Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Last Snow Man Standing...

It was a balmy 62 degrees when I left work yesterday. Which means spring is really, really, for reals eventually coming. 

The past couple days have been so nice. On Sunday Toad-Boy and I took the kids and the pups to the park. We found a shady area that still had a significant amount of snow. And since the snowy day they came over and tried to build a snowman was a fail, I suggested they could get one last chance to build one. (Why was it a fail? Well after the snowball "fight" with killer-arm-girl and dazed-bruised-temple-GMA, we tried to get the snow to stick together but it was too grainy. Then everyones' noses starting spurting green slime and whining erupted.) But apparently they had gotten over the past failure because the two oldest built teeny, tiny snowmen. Super cute.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Oh the Things We Did Purge

So. After my lazy half week of laying on the couch and wishing for swift death, I mostly recovered. By mostly I mean that I worked a full day plus at work then came home and did some chores that hadn't gotten done while I was sick and pulled together another hundred "get rid of" items or so to make up for lost time. 

My son manages a service learning group at his local high school and they had a huge rummage sale and I usually donate. So Rob and I loaded up probably three hundred items. (I've been counting and packing things away for this fundraiser.) And I hauled it to his school early Saturday morning. But. I think my crazy making up for lost time on Friday did not agree with me on Saturday because I started feeling punk again. I cancelled my violin lesson in case I was still oozing germs and because, well, I didn't want to relapse there. It's rough enough to cry in front of my teacher, I can't imagine vomiting on him. Ya know? 

Anyhoo. Dropping the load of stuff I wanted to never see again at the school made me feel a little better, kinda. I'll tell you, the cart and the table next to it had our stuff. And that's just a portion of it, there's been way more leave my premises. YAY!!! Plus his group/club made some decent money so I feel good about donating. 

The only, and I mean ONLY negative is that I only have 24 more items to hit my entire year long goal. But I couldn't complete it before I needed to drop the stuff off and I am now at the point where I need to carefully consider whether an item is something I want to let go of. 

Not saying I don't have a bunch of stuff I could chuck and never miss, just that I don't want to go all willy-nilly and then wish I hadn't. Case in point. I have this super cool enamelware roaster that was just decorative and I eyed it "do I really need this?" At about the same time I decided I hated a corner of my counter top where we store things like powdered drink mixes, bags of protein shakes, medications, etc and I had them in a big basket that took up too much room. So I just started poking around online to see if I could find the perfect thing that would clean up the corner and make it less sloppy. I found a super cute retro break box that would be perfect I decided. I put it in my Amazon cart but didn't purchase. Fortunately. Because, DUH, my roaster was perfect, and immediate, and FREE. 

And while I was doing one more pass through my closet before the rummage sale run I made a final decision about this super cute pink bag. I mean. Use it or give it. So I'm using it. Spring is almost here. And who cares that I may or may not be over fifty sporting a bright pink velvety bag? Do you? Didn't think so. 

Scribbles and Scrambles - Sicko/Puppies

My lovely caretakers during my unfortunate lost wrestling match with a stomach bug. My little helpers focused on deep tissue massage by pouncing, walking or concentrated standing on various parts of my achy body. Oh and they alerted me when any noisy trucks drove past the house. Peaceful recovery period? Not quite. But I do feel loved.

Scribbles and Scrambles - Not So Favorite Things...

This might be the shortest blog post ever. Ready for it? I HATE puking. Odd right? Cuz I'm sure you are a fan. But I did a little late night early morning experiment to test my statement. Tis very passionately true for me.  Old Faithful timing and Niagra Falls intensity out of the human body just ought not to be. No pictures today save for this one.  ( : (>>> 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Squeak o the Morning...

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Part Lobster

My cousin Emily nominated me for a Liebster Award. Nepotism lives!

She is an adorable little foodie, soon to be first time baby mama, and shared part of my honeymoon with me. My hubby and I babysat Emily and her siblings and chilled in lovely Kansas City. That is a bonus fact for you.

Here's where to find Emily on the WWW. And in addition to the bonus factoid above, I'll answer two of these today and be back with the rest next week. 

My questions for my chosen bloggers: 

1.  Who is your favorite musician and what is your favorite song of theirs?

2.  If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would it be?

3.  What is your favorite movie from your teenage years? Share what you love most about it, why it’s your favorite.  

Sixteen Candles for the humor and the one-liners. One I don't think I'd want my kids to watch as teens, but there you go. 

4.  What inspired you to start blogging?  

This one is pretty easy. I had just discovered on-line forums for expression way back in 2005. Somehow, blogging seemed like the way to work on my skills and networking. Novel Rocket was started by a writing critique partner, Gina Holmes, and her blog took off. She invited me to manage a day or so there and run Novel Reviews which was a spin off. Scrambled Dregs is kind of exactly what it started out as, random tidbits. It's just part of me and has evolved with me. 

5.  What is an experience in your life that you feel defines you as a person? (it can be good, or bad, just something that you feel shaped who you are now)

6.  What is your greatest accomplishment? 

I have to say that seeing my adult children become, and grow into, the amazing people they are gives me such satisfaction. God deserves 100% of the credit. Honestly. I spent far too many months and years of their formative years making stupid decisions to think I had much to do with their awesomeness. I do know that I loved them imperfectly and somehow they know that, otherwise, it's all God's grace. And they are amazing people. I am proud to call them my kids and friends. 

7.  What is your favorite character from your favorite TV show, and why? (I was going to narrow this down to Friends but I thought that would be unfair if anyone was one of the rare few who didn’t watch Friends.) 

Ron Swanson! Do I need to tell y'all why? 

8.  Where is the coolest place you have traveled? Describe it.

9.  On the same note, if there was anywhere in the world you could go to, where would it be and why? (for the hypothetical money and logistics are no object! :) )

10. What is a unique talent of yours?

11. If you could share one piece of wisdom that you’ve learned in life, what would it be?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Saving Some Money

I've found a couple of Apps I've found that pay me for things I'm already buying. I'm not motivated by couponing because it's so involved. And I'm not that organized. I do like the idea of getting money back and saving money on things I usually buy without a coupon because we need or use the items. 

Ibotta is the first one. I think this will only benefit me once in awhile, but I already have $1.00 in my queue on one product that I would buy whether or not it was on sale. I also used by red card at Target and got 5% off and it didn't take away from the rebate. 

If you use my code we both win. So give it a try if you are interested. https://ibotta.com/r/i6hba

Receipt Hog gave me points for the receipt from Target that I scanned through Ibotta, too. So three benefits from one product purchase. LIKEY.

The explanation of this cute App which is super easy and earns me gift cards to Amazon or cash on money I'm already spending. :  ) Win. Win. 

I’m getting paid for my shopping with an app called Receipt Hog, and you should try it out. All you do is take pictures of your grocery receipts, and Receipt Hog will pay you. It's that simple. And if you submit receipts regularly, you can earn spins at the “Hog Slots” slot machine, where you can win more money or even have your entire shopping trip paid for! It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s free.

Plus, if you use this referral code, we’ll both get extra spins at the Hog Slots when you submit your first receipt: soy20596

So join me in earning some easy cash. You can download the app here: http://app.receipthog.com/download