The Dreaded Isopod

It was a hot afternoon - mid 80's. The husband and I had slept in, enjoying the first day of the weekend. We decided it was time to get some chores done around the house - you know, vacuum, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, etc. But what we didn't expect to be on that list of chores was killing - killing a killer...

It all started around 12:45pm. We had eaten, brewed some joe, woken up best we could for a lazy Saturday. The night before, we had purchased a nifty little piece of rock for our salt water fishtank from the local pet shop. Cute thing it was, with brown and green zoanthids growin all over it. We knew we were taking home some new critters, but what we didn't know was that one of those critters wasn't so cute. One of those critters was an evil critter created to destroy...

I'm not an intellectual, I'm more of a street-smart kinda gal - a college drop-out lookin for more in life than textbooks and homework. So when the husband bought a salt water tank, I knew the only thing I'd be good for was tellin him what looked good, and what didn't. The chemistry and all that science stuff was on him. The best I ever did in chemistry, besides the kind between a man and a woman, was blowin up a gummy bear in high school (the teacher was impressed with the wide range in which the gummy bear goo landed).

So one day last week, while he's at work, I decide to peruse the internet, and see if my science-challenged brain could help out in other areas that weren't so scientific. I found a forum of other skirts and suits that liked this salt water tank hobby my husband and I had recently started. I'd come across a page that talked about "hitch hikers" in the tank, and what ones you did and didn't want. I thought to myself, "Alright, I'm good for reading and writing information down. Let's check this out." So I read through the list of goodies and badies, writing some stuff down here and there, taking a mental picture of these guys so maybe I can recall them in the future. If I'm good at anything, it's remembering what something bad looks like. When he came home, I tell him what I found out, and he's pleased at my initiative. We leave it at that, and continue on with our lives.

Well today, that initiative of mine came to the rescue. You see, in that list of badies is what is called the "Isopod." These are the nastiest of nasties - the worst if the worst, the one critter you don't ever want to see in your fish tank. This guy will attach to the fish and eat them alive, and if they're detached from the fish, they're very good at evasion. So you wanna get 'em when you see 'em, or your fish, even your corals and anemones, will be sayin hello to the porcelain god in a manner of days. And this critter, this demonic thing, reared its ugly head today on our newly acquired rock.

It all happened quick. I'm checkin out our new rock, admiring the colors of the zoanthids and watching a little crab poke its claw out of a hole. But next to this hole was something I didn't wanna see - something I never thought I'd have to see in my salt water fish tank keeper life - an isopod. I immediately alert the husband, who thinks it's just part of the rock, but I know better. I quickly run to the kitchen, grab a bowl we don't normally use, and he starts putting salt water into it so we can quarantine the rock with the offender attached. We fill the bowl, put the rock in, and take our business to the kitchen that had ample light.

My heart was racing as I tried to pry the devil off the rock with tweezers. The damn thing wouldn't budge - it's like it had armor on. But that wasn't gonna stop me from protecting my aquatic babies...So we moved to more drastic measures. I told the husband to get me a syringe - it was go time. He leaves and comes back with a needle (and in case you're wondering, we only have syringes in the house for these very purposes, not for any sort of "recreational" use, if you know what I mean). I grab the lemon juice out of the fridge, insert the needle, and suck out 10cc's of that yellow goodness. I carefully jab at the demon, finding it's one tender spot. The needle goes in, but I insert it only a little ways - if I were to go too far, I could ruin the lives of the zoanthids on the rest of the rock. I squeeze just a tad of lemon juice into the offender, enough to kill him, and wait. After ten seconds, I pry at the sucker again, and wouldn't you know? He detached right away, dead.

Now I'm not an egotistical kinda person, or someone that gloats about every little thing they done right, but this was a small victory for me. For the first time with this tank, I was able to do something useful, and save the lives of our other creatures. So this little victory is goin down in the books, and our salt water critters can live to swim another day...

A picture of the deceased when it was on the rock, highlighted in red:

And here's a image of the deceased after death by lethal injection (of lemon juice):

The Small Creature Crew

One thing you will learn about Sean and I is that we LOVE animals. In fact, love is not a strong enough word... Adore? Are enamored with? I'd say Deify, but I don't think God would approve. Anywho, you get the picture. Animals = Awesome.

Currently, we live in a tight-arse Condo Association that limits what type of animals we can own. Normally, I'd have an issue, but then I think about my neighbor having the ability to own a Canadian Goose, and while I adore our winged friends from up north, I don't adore the loud honking noises they frequently make. So, I can respect the restraint on what we homeowners can and cannot have in regards to animals. It may put a temporary damper on things, but we deal. I've already started my wish list of animals to get once we get a house and Ethan is old enough that it will be safe to expose him to such critters. Wanna see my wish list? I thought you'd never ask!

1. Golden Retriever. This is one of our favorite breeds, and is an excellent family dog. Yes, they're hyper, but I'd rather have a dog with energy than a couch potato. Ideally a golden retriever will be the next big animal we purchase after getting a house.

2. Husky. They're smart and beautiful, and somewhat majestic to me. They are a good breed as well. And I love big dogs ^_^

3. Sugar Glider. Reason? Besides the fact they are freakin ADORABLE and will sleep happily in my pocket, I can train it to jump from me to another person! Now that's just COOL!

4. Green-Cheek Conure. Now we could technically get one of these now. I have the cage (most expensive part), so all we would need is food, toys, and said bird. And we could afford it. However, these birds need lots of attention, like a small child. Oh wait! I'm going to be having one of those soon! So not a good idea to bring a bird into the picture that wouldn't receive the proper attention it would need.

5. Pot-bellied Pig. That's right. A freakin' pot-bellied pig! Why? Because they are awesome.

That's about it. I'm sure there will be additions later on.

These are the current members of our family:

Xavia, our kitteh

Evie, our schnauzer/ poodle mix

Charlie, our Figure 8 Puffer

Benny and Joon (green one on the left), our Fire-bellied Toads

Bluega the Betta

Delta, another Betta (he's camera-shy)

Bob, the Crowntail Betta

Roger, our Maroon Clown

Emo, the Bengai Cardinal

We have a few neon tetras and a bottom feeder in the freshwater tank with Bob the Betta, and we have a ton of hermit crabs and snails, as well as a few anemones in the saltwater tank with Roger and Emo. But these are our main guys.

Just thought I'd give you some faces to names, so if I mention them in a later blog and say something like, "Joon almost tore Benny's leg off getting to a cricket today," you won't be confused thinking, "I don't remember that in the movie!" You'll know what I'm talking about :)

So that's our small creature crew! Once the saltwater tank is properly equipped with a better light, we will be adding some more fishie, coral, and anemone additions. Stay tuned!

Muffin Success!

Holy cow! My muffins turned out so well! They are DELICIOUS!!!

You're probably thinking, "It's muffins. Calm down."

But there is a long story behind it, starting with all of my epic FAILS in baking over the last year or so. It all started with the Fat City Chocolate Chip Cookies...

It's a family recipe. And I am (or was) well-known for my chocolate chip cookies amongst my friends. I made the best darned chocolate chip cookies EVAR. And then I moved. And now, I make the worst chocolate chip cookies ever. They used to be fluffy and soft and delicious. Now, they melt like tar in an Indiana summer after 5 minutes of baking in the oven and look like flat, nasty things with giant brown warts (those would be the chocolate chips). I can't for the life of me figure out what I did wrong!

So I tried substitutes. Original recipe called for margarine or butter. I used margarine before, so I used butter this time. I had read that several other people had "runny" cookies as a result of using margarine, but that it was better when they used butter. Okay. Didn't help me. The cookies looked the same. I had also read that cookies were more fluffy if you use Bisquick instead of flour. So I did that. No dice.

Then I read on a few sites that freezing the dough for 10 minutes prior to putting them in clumps on the baking sheet helped them stay fluffy, too. So I did that. And still failed.

So, after about 4 different batch attempts, I gave up on the cookies. I moved on to cakes. Long story short, the Pam spray and I never saw eye-to-eye. Either too much or not enough was used. And again, I seemed to have to bake the cake for a LONG time in order for it all to bake, which resulted in a perfect center, but a crispy burnt edge. *sigh*

And then there were the muffins... I found a recipe for banana nut muffins. It was different from any other recipe I'd tried, and sounded tasty. So I tried it. My old foe Pam struck again. I was out of cupcake wrappers, so I had to Pam the bottom of the pan. She must not have gotten along with the bottom of the pan. I baked these lovely-looking muffins, and was so excited - until I tried to get them out of the pan, and they crumbled to pieces because it's as if the Pam was sucked into the center of the muffin, making it gooey and gross. I wanted to cry.

So I made my husband take me to the store for cupcake wrappers. I wasn't going to lose again. We picked up wrappers and new bananas. I put the bananas out and once they were quite spotted, put them in the fridge for a week to get brown and gushy (makes for the sweetest banana bread and muffins).

Today was the day I won the war.

I put the wrappers in the pan. I mixed the mix according to the recipe, adding my secret ingredient (that will remain secret). I plopped the dough by spoonfuls into the pan. I baked it for the allotted time. I checked the centers with a toothpick. I pulled them out and let them cool. I approached the pan, and liberally lifted a muffin from its place, holding my breath. The muffin came out without a fuss. BUT...would it stay in tact once the wrapper is removed?? I slowly removed the wrapper, breath caught in my throat, and lo and behold...it was the most beautiful banana chocolate chip muffin I'd ever made! And it stayed in tact! I took a bite, and victory swelled all around me! HA!

So I attached a picture of these beautiful muffins, because today is an epic WIN day for me, and I thought I would share it with you all. Because it's the little things in life that make me happy :)

An Introduction

Hi! We are The Harrolds.

There's my husband, Sean:

Me, his wife Shawna:

Our soon-to-be-born son, Ethan:

And many, many critters, including one cat, one dog, two fire-bellied toads, and a plethora of fish.

Sean is a Producer for Big Fish Games (website here: http://www.bigfishgames.com/ ), the biggest and best source for online PC games. He loves his job, and so do I, because I get the "Wife Benefits" (as I like to call them) of playing his games for free! Bwahaha! You may be jealous, that's okay :) He has a wonderful team of super-awesome co-workers, and he works with game developers around the world to help them finesse their games to their best potential so they will be successful. And I love to brag - he does an AMAZING job!!! *sniff* I'm so proud!

As for me? I am a stay-at-home mom-to-be. I used to be an Assistant Manager at a hotel, but the hours (and crazy stress levels) did not equal the pay. After Sean and I found out I was pregnant, we didn't want anything to prevent this pregnancy from being healthy and happy. So I quit! Now I spend my days cleaning around the condo, writing blogs, and incubating our son. ^_^ It's a wonderful life!

Sean and I just recently married on June 4th this year (d'awwww, sweetness!) and decided to start a blog to record our life and all it's fun adventures. We figure in this way, we are leaving a "virtual footprint" and are also providing a way for our family to check in on us from time to time to see how we are doing.

And let's be honest, it's fun uploading pictures of our family! We've got a LOT to post about already, with a baby due in early September. Oh! And we recently added a 35 gallon saltwater fish tank to the family, a project we will be working on. So keep an eye out, we will be updating frequently!

As for now, I must go make some banana chocolate-chip muffins while "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen" (as the Hubby likes to say). :)