Big Girl Room

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been very busy with new endeavors. But I have a moment today and thought I should update the posts. Our big girl has graduated from the tiny bed(room) to the actual big girl room - aft cabin - complete with bed, shelves, cupboards, and even a little bit of floor space! Wow, it was way past time. I wish we had done this a year ago. We can actually leave lights on and watch the television at audible levels after our darling is asleep. Something we haven't done in over 3 years! Living aboard has always been great but it just got better! We have our living room back :)
First shot - the old 'room'. She's as long as the bed!

Second shot - the new room. So girlie!!
Third shot - one happy girl!

"Racing" stripes

Got kicked off while I was posting the other day. So here's the last in the painting series. The stripes. After we completed the water line stripe, we decided the top stripe didn't need to be as wide as previous. She looks so beautiful now with the water reflecting from her hull. Something we had never seen before, with the old oxidized paint. When it stops raining (one day) we will try to get a shot from the dinghy as Atlantic Grace floats at the dock.

Antifouling

Antifouling done. Yes, that is a red patch on the bottom starboard. But it's all antifouling. Who's looking except the fish?

White hull

When she was all white, we thought we were finished. But we had a bit of time, so we kept going.

Painting... painting... painting

Next came the full coat of gray. We painted from the bottom up past the water line then from the top down past the water line, thus ensuring extra coats where

needed. And, man, did she ever look like a battleship all in gray.

Incredible.

Painting

Here's the bottom first with the clear sealer over the steel then with the first coat of white

primer. You can see the yellowing of the sealer as it went over the older paint above the water line.

Scraping

When Cos first saw what he was going to have to do, he was a bit discouraged. But hard work paid off and in just over a week, he had the bottom clean and ready for painting. Long, hard days.

Haul Out

There she is, getting lifted from the water. It's just an unnatural sensation, seeing your boat floating... on air.














There was a bit of ice damage at the water line but for the most part, even the anti-fouling held up very well. The black you see is the last coat we put on 7.5 years ago before launching.














She's a heavy boat. at 44,000 lbs, it looked almost as though the wheels on the travel lift were going to bust.

Working Vacation

We were 'on the hard' for a couple weeks and just relaunched this past Monday. It was time (way past time) for some bottom maintenance and we had yet to put our own paintjob on the hull above the water line. So out it came. While toddler and I spent just over a week at the cottage, dear Cos scraped the bottom of the boat down to bare steel. Then, once grandparents were available to stay with our princess, I joined Cos for the painting portion of the project. It was quite a job. On bare steel, Cos applied an epoxy sealer. Then it was three coats of epoxy primer on the bottom and two coats of epoxy primer on the sides. We overlapped the top and bottom coats to thicken it up at the water line. Then we applied a two part epoxy finish coat from the water line up. Antifouling went on the bottom next, with a double coat near sensors and at the water line. Finally, we used a one part finish paint to add back the 'racing stripe' (LMAO) and an additional stripe just above the water line. We always thought she was a pretty boat. But, my goodness, what a fresh coat of paint can do! Just beautiful. It's like falling in love all over again.

I'll post some pictures of the work from haul-out to completion.

Storm Beauty

Last night, we "raced" (no we didn't speed... we can't afford the gas these days) down the 400 with the threat of a major storm visible to the west of us for the entire journey. Extreme thunderstorm warnings were issued as well as tornado watches for the entire area. To the west of us, 'tornadic' activity had been spotted. We just wanted to get home, and unload the car, before the skies opened up. We saw downed and uprooted trees along the way. It didn't look promising. But true liveaboards never run from a storm. In fact, most liveaboards WILL race home when a storm is coming, just to tie an extra line or to make sure everything is battened down. While most people will jump at the chance to leave their home when bad weather is coming, a liveaboard will cancel plans in order to stay home. That doesn't mean I like to stay in when the boat is tossing and turning on a nasty day. Quite the opposite. I've explained to my dear man that when other people cosy up at home with their children because they would never think of taking them out in this weather, that is when I take my toddler to the closest mall. Nothing like unsteady, rolling, tossing floors to upset a toddlers fine sense of 'balance'. But we don't venture far.

Well, we got home and unloaded the car with big fat drops of rain falling slowly around us. The kind of raindrops you can almost dodge, if you're stealthy enough, but will blind you temporarily if one gets you in the eye. It was a race, or so we thought. Got everything inside and even managed to set up the air conditioner (supposed to be some humid day today), with no big rainfall. Then it stopped. Nothing. No rain. No thunder. No storm. I'm not complaining. Quite the opposite. What happened next was just one of God's great gifts to us. And I got pictures. I brightened up a couple of them so you could see the colours better. But I left one darker so you could better appreciate how it really looked. The rainbow seemed to appear in the midst of a very dark and turbulent sky. True beauty.

Funny of the day

We moved our boat from our winter slip to our gorgeous summer slip with a view. We were tying everything in place and Christina, who MUST help whenever possible, was holding the line for a bumper while daddy moved some dock lines around.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Christina dropped the extra large bumper into the lake with a big splash. It was between the boat and the dock so no big panic.
While I continued what I was doing I called out to her and said that she shouldn't drop it in the lake because it might float away.
Suddenly I felt a comforting hand on my back and I heard her gently say,
"It's okay Mommy. We have more clean ones on the boat."

Spring

Spring, for us, has officially sprung.
The plastic cover came down in record time this past Friday. C made some minor alterations to the frame for next years cover. Then the lumber came down on Saturday. It feels so different, now that we're out of our plastic bubble. A little vulnerable, I guess. Definitely more aware of what I'm wearing as I wander around near the big pilot house windows.
We had one almost mishap with the cover coming down.
When the cover goes up, one of the stays gets moved in order to make a bigger doorway. When C went to move it back to it's proper location, he forgot to tie off the triatic. I was inside cooking supper when I heard a loud and urgent sounding bang on the cabin side. I quickly ran up the ladder to hear C saying, "grab that blue line, quick". That's when I realized that our mizzen mast was slowing lowering itself down, rotating on it's pedestal. Oops! I quickly grabbed the line and easily righted the mast. Seems the whole process of self-lowering our mizzen is even easier than we thought it might be.
Considering C got off of nightshift that morning and had not slept in well over 24 hours, I think we can let the little error go. Whew!
Oh, and need I say, we had a little audience for this. A couple of racers who NEVER make mistakes, of course. Does anyone else find that whenever something goes amiss, there's is always an audience?
Anyway... yeah!!!!! Cover is down!!!!
Now if only that guy would move out of our summer spot so we could go back to our million dollar view at the end of the dock.

Tears of Joy

Our little girl is a liveaboard baby. If I had any doubt in my mind, she cleared it for me.

We came home from the cottage, after an extended stay. When we arrived, I took her out of the car and said, "Look, there's your boat!". All was quiet. We walked down the dock and as we got closer I repeated, using words she will often use, "Look, there's boaty!". Again, quiet.

I put her on board and turned to see what hubby was carrying. When I turned back, she had her head down on the cabin top and she was sobbing loudly, with tears streaming down her face. I instantly thought she must have hurt herself and ran to her asking what was wrong.

Through her sobs, and after many repeats, I finally understood what she was so emotional about. She said, "I missed boaty for such a long, long, long time" and she continued to sob. I carried her inside and we cuddled. I sat on her bed with her and she suddenly perked up and asked if I would like to see her treasures. Then she proceeded to show me every little toy or nick nack that surrounded her bed, piling it all up in the centre, telling me all about each piece. She was so incredibly happy to be home.

A drama queen, for certain. But with all the comments about how happy she is to have all that space at the cottage, we begin to question if we are providing enough for her. Thank you, baby girl, for answering the question.

Close calls

I don't have any pictures to share for this one. You probably wouldn't want to see this anyway. I just have to take a moment to be grateful for fire/smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and my insitinctive ability to remain calm.
Yes, we had a fire... on the boat... in the middle of the night while we slept.
It seems some insulation around our furnace exhaust loosened and slipped away. The the heat from the exhaust gradually and unrelentingly (?) took hold of the wood panel mere inches away. In hindsight, it seems this process took several days. I recall having noticed an odor then dismissing it because it went away. I think it was the beginning of the smouldering.
The alarm went off at 12:30 am. My first groggy thought was "turn that thing off before it wakes C". Then Cos jumped up and quickly scanned the space heaters. Nothing there. He turned on a light and the beginnings of smoke could be seen curling down from the pilot house.
Without word or thought, Cos did what he had to do, and I did what I had to do. I grabbed C's swimming towel. It has a little hood. I wet the hood then quickly pulled the towel over her body with the hood on backwards. Then I scooped her up and out of the boat as quickly as possible. Once on deck, I heard as Cos pulled the pin from the extinguisher. It was just like that little metallic sound you hear in war movies when someone pulls the pin from a handgrenade. Then I heard the spray. It lasted a couple seconds then the 10 lb extinguisher was spent. Cos brought out the dog, then blankets, coats, shoes, and my purse. Then he went back in and made sure the fire would not reignite by pulling the furnace off its base and putting soaked towels over the still smouldering wood. We sat in the car and debated what should happen next. After about an hour had passed, Cos came back in to grab some of our smoky clothes. He reinstalled the batteries in the smoke detector and it stayed off. The fire was definitely out. Cos opened every window on the boat and we spent the weekend at the cottage doing laundry. Clothes, curtains, upholstery, stuffed animals... anything washable. Cos came down on Sunday to start the cleaning process. I joined him mid-week while C stayed at the cottage with my parents. We cleaned and painted just about everything. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the smell of smoke is gone. It's hard to know because once you get that smell in your nostrils, you notice it all the time. We have all been home for a week now. Not everything is completely done, but close. The place looks great. Better than ever. I will post pictures of the cleaned up boat as soon as I get totally organized.
As frightening as it was, I'm glad we were here. We both handled it well. I never felt that C or I were in danger at all. I was more concerned about Cos going back in time and again while the smoke was clearing. If this had happened while we were away, the boat likely would have sunk before anyone noticed it was on fire. The marina security guard drove past me twice while the smoke billowed out from our cover but he never seemed to notice. I should mention that this night-time guard is here temporarily to keep an eye out specifically for fire while work is being done on the sprinkler system in the marina. Hmmm.
As hectic and crazy as life gets... as much as we wish for calm... I believe God grants us that serentiy when we most need it. For me it was during the crisis and again now as I remain grateful for so many things in my life.

Good-bye, Old Man Winter, Spring is in the air!

For the past few days I have noticed that there is heat in the sun (on the rare occasion that it is shining). This heat penetrates past the cold of even the chilliest day. Standing out of the wind, one can feel it and even bask in it. Then last night, walking back from my shower with wet hair, I felt a breeze. The temperature could not have been more that 9 degrees celcius but the breeze felt warm. I instantly thought of sitting on deck after the babe is asleep, watching the sun set and the moon rise, sipping a cool drink. Summer. We probably have a good month more of the nasty winter weather. It's enough to send a liveaboard running for the nearest condo for sale. But that little trace of warmth is enough. It reminds me of pleasant days past. And it promises more of the same. Soon the days of compromises and discomforts will be behind us. We will once again be living in luxury. The luxury that comes from owning a boat that is comfortable enough for living aboard and worthy enough to fulfill many a dream.

Pep Talks

Everyone must check out this site
Priceless Pep Talks from Peyton Manning
What a hoot!!

Yet another reason to live on a boat

Whatever wind and weather comes our way, while living on a boat, we never have to deal with this.

Arriving at the cottage at 11:30 pm, we found a snowplowed hill about 4 feet high ( the picture doesn't do it justice). We had to leave the car on the road with Christina sleeping inside while we shoveled enough just to bring the car into the driveway.





Then we shoveled a path to the door so we could get in and get ourselves some rest... to prepare for another day of shoveling.

Why anyone would want to live on dirt full time is beyond me.

Back To The Boat

Since this is supposed to be a blog about living aboard, I thought I'd bring you this...
This is our little girls aft cabin bedroom.
Hmmmm. Not very child friendly is it?
While we're busy painting and renovating a cottage, this one thing continues to get overlooked. Our steadily growing daughter will soon be longer than her 'toddler' bed. But her cabin continues to get used for storage. We gotta empty this space and complete it. Soon!!!

Big Girl Bed!!

The big girl bed arrived!!!!! Thank you Anthony!!! Christina is helping Daddy put it together.













She's pretty handy with the tools. Daddy is so proud!













And it would appear that the end result is a comfortable one.













Sweet dreams, Princess.

It's not all whip-cracking around here.

While it may seem that my parents are victims in this whole cottage purchase, I want to assure you that some rest and relaxation does occur.

More for some than for others (laugh).

Dad hurt his shoulder and couldn't participate in all the fun so what else could he do?







Besides, there's more value in being a great Poppy than can ever be said.

Christina and Poppy share a cold one.

FOR SOME REASON, CAN'T PUT A TITLE ON THIS PAGE
SO HERE IT IS...
MORE KITCHEN AND PRINCESS ROOM UPDATES.



So my parents came to visit and it looks like we put them back to work... again.













The truth is that my mom got sick of looking at those last two or three cupboards that had not yet been painted so she grabbed the bull by the horns and finished it up for us. Normally this would be a thankless job. But really... THANK YOU MOM!!!









We have not be avoiding the work, leaving it for Mom and Dad. No... we worked on finishing up our other current project... princess' bedroom.
The paint is a light green called 'water mark'. Seemed very beachy to me. This beautiful daybed is only here temporarily. Not an appropriate bed for a toddler so we'll be putting it away once her big girl bed arrives. Side note... I made that quilt and am quite proud of it!





I painted the inside of the closet. I was going to leave it till later. But my mom warned me (rightfully) that if I left it, it wouldn't ever get done.
My cousin gave us their old TV stand. We only had a 13" TV so it would have been quite lost in there. The stand is in Christina's room and I think it makes a lovely toy shelf.

Wierd and Random Things About Me

I've been tagged. And so as not to be a total bummer, I will at least post my wierdness. But I'm afraid I will not pass this one on. I'm not a big fan of passing it on in the whole chain way. So if anyone feels like participating, the rules are posted below. Feel free!!

5 Wierd and Random Things About Me...

1. My middle name shows on my Birth Certificate as Michelle. But on my Baptism Certificate, it's Michele. I used my Baptism Certificate to get my driver's license, but my driver's license says Michelle. Go figure.
2. I have a raspberry coloured 'beauty mark' over my eye.
3. I have a brown freckle on the tip of my nose that my mother keeps trying to wipe off every time she sees me. Yes, I know, I'm almost 39 years old but she still feels the need to wipe my nose.
4. Over my lifetime, I have moved my place of residence at least 22 times. I may have lost one or two from my memory. No, my father is not in the military. Don't ask. I don't know why myself.
5. I love to sing. I have performed on stage at several folk festivals. My life-long dream is to perform on stage at the Grand Ole Oprey.


Here are the meme rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Don’t break the chain!

Here's who tagged me:
Angie

Christmas Day then back to work!!

Christmas day reprieve. Mom and Dad have been non-stop helping us to get ready for this day. I'm sure they are at least as tired as we are. The walls and most of the cupboards have all been primed in the kitchen. It is a stark white... almost as white as Nikki's hair!








The walls have received a coat of finish paint in a soft yellow with brown undertones. It's much darker than this pictures suggests.












Another angle on the kitchen to see the finish paint. We shouldn't have to change the blinds for a while with this colour. But we WILL change them one day!









Next project already underway...
Princess bedroom.
The dark panelling has been primed. We learned that some outside air just blows right in through the wiring on the window wall. There was condensation on the wall and the primer wouldn't stick (bottom right). Next week we'll leave it cold in that room in order to keep the walls dry enough to get paint on. Later, Cos will go under the house to try to sprayfoam the wiring holes.

Closing Day. No Time To Celebrate. Get To Work.

December 3rd, 2007
closing day... practically a blizzard














most of the paper removed from the kitchen


















again... most paper removed












painting inside the cupboards















getting ready to climb into the attic...
I made him take his cell phone with him

Before The Renovations Begin

House updates...

Here's some before pics.

kitchen

livingroom