Let The Preparations Begin!

My guardian angel.

I’ve had a mild cold for over a week & it’s just lingering. It’s like I have a squatter in my body. I feel pretty good most of the time but then a cough will come on & I’ll have to take cough medicine & that makes me tired. It’s been going on in an annoying cycle. It’s a teeny tiny cough but it’s just enough to drive me insane. So I have foggy-headedness. -That is in no way helpful for writing the blog for this week. But I persevere because I am dedicated. Believe me, as much fun as I have writing these, right now I want to binge-watch the rest of White Lotus. No spoilers please!

The world feels a little bit like a desert right now.

In turn, as much as I’ve been complaining that I haven’t been able to get a bunch done right now, it doesn’t seem like anyone else is either. I swear there are tumbleweeds blowing in the wind down the street lately. No one wants to stay at our Airbnb. No one wants to buy the crap we’re trying to get rid of & no one wants to give us a million dollars. What the hell is going on?! This is the time I should be getting ahead of everyone else! Actually, I think everyone is secretly getting ahead of everyone else inside their own home. And next month… I don’t know? Watch out?! -For all of us!

Putting things in storage & taking stuff off walls.

Life is good though. I’ve been packing up stuff again. Might as well do it now. There are a lot of things that we don’t use on a daily basis. -Like pictures & photos on the wall. And knick-knacks on shelves. Some things we are trying to sell. -Not having a ton of luck. I put a bunch of non-sentimental Xmas decor out in front of our house for free & those items did get picked up. Kind of exciting to think that we won’t be spending Christmas in Santa Cruz for a few years. Hopefully, family will want to come & join us in whatever exotic locations we find ourselves in during the holidays.

We also are starting to get our house ready for other people to live in it while we are gone. This means having an oven range that will work. We’ve had a Wedgewood since we moved into our place & at this point in time only 2 burners work. So as pretty as it is, we are saying goodbye to it. It definitely would make a better storage unit at this point than a kitchen appliance. I envision it holding house plants on top, with books where the broilers & oven used to be, in someone’s New York loft apartment. I have high hopes. It was too stylish & meant for more than just making a greasy meal.

Our oven left us & is trying to hitch a ride to New York City.

We did make it to the boat again this last week. Matt changed out the running lights. You know, the ones that were smoking on our way back to Santa Cruz this autumn. I made coffee on MerSea. -Just to make sure that was still a possibility. And yes, we are good to go in that department! We also emptied that dehumidifier, Matt checked the amount of water in the bilge, we left some needed things on the boat, took some things off & chatted with our dock mates for a small bit. Nice to start getting back into the swing of things.

Boat doings.

8 months left to go. Didn’t I JUST say that we had 9 months before departure? Time is spinning away. The funny thing is that I feel ready! I almost started packing away most of my winter clothes today. I held back though. Mainly because we aren’t even out of January yet & it’s been in the 30s in the morning. Also, I do see that it’s in the 50s & 60s in the Sea of Cortez right now. So I can’t ditch all my warm clothes at the Goodwill.

Yesterday we discussed the major things that needed to be added or done to the boat. There really isn’t that much. Of course all of the maintenance things but nothing like the projects we had going on last year. I think the big things are going to be dealing with renting out our house & prepping to work from afar.

Unfortunately that is all my brain has to offer right now. The fog has just crept into my head & my body needs a good night’s sleep. I hope all of you are staying healthy & keeping up the productivity. Don’t let the cold winter get to you.

Zephyr & Matt in an improv mirror excercise.

Thanks for sticking with this blog & continuing to read it. I’m hoping each week will get more & more exciting as the year plays out. Will I regret using the word exciting?…