New tank!

It's all set up except the filter (which I'm getting for Christmas), and it looks very nice. It's even on a stand that Mark made for me. ^_^ That being said, never buy wood at Lowes unless you know what you want already... because I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and the dude talked me into MUCH heavier wood than I needed. The folks at Home Depot are much more helpful. Anyway, here's a picture:

I'm going to put shrimp and snails in it. I just got the Java moss today, the stuff is harder to tie in there than I thought it would be, I need to rearrange it so that one can see the nice canyon between the two big back rocks that I made. Still, it almost looks like I planned how it would look, rather than just throwing plants and rocks in there.

Anyway, on to the news that people care about, I'm sure. Thanksgiving went well... we went to Mark's sister's place and had vegan thanksgiving, which was wonderful and delicious and we had lots of fun, but it gave Elspeth terrible gas. Then on Friday I decided I wanted turkey dang it so we had thanksgiving again. I know, I'm crazy. Then on Saturday I got really sick! It couldn't have been any of the food, because Elspeth and Mark ate all the same things and are completely healthy, so I must have picked up a bug somewhere.

Speaking of bugs, Elspeth is all over her rash! Just pink spots! What rash you say? Well let me tell you... we thought it was the chicken pox, but it was only in her mouth and on her one arm, so off we went to the urgent care clinic. The nurse there was certain it was chicken pox, so why don't you just take her home so she doesn't infect anybody. I still wanted to see the doctor, even though she made me feel silly for it. Good thing I did! Three doctors later, we were fairly certain it wasn't chicken pox (but it might be), and had looked at the blister goo under a microscope, thus determining that it wasn't fungal. Everybody had a different theory. And you know what it was? Cold sores. Yup, cold sores, herpes virus, just all over her poor little arm, and by the time the test results got back, on one of her legs too. Like I said, it's completely better now though, just where the rash was the worst, the skin is kind of pinkish, and slightly raised. Poor boo. She's just glad not to have to wear mittens all the time though, I'm sure, and THANK HEAVEN IT WASN'T THE CHICKEN POX!