Sunday, October 28, 2012

Scouts

Not this kind of scout...

This kind of scout.

I had an interesting experience yesterday, Ben was scouted.
I was working the gate at the football game yesterday when a guy came up and asked if the Tigers were playing today.  They weren't and the guy said, "that's too bad. I was hoping to check out one of the players".  Out of curiosity I asked who he was hoping to see.  He said "I want to talk to the tight end about coming to play for our select 13/14 team.  I think his name is Yokosomething".
Really?? Ben??
Now in our little neck of the woods, there is a little thing called select soccer.  It is insane.  Like totally life consuming, drain your bank account crazy.  Whenever I hear my friends talking about traveling here or writing a check for thousands of dollars there (yes, you read that right, THOUSANDS)   I think thank god Ben doesn't play soccer.  So when the word "select" came out of his mouth I got a pit in my stomach. 
Was it kind of cool, the guy knew about Ben and actually knew his name (well, he was close)?
Yes
Where we ready to get involved with something "select"?
Not sure
I sent the scout down to talk to Joj and Ben.  I figured Joj could size this guy up and ask the important questions.  When I caught up with Joj I asked what he and Ben thought. 
Turns out Ben wants to try out for the team. 
Try outs are tonight and Ben is going to check it out.  I'm glad that Ben is excited about football and sees this as an opportunity to improve his skills, but I'm also very leery about we might be getting into.
I guess we will have to wait and see.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Flour ~ it's important

Today is finally Fall here in the PNW.
It is gray
It is raining (altho around here WA call it "sprinkling" ~ we are like Eskimos and snow, we have a million different names for types of rain)
Joj is on his way home from a biz trip in SC and the kids are at school. That means the house is QUIET and it seemed like a good time to bake. 
I'm making some long promised Snickerdoodles.
Whenever I am looking for a recipe I always start my google search with "the best ____ ever".  I found one that sounded simple enough, didn't require crisco (which I was out of) and had a pretty picture of the final product.  Okay, sold.
I measured, mixed and baked.
When I checked on them, I was NOT happy with what I saw.

Ugh.
I really HATE when a recipe flops.  All that time and expensive butter down the drain (literally). It sucks more when you realize that YOU didn't read the recipe correctly.  Yes, cookies will spread if you leave out a C of flour. Umm yeah. I believe the kids these days call it a "facepalm".
Long story short I found another recipe, read it very carefully and the result is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. 
Wishing you a very yummy weekend
:0)