The passing of August also means that I am one year closer to the grave. Sure, people try to cover up this fact with cake and presents, but it doesn't fool me.

Unless -- some of the gifts are PEZ. And I'll be honest... Alot of the gifts were PEZ.

Before I get right into the meat of it, I do have a bit of housekeeping first. This summer, I aquired two different types of PEZ lipbalm. One came from my Uncle Terry (left) and the I bought the other (right) at Clark's Trading Post in New Hampshire. (Look for an article on Clark's very soon!)

A trip to ToysRUs netted a big ol' score.

Big super happy news. PEZ released a new flavor this summer in the US - Cola PEZ. The taste is similar to bottle caps candy. I am pretty psyched about this. I wish that there were more flavors of candy. Currently, the US flavors include Cola, Strawberry, Lemon, Grape and Sourz. Those wacky europeans have several more flavors including rasberry, apple-cinnamon and cherry.

vroom vroom

I also picked up a new race car dispenser. The dispenser is similar to other car dispensers, but there is an added twist. The car has 'pull back' action. You know, where you pull the car back, then it shoots forward like magic.

PEZ makes you smarter

The school tools were also purchased at TRU. There are three colors...Pink (for boys), blue (for girls) and camouflage. True camouflage is is not so much a color, more of a color schema. The tools have a wide variety of handy and useful implements crammed into the oversize dispenser. The implements include: pencil, ruler, paper, phone number list, and a handy backpack clip.

I also received two pizza boxes from Canada Candy Connection. (Ann, the lady who runs CCC always sends PEZ in pizza boxes. Don't ask why, just accept it.) One was from nanc, and the other was from my little sister. Another important tidbit --CCC sells European PEZ, not American. They are two different companies, and have pretty different licensing.

stoopid movie, pretty PEZ. Go figure.

The Shrek set came in, and consists of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Puss. The sculpting job is quite nice. The colors are bright and clean. Good job, Europe! I'm still often confused by the licensing. Here's what I imagine, "Shrek, that's and American movie. I bet Shrek PEZ would sell like gangbusters in the midwest. Wait, I got a better idea -- let's sell them in the Netherlands instead!" grrr...

that's a PEZ convoy, good buddy

Next is a personal dream come true. A mixture of matchbox cars and PEZ with the new line of PEZ trucks. These are nice. Even if you don't collect PEZ, I highly suggest that you go out an purchase a set of these. Yeah, they're that pretty. The wheels roll, just like a matchbox car. Choking hazards be damned!

Pokeman and Thomas the Tank engine minis are also here. The minis are fully operational PEZ dispensers that only hold about 4 pez candies. These are actually a licensed item that is only sold in vending machines in Japan. These are extremely cute. About ten different sets of minis have been released in the past year. I haven't been able to keep up with them, but I am grabbing the ones that I like.

another photo of our deck table

I was going for a cheesy photoshop effect. how did i do?

So that's it for now. Pardon me whilst I roll around in all of this PEZ goodness.

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