upgraded

It's only been a little less than three months since we set up our fishtank, and we have fallen so in love with fish that Mr. BikeMan decided on the spur of the moment yesterday on the way home from church to upgrade the tank - more than doubling the size from the small 4 gallon to a much larger 10 gallon.

We also purchased some new fish to add to the collection. Of course, we've named them Whovian names:

We have two of these silverbacks who are Cyberman One and Two.

The orange guppy with the red tail on top is Bad Wolf. Below her are Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler and Donna. They apparently are being chased by a few Daleks.

We have six tetra: three are specifically named Dalek Caan, Dalek Sek and the Supreme Dalek.

Can't tell 'em apart of course.

The new kingdom. Notice that it is defended. (He's camouflaged.)

Mr. BikeMan was a little offended that we had changed Hamlet's name in the first place from Mister T (because of his black tail -- looks like a mohawk) and then last week we re-named him, a second time, as the Doctor. I'm sure that the girls will continue to call him Doctor, but to Mr. BikeMan, he'll always be Mister T.

if i had a million dollars...

Mr. BikeMan dared Ingrid to pull her loose tooth before bedtime. He had to ante up $4. Way to go, Brave Girl!

10 things for which i'm thankful

Haven't done one of these in too long. Rules haven't changed. They are listed in no particular order:

1. Excedrin Migraine
2. Direct flights on Alaska Airlines from the left coast to the right...see number 3
3. Mr. BikeMan is comin' home this afternoon!
4. Streaming Netflix has added The Munsters and Flipper
5. Our church
6. Starbucks Italian Roast at 0630 on a Saturday morning
7. That I can re-watch last night's Fringe epi on Fox.com -- I actually fell asleep, not because I was bored, but because I was overcome by exhaustion
8. An amazing new recipe for Dutch Babies
9. Blue and white fingernail polish on little thumbs
10. Snow days and school cancellations

Dutch Baby of my dreams...

"Look Mama, she's wearing a dress!"

anglophelia

On the way home from picking up Ingrid from school the other afternoon, she announced that she wants to move to England.

I said, "Ingrid, did you know that the United States used to be a part of the British Empire? We used to be English." We do live near quite a few key Revolutionary War sites, after all, and we remind the girls often of our great nation's history.

She replied a bit petulantly, "I don't want to be American anymore. I want to be English!"

Perhaps I have her watch one too many BBC costume dramas, Doctor Who episodes, or left too many Austen and Dickens novels laying about.

Then she asked, "How long does it take to drive to England?" I suppose a geography lesson is in order.

PS I thought this photo was a bit Twiggy (with longer hair). Those are my boots, by the way.

i wonder if these will work with Legos...

Character Options, who also make Zhu Zhu pets, will be releasing the first ever Doctor Who construction toys this spring. Think Legos or Playmobil style play. I love the little Cyberman...never though a Cyber could actually be cute. The smirk on 11's face is pretty priceless. Wonder if they'll go back and do sets for 10 and 9 as well...

Ilsa, who is my Lego girl, already has these on her wish list.

More cool toys from the London Toy Fair 2011:

we've repopulated the fish tank

The saga of the fish tank continues...

As you know, the primary cast of Hamlet dies in the end, well, except for Horatio, but we didn't have a fish named after him last go-round, and in our case, though, Hamlet did survive.

So, we made a trip to the pet store after school today to try, try again. The girls have named the new fish as follows:

• Ingrid's orange fish (a Molly) is Rose Tyler
• Ilsa's gold fish (a Molly) is Donna Noble
• (I think their names are backwards, but the girls are adamant that is how they want them named...)
• My silver fish with the orange tail is Jackie Tyler (because I'm the Mom, and I'm Ingrid's Mom, and Jackie is Rose's Mom...how's that for logic?)
• The albino catfish is the TARDIS
• Since they've changed the naming scheme from Hamlet to Doctor Who, Mr. BikeMan's fish (the silver one with the black tail) is now The Doctor, the 10th Doctor to be specific.

We've already had a grand time watching these new, much more active fish swim around... Here's hoping the cast of Doctor Who fares better than the cast of Hamlet!

ilsaism - coffee fountain

I had to take Ilsa into the ER this morning for high fever, headache and dehydration. We left home around 6:15. It was cold, dark and the automatic coffeemaker doesn't turn on until 6:45. I needed coffee. Badly. I was moaning a bit about it in the car, and Ilsa said, "Mommy, I wish the hospital had a coffee fountain for you."

the dream of the 90's is alive in portland!

This is side-splitting hilarious, especially to someone who grew up with lots of ties to Portland. There is 1 off-color line, and a few "edgy" costumes, but, well, it's Portland.

Sweets to the sweet: farewell!

DSC00950, originally uploaded by BikeBookBread.

I loved Ophelia: Forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.

Hamlet - Act V Scene 1

We're having a bad few fishy days....

sing a dirge

DSC00949, originally uploaded by BikeBookBread.

I'm so sorry to have to announce the news that Aquamarine Bubbles Candycane is dead. At least she expired in the splendor of the pink rhinestone-studded princess castle.