Lowry Livin': Something Fishy

This morning I embarked on a mission that I've been putting off for over a year now: Operation-Clean-up-the-Incredibly-Cluttered-Junk-Heap-of-a-Basement. This was one of those jobs that just gets messier and messier and messier until suddenly, it's done and feels great! I was surprised by how many things I discovered that I had forgotten I was missing: the lid to my blender, some knitting needles, missionary journals, high school yearbooks and my trusty blue "Cloud" bowling ball and shoes. Abby and Isaac were troopers and helped me out by playing with each and every new discovery and then "sorting" them into various boxes. The basement sure looks a lot better, but I'm not sure I'll be able to remember their organizational strategies the next time I'm hunting.

Perhaps our favorite discovery of the day was a fish bowl - complete with rocks, plants, a net, food and water conditioner. All we needed was a fish! We decided then and there to reward ourselves for the hours of work by taking a little field trip to the local fish shop. Abby was SO excited to be getting her first inside pet to keep in her very own room. Ali and Riley came with us and helped me keep Isaac from licking the turtle, knocking over the Beta fish and sticking his fingers in every aquarium in sight. Thank you Riley and Ali!

Abby took her time to select JUST the right fish, and then get the right stuff to take care of it.

I'm so grateful to have a friend like Aurelie who came over right as Abby and I were formulating the plan. Our conversation went a little like this:
Aurelie: "So, what are you guys doing?"
Me: "We're going to go buy a fish!"
Aurelie: "Stuart, Ali, do you want to trade in your pet snails for a fish? Yes? Great, we're in. I'm putting the kids in the car as we speak."

I love how spontaneously she agreed that yes indeed, Stuart and Alison were worthy of their own first official pets. They were even more excited than Abby to pick out a pink fish for Ali and a blue fish for Stuey and find houses and rocks and food for their fishies as well. The nice lady at the checkout was extremely patient as I requested the privilege of documenting the transaction for posterity. (Yes Steph, I DID make her repeat the handing back of the change so I could get a better photo...wouldn't want to let you down.)
Here's Abby checking out her fish up close and personal.