The Winds of Change - Pt 2

So the boat is "safe" with bilge pumped out and the hubby goes into surgery.  I have some very cute pictures of him before surgery in his sexy little hospital gown that I will refrain from posting……..for now.  They gave him 2 nerve blocks in his shoulder before surgery, b/c the first one didn't work.  And after surgery none of the painkillers or muscle relaxers were working either.

One nurse in the recovery room wasn't exactly the nicest and just wanted to get us out of there.  But the other was a godsend and if I every figure out her name she will receive a large bouquet of flowers.  The Dr, anesthesiologist, and head nurse had all come in and said there was nothing they could do.  But the other nurse had the bright idea to ask if she could try giving him phengrine through his IV.  AND IT WORKED!!!  It had him sleeping like a baby within 30 minutes, which FINALLY allowed his shoulder muscles the time to relax.

Phenegrine coupled with lots of juice over the next week provided him more relief than any of the others prescriptions.  With the hubby sleeping that meant that the Princess could finally catch up on some of her beauty sleep too.

The next couple months were filled with healing and more boat shows.  But unfortunately still no getting back down to Jus'CrewZen to survey the damage.  There was Thanksgiving and Christmas thrown in there for good measure too.

We decided that the room to rent was just too small if we were going to be spending any time in Charlotte together, and since DIY Watermakers is headquartered out of Charlotte we figured we would be spending more time there.  So we found ourselves a "cruiser" for the land, or as some people like to call them RVs.

We still own a house in TX, and with our "home" in Miami, it seemed silly to buy anything in Charlotte.  And I have a problem with wastefulness, so an apartment was totally out of the question.  Just like our boat, the RV almost jumped into our laps and was "perfect" for us.

The Winds of Change

There's a quote out there right?  About "Life is what happens when you're making plans", or something to that effect.  I blogged about the plane crash, but haven't blogged about anything that has really occurred or changed since.  So how about I bring everyone up to speed.

Before the plane crash, the hubby was about to be on his way to Miami, FL to continue moving Jus'CrewZen up the east coast.  We had her on a mooring at Dinner Key while we started up DIY Watermakers and moved our land base from Houston, TX to Charlotte, NC.  Now it was time to get her somewhere around the Myrtle Beach area.  Or so, that was the plan.

Then the plane crash happened and left the hubby with a torn labrum.  Things could have been much worse, so we were thankful that was "big" injury.  But it meant that the hubby would be doing no sailing, motoring, or boat moving in general.  In fact, he was now stuck in Charlotte w/ me 7 days a week in the room I was renting in a young couple's house.  (The room was supposed to be a place to sleep while I worked my M-F, 9-5 job, and then I would head out on the weekends to the coast and my hubby.)

Then came the orthopedic appointments, MRI's, and all that jazz.  About a month to month and a half after the plane crash the hubby and his shoulder were scheduled for surgery.  We were counting down the days to surgery b/c the muscles from his neck, down into his shoulder had been in painful spasms for weeks.  Even the cortisone shot only relieved him for a small period of time, and allowed him to sleep for a night.  The Dr let us know that when a shoulder injury occurs that the surrounding muscles will try and compensate for the pain and in turn end up causing pain themselves.  Not a very pleasant Catch 22, but then are Catch 22s ever pleasant?

The DAY BEFORE his surgery, we received a call saying that Jus'CrewZen had a fire.  With no option of going down to Miami b/c of the muscle spasms and the surgery being scheduled, we felt pretty helpless for awhile.  It turns out the fire was in the engine room, and was put out before causing too much damage (more on that later).  Our biggest problem at this point was pumping out the hundreds upon hundreds of gallons of salt water that they had pumped down into her, to put out the fire.

After a couple of calls we were able to find a man to bring in a battery and a boost pump and empty our bilge.  I'll try and find his information to pass along, but if you every need honest work done in Miami he's the guy to call.

Playing Cinderella Again

In addition to wiping soot and mildew off every single surface on the inside of the boat, I also got to do my FAVORITE task today.  Scrubbing floors….on my hands and knees.  

You see, when they pumped the water into the boat to put out the fire, about 4 inches of it remained standing in our aft cabin.  So after throwing away the carpet in the cabin, I needed to scrub the floors.  And "somehow" our deck brush went missing and I was relegated to using a hand held scrubber.  (I'm still convinced that my hubby had something to do with this…)

Its times like these when I am soooooo happy that the hubby doesn't have the "Cinderellee" song that the little mice sing.  Because I'm almost certain that if he did, he would have been singing it gleefully as I scrubbed.  

We have owned Jus'CrewZen for two years, and I have now scrubbed the floors in the aft cabin twice.  That means that on average I end up scrubbing floors once a year.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.  Scrubbing floors isn't as gross as, let's say "head duty", but it isn't exactly the glamorous life of a Princess if you know what I mean.  

These are the days when I pull on the rubber gloves and long for my tiara that sits just out of reach  **sigh** 

;)

Boat Crafts

My whole life I've enjoyed doing crafts, I've enjoyed decorating, making things pretty.....  And luckily I've actually gotten much better in the past few years than I was when I was in my teens and 20's.  I don't credit this to anything I've done except for taking some "Paint and Sip" classes.  Amazing how much better you paint after a few glasses of wine, and the promise of a sushi bar next door so you can gorge yourself after class until the wine wears off.

Although sometimes horrible accidents take place.....

I took a floral design class in college and even made my own wedding bouquet.

Most recently the hubby and I went on a date night to a glass fusion class.  He only has one good arm right now, so obviously his piece was limited.  (Heehee, I've been asking him if he'd like to go bowling or play pool.)  We get to pick up our finished projects on the 20th, so more pics are coming.

But I think I have some delusional expectations about the amount of craft time that I will have available once I can start cruising full time.  In my brain I picture myself painting on a beach, or from the aft deck.  That I'll have time to arrange flowers and sew all sorts of port coverings for the boat.  But then I have the sneaking suspicion that I won't have much more time for crafts than I do now.  And I'm fairly sure my hubby will tell me we don't have room for craft stuff, but I think I'll keep my delusion around for a bit longer.

What type of crafty stuff do my cruiser friends actually find themselves having time to do?

Mani-Pedi Withdrawal

Warning:  This blog falls into the "Princess" category


From the ripe age of 15 or 16 I have always had my nails done.  Notice I said "had my nails done" NOT "did my nails".  I've always had tiny nail beds and loved the way that fiberglass and solar nails look.  My natural nails will grow, but they grow out at wonky angles and they start curving under on the edges.  Also, I'm pretty bad about breaking a nail and then letting the fact that they're uneven drive me CRAZY.  I've literally broken a nail at the beginning of the day, not had a pair of clippers, and it driven me so bonkers that I trimmed the other 9 nails with a pair of scissors just so they would match lengths.  You may make your jokes about OCD or anal retentiveness now, I have no shame.

Now, I realize that while cruising I am not going to be able to have my nails done and most likely my poor innocent little nails will become less than attractive.  (It's ok little nails, don't cry.)  So I am desperately trying to figure out what to do.  For the past few months I've stopped getting my nails done and been trying "at home" solutions.  "Acrylics" laughed in my face and made jokes about my sculpting skills to "Solars".  **sigh**  Regular Nail Polish, even the good stuff, would chip, crack, and peel within 24 hours IF I managed not to mess them up before they dried.  "Press Ons" - have these ever worked for anyone?  EVER?

So we're left with Gel Nails.  They paint on like polish - sounds easy, right?  You put them under a UV light that "cures" them - and yes, I'm wondering what the AMP draw on that little baby is.  But then it's hardened and stays that way for 2 wks.  No chips, no cracks.  If my nail breaks, it just breaks.  I don't have to worry about fake nails that would rather rip off your entire nail than break.  Sounds like a pretty good deal.  What could go wrong???

So it's question time again.  How do my cruising friends care for their nails?  Have you completely given up or do you have any secret tricks?

P.S.  I did just buy a Pedi Egg for my feet, I think my toenails are at least a battle I can win :)

A New Way of Doing Business

The hubby and I aren't very political.  But one thing we've always felt comfortable being vocal about, was that we wish one candidate would come out and set the bar by stating that he would not say anything negative about his opponent or what his opponent has done.  Instead he would focus on the positive things he's done and will do.  We like to think this would create a new standard.

And maybe it wouldn't and this is just some lofty pipe dream of ours.  But it is the way we've decided to do business, and we're pretty excited that we've seen it in other companies as well.  We've decided that we won't put down or talk bad about any other Watermaker company.  What they say about us, is their own business.  But we're choosing to take the stance that each company has something special to offer.  And we will sell our units by focusing on what we have to offer and NOT by telling you what the other companies don't offer.

We had the pleasure of meeting Rich from Cuise RO at the Annapolis Boat Show and everything we'd heard about him so far was true.  He's a great guy with great products to offer.  We had a customer contact us this week and say that Rich had great things to say about us too, and that spoke volumes to him about both of our companies.  Maybe next time we can actually share a drink with him instead of just dropping off a Bloody Mary and running to pack up and hit the road.

Harvest Festival at Shelton Vineyard

With the craziness of boat shows and TV appearances for the hubby, we have barely had a chance to breathe.  So today we jumped in the car and drove 90 miles north to the Harvest Festival at Shelton Vineyard.

I think here in the Carolinas that the chill may be in the air to stay for awhile, so we started off our visit inside with the wine tasting.  (Hey, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)  We found a really nice Port and the Riesling was pretty good too.  And Port is good for warming up the insides, so after the tour we got a bottle to drink as we enjoyed the festival outdoors.  A tractor pulled us around on a hay ride and we listened to some Bluegrass.  Hubby heard the banjos and got a little nervous…

I saw a shirt with the best saying ever and think I need it as a Christmas gift:
W.I.N.O.S.
Women In Need Of Sanity