Party Time Up North

O'er the last six weeks or so, I've hosted a few of those at-home product parties. I thought it would be non-negotiable motivation for me to get and keep our house clean.

Well, guess what? It worked.

We are living in a clean and tidy house. Mostly.

We still have an area of dire concern - the "upstairs". Seriously, the whole second floor depicts the scariest scene from "Hoarders: Too Much of a Good Thing." More on that in some other post. Maybe.

Another area of dire concern around here is how much I really like the party products. Some of you may know that I sell NYR Organic products. Yes, they are seriously pretty awesome and SO good for you and the natural world, as opposed to the chemical poisons that most folks still use these days. Ahem. Sorry. I'm quite passionate about safety in cosmetics and beauty products, and if you have any questions about the poisonous dreck that is sold on supermarket shelves, most of which can be linked to cancers or sight disorders or severe skin problems, let me know. Whew.

But NYR Organic products are consumable. I can use them up. I can get one thing, use it until it's gone, then use the cute blue glass bottle or jar for something else.

Other at-home-party products are just with you forever. It's quite a committment, especially when you're paying the outrageous prices most of them ask.

A few weeks ago, I hosted a Pampered Chef party and just last night, a Longaberger basket party. (If you would like anything at this time, check this website and then email Longaberger consultant Ann Doty to place your order. The show closes on Thursday at 4pm AKST.) Anyhooo, now that my house looks so dang wonderful, don't I need to fill it with nice things? Maybe things that weren't found on a curb? Or obtained at my favorite place ever: FREECYCLE? That's a dangerous line of thinking in my book; however, a few nice pieces goes a long way for me. I've gotten several (read: 'way too many') neat gadgets from Pampered Chef and now for my first Longaberger pieces ever, I'm excited to venture in to the world of wrought iron. Love it!

A important, not-to-be-excluded component of a successful product party is the absence of hubby and kids. Last night, Greg and the girls went to the beach for swimming (didn't) and fun (did). They stumbled upon a smoldered fire ring with a nearby stack of firewood, so they plopped down around the fire and watched the sun set over the Chilkat Mountains. After several minutes, Amelia requested that we as a family "do this every day, Daddy."

In short, a good time was had by all. And there is no longer a towering stack of laundry on the couch. Yippee!

We've got these fish, see?

Ok, so being that I'm blogging from the wilds of Alaska, and that we are an avid outdoorsy family, you'd think the title for this post would naturally allude to salmon or halibut, cod or trout, right?

Wrong.

I'm talking goldfish today.

About two months ago, Juneau's Glacier Valley Rotary held their 2010 Boat and Outdoors Show. One of the annoying fun things available to entertain the kiddos, while moms and dads perused the boats and accessories they will never be able to afford, was a Zodiac filled with water and, you guessed it, goldfish. Kids tooks turns netting a fish and then could take it home with them. For free. What a deal.

So, we did that. Got one for each girl. They picked out the ones they wanted based on size, color, and behavior. Then Mommy helped them catch the poor little things, and we ended up with two tiny calico fish. Orange and white, both of them. And, this is important: they were each less than an inch long. So exciting for the girls! We brought them home and added them to our existing ten-gallon tank, thoughts of Ick whirling through my brain.

Both of our newest fish friends have names, of course: "Orangy" and "PahtootieTah". Other names of our 13(!) fish are "Spot", "King Baggenburger", and "Princess", who is a Kissing Pink variety of somethingorother and seriously follows the other fish around "kissing" them, particularly Orangy and PahtootieTah. (Greg thinks Princess is actually a boy fish, it being springtime and all, but it's impossible to tell.) Our remaining eight fish are guppy-like and it's difficult to tell them apart so they do not have names.

But back to Orangy and PahtootieTah.... so, is anyone else aware that goldfish will grow to whatever size their tank allows? Is this common knowledge? Because I did not know this and now it seems we have a Koi pond in our living room. Seriously. These two fish are growing SO fast and SO large, especially PahtootieTah. He is almost four inches long and almost as wide. When he eats, he lunges and leaps, just like Koi fish in a frenzy when you toss bread crumbs their way in the mall fountain (which is a funny reference only to people who live in Juneau since we have no real malls, let alone fountains! Ha!).

While it's been amazing to watch the growth and interaction, it's starting to be a little alarming. Kind of like when the meddling kids in a movie continue feeding their science project things like acid rain and nuclear waste and pretty soon, you've got yourself a full-blown, lame, B horror flick.

Did I mention we started off with two tiny snails? We now have at least 17. True story.

New furniture!

Well, new to US, anyway. We got a slightly used couch and matching chair/chaise/ottoman dealie off craigslist.com today and we love them. Of course I have yet to make room in the house for these new additions, so I just can't share a picture with you. (Can you say "chaos"?) However, I can tell you that they are the most stylish, modern, even remotely non-80's-looking furniture we've had since we got these two messy kids. The new stuff is recent enough to be trendy but it was cheap enough that if we end up spilling sticky juice on it or wiping peanut butter hands on it, we will still be OK with that.

I spoke too soon. I will absolutely NOT be OK with that.

I really like these pieces. They are very plain, very neutral, but comfy and versatile and the nicest furniture I've had in so, so long. I guess I'm saying I don't want to say "so long" to them any time soon. I told Greg to just stick a bow on them; that's all I wanted for Mother's Day. As soon as I can get things organized how I want them, I'll have a place to entertain. Actually, I've been wanting to have a nice place for a women's bible study, so this could work. Woo hoo!

We are all getting up early for Juneau Appreciation Day tomorrow. Many businesses in Juneau are offering local discounts and specials all day so we are hoping to rake in the free stuff have a lovely family outing.

One of the participants in this super fun day is The Dipac Salmon Hatchery. We will be chowing on their free chili dogs and snacks all day viewing the aquariums and teaching the girls about the life cycle of a salmon. We tend to visit the hatchery several times a year as they present a great spot for field trips. It's a fun place and there is a gift store on their page that you can check out to order fun, Alaskan trinkets, many of which are made in China.

Big day tomorrow. Good times.

I QUIT!!

That's it! I did it.... I nuked my Facebook page! And I feel GREAT!

Seriously, it's been about three weeks now and I can't believe how clean the house is! I do still miss my Scrabble buddies, but I truly feel like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Too bad it didn't lift off my hips.

Being FB-free is freeing and I suggest you give it a try if you find yourself spending WAY too much time there. I'm hoping that I will be able to post more regularly on this blog, but I may become too wordy, because... speaking of regressing even further, technologically-speaking, we are also going back to primarily using 35mm film for picture-taking and memory-saving. We are not techno-heads and we likely never will be. Thus pictures may become scarce here shortly. Did I mention we may also do away with the Internet this fall?

A few more teasers about our life these days:

• Gwen may be homeschooling for first grade.
• Amelia is starting preschool this fall.
• My bulbs from last year are coming up! I feel like I finally have some roots!
• We have tons of trips planned this summer and fall. (POW Island, maybe Kenai, and of course the whirlwind IL/IN/OH/MI/WI/IL adventure extravaganza!)
• I quit my job with the soccer league, effective the end of August.
• Amelia is almost completely potty-trained. (She did it herself in just under four weeks.)
• I'm anticipating SHAPING UP in the next twelve weeks.
• We are still looking for a home church, but are getting closer every week.
• We are celebrating Mother's Day by going shrimping. I hope you are doing something equally fantastic.

Are you still there? Send me a note in the comments if you're still checking in. Maybe I'll just blip this too!

Just kidding.

Or am I?

Waaahhahahhahahahhaaaaa!