Farewell, Mo

Sometime during the last 24 hrs or so, Mo the miracle fish crossed over into the great beyond. About Mo: Mo was a dalmatian molly who far exceeded his predicted life expectancy, given the obstacles facing him when he first came to us. We had chosen dalmatian mollies to live in our living room aquarium when our neighborhood pet store didn't have a blue male betta I liked. We named the first two George & Gracie, but after a month or so, Gracie passed on, in a rather emaciated state. We bought Mo to keep George company, but when I went to fish Mo out a few weeks later, since he seemed to be dead, we realized what was happening: George was bullying his tank mates out of their food. Mo was not actually dead then, but he'd gotten so weak that he could no longer fight the current and had gotten stuck on the side of the filter. George got sent to live with the goldfish, where he lived prosperously until his mysterious death a few months later (probably a pH problem or something; the goldfish were and are still fine). Meanwhile, although Mo never had and never did look particularly robust, he nevertheless hung on until today, even after contracting some sort of unknown fish disease that attacked around his gills. So, today we bid Mo farewell, but we are glad that he is out of pain.

Funny story about Mo's name: Big girl Amanda likes to have a say in naming things, so after we bought Mo, I started offering her suggestions of names to pick from. After Amanda rejected seemingly hundreds of names (exaggeration, but it felt like it), I finally said "Mo," to which Amanda said "That sounds good." So, Mo it was. The "miracle fish" tag got added when he survived the incident with George and the filter. Mo came to us in the fall of 2008, so he spent at least 6 months with us, if not a little more.

Blogger discoveries & photography

Today I found out that you can set the date for your posts on Blogger. This is important for me, since I've been working on blogs for the kids (basically digital online scrapbooks), but I wasn't sure how I was going to keep things straight if I started posting current events before I got done catching up on the past. No problem now! Just change the date on the past postings, and Blogger files things just where I want them. Thank you Blogger (and Google)!

Otherwise, while out snapping pictures of the kids playing today, I remembered how much I like playing with our camera, trying to get really nice pictures. (Digital cameras are so great...I grew up with the throw away kind; no zoom lens, no digital stabilization, just film...ugh!) I got a fairly decent flower shot today (thank you, unsuspecting neighbor, for planting this peony), but I am also realizing that photography really is work...fun work, though.

Couple celebrates 81st wedding anniversary!

While checking the BBC headlines as usual and trying to decide which if any controversial issue stories to click on first, I found an actual bit of good, happy news: A couple in England is celebrating their 81st wedding anniversary. They're both 101 (or almost there). Congratulations to them! Here's the link to the story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/8067752.stm

23 May is Liverwurst Day

For many years now on May 23 my mom has sung a song about "Don't buy the liverwurst," which includes a bit about how the liverwurst in question has been sitting at the store since October 1st and "today is the 23rd of May." Well, although this post isn't on Liverwurst Day, I nevertheless had snippetts of the song going through my head yesterday. I googled it today and found out that it's an Allan Sherman song; guess I should have figured he might have written it. Anyway, just for fun and just because I've been curious, here are the lyrics (imported from allthelyrics.com):

(Sung to the tune of Down by the Riverside)

When you go to the delicatessen store,
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
I repeat what I just said before,
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.

Oh buy the corned beef if you must,
The pickled herring you can trust,
And the lox puts you in orbit AOK.
But that big hunk of liverwurst
Has been there since October First,
And today is the Twenty-Third of May.

So when you go to the delicatessen store,
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
It'll make your insides awful sore.
Don't buy the liverwurst.
Don't buy the liverwurst.

Menu brainstorming

I can prepare a variety of meals, but when dinner time hits, I usually feel at a loss. So, time to move some of the menu options to the external hard drive to make them easier to access and hopefully promote better meal planning and grocery shopping. I've done this before, but the papers I've used have gotten lost. So, here comes Google to the rescue, storing stuff for me. :)

• BBQ chicken (either crock pot or stove top)
• Sour Cream stroganoff
• Sour Cream enchilada casserole
  
• Lasagna casserole
  
• Lasagna
• Strawberry spinach salad
• Pasta with red sauce
• Green bean casserole
• Beans
• Burritos
• Chicken/meat ala onion and Worcestershire sauce
• Tuna wiggle
• Meatloaf
• Fettucine alfredo
• Creamed peas
• Mexican rice
• Bullion flavored rice
• French dip sandwiches
• Grilled cheese/cheese toast
• Macaroni and cheese (boxed or otherwise)
• Cheesy chicken & rice cassarole