A Puppy Named Cup-a-Cake

Here is a story, part old, part new, part Pound Puppies, part Shrinky Dinks, and a boy who says Cup-a-Cake.

I'm dating myself here, but who remembers Pound Puppies and Shrinky Dinks?  If you were a kid in the late 80's, early 90's, I'm sure you remember.  This story begins when I was about 4-6 years old, I'm guessing.  I remember this day all too well.  My older sister, and younger brother, went with my mom to the big town of North Platte.  For some reason that I don't recall, I didn't go on this outing.  Now, North Platte was the big shopping town for us at the time, which meant it was a source for some really cool toys.  I remember my sister and brother came home with Pound Puppies!  Wow - this was the coolest toy, and I can't believe mom got these toys for them.  What do you know...they didn't bring one home for me!  There I was, adding this to my list of why it wasn't fun to be the middle child.  I laugh now, but I remember being very disappointed at the time. 

As a kid, did you ever get to play with Shrinky Dinks?  The piece of plastic that you color on, and then bake in the oven where it shrinks?  That was a neat toy!  I wonder if they even make them anymore.  We had a box of many different kinds of Shrinky Dinks.  They usually featured the latest cartoon characters.  I'm not really for sure of their purpose, I guess they are just a trinket you put on a shelf.

Jump forward 20 some years later, and story resumes.  About a year ago, my mom brought up a box of old stuffed animals from when we were kids.  At first, all I could think was that these stuffed animals have probably collected a lot of dust up in the attic, but then, it was a nice flashback as you recall each stuffed animal that represented some part of your past. 

A few weeks ago, Brooks eyed a little puppy on top of his closet that he could see through a clear tote.  I got a chair, retrieved the puppy, and smiled.  He wanted the Pound Puppy from my (or should I say, my brother and sister's) childhood.  This little puppy was pretty neat!  He even came with a little blue and red jacket to keep him warm.  Ha, ha, Mike and Niki, guess who has the Pound Puppy now!  Brooks became attached to the little puppy, and it was cute.

Then, a few days later, he wanted me to help him take the jacket off the puppy.  As I did, I noticed a Pound Puppies Shrinky Dink tucked inside!  It was a little dog tag, complete with the puppy's name and phone number!  The phone number is still the number to my parents' house, minus the first two digits.  As a kid, we only had to dial x-xxxx to reach our home.  I bent down and showed Brooks the dog tag, and told him that his name is Cupcake.  I know the name and phone number filled in on the Shrinky Dink isn't in my writing, but is one of my siblings.  From then on, Brooks called his puppy Cup-a-Cake.  It was cute to hear him say it like that.  Little Cup-a-Cake went many places, and spent many night snuggling with Brooks.  He wanted the puppy to sleep on his belly, completely covered with his blanket. 

So, there you have it.  A long story of a puppy named Cup-a-Cake.