Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Summing...

Plinky to the rescue again. 

Choose and write about 5 (or 10) possessions that sum up who you are. 

 

 Hmmm. This may be easy...or then again, not. 

 

1.)  The item that makes me feel righteous to mention as number 1 is my Bible. Just like a little kid who answers all his Sunday School teacher's questions with God, Jesus or the Bible because chances are one of those will be the answer.  But the absolute underlying truth is that I want my life to spark in people a desire to know Jesus. And He is the central person in the Bible.  And He was not about religion. So. I hope as I walk with Him I grow more to look like Him. Knowing Him means I read His words and talk to Him. The Bible it is then.

 

2. )  Family pictures. My little band of six. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my kids and my husband. 

 

 3. ) Cookbooks and cooking tools. I don't need to explain that one further, right? 

 

4. ) This one is imaginary because it does not exist as one of my possessions, but I kind of wish it did. A DVD of all my favorite laugh out loud clips from my favorite movies and television shows. Not the full shows, just the clips. How fun to be able to watch all of those hilarious moments whenever I was having a bad day. The twist here is that my sense of humor is skewed and most of my favorite clips involve someone taking a tumble. And a book of stellar writing moments, too, would be amazing, all of those favorite turns of phrase or word art. Strange that my writing collection would be deep and mind tweaking. I don't know that I'd have much funny in the word keeper department.

 

5. ) Color. Seriously. Color. I need a variety. It makes me happy. Just like polka dots. And color and polka dots are the best combo. And texture. Gotta throw that in there. I need to get one of those super fuzzy floppy rugs in multicolored polka dot.  Then that would be me and my number 5.

 

 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Missing Anything?

The dogs officially moved out yesterday. Had I not had one of those days where I hit the ground at warp speed and then fell into bed an exhausted shell of a woman I might have grieved. 

But. Here is why I didn't feel sorrow when entering an empty, quiet house: 

1.) Well. There's the crazy to-do list that drove me. 

2.) The dogs came over to visit.

3.) Feral, bless his dear, sweet little kitty heart, decided he'd act bigger than life. First, he left me a small package, likely because he's a) become a litter snob b) his "water closet" is housed in our water closet/utility room/bathroom. And yesterday there was some dog laundry. And hearing the sounds coming from the dryer made me think I might want to find a quiet spot to do my business in, too. Clanging and clunking and an occasional moanlike shifting made me think that we were in a Bones episode. 

So I'm hoping Feral's delicate mental health compelled him leave a deposit for me...rather than litter preference, or passive aggressive punishment for something I'm not even aware I did to offend him.

Oh, and then the precious kitty hoarked up a few hairballs for me as well. Imagine, if you will, how much I was enjoying the idea of domesticated animals in my home.

4) The dogs are visiting again. They will come to my house to hang out while we are at work because the apartment below our daughter has a family of 4 little kids. And until the dogs get used to kid noises & decided days at Grandma's would be better for all concerned. And I do have a morning peanut butter knife. So there we go.

Scribbles and Scrambles .... uhhhh of Mugs, Steps and Dogs

One of my mugs...I think. I have a few. She has a few more than a lot. But. Who doesn't love a good mug?

I might be what you would call punchy. 

But, I'm thinking if you are a regular reader, you might be used to that. 

Fair. 

I spent this weekend doing a whole lot of packing, hauling and unpacking. 


Did you know it's possible to have a mug collection that fills five boxes or three cabinet shelves? Did you know that it's possible to have enough art work for a three bedroom apartment in a single bedroom? Did you know that when you offer to help someone move you might want to ask for a step count. A second floor bedroom moving to a second floor apartment = a step count of many, many.

However, since the person I was helping to move was my last fledgling to leave the nest, busy, busy, busy and steps, steps, kept the emotion from bubbling over. 

And missing the dogs becomes less of an issue when said dogs disappeared into the woods and found an animal carcass to munch on while I was trying to get to work. Just sayin. I love those granddogs, but I will not miss the naughty and/or disgusting behaviors. For sure.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Not Clowning Around !

I appreciate the comments, Ladies. Xta. I envy your wardrobe of black items numbering within the minimalist single digits. Actually, though you can't hear me, I'm clapping. Amazing.

However, I'm afraid that I wouldn't know what color group to get rid of. And where to start winnowing down to less choices. Some days I feel solids, some stripes, and others are just polka dot or die days.

It did encourage me when one of my blog reading co-workers mentioned that she had spent a full on twenty minutes staring at her clothes, too, before getting dressed for the day. And another chimed in that this was regular behavior for her, also

Xta, that leaves you in the category of abnormal. (Scientific survey, right, me and two co-workers? And I'll include Michelle in that because she likes my polka dots and clearly getting rid of polka dots is not an option and that collection alone would put me over Xta's minimalist standard).

For the record. On Friday I did wear polka dots. And though I love to buy clothes of the green variety (prewashed as in preworn) category, and love polka dots, I did NOT buy the clown suit for my closet.  And golly. I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back over that fact. Winnowing, working on the minimalism, one piece at a time. 

Note: It does look like it'd be comfortable...and other than the danger of my clumsy self wearing shoes that would definitely send me hurtling down stairs and into painful objects, I could be tempted. :  )

Scraps and Snippets ~ Asian Slaw Salad of Deliciousness....

One of my favorite salads of all time is a tie between Applebees and Panera. Same salad, just different versions. However. It contains meat and dairy, and well, it's a thing of the past. Goodbye Asian Chicken Salad. I do actually miss you. A little. Enough to try to create you Vegan style at home. 

If you've not tried the orange glazed Vegan chicken sub nuggets at Trader Joe's (Chicken-less Mandarin Orange Morsels). Get there and get some. Crazy good. Omnivores accused me of stopping by McD's and picking up a 20 pack of the dreaded mcnuggs...shudder...when they peeked inside my oven.

You bake em, you put glaze on them and then you put a few on top of this beauty. Oh YUM!

This makes a good sized salad. Enough to feed 8.

1 bag broccoli slaw  (standard sized)
1 bag cole slaw  (standard sized) (or shredded cabbage and carrot)
1 larger head of romaine (chopped)
1 bag pea sprouts

Rinse and drain and mix together in a big bowl. 

Add sides of the following for people to doctor their own salads custom style. I put some of the dressing on the salad and mixed well.

Toasted almond slivers. (ten minutes in a 300 degree oven does it.)
Toasted sesame seeds (ditto)
Sesame sticks
chopped green onion
grated fresh ginger
soy sauce
additional things that sound good to you
dressing
Chicken-less Mandarin Orange Morsels

Dressing: 

3 1/2 TBSP rice vinegar or mixture of rice and orange vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 TBSP sesame oil
2 TBSP orange juice (Juice a fresh orange)
1 TBSP maple syrup or sugar

Mix well.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Color Me Annoyed

Seriously.

I spent no less than twenty minutes looking for a shirt I wanted to wear today.

This is picture is PART of my closet. There are as many blue, gray and black upper body garments hanging under this rainbow of clothing.

Why? Twenty minutes? It's not like these don't fit. Oh, they all fit. It's not like I have a bunch of things I HATE in my closet. I'm actually pretty good at donating things I HATE.

My office is beastly hot most mornings. It has to be 80 on a really bad morning. Okay. That's not a huge deal, many of you would say it sounds like a dream, well, I'm not one of you, and it's too hot. So. Rather than sweat all day I avoid cardigans and sweaters. But I'm not giving up the cute cardigans I love and wear on weekends, so this issue rules out 1/3 of what is hanging in my closet.

Color. Some days you just want to be bright and fun, quirky or eclectic. Today I wanted to wear polka dots. Some days I prefer the simple canvas of black and gray. But today was a polka dot day. And my favorite polka dot shirt is a full swingy brown and cream polka-dotted baby doll top that happens to be sleeveless. The problem came with putting a sleeved item with it. Nothing looked good with it. And I tried five or six different options. So sad. So now I'm not wearing polka dots.

But, good news, I am wearing clothes. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ What Was That???

I got an email this morning. Xta accused me of being a slacker blogger. Asked me what was up with the past couple of weeks. 

 

I told her I was blaming a head cold, extreme busyness and a lack of fresh blog fodder. So, rather than post stuff that left me yawning I thought I'd give the WWW a break. 

 

But Xta told me that my daily post waiting for her in her inbox was a kick start to her day. 

 

I am not immune to threats and flattery (real or imagined) so here we go. Plinky prompt to the rescue. Feel free to chime in with your own answer in the comments, and with threats, flattery or any combination of thereof :  ).

 

What sounds remind you of your childhood? 

 

 My memories are rich with scents and sounds. For the most part, the scents are probably best left unremembered. I did have two brothers, after all, and we mucked horses and did a go around with chickens. Just sayin. 

The sounds that remind me of childhood..trains, road trips, and summer storms. We lived a few miles from a train yard. My nightly descent into sleep was populated with clangs, whistles and revving engines. Those sounds wove themselves into the fabric of my sleep memories. 

More irregular sounds flashed into my psyche during some of Iowa's impressive summer storms. Rain rhythmically pattering on the rooftop right above my corner bedroom and cascading down the gutter and down spouts softened the rumbles of thunder. And eased my fears when lightning cracked the sky. 

 

And one of my favorite sounds from childhood...road trips. We had relatives who lived a distance away. We'd pile in the car and drive. The usual squabbles probably hastened my parents' aging process and increased their blood pressure, but to this day, I love a road trip. Whining, fighting, complaining, potty breaks...they are part the pleasure of being held captive with my near dear ones. 

 

But I digress. Back to the childhood road trips. Once my brothers calmed down, and usually went to sleep, lulled by the hum of tires on pavement, I would relax into the car seat and soak up the sounds. The thrumming tires, the relaxed breathing of my brothers and the muted conversations between my parent, the sound of security. 

 

Sounds? Your turn. And, see you tomorrow...