Tails of Frogs, a Cow and a Dog

Today was a good day.  It was the first day of a four day long weekend, MLK weekend, so there will be no progress on the orders front until at least Wednesday.  So I was able to not think or worry or stress about that and won't until later.  I began to make sure we do all those "one more time before we leave" type of things.  We stocked up on some paint for my brother because well I'm just nice like that, and then had dinner and a game night with some friends.  Nigel got to play with his doggie friends whom he loves and that always makes for a tired puppy in our house.  He is currently passed out on the couch between the Husband and I.  I have also decided that I need, yes need, a Tedy Bruschi jersey.

Here I have to say Go Pats!  I hope they win today's game against the Broncos.  Sadly I will not be able to watch.  Once again I regret our decision to not get AFN, Armed Forces Network which broadcasts American TV shows and important things like football overseas.

The husband and I have also starting going through our house and doing another purge of movies we haven't watched in years, Head over Heels anyone, and books that I read and didn't fall in love with.  I was also mean and made the husband get rid of movies he hasn't watched since we met.  I mean it's been almost 6 years now and if he hasn't watched them then he's not going.  Of course I was willing to negotiate for any classics that just can not be parted with, however, we were able to come to terms with everything.  (I still have my He-Man, She-Ra and Thundercats! And the promise of finishing those collections.)  Tomorrow we finish our "project room" with the rest of the craft stuff and hopefully getting rid of random cables and other electronic pieces that the husband thinks we need.

Oh and we threw out Nigel's frog.  The story there is shortly after we adopted Nigel one of my best friends sent him a "welcome to the family" package including a stuffed frog with a squeaker in it from Target.  He absolutely loved it.  He loved it to pieces literally.  It's a body with four floppy legs sprouting off of it, the squeaker being in the body surrounded by the normal stuffed animal stuffing.  We christened it simply Frog.  Nigel would carry Frog around in his mouth, run after him if you dared to kick or throw Frog and he would even station Frog to do important tasks like watch the door if the husband was sleeping and I was still awake.  I think Frog is Nigel's trusted sidekick.  The first Frog met his end when Nigel had finally ripped of all four legs and I could no longer sew them back on.  He ripped all the stuffing out of it and left it around the house.  I must have under-estimated how much Nigel loved Frog.  I picked up the stuffing and the remaining pieces of Frog and carried them to the garbage can.  It was after I deposited Frog, all his parts and then closed the lid that I realized Nigel was following my every move.  He stationed himself at the garbage can and cried for a bit.  Eventually Daddy, the husband, came home and Nigel's mourning period was over.

Luckily my parents are awesome.  They were able to find a replacement Frog.  (He also then acquired Mini-Frog who has become like a teddy bear, carried around and used to provide comfort.  Mini-frog does not have the floppy legs and is smaller than Frog, Mini-frog often gets carried around in Nigel's mouth and even gets taken to bed when it is time for sleeping.)  As soon as we got the new Frog out of the box, Nigel was thrilled.  (He knows when we get a package from Mom and Dad that there will be something for him in there and gets excited anyway.)  We took off the tags and gave it to him.  He took the new Frog and walked around the coffee table, poked it with his nose and looked at it like he was trying to figure out how Frog was fixed and smelled different.  He was happy.

That was a few months ago.  We learned that when we weren't going to be watching him and Frog we needed to pick up Frog and put him somewhere Nigel couldn't get to him.  Because if we don't watch Nigel he will chew up Frog.  As it is when we are watching he takes Frog, hops around the living room and shakes the living daylights out of Frog.  It is inevitable that Frogs legs come off.  Today Frog's fourth leg was shaken off and we decided it was time for Frog to go, again.  This time the husband distracted Nigel while I snuck it into the garbage can.  So far he hasn't seemed to notice that Frog is missing.  It does help that he now has Cow.  Cow is built just like Frog only is a cow and has a rope tail. I think going to see his doggie friends helped distract him also.  So for now Nigel will have to be content with all of his racket balls, Cow, Mini-Frog and the plethora of toys that he has gotten from family and friends.

Okay the secret is when he gets to Iowa at Mom and Dad's there will be a new Frog waiting for him.  Luckily for me he's too busy sleeping to read my blog.  So my favor to you is please don't tell him and ruin the secret okay?