Frog Collectibles & Other Such Nonsense: 10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010

Frog Collectibles & Other Such Nonsense

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

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!


Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Gertie says "Don't be too scared!"

Friday, October 29, 2010

Frog of the Day


Flip Video Camcorder
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
I've been wanting a camcorder forever. That was always my one regret with The Frog Wrangler - lots of pictures, no video. So today I'm moving into the 20th century (hey, someday I'll make it into the 21st century with the rest of y'all). And what better way to do it - than in Frog Style.......

This is a Flip camcorder. When you purchase one you can choose from a wide number of options to personalize it. One option is this frog picture - a great way to keep track of all your hopping frog collectibles! I received this October 2010.

If your not familiar with the Flip camcorder, it is really easy to use - point and shoot. If I can figure it out - and I don't even own a DVD player or cell phone - anyone can do it.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

To Do's

I have a to-do list sitting on my desk with all the things I need to get done before I can leave to head to Frog East. Today I got a good chunk of the list done. I ran around town like there was no tomorrow. I got my vitamin B-12 shot in one arm, my flu shot in the other. I made it to the edge of town to the vet's office and they were horrified when I told them what happened the last time I had Gertie to the other groomers and they're going to see her next Tuesday. The nice thing with having it done at the vet's office is that you take her in the morning and she stays all day. So I can run up to the community hall to vote after I drop her off, and still have a day to myself. I finished off my day by hitting Walmart and CVS. It was the busiest hour I've had in a long time....lol.

Tonight's trick or treat, so I have to turn off my computer so the brightness of the screen won't call any kids to my door. The last time I had a trick or treater to my door was about 16 years ago, when I lived in New Jersey. I would go around the day before Halloween and hand out a bag of candy to each of the 4 children that lived on my cul-de-sac. I felt those were the only local children and the only one's that I had to give candy to. They were all really young - 4 to 6 range and I knew their parents. The reason did that was because on Trick-or-Treat night they arrived by buses from the inner city. I made the mistake one year of walking to the kitchen, in the dark, to get a drink of water. They saw the refrigerator light go on. The banged on the windows and doors screaming "We know you're in there!" I turned on the lights and the outside light, opened the door having already dialed 911 and proceeded to ask them their names - when they told me, I told the 911 operator. I had most of their names as the police cruiser rolled up. I laughed my behind off! Then I got Shadow - she hated children. And she had a low growl that resonated deep in her barrel chest. I never had a problem after that.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fall is here

The leaves are falling by the buckets from the trees - Gertie goes out and is amazed by all the crunching going on under her feet. The colors have been gorgeous - one tree is a blaze red, another vibrant yellow. But the way I know that Fall is finally here to stay is the return of the cardinals. I was overjoyed to see two cardinals playing in the hedge row. They'll be here for the winter and, since the hibiscus blossoms were especially profuse this year, there are lots of seed pods for them to eat.

The temps have gotten quite a bit cooler. I pulled a sweater out today to put on as a second layer. Tomorrow the high temp is supposed to only be 50 and tomorrow night its going to drop into the 20's. Can I start bitching about the cold now.....lol.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Storm of the Minute

The newspapers screamed the headline - worst storm to hit the lower 48 ever. Last night every local newsman said keep your weather radio near you. So before I went to bed last night I turned on the radio - it started going off with the emergency tones about 4 a.m. And it went off continuously until I got up at 7:30. I turned on the television as I walked by and every - and I mean every station is all weather.

It rained here last night.

I know it hasn't done that in several months, but really, the coverage was just non-stop. Thank goodness the storm was moving at 65 mph - by noon the coverage had subsided to a few hanger-on stations. Thing was, the storm was not bad. It was just your run of the mill overnight rain shower. No excessive wind. No lightning. But the mere mention of rain in this area causes a panic like I've never seen before.

I need another nap......

Monday, October 25, 2010

Weekend Roundup

The weekend just flew right by! I felt like I got nothing done but a lot of lazing about. I guess that's what I needed. By last night I was feeling pretty good for the first time since the whole bad macaroni salad incident.

I sat down and wrote out a to-do list for this week and it's a long one. I'll work on it one or two items at a time. Today I'm heading out to the post office and then over to the doctor's office for my monthly b-12 shot. Then I'll have so much energy I won't be able to contain myself! LOL.

I don't know much of what's going on in television land. I turned it on last night to watch The Amazing Race and was totally annoyed with the political commercials by the end of the program. I can't wait for the elections to be over. The commercials are nasty and constant and you can't believe what's in them. The groups that truth squad the ads say that almost all of them are absurd. And indeed they are. Except the one for your candidate - I'm sure that ad is totally true (sarcastically trying to stave off hate mail....lol).

The genealogy project has blossomed out to 85 pages. I'm working on going through and double checking, re-researching people I couldn't find before to see what I can find. It's a lot of fun and I'm hoping another 6 months or so and I'll be applying for the copyright and ISBN number.

Guess I should really get this day going. Gertie woke up really late this morning - I was so happy to sleep in - but now I'm way behind.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Pizza

By far, my most favorite food is pizza. I eat way too much of it. This afternoon, feeling much better, I decided that I would try something I have never had before, but have been interested in - Hawaiin Pizza. Pizza topped with ham and pineapple. I love ham and pineapple sauce - I usually order it when I go out to eat. And as I said, pizza is my most favorite food. But I have to say, the two together - not so much. The acidity of the pizza sauce plus the acidity of the pineapple and the combined flavor - gave me a general queasy feeling. I think I'll stick with pepperoni.

I finished printing out the genealogy pages - all 76 of them. Now I'm going back through and finding lots of dead ends that need to be further investigated. I can hardly wait to get back east to do some digging in the archives.

I got the storm windows closed for the season. The heat has been running for a couple of days now. Monday I'm calling the plumber to come out and clean the furnace. It will be kind of sad, he hasn't been here since Shadow died and he really tried to make friends with her every time he came out. Hopefully he and Gertie will get along. Gertie seems to like women more than men. That may be why it took so long for me to be able to pet her. This morning she crawled up in bed and curled up in the crook of my arm, resting her head on my arm. Somethine she has never done before.

I got my pin in the mail today for the Rally to Restore Sanity that's being held in Washington, DC on the 30th. I wish I could go, but I'm sure I'll see things better on television. They're having a rally at the same time under the Arch in St. Louis, with a simulcast of the rallyin DC. If it were a bit closer I'd certainly think about it. That evening is the Halloween parade here in town. I didn't go the last couple years but if I'm feeling up to it, I might head out this year.

This next week is going to be a very busy week getting ready for heading east. I have lots of little chores to do to get ready. In the meantime, I think I need a little nap....

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Dehydration

When we last met here I was having quite the reaction to some bad macaroni salad. This morning I just got back from spending the last day and half in the hospital with an I.V. I hate to see how much this is going to cost me! I called the doctor Monday morning because conditions were not getting better and I was getting rather dizzy and light headed. They couldn't see me right away and sent me to the emergency room. I had dehydrated. So two bags of I.V. solution, a bunch of other meds that I lost track of and now I'm home feeling a bit better (but really tired - I could not sleep at all while there).

Poor Gertie was picked up by the police and dropped off at the local kennel. I picked her up and she has been glued to me since we've been back. This whole episode has set me back in my preparations for heading back east. Today I'm going to work on getting the house ready. Slowly!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Macaroni Salad

Last week I went grocery shopping at IGA and saw some macaroni salad and thought that looked good - I hadn't had much this last summer. One mouthful and I realized that something was terribly wrong. For the last two days I've been sitting in the bathroom on the throne - I wish I had a television in there. Hopefully things will be better this next week.....

Friday, October 15, 2010

Friday Dog Blogging


Gertie
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
Gerte has had a pretty good week. A much cooler Fall temperature has meant a whole lot of outside time. And when things get a little too cool, it's snuggle time! She loves to look out the window and lets me know when loud trucks, buses, and people are going by. Other dogs walking around warrant special merit.

With the darker mornings, Gertie is sleeping later, not getting up until almost 7:30 a.m. I know we'll soon be turning our clocks back and I'll have to re-train her to stay in bed an extra half hour. She's good about laying down for a little nap - as long as it isn't too long.

The colder weather means it takes me a bit longer to get around first thing in the morning. My arthritis locks up my joints and doesn't want to let loose. I haven't turned on the heat this cold snap, but things are going to drop into the 30's tonight - that's not only furnace time, but also comforter time!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Murphy's Law

Whatever can go wrong, will. It seemed today was just one of those days. I got myself ready to go out and run a couple errands - Gertie needed dog food, and I wanted to get a tunafish sandwich as the local subway shop. I stepped out the door and a deluge of rain began to fall. I was soaked by the time I got to the car. If I hadn't needed dog food I would have gone right back inside! It hasn't rained here in any significant amount for over eight weeks. Today - a five minute torrential downpour - the five minutes that I was getting into my car. Yes, the minute I closed my car door, the rain stopped.

I pulled up to the grocery store, went in and got the dog food - came out - more rain, but not as bad. It stopped by the time I got home. I fled into the house and I'm not heading out again anytime soon!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Frog of the Day


Hallmark Card Studio
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino
I've been having a great birthday. I haven't done anything really extra special, but the day has been a good one. Tonight I'm going to kick back and relax and have a piece of cake and watch some television.

This cute little frog came in the mail today. It's a birthday card made from Hallmark's Card Studio. The inside says "Happy Birthday you party animal! Have a TOAD-ally Fun Day!" All I need is a noise maker and that's me sitting in my chair! LOL Thanks Mom!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Another Hot Day

And no air conditioning.... The temps today are again back to 90 degrees. Thankfully, it cools off very quickly as soon as the sun starts setting. I'm already starting to get a cool breeze coming in the window. After Wednesday, the temps are supposed to settle down to more normal 70's during the day and 50's overnight.

I went out to run some errands today. I didn't get everything done that I wanted, but I got some important ones done. I started out at the gas station - the car should go longer than eight months on that $20 of gas I put in it....lol. Indeed, I put $20 in the tank back in March. Shows you just how much I get out of the house! I put $30 of gas in and it brought me to almost 3/4 of a tank. I'll have to top things off the beginning of next month as I get ready to make the trek back East. I then went to the car wash. Ugh! I spent 20 minutes and 5 dollars but the car looks so much better. It no longer looks like a black car with snow on it - it now looks like the white car that it is. A kid saw me pull in to the car wash bay and was there when I pulled out and he had to do a double take - I don't think he believed it was the same car.

Finally, I made it to Dairy Queen. I presented my coupon for $3 off a cake and was able to pick up my Reese's Peanut Buter Blizzard Treat Cake - MY FAVORITE!!! All I kept humming to myself all the way home was Happy Birthday to me.... It's the little things in life that make you happy. Don't get me wrong - big things will put a major smile on my face for days, it's just the little things that make the day perfect.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Time Flies

I can't believe the weekend is over already. On Thursday evening I received several books from EH. One was Jon Stewart's book Earth. A great book that you can flip around and read different sections. The other was a John Hodgeman book that I can't wait to start. On Friday he sent me a Book on CD by Larry Wilmore. I'm beginning to think he's trying to distract me from my genealogy project.....

Gertie has found a new voice this weekend - barking. Something that she really hasn't done all that much of until now. With the hot weather and no air conditioning, I've been keeping the windows open to get any air flow that I can. Neighbors have been out in force, lots of people walking up and down the sidewalk, and the worst of all - motorcycles. I know she hates the cycles for the noise - she also hates trucks, noisy mufflers, and boom cars. To tell you the truth I don't appreciate them either. Anyway, she runs to window, barks, runs to the door, barks. runs to the window, barks, runs to the door, barks - repeat 100 times. I figured that it was because I've been spending a lot of time with the genealogy searching, so I've been taking a little extra time today to play with her - that seems to have calmed her down a bit. She's back to sleeping on my foot as I type.

I've decided that I want to tear my bedroom apart and redo it - damn that HGTV! - lol. I think I'll wait until I return from trip back East. I'm leaving earlier than normal this year. I want to do quite a bit of research while I'm there, plus go around to all the cemeteries to look for people that I have listed in the book.

So tuesday is my birthday - 49 years old. I don't feel a day over a 100...... I've decided to go down to DQ and get myself an ice cream cake. Plus because I'm a member of the DQ birthday club - I get a free blizzard treat. I've got a lot on the schedule for tomorrow and I hope to get it all done so I can spend tuesday doing much of nothing.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Balance

I've been working on the genealogy project almost all day, every day for 8 months now. The book is closing in on 75 pages of family history. Unfortunately, housework, and other such chores have taken a back seat. Yesterday I decided to take the afternoon and begin vacuuming. I picked it up again this afternoon, and I hope to finish tomorrow afternoon! I couldn't believe how much this dog is shedding. I have little things here and there around the house that need to be taken care of and I decided that afternoons right after my nap is the best time to tackle such things.

That is, if I take a nap. Today I laid down for about 15 minutes and then got right back up. I couldn't close my eyes. Of course that was how it was last night too - and I slept with the light on. The night before I was sleeping soundly and then it came into my consciousness that something was wrong. I opened my eyes, saw a gigantic black thing on my shoulder and chest. I screamed bloody murder (thanks neighbors for coming to my rescue......NOT!), jumped up, turned on the light, and there was a very large black cricket staring at me. It took a flying leap off the bed and scurried underneath. Would you go to back to sleep? Me neither.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Immobile

Monday morning I went to take Gertie out, which is a whole process in itself. I have to sit down on the seat of my rollator (a walker with wheels and a seat to sit down), get her clipped on to the leash and then get the door open and her outside before I head out. The weather during the day has been nice and I wanted to go outside and enjoy some sun. Instead, when I sat down there was a loud crack - one of the welds broke that hold the seat. With the twisting it caused, the whole unit is basically unusable. Thankfully, I did not go crashing to the floor! Unfortunately, with a broken rollator, I'm immobile. Stuck sitting in my chair waiting for a new one to arrive - and they aren't cheap. The new one arrived this morning and now I'm back and mobile again. Thank goodness!

In the midst of all that, Gertie got sick. I think she just tried to each too much. She had eaten both her morning food and evening food as well as a couple treats. That was just too much for her belly. I was actually shocked she ate her evening portion of food. Usually when she gets full she lets it sit until the next morning. And I wasn't paying enough attention. Until I saw her belly that evening! She curled up on my lap and slept for several hours and I thought she was pretty much down for the night, when all the sudden she stood up and that all too familiar sound that Shadow used to make. I got Gertie to the floor just in time! Her stomach was empty after that. We took a little extra care yesterday and today - and she hasn't been all that hungry anyway.

I've got a lot of catching up to do here at the computer and Gertie wants a bit of my time too. So I better get on with today......

Sunday, October 03, 2010

A Nice Weekend

It's been a pretty nice weekend here at Frog Central. The temperatures have turned considerably cooler - threats of frosts over the next few nights are headline news here. I had to turn the heat on last evening and it came on sometime during the night. I awoke to that first heat smell of warm, snuggled back under the covers and went back to sleep. I have to dig out my sweaters! It doesn't seem like Fall lasted too long.....

I went over to St. Stephen's yesterday for their barbecue only to realize that I had gone the wrong day - it was today. Since I was out, I stopped by Burger King - they're having a sale on their Whoppers - 2 for 3 bucks. Since I can only eat one at a time, I figured that I'd have two meals. On the way home I passed the Methodist Church and they were having a Brautwurst Sale, so I got a couple Brauts. That's two days of no cooking! Today I had to head back over to St. Stephens for their barbecue. I've been to just about every barbecue in this town and they are by far the best and this year did not disappoint. Half a chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, slice of bread, and a homemade dessert item for 7 dollars. Awesome! I bought two and each one is worth 2 meals. What am I up to now - three or four days of no cooking. Fantastic!

Friday, October 01, 2010

Passings

I couldn't believe when I heard that commedian Greg Giraldo passed away this last week. Then I opened the newspaper to find that our local editor - one of the funniest writers I've read in quite some time - passed away. Today the news is Stephen J. Cannell - who wrote probably every television program I ever watched growing up - passed away. Greg was in his 40's, our editor, Bill Oliver, was in his 50's, and Stephen in his 60's. All way to young.

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