Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Faux No

Call me brain fried. I'll answer. Maybe. 

Last week was Rob's surgery and all those details, AND new computer system training at the office on Friday. 

Eight hours of behind-in-chair time at work. Takeaway? About 45 minutes of pertinent information that applied to my job. (Some of that was what I gleaned from co-workers during breaks.) 

The best part of the day was coming up with creative "patient" names that I might use for practice sessions. Friday's main practice patient was Mr. Test Tester. At our last computer upheaval training 12 years ago we used Fake Patient. 

Both are worthy names. And clearly Faux enough that we wouldn't be deceived into thinking either was a real deal patient. 

Which brings me to to my ideas. 

If I wanted to create a profile for a difficult patient I could go for Test Testy. Either gender works. We have enough cranky folks in both genders represented in our practice. 

Then the temptation is to go with a French flair. Faux Test is an idea, or Faux Testes... that one has merit. 

Like I said, I might be a little crazy. So it's probably time to remove myself from this page before I type something really ridiculous. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Monday Funday

Rob has/had an iffy knee decide to go East, as in his left leg began to bow. This trick saved us a little bit of money. Not that I recommend it as an idea to save a buck...kind of extreme, ya know? Anyhow, because his knee was so clearly trashed he didn't have a need for excess imaging for diagnosis nor did he need physical therapy in an attempt to avoid surgery.


So yesterday he got a new knee. He is bionic now. Cool on so many levels until the bill comes, or the numbness wears off. Ha Ha. 

A few of the highlights are pictured. 

A) My discovery upon seeing my legs in brilliant white lighting that I did not apply my self tanner evenly. Awkward. 

B) It's somewhat comforting to know that everyone who touches your loved one is obsessed about which body part they will be touching. The Sharpie YES on his hairy thigh was a nice touch. 

C) The kids love that Dad who may or may not be prone to accidents now has a bright yellow wristband labeling him as a fall risk 

D) The unpleasant flock of circling buzzards over the hospital. EWW

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ GMA Purse

If you are a mom you have to remember (or still experience) Mama purse. That is where your purse is not your own, but becomes the receptacle for everyone in the family's stuff. When my kids entered the teen years I went through a rebellious stage where my purses went tiny. The girls had purses of their own and the boy was a strapping fellow and able to carry his own crap. The husband? Well, he just had to deal. Just sayin. 

But after my annoyance and payback was achieved, I decided tiny purses are just a pain. I have stuff of my own that I want to shove in a purse, quite a bit, actually. So my purses have grown in size over the past few years. I'm not back at the beach bag stage but I can carry a book and a wallet and a few other necessities in my normal and reasonable sized handbag. 

On Sunday we took the g-kids out to eat at Qdoba. There were a few moments of tension and earned timeouts awarded while the adults stood patiently in line and the hangry little stinkers decided to act out.  But we all survived the outing. Whew. 

On Monday, I was digging around in my front pocket on my purse. I found a handful of cardstock hitchhikers. That explains that moment of silence. And also concerns me that we may have some future pickpockets in the family! 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Late to the FOURTH

Monday was Star Wars day. May the Fourth be with you. Monday, May 4th. Ha ha. 

I didn't know till too late in the day to really celebrate it right. 

But I have a little something for Star Wars fans. Or not. See, I have a little ewok type character who can do a mean impersonation of ... wait for it....

Princess Leia. 

On Instagram it was noted that this had to be a love child between the princess and an ewok. I think maybe some other alien life form might be in the mix as well. She does have the perfect ear buns though. Almost as intricate as Leia's. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Faux Pas

I think God has a great sense of humor.  And sometimes I think He is less likely to be offended than most of us are. 

My cousin has been in church about as many times as the fingers on one hand. He's not exactly a seeker, but he's open to thinking about seeking. After Grandma died her Bible went to my cousin. My brother asked my cousin if he's been reading it. There are a whole lot of Thee's and Thou's and impossible for my cousin to read. 

They were together running some errands and my brother needed to make a stop. He had a Bible to buy for a friend so my cousin agreed to go in with him to the local Christian book store. My brother suggested they could find an easier version for my cousin. 

So my cousin was drawn to the wall of Bibles. He reached for the largest leather bound number and flipped it over. 

"They want f-BOMB-ing $125.00 dollars for this?!?" He said. His voice carried in the large acoustically clear building. My brother, shocked, stage whispered. "Watch your mouth!" My cousin looked up and around at the shocked faces. "S- _-_-_ !" Yep, he said that one, too. 

The good news is that they picked up a much more reasonably priced Bible and he's reading it. Must have figured at those prices it must be good stuff.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Thump in the Night...

Another fairly normal weekend at my house. I have begun to get ruthless with my clutter purging. I'm building a pile of clothes that I put on in the morning and for whatever reason take off. Either it doesn't feel right, look right or match. In just a few weeks if I don't pick the item back out and wear it, it's outta here. 

 

Cookbooks are also on my chopping block. I'm actually going through them and if I don't see recipes I'll make or feel inspired by they are outta here, too. 

The other night Rob and I headed upstairs. As per usual, Gladys went downstairs to get her toys. The usual whining during the attempt to gather all of them in one mouthful drifted upstairs. Then a weird sound, a slow thump, pause, thump...repeat. She was dragging a huge rope tug toy and it hit each step with a thump. The picture is her enjoying the toy as a pillow. 

The other picture is raspberry frosting that was going to go into cake pups I made for the Vet tech program at Rob's school. (They work for food, as in they used Gladys and Gertrude's surgeries for training and the promise of treats. Nice deal.) But, I had to make more because while I was busy doing something else Rob was putting our dinner on plates. We had Gardein stuffed cutlets that came with gravy. So with my back to him,  I gestured to the little plastic gravy bag and said, "Hey, there's gravy for those." I turned around as he was smearing the frosting from the bowl on his cutlet. Oops! 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ This is

 what my introverted brain concocted on Picmonkey on a bitterly cold winter night after spending the past few weekends with loads of fabulous people and while listening to the Norah Jones Pandora channel. 

Just sayin....

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Numbers and Nuggets

 My getting rid of project is clicking right along. My count is at 534. I love the fact that I've got space in most of my drawers and closets. Don't worry. I can still keep going and make my 1,000. I decreased my Christmas decorations even further after Christmas. Why? Because what I didn't put out lots of my stuff. And I needed to assess why that was. Most of it went. I also haven't missed a single thing I've gotten rid of.  Every day I've managed to find a handful of items slated for the get rid of pile. 

And my new additions (just 2 items, except the toys....some of which have already had the squeakers excised so I'm not counting them) winter coats for the girls. Ha. Ha. How cute are those? I need to make some adjustments the neck velcro is a little tight and keeps popping.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Told You There Were Videos....

Serials and Scenarios ~ Michelle Griep Strikes Again ~ Brentwood's Ward and Interrogation Skillz

You know all about my relationship with Michelle Griep. She's an influence in so many ways. (I don't know that this is a good thing, just sayin !)

Her spankin brand new book debuted yesterday. (I LOVE that cover.) We cooked up a little video to share. Here's the link to view some parts and pieces of our scary and ridiculous brains when merged together on a project. Go to Writerofftheleash for the definitions to the archaic words, and the details on Brentwood's Ward.  




Brentwood's Ward
by Michelle Griep (Author)
Paperback – January 1, 2015
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Shiloh Run Press; Gld edition (January 1, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 163058679X

Description:

Place an unpolished lawman named Nicholas Brentwood as guardian over a spoiled, pompous beauty named Emily Payne and what do you get? More trouble than Brentwood bargains for. She is determined to find a husband this season. He just wants the large fee her father will pay him to help his ailing sister. After a series of dire mishaps, both their desires are thwarted, but each discovers that no matter what, God is in charge.

Review:

Michelle Griep is an artist with smells being her forte. Seriously, this woman can paint an olfactory smorgasbord. Unfortunately, she writes gritty historical details that leave the smells...well, more pungent than pleasant. 

But, blessedly, Griep doesn't just stick with smells. The woman can write a scene. Whew. A near kiss, a glance, kidnapping, torture, meals, she offers up rich sensory emotions as well.

Rich prose full of amazing sentences and paragraphs build complex characters. Those bad guys are wicked bad. The heroines are multifaceted and either unfurled rosebuds just waiting for the courage to bloom, or wilted wounded blooms in need of a gentle touch, or thistles requiring the some serious groundwork. Her heroes are good men who've had bad to overcome and are in need of redemption and man enough to be aware of it. 

Brentwood's Ward. All of that and more. Action, check. Love, check. London society, check. Danger, check. Sorrow and loss, check. A happy ending, check. 

If you love a good historical, a touch of escapism or just a fine page-turner, get a copy. 

Reviewed by: Kelly Klepfer

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Chillin on a Cold Night

 Gladys has been doing a lot of back snoozing of late. Last night she raised both arms and held that pose for a bit. I think she looks a lot like an alligator at gator shows where they flip the gator over and rub it's neck to "hypnotize" it. Not sure what the arms up in the air were all about. But I'm pretty sure it's all about the cuteness factor. Cuz she definitely has that. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Teeny Christmas Recap

 I hope your Christmas was wonderful. Mine was rich and full. Christmas Day itself seemed to last 50 hours, but, in a good way. We got some serious kid time in and it was so fun to have little ones around. Noisy, of course, but fun. We simplified our big family gathering by doing finger foods and the traditional soup meal for Christmas Eve was pretty tasty. I conjured up a new soup that I'll likely be sharing here sometime soon. Gotta remake it to make sure I got the measurements down (bummer...if it's any indication my daughter-in-law who doesn't like soup went for two bowls of it). 

I might be hit and miss this week. It's kind of nice to take a little break. But then, who knows, I may be super on top of posting. Guess you'll just have to stay tuned. 

I can't not share puppy pics. I was going for a cute 8 week/8 month side by side of puppies in things. But the pups were having NOTHING to do with entering the sled. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Highlights

Gertie Wanted What I Had, REAL BAD!!!

  

Magic Number...To Be Explained Later...

Weather = AMAZING. Sunday was lowkey after church. Leisure and snow boots.

Cool Ice Sculpture at Rob's Office Christmas Party

First Performance - To Be Continued

Proof that I don't kill every plant I touch. My Christmas Cactus Bloomed

New Ottomans = pup favorites. New slipcovers. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Ooops!

So. You probably know that blogging doesn't pay well. Occasionally, I'll get something free. Yay! And I get about 7 cents a month for clicks on ads. But yesterday it cost me. Wait. No, not really. But I'm going to use a costly lil incident and turn it into an amusing (I hope) anecdote. 

If you've read my blog for any length of time, or know me, you probably know I STINK at parallel parking. some people stink worse (I won't name any one in particular, Michelle Griep, because I've never actually wounded one of my children and a friend while attempting, however, I came close.) 

I went to downtown Omaha on a quick trip to meet & and tiny Bean (the 3 year old) for lunch. Omaha is a big city and has lots of parking meters and parallel parking. 

Sigh. 

I pulled in. The wrong way, front loading. I know this is improper parallel parking technique. I know that what one must do is line up your tire and crank backwards into this incredibly short slot.  When people I'm with are parallel parking in the proper manner I hold my breath and break out in a sweat. It's almost like they are magical, intelligent beings who know the secrets to the universe. 

Well, the secret to confidently wheeling a vehicle backwards into a twisty rectangular slot. 

When I returned to my vehicle a lovely woman, wearing a vest with official looking identity marks looked up and made eye contact. "Oh, Honey, I'm so sorry. I just ticketed your vehicle." 

"Dang it. I knew time was a tickin." I said and snapped my fingers. 

"Well, that's not why you got a ticket. Do you know why I ticketed you?" 

"Because I parked like an IDIOT?!?" I asked

She hooted. "Ha, I didn't say that... but..." She handed me the ticket. It said "violation - parking more than a foot from the curb."

aka parking like an idiot. Okay to be fair. My entire car was NOT a foot away from the curb, more like the butt of my car was a full three feet away from the curb. 

Here's the really sad part. I had a blast bantering with the nice lady as she passed me the ticket. It helped considerably that she thought I was HILARIOUS. And that she thought Bean was adorable. Bean sat in the car seat cracking up watching the two crazy ladies laugh. 

Hey. I've blown $16.00 in far worse ways. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Baffle Me

  Recently I've noticed a few things that cause me ask why.  Why? 10X mirror? I mean, without it, I'd never be able to do my eyebrows again. So I appreciate this little product. But when I occasionally look up, down, left of right of my eyebrows I get a little start. Let's just say 10X mirrors magnify the good, the bad and the saggy to way bigger than life.

And then I am totally baffled by the object in the picture. I have three climate knobs and they each have the identical raised pattern. So I'm wondering. It can't be braille for a few reasons. 1) a person who reads braille should probably not be driving. 2) If all three knobs have the identical markings it can't be for identification purposes. 3) You push the entire knob and so anywhere you hit is going to get results. So, why?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Link or Two Just For Fun

Epic Facial Hair

http://www.boredpanda.com/just-for-men-world-beard-moustache-championships-2014/



Look Alike Fun

http://www.boredpanda.com/similar-to-each-other/



Wow. Creativity and Patience

http://www.boredpanda.com/single-wire-tree-sculptures-clive-maddison/



Surprised Cat

http://www.boredpanda.com/omg-cat-benye/



And an Angry One

http://www.boredpanda.com/garfi-the-angry-cat/

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Something Happened on the Way to 50 - Dog Edition

Well a load of things, actually. 

There are a few things in my life that I never expected when I was a sweet young thing and still wet behind the ears. 

Never, never, never was I a dog person. When I was a teenager we got a recycled dog. Boots was pretty much independent. We lived in the country and she loved to run. Like the wind. I don't remember ever getting to bare my soul to her while she patiently wagged and bestowed doggie kisses to soothe my teenage angst. Nope. Boots only got up close and personal while running and for some reason her favorite reach out and touch someone routine was a long snouted speedily delivered goose. Oh yes. Like I said, not so much a dog person. Oh, and there was the incident with the pampered poodle princess dog that belonged to my friend. The poodle was actually named Princess I think. My friend's mom picked me up on the way home from the groomer. Princess had blue painted nails and matching ribbons. And she sat in my lap. Around a corner we turned and Princess sat on my arm just a bit and left a sit ring which is much, much worse than a bathtub ring. 

The other thing lacking in my life was understanding dog people. I mean, what did they smoke? Letting dogs lick them, sleep with them, dress like them. Right? 

Okay. Over the years I've begun to get it. Lily and Lola pretty much turned me into a dog person. And I spoiled them (to quote their mother). But the pups. Dang. My brain is broken. Note: They sleep in their kennel. Note: I'm quite quick to gross out over certain things. Note: I often tighten up the budget and avoid spending on luxury items. 

Note: We bought (yes, we, he's nuts, too) them costumes. The first batch was too small so I even had to go to another Target store to exchange for the medium. The second cashier even rolled her eyes. 

I have become that person. I'm going to use the grandbabies as great excuses for this. I mean how precious is it that the 7 year old picked out a bee costume and we unknowingly did the same? Twin bees? And the Dark Knight sure could use a spider side kick, right? If only he'd picked Spider Man. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Snoopy Vulture Impression?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Dusty Filter

 Instagram is great. Where you snap pics and then change them up and make them all arty with filter fun. 

However, I did this series the old fashioned way. Sunny afternoon. Curious pups and a dusty black Nissan with a lovely reflective surface. And a Smart Phone. Just a peek into the fun I have during frequent bathroom breaks. (Theirs, not mine. Just in case you were confused. ) 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ So...Hope You Aren't Expecting Brilliance...Oh, Wait, You Probably Are NOT...

after all, you are here.

And in the total random style of my blog you probably never expect brilliance.

You will not be disappointed. No brilliance here, just keep on moving down the road, kids.

There was a long babysitting session on Saturday. My daughter is amazing and young. A good combination because, dang, as great as the kids were, the energy level was OFF the CHARTS. Not mine, mind you. 

A crazy thing....the puppies, with three kiddos and their huge nieces, Lily and Lola around for the majority of the day, had a PERFECT accident free day. Woot! Woot!

And the puppies were plenty pepped up, too. As evidenced by the fly-by crazy half face photo bomb. 

And since I haven't shopped for games lately, I was amused to see these two on the shelf. Doggie Doo and Pop the Pig! I may have to put those on my list.