Frog Collectibles & Other Such Nonsense: 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009

Frog Collectibles & Other Such Nonsense

A look at my frog collectibles as I get them and my wacky world in the meantime.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Frog of the Day

Happy Halloween!

This frog collectible is from Boyds and is Ribbit Q. Hoppenboo. He is a plush with dangling feet. The body is orange and in the shape of a pumpkin. It doesn't show in the photo but he has a bat on his shoulder. Along with his cape he carries a trick or treat bag - ready for some candy!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Under Water

The weather here at Frog Central has been beneficial for all the frogs - my lawn is now a wetland preserve! A lot of streets here are flooded and the heavy downpours have knocked all the leaves off the trees. I've been learning the joys of skype the last couple of days - AB and I have been doing the video chat and enjoying it very much. I spoke briefly with NC but she's dealing with the H1N1 flu - her temperature for the last week has ranged from 103 to 104.5. I received a brief call from her this afternoon that she was going to the emergency room - say a little prayer that she'll be ok. I was lucky to get the shot and hopefully won't have to deal with it.

I'm spending my days basting my fruitcakes with brandy. They smell delicious!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Frog of the Day


Ganz - Potion Bottle
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Yesterday I made 3 batches of Amaretto fruitcake and by midnight last night I had the last one wrapped in cheesecloth, basting in brandy. About 2 o'clock in th morning I woke up and decided to get a drink of water. When I walked in the kitchen all I could smell was amaretto - it smelled so good. This morning I rushed out of the house and over to the flu clinic. Yours truly is now protected against H1N1.

Today's Frog of the Day is from Ganz and is their Skin of Toad Potion Bottle. I received this earlier this month for my birthday.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Grocery Shopping

I know I was only at the grocery store for an hour, but it seems like I was there all day. Gertie woke up at 6:30 this morning after letting her out to do her business I curled up on the chair with the news - Gertie sound asleep in my lap. The next thing I knew it was almost 9 o'clock! After the soaps I went to Walmart and got everything I need till the beginning of the month, I hope....

Tomorrow I'm spending the day in the kitchen - 6 loaves of Amaretto fruitcake are being made. I made this fruitcake last year for the first time and everyone who tried it really liked it. This year I'm making double the amount - all of them are spoken for already.

I think tonight's going to be an early night - shopping always makes me tired.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Weekend Dog Blogging


Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Gertie has had a pretty good week. The scar on her belly has healed nicely and the hair is starting to grow back where she was shaved for surgery. She loves the cooler temps outside and spends quite a bit of time outside chasing down squirrels and generally keeping vigil over her patch of the lawn. She loves the new bed spread on the bed, especially when I throw the covers off in the night because I'm too hot - she nestles under the covers, happy as a clam.

Last night was the Halloween Parade here in Tidy Town. The parade was really quite short - lasting under 2 hours. For here, that's a short Halloween parade. I opted not to go and I'm glad I didn't. The emergency vehicles blasted their sirens for the length of the parade, upsetting Gertie quite a bit. The parade route is only a couple of blocks from here, and couple that with a very small town, and we could hear everything that was going on. Since the parade ends at the end of my street all the floats went by the house, so it was like seeing the parade at 35 miles an hour - and that was ok with me! Plus I didn't have to put up with all the ancillary things I don't really care about.

I just finished flipping the fruitcakes and putting more brandy on the wraps - I've been through 5 bottles of brandy so far - probably 3 or 4 more bottles to go!

Friday, October 23, 2009

H1N1 Comes to Tidy Town

The news was the banner headline in our local newspaper that H1N1 has come to town. Unfortunately the first case is a young boy who is hospitalized. A mad rush ensued to the Health Department where, for a town of 5,000 they received 700 doses of the vaccine. I'm afraid all we can do at this time is do lots of hand washing and hope for the best.

Somewhere I've lost a day - I walked around all day today sure in the knowledge that it was Thursday. I'm not sure where I lost the day but hopefully I'll be back on track tomorrow because if the weather is nice I'm planning on going to the Halloween parade. It's the biggest parade of the year here and this year's theme is All Aboard - a railroad theme to tie into the railroad depot having it's grand opening on Sunday. It's going to be a busy weekend around town....

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Frog of the Day

Been a long time since I typed that title! I would have had the picture up a bit earlier but AB and I were learning to Skype. A pretty cool thing to do - video calling over the internet. I said it was like when you were in Kindergarten and had show and tell. We kept running and getting things and saying "Do you see this?" LOL Can you tell we're old farts just finding out what everyone else has been doing for years.

This frog item is from The Popcorn Factory and is from their Hang in There line. This box tin comes with a little plush as well as a number of tasty treats. I received this for my birthday and although it was showcased in the past - delicious treats are always a perennial favorite.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A couple days of a headache

I've never had a migraine, but if the last two days were anything near what someone with a migraine suffers, I sympathize. I woke up yesterday morning and could barely lift my head off the pillow - Gertia was happy to go right back to bed and I didn't get up until noon. I had 3 loaves of fruitcake in the fridge that had to be baked off. That was about all that got done. Today was a bit better and by this evening the pain is almost gone. I wrapped up the last of the dark fruitcake in brandy wraps. Tomorrow I plan on putting the fruit together for several batches of Amaretto fruitcake. They go much quicker because they have a lot less fruit in them.

The lawn guy showed up this evening around 6 to do the lawn. It was dark outside! I don't know how he saw to get around out there. From what I could see he did a nice job of the area right outside the door - a lot of branches had come down recently and he had them all picked up. This was his last time for the season. I really need to get a riding lawn mower to save that money every other week.

I've switched to sweaters with the recent cold and Gertie couldn't be happier. First thing in the morning she crawls into the crook of my left arm and puts her head on my shoulder - totally content. Every time I put her down to do something as soon as I'm done she's right back to ready for another nap.

So did you hear the story about the woman living in a mobile home that found she had raccoon living underneath. She decided that the best way to get it out was to set off extra smokey fireworks under the trailer. You might see the problem here - she did not. The trailer caught fire and burned to the ground. As Ron White would say - "You can't fix stupid."

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Weekend Dog Blogging


Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Gertie had her stitches out on Friday and she's so happy. When I went to put her in the car she wasn't too happy - she was shaking like a leaf. So after her stitches came out we went to the bank drive through were employees were coming out of the regular bank part to the drive through window area to ooh and aah over her. She ended up with 3 treats there. Then we went to DQ were I got a blizzard treat and she got another treat along with lots of ooh's and aah's from the employees. She felt a little better about getting in the car by the time we got home.

Friday, October 16, 2009

TGIF

Yesterday was such a busy fruitcake day. Between wrapping loaves with brandy wraps, making two new batches and getting them panned, and finally getting the last batch of fruit together - it was quite late last night when I finished up and fell into bed. My body had other thoughts about the falling into bed - no more did I lay down when leg cramps started. I jumped out of bed and walked around. Finally everything calmed down and back to bed only to have a cramp in my thigh. I was up for about a half hour with that one. When I got back to bed my back started in. So no sleep last night. Thankfully all I had to do was bake off 6 loaves of the fruitcake this morning - their on the counter cooling until tomorrow morning. So Gertie and I have lazed around pretty much all day. Now we're ready to head out to the vets office - she's having her stitches removed. Then we're going right back to being lazy......

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

No Heat Wednesday....

And it has been really chilly around the house. Yesterday the utilities company changed something on the gas meter and then came in and re-lit all the pilot lights. Unfortunately they did not know how to work with my furnace and it's trip switches. They tripped the safety switches and not realizing it walked out. About 9 o'clock last night I realized that it was getting a bit cold and I checked the temperature and it was down to 68. By the time I went to bed it was 65. Thank goodness that mom had sent a brand new comforter and I had put it on the bed earlier in the day. I was nice and warm and toasty all night. I was on the phone at 7 a.m. this morning when the utility office opened and they came right over. They fiddled for almost an hour and couldn't figure out how to get it going. I finally gave them my plumber's name and they drove over to his house and came back and with in minutes had it going.

Needless to say everything is behind schedule today. I'm baking off another 6 loaves of fruitcake that won't come out of the oven for another 45 minutes. They'll have to cool all night and I'll wrap them in the morning. I still need to put together the fruit for the last fruitcake batch. And somewhere in today's frenzy I need to make a run to the bank. I think I really need a nap, but I just don't have the time.....

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Hey, I'm getting old.....

Yesterday was my birthday and so another year older. I received a number of frogs and starting next week I'll be putting them up. This week is steeped in fruitcake. Yesterday I baked off 6 loaves and put together the fruit for two more batches. I finished cleaning up about 10 last night. Gertie is not amused. She sees me heading towards the kitchen and she starts pouting. An occassional piece of fruit that may drop is just not worth the wait. Tomorrow I'll bake off 6 more loaves and be half-way done.

I did get some time last evening to make my pizza and I had a piece of ice cream cake for dessert.

Gertie's begging to play a bit and then I'm back in the kitchen making the batter for two batches of fruitcake....... I'll have about 15 loaves for sale - $35 dollars a loaf. Send me an e-mail if you want to reserve one.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Another Fruitcake Day

This whole week - till next Saturday is going to be taken up with fruitcake. Today I got two more batches of the fruit put together. Gertie watched with baited breath, wanting anything to fall to the floor. Little did I know it would be a prune that I dropped. She had it and was off like a shot. It was eaten before I could ever get to her. All I can hope is that the prune will not do what prunes do for people. Otherwise I may be spending this afternoon outside, and it is really cold out.

The UPS man has been to the house every day this week. I've been expecting him today, but I guess my watching for him is in vain. Yesterday I got a great gift of some exclusive chocolates. I can hardly wait to open them!

Gertie and I are exhausted and so before anything else happens I think we're going to go take a little nap......

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Rainy Day at Frog Central

It's been raining with lots of thunder and lightning so I've had the computer off for most of the day. Instead I've been in the kitchen. Now that I'm feeling better I have lots of energy and so today I got the fruit together for two batches of fruitcake. I'll do another two on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. That will get all the regular Christmas dark fruitcake out that I'm going to make this year - 24 loaves.

My UPS guy has to wonder what the heck is going on these last few days. Tuesday he showed up with a giant box from the Popcorn Factory - sent by AB for my birthday. Wednesday he showed up with another box from the Popcorn Factory - from Mom and Dad. Today two giant boxes show up from Mom and Dad. I've put them all away to open on Monday for my birthday. I think I'll go over and get a Walmart pizza and an ice cream cake for my birthday dinner.

Gertie was a bit disconcerted that I spent two hours in the kitchen putting together fruit rather than playing with her. She laid on the rug just at the edge of the kitchen looking longingly, but waiting patiently. Wait until I fire up the Kitchen Aid mixer Sunday!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Errands

Yesterday I ran several errands around town. Today was a continuation of the same. I think I've hit just about every store in town! I hadn't been feeling well the last couple of weeks and there was indeed a lot to be done. My last errand today was the liquor store - the clerk remembered me from previous years and asked if I was getting my fruitcake ready. I had taken a half loaf to them last year but she said the guys all ate it up before she could get any. I told her I'd bring her a piece this year with her name on it.

Gertie is doing real well. She jumping up and down off the bed now with no hesitation. She'll go next week and have her stitches removed. Then it's just a matter of her fur growing back in where she was shaved.

Tonight is a new Ghost Hunters episode. Right after that is a new South Park and they're doing a spoof of the Ghost Hunters - ought to be fun.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Monday Morning

It's been really cold here at Frog Central. I finally had to turn the heat on. Gertie's all curled up at my feet with her nose tucked under her tail. It's supposed to warm up a bit today to the high 60's. Gertie's been doing so well post-op that later I plan on running down to the IGA for a few items. I think I'll go by the DQ to pick up the October Blizzard treat. I received a coupon for a free blizzard for my birthday, which is coming up on the 12th.

Last night was Amazing Race night. That is one of my favorite shows. The older couples seem to go early in the race and last night was no exception. But the seemed to have a lot of fun while they were there. I'm hoping that the engaged couple that screams at each other all the time will be the next to go.

Beware the Counterfeit Sprogz

I received an e-mail the other day with someone who received a Sprogz but could not find it among the ones I had listed. After a little investigation it was found to not be a Sprogz. Although it looked pretty much exactly like the Sprogz that we all love and adore there is a way to check. All Sprogz are stamped - usually on one of the back legs with the company name and year the piece was made. So if you are ever in doubt, just turn the piece over and look at the back.

I also want to tell you that if you are collecting Sprogz that each piece comes with a little tag that could be bent so you could set it next to the Sprogz, thus identinfying it. Always ask if they have that little tag and the original box.

If you ever have a Sprogz question, don't hesitate to ask.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Weekend Dog Blogging


Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Gertie's been home for 24 hours now and she's doing really well. Yesterday she ended up sleeping most of the day. She's now decided that not only do I need to lift her down but also lift her up. She stood next to the bed last night and whined a bit - so I lifted her up. This morning when it was banana time - her favorite - she wanted me to lift her up into my lap. Later on she decided that she could get up on her own and wanted to cuddle up for a nap. I snapped this picture as she was getting ready to settle down. She's doing really well post surgery.

Friday, October 02, 2009

Finally Home

I couldn't sleep at all last night. I'm sure part of that was the fact that I have already gotten used to Gertie sleeping on the foot of the bed. Part of it too was the fact that I wanted to itch my skin off and it was all I could do to refrain from doing so. I keep telling myself 4 more weeks and this is supposed to all be healed up.

This morning I ran over to Walmart and picked up some fruit and vegetables to last the next 4 or 5 days. Then I went and picked up Gertie. She wasn't too sure at first if she wanted to even come home with me. Talk about not happy! Most of the day she has spent sleeping. She's not allowed to jump down and this afternoon she kind of got into the fact that if she jumped up into my lap I would have to pick her up to put her down on the floor when she was ready. A couple times she hopped into my lap and then immediately made that turn to jump back down. One time she jumped before I could stop her and that put an immediate end to her wanting to do that any more - she found out how painful it is. Thankfully she has stayed away from her stitches for the most part. A couple of times when she first came home I had to remind her "No Lick," but after the that she left her incision alone.

Gertie is doing so well that I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight - that is, if the itching would stop.....

Thursday, October 01, 2009

A Very Quiet Night

After a very busy day. I can't believe how quiet it is around the house without Gertie here. She went to the vet's office at 7:30 this morning for her spay surgery. I'm going to pick her up tomorrow afternoon. I stopped by IGA on the way home to do a little shopping and realized when I got home that I only had enough stuff for the day, so I'll be going back tomorrow to be sure I have enough stuff for 3 or 4 days. Gertie is going to need a lot of watching over for that time period to be sure she doesn't lick her scar or pull on her stitches - it's a 24 hour a day job for 3 days. I remember going through it with Shadow.

This afternoon I went to my doctor. Seriously, I have to find a new doctor. He walked in - this was a 2 week follow-up for the drug reaction that has caused wonderful skin eruptions from head to toe - to hear him exclaim "Oh my God, what happened to you?" He didn't remember our appointment two weeks earlier. I swear he has Alzheimer's. He wants to follow up in 3 months but I think I really do have to find somebody new in the meantime.

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