Fishy Candle

The Taxidermist (noun. person who stuffs dead animals so they look lifelike) ran away with the Fish! OMG! So, some of you may recall through photos (photo on left for example - Isabelle, Noah and Big Fish - Early Fall 2005) or through story telling, that Noah caught a ginormous fish in minnesota last fallish...well, this thing was def. a record braker so he decided to have it Stuffed. Stuffing is a long process, so we left the fish behind when we highTAILED it home, knowing that some day in the future our paths would meet again (well I wasnt thrilled about this because hey, big ugly fish, no where to put it, not in my house anyway. But, whatever). So anyway, weve checked on the fish progress occassionally since and it has not been ready. Well, our friends are coming to Illinois from Minnesota and they offered to pick up the fish and cargo it home for us since we dont have any immediate plans to return to the northwoods. But when I called the taxidermist office to make the final payment arrangements there was a disconnection, with no new number. No where to be found. My friend Sally spent days tracking down this guy (had to deal with his disgruntled estranged wife, with the chamber...found out he closed up shop and left, etc) and finally she got a hold of him and spoke with him directly and guess what? He was on the road (in a big semi truck) with the FISH! They (meaning taxidermist and fish) are currently in Alabama. The guy asked for our address and said he would send the fish. The thing is it just makes me think...if this guy, just decided one day: hey I'm packing up and taking this dead fish with me, I am going to sit him beside me on the seat of the truck so it can keep me company on the road, Ill give it a hat to wear and we can take turns talking on the cb radio and sharing beef jerky... It just makes me wonder...what other "animals" the guy had taken along for his journey as well?..Maybe a moose head? or a few deer... a bear foot... (I'll report if we ever get the fish and then we'll discuss where to put it for proper display... (I say the trunk of noah's car would be a grand spot).

It's around 5am and I am up with Ben and think I will stay up for the day. Unfortuantly, my whole family is coming down with the flu or something. It's just this sinking feeling that were all sick and it's only going to get worse. Isabelle threw up in her bed the night before last. She never throws up. (She is not sick enough to stop talking 24/7 yet though.) We actually had chicken soup for lunch and dinner. There's something about chicken soup that really does do something for the soul...like the books say. Noah's got it the worst so far..but I just know the rest of us are on our way of following. I can't live in denial about it. Not to be negative, it's just that it's the truth...with cheese on it. JOY, there is nothing more fun then taking care a bunch of sick needy whining people when you are quite ill yourself. Should be fun... So, I am glad that I have some halloween decor up at my home, because the cobwebs look like they fit right in now. Seriously, it amazes me how fast cobwebs are formed. Spiders are quite the little miracle workers. Isabelle keeps asking for bananas and then not eating them. So then I make banana bread. I am no baker, but I do know how to make banana bread. I dont put nuts in mine. The recipe I use does not call for it. I think people either really like nuts or they dont. I do on occassion, but not on the occassion of my bananna bread. It's fine just the way it is. I used to hate anything that was banana flavored related. I dont I feel that way anymore...... SO Noah and I were watching everyone loves raymond last night and Debra was pointing out to Ray that he says certain words wrong, asterik, cinnamon, ask. Well anyway, this gave noah perfect opportunity to make fun of certain words that I say. I dont hear it but people tell me that I say: bear/beer and button wrong among other things. Well that's when I shared an embarrassing little word tidbit with Noah and now with you. I just recently realized that my whole life I have been saying and spelling a word wrong that I had no clue was not right. In my brain, it's always been: oulfit. But, the word is OUTFIT people! outfit with a t not an l. Wow, what an eye opener. I went through my whole life not knowing. I recently took note of the word and discovered my wrongness as I came across it alot when I was researching on line, Benjamin's Baptism ouTfit. (they dont call them gowns for boys. Note: he was supposed to wear Isabelle's gown but I tried it on him and it doesnt fit! Plus I noticed her gown was super girly not just neutral or semi girly, but lacey, flowery, pearly. So the non fitting thing kind of cinched the deal, that he needed his own)....Want to know a long time dream of mine? It's a simple dream, but just has never happened yet.... I would love to have one of those nostogila sepia type photos taken..in old fashioned clothing. Like at a saloon with a gun or somehting along those lines. How cool would that be? A family photo of the four of us would be the neatest thing. Someday maybe ill acomplish that goal....Speaking of goals, I keep forgetting to collect leaves so I can press them in a book for weeks.... I just noticed that it rained last night, which wouldnt be a big deal, but I had clothes on the line. A few days ago at dinner , Noah and I asked Isabelle what she did in school earlier that day, she told us that she made a candle. Were like o.k. kid you made a candle in school. Sure you did. Did you color a candle or paint a candle? No I made a candle! Anyway, thursday she brought home a little book she made in school that was titled: rub a dub dub. There was a page with a butcher that had tinfoil on it (for the cleaver), a page with the baker and it had oats glued to it and on the final page ther was the candlestickmaker, and there glued to it was a little birthday cake candle. So, she did "make" a candle after all.