Friday, November 22, 2013

Killing time.

It's seems the past year we have just been waiting for the days to pass. Miserable in this posting we are just trying to kill time until we can get out of here. Killing time between off rotations when work can get done on the boat killing time until Christmas... Just seems I'm just abiding until the next thing happens, but the next thing comes and it seems we,re just waiting for the next thing. I don't like the feeling that I'm just waiting my life away.
This past week has been particularly difficult, Marks motorbike and only means of transportation to work, was broken AGAIN, which means he steals my truck and only means of transportation and leaves me stuck out in this horrible woods alone with the three kids. Seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me. 

To pass the time I've been baking for Christmas, crocheting funny hats for the kids.

Mark finally finished the tiling on the boat, looks good.

Packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and dropping them off in Burlington, WA.

We are currently in another off oration where mark has a few days off so he's been trying to get time on the boat but unfortunately it's hard when we barely see him all week, we of course want to see him when he's off but kids and the boat don't mix when it's such a disaster down there. Here we are having ice cream after a boat work trip was cut short because of a dock cart mishap. Finn and Mac were in the front of the cart when Ash hopped out the back, thus making the cart tip forward, trapping Finns fingers between the edge of the cart and the dock, he peels a couple layers of skin off his fingers.

Of course ice cream fixes even the worst of boo boo's.

Finns expression when I turned the iPad camera around so he could see how messy his face was.

Glacier slow, we are getting minuscule things done on the boat. The wood stove shelf is done and now we need to install the stove, get some chimney pipe, drill a hole in the deck for the pipe to come out of, we would do this now but we need to wait until next payday, Christmas shopping sure puts the squeeze on the wallet. I hate delays, but it always adds up, it's not just the chimney pipe we need to buy, it's heat proof silicone, it's a four inch hole drill bit, a diamond drill bit to drill anchor holes through the porcelain tile on the shelf, it just all adds up quick.
But soon we will be switching our sights onto the head reno and plumbing (oh Lord help us). Unfortunately do to a gross miscalculation we currently have two 55 gallon hard moulded plastic water tanks and no place to put them, we meant to get 35 gallon but now we can't return them. So what to do? We decided to try and put them in the amas rather than the engine compartment aft, which actually is a better arrangement but they are too big to get in there as well, they'd fit in if we could have built the boat around them but there is no way they can get through the hatch opening accessing the amas, certainly not without doing major structural reconstruction on the boat which ain't gonna happen. So now we are investigating plastic welding, we can't alter the boat, so we alter the tanks, we need to cut about a foot off of the length of the tanks and weld the end back on. DIY? Or Hire a professional?
I guess it will all come down to money. Doesn't it always?

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Construction



For the past two off rotations in Marks work schedule he has been tirelessly working on SweetHaven remodelling the area where the wood stove will be put. The two pictures above are the before pictures and I do have to admit right now they look much better than they currently are, but we are still a work in progress. The space we are working on is where the counter is on the starboard side, across from the galley, where the drop in fridge is.

So we ripped out the whole cabinet where the fridge was, that fridge did not work and it took up way too much space, when we did rip it out all the foam insulation so behind it was moldy so I'm glad we did get rid of it. As much as we like having more space there we obviously needed to repurpose that area as efficiently as possible and since we are installing a proper fridge actually in the galley area we decided the best use of that space would be for the wood stove. It was also the only good place for the stove because it places the chimney in a great location on deck, out of the way of any lines or hardware.

This is where the electrical box is, on a little counter above the place where the cold fridge cabinet was, while we are doing some rewiring we needed to fashion a better box to hold all that mess. Just behind the box is the starboard aka cabin, which will be Aislinns room.

We build a small handling locker with the top being a chart table/extra counter space, it is against the bench seating.

Here is the new electrical box, a bit smaller than the last thing that was there, which was also made out of some kind of cardboard it seemed. And we build a wall to block off Aislinns cabin, on the other side of that wall is shelves for her to keep her little treasures. We make no claims that we are builders in any way, shape or form, it's ain't going to be pretty but it works.

Next was to build the shelf for the wood stove to stand on. A lot of research went into figuring out how to have a cast iron wood stove installed in such a small space, making a heat shield to allow us to have only two inch clearance from the stove and the walls rather than the ten inches required for unprotected areas. Here we have a plywood shelf with cement board platform and porcelain tiles. The heat shield on the sides are made of cement board and will be tiles with glass. We have stainless steels tubing to provide a one inch spacer to hold the board away from the wall.

Still have some tiling to do.

We made the space under the shelf into a bin to hold wood.

The stove will be sitting on the platform below with the chimney coming up between the newly built wall and the electrical panel so we decided to tile the new wall and that whole area, also a good way to get some decor aspects rather than just white painted plywood. 


Still working on it, more pictures, hopefully of it all completed to come soon.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

What is up with that?

What is up with the pace? 
Things are starting to bug me. I'm am getting bugged by how little time we seem to be able to find to spend on the boat. It's very frustrating how slow things are coming along, the progress is almost non existent and I am trying to adopt the attitude, "there's no rush." When in truth there is no rush except for the one I feel internally. I of course see work that needs to be done and I want it done. Now.
While Mark is busy working to pay for all this I am stuck in the house, I feel stuck out here in the woods, I am keeping busy with the everyday stuff, cleaning, cooking, homeschooling, party planning, Christmas prepping, etc, etc. But I want to be at the boat, scraping, painting, getting it done and it drives me crazy that I can't.

What is up with the dog?
Since we moved to this horrid place the dog has gone haywire. The summer of ticks and a nonstop round of fleas, the constant fear of little-dog-eating predators around here, strange cysts that keep popping out on her back and now for the past month, we switched her food to some great organic super healthy, best brand of dog food you can buy and she has lost weight, I can see her ribs and her bony little backbone and now she has stopped eating completely. (Except for the random crayon she finds lying around.) it's starting to freak me out. I have never been to the vet more times in my life than I have in the past few months and it seems we'll be having another visit soon. I hate living here in the country, I hate what it's doing to me, to my gas bill and now to my dog.




What is up with the plumbing?
If there is one thing I know I will miss about boat living is baths. The nights I don't go out in our hot tub I take a bath. A few nights ago I was pouring my bath, hopped in with my book and tea and started reading while I waited for it to fill. Once I felt it was high enough I looked away from my book to turn off the taps and saw myself floating in a merky pool of sludge. I don't think I have moved that fast... Ever. Still waiting for the landlord to get back to me on what is up with his house and what he intends to do about it.






Lastly, what is up with my goofy kids?
Thankfully in my world, of suffocating trees, snail paced boat renovations, dogs not eating and bathtubs corroding around me, I have three munchkins who don't seem to be touched by it all. Smiles with chocolate moustaches says it all.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

A Week of Firsts.

This has been a busy week, the children's birthdays usually make this time of year a rat race. My parents came down from Victoria, BC for the occasion, and was the first time my mom saw SweetHaven. Unfortunately my mom is not our biggest supporter, and I don't believe she was impressed.


Unfortunately because I was so wrapped up in birthday celebrations I completely forgot to sign the kids up for the next round of swimming lessons and by the time I remembered the classes were all full, so we too the kids to an open swim on Sunday so they could each try out their new wet suits they received for their birthdays.

                                            

                                            

Another first this week, now that Finnegan is four years old he took his first class of Tae kwon do. He has been excited for weeks in anticipation of this event. Everyday it was, "I get to start Tae kwon do because I'm four!" So going off his excitement we paid his first full month, bought him a uniform but the day of his first class arrived and the excited boy was now digging in his feet. He refused to join the other kids, screamed and cried and clung to dear life to marks legs, how embarrassing. After five minutes of making a scene we took him back to the truck for a stern talk and some threatening with no more iPad time and bribing with ice cream and a toy if he was good and participated. Half way through the class red eyed and snuffling Finn took the instructors hand and joined the other kids.
All it took was his first side kick and he was happy. We knew he wanted to do this but what he put himself and us through just to get him over his apprehension. Sometimes we have to be tough to get them to get over themselves so they can do what we know they will really love. You can tell my his smile at the end of class how
 much he loved it, our little ninja.
 
This is our first birthday party here in Whidbey, we miss our friends from back home, the great group of kids from our church who have been attending our kids birthday parties since Finnegan's first. But being such a small group of Canadians working here, we have a tight group of families here who graced our party with their presence and we all had fun.

                                                
This year was a pizza party theme, it's getting harder to find unisex themes since Aislinn and Finn share a party. This was a good one, we had 13 children come and they all made their own pizzas.
                                               
                                                          Birthday girl was so excited.
                                        
                               The cookie pizza table, they each decorated one to take home.
  Thanks to being gluten free I have to be the cake decorator in the family, Finnys ninja turtle cake he requested and Aislinns girly cake, thank goodness for easy to make marshmallow fondant.


                                   

                                   

                                    
                                                                   All our little chefs.


Thankfully the hectic time has slowed somewhat as we can now focus on gearing up for Christmas. Work continues very slowly on the boat. Now that the temperatures are dropping here we have shifted our focus on building a shelf so we can install skippy (our wood stove).

Friday, November 1, 2013

Hectic weekend. Halloween.

Fall is always a busy time in our family. Once October hits we have event after event. Starting with Canadian Thanksgiving then Halloween then Aislinn and Finns birthdays in the first week of November. Now that we are in the States we have American Thanksgiving then a hop, skip and a jump to Christmas. After Christmas of course is New Years and then Macs birthday the end of January. February hits with Valentines day, then Mark and my anniversary and this year we have a two months vacation to Florida the end of that month. It just seems that once October comes, we are in a steady jog from one thing to the next until about Easter. I find it very hectic and tiring and expensive. I wish we had more presence of mind to actually try and plan our kids birthdays, maybe spread them out a bit, I would love to plan a birthday party in the summer, so much easier. November is too cold for an outdoor party and your options are so much more limited to what you can do inside.

Boat related, we have reached the end of our free spending. Our budget has been exhausted. Thankfully I think we have bought all the major, expensive items that we deemed necessary, now we are living from pay to pay to pick up the little odds and ends that we need to actually complete these projects, extra wiring, screws and nails and so on. But now that we have reached the first of November and are in the throngs of birthday planning and gift buying we are feeling the squeeze, financially. The added expenses of a boat loan and marina fees and of course Marks motorbike and only means of transportation to work decided to break down, it's starting to get uncomfortable. But honestly it's the same every year this time, but this time I am going to try to not let the stress get to me and try to enjoy all the fun family times we have coming up, after all, it's only money.

Our recent trip to the boat, Ash and Finn holding hands on their way down the docks, fast friends, for today at least.

Slow poke straggling behind, less thrilled.

When we left the boat to head home, Mac stripped off his life jacket and made a beeline for the truck, think he forgot something.

                                                 
                                           Makes me think of The Wizard of Oz, he melted.

                                      
Captain America, sitting through his siblings Tae kwon do class before he can go trick or treating.
                                   
                                     
Superheroes and a fairy, ready to save the world from all the unwanted candy out there.

Boo.