Ghost Shrimp

Jeremiah and I refilled our fish tank a couple weeks ago and got some pretty fun fish to watch swim around. However, we also got three "Ghost Shrimp."

As you can see from the picture, they get their name from being very transparent and, thus, hard to see. You see, I thought they would enjoy life on the bottom of the tank and would be fun to watch and hunt for etc. No no no... They don't stay on the bottom and they are not fun to hunt for!!! The first couple of days, I would see them "swim" up about 4 or 5 inches, and then they would crash down to the bottom. Then over the next few days, I saw them make trips to the very top, hang out for awhile, and only then swim back down.

You don't see the problem here?? In case you can't tell in the picture, they have legs!!! If they can get TO the top, they can probably crawl OUT the top. EW EW EW EW EW!!!

So here's the thing. Every time I walk by the tank, I have to get down and find all three Ghost Shrimp before I can walk away satisfied that they are all still in there. This morning, I spent about 5 minutes looking for them and still can't find them. If they are still missing by the time I get home from work, it will most definitely be vacuum night and disinfectant night!!

I'll tell you one thing, after these three shrimp are gone, there will be no more ghost shrimp living in our tank!!

UPDATE: It's the next day (Friday morning), and even after much searching last night and this morning, there is no sign of the three missing ghost shrimps. I'm sorry - but that's really disgusting!

I got my hair cut

Pictures to come when and if I decide I like it :)

 

 

Updated!

It's about freaking time. 

 

1-  The Lagoon kicked off on Jan 13 and has been going well!  We had 5 kids each of the first 2 weeks (made up of 7 different kids), and 8 yesterday (including 2 more new kids)!  These are not new kids. They have interacted with the church before but never in any kind of consistent manner. 

        - 1 is a sixth grade boy who used to get dropped off most Sundays and then spends the afternoon with a couple from church.

        - 2 are friends of boy above

        - 3 are kids who are part of our church family but with their parents work were very irregular.  (they've been there all three weeks!)

        - 1 is the grandson of the volunteer helping to run the ministry

        - 1 is a sixth grade girl who finds everything "boring" but has come back twice

        - 1 is a teen volunteer leader who, as we start, is more or less taking part but will open up to newer and broader ways to help as we progress. 

Praise Yahweh for His faithfulness in this new ministry!

 

2- Still no snow to speak of :(   Guess I have to pray harder

 

3- People here would kill me if I prayed harder.

 

4- Two of my sisters are pregnant and I've been so "busy" that I haven't talked to either of them in almost a month (shame on me!!!)

 

5- We are having a special meeting after church next Sunday to introduce and vote on a new adventure in faith for the church.  To many people, it will seem to be coming from left field, but the board and Jeremiah have been praying long and hard and feel this is the correct direction for the church to make at this time.  Hopefully, with Jeremiah's ability to explain, people will see the benefits and how God has already gone before us.

 

6- Jeremiah and I are more and more convinced every day that this is the place that God has called us for this point of our ministry.  It's far from a perfect location, but the potential is so great. As long as we can get the church to not only believe in their potential but to grow in it as well.

 

7- We have an appointment right after work today to get pre-approved to buy a house.  Scary?  YES! Exciting? YES!  Fathomable? We sure hope so!  We've already been watching the market for a while now and are terribly excited about the possibility of being first time home owners.

 

8- I want to go to Hawaii someday.  Rumour has it my husband considered making it happen at Valentine's Day, but the budget was just not going to give right now.  We are trying our hardest to get out of debt and it just didn't seem like the right time to double what's left!

 

9- Based on some money coming back to us, we should be out of credit card debt in approx a month and a half!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

 

10- I had some doctor's appointments lately and it seems like I'm perfectly normal. HA!  Little do they know!

 

That's enough boring stats for one day. 

 

11- Oh, I'm terribly behind in my 2008 in 2008. Good thing there was Arizona at the beginning of the month!!! I'll get some posted soon, promise!!! (Some taken, just  not off the camera yet)

But... I Can Still See the Grass..... A Lesson in Perspective

Ok. So we got "snow" last night. A whole whomping inch and a half (MAYBE!)  with a touch of ice rain (not enough to need a scraper this morning).  But you wouldn't BELIEVE the school closures and the late school starts!  EVERY school around is delayed by at least an hour, SOME by two hours, and some are CLOSED.  It bewilders me what would happen if they got real snow here. AN INCH AND A HALF, PEOPLE! And the roads are clear!  I can still see the grass, people!!

 

(Complete side note: I forgot the comma in that last sentence, and it made me look like I believe in "grass people" - hehe)

 

Anyway, in Maine/Ontario/New Brunswick where my upbringing happened, we would not have turned an eye to the "storm" we got last night. We would be on our way to work and school and definitely would not be canceling things.

Guess it'll take more than 2 "storms" here to get used to the way people react.

FINALLY!!

It looks like a winter wonderland! It's about freaking time!!!

 

Now, will it stick??

 

And will it be enough for ice cream???

It stopped :(

About 5 minutes after it started. With nothing to show for it :(  Will I never see winter again???

IT'S SNOWING!!!

It's snowing!!! Winter really does come to Carlisle!!!!!  Maybe I'll get enough snow to make ice cream once this winter after all!!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!

 

We're home :)

We're home. And back to work.  And the Lagoon starts on Sunday. That's the wrap up!

 

Funny quote from our trip home:

 

Starbucks barista:  "One Tall Decaf Vanilla Latte.  Oh, I mean, it's a Grande.  Don't worry, I wouldn't jip you your caffeine."

Try again...

Yesterday, Jeremiah and I tried to fly home from Arizona. It didn't work. We're going to try again today. Cross your fingers that we make it farther than the airport this time!!! I don't know how many times I can call work and say "the President of the United States wouldn't let me go home!" and have it be believable!!!

Huh, you say?

Serious!! We got to the Tucson airport yesterday for a 1:05 flight. Before we left home, we knew it was already slightly delayed and figured it was from weather. We got there, it was scheduled to fly out at 2:00pm. We had a 2.5 hour lay-over, so still plenty of time to make our connecting flight.
Then the announcer comes on "For all travelers on flight 1228 to Chicago O'Hare, your flight is arriving on time, however, we need control tower okay before we fly out. It could be 120-240 minutes before take-off."

Why??? Because the President is flying in Air Force One and apparently doesn't like to share air space!!! You can't fly within so many miles of AFO and so we were grounded. We talked to the lady to find out for sure if we'd make our connection in Chicago, seeing it was the last of the night. She said it wouldn't be a problem because it would be backed up as well. Meaning we'd get home hours after our original late flight (10:50pm). So we got them to rebook us on a flight today... We didn't want to risk 1) getting stuck in Chicago or 2) not having a ride from Harrisburg in the middle of the night.

Good thing we did!!! The flight we were supposed to be on didn't leave until 4:18 and didn't get to Chicago until 9:08. Our flight from Chicago to Harrisburg (last of the night) left at it's original time of 8:00. That would have been a gross day.

Thanks for the extended stay POTUS!!

Arizona Happenings

Wednesday already... Gracious!

Yesterday we went to see National Treasure 2 with Jer's dad. It was every bit as good as the first one, if you ask me. I really appreciate a movie that you can be sure is not tainted with nudity and language yet still has a little more depth than a Disney classic.

Today we are going hiking in the Saguaro National Park or the Desert Wildlife Museum. Both of which should provide some interesting character to my yet lacking 2008 in 2008.

Welcome to the new year everyone! I hope it holds something special for each of you!