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Ten Things of Thankful: The Goldfish Survived Edition

A goldfish swims in a new aquarium
Monday morning, I was awakened by John saying, "I'm sorry to wake you up, but there is a puddle in the family room." The twenty-gallon aquarium somehow sprung a leak and was draining its contents on the carpet. As we have had experience with leaking aquariums before,* I knew exactly what to do. I grabbed the shop vac from the garage and brought it to John. While he started in on vacuuming, I got a woefully-small glass fish bowl, scooped some of the water from the leaking tank, and dumped the goldfish into the temporary new container. Besides the obvious item of gratitude (1. I'm thankful the fish didn't die), there are several other bright spots to this scenario:

 2. The leak didn't start earlier in the night, which would have resulted in a wetter floor and possibly an empty tank.
3. Somehow we forgot to turn off a light in the family room on Sunday night, so John was able to see the problem. (I normally feed the fish, so I wouldn't have noticed for another hour or two otherwise.)
4. John had recently changed the water in the aquarium, so the water that was soaking into the carpet was relatively clean and not dirty fish water.
5. Someone quickly responded to my "Does anyone have an extra aquarium just lying around?" post on the neighborhood Facebook page.
6. Though she was willing to just give me the tank, I wanted to repay her kindness, and happened to have an item she couldn't refuse: an extra package of toilet paper! (Who knew that toilet paper would be the newest currency?)

 Monday afternoon, I went to pick up a grocery order (curbside delivery). As I pulled up to the store, I realized my phone home button was not moving. I couldn't access my phone at all, and thus couldn't call to tell the store worker I was waiting for my order. 

 7. I'm thankful I wasn't the only person waiting for curbside delivery, so I could just roll down my window and call out to a worker who was loading groceries into the car next to mine. She happily helped me when she was finished. 
8. I'm thankful that when I got home, I could look up on the computer how to fix the problem with the home button. Thirty seconds later, my phone was working properly again.

 I decided to start working on this week's TToT post on Monday, so I wouldn't forget some of these items later in the week. As I'm writing, I realize I can get to 10 on Monday! (That could be #9 on the list, but I'm going to have that be a freebie.)

 9. I'm thankful for Easter Sunday. We worshiped at home, watched a service via Zoom that my brother conducted, watched a pre-recorded talk by a member of our congregation, watched Andrea Bocelli's concert recorded at the Milan Duomo, then joined a Zoom gathering with John's side of the family. 

 10. I'm thankful, as always, for John, and especially thankful for his keen observation skills this week! 

 What are you thankful for this week? Have any aquarium near-disaster stories of your own? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

 *When our oldest daughter was just a toddler--I don't think she was even 2 yet--she was swinging a wooden toy around, hit the aquarium, and put a hole right through the glass. Water was pouring out, fish were everywhere, children were "helping," and all I could think to do was grab towels. Do you know how many towels it takes to mop up 20 gallons of water? Believe me, a shop vac is the right tool for the job in the case of a gushing (or even just leaking) aquarium!

 Joining the party this week:
The Prolific Pulse
MessyMimi's Meanderings
Grams Ramblings
A Season and a Time
the Wakefield Doctrine
Recording Life Under the Radar
Carin's Gratitude
Her Headache
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Comments

  1. messymimiApril 18, 2020 at 2:02 PM

    Gracious, that was quick thinking, i am so glad it was not worse. We have not, thank heaven, had such a near disaster here this week, just plenty of the usual. That's a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiApril 18, 2020 at 5:21 PM

      I think that had we not had experience with this kind of thing before, I would have been grabbing towels again. Glad your week was calm. :-)

      Delete
  2. ZoeApril 19, 2020 at 6:54 PM

    Thank goodness for eagle eyed John!!! That is one big goldfish! He looks quite happy!!!

    Curbside pick up is right up there with delivery...so good not to have to spend so much time in stores that could be potentially hazardous.

    Pretty soon it will be cash , card, or TP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiApril 20, 2020 at 9:55 AM

      I feel a little bad that his current tank is now smaller than his past one, but it is significantly bigger than the temporary bowl we had. We might have to upgrade again sometime as he grows. He's actually our daughter's fish, but she can't have pets at her apartment, so. . .

      Cash, card, or TP--hahaha! :-)

      Delete
  3. Pat BApril 20, 2020 at 1:34 PM

    Yeah for someone leaving the light on! Funny how some experiences kind of have a way of repeating themselves. It brought back a memory we had of having to use the shop vac to suck up water, and I found myself wondering if it could handle such a problem now.
    I had to google "home button on phone" to figure out what that was. Once I found the info, I realized I didn't know what it was, because you have a different kind of phone than I do.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiApril 23, 2020 at 7:57 PM

      You have a newer phone than I do. Some phones have home buttons; some don't.

      Delete
  4. Carin DiazApril 20, 2020 at 6:03 PM

    i had to laugh abt the tp

    ReplyDelete
  5. Clark FarleyApril 20, 2020 at 7:30 PM

    surely the variety of grats that you cite this week are of the nature that, for me, are the easiest to appreciate, the 'dodged bullet'.
    I like the self-contained nature of it. All it takes is the right perspective. This is, of course, one of the secrets to the long run of this bloghop.
    It requires that a person be willing to be open to seeing the reason for 'the good' rather than 'the bad'.
    I enjoyed your Six this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiApril 23, 2020 at 8:01 PM

      Perspective helps a lot in navigating life, and those "someday we'll look back and laugh" experiences do make good stories in the retelling! :-)

      Delete
  6. Lisa TomeyApril 29, 2020 at 12:31 PM

    What a fishing expedition! Whew!

    ReplyDelete

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