Changes for the Holidays

Here's the New Mixing Elbow Beside the Old Mixing Elbow
. . . Which Would You Rather Have? 

   Our life afloat this year has thrown us quite a few curve balls, some good and some we definitely could have done without. The hardest hitting of these, of course, being our engine refusing to run for 6 months.  Despite this set back, and, in fact, partially because of it, we are welcoming a few major and positive changes into our lives that we are very thankful for.

   I hinted at a job change in my last post.  Ironically, our engine problems might have drained our funds and caused us to join the workforce again but, if we hadn't been forced to stop we never would have met up with George (aka Jorge).  This is the same guy that we had the pig roast with a few months back.  . . . You see, we met George in the marina that we were initially towed to when we got into Florida.  He had a new boat he knew nothing about and Bill offered to help him fix a few a few problems on it.  This lead to Bill helping out at George's custom metals shop, which, in turn, lead to a very handsome job offer.  The offer?  To be George's right hand man to supervise jobs here and abroad (since a lot of the work is done in foreign ports).  This means that we will not only be able to recoup our finances but, we can do it much faster and get some of the items on our "to do someday" list checked off before we set sail again. 

   I also have some changes coming in the way of a job or should I say jobs . . . Working at West Marine was never supposed to be a long term thing for me.  If someone had told me in June that we would be spending this much time in Florida, I wouldn't have believed them.  However, since it looks like we'll be hanging around for a while, I would rather be putting my time into something I actually enjoy.  Don't get me wrong; working a register isn't all that terrible but, I am a teacher after all.  So, I have accepted a job as a tutor for a Huntington Learning Center not too far from where Bill is working in Miami.  I am also in the process of transferring my employment from the West Marine in Ft. Lauderdale to one of the Miami locations.  This will allow me to split my week between the two jobs, spending time working with students and holding on to that coveted employee discount.  I simply couldn't pass it up; We do live on a boat after all and the discount really is that significant.

The Closest Empty Slip Is Where We'll  Be

   Now . . . Since these jobs are in Miami, we obviously cannot keep the boat where it is either; the commute just wouldn't work. So, we have arranged to move the boat to a slip in the Miami area.  It's right on the Miami River in a really nice part of town and we'll be paying almost half of what we're paying now.  With the engine running, moving is a no-brainer . . . And speaking of moving . . . Our commutes to work will now be much easier because . . . We bought a car!  I know, I know, it doesn't fit on the boat . . . But, we really did need something to drive around with both of us working.  . . So we'll work out the logistics of how we can both get to work, enjoy the new ride, and, when we leave, we'll sell it.

You Get Creative With
Space on a Boat

   This year was also the first Thanksgiving that we cooked everything on the boat.  Last year we were living on the boat but, went to Bill's sister's house for dinner. So, we cooked and brought a few dishes but, certainly not the entire meal.  This year was different.  If you have kept up with the blog or have spent any time with us at all, you know that Bill and I like to cook from scratch; anything pre-packaged is avoided and used as a last resort.  (Please don't think this snobbish; we simply wish to make conscious food choices.)  So, for our Turkey day, everything from the green bean casserole to the pumpkin pie to the bird itself was cooked with only fresh ingredients (the only can we bought was the evaporated milk for the pie) using our little 3-burner stove/oven in our teeny, tiny galley . . . And we even got everything to the table so that nothing was cold . . . Perfectly timed . . . Let's see Martha Stewart do that . . .

The Bird with Stuffing

 

 

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Bill's Pull Apart Rolls

For the Pumpkin Pie, Bill Roasted a Pumpkin in the oven . . .
No Canned Stuff Here

 

The Final Result

   So, . . . I'm sure with all these changes, you're wondering when we plan on actually leaving . . . And the truth is that we don't know . . . I guess the nondescript answer is that we'll leave when it makes sense; when our finances look much better and our to-do list looks a little smaller. . . Until then, we'll keep enjoying the positives.



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