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 ~ Tuesday Smiles

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Past Blast

My weekend included the arrival of my brand new nephew. Welcome to the family Owen Scott!  A tutu party for my little four-year-old granddaughter and lots of visiting. During my visits I snagged an old picture of Toad Boy that he had on his phone while we stood mere feet away from where he posed as a two-year-old. Wasn't he cute? 

And speaking of past blasts? Here's one from "gulp" 35 years ago. My dad brought over my art folio from my junior year in high school. Behold, my silk screen project. 

I will admit that I didn't get along with every teacher I had. My 9th grade algebra teacher and 8th grade social studies teacher were popular with the other kids. Very popular and the problem with that was that they tried too hard to be like a kid and that rubbed me the wrong way. My art teacher was pompous. And we didn't like each other at all. As a matter of fact I always kind of wondered why he was a teacher because I'm pretty sure he didn't really care for teenagers. Evidence of his lack of love for me and my pouty princess refusal to play his game. Check out the grade!!!! 

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 ~ 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. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Rolicking Blast from the Past

Not the nostalgic stairwell. I was a little concerned about stopping and snapping pictures in the sea of people. And  I also didn't want to be the only grandma taken to the principal's office for snapping pictures outside of the kid's music program. 

 Yesterday was a kindergarten Christmas (holiday) program. 

Can I just say that there may not be one thing cuter than a gaggle of kindergarteners. Nor more energetic. 

The kids had choreography and dance partners. There was a little swing dancing, a little Hanukkah number and a nod to Kwanza. Santa and Rudolph got shout outs and even Jesus got a mention. All musical numbers were performed with enthusiasm unleashed. Our little guy has some sweet skillz. And apparently his little dance partner was quite gaga over him. 

The school was actually the elementary school I attended. I've been in it recently picking up kiddos. It has changed quite a bit. But as I walked down the stairwell from the gym where the program was and the exit I got slapped with a bit of nostalgia. The stair well had not changed. Same pebbled floor tile. I remembered trudging up and down those staircases with the herds of other children. Now I was trudging around with a sea of grandparents and parents. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ NaNOWriMO Will I or Won't I?

So. I have two major reasons I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. 

Can you guess what they might be? 

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 ~ A View of Nebraska City and A Cute Pup or Two

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Update

I made three pies for my brother's upcoming wedding on Saturday. Yay. Only a few cakes left to go.

We went to another wedding on Saturday. I read that 2013's biggest wedding month was September. I'm guessing the same holds true for 2014 and that September and October might be competing with the traditional May/June.

Other notable? Gertrude and Gladys turned 5 months old on Saturday. How fun is that? And speaking of fun let's look at a comparison shot or two. Note: tiny puppy was Gladys, big honkin puppy is Gertrude. Gladys was having nothing to do with the photo session.

After the photo shoot I had to take a shower and while I was showering some four-legged scoundrel took an extra roll of toilet paper and the two little fur-buddies had a blast.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Campalong

Friday night we loaded up the pups and met Toad-Boy and & for a night out among the stars. 

& wanted the kids to get a camping experience and boy did they get one. Nearly every camping condition I've ever had was condensed into one 14 hour trip. 

Case in point? Boy tent, girl tent. The girl tent was bigger so the two little girls, & and I also had the company of all four canine girls. Cozy. 

First camping issue. We all descended at nearly the same time coming from three locations and we were all running a bit late. Not almost dark late but late enough that by the time the tents were up and the fire roaring it was way past dinner time. 

Then the mosquitoes. Whoa baby. The mosquitoes. They have been so bad this year because of all the rain we've gotten. Friday was brutal. The smoke took some of the edge off and and then we had a lovely breeze blow in. The rain tarps started flapping and the mosquitoes disappeared. 

We had a lovely time around the blazing fire pit and enjoying some fun drop in company (the neighbors, aka my parents,  and my brother and almost sister-in-law and their cutie 4 year old joined us later.) We camped in my folk's pasture just a tall grass hop, skip and quarter mile to the bathroom.  & prepped the meals veggie dogs, chips, fruit and carrots and celery sticks for dinner, vegan marshmallows and dark chocolate smores for treats and veggie sausage, hash browns and cinnamon coffee cake for breakfast. The easiest camping trip I've ever been on. In the middle of the evening & leaned over and said. "Thanks for all those years I had no clue how involved the mom things like camping and vacations were." 

The sky was so clear we got some stargazing in. Lovely evening.

We finally got to bed around 11:15 p.m. My 4 year old nephew chose the comfort of Grandma and Pas house. (Wise child  : )) I regretted immediately not accepting the blow up mattress that was offered to me. After all the pups got settled, and I almost found a comfortable spot to sleep on we started drifting off at 11:45. The settling took a little time and there were some moments of frustration. Like Gladys kept getting crazy feet and leaping about the tent. &'s oldest got her face puppy stomped and there was some weeping. Also, the day had been a hot one so the tent with all those bodies was warm. Very warm. 

At what was maybe 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 the thunder started. We've been having this weird rumbly thunder this year. It just goes on and on. So I exited from my semi-sleep to rumbling, knowing that rain was a 50% possibility.  Flashes lit up the distant sky. Maybe we'd miss the storm. 

Then the rain came. So much rain. For about a half hour it poured. So heavy that it penetrated the rain fly a bit and my sleeping bag got soaked from the side of the tent. Oh and so glad there was a tarp between us and the ground because water rushed under the tent. 

When it stopped we drifted back off to sleep. Mostly. 

The pups had a great time and they were excellent. I was uber impressed. They ran around like crazies but not too far and came back when we called them. And they slept well. I mean a few face stomps is minimal. Zero accidents occurred unless you consider face stomping an accident. No doubt we will repeat this little adventure. Because the ability to forget things like ugh and pain and work because of the payoff of fun and family makes us able to romanticize things like childbirth, road trips and camping. Ha. Ha. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Play

 Apparently I actually do sound like Gollum. I know I promised to never do the Gollum voice again, but in my defense, I didn't think I was. These pups are so cute. I just had to share. Gertie and Gladys at 4 and 1/2 Months.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Different Take on Training.

Charlie is a smart one. 

Let's think this one through shall we? Lil Laura is going to be at Charlie's licking level for a few years. He's probably seen how messy children's faces get. He's maybe seen children in high chairs tossing bits all over the place. 

I think that Charlie is training Laura to share. And while he's at it, teaching her the beauty of a good game of fetch. And making sure she knows who her best friend truly is. 

Oh, yeah, it's not the smart move of tossing toys to the baby, it's the baby training behind the ball game. 

Thanks Mom for sharing the video. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Yeah. More. Sorry.

Not really. Brainless fun at Cartoon Photo.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ What I Do When I Should Be Doing 5,000 Other Things

I was inspired by Michelle's Infographic free site. And I thought, how fun. Maybe I can make one and use my own pictures in it. And I should find a free site that lets me cartoonize my pictures for extra fun on my Infographic. 

Well, I did find a site. And I did cartoonize some of my pictures. HERE is that site. But I wasn't able to use them in the Infographic that I am working on. Oh, well, cartoonizing pics is way fun.  

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ What We Do While We Go Out for Potty Biznes...

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Link Fun

Baby and dog pictures. 

Melancholy Cats

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Creative Dads I'd Like to Meet,,,

There is something both innocently sweet and horrifyingly scary when children spend time alone with Daddy. As demonstrated in these adorable videos...(warning to the sensitive...the 2nd one contains a bit of written indelicate language). I found them on a website I follow and had to embed and share them, too.

Mothers can sometimes suck the fun and the joy out of events because we can focus on the teensiest of important details. A man who hasn't lost his wonder and awe about life makes a great buffer. 

My life would not be complete had I not experienced a dad who was unafrsid of the unknown and knew important and dangerous science and stuff! 

My own kids getting filthy dirty and being used as tools/helpers have become richer human beings as well!

You dads who include your kids in your adventures...carry on. Your kids will be full of memories and possibly fodder for therapy sessions.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Hump Day Ha Has

In case you haven't figured it out...I may not adhere to his stringent opinions. I own the dubious honor of frustrating a somewhat militant critique partner so much that she left the critique group. Yes. It is true. My comma's, lack thereof, wrong usage, and etc. pushed her over the edge.