Last Day of School Thoughts

Yesterday was the last day of school for the last of the big kids. I now have two first-graders, a third-grader and fifth-grader mixed in with all those 4-and-unders. Wow. I'm not sure how that happened. 

One day at a time I guess. 

The ten-year-old is so excited her birthday in May makes her eligible to take the epic baby sitter training class her mom took as a six-year-old. Yes. There was indication way back then that her momma loved kids. Tennie might have I-pod withdrawals though. Ha. Ha. Since her birthday she has been listening to the same ten songs she picked over and over again. 

Our little six-year-old who spent so much time with the principal in preschool rocked kindergarten. She even won the citizen of the month award and was labeled as a natural and fabulous leader. That girl needs to remember to use her skills for good. Oh please! 

And finally, the second grader got a special gift from his teacher. She designed a word art with each child's name and description words from classmates and teachers. His is pictured. What I love about this is that it is framed so that he can look at it every day. And there is something soul satisfying by being reminded that people don't see us as mess-ups or frauds or dumb as we sometimes label ourselves and repeat over and over again. No. Maybe he will start including these rich truths about himself in his internal dialogue. Because he is smart and unselfish and kind and loving. Kudos to his teacher. And kudos to him for earning those kind labels. 

Gigi Story

I never know what configuration of children I'm going to be encountering in a day. I drive by one homestead full of them on my way to and from work. Sometimes I see them playing on the porch swing, sometimes I stop to drop something off. When I get home I may have an encounter with a crazy boy in a diaper and he may or may not be wearing anything else. Before I go in for work I often don't have plans, by the time I'm headed home I have picked up a babysitting shift, or baby holding shift. Sometimes the first sight I see upon exiting my car is a blonde smiley kiddo standing at the door with my four-legged beagles waiting expectantly for me to enter the promised chaos. 

And I love being a grandma. A Gigi or Gaga or the ever popular gramma or G-Ma. 

Last night we pulled out markers and crayons and some plastic stencils. This was my gift drawing. 

All the pets are drawn and labeled as you can see. The hedgehogs, Daisy and Daffodil and the beagles, Gladys and Gertrude. The picture in the bottom corner was a snapshot of the evening. I put the baby on my head and chanted, "Baby hat! Baby hat!" multiple times because. Well...kids were laughing, including the hat. However, toward the end of this ridiculousness the baby grabbed two handfuls of my hair. So I had to play that up, too. I mean it just doesn't happen every day. In hindsight I am grateful that he didn't throw up in my hair. Because that is a strong possibility.... My mom asked me why I insist on doing things like "Baby Hat!" I told her it might be because I sang the alphabet song 125 times in a on hour period to entertain the 2-year-old and then at the begging of the 10-year-old duet partner switched to Bingo. I think I'm delirious a good chunk of time. 

Sigh. I sleep like a baby after spending a few hours in the sea of children. But I am so blessed and so grateful to be their Gigi! 

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 ~ Carving

My oldest daughter and I don't have conversations anymore. Not that we aren't talking to each other but more like with 4-5 or 6 little ones running amok there are just zero complete conversations. We speak in snippets. 

Which makes me grateful for texts. If I haven't heard from one of my kids for days, this happens with my man-child. Which reminds me...I need to drop him a howareya text. I can get a temperature reading with a text. "How is so and so?" (So many. My grandchild count for Easter was 8. How did that happen? Older daughter mentioned that she's sorry she's such a breeder. Hilarious since her five are adopted or foster, so not true. However, she did make me an instagrandma of three and I'm so grateful for those little stinkers!) 

Texting and snippets of life conversation are a season of life. I have reached a point where I feel like not everything has to be talked about or shared. That it's okay to pick up where you left off. Kind of like what's going on in the world, if it's important you are going to hear about it. 

But sometimes relationships and sanity and passions require creativity.

Both of my daughters blog. So oldest daughter has asked me to carve out time weekly to meet with her at a coffee shop and tandem work on our writing. Last night was our second adventure. 

The amazing thing is that in the car rides back and forth and standing in line to order and getting things fired up we do get to have conversations. And then we write. I began to plot the second novel, the follow up to Out of the Frying Pan. And I finished a couple of important blog posts. 

I came home to a house I probably wouldn't have done much with had I stayed home. And besides, I had cleaned for an hour between work and writing, looking for a young man's glasses he was certain he'd left at grandma's house "probably in the toys." The toys are sorted and organized and every corner is swept clean and the glasses were not in the toys at grandma's. 

So. There's that.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Excuses, Excuses

Excuses for why it's Thursday and I am just now blogging for the week. 

1) My dogs ate my homework. 

That's not true. However, I attempted to blog one evening and ended up having to hold my computer on a Beagle's body while it draped snoozed on my lap. This is not a good blogging position and certainly does not inspire creativity. 

2) I was invaded.

Kind of. My house was full of little human beings I love to death who came over to say "Hi!"including a precious little baby who required much eye contact, kissing and snuggling. 

3) Brain mush. 

This is a condition that happens when a 50+ year-old-woman is immersed in much change. Work = switcharoo from independent to corporate. Meetings. New everything. It's been almost a month. I think I understand my duties regarding the computer system. I am very likely deluding myself. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Random Bits, Brain Fog and Head Colds

Is it just me? When I have a head full of cold and sinus and a weekend full of children's activities I have zero creativity. Nada. Nuthin.

Granted the weekend activities were things such as wrestling kids in and out of car seats and costumes. And with a head full of unmentionables that alone is a challenging task. But it was Halloween weekend with a party, a trunk or treat and the main event. 

And I did finish three articles that were due for the Out of the Frying Pan book tour. And study for and teach a Sunday School class. And varnish cabinet doors. And create and make a recipe for The Book Fun Magazine column I write. 

Monday night after the trick or treating this grandma crawled into bed slathered in oregano oil and slept like a mummy. 

And last night I unapologetically watched television and cleaned hedgehog cages and snuggled with pups who've been feeling neglected. Oh, and I got my oil changed since I was about 2k over the recommended oil change sticker that has been inducing guilt for a few months. The receipt says I received a "pretty girl" discount. Holy moly wonder how many times a feminist has jumped over the counter and punched the cashier/mechanic right in the man bits when that discount appears on her receipt. I'm guessing angry feminists only get the "pretty girl" discount once. 

Also, an adult without a child, wending it's way through the child packed trick or treat streets, wearing a creepy costume. At least it wasn't a crazed killer clown, simply possibly the oarsman who silently rows people down the River Styx. Fun times. Fun times. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Chapters

I have stated multiple times that I love change. This is either a good thing or a twisted self-fulfilling prophecy. 

I guess either way it is my life so I'm just going to embrace it. 

I have always loved having a houseful of near and dear ones. When my kids were teenagers I was thrilled to be the congregating house. For several years before American Ninja Warrior we had a second story that was just roughed in (2 x studs, windows and weather protection.) It was a massive clubhouse at times. The kids and their friends wrote their names, funny comments and Bible verses on the floor, and in framed out doorways They'd hang from rafters and swing from board to board. 

Our daughters two best friends lived with us over a summer, one extending her stay nearly a year. We even had a soldier camp out on our couch for a few weeks while he was waiting to head to Iraq. 

I'm not saying there weren't rough patches here and there with constant patter of big teenage or young adult feet. But our house always felt alive. Zinging with energy. 

Slowly, our upstairs was finished. We moved into our new square feet and used the previous bedrooms downstairs as storage. Our kids got older. Number one married and moved out while still in college. Our youngest moved out way too young. Our middle daughter hung the longest. She finally moved about three years ago. 

This house has felt pretty empty and huge for the past three years. The relationships are great,  and we are within 25 miles of each other. All is well. Children have entered the picture making our children an even bigger draw. My absolute favorite times are when we are all together, whether in our house or one of theirs, or actually anywhere. 

The past Christmases since our middle daughter started foster care the whole family has spent Christmas Eve night. And Christmas night. The 26th always feels a little hollow when they pack up their noise and their clutter and their sweet little selves and head out the door. 

Rob and I talked. Our house is too big for just us. Two people don't need 4+ bedrooms. Or 2,500 sq ft.  But our last rooms aren't quite ready for resale. See them scattered about through here. 

In anticipation I've been getting rid of stuff like a maniac. You've seen my posts on and off for two years now. First year 2000 items goal. Bam. Done in three months. Realistically we purged probably 5000 items. Second year real close to that. I haven't quit. Actually I've ramped it up. We decided we'd like a 700-800 square foot house. Just enough room for cozy sleepovers with kiddos on Christmas.  Stay tuned. There's more coming. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Delicious Vanilla Cake

The epic cake adventure was made possible by this cake. 

3 and 1/3 Cups flour
2 Cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3 tsp vanilla
2/3 Cup oil
2 Cups water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two cake pans or a 9 x 13. Or prep 18 cup cakes, or a combination that makes sense for your creation. 

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well. Dig wells in the dry mix, two smaller and one larger, large enough for nearly a cup of liquid. In the large well pour oil, vanilla in one of the smaller and vinegar in the other. Pour the two cups of water in and stir well. 

Divvy up the batter. 

Bake until golden and the cake springs back and knife comes out clean. Bake cake pans approx 28-30 minutes. 9 x 13 approximately 33-35 and cupcakes about 17-20 minutes. 

Cool about 10 minutes. Pop out of pans. Cool completely. Frost. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Cake Diva Continued

The day of creation was here. And Cakey-Girl was thrilled. 

We set the fondant out to hit room temperature. As I said yesterday this is something I wouldn't do again. The fondant was pretty easy to put together. I'd make it right before I needed it, maybe while the cake is cooling. It was so much easier to work with while still slightly warm from the microwave. 

Since my job was basically grunt labor, wrestling and rolling the cooled and stiffened fondant Cake-Diva was full on decorating, dictating and running the show. She wanted bright vivid colors and I think she pulled that off. 

We dirty iced the layers, she plopped the fondant down and cut it and patched it. This went real fast and we both loved the texture of the covered cakes. With a little buttercream to hold the second layer we repeated that step with the different shaped cake and the differently colored fondant. 

We slapped more buttercream down, glued the cupcakes in place and began to make them look like roses. I did half of the first one and suggested a technique. She went rodeo and did her own thing. They looked enough like roses that she was happy. At this point we popped the cake into the fridge because it was warm enough in the kitchen to soften the butter cream a bit too much. 

While that firmed up I rolled out the third and fourth colors of fondant for the decorative touches. She took to the  cookie cutters and the cute little metal alphabet cutters we got at Hobby Lobby for under $6.00. I'm definitely going to get $6.00 multiplied worth of fun and joy out of that purchase. She found that she could use jack-o-lantern cutters, and corn-on the-cob skewers for shaping and and detail. 

She began loading shapes with buttercream details, and cutting/poking and prepping like a beast. Once I got the cake back out of the fridge she frosting glued all of her designs on the cake and embellished everything. 

It was so cute. And surprisingly delicious and oh so sweet. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Cake Diva Part 1

I mentioned that my oldest granddaughter was staying with us and wanted to make a welcome home cake for her mom and siblings. We had watched several episodes of the Next Great Baker and she was enthralled. 


I have an awesome and easy vanilla cake recipe and I found a DIY fondant recipe, too. How challenging can this be? I thought. 

So over the course of three days we set out to build an epic cake based on the lil baker's cake book. (Drawings, diagrams, plans sketched by the nine-year-old master chef.)

A square layer, a round layer and 4 cupcakes were baked and frozen for ease in frosting. On day 1. 


Fondant made of marshmallows and an unholy amount of powdered sugar was put together on day 2. This was so easy. A big bowl, 4 cups of miniature marshmallows, 2 TBSP water and 4 plus cups of powdered sugar. Yep. That's right. Marshmallows and powdered sugar. You melt the marshmallows with the water in the microwave, stir it till smooth and begin adding powdered sugar one cup at a time. Then you sprinkle more powdered sugar on the surface of the table and begin kneading until it is no longer sticky, turning it over and folding it as needed until its all smooth. 

Roll it out. 

Lay it over the "dirty iced" (technical term learned from "reality" television in which a cake is iced with a thin layer of butter cream to set the fondant and cut down on crumbs) cake and smooth it out. 

That's if you want white. If you want colors then warm up because you have the need to knead some more. Our creation needed four colors. So to be safe we doubled the batch above. (If you are local and have a need for marshmallow fondant which tastes eerily just like Lucky Charms marshmallows, come on over, we have some left.) Green, blue, lavender and orange. We used regular food color, no need for the heavy and more expensive paste. 

I was the sous chef mixing and kneading because the executive pastry chef lacked even more height than me and lacked the kneading hand muscles. This next step I will skip when attempting fondant in the future. We wrapped the little logs of fondant in plastic and chilled them once the colors were mixed. 

The next day after we made the buttercream we began to work with the fondant. The much harder and firmer fondant. The little cake diva immediately assigned the rekneading to me. The rolling became mine as well. She work on the cutting and placement instead. 

More steps and the final creation tomorrow. My typing muscles took a beating from the fondant wars! 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ My Favorite Role

My grand babies are so exhilarating and exhausting and overwhelming and precious. I just can't even. Okay. I can and will. 

The nine-year-old spent two weeks with us while mom and younger siblings were away. The first picture...so sorry it's fuzzy...I snapped it on the low down so she didn't notice I was social media-ing it. We were asked to put on name tags for church on Sunday. As per usual I was gabbing away and asked her to make me one. This is my name tag. Heart exploding.   

The two little ones arrived last night. Apparently the five-year-old asked about me every day. And the seven-year-old almost every other day.  It was so good to see them and hug them. Little stinkers. Ha. The five-year-old was wanting me to spell everything for her. And so annoyed if the same letter appeared twice in a row.  

She asked what I wanted for dinner. I told her cake. She said something healthy first. So I gave her my menu and had to spell every word. Brussels Sprouts was nearly her undoing. "Another S?!?" I totally recommend you get yourself some grandkids if you haven't done so yet. Contented sigh.

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Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Whoooo Boy Learning Curve Ahead

Our 9-year-old granddaughter is staying with us for a couple of weeks.                                       One of our couple rituals is when we have finished what we need to finish (i.e. when we are tired and should just go to bed early to get a great night's sleep) we end the evening with Hulu or Netflix. Our favorite shows are usually reality. The cooking challenge shows are right up there. 

So CeeCee (the 9 year old, name changed to protect me) has joined in with us watching whichever shows strikes our fancy collectively. What has become her favorite and possibly a new obsession is Next Great Baker. This photo is her first cake design. CeeCee wants to make a cake welcoming her mom and siblings home. And she wants to make this cake. 

Okay. Now here's where is gets real challenging. I don't have the skill set.  I have never, ever worked with fondant. And I've watched some epic fails on this type of show. I also made one huge and elaborate cake for each of my children then began buying them after that telling myself that I had indeed accomplished memorable cakes and now could hang up the apron with a smile. And I never really desired to pick up said apron again...so inside my brain somewhere is a WaaWaaWaaWaa siren sound attempting to remind me how very, very complicated cake making is and this probably shouldn't be attempted at home. Especially with fondant. Even now my brain is screaming "Leave that to the professionals, Honey," (Okay, I added Honey to soften it...my brain never calls me honey.)

Like with her mother before her and her aunt and uncle, I have always melted when presented with a kid dream. I mean, if I don't put some effort into helping them explore, then they don't learn, and if they don't learn, maybe they are missing out on something huge inside of them that the world needs. Or a coping skill that will help them navigate life and all its challenges.  

 Fortunately, I've convinced her that it needs to be real small. Like the top tier (ha, ha I gots the lingo down) could be a cupcake. Praise the Lord she thought that was a good idea. I even found a recipe for DIY fondant made out of marshmallows and powdered sugar. Seriously, marshmallows and powdered sugar....wonder if that's going to be sweet or savory? 

I told her we'd begin this epic project on Saturday. Because the professionals on the show get hours to create and pull off a cake, therefore, we will need days. 

I will be reporting on this adventure...stay tuned. Now to make the shopping list.