Ahhhh Now We're Talking

Friends from the great northern state of Minnesota came up for the weekend to help my daughter do some landscaping at her new house. One of the duo just got her bachelors in nursing. Shout out to Callie! Way to go.

6 year old doing a selfie. Oh, the pics I find on my phone!

We were laughing because I keep getting gunk from the kiddos. Between my nine grandkids I'm exposed to the germs of nine different day care/school settings. And I choose not to avoid their little hugs and kisses so it's inevitable that when someone's nose starts running I'm going to be right behind them. 

She said. "Oh you have Daycare Cold." 

I said. "That's a thing, like Kennel Cough?" 

"Kinda, where you can get a hybrid due to multiple things going on in the daycare, yes." 

Well, you know me. I can't not own this. I have Kennel Cough. Again.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Silence

When kids are over and put away the toys but accidentally put away the dog toys, too. And your sister finds the only toy you want and takes it. First World Dog Problem. 

As I write this my house is literally silent. Well. There is ambient noise. It's an old house with 4 creatures in the same room, after all. 

This was not the case a mere hour ago. Instead it was filled with all the noise that a heaping 11 people, two dogs and two hedgehogs can make. (Hedgehogs are the least on the noise pollution scale, BTW.) 

A baby cooing, three little ones under three and three ten and under. Oh, and five adults coming and going for all various sorts of reasons. 

I can honestly say I might like the chaos a wee bit better. However, my body says the silence is lovely. 

Soaking up the silence. Ahhhhh....

Never mind. My daughter and husband are now debating the difference between butterscotch and caramel and it's intruding into my quiet bubble. Nice while it lasted. Ha Ha. 

If you are looking for more Fern and Zula check out the blog. There is a serial short story being put together one day at a time. http://fernandzula.blogspot.com/2017/04/stories-from-paradise-ferns-portrait.html  Twitter bite-sized pieces per day, so it's going to take a bit. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Dogs and Glasses

It's been awhile since I rambled about my dogs. Dog observation and interaction is a little easier than observing and interacting with children. For starters, one of the dogs is staring at me waiting for food. The other is throwing around her beloved alligator. Simple life. 

Kids. Well, that's another story. Case in point. The 8-year-old "left" his glasses at my house. So we spent several hours looking for said glasses. Rob scoured the yard where the "fart in a skillet" had bounced about. I checked the upstairs toy area. Cleaned, sorted, swept and found nothing. I called to tell 8-year-old that and he asked if I had checked the area behind the toys where he is not supposed to go. So I checked there. Then he was certain they were in the downstairs toy bins, mixed in with the toy food and cooking utensils. So I checked there. Nada. His mom sighed and put a call in to get them replaced. Yesterday he called me. He found his glasses. In HIS BACKPACK!!!!!!!!!

See. Dogs are way less complicated. 

On Monday morning I had to coax them out of their toasty dog beds at 7:20 a.m. to eat and take care of business. As soon as they got all those details taken care of they tore back upstairs and launched themselves into their beds. 

Tuesday I woke up with the head cold so my pooches helped in the healing process and snuggled with me on the couch. The snatches of rest time were punctuated with cujo barking when a heavy truck went up the road a few times. Oh, and cuddling seems to require standing on my body. Wait. They are a little crazy, too. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ White, Red or Rose?

Somehow I missed National Love Your Pet Day. But I'm still in the week, so that counts. Just don't tell the girls. 

Extra treats for everyone!!!!!!

Anyhoo I was asked to post this graphic about dog pairings. Ha. No it's not like pairing wine with meals. A little more complicated than that. However, not all breeds are cuddle buddies. My beagles get along with each other (mostly) and their boxer/lab nieces. But they come running when one of the big dogs gets too playful. They've also hung a bit with a German Shepherd, some dachshunds, and a few Heinz 57s and seem to do okay. In my experience the personality and heirarchy  seems to be the key with my pups. 

If you are a dog person, here's information you just might need! 
PuppySpot is a service committed to helping responsible breeders place their puppies with caring individuals and families. They take pride in their No Puppy Mill Promise and have a zero tolerance for puppy mills or substandard breeding practices of any kind. If you are looking for a new puppy, check out their adorable puppies for sale!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Thursday Thoughts...

My loyal companions and I had breakfast bright and early. Well, I ate while they stared at me willing me to drop said food. I think they are adorable when naked. And the chair sitting thing explains the tweed wardrobe I own. Of course, I also give them the last bite. Who's trained who? Or whom's trained whom. Ha Ha. I like that. Little freakin whoomers! Also I have convinced myself that they LOVE the heck out of me but the truth is they love my sharing spirit and the fact that I think they are adorable when naked, or in their harnesses or being naughty. 

So the last two days I've spent learning I know nothing about my job. Things I learned twenty years ago are supposed to be somewhere in my brain. I was tested over this, I am supposed to know some of it, right? Fortunately, they are expecting nothing out of me. I believe I will have to ask to be given a task to do. I asked if I could get an order off the order hook yesterday and was given permission. So there's that. They have students from the radiology school nearly every day and they are tweaking them and their performance constantly. So in that I'll fit right in. Maybe. I'm scared to death to touch the equipment. Also there is a big red button that shuts everything down. It is in a perfect location for a Kelhap. Which is a mishap where I am intimately involved. I am very afraid. 

I also forget how much I hate being out of my little village. I introduced myself to a couple of people and got somewhat pleasant greetings. One just said. "Hi...." monotone. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then there are people dropping in constantly. Do I introduce myself to everyone? That's awkward, but so is standing or sitting on the outskirts of a conversation. Sheesh. Then, am I going to even be there very often? Should I just slip in and do my business and leave. Or is this actually going to be my new job and I'm going to be there every. single. day? I feel like when I am done with the huge amounts of medical records I'm dealing with the handwriting on the wall implies that I might very well have a new space to work from. The weird thing about the massive amounts of change makes me feel okay about that. What!?!?! So weird. Grateful for my job. And my crazy beagles. And goodness gracious every speck of the rest of my crazy life and the people who inhabit it! 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Thwarted Once Again

I always mean well. Really. I plan to do most of the many things I need to do every morning. But I almost always get sidetracked. Today, it's in my critique of my writing partner's newest work in progress. Michelle Griep, lovely gal that she is, often takes me into the past, mostly England, through via her writing. This time it's into a smuggler's lair. Shhh. I don't know that people know she's writing this one. Anyhoo, I've been cavorting with her characters instead of writing blog posts.

The Beagles of course are doing their part making sure to clean up any breakfast dregs and have any itches scratched. Oh, and bark their brains out at the garbage man. No matter how often I remind them that we pay these men to take our garbage every, single week, they are OFFENDED!

Just a reminder and since I was talking about that co-author chick, there is that little book giveaway happening. Don't miss it if you haven't already signed up. Go to the blue Rafflecopter link below and jump through her hoops! Ready? Go! (Oh, and try to be quiet so the beagles don't lose their minds, K?) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Things I Learned This Morning

I woke up bright and early so I could do a blog post. 

I had no topic. I still don't. 

So instead, I went about my daily ritual on this fine Valentine's Day, 2017. 

I discovered the following: 

On mornings when my beagles get up bright and early with me they are needy. Real needy. It is impossible to type with one hand while the other one pets an insistently-depleted-of-affection dog. Why did they wake an hour early today? Good question. Normally, I'm coaxing, then firmly calling them downstairs to take care of food, drink and other business so I can leave for work. Maybe the siren call of melting-on-toast-peanut butter reached their little dreaming snouts. It definitely wasn't the dry dog food raining into their bowls...nope...doesn't do a thing. I've tried that. However, if I put any leftover human food on top of the kibble it does work like a magic wand at times. 

I learned that even though I can't type a blog post with one hand I can endlessly scroll and click. I discovered a site that shared Valentine's worst/best stories from servers' perspectives. Note: If ever going out for Valentine's Day dinner, treat your server well, you do not know what trauma she or he has encountered that very evening. 

I also found a recipe for chocolate and red wine truffles. The chocolate truffle part I likey. I can't say I've had wine and chocolate together and honestly that sounds kind of yuck. But if it floats your boat, it looks easy and kind of snobbishly elegant. http://www.purewow.com/food/red-wine-chocolate-truffles-recipe

So. Now my pups are curled back up in bed and my time is ticking away. So I'll say happy Tuesday, Happy Valentine's Day and well...that's enough. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ My Life Today

When you crawl out of your warm nest of a bed because your alarm beeps and you become aware that your bladder is going to explode. Then you stumble to the kitchen to make coffee and your dogs look at you like your insane to be up in the middle of the night and curl back up into their beds. And you go onto Facebook to see what others did yesterday and the day before and last week and a half hour later you realize you have gotten lost and you didn't do what you were going to do when you got up early and that's post in your blog....



Yes. It is that kind of morning. 

So here's the post.