Goodbye, Biff

We are finally starting to get everything in it's place!  We had our first company last night around 11:30.  My roommate from my second year of college, Kara, came to stay with us on her way to Iowa.  It was a short visit, but I enjoyed the brief catching up and getting to see her is always good :-)  She left early this morning to finish her trek.  My family came around 12:30 and brough my beloved Biff (my beta fish) with them.  I left him with my sister because I thought it would be easier on him if she brought him so that I wouldn't have to deal with him on the drive to New Albany along with all of the plants I had to make sure didn't tip over in my front seat. Then I didn't want to have to figure out a safe place to put him where he was out of the way while we moved our stuff in and Christa and Josh's things out.  He survived the week and I had his water bowl out and waiting for him (I even thought of making him a welcome home sign but I didn't have time.)  Shortly after my family got here, we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A and then head to the mall in Clarksville.  After we got home, I was looking in Biff's water bowl and I didn't see him.  I wasn't too worried at first because his bowl is rounded and there have been times that I didnt see him because he was at just the right spot where he looked like he wasnt there.  I called Caleb over and asked him if he saw Biff, thinking maybe I was just being a blonde.  Neither one of us saw him and I didnt see him on the counter, like if he had jumped out.  I looked down, moved my foot, and there Biff lay.  A little squished, and all dried up.  Amy had sent me a video earlier of Biff in the car and he was swimming around super fast, and he never did that.  I guess he was just under a lot of stress due to the vibration of the van and just freaked out.  I was just sad to see my fish of almost 11 months all dead and dried up (after all the trouble that I had to go through in getting him through the move).  We obviously had a proper funeral for him at the toilet.  My dad and my sister went out to Walmart to get some things for dinner and while they were out they bought me a new fish!  He's even prettier than Biff and Caleb refuses to call him anything but Biff (I think he's in denial that the first Biff is dead.)

The picture is a little bright because of the flash, but I guess it just shows off his pretty scales.  :-)  I also poured out some of the water to make sure this guy doesn't jump out either.  Biff had never jumped out so I never worried about filling up his bowl real high. 

Anyway, while we were out, Caleb and I bought our very own.......washer and dryer!!  We are so excited.  Laundry has been quite an issue for us for the past 6 months and so we are super excited to get to be able to do laundry in our own home and not have to haul it up and down stairs and planning ahead to make sure we can go 3 weeks without needing to wash anything.  We got a pretty good deal on them at Sears and thanks to our wonderful church family, we didn't have to pay much out of pocket for them (Thank you, Lord!)

We also stopped by Petsmart :-D.  I had a somewhat seemingly crazy idea to get a large rounded vase and put a hermit crab in it and use it as decoration on our coffee table or end table.  I found the perfect vase thing at my parent's house that used to be mine anyway and some left over hermit crab stuff from my "I want lots of pets" days.  I really wanted to keep the price cheap because I don't want to be spending money on things we don't really need, but we were able to get a crab and food for a pretty decent price.  The girl at the petstore kept telling me that hermit crabs don't come out very often...blah...blah... (I didn't want to sound snotty like I know everything about crabs, but I'm pretty sure I know more than her because I used to read up on them all the time when I owned a bunch of them and didnt have anything else to do). I got the crab home and shortly after I put it in it's new home, it hasnt gone back in its shell since.  He's really fun to watch and definitely more interesting than a vase of flowers :-)  Caleb named him Lester.

So despite my tragic loss, I would say that my shopping adventures went well today.  I'm glad to have my two new critters

Tomorrow morning we are planning on going to a church that my 6th great grandpa (i think) started right here in Louisville and my dad is really interested in going.  It's great having my family here and having something to do other than unpack.  I'm sure the next day is going to to just fly by and they will have to leave again, but hopefully we will find some friends/jobs soon to be able to have interaction with people other than utility companies who make life difficult.