Thank heavens for angels in disguise who clean floors and paint walls.  Thank heavens for friends that help choose clothes, that offer cars and come over on rainy days.  Thank heavens for everyone who has let us borrow their wheels, whether they are driving or not!  Thank heavens for kindness and sharing of meals and warm showers and candles that serve many purposes from creating a lovely scent in our house to making sure the webbing strap for our new awning doesn't run.  Thank heavens for all of you!  One more load to clear out of the house, one more night in Windsong then we are off to the races! 

The weather is an incredible thing, here i am sitting in bermuda, slightly chilled (well it is 21 C people) and looking at pictures of SNOW!!!!  How is it that time of the year already.  I remember when I was clueless about weather, I would sometimes pack a raincoat, would often wear a hat and would just move faster if I was cold and a bit slower if I was too hot.  Now it seems like the weather rules our lives (and indeed it kind of does!).  We are almost moved out of the apartment.  By that I mean all of our worldly possessions that were not in round one of the move are currently sheltering under the porch in our back yard!  Yesterday was a windy wet day and when the move involves transport by land and sea windy and wet in an overloaded boat with salt spraying everywhere isn't exactly what we were looking for!  It was great tank rain and managed to get things so wet (although thankf  So then we start talking about weather windows, we have a window for moving (which is hopefully going to be this morning) and a window for leaving (not there yet, you have us here for at least another few days!), I have a weather window for wearing the cute clothes I'm leaving behind so it seems that whatever the conditions the weather has something to say about what we are doing. 
    Yesterday was a fabulous rainy day, the kind of day that you light a candle and bake something and if you are lucky watch a movie.  I am going to miss those days, like I miss changing seasons, BUT there are positives (including not having to shovel!).  So, the SPF 50 is packed (going to pick up some 85 on the way), we are ready for some good weather, we have another 2-3 boat loads to go and then we should be living on our new/old home, the yacht, now known as the SV (sailing vessel) seamonkey!  Still feels like tonnes to do before we are ready to head down to the islands but we are getting there.  So enough procrastinating from me, I'm off to the races which roughly translates into emptying more of the kitchen cupboards!  In the meantime, happy birthday to Adrienne, John and Tucker!  and happy trick-or-treating to everyone else!

I hate moving, I think I actually despise it more than most things, but here we are doing quite a successful move if I do say so myself. Two car loads (well actually it felt more like a small wagon) each of them piled onto the whaler (with one of us standing on the side holding things in) and once we got it to the yacht all of those boxes seemed to melt into all of the storage on the boat.  That is one great thing about a boat, it is like tidying up before your mom comes to check if the room is clean, lots of hiding places.  Next is to do the not so fun move out of our apartment. I am going to miss it here, the pool, the tree frogs, the shower and bathtub.  But hopefully this one will go as smoothly, we will get the painting done and everything will be fabulous!

What have I been doing you ask, not posting on this is one obvious answer and the other possibility is trying to get ready to move out of our apartment this weekend and onto the boat.  Pictures at various stages have been posted but there has been no time to get them onto the computer so hold tight they'll be coming soon.  The most common question that people are posing is "are you excited" currently the answer is "not really, just tired".  We have (phil has) sanded all the wood work in the boat to make it lovely beautiful and we are now in the stages of oiling all of it, varnishing the floor and cleaning the rest of the plastic. mission for tomorrow, move as much stuff as we can out of the apartment, saturday, unpack on the boat, pack more at the apartment and paint, sunday keep going, monday, find a costume and go trick-or-treating!!!!  Okay, the cleaning supplies are calling, more when we have something interesting to tell you about!

It is amazing that everything that you can imagine takes 3 extra steps that you never thought possible.  Despite all of that we are still getting there.  Sandpaper is waiting for a few more days and until then I will be doing some of the less glamorous indoors chores.  Phil is an amazing problem solver and I swear anything is possible as long as he has a battery drill and some stainless steel bolts.  Other than that, still lots of stuff on the to do list, including selling my beloved Honda Biz and my favourite breakfast table.  Sigh, the hard part of moving on

Although it seems to me that snails are moving uncommonly fast these days.  Every morning the sun comes up and the boxes and bags stare at me from the corner of my room.  Amazing how much stuff can get collected in a few years and how attached to it I get!  Here is the general outline of a day, pack a box, realize I packed something I need, unpack the box, realize I'm being silly, repack the box hen realize we actually need the box to transport things to the boat, unpack the box, put appropriate boat things in it, tie it to my bike, drive to the wharf closest to our boat, give it to Phil on our little whaler,head home, repeat.  Despite that we are making progress, water maker is mid installation, wiring miraculously sounds like it is done!  Kitchen things for the boat, mostly packed, and so we just keep on keeping on.  Today's tasks, 1. Relax, 2. Clean out the water tanks, 3. Go for a swim!!! and of course, try to enjoy the journey (even the small one which include strapping overloaded boxes onto bikes and boats!)

    Well, Here we are with not that many weeks to go.  Boy time does slide by quickly when there is lots to get done!  I just got back from a fabulous few weeks visiting friends and family, precious time for sure.  Saw new houses, new babies, old friends.  It was a great break.  Unfortunately Phil wasn't quite as lucky. I left him holding down the fort, building a hard top for our new solar panels, installing the deck shower (so I can finally get rid of the salt BEFORE heading down below), new wiring, new hatches, new salt water pump  and the list continues!  He did an amazing job to say the least and is still doing it as we speak!

     We are also almost done with the orders, the day after I got back we got our last big one, sails, watermaker and tonnes of other fun new things including "The Beagle", soon to be introduced on our "fleet" page our new inflatable kayak.  I really, really really wanted to inflate it and try it in the pool, but logic (aka Phil) took over and we are waiting for a water launch after the work is done. 
    Main goals for this week for Phil include as per usual working on the boat!  I am going to be sanding down the wood work and keeping in mind that I absolutely detest sandpaper and have to wear gloves just to touch the stuff you will realize how much I want to help!  We are also getting into the throws of packing a one bedroom apartment into a 34 foot boat.  Okay, our apartment isn't that big but 34 feet is feeling quite small right now.  If I get my act together I'll be taking pictures of that process too, especially as we will have about 7 feet of piling space before we hit the ceiling.   
      Stay tuned for more updates, now that we are on the final push I will be trying to get the skills to keep this a regular thing!  Hugs and Love to everyone
Jen and Phil

The mighty Quinn has been launched and tested on the water, wires are being fed through tiny corners on the boat, precious things are being packed up!  Still to do, lots of work but we're getting there!