Boats vs. Campers

We were driving down, er maybe it was up, Interstate 45 the other day and I saw this brand new, fifth-wheel camper. It was a beautiful, 40 footer....pure camping bliss!  I looked at Joe and said, "I'm so glad we switched from buying campers to buying boats." And Joe, {not missing a beat} says,  in his best narrator voice,

"With campers it's all about the destination, with a boat, it's all about the journey!! ....there's no fun in taking your camper out for a drive." I love that man!!! <3

Tonight, we heard this song while out to dinner. I have listened to it hundreds of times before and never once thought I would one day be 'sailing my vessel'.....Oh, but I am so glad we are!!

http://youtu.be/FuO3FhA3PWc

Making boat life simpler

Let's face it, no one loves laundry day, but it's a part of life that never goes away.  Whether you live in a house, on the street, or on a boat....there's always clothes that need washing. It was a sad, sad day, when my beautiful, front-loading washer & dryer and I parted ways! :{ 

I knew, even if I could manage to fit them on the boat, they'd most likely sink us. So I said my goodbyes and was smart enough to leave them with my mom, so at least I could visit them from time to time! ; ) 

Now that we live here, I have to take our clothes to the on-site laundromat. And after lugging our costco-sized, jug of detergent {because of course, we had just stocked up on all our household items a week before we found out we were moving} up there with approx. 3 loads of laundry in tow, a few times, I decided, never again were we buying the liquid detergent, unless it was in individual-use packets.....and who has money for that?! Not I. 

Amazingly, I found Tide powder on sale for pretty cheap, so yeah, I bought it and kept it in the trunk of my car until we'd used up the liquid stuff. Well, almost all the liquid....I'm sure we'll use it all up once we run out of the Tide. 

My sister actually gave me the great idea of putting a loads worth of soap into small ziplock bags....so, that is what I did! 

Less than five minutes of effort and now I have my own version of individual-use, laundry, detergent packets!! 

Laundry days are a little lighter with these bags, versus the whole jug/box of detergent in tow. I just grab one for each load and the clothes and we're off for our dock walk to the marina laundromat! 

I know what I mean...

Like earlier today, when I said I need to look up the Lincoln MKZ online to see what the inside looks like. In my mind, I knew I meant the Catalina MK II, but we've had so many cars & trucks in the past, I guess my brain automatily went to vehicles. Joe just looked at me, but I know he knows what I mean, he just likes to point out when I say the wrong thing. 

Of course we are already looking for our next boat, but I think that's the norm for most boaters & live aboards! Besides, if you don't have a dream, are you really living? We not only dreamed a dream, we are some of the lucky few that get to live our dream and we're not turning back now! 

Nightly V-Berth Disputes

Most nights, ok, every night, we have the same dispute...."I don't have any covers" and/or "I only have this much{hands gesturing approximately, a foot & a half} room". 

We do have two cabins on the boat but the v-berth cabin is slightly bigger{yet, oddly shaped} & a little more user friendly than the aft cabin, so we sleep in the v-berth. 

Pre-story....back on land | Hubs' insists on sleeping with a body pillow{which I've dubbed as Bertha(strangely enough, she was given said name long before we even had the boat & slept in a v-berth)}. Bertha got on my nerves in a normal bed on land. When we were packing,  I told Joe there wasn't going to be enough room for all three of us on a boat...one of us was going overboard & it wasn't going to be me! I vaguely remember Joe, at this point, muttering my words back to me while making his mimicking  faces{something my oldest brother used to do to me...he knew what buttons to push & I wouldn't talk to him for hours}. Needless to say, that conversation didn't go any further....

Back to the boat | Somehow, Bertha made it on board....but I don't think that Joe should get 2/3's of the bed just because he chooses to have a huge pillow. I say, split the bed down the middle & if you want more room, get rid of Bertha! It only looks like I have more room because I don't have a body pillow taking up half of my side. 

Another Bertha drawback is the covers: he says, I take them all, but Bertha is the one that's wrapped up in them{usually a few times}. 

The other night I woke up around 3am because I didn't even have enough room to turn over! I opened my eyes to see this: 

That's right! Knowing full well he'd never believe me in the morning, I took a picture for proof!! A picture is worth a thousand words and those words tell me, him & Bertha are taking up most of the bed! 

The original Captain Ron sailboat, here at our marina….

The Wanderer is currently docked at our marina and looking a lot like it did in the beginning of the movie, Captain Ron ….maybe even worse! 

A few close-up shots....

That boat is in need of some serious restoration, and I use the word, some very loosely!! :/

If you've never seen Captain Ron you should definitely watch it!! It's release date was 1992, so you'll most likely need to order it off Amazon{unless you've got an awesome, sailor friend you can borrow it from}. Seriously, funny movie Corny & old school? Yes, but funny nonetheless!! : )

Boat Project #1 - icebox to mini-fridge

When we bought Irie she was outfitted with an icebox in the galley. For those of you who think like me, this is not an old-fashioned name for a refrigerator, like something my Mamaw & Papaw would have said. Quite the opposite in fact! An icebox is, literally, a box that holds ice....and food/drinks. Anything you want to keep cold, not frozen, just cold....as long as you keep adding ice, that is. 

That is my galley. The red arrow is pointing to the location of said icebox, not easily reached as you may notice. After weeks of wasting money on ice and throwing out food and fussing {almost} every time I had to get something out of there....hubs decided we should buy a fridge. I, for one, did not oppose his decision. Now, we had to go with a mini fridge because well, our whole lifestyle has gone mini....mini house, mini storage, mini rooms, mini kitchen....you get the picture! We had only one place that we could make the fridge work, but we would have to remove these three drawers....that were currently holding dishes. 

I decided I wanted a fridge more than I wanted three drawers and that is what I got....thanks to a little room on a credit card! ....Here's hubs installing my darling, new, mini-fridge!! 

Of course, I didn't get pics of him actually cutting the whole bigger to make room for our new fridge, but that's probably because I was busy holding my nose from the horrible smells.....FYI - fiberglass stinks something awful when being sawed into. 

Here is an awkward shot of our newly installed fridge!!! Ain't she a beauty?!?! The only drawback I've noticed thus far, is, when your local grocery store has 1/2 gallon Blue Bell on sale for only $2.99 and your mini fridge has an even mini'er freezer.....it's times like that that make me miss having a freezer, but I suppose that's a whole other post & most likely, a whole other boat away. 

You maybe wondering where the dishes are being stored now that we took out the drawers. Turns out, that icebox is pretty handy for storing dishes! And, it holds way more than those three drawers, combined. I'd say that's a win-win!!

Who knew I'd miss our tiny boat?!?!

I am ready to see my hubs & get back on the boat! Visiting with family and meeting my 1-day-old niece was great & I'm so glad I got to go, but I miss life on the water with my man!  

A few observations from being back on land:

1.) I still bump my head, though not as much as on the boat, it does still happen 

2.) toilet flushing is way easier on land than on a boat

3.) surprisingly, being in a big house that's fully furnished & decorated didn't make me miss my "things" like I thought I would....which is good, since we sold all our "things" 

4.) daily tasks are easier on land, but I wouldn't trade my boat for it in a million years