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Thursday, December 1, 2011

December 1st

I haven't felt much like writing the last few weeks.

I turned 30.  Something about that seems so final.  It's easy to impress people when you're young, and doing big-people things on occasion.  Now, I'm not young, and I supposed to be able to do Big People things all the time!  The socks next to the bed and crumbs on the counter seem rather incriminating- definitely not feeling like Big People material over here.  But, I had a beautiful birthday.  My kids each got me a slipper and a package of candy- my feet haven't been cold in a week!  Mom and Dad ordered lots of books off my wish list, and wrapped up a Kindle Fire for me.  SO fun!  I've read 4 books in the past week.  I'm totally spoiled.  My brother found a really great glass work pendant necklace, and my husband's family sent the cutest Thanksgiving decoration, a wooden turkey head and feathers on metal spikes to latch into a pumpkin.  Instant holiday gobbler for the porch!  We couldn't find a big enough pumpkin this late after Halloween, so they hung out in my door wreath for a few days.  My sister's family found "gardener's therapy" lotion- awesome for this girl who always forgets to wear gloves in the garden.

My husband, after much thought and prayer, said good bye to his business partner, employees, and tax practice he's spent two years building.  Our marriage will be 8 years strong this year, and most of those years have been spent with him in college, studying madly for a CPA exam, or working 100 hour weeks building this business.  It was time to come home, and be with his family.  Get some house projects done.  Be here for family meals.  Play with the kids, and have time to play guitar.  We've been blessed in a lot of things, and this is no change- his business partner was perfectly amenable to this plan, and other financial constraints have changed so that we have some flexibility.  But wondering what we're going to do next wears me down!

Holiday preparations are ramping up- the kids are so excited!  We have everything but the tree put up.  We've entered our yearly negotiations of whether or not to get a fake tree.  No needles on the floor, no long drive every year, no driving on the freeway with a tree tied on top.  Downside?  No pine smell, not as magical, when the lights start failing the whole thing needs to be replaced, need to store it all year.  And if we get one, we couldn't possibly get one NOW- we'd wait till after Christmas, for the sales right?  And by then we're so totally DONE with everything having to do with Christmas decorations, that we don't even look at the sales!

Our two fish, Stella and Hazel, have passed quietly on.  The first was buried in the yard, the second (a few days later) was flushed.  My poor kids- when they asked where it was, I said it was with their cousins' fishies.  Swimming in the great sewer system in the sky.  They thought I meant I'd taken the fish to live in my sister's aquarium.  Umm...no.  I actually feel really terrible about these fish.  Until I brought them home and started reading, I had no idea it was a bad idea to stick two goldfish in a little 1 gallon bowl.  I guess they need 10 gallons EACH.  I think the second fish might have been eating the first one, too- seemed awfully hungry and listless once she was removed.  If we try fish again, I'll get a bigger tank.  Maybe set up an aquaponics system.  

3 comments:

Alexandra said...

Happy belated birthday! Nice gifts! That Kindle Fire looks awesome. My husband has the Kindle 3G for his audiobooks.

Bettas last a good long time. You do need to change their water often, and only one per bowl. I put ours in extra large vases with real aquatic plants for a bit of extra oxygen. There's a Chinese guy on ebay who sells those siphons for fish tanks. These are so wonderful - just siphon out the water in seconds, and change water with no need to take the fish out. He charges next to nothing for them, and they are decent quality.

Su said...

Happy belated birthday. Seemed to be a great one! 30s are good, they really are.

Samantha said...

Oh dear! A post that begins with getting older and ends with fish dying. ;)

Happy Birthday, dear! Trust me, you are very young. You know how I know? Because I felt like things were sort of final when I turned 30 and then when I turned 40 I realized I'd totally been wrong about that. ;) So just take my word for it and enjoy how very young you are! :)

And congrats on your Kindle!