Tied Up and Scraped Up!

 
Since sailing last Sunday, a lot has happened and by Saturday morning I was wiped out.  It was my only day off, so I was so thankful to have it and just "chill" and piddle around the house and with our sailboat.

Without getting long and wordy, here's how the week went, in order of events - not good or bad:

Bad News:

• Sluggish boat, needs a dive below in cold, dark waters (hoping for barnacles or something obvious)
• Serious toothache leading to two dental appointments, a root canal and a temporary crown
• Three more dental appointments scheduled for a permanent crown, tooth extraction and deep cleaning to prevent gum disease and tooth loss
• Dental bill of over $1700 with a payment plan of $135 per month ... more bills, but less income - ugh!
• Notice in mail that our medical insurance is renewing at an extra $73 per month, starting in March
• Now it's Friday morning and my only real estate deal is falling apart due to financing .. not another one!

All of this occurred through Friday morning ... no good news in there!

Good news:

• Friday afternoon Ken braved the dark and cold waters and found barnacles on Nirvana's prop and shaft, as well as a line wrapped around her shaft (pictured above).  This was good news because this was easily resolved and Nirvana is no longer sluggish. Woo hoo!  No longer having to worry about major problems and a haul-out!
• My real estate deal was saved after spending the entire Friday afternoon on the phone with my buyer and her lender.  Hallelujah!  I should have a paycheck on March 18th!

Bad news:

• Feeling better about things, Ken and I head to a local parade Friday night only to get side-swiped by a car that just backed right into us! 

Good news:

• I was sure the side of my car was trashed, but it only had a few minor scrapes and scratches.  I decided to "live right" and give the guy a break by not calling the police and getting him a ticket.  However, I did get his insurance information and am hoping that I won't be sorry for being such a "nice girl".

With so much bad news and very little good news, I felt justified to just "chill" on Saturday.  Ken and I started the day with a visit from our friend Ted, aka Mast Monkey (he's for hire).  Ted helped us out by climbing our mast (we don't have steps or climbing equipment yet) and spraying it with lubricant. He also checked out the steamer light to see why it wasn't working.  There was no wire to be found and the bulb looked fine, so we'll have to address that soon.  When we do, we'd like to add spreader lights as well.  Once Ted was back on the ground, he and Ken pulled up the main sail to test it out and see if it went up easier after the mast was lubricated.  There wasn't a huge difference, but the lubricant did seem to help the sail go up a little easier.

Ken and I spent the rest of the morning hanging out back, picking up around the yard and enjoying the day.  After lunch we went to the local fabric store to see about purchasing a piece of foam for our v-berth, as sleeping on it now feels like sleeping on concrete.  We were shocked to find that a 5" piece of foam was $149.00!  Needless to say, we left empty handed.  Once we got home it occurred to us that we had a piece of 5" foam in the attic that we had somehow acquired at one time.  We brought the foam out the attic and figured with some cutting and taping, we could make our own foam mattress topper that would at least be good for now.

Sunday morning Ken and I both had to work, but Ken was able to mess with the auto-pilot motor that came with the boat.  The sellers didn't know if it worked or not, and it doesn't.  However, we're not throwing it away in case we can use some of the parts in the future.  Ken and I also spent the afternoon working with the foam for our v-berth mattress topper.  We're pleased with the results and will have a separate post later this week regarding this little project.

So, now it's Monday and I'm hoping for a better week.  It's gotta be, right?

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!