Pet updates

Treasure died on Sunday. Now we have to clean the whole fish tank including all the rocks and plants and kill the Ick. Goldfish are turning out to be more work than I thought.

On a happier note, we have discovered that at least one of our window well toads is still alive. We had 2 and we have seen one of them. The other one might still be hiding. They have survived 2 winters in our window well and it was exciting to see that at least one of them is still alive. And I don't have to feed them or treat diseases or write eulogies for them.

Chain of Deaths

Once Goldie died it has been all downhill for the others too. This morning I thought treasure had kicked the bucket (or "kicked the butt" as Ian had mistakenly understood the expression). He was literally hanging on for dear life. Epona looked like she might make it a few more days, but the Ick on her fins and tail looked bad. She ended up kicking it before Treasure. I think Treasure will be dead by morning. He is looking pretty bad and has been hiding in the corner at the top of the tank all day.

Treasure looking pretty ill.

Here's the Fishy Eulogy I wrote with inspiration from the kids:

"With just one flush you are on your way. On your way to better places. The memories of your past will go on with you. Your first home, the hatchery, your second home, Wal-mart where you saw your friends leave and some die. And some be taken to homes where their lives were only valued as a meal for a predator. Your destiny was to become a beloved pet in our 5 gallon tank. Your journey was so long, and yet so short. Now you will be able to swim in the big ocean. Free from the Ick that tormented your mortal body. You will be able to enjoy adding your beautiful 'glub glubs' to the other angelic fish in the underwater fishy choir.

We send you, Epona, to meet your good friend, the previously deceased Goldie."

*flush*

Thoughts on Exercise

I have learned a few things now that I have been going to the gym. I wanted to share them.

1. My life is complete now that I have been going to spinning classes once or twice a week. It's not what you think though. Yeah, the workout for the legs is great. BUT. Now that I have been going, the complete lack of techno music in my life has been corrected. I am always surprised by the songs that are made "techno". Serious, slow songs are boom-boomified. It is amazing.

2. Just as spinning is not for sissies, yoga is absolutely not for sissies. It is hard! The first week I went my muscles were twitching so much during some of the poses. I thought that everyone could see my gluteus maximus muscles quivering. And the balance...! WOW! I have been going for about 4 weeks now and I am getting better at it. I really, really like it.

Spring Updtate

It has been awhile since I last updated:

• Goldie didn't make it. We found her stuck to the filter where the water gets sucked up. She was returned to the sea via the toilet as is customary with deceased fish. I thought about giving her a eulogy but I didn't have time. If we are going to have goldfish as pets I guess I should write something we can say when we flush them. I know it will be happening a lot. Epona has "Ick" and it won' t go away even with the treatments. I think she'll be joining Goldie soon. Maybe I'll get Emilia to write something. Her teacher says she great at creative writing, and these fish are not MY pets...
  
  
• I took Adele to the dr. las week because she had another ear infection. They said if she gets another one this season they'll send us to the ENT for some tubes. Great.
  
• The kids officially have less than one month of school left. I can't believe it. I am excited but I am also wondering what in the heck we are going to do all summer.
  
• I have had some pretty great couponing shopping trips in the last 2 days. I saved 14 dollars at Smiths this week (just with MFR coupons) and today I saved $28 at Wal-mart. $42 off things I would buy anyway is pretty exciting.
  
  

Here's a pic of the kids on Sunday. They looked so cute when we were leaving for church I wanted to take a picture. We only got one before Adele ran out of the picture so this is all ya get.

Good News

All the fish are still alive. Goldie seems to be doing a little better and has been swimmin' around with the others a little more. Maybe she won't die.

Pets

We finally caved and got some pets. But only because Amy is letting us borrow her fish tank and it was just sitting in our basement. The kids are SO excited to have pets. Even if they are goldfish and don't have a terribly long life expectancy.


We have already noticed Goldie (Elise's) acting strangely. Our bet is that she be will the first to float. She doesn't play well with other fish and she likes to hide a lot. Treasure (Emilia's) and Epona (Ian's) seem to get along well and hang out together a lot.

Ian named his fish Epona after the horse in the Zelda Ocarina of Time game. He LOVES when Kent plays Zelda for him so naturally he chose a name from Zelda. I just learned that Epona means "great mare" and is the name of a goddess who was a protector of horses and mules. Sounds like a good name for a fish right?

Repeat After Me

It is NOT snowing. It is NOT SNOWING. It is NOT SNOWING.

Easter Skirts

Here are my girls' Easter skirts. I didn't have a chance to get a pic on Sunday when they wore them but they looked so cute in them.

Question

I have a cough that won't stop and my throat is on fire. My head is pounding and I am tired. Do I really have to be a mom today?

Louisiana Hot Sauce

I went to Big Lots this morning and what do you think I found???


More Louisiana Supreme Hot Sauce. And for only 50 cents. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Treasure Beyond Measure

Since all the kids have been sleeping through the night, and since it has been snowing and the neighbors have been keeping their (evil) dog inside, I have nothing exciting to blog about. I thought about taking pictures of the snow and blogging about it but I am pretending it never really happened.

Can you tell what this is a picture of? I found it in my storage room.

Yep, it is a lonely, stray potato that had fallen out of the bag and gotten all shrively. I actually found it because I noticed a funky smell and lo and behold, there it was.

Here are a few other priceless treasures I found in there when I was cleaning:

This hot sauce is dedicated to my friend Kate. Not because she's saucy, but because she lives in Louisiana. I inherited this hot sauce from my parents a couple of years ago when they downsized their food storage. They gave me a bunch of random things. It has only been expired for 4 1/2 years.

Wow, 3 for $1! I guess back in 2000 when this was made you could still get hot sauce for only $.33. Darn inflation.

Here's another treasure. It's a container of Gerber baby raviolis or something. It was in my 72 hour kit. I bought it when Ian was eating baby food. I am sure it looks and tastes the same as it did when it was first made: disgusting. My kids never would eat that stuff.

This is perhaps the scariest food(ish)-product known to man. Barely beating out cheese in a can (and only because the turkey is "mechanically separated", whatever the heck THAT means). These meat sticks (along with their relatives Vienna Sausages) just make me wanna barf. They weren't expired yet, so I gave them to my kids. Bleck.

Here's another thing I inherited. This time from my sister-in-law. I really can't remember why she was giving away Malt-O-Meal. Maybe she just had a surplus of it. The moral of this story is: When people give you stuff you wouldn't normally buy for yourself, just throw it away from the get-go and you won't have to hold on to it for 7 years. Or better yet, just tell them you don't want it.

And last of all, I found a couple of bags of bulk stuff that I bought at the health store a long time ago. Some millet and some mung beans. I decided to put them in some jars and sprout them just for kicks. I'll have to come back with the sprout update later.

WOW!

What Day Is It?

Oh, yeah, it's April 1.

So April Fools!

I am never good at doing April Fools jokes so this time I wanted to do a good one. Did I fool anyone?

(I most certainly am not pregnant for those who need me to spell it out.)