Meet...Oak...

Well, Breyer revealed the rest of the sneak peak and he is pretty cool-looking.  That makes TWO models I want from BF and they've only just started.  Does that mean I'm going to have to suck it up and go this year?

Oak's color is a little different than what I thought he would be.  He's not quite the same color and pattern as the Appy Performance Horse, but that's okay.  I like this color, actually, more than the APH.   He's presented as a Noriker done in a bay semi-leopard varnish appaloosa.

And how does Oak fit in with the Celtic theme of Breyerfest?  I'm glad you asked.  Oak trees feature prominently in Celtic mythology - they are an aspect of a magical trilogy of trees related to fairy lore.  Their use in sacred rituals dates back to the First Century, when Pliny the Elder described their incorporation into fertility rites performed by ancient Druids and Celtic Britons under Roman rule worshipped Daron, the goddess of the oak tree.  Even the town of Kildare finds its roots in that of the oak tree -- Cill Dara is Irish for "church of the oak"

If I get this model, though, I "fear" that I may end up needing to get Georg as well...

What's a collector supposed to do?  No.  I don't need the original Georg.  For some reason there's something about his head that I don't like, but I do like him in the leopard varnish.  He might be a mold that I pick and choose which models I want to collect on.  Yeah.  That's it.  hahaha.

So what do you all think?  Do you like Oak?

Collector Club Exclusive...Carter...

Why can't Breyer time these things better so I don't have to make multiple blog posts or posts outside of my one day a week schedule?  hahaha.  I am, of course, just joking.  Mostly.  So, when my lunch break started I went to check Facebook, which is what I often do when it's breaktime.  One of the first things I see on my feed is a post from Breyer about a new model for Collector Club members.  Their post doesn't show the entire horse so I went to the website to look at it...

Meet Carter.  The First Collector Club Exclusive of 2020!  It may still be chilly outside, but there is the promise of warmth on the horizon!  Carter features an exquisite shaded pearly dapple rose grey coat that mimics the color of the sunrise over snow-covered fields.  This athletic Quarter Horse is ready to chase down the day and get to work - no matter the weather!  Whoever (whomever?) wrote the narrative sure likes exclamation points.  hahaha.  There's only 4 comments so far about him on Blab and so far nobody has complained about him, but I expect that to change.  Someone will complain about the pose.  The color.  The dapples.  Etc etc.  Take your pick.  LOL.  Oh well.  I won't be buying him because of the pose.  It's too much of a shelf hog and there's something about the off-side that I don't like, but I can't put my finger on it. Anyway, I more prefer standing models or ones with minimal movement, although don't tell my CWPs, Roxies or Zippos that.

I have to kind of "HUH?" on the description, though.  They say he mimics the color of the sunrise over snow-covered fields.  Now, granted, I'm not super familiar with how that looks in real life, but that isn't what comes to mind when I see this color.  I see nothing "sunrise-y" about it.

Well, that's it for now...again...until the reveal of the 2nd sneak peak.  Or, I guess, if Breyer springs something else on us.  hahaha.  You never know.

**update** I haven't seen any real negative thing about Carter yet other than a concern for "Crapples" (crappy dapples) but someone is taking it upon herself to complain multiple times about the so-called overabundance of Appies, Paints and Pintos, which is kind of redundant.  hahaha.  But really, do you need to whine in every thread about your perception of being drowned in Appies and Paints? 

Adding models to your collection...

Let's say there's a model you really want...not necessarily a grail, but one that you really want.  And let's say it's not a cheap model nor one easily obtainable because they don't go up for sale very often.  What do you do?  At what point do you decide to "give up" on finding one at a price you are willing to pay and how do you determine what that price is you're willing to pay?  Do you have a maximum amount that you stick to across the board or do you have a sliding scale?

A couple of years ago there was a web special on the Valegro mold called Acadia...

I loved the mold the moment Valegro was revealed and Acadia was a definite must-have due to his minimal paint markings.  I already had a Collector Club account, but I wanted him so much that I bought 3 more!  But would you believe that NONE of my accounts won?!  Not a single one.  I was totally bummed.  Since then, I have been "loosely" looking for one.  "Loosely" is based on when I remember to look and when I have money to buy if I find one.  And I have found a few.  But the money wasn't right.  I mean, it was more than I felt comfortable spending at that particular time, even on a short time payment.  Since that particular one, any others I have found have been more than $100 more than it, in a price range I'm definitely not comfortable with.  At what point do I say "forget it"?  There were 200 of these available to Collector Club members plus however many extras made to replace heavily flawed ones.  Is this model so popular that 190 some odd are still in their owners' collections?  Why are so few of them sold on the secondary market?  And why are people insisting on asking $385 for him when his original price was, what, $175?  Yeah, I know.  I took Economics in high school.  It's all about supply and demand, right?  It gets very frustrating, though, you know?  I want this horse but I don't want to pay double the issue price either.  But how much AM I willing to pay?  I don't know.  Maybe I need to figure that part out and go from there, but it's not like the people who ARE selling are saying they'll sell for X amount or best offer.  <sigh>.  Maybe if I went to Breyerfest I would have better luck at finding one at an acceptable price.  Maybe.  I don't know.

On a different note, I recently bought the National Velvet book set and the Makayla schooling doll. 

I "loosely" (there's that word again) conga the mold.  This "loosely" is because I only recently started collecting / admiring the mold.  The doll, Makayla, I got because I liked the clothes she was dressed in...

I don't know if I'm going to leave the doll as-is, though, or put her away and just put the clothes on one of my other dolls.  I haven't decided that.  I am using the photos from Amazon because I haven't gotten around to unboxing them yet.  What else is new?  hahaha.

On a different note, yesterday I became aware of a breed of horse Polish Warmblood.  It is similar in body structure as the heavier version of the Wielkopolski, which is bred based on what it will be used for.  The lighter version is for driving and competing while the heavier version is for riding.  The Polish Warmblood is heavily influenced by the Thoroughbred and Oldenburg and partly by the East Friesian and German Halfbreed.  They come in both solid colors...

as well as paints...

But the color that caught my attention I can't begin to describe.  He's just gorgeous...

Can you imagine Breyer trying to make a model with those colors?  I think even a customizer would have a bit of a difficult time with it, but I'd love a model with those markings.  I'm not sure if I like the roached mane on him and I wonder how long his tail is...if it's a shorter, ratty tail or a nice, long one.  With the roached mane he'd probably look better with a shorter one, but not a super short one like the Appaloosa Performance Horse.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'm sorry if this post put you to sleep, it sort of did me.  hahaha.

2nd Breyerfest Sneak Peak...

I know today is only Tuesday, but that's okay.  It's not my fault Breyer is releasing the sneak peak before my posting day and the full reveal after!  hahaha.

So, without further ado...we have something...spotted...

Gosh that's tiny, but I can't do anything about it.  I'm not going to even attempt to guess the mold, but I know it's an appaloosa!  hahaha.  Apparently, though, someone on Facebook "flipped" the image and some people are thinking it's on the new Georg mold...

Wouldn't it be nice, though, if it was on Carrick instead?  I don't have anything really against Georg per se...

He's nice-enough looking.  I've never seen him in person, I'm just not a huge fan of chunkey monkey poneys.  The paint design looks like it could be similar to the Appaloosa Performance Horse...

Oh man wouldn't it be great if that's who it was!  But since that was a regular run way back when, they won't make it a Special Run now.  So in the interim I will hope for a Carrick instead of Georg, because I like him better...

Which reminds me...I still need to get me a Carrick.  Matte or Glossy, it doesn't matter.  I just want one.  I haven't looked in awhile for one, though.

Anyway, tune in tomorrow for your regularly scheduled blog post and later in the week for the full reveal of the 2nd Special Run!  Have a great Tuesday!

First Breyerfest SR Release...

Originally I had planned to tack this on to the previous post as an update, but when I saw the model I decided it needed its own post.  Never before have I ever reacted to a Breyerfest SR like I did this one.  My jaw dropped and I began feeling a bit jittery.  Or maybe that's just the caffeine from the Coke I'm drinking...?  But seriously, I am in love...

Done on Sommer Prosser's mold of Danish Warmblood Strapless, Epona is a beautifully-shaded dark dapple grey frame overo pinto with a braided mane and tail.  Named for the ancient Celtic goddess who was the protector of horses, donkeys, mules and ponies, Epona will make a wonderful addition to (and protector of) your own herd at home.

And nobody guessed it correctly!  Although I'd like to point out that I was correct on the color.  I said it looked to be a steel grey.  Isn't she gorgeous?!  So now I really am in a conundrum... do I buy a ticket and pay the extra fee for pick-ups?  Do I buy a ticket and hope there's a post-BF leftover sale?  There wasn't one for 2019, but I didn't buy any tickets so it wouldn't have mattered.  Do I hope to pick up one on the secondary?  I am still in search of a good Rocket from 2019 so that hasn't worked out too well.  Or do I just GO and get my own?

Yesterday I looked at the numbers and I can make it work since it's not until July.  Nothing has to be paid for right this second.  I even have a nice selection of hotels to choose from with varying price points, depending on how much I want to spend or how close I want to be in the thick of it all.  What I keep coming back to, though, other than the stress and anxiety of the flight is...the zoos in the "area".  I would fly into Louisville on Thursday but I wouldn't get there until about 5pm so Thursday is shot.  I would be leaving for home about 1:00pm-ish so I'd need to be at the airport around 11am and the Louisville Zoo doesn't open until 10am, that's out of the question.  Can I...am I capable of... going to Kentucky and do NOTHING BUT horses?  I've never been there before.  I enjoy visiting zoos and would want to.  Zoo nuts like me plan vacations around visiting zoos.  Would I be able to not visit a zoo while I was there and just do horses?  I don't know.  I really don't know.  I haven't been to a new (to me) zoo in quite awhile, it seems.  I think the last one was Bearizona and that was 4 years ago.  <sigh>  I know having a lot of different interests can be a good thing, but in this situation, it isn't.  Even using an ECV I would need at least 2 hours at a zoo.

<sigh>

First Breyerfest Sneak Peak!

I'm a day late and a dollar short on this one, but that's okay.  I toyed with the idea of waiting for the reveal, but since I don't know when that will be and today is Blog Day, I decided to go ahead and post about it today.  Which is also why I didn't do it yesterday when the hint was put up on the Breyerfest Blog.

So, by now, you've probably seen the first sneak peak for the first Special Run model of Breyerfest 2020.  Here it is again to refresh your memory...

Of course, now there's tons of speculation on who it might be.  The most common seems to be Othello, Emma and the Gypsy Vanner / Brishen.  It's interesting to see the comments, especially on the Breyerfest Blog about who it could possibly be because some people are so convinced the model is who they think it is and they can get rather rabid in defending that or will say something like "Oh, I know who that is.  We're definitely getting Brishen" or whatever.  In all honesty, I don't know how anyone can tell what the model is just from a tiny square of a photo.  When someone makes their guess, others will point out that it isn't an Irish breed, but we all know what Breyer can be like.  They just slap an Irish name on it and it fits the theme.  hahaha.  For all we know, this model isn't a horse at all but rather Tortoise named Emerald Isle.  Bam!  You've got a Celtic themed object.  hahaha.  Yes, I know I'm being a bit silly with that, but sometimes you just have to be.  Do I really think it could be a tortoise?  Not in that color, I don't.  Nor any other color.  Can you imagine the fall out from something like that?  <shudder>  Seriously, though, I haven't the slightest idea what the mold is or the actual paint color.  It looks like a steel grey to me, but lots of people are convinced it's black and white.  Oh well.  There's people out there who are pretty good at guessing the mold based on that tiny little picture and so I just leave them to it.  I remember one time reading peoples' comments on what the model was and I was convinced it WASN'T that.  Guess what?  I was wrong.  So now I just keep quiet until the full reveal, which will hopefully be soon.  I eagerly await further reveals, too, because then I will know whether I should buy a ticket for post-BF website sales or maybe even go.  It's the 70th anniversary of Breyer Horses and they might have specials up their sleeves, even though last year was the 30th anniversary of Breyerfest.  We'll see.  I'm not making any commitments one way or another, but since I didn't get picked off the 1st waitlist for Seattle Soiree, I will not be going, regardless if I get picked off another one and since BF is two months later than Seattle, that's more time to get my ducks in a row money-wise.

One of these days I would really like to make it to Breyerfest.  I know I've said it before and I will probably keep saying it until I actually go.  hahaha.  The celebration model is Ballynoe Castle RM, a retired eventing horse ridden by Buck Davidson...

I've watched the Rolex Kentucky 3 Day and I've always cheered for Buck because I cheered for his dad Bruce when he was still active in the sport.  "Reggie" will be at Breyerfest this year and if there was a chance Buck was going to be there, too, I would probably make more of an effort to go.  I know I would if it was Beezie Madden.  I just remembered.  The Longines FEI World Cup is going to be in Las Vegas this year.  I have been toying with Las Vegas as my trip destination, but Beezie didn't participate in the 2017 games so I have no reason to think she would do 2020.  She's usually competing in Wellington in April and if she goes elsewhere for an event, it's usually relatively nearby.  I wonder what she has against the West Coast.  hahaha.

Okay, this has gotten off-track.  I should probably get to work.  I will update with a photo of the SR model when it becomes available.  Til next time!

So long Seattle Soiree...

In case the title didn't give it away, I didn't get picked for the Seattle Soiree, nor did the person who was going to take me as her +1

I'm bummed, of course. I was looking forward to visiting Seattle again.  But I'm probably not as bummed as those who live locally and didn't get picked, but they probably will when the event gets closer.  That's what I keep hearing about every event.  When there's still available tickets they go through and look to see who lives close enough to be able to attend without much hassle.  And yes, there's still the possibility of being chosen from the wait list, but unless I get picked from the first one, which comes out Monday, I'm not going to be able to go.  As it is, I'm not sure I can even get the time off work.  I was going to ask for Thursday and Friday off then Monday and Tuesday, for travel and such, but a co-worker already has off the entire week following the event, which could potentially affect getting the Monday and Tuesday off due to coverage needs.

Not surprisingly, people are already pre-selling their event models, either because they're taking a spouse and don't need two or because they don't care for the mold or whatever.  What is a bit surprising is some of the prices I'm seeing on them.  Some are putting them up for offers and most of them are over $600 already.  One person is pre-selling their Stablemate for a pretty good chunk of change.  Not sure where she got that price from since the Stablemates generally go for around $80-$100.  I've boughten two event SMs and paid $85, shipping included, each time.  Makes me think I sold mine from Scottsdale Stampede for a lot less than I should have!  hahaha.  But I don't feel comfortable asking a huge sum.  Maybe I should

So now I'm back to wondering what I should do for a trip for my 50th year.  BreyerWest has no interest to me.  Breyerfest is far enough away that I could possibly plan and save for that, but the only model they've released so far is the Early Bird Raffle one...

I'd like to see some of the SR models before committing to an event that expensive and would cause pretty significant anxiety just in getting there.  Of course, there's no law that says I have to do a trip revolving around models, you know?  There's always Las Vegas, San Diego and San Francisco, though I'd really like for this trip to be super special.  Someplace I've never been to before or can't just hop in the car and drive to in a "few" hours.  I wouldn't drive to San Francisco, of course.  That's too far away.  I just want to make sure I go somewhere and the fear is that I'll just say "f**k it" and not go anywhere because that's the safe and easy thing to do.  Plus, the times when I wake up in the middle of the night with an anxiety attack and say "There's no way I can go anywhere.  I'm fooling myself." or something along those lines.  So, what do I do?  BF would be at least a 4 day trip.  San Francisco a 3 day.  I could do an overnight to Las Vegas or San Diego.  But none of that brings me much excitement. But if I don't travel somewhere, what do I do to commemorate my 50th year?   I just don't know what to do.  I just hate that some decisions come to me easily while others, not so much.

It’s still technically Wednesday so...New model?

A new model was spotted on a German website and it’s creating quite a buzz...

Her name is Winx and there is more that isn’t known about her than is.  We know she’s on the Emerson mold.  We know she’s modeled after a famous Australian race horse.  What we don’t know is when she will be available.  If she will be a regular run or special run.  And if she will be available in Europe only or will US dealers be able to get her.  Initially it was believed she was a “surprise” 2020 offering, but then someone contacted Breyer and was told she isn’t for sale so now it’s speculated she might be available as a mid-year release.  Either way, I hope she is easily available because I want one.  Even though I’m not a horse racing fan, I like her color so I can excuse the fact that she’s a portrait model of a race horse.  I have a Secretariat on the Smarty Jones mold and I used to have a PharLap eons ago.  

Since she isn’t apparently going to be available anytime soon, there’s a lot of speculation about how long the photo will be on the website where it was first spotted and another blogger mentioned something about a Cease & Desist song & dance.  Hahahaha. How would that happen?  Would they send a message to the owner of Blab and have the thread removed from the forums?  What about the people who blog about it...how will they find those to tell them not to talk about it?  It’s not like you can do a Google search and find it.  I know.  I tried.  I had to go three pages before finding anything about the race horse.  If I am contacted by Breyer and asked to delete this post then I will, but since nobody reads this to begin with, I’m not worried they will discern it.  Hahahaha.

Well, that’s it for now...again...

More fun with Jake the Farrier...

So on Friday I had an unplanned day off and went in search of a good place to take some pictures of Jake's "fun and adventures".  I decided to head to the Lower Salt River because I could kill two birds with one stone; make Jake happy and maybe see some wild horses.  I don't know if I succeeded in making him happy, but I did see some wild horses.  Unfortunately, none of them were where I could take pictures due to surrounding vegetation, but it's see exciting to see them.

After driving around a little bit, I found what I thought would be a neat little spot at the equestrian staging area (ie: trailer parking) at one of the recreation areas.  There were a couple of spots with some nice greenery and places to park.  As I attempted to find the perfect spot, however, something caught my eye...smoke.  Not a lot, but enough to notice.  So I went in for a closer look and saw that someone had dumped a (Christmas?) tree in the back part of the lot and had set some wood planks below it on fire...

At first I wasn't sure what to do.  It was only smoke and there wasn't anything else around it that could catch fire so should I just ignore it or should I call it in?  A lot of people use this parking area for trail rides and hiking plus the horses come through there on their way to the river so I was concerned they might get hurt.  Using my cell phone, I found the non-emergency number for the sheriff's department substation that was about a half mile away and called them.  The gal was real nice and took down all the information, then asked if I would call another number so they could get an official report on it, but she would let the guys know.  During this time, I started to see flames and not just smoke.  Just little flames.  Something a fire extinguisher could put out.  Anyway, so I called the main non-emergency number she gave me and told the whole thing again.  This lady was a little less friendly, but not rude.  She said she was going to transfer me to the fire department.  Great.  I get to repeat the whole thing for a THIRD time.  At least the fire guy I spoke with was pretty nice.  I don't know which agency I was speaking with, but he wasn't real familiar with the area I was at apparently.  He couldn't find the trailer parking on their map at first.  Maybe it isn't marked as a staging area on the map.  I just looked on Google and while it isn't marked as trailer parking, there's two trailers parked there.  Oh well.  So, he told me to keep everyone away from it and they'd send someone out.

So I sat in my car and waited.  And waited.  I didn't wait long, though, maybe 10 minutes?  A sheriff's vehicle drove by, but he didn't see me right away since I was at the back of the parking area and there were a couple of trees partially blocking his view.  He came back, though, about a minute or so later.   He asked me some questions like how long I've been there and when did I notice it and if I'd seen anyone else in the area.  I told him a larger sedan had been parked there a little earlier but the deputy didn't think they'd been the ones to bring the tree out due to the size of the tree.  It was pretty wide.  Another deputy showed up and they moved the tree then used the dirt from the pile to put out the fire and make sure it was good and out.  It's kind of hard to see, but both deputies are there, one with a shovel...

The first deputy said it looked like someone had set some wood planks on fire then partially covered it with dirt.  Anyway, he wrote down my information, probably ran my license and then I left.  I still wanted to take pictures in that area so I came back a little while later, just in time to see a forestry truck driving away with the tree in the bed of the truck.  The deputies had left, but there were now two new vehicles parked there.  Grrrrrr.  So I went down by the campground at the end of the road.  There was a lot of nice lush greenery there, but there was also a lot of people.

Now what?  I decided to leave and head east.  Towards the Superstition Mountains.  So I drove.  And drove.  And drove.  For the longest time, Jake was afraid this was all the excitement he was going to see...

Ho-hum

and...

More ho-hum...are we there yet?

Finally, though, we arrived at Canyon lake...

It's about time!

Don't look at the lake, look at me!

Who knew Jake was such a narcissist?

Then we found a spot where he could do a little riding...

I'm so talented.  I don't need a saddle or bridle!

but then it was back to...

Ho-Hum...

All in all, it was an interesting day, but not the kind Jake was hoping for.  Sorry, buddy, maybe next time will be more fun.  Can I help it if you chose to move to a region with so much brown?

On a different note, I FINALLY unboxed my Minstrel (as seen above)  Getting the costume off was a bit interesting.  It was attached by these little rubbery string things and just when you think you had it, you'd find another one.  How annoying!  And I also, FINALLY unboxed Khalid.  WOO-HOO!

I apologize for the overall junkiness of the photo, but the cats were making it difficult to get a better shot.  Figures.  Looking at him, though, I'm not entirely sure I like him.  I like the color and I like the paint pattern, but I don't like the white that goes down the sides of his mouth...never been a big fan of that type of marking on a horse.  I also don't like the new mane and tail.  The tail is okay, but there's too much mane.  I thought maybe I liked the original style more, but on the show side, the lack of mane makes him look nekkid...

Maybe if they flipped the shorter mane to the show side it would improve his looks.  Who knows?  Either way, I still like the mold and I will continue to buy it, but they need to go back to the Marwari look with the turned ears.  I hope they haven't decided to re-design it and the Khalid style is what we're going to get from now on.  Yes, it's more versatile, but...

I guess that's it for now.  I hope everyone has been having good week so far.  Breyerfest tickets went on sale January 2nd, but I haven't boughten one yet.  I want to see what the SRs are first.

Til next time!

Seattle Soiree Update...

So...today started the entry period for the Collector Club Event in May called Seattle Soiree and boy did Breyer really take it down to the wire in announcing any sort of information.  They did give us the logo a couple of days ago, though, and it's pretty snazzy-looking...

but they hadn't released any other information.  I asked about it on their Facebook page this morning and was told that they would be providing us that when the entry period "went live" later.  Within a couple of hours the website was updated with a page for the event and more information.  The ticket price is the same as last time, which is no big surprise.  There will be a welcome reception, although it doesn't say where that will take place.  The Saturday party will be a Roarin' 20s theme and will be held at the Space Needle, which is pretty cool.  I wonder if it will be in the plaza at the base or in the restaurant, although they can't exactly shut down the restaurant just for us.  hahaha.  The hotel is an Embassy Suites...in Bellevue, which is interesting.  Good thing they provide transportation.  The price per night isn't too horrible, but not too good either and I'm still considering my alternate hotel should I get chosen.  They also released a picture of Redmond, the celebration model.  He's on the Bristol mold and while he's quite attractive, I'm likely selling him.  I already have a potential buyer lined up...

The part of the entry period that is different from Scottsdale Stampede and what I don't like the most is that you can't just enter and name your person later.  You have to name them NOW.  I don't know why they changed it and it would've been nice if they'd been more specific about that on the information page.  I keep looking back at it and I guess they did put that.  It says "Purchase is limited to the number of attendees indicated on your official entry form, up to two people, and is not transferable once entry form is submitted."  Breyer said something on their Facebook page about if there are duplicate names on the winners list, we will move on to the next name on the waitlist, since each person can only purchase a single ticket to the event.  So if both my accounts are drawn, I can only purchase "one" ticket.  This whole thing seems kind of poorly planned.  They're not being very forthcoming on certain details, but I guess that's how it is.    We will see.  I don't want to badmouth it too much before the event even happens.  I should save that until afterwards.  hahaha.

Unexpected Pony Surprise...

I am feeling so overwhelmed by the whole thing and that doesn’t happen often.  The last time I felt this way was when my brother bought me a new laptop for Christmas a few years ago.  This gift wasn’t quite as extravagant but it’s up there in how meaningful it was.

I have this friend on a hobby-related forum that I’ve “known” for several years now.  We like a lot of the same molds and recently found out we both have an affinity for cheesy shark and mutated reptile movies.  A few weeks ago, Breyer was having a special where if you order a certain dollar amount of product from the website, they would send a glossy “surprise” model.  They told you ahead of time what the models were, but you wouldn’t know which one you were getting until it showed up on your doorstep.  Well, one day I get a message from her telling me she needed my address because to reach the minimum price threshold, she had bought us both a CollectA shark.  When it arrived at her house, she asked my address so she could send me my shark.  In the interim, we had been talking about blankets for models and she said she was going to look for a pattern so she could make her own.  When she found one, I asked if I could have the web address so I could potentially make my own.  Somehow, it was suggested that a blanket be made for the sharks and I told her we’d have to make sure there was a slit on the back to make room for the dorsal fin.

Well, she received her box from Breyer and asked for my address again because apparently I hadn’t included it the first time she asked.  Silly me.  And a few days ago she gave me the tracking number for my shark.  I hadn’t had a chance to look it up yet so I didn’t know when to expect it.  She only lives a couple of states away but I still didn’t expect it to arrive very quickly.  So, when a box arrived at the house yesterday, I didn’t think anything of it.  For one thing, my brother didn’t say anything about it being mine and for another it was way too big for a 4” shark.  So the box sat on the coffee table all afternoon with me assuming it was his and when he went to go to bed, I told him to take his two boxes with him.  That’s when he said he was pretty sure one of them was mine.  I asked which one (the other was a smaller Priority Mail one) and he said the big one.  I was confused.  I hadn’t ordered anything and it was too big for my shark.  Waaaaaay too big.  He brought the box over to the table and when I saw the return address, I immediately became worried.  What had she “done”?  She was only supposed to send me the shark.  So I opened the outer box and inside saw a Breyer shipping box.  Oh no.  I found the shark and showed it to my brother and said that was what I was expecting, not what was in the bigger Breyer box.  So I opened that one and was in stunned disbelief...

She sent her Emerson.  We were making arrangements for me to buy him from her because he hadn’t grown on her and I was wanting one.  She told me his flaws, none of I could find by the way, and said she would take pictures.  I told her no hurry and she didn’t.  Every now and then she would say she was still needing to take pictures, but it was going on near two months.  I wasn’t worried, though.  I thought maybe she was just sending him in advance of me paying for him.  That’s pretty trusting.  But I also knew there was a possibility she was gifting him to me like she has before with other models.  I told my brother this but said I was still going to offer to pay for him.  There was a note within his bubble wrap and in that note was the statement that he was, in fact, a gift.  I just can’t believe it.  I don’t deserve such a gift and when I messaged her to thank her, I still offered to pay at least half.  If she says no, he’s a gift, then I will accept it and thank her profusely again, but in good conscience I still have to offer.  In addition to Emerson and Sharkie, she also sent a blanket.  Lol.  Not a shark blanket, but a blanket nonetheless.  That made me chuckle.

What an incredible, thoughtful and generous friend I have and I am going to have to think of a way to do something nice for her...

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend...

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!  I have seen a lot of bloggers and Instagrammers do New Years posts about their favorite models they’ve bought each in 2019 or their goals for 2020.  Some have just done a Year in Review type thing.  I wasn’t going to do that.  And I’m still not going to, even though I’m posting on. New Year’s Day.  Hahahaha.

I do have a goal for the year, but I won’t call it a resolution.  I absolutely need to get my collection in order...

You can’t really tell from these photos, but I have a lot of models that are semi-toppled over and I need to get them straightened up.  And dusted.  Ugh.  I also would like to inbox the ones I have boxed still, but first I need to find room for them all and that would be difficult to do with so many of them not standing upright.

I would like to say I am going to definitely make it to one of the collector events, whether it be Seattle Soirée or Breyerfest, but I can’t make that guarantee.  I would like to say I am going to attend a live show, but I can’t guarantee that either.  Will I look for and hopefully obtain a trail?  I don’t even know that much.  Do I know anything?  No.  Other than needing to get my collection in order.  Some kind of order.

As for plans for this blog...I have decided to upload on Wednesdays “only”...I put it in quotes like that because I don’t mean I am only going to post one one Wednesday and no other day.  It means that at the bare minimum I will post on Wednesdays.  If something interesting happens then I will make a post about that.  The reason I am doing this is probably obvious, but if it isn’t, I will explain why... I like and want to have fresh content.  If something happens “right now” then I want to post about it, not wait for the next time I’m supposed to.  Like, if there’s an exciting release or information Tuesday afternoon, after I had already posted, or it happens on Wednesday, if I wait to post about it until Friday it will be old news by then.  I chose Wednesday as my definite upload day because it’s the middle of the week and just seems like a good day.  Lol.  Another reason for changing it to one day a week is I sometimes have a hard time coming up with something interesting to post about.  I don’t want to write about what all the other bloggers are, which I think I’ve mentioned that before, and I fear that if I keep it at two days a week I will end up doing something like that.  So, starting now, I will post on Wednesdays for sure and then other times/days as warranted.

Well, I guess this post did kind of turn out like a 2020 Goals.  Lol.  Sometimes you don’t know how something is going to turn out until you do it.

I hope the new year has started out well for everyone.  Until next time...