Beware the SCHOOL CARNIVAL a cautionary tale

A friend's comment on facebook made me start thinking of this.

When Courtney (my youngest in case you are somewhat new to my blog) was in fifth grade at Eastgate Elementary, they had a school Carnival that year in May.

Of course she went.

And of course she won prizes.

And of course one of those prizes had to be two goldfish.

We aren't talking big pretty goldfish mind you (think: Cleo in Disney's Pinocchio) no of COURSE not. They were the cheap little feeder fish that are, or at least were a dime a dozen.

Now Courtney, being a sweet loving child wanted those goldfish to have a nice home. And me, being the loving indulgent mother thought, "why not?"
Straight to Walmart to get a nice round goldfish bowl.

Catch number one; While looking at nice round fish bowls, our attention goes to the nice little 3 gallon Fish Tank. Complete with bubbler and filter.

Have I mentioned Courtney's big brown puppy dog eyes?

Sorenson mother and child go home with nice, slightly more expensive, three gallon Fish Tank, with bubbler and filter.

We get home. I read the instructions. Apparently the water needs to be prepared. A process that promises to take no more than 24 hours. This also requires another run to Walmart to get more ingredients for a successful three gallon fish tank with bubbler and filter.

Cut to next day. . .

The tank is set up, the water is good to go, oh, oh, it appears that one of the fish is swimming a little funny in the makeshift glass jar.

You know? Funny? As in SWIMMING UPSIDE DOWN!

That's right folks, one of those fish was D. E. A. D.

Was Courtney sad about this?

Unfortunately NO.

She wasn't sad because in all of the procuring of goldfish related accessories, she couldn't help but notice that her goldfish were not fancy goldfish. By this point she had seen all of those pretty little, fancy schmancy, long finned, pretty ruffly tailed, differing shades of gold and white, Premium Goldfish.

Long story short; We came home with a fancy schmancy, goldfish.

(I have no proof but I think Courtney was at this point hoping that ordinary, boring, Eastgate Carnival Won, gold fish, would also kick the fishy bucket.)

She got her wish a few days later. Did I suspect foul play? I prefer to not answer that.

Now in case you haven't been doing the math, that left us with ONE, extra fancy schmancy goldfish.

Now, for the sake of time, my little story will pretty much end here, except for me to say that due to a series of events that would soundly put any of the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" books, to complete shame, we ended up with a 15 gallon fish tank, complete with filter, bubbler, little plants and of course a little castle. And just to show how out of hand this had gotten, there were no longer any goldfish (fancy or otherwise) in that 15 gallon, high maintenance beauty.

Nope. Not a ONE.

There were guppies, swordfish, rainbow fish and many others that I don't remember the names of. It was fun. It was educational. But in the end it turned out to be a LOT more work than I had ever envisioned.

So after five years of having fish I sold the entire setup and never once have I looked back. (Well except for now I guess.)

I'm sure by now you have figured out the moral to my little story.

Don't let your child attend anymore School Carnivals!

Advice for a Give Away?

I'm in the mood for another give away. I'm not sure just when but I think sometime this Spring I will be having a give away. I would appreciate any input on what kind of give away to have and what a good prize would be. I kinda liked my pick a number contest that I did last time. I don't know though. I'm open to any ideas you may have. The more input the better. So, that leaves me with only one more thing to say. . . . . .

Your Thoughts?

Pink Toenails? Is that a problem??

Hold on to your hats because I feel a rant coming on. Apparently people are up in arms because J Crew has a new ad showing a mother painting her young son's toenails. And guess what? Mom and son are LAUGHING and having a GOOD time. I thought, now isn't that so cute. "They" say. . . . HORROR of HORRORS! There we go promoting EVIL! Our children might see this!!! How dare they show something so deviant and shocking! I can't keep quiet about something this stupid. I hope I don't offend any of my friends who read my blog but I have to say what I feel about how screwed up this is. Point number 1 I have never known a little boy who would put up with something like that if he didn't want to. There were times when my children were small when I tried to get one of my boys to try on a dress that I was making because for whatever reason their sister wasn't available. Guess what? They would have NO part of it. And I would never have forced them. . . . . . like I could have anyway. My point here being, that if a mom is painting her sweet little guy's toenails pink it must be because he wants to have her do it. He IS smiling and having a great time after all. Isn't he?!? Now who knows, this little boy may very well have gone off and pounded rocks together and filled up his Tonka trucks with them after his one on one time with mom. Or her may have followed her into the kitchen and helped her make cookies. He may have gone into the family room and watched Disney's Little Mermaid, for the 50th time that month. WHO CARES? What this says to me is that here is a little boy who is right with the world. Here is a child who is safe and cherished and most of all loved and accepted for exactly who he is. Too bad that every child can't find this kind of acceptance from what should be their very first completely safe place. Their home and family. Who knows if the little guy is gay, if he just loves the color pink and is simply too young to know people's prejudices. For whatever reason we do know that he wanted those cute little toenails painted pink. There is absolutely NO shame in that. He may grow up to be absolutely "Straight" in every way. Or he may figure out that along with liking pink toenails he also really likes boys. You know, like as in more than just friends? This brings me to my second point. People can't help but be who they are meant to be. So why on earth do we have to make life so hard for them if they find out that they are different than what society considers NORMAL? I have yet to meet a gay person who I haven't considered normal. They generally want the same things we all do. They want to be loved. They want to enjoy life. They want to have a home and someone to be with. Or maybe they just want to be off exploring the world and it's many wonders. Either by themselves. . . or with a friend. . . . or a partner. Who is anybody to tell them that they need to change? Who has the right to say that a gay or lesbian couple can't enjoy all of the things in life that make life so rewarding? I think it's far more important to work on yourself and becoming the kind of person you want to be than to worry about others that may have different feelings than you do. As a final thought, they were talking about the little boy with his pretty pink toenails today on the Today show. Apparently, the polls are divided 50/50 of people who find it harmless, sweet and cute and people who find it shocking and horrible and how dare J Crew display something so depraved. Some idiot from the latter group was quoted saying that the "poor kid is going to end up needing counseling and intense therapy when he is older" What a bunch of HOGWASH! I think it's just the opposite. Here is a child who is loved and fully accepted for just who he is. How can anybody feel anything but good about that? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen the statistics on the high rate of teenage, gay, lesbian and transgendered suicides. Is that actually considered preferable to the alternative of loving and accepting each and every person for who they truly are? If so, then this really is a sad, sad world, and I want to make sure my voice is heard on the side of LOVE and ACCEPTANCE. I accept that many people don't share my beliefs but I hope you will at least give mine a little bit of consideration. Who knows, you may end up with someone you love facing these same challenges. Thanks for reading and I would love comments as long as they aren't nasty.