At this rate, I'm gonna need a bigger tank.

OK, We'll call the Triops "Blinky". There's Big Blinky and Middle Blinky and hiding in the back somewhere is "I've not yet been eaten by my cannibalistic siblings"-Blinky. He's not turned brown yet.

I had to go in and change out some of the water today. It's getting murky. Almost overnight.

But good golly do those things grow fast. The literature isn't kidding. What was it, last week I had to use a magnifying glass to see the dozen or so little white blips twitching across the pond?

Today?

(oh, I will hide the photo, just in case you are Triops-Squeamish. But really, it's a pet in a tank. And it can't get out. And it can't bite you. So suck it up, ok?)

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There. Enough to flip past. And page-down if you don't even want to see this much.

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This is Big Blinky. He's in about an inch and a half of water. The magenta monstrosity is their 'castle'. I guess even Triops like to play.

I would post a photo of Middle Blinky, but really, he looks just like a 3/4-sized version of Big Blinky. And forget about Wee Blinky. He's like a ghost in the machine. And they're ridiculously hard to take photos of. Their little legs under their bodies are constantly rolling along, and they do loop-de-loops without hardly taking a break. I guess they're in full-on Grow Bigger Mode.

While I was cleaning out the major detritus of the tank, I realized that much of what I was pulling was bits of shed Triops skin.

Me: Look, Nate. The Triops are shedding their skins so they can get bigger. Those little see-through bits that I'm pulling are Triops Shells.

Nate: Mom... (eye roll). They're called "Exo-skeletons".

Ouch.

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We've got a team of folks coming up tomorrow to run the SF Marathon on Sunday.

My house looks like a bomb went off in it.

No. Really. There's still unpacked debris everywhere. And I'm in the middle of a re-model of our room (that would be the room that, for the last 5 years, anything and everything that didn't have a 'home' got put.). And tomorrow is the Company Picnic, so I'm not gonna be cleaning tomorrow. So I should be cleaning right now.

But I've just re-connected with an old friend on FaceBook, and I'm gonna go over to her house right now and knit with her, and visit with her new baby, that was born in NOVEMBER and I still haven't met. Kelly will join me, and she will embroider while Lisa and I knit.

Yeah. that's gonna help clean my house.

But, on the plus side of things, I've found a TON of yarn that I forgot that I'd bought. My stash grew exponentially and I didn't even notice (or have to pay anything... this year... for it)

I've also managed to toss out a bunch of stuff that I've been saving since SKIP WAS IN KINDERGARTEN. yes, that's been a big pile of the stuff in our bedroom.

So zen-like, our bedroom with the kid-debris littering it.

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Overheard in the Big Bedroom Purge of '08.

"I *KNEW* I had a black cardigan... somewhere! And now I know where it's been."

"Whoops. I guess that gift certificate won't get used" (referring to a card I found thanking me for working in a bookstore, now defunct these last 6 years, containing a gift certificate for a restaurant that closed 2 years ago)

"hey! I bought these?" (referring to two knitting books that I found in a stash of old school papers from, probably, 3 years ago)

"Won't be needing these!" (referring to a micro-box of sample-diapers that I found in a box of 'gotta hide this, circa 2003')

"ooh! A Casio Boss. This pre-dates even the Palm Pilots"

And who knows what ELSE I'll be saying today, when I go back into the fray with a vengeance.

But now it's time to flip the laundry, and head out to my knitting date.

They're Aliiiiiiiiiiive!

Skip's friend Cole is over for a sleepover. Even though they were up really late and PROMISED to sleep in, they were up early, loitering around the PS2, as if maybe by their sheer proximity, they might become a part of the electronic game before breakfast.

Hah. As if!

So now they've had breakfast, and they've been distracted by Nate's gigantic Skyrail Suspension building toy thingy that Ken brought home from work.Alas , Bossy Cole wasn't even letting Nate barely touch his own toy, so Ken had to do a little gentle intervening (because if I got in there, I would've been knocking heads), and now Nate is fully invested.

Ahem. I just sent the big boys upstairs to the 2 showers. They were looking a little greasy. Skip's hair was showing NO signs that he'd actually used shampoo yesterday, and Cole is in that phase of life where he could throw off little droplets of oil just by turning his head quickly.

Of course, I don't want them using ALL the hot water, so I've turned on the dishwasher AND the washing machine (with a load of whites), to keep things interesting in the shower stalls.

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Nate's triops?

Good golly, I think it was the VERY NEXT DAY after he'd set up his little puddle-tank that there were these little teeny-tiny white specks zipping around in it. Even with a magnifying glass, it was hard to tell what exactly was in the water.

They're aliiiiiiive!

I wondered how long it would be before we could see anything bigger than a dozen wee white specks.

But last night? My word! There's a critter in that puddle that is as big as my little finger nail! And it's brown! And it has THREE EYES. We'll call that guy Goliath. I hope he doesn't eat his buddies. I hear that triops can be cannibalistic.

No photos yet, though.

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Cole has a movie theater gift certificate burning a hole in his pocket, so once Skip gets out of the shower (Cole's already been in and out. He's speedy, though I'm not gonna posit as to his state of cleanliness), I'll be taking the big guys down to the theater, and the wee ones to have lunch with Daddy at New Hip Company.

I suppose that means I should get out of my jammies.

My first Swap!

OK, I have absolutely OODLES of vacation entries to write, but they all get pre-empted by this:

I signed up for a swap over at Morning Glories and Moonflowers, back in June. I've never done a swap before, but this is a blog that my cousin writes, and it's been positively AGES since we've connected. (Like, before we were married, ages! Well, except that I made her daughter a quilt when she was born, but that was way back in my crafty-and-productive phase when I only had one kid). I'm happy to be getting back into contact with her, and, through her, with her family, who reads her blog, and now reads mine, too.

Anyways, she hosted a blog-swap, and it was for 'daughters of bloggers'. So I signed Kelly up, and I was thrilled to be paired up with her daughter. So the second-cousins (or the twice-removeds, depending on if you use English or German genealogy lingo, apparently) will have a chance to get to know each other.

When we were up in Canada, Kelly and I put together a little parcel of goodies for Amanda. Some things we'd bought while we were still home in California, and some stuff that we picked up in Canada. And, since we were visiting with my Nana (also my cousin's grandmother), I got some of her hand-embroidered linens, and her hand-crocheted doilies to bulk up the package. Because it's NEVER too soon to start your Hope Chest.

Thanks, Nana. (You look pretty fly for a 94 year old chick. I hope I age as gracefully!)

Kelly's parcel arrived yesterday. She was in girly-girl heaven, as she'd (of course) forgotten that it was coming.

There was a great kid-friendly lantern, perfect for bug collecting at night.

Amanda and her mom had made Kelly a great tote bag. And inside, where you can't see, is a great animal encyclopedia. Honestly, you can NEVER have too many animal encyclopedias!

And they made her flip-flops!

And under a mountain of lovely purple tissue paper, there was a giant box of Nerds (her favourite!) and a Littlest Pet Shop baby butterfly pet.

So now Kelly is completely sold on the idea of gift swaps. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open for the next one. Thankyou for hosting this, my best favourite cousin. This was a wonderful experience for both of us.