Fun Stuff Begins

We participated in the Rosenberg Rangerette Market Days show that we did last year before finding our boat. We didn't do as well though. Hopefully we'll do better in Galveston this weekend...

We're getting a lot done on the boat (I should say BRETT is getting a lot done). After 3 straight days in the bilge, he got the engine installed and aligned. He put in a lot of plumbing to run water to the water pump of the engine.

We found some LED lights from Walmart that we'll use as our salon lights. They were cheap and take almost no power. Brett will wire them into the inverter.

I washed the boat last week and boy was it dirty!! It looks fantastic now! What a difference!

I pulled out the winch pockets and cowling vents to wash and paint. A job I can do. They are usually white, hard plastic. Ours were BLACK with mold and dirt inside and out. I scrubbed them and soaked them. I now am going to go get some bleach and soak again. Then, I'll sand and paint them. They are quite expensive so saving the three winch pockets is invaluable. We are desperate for some solar vents because we have openings that leak. But they are about $160 each. Ouch. We'll get them eventually though. We have one window lense for our opening ports that needs replacing already too. Jose had put in two opening ports (Brett has to reinstall them properly) and one of them has a broken hinge already. So we have to do that before we use the boat. Things here and there. There is a lot of odd and end stuff that most people would get overwhelmed at. But we are definitely coming along. Brett still feels confident we can be ready to leave by March 27th.

A few months ago, I ordered a small RV bathroom faucet that has a shower adapter on it so we can just attach a shower hose to the faucet instead of plumbing a shower in.

Last night, I ordered a used stainless steel sink off of Ebay for only $9.62 and $10 for shipping! Pretty cheap and it's an industrial sink. Sinks average $70 to $300. We haven't decided if it's going in the head or the galley yet.

The other sink will be a hand-painted ceramic sink from Mexico off of Ebay. They are beautiful and will really give a special touch to the boat.

I just ordered a beautiful stainless steel faucet off of Ebay this morning. It's amazing how much cheaper stuff is when it does NOT say Marine on it!

This faucet for the galley has everything we both want. I wanted two handles instead of one swivel handle, we both wanted a curved faucet and stainless/brass and Brett wanted a sprayer. I also got it with a soap dispenser which I think is invaluable on a boat so we don't have a bottle floating around on the counter all the time. So now all we need for the plumbing is (of course, the hoses/valves) the ceramic sink and 2 hand/foot manual pumps (1 for salt water at the galley, 1 for manual fresh at the galley. Those are spendy so I am not sure when we'll get those. But the running faucets will get us moved in anyway.

Brett started on the galley yesterday. He put in the sub-

flooring. It's great, now I can really see the outline of the galley! We still have enough teak/holly scrap to lay in there so we only need to buy one sheet of $150 teak/holly for the salon. It's great how we keep getting blessed with these kinds of things... It's really exciting to see the galley getting started.

We are also taking a look at building a cockpit table that folds down on the binnacle. My grandfather sent us a beautiful piece of Mahogany that will probably work beautifully for it but we have to do some more designing so it fits properly. A cockpit table is very important for us as this will be where we spend a lot of our time. Brett can build a beautiful wooden one. Online, they range from $250-$700!

Brett got asked to do a big boat job yesterday. So he is over at the boat yard now working on it. A swing keel broke the fiberglass of the bottom of the boat!! Ouch! So Brett has to squeeze into the casing with his grinder and grind a lot and then re-glass the casing where the keel goes. HUGE job. The owner is so happy to find someone who can do it around here though. So that will help with the money we didn't make in Rosenberg. Whew. God always takes care of us....

I have been really anxious, stressed and worried lately. I think there is so much going on with the boat, money, jewelry shows, holidays, etc that I am letting it get to me. I need to find a way to relax and not worry so much... I was doing pretty good until I ran into bank problems and now I am wound up tight again... I need to learn to trust God again, that He'll take care of us like he always has.

I am gearing up for our huge show in December, the Dickens on the Strand- Victorian themed. Brett made me buy blue fabric for the skirt so I'd be happier with the color choice. I had Mom get me a green skirt at Goodwill but worried about the colors. But I found some blue China Silk for $1.97 a yard so I will sew that to the green skirt. It's thin, so the green skirt will give it form and warmth. (Sorry, Mom). I had some dark blue material already I was going to use for my cape but it's not wide enough. This costume thing has been SO stressful for me because it needs to look NICE since my jewelry is nice but I can't stand the thought of paying $250 for a nice costume... It's been very stressful. I have been actually having nightmares about this show! LOL I still need to make a bonnet too. Hopefully I can pull this blue material together into a pretty costume. We'll see...

The weather is still HOT and humid down here. I actually have the air conditioner on today!!! OMG! Isn't that crazy? It's not usually this hot I guess. Nothing has been normal for weather here this year.

Well, I'd better go get to cleaning up the boat again while Brett is away. Go to clean his mess. It's my specialty now adays. LOL

Love y'all and pray you are all doing well! I know a lot of my family and friends have been sick in that nasty weather you're all having in Oregon. Please get better and stay healthy. Love you all.