In Need of a Fishing Pole!

We are up to 30 guppies, up from 9 fish a few days ago. Cripes.

My son and I had a brilliant idea, if we took out the female guppy, who we were told was a male, then there wouldn't be any more babies. Uh-huh. We were soooo smart. Get rid of the girl fish and no more baby fish. Pretty simple. Riiiiggghhhtt.

Oh, sidenote, in case you were wondering: I have named them all Elvis, or I call them The Swimming Elivs, or Elvises, or maybe it is the Swimming Elvi. Doesn't matter, hopefully you get the drift. We also have a sucker fish named Sucky, and we did not buy a snail, but there is one in the tank so it is called Snail, but other than that, they are all Elvis. We still can't figure out how the snail got in there...did it hitch a ride with the female who was supposed to be a male? I wonder....

Anyway, my son and I thought we had a great idea to take the female out and as we were trying to figure which one was the female, my daughter reminded us that even if we took out the female, well, there were still 20 new baby fish and some of those might be girls - and then what?

So, the way I see it is, we have one female who is having babies, about 10 or more every 30 days, and now we have 20 new fish, and if one of those 20 new fish has babies and those babies have babies and so one and so on and so on, can you imagine the mess of fish we could have within a year? Makes my head spin!

Anyone have a fishing pole? No reason for asking.


(c) 2008 Cindy Breninger All Rights Reserved

Apparently the guy at the fish store was wrong!

We just added another guppy fish to our fish tank and the guy at the pet store told us it was a male...apparently he was wrong as we now have over 20 baby guppies.

Fish are really hard to count as they just won't be still, but we think we are close to the real number. Yesterday we found nine babies, but we today found 11 more brand new ones, just born today. That is 20 new babies in a few days. Our tank isn't supposed to have over 10 fish and now we have 20 NEW BABY FISH!

I read up on guppies and they can have between 1 - 200 babies every 30 days. Did you read that? 1 - 200 babies every 30 days!!! My tank is only supposed to hold 10 fish. Oh, after they drop a load of babies, they are ready to get pregnant again within hours...HOURS! The babies are super cute, and they are so tiny, but I don't want a bazillion of em'!

Oh, wait. The kids just counted again and our tank that started with about 9 fish, is now up above 30....Help!

What NOT to Put on Spaghetti

So, what do your kids eat for dinner? Could it be chicken nuggets? Pizza? Tacos? All of the above? None of the above? Good! We are all on the same page. Kids will eat what they want no matter what.

Can I get my kids to eat broccoli? Nooooo. Can I get them to eat bananas with ketchup? Yessssssss. Gross, totally, but my daughter puts ketchup on everything-EVERYTHING, and this leads to me something gross my son puts on spaghetti....He hates spaghetti sauce and hates pizza sauce. Now, I don't mind when he gets pizza with just cheese and pepperoni, nor does anyone else; but when he puts applesauce, yes, applesauce on his spaghetti, that is when we get the strange looks from others.

Oh, did I happen to mention he doesn't put normal applesauce on his spaghetti but he puts BLUE applesauce on his spaghetti. BLUE APPLESAUCE! ICK! I have to say, though, in his defense, it is healthy. But, that is all I can say about it.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, here are 1000 words:

The Sacramento Zoo Giraffes

The Sacramento Bee Newspaper recently ran a story about the giraffes at the Sacramento Zoo and how they were living in substandard living conditions. It mentions how the giraffes are living in a rotting 50-year-old barn. The city owns the zoo, but says it is cash-strapped and doesn't have enough funds to pay for a new barn and exhibit.

The giraffe is my son's favorite animal and when he found out the giraffes were living in a rotting barn, well, he said he was going to do something about it. This includes, but is not limited to: asking his mom (me) to post a blog and ask people to send the zoo some money; making a big sign: and having me post it on here.

My son wants everyone to send in one dollar and hopefully it will add up and the giraffes can get a new place to live and my son will be happy. Pretty simple, eh? If you are interested, here is the info from the Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Zoo 916-808-8815 or visit www.saczoo.com and click on "Get Involved".
(c)2008 Cindy Breninger All Rights Reserved

Ten Dollars Never Looked So Good. It's a two-for!

My nine and seven year old kids and I collect coins. Not intentionally, but we always seem to wind up with several jars of loose coins. As we were cleaning up today, we decided to cash them in. My son had one jar and it totalled up to $33.64. To a nine year old, this is a huge haul, $33.64, that ranks up there with winning the lottery.

When he got his cash, he took his $33.64 and wouldn't let anyone touch it. When we got in the car, he started looking at his money, "Oh my gosh!" he yelled. "Mom, this is my first ten!" he said as he held up a ten dollar bill. He was smiling ear to ear.

Hit Pause. Let me pause for a second and explain about my son. My son loves money. He loves to count it. He loves to organize it. He loves to just have it. He studies every penny, nickel, and quarter, and he wants to know where and when they were made. We both collect the state quarters and he loves going to coin shops to buy older coins, but nothing was as exciting as getting his first ten dollar bill.

Ok, unpause, hit play...His sister, who was sitting in the back seat of the car with him, was also amazed and she wanted to check it out. "Can I see it? Pleeeeaassseee? Please can I see it? Can I hold it? I won't break it. Pleeeeeaaaasssee? Mom! He won't let me hold his ten dollars! Mom!" Boy, he struck gold. Not only did he have his first ten dollar bill, but he had something his sister didn't and wouldn't and couldn't have-his ten dollar bill. That is a two-for if I ever saw one.

I was laughing to myself as ten dollars never seemed very exciting to me, but I guess when you are nine years old and it is your first ten dollar bill, it is.

I looked in my wallet and saw that I had two ten dollar bills. Excited? Naw. But hey, I am not nine. But, now that I think about it, if it only had one more zero, maybe two, I might start to feel some of his happiness...


On another note, today would have been my mom's birthday so happy birthday to ya mom!

(c) 2007 Cindy Breninger All Rights Reserved.