Laura, I have half a dozen cute "frog signs" on the back burner to make. For my Frog Hollow area. I just need to stop procrastinating and make them. Besides the one you mentioned, I want to do these up... "Time's fun when you're having flies" "It Ain't Easy being Green" "You'd be happy too, if you could eat what bugs you" hugs, Karen

This is a fun post. I will say that in my busy working military life, I could get up, shower, shave underarms (daily), legs (3x weekly)makeup (eye shadow, mascara, foundation, powder, lipstick), hair (washed and blow dried, very short), dressed and out the door in 25 minutes. Now, years later, I use far less products and it seems to take far longer. When I was stationed in Spain I could get waxed, from top to toes, for about $7 so I never had to shave of pluck or anything. That made getting ready for work a real breeze. Now, in a typical morning I use: face wash - I use an Oil of Olay-type face cloth. hand wash - Dial Complete on all the sinks, two baths, mudroom, and kitchen. bar soap - I use a liquid soap; DH still uses the bars. :( shampoo - Daily conditioner - Perhaps once a week. hair serum - Never heard of it. hair mouse - No, but I keep a can of hairspray for the 3-4 times I year I might use it. toothpaste - At least five times a day. floss - Yes, but should more often. mouthwash - Listerine; twice a day for gum protection. shaving gel - Ha! The few times I shave I use shampoo. deodorant - Kept in both bathrooms and the bedroom. Wherever I dress I'm ready! body lotion - Rarely, but more so in winter. foot powder/or lotion - Gold Bond all over. face cream - No; but Mom says I should. foundation - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. blush - I'm taking treatments for Rosacea so I'm good on the natural blush! LOL powder - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeshadow - Very rarely; 2-3 times a year. eyeliner - No; never liked the look. mascara - Can no longer wear. lipstick - Every day. I love lipstick with colour, but not the pale, dead looking non-color most gals are wearing now. I wear earrings daily, too. I love lipstick and earrings. And that's the daily stuff, add to that the occasional: hair coloring - I stopped coloring three months ago. I'm liking the "salt and pepper," heavy on the salt look! tooth whitening strips - No. nail polish/ base coat/top coat - I cut my nails as short as possible and push the cuticles back once a week. When I worked I kept them short and polished with a pale pink color. I did it my self. I do get medium length dark red gel nails for the Christmas season. nail polish remover - No need cuticle cream - No, but about every four months I'll get a manicure that does not include polish or false nails. They just soak, trim, work off the cuticles and do a hot wax dip. hand lotion - I keep bottles on each sink

i lost my senior great dane girl 5 weeks ago to bone cancer. it was sudden and shocking and i still look for her. my remaining dane girl and eden were joined at the hip, pip took the loss very hard and had been grieving so much, it broke my heart. i contacted pip's breeder and one of her former co-owners and asked that they keep an eye out for any adults that any breeder friends might be considering a new home for (retired show dogs, etc.). the co-owner gave me the contact information for one of her people who had a dane boy she had been looking for just the right home for and the rest is history. meet "flighty foto my way", call name "frank". frank will be 4 years old on 5/31. he is a very sweet boy and he and pippin hit it off immediately at our meet 'n' greet friday. they do zoomies numerous times a day, sleep curled up together and are just a perfect pair. pippin is so much happier and that makes me happier. even though i miss eden terribly, i am beginning to heal now that pip is feeling better. frank is a bit on the thin side because he lived the last 4 weeks with a female dane who was going through a heat cycle and when that's going on, intact males ignore food, do a lot of pacing and fretting and routinely lose weight. he's eating like a horse so i'm confident he will gain and be back to his normal weight soon. i'm giving him a few weeks to settle in and then i'll make an appointment to have him neutered.

I think it is perfectly on-topic. Frogs (and toads) are wonderful garden companions and help control the pest population by eating tons of pests. Of course, the downside is that the frogs also might devour some of the beneficial insects too. With rampant flooding all around us, we are getting tons of new wildlife showing up in the yard looking for high ground, food and water. The million frogs that showed up in May laid eggs so we're going to have a billion frogs by the end of the summer. Early in the morning, there's so many frogs in the garden that you have to walk slowly to give them time to jump out of your path. I wish we could train the frogs and toads to sit on top of the porch light and eat all the little pests buzzing around it at night. Like George, I leave little brushy corners (and small flat pans of water in dry years) for the toads. It is impossible to have too many frogs or toads in the garden, except that a lot of snakes come to the garden to eat them, so the population never really gets way out of control.