Forever Living Irie: Silent prisoner, no more!

For me, President's Day started at 6:52am when hubs called to tell me he was home from work. He's been working different shifts and the night before, he had to work 6pm-6am. You might be wondering why he called to tell me he was home vs. just walking into the boat unannounced, and if that's the case, let me explain. See, all this started back before we lived on a boat. Hubs used to work night shifts and in order for me to feel safe at night and for him not to worry {as much} about me being home alone, he bought me a gun. So that if the need ever arose, I would be able to protect myself. Well, one night he got sick in the middle of the night (at work) and rather than calling to tell me he was coming home early, he just showed up....in the middle of the night! I awake to the sound of someone opening our front door and you better believe I grabbed my revolver and met him at the door. Luckily, there were no injuries, but the lesson was learned and obviously made a huge impression because he doesn't ever walk in unannounced anymore.

So, back to Monday morning.

6:52am | hubs calls & I wake up....well, I start to wake up

7:13am | I actually get out of bed and get dressed

7:33am | we untie from the dock and motor over to the boatyard for a bottom job on the boat

7:45am | we arrive for our boat to be hauled out

8:35am | we spend an absurd amount of money on three cans of paint. seriously, I didn't know paint could cost that much!

{luckily, I only had to climb this ladder once, before they found us a different ladder to use}

8:42am | finally. I have my first {& only} cup of coffee for the day. and we also got some breakfast sandwiches and of course Joe had his coffee....aka a Coke.

8:55am | back to the boatyard.

We had originally planned to stay at a hotel while we had this done. But, because we opted for the better quality (longer lasting) paint, it wound up costing us more than we had budgeted for. It all worked out though, because the owner knew we lived aboard, so he said we could stay on the boat in the boatyard while they did the bottom job. Bonus!

9:01am | they tell us they will be sanding the boat today and dust will be everywhere, so we can either stay on the boat (with everything closed up) or we had to leave the boat for the day. Since Joe had just pulled a 12 hour shift and I had the day off work, we opted to stay on the boat so hubs could sleep.

9:13am | the sanding & blister repairs begin. lots of tapping noises start up.

9:27am | Joe just starts to fall asleep when I hear tap, tap tap....Hmm, do they need us? nah, that's probably just them working. Then they yell for Joe. I guess they do need us. He's now awake, but tells me to go deal with it. I try, but no! They want him.....I'm starting to think people see me and automatically think a delicate flower that couldn't possibly pick up a sixty pound paint can with one hand, much less handle a boat problem. Granted, this particular situation I would've been lost as ever, but that's not the point, this guy didn't know that {or did he}? Anyways, the point is, I'm stronger than I look and I do know ~~most~~, some boat related things!

9:39am | the outside noises begin again, louder than before. I download a white noise app that lets hubs fall asleep to the sound of wind blowing through palm trees with distant thunder in the background. seriously, the best noise! I almost fell asleep a few times...and I had just woke up!

With hubs sleeping and me trapped inside the boat there wasn't a lot I could do that didn't make even more noise. I watched a movie {with earphones}, played a few games on my phone and took a nap, after awhile it just became boring.

I felt like a silent prisoner of my own boat and worse than that, it was a warm sunny day and I couldn't go outside. But they made excellent progress, because that afternoon when we were finally allowed off the boat, they had already sanded the whole bottom and applied the first coat of paint. This is what Irie looked like at that point!

We had to tie the ladder to the boat so no one walked off with it & left us stranded....of course the next morning, we were ladderless anyway. Joe jumped off, but I waited for them to bring me a ladder before I got down.

Day 2 went a lot like day 1, without the absurd amount of money being spent on paint! And best of all, I was able to come and go more freely.

They had to reposition the stands so that they could finish the painting.

We're making progress!!

Day 3 | everything was just about finished, but we had to wait for the paint to dry before they would put her back in the water.

Fresh coat of bottom paint, all done!!

Getting Irie ready to go back in the water...I gotta tell you, this whole process made me a little nervous to watch, but there were no issues....these guys know what they're doing!