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....

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Flirty Pups

I went to Minnesota for the weekend and came home with a handmade toy for the pups. 

Michelle sent me this link and wondered if I wanted to make one while visiting. Since the temperature high was in the low 20's and low was wind-chill-minus-20-something I thought that seemed like a great idea. That and the fact that the little misses at my house always need a few sources of entertainment. Gertie has very sensitive feet and doesn't care for the snow, and neither of them should be bored since they come up with ways to entertain themselves. This thing seemed like a win win. 

Michelle's dog is a Boxer, her grandpup is a Dachshund and Gertie and Gladys are small Beagles so we each made different versions of the stick and I think have play more so in mind than training. But training is actually something I'm going to put on my radar.  We went to Home Depot for the supplies. Twice. And managed to have some fun in both stores. We even got scolded. Ha. Ha. Apparently, me trying to slip a dangle of rope hanging 10 feet over my head into a 1/2 inch round PVC pipe to see if it fit constitutes me trying to hit people with a stick while my partner was filming me. Granted, I was laughing, I'm sure it looked ridiculous (it did, I saw the video) she was filming, and anyone coming down the aisle could've been in danger...but it was all legit. And when we explained what we were doing we even made a "friend" (Kinda. He was a wee bit starchy, if you know what I mean.) 

Of course the rope we got was "wrong" according to her husband. 

But I digress. We went with 1/2" PVC because the 3/4" called for in the recipe was HEAVY. However, if you want an upper body work out,  go for it. Michelle made hers long, slightly less than 6 feet. I cut mine down to 3 1/2 feet because I'm clumsy. Seriously. I have enough trouble just walking sometimes. Arthur's was 2 feet. 

I chose to have double 1/4" nylon (that's the proper one, see above) because I wanted to be able to tie the toy on. And since I'll be watching the entire play time I'm not super concerned about the dangling rope. This also lets me tie it high or low on the end of the rope. And of course we found cute duct tape at Michael's. The toy was clearance at Petsmart, a real bargain if you don't consider that I also bought some other clearance items. 

All told, without the other "deals" factored in and with the rope oops we spent less than $10.00 each. Gertie and Gladys, once they got over the barking at the stick, began enjoying the heck out of it. And it's no longer a Christmas toy since the Santa hat was ripped off the head of the two squeakered muskrat/squirrel/beaver thing.

I'll share a video tomorrow. Consider yourself warned. 

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.