Bedraggeled Beauty & Fantastical Fun - a Random Virtual Tour of My Eclectic Aquarium Design (I spent too long goofing around and I'm too tired to reorganize the images)

Robin on a Rainy Day

Backside of Miniature Seahorse 'Aquarium'

A Trio of (Vintage) Goldfish Encounter the Goth Garden

Silly serpent eating a faded & once floating fake lionfish

Japanese Village

Floating islands inspired by  overpriced online merchandise.
I repurposed old decor using scissors & lots of super glue.
Suspended from excess air tubing via fishing line, they
are occasional hangouts for my spotfin gobies.

Fantasy Section: Mermaid on Manta Ray Meeting Unicorns
The 3D laser glass of mother & colt were gifted long ago
by my dear big brother S and sweet sister (-in-law) T
I searched for these tank safe LEDs to enhance my
two unicorns without being quite so blinding
as lit displayed on a shelf. The mermaid
figurine was a vintage eBay find
(Lucky me on all counts!)

Decorative Sea Horse Aquarium (within an Aquarium)

Thumbs Down and Oiled Up

My coping mechanism during these unprecedented times has been endless solitaire played on my iPod Classic. Yes. This means a spin/click wheel. I know virtual card games are available for my iPod touch and laptop. There was just something extra comforting in the old familiar technology.

Image from eBay

Unfortunately, hundreds of games predominantly using my right hand caused a mild repetitive stress injury. Oops. Hitting the space key is now my left index finger’s job, no easy feat. Oh, well, I’ll no doubt work it out. And reading is an excellent, painless pastime. Meanwhile, before my topic goes all oily, here is more fun with my stop motion camerawork.

The poor dear has no idea she’s on candid camera. When she appeared in the living room I went back and stopped filming at just the right time, no editing needed. Sorry it’s so dark and grainy, but isn’t she just the cleanest cute little kitty?

Sad to say, I also bring up oil due to the pandemic. One handy item nobody else has mentioned to my knowledge is petroleum jelly. My husband purchased a small jar some years ago for fire starting. Last week I recalled the material’s soothing and moisturizing properties.

We picked up a larger tub during our final trip inside the local grocery store. I’ve since reserved my favorite lip balm sticks for portability. A lifetime of lifesaving steroids in my asthma medications resulted in dry eyes, as well. Too bad the jelly would blur my vision as my eye drop stock is drying up. Heh… Not Sorry.

Do you have any petroleum jelly at home? Is there another item or activity you would suggest to restore some comforting first world normalcy?

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Oops! I forgot to think of a title.

I have to admit, that 'brave' anonymous person who trolled me on my last post made me laugh. What a moron. But please don't check it out if (lengthy and rambling) idiotic vitriol upsets you.

Instead, enjoy Jezebel "helping" hold down my Kindle

Meanwhile, my hope today is sharing some laughs with a quirky list of blessings. Some aren't quite funny, but rather cool incidentals in my humble opinion. So, below are eight rather silly things making the crisis more bearable here.

1. Since Ohio is on a shelter in place edict, a clingy friend across the state can no longer hound me about visiting.

2. A few weeks ago we accidentally doubled up on purchasing sugar and liquid hand soap while I put laundry detergent and mouthwash on the list way early. How lucky is that?

3. I feel vindicated eating some foods with absolutely zero redeeming qualities. After all, that box of Cocoa Wheats isn't getting any younger.

4. We have a tiny extra stash of body wash, toothpaste, and whatnot following last September's little 'adventure'. Who knew getting hospitalized for a swollen tongue would benefit us months later?

5. I reinvested in my aquarist hobby this year, because watching my fish and making homemade decorations are both very calming.

6. Likewise, I not only discovered neat filming options available on my iPod Touch, but my husband bought the adapter that converted my awesome old tripod for its usage.

7. His emergency room visit years ago has us stocked with several tubes of antibacterial ointment for things like my little gashed thumb tip, which I'm happy to report is healing well.

8. I decided to grow out my bangs last year, so while my wild graying hair doesn't look so great, it's past the awkward stage when the ends constantly pokes my eyeballs.

How are you doing? Are mainstream media reports getting you down or have you found alternative news sources with a more even-tempered tone?

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Bonus Clip

I finally figured out how to edit film on my iPod touch! My filming technique needs finesse, but it still makes me happy. The process is so easy. This is a snippet of more footage from our flooded park.

More Duh Moments, & Wait... What? Why?

After I blogged about the snafu with our census paperwork my husband admitted that he found the paper on his desk yesterday morning. ~sigh~ That had crossed my mind, but it seemed like one of my bizarrely lifelike dreams of late. Seems like someone has been staying up too late and all but sleepwalking to bed.

What can I say? I feel more stressed by world events in the mornings and stay up in order to sleep in. ~shakes head~ It's lucky I don't have to earn a living because avoidance is a lame but rather effective coping mechanism.

Listening to music is another. Right now I'm playing the score to the movie "Army of Darkness". It's good stuff, before Sam Raimi stuck to directing all this 'cape crap', as I've taken to calling these endless comic book movies/CGI fests. Well, insert a more offensive 's' word other than crap.

Heh...

Don't blame me. I learned it from my husband's addiction to following /pol/ on 4chan. This political meme image board is not for thin-skinned people, but anonymous (mostly young) guys trading absurd insults seems a reasonable outlet for their stress and aggression.

As for my little outburst in the title, I learned that Gmail is marking blog comment notifications as Spam. You'd think that after having discovered Yahoo dumping (very important!) documents I would know better than to trust Google.

Nope.

Only today did I think to check the spam folder. But why it should suddenly start happening after several years of blogging, I have no idea. Grrr... Oh, well, it's just another first world problem I can live with.
 
Have you seen "Army of Darkness"? Did you know Bruce Campbell of that film's fame portrayed Elvis Presley in the quirky flick "Bubba Ho-Tep"?

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Waterlogged & Brain Wrecked

Low level anxiety is dogging me these days, and I’m certainly not alone. To combat this I decided on walking the local bike path again. However, my attempt at a relaxing hike rather backfired. With a personality tending more toward gallows humor than doomsday alarmist, the following view nonetheless set me back a pace. I mean, come on…

The drop-off to the water should be about twelve feet. Yikes!
And that rectangle off to the right is a submerged bench.

Our citizenry has been acting calm, but Mother Nature? Not so much. I tried saving a stranded fish with no luck. Maybe he or she knew better and will survive.

The asphalt path is totally underwater.

Meanwhile, today I woke up intending to address the 2020 census packet received two evenings ago. That letter including a twelve digit user code was nowhere to be found, the envelope alone atop my purse. Going into a minor panic, I didn’t want to admit the loss. My husband is under enough stress with stock market dips and spreading infection, plus the situation itself embarrassed me.

You see, misplaced items have appeared in odd places a few times before. I think I’m being clever when sleepy and later fail to relocate what’s been moved. ~shakes head~ So, I proceeded looking about the house without saying a word. By early afternoon, mind boggled, I looked up what to do in case of a lost ID and dialed a number provided on the census website.

While on hold, I found another option and began the process without that code. Then I ran upon a snag, wondering how my husband specified his Caucasian ethnicity. Since he agreed the census would be my responsibility, I decided to ask.

As it happened, he took care of the census queries early this morning. ~sigh~ We shared a good laugh, both admitting responsibility in the misunderstanding.

Have you received the census packet? Who in your household will likely take responsibility for responding?

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Sticking Out Like a Sore Thumb

I am very fortunate when it comes to pain, sore muscles from exercise the normal extent. A few evenings ago, however, something protruding from the bottom of our stainless steel pan gouged my thumb. My husband, quick to help out, guided me through the simple use of Bleed Cease. In past, I put antibiotic ointment on a small cut first, which negated the chemical process. Oops. When brave enough to pull off the bandage covering cottony fibers, I found an amusing sight.

Look Like an Artist You Know?

Andy Warhol is memorialized by a very cool museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you ever are in the area, I recommend visiting.

There, we learned he collaborated with his mother
on a book of lithographs called "Holy Cats".
I could not find an affordable copy.

Guess who henceforth broke open her new package of reusable housekeeping gloves? I’m sure it will lessen with time, but do you know a way to expedite reducing the gloves’ rubbery stench?

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