Monday, June 28, 2010

It’s the fish all over again! By June

When you have kids you tend to do things you wouldn’t normally do, like buy a pool set it up in your back yard and then allow your fourteen year old daughter have a bunch of friends come over who will trash it.

Okay, they didn’t exactly trash it, but they decided to forgo the ladder and just jump in from the side of the pool. Muddy feet and all. So by 6:30pm the pool looked like a disgusting mess so I had to be bad guy, er bad girl? And kick them all out.

Now I have spent two days trying to not have to dump 1800 gallons of water and refill it so my kids can swim again.

It’s my own fault.

Just like the fish.

The girls wanted a pet. Unfortunately my eldest is allergic to EVERYTHING so the only pet we could let her have, that I would allow in my house, was a fish. We went through the “Please mommy, I promise I will feed them. I promise I will clean the tank.” So we bought two beta fish. Did you know that you can’t put two male beta fish in the same tank or they will attack each other? Yeah, neither did I. So two fish, two tanks and of course accessories later, we now owned Mr Angry Eyes and Rufus.

But when it came down to the nitty gritty, I fed them and my husband cleaned the tanks. What were we to do? It’s not the poor fish’s fault that the girls wouldn’t take care of them. I wasn’t going to let them rot! That’s inhumane! I tried to get them to take care of the fish, but they just lost interest. What can you do with a fish? Although my eldest did try to play cards with her fish, Mr Angry Eyes, she didn’t have much luck. So they lost interest in the pets.

Mr Angry eyes and Rufus lived with us for about six months until Rufus decided to jump out of the tank to his demise, I called it fishicide, and Mr Angry eyes just died. I know the girls were sad, but not that sad.

And now we have a pool. That can’t be used because it’s messy and gross.
So hubby and I went out and bought a bunch of pool cleaner stuff and a pool vacuum. We are waiting to finish the cleaning process now that I have “SHOCKED” the pool, Wow, as the daughter of an electrician “shock” and “pool” just shouldn’t be used in the same sentence unless you are planning someone’s certain death.

I think we have officially spent more on the upkeep than we did on the original pool. It’s the fish all over again. I wonder if I will ever learn?!


And it’s just the beginning of summer.

Have a good week!

June

www.junesproat.com

5 comments:

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

As the mother of five I can honestly say, "Been there, done that."

Made me laugh.

Marilyn

Margot Justes said...

I'm the mother of two and can say the same thing...and yes, it brought back fond memories, and I'm still giggling.
Margot Justes
www.mjustes.com

Deb Larson said...

Count me in!! We have a similar pool in the shed - we're too lazy to put it up this year only to spend every waking moment cleaning it out! My granddaughters are sad and I suggested Mommy & Daddy could take it home - we have LOTS of chemicals ... they are wise beyond their years - the pool is still in the shed!
Great blog, June!
DL Larson

June said...

I'm so glad I am not alone and that I could spread some joy with my pain!

; )
June

Morgan Mandel said...

I don't have kids, but I can still relate. I'm forever cleaning up after our dog, Rascal, and the husband!

Morgan Mandel
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com