My Pet Mermaid

Since I was but a wee girl, I wanted a “pet” mermaid. See, my grandparents used to take me to this local restaurant called The Brass Rail. Whenever I order a soda, the drink arrived with a cocktail mermaid hanging out on the edge of the glass with a cherry stuck to her tail, and an extra cherry or two floating in the beverage. It was one of my favorite dining experiences. I would carefully cradle the mermaid in my clumsy hands, sometimes accidentally breaking off her plastic arms (whoops!). A few times I was able to collect a few mermaids, which I played with in the bathroom sink, causing a watery mess in the bathroom.

Seeing as they were tiny creatures that could fit on a glass of soda, it made sense that you could probably put some in a fish aquarium…if you could find them.  I never really thought about the personhood or a mermaid, or the emotional trauma caused by going from the ocean to the fish take in my bedroom.  I just though, “Wow, that would be cool.”  Apparently, my fascination with mermaids lives on.

On Saturday, my best friend and I were walking around a local craft store when I came upon a bin of $1 items that grow 600% their normal size when placed in water. The whole process takes 10 days, and then you can let the thing dry out, and it will return to its normal size in 10 days, at which point you can place it back into the water and let it GROW! Yes, it’s very exciting.

There was a cute little duck, a kitten, a fish (imagine growing a fish in water…uncanny), and a mermaid! Naturally, I had to purchase the little darling. Plus I even had a coupon for 50% off a normal priced item…so I even saved 50 cents. Until today, she’s been sitting in her packaging just waiting to grow, but alas, she is a mermaid out of water. I purchased a glass fish bowl for a mere dollar to house my mermaid. I threw a few marbles in the bottom and-voila!-cool and inexpensive table decoration!

Isn’t she lovely? I’ll keep you updated on her growing process.

In other news, besides buying water toys, I spent the weekend hanging out with friends and playing a lot of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. I’m totally awesome at playing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar (it’s a Level 1 song and I have it on easy, but still…)