Oops, I did it again...
Abby and Bubbles II have expired, too...
I realize now that in this photo, they are begging for help...
In the words of Kate,
"Every morning we wake up and the fish are DEAD!"...
It's gotta be the water...
Retro the beta fish lasted about four months,
which is a nice long spell in these parts,
comparatively speaking...
I think he got what is commonly known as "Ick"
and slowly deteriorated into the fishy beyond...
After Retro's passing, I rinsed the tank
and soaked it with a little bleach
for a couple of weeks before surprising the kids
with a trip to the major chain pet supply store...
What was supposed to be a happy choosing of two new goldfish
devolved into a heated discussion why no furry rodents
would be coming home with us...
"But MOM, I will take care of the guinea pig,
I PROMISE!"
Look, I grew up with parakeets, frogs, turtles,
gerbils, hamsters, cats, dogs and rabbits.
Furry rodents smell and make lots of noise at three am...
Best of all, they escape
and then die in the ductwork of the house...
Nope, ain't happenin' in my house....
Back to the fish...
So we bought Bubbles I and Skippy,
and all sorts of conditioners, food, ammonia remover,
you name it...
Went home and did what I was told...
Slipped the happy little fishies into Roscoe's clean tank...
The fish were on the chunky side
and they seemed a little cramped in the beta tank...
And a little lethargic...
I figured the trip wore them out...
Who knew?
In the morning they had that telltale dead look...
You know, when they do the motionless sidestroke?
Yep...
So, we took the whole tank,
containing the fish carcasses, to the pet store.
The kind sales girl recommended a larger tank
with an aerator and some more liquid potions
to condition the water....
This goldfish thing was starting to get expensive,
but I relented since they are a lot less bank
than a purebred Persian kitten at this point...
and named her Abby...
Jack stayed with the goldfish
and named him Bubbles II...
Went home, did was I was told with the water
and introduced Abby and Bubbles II
to their pretty new lit tank...
They swam around happily, although I noticed Bubbles II
looked a little sluggish as I went off to bed...
In the morning, I'll be darned if those fish took a memo
from the previous two and did the same sidestroke!
I started to feel like the Grim Reaper of fish...
We trudged back to the pet store,
with two lumps of bait in the Ziploc....
The sales girl happened to be by the front door,
giving out pizza....
It was the grand opening...
She saw the look on my face and knew that I'd done it again...
She quickly escorted me away from the throngs
of happy customers, not wanting them to see my dead fish...
Well, now I am reconditioning the water for a few days
before introducing only one scaled victim
to my tank of death...
Wish me luck...
Kate's ant farm is our next adventure into life and death....
Can't wait....
I figured it would be in bad taste to show a fish recipe,
so instead I'll share a tutorial from Steamy Kitchen that looks fun for the start of the year...
MEMORY JAR
Next year, a new jar to begin again — and the best part is we can bring out past jars anytime to remember the little things that shaped our lives.
A memory jar is more fun than a journal – as anyone in the family can contribute to it. The best is when one of us secretly writes memory and quietly slips it into the jar. I can’t wait to read some of the notes my kids have written all year long.
Inside the jar, we also keep little silver trinkets and charms. Sometimes one of us will have a bad day, need a little extra reminder for compassion or a good luck charm on a spelling test. These are little enough to put into your pocket to serve as a extra oomph of support for the day. We used to have a small heart too – I carried around the small silver heart one day and ended up giving it to a stranger I came across, who needed a little love.
The charms are indeed magical – and I encourage my kids to give them to a friend or stranger who could use a bit of magic.
If you’d like to create a memory jar, here’s what I used:
Vintage mason jar – quart size: you can find these on eBay or Etsy. Try to get one with a lid so you can store each year’s memory jar on a shelf. The photo below is from Mason Galore on Etsy.
The colorful notepad is from Staples – even though it looks like a Post-It note, there is no sticky backing. Just a pretty spiral of colorful paper. $3.79 for 600 sheets.
You can also use scrapbook paper and cut them into 4″x4″ squares. I love the ones that come in a giant pad from Michael’s.
The silver charms were bought at a local gift shop near my home. There are so many gorgeous handmade ones on Etsy: sterling silver wishbone, faith angel wing, dragonfly word charms, copper pocket heart.
From Cartelle $28:
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