, the results, of the speed were below par, however, the kids had fun designing their cars, picking stickers, and paint.  All three cars had some dodge bright green paint on the.  There were some amazing cars, next year I think I will start earlier in the year, to provide more time for design and building.  One of the scout masters made a bathtub car, complete eith bubbles and a rubber duck.  It has been many months since I had a project in the garage in the evening, and it was refreshing to have something else to work on.

This past week, I set a record for the number of days I left the office after 6:30 pm, not a stellar performance on my part.

Andy's Frozen Custard

This past weekend I experienced Andy's Frozen Custard for the first time my life, in Springfield.  On the way there I asked my sisters how it worked, and they informed me that you picked a base, either chocolate or vanilla, then pick the other things you want in it.  I was taken back because I wanted strawberry, which is one of the best fruits ever.  First off, it is red, vibrant red, with a splash of green at the top. Red and green are Christmas colors, so what is not to like about that combination.  Additionally, strawberrys are very flexible, they go in ice cream, smoothies, chocolate, salads, you can eat them whole, or cut them up.  While they don't go into pie, they do make Yummy jelly.  On top of that they ave a wonderful texture, with all of the little black dots on the outside.

Back to the frozen custard...  ...they went on to explain that they were like the Dairy Queen "Blizzard" only called "concrete".  So I was ready, until the girls started rattling off the long list of items you could add into your concrete....
Almonds
Bananas
Butterfinger
Butterscotch
Cheesecake
Cherries
Coconut
Carmel
Chocolate syrup
Crused nuts
Heath bar
Hot fudge
M&M
Marshmallow
Oreo
Peanut butter
Peanut butter cups
Peanuts
Pinnapplee
Pretzels
Raspberries
Reeds pieces
Strawberrys
Roasted pecans

With such a large selection criteria,  I froze in a moment of uncertainty.  "If I choose poorly my desert will be ruined", is what I thought.  So, I did the most uninspirable thing I could think of, I said, oh, I will take one of those too.  Not my finest ordering moment, but I must say, it was a wonderful desert, and I am glad went their instead of Orange Leaf, with the rest of the gaung.

Iron Chef

The first time I heard that there was a show on the cooking channel called "Iron Chef" I made the natural assumption that it was a cook off using cast iron cookware.  I should point out that all I knew was that it was a cooking show with a competitive flare, and had iron in the title.  I ran with this assumption until I got cable tv at the house, and watched the show.  The first one I saw was actually the original Japanese version, complete with the great voice overs. I thought that it was great, where else could I learn that you can make ice cream, using some fish as an ingredient, or that I. Japan they have peaches that cost $40.00 each (not per pound, per peach).  

In today's fast paced highly competitive America, I think it is facts sting that we will collectively watch a tv show that ends with ______ your fired.  All the while a sports team with a losing record can make it into the playoffs, and. We don't take score at the soccer games.  Even the Academy Awards changed from the winner is, to the award goes to....  We live in a competitive country where people see for focus on the wrong competitions.  I have seen parents go nuts when their child did not get enough playing time, or did not score in a game, all the while having little to no passion around their school work, grades, and the amount to television they watch.  

If you want a true iron chef, go to one of the chuck wagon cook offs, one more competition, to watch, but at least you can taste the product, visit with the cooks, and vote for your favorite wagon.

Dad It's Still Christmas Time

This morning Ella asked me if it was still Christmas time because there was snow on the roof.  My first thoug was, "how did I miss the snow when I looked out the window." I told Ella it was not still Christmas time, and put the conversation in the back of my mind since it was Sunday fun day, which included attending worship and Sunday school.  When we left I looked at our roof and it all made sense, the "snow" Ella had seen was frost on the roofs.  Kids are super observant, even when they act like they are not.  Ella has associated snow with Christmas time, I sould also point out that while the exterior illumination is in the garage, the tree is still fully decorated.

This past weekend we also attended Bright Nights - Boy Scout Edition - Friday night, and we got to spend the night at the Science Muesum.  It was fun, the kids had a blast, we slept on the floor on an air matters that had a slow leak, which was not very comfortable.  The kids built a few things, played at the tree house,  and we went to the plantierum, and I dozed off durning the presentation,  stars are fun and exciting, but I can only listen for about 5 minutes.