A sunny Easter

I hope you guys had a great Easter weekend! Corey and I spent ours together in the marina. We're getting ready for fishing/hurricane season! The sun was out so we took advantage of it to work on our to do list. It's a biiig list. This is Corey planning our new electronic setup. Garmin, radar, radio... how do we want them rearranged? It's harder then it looks because everything has to be rewired.

We also fixed our leaky hatch! When we got the boat we discovered the plexi had warped and was leaking. This is my husband employing his handy skills. As I'm peeling caulk and "helping" I had to ask. "Have you done this before?" Nope. "Then how do you know what you're DOING?!?" He says he just knows. Smarty pants. As always, when it comes to fixing things, he's right. The plexi is replaced and is ready for some rain and waves. The man has mad skills.

Corey also got me a "happy." A kiddie step for my co-pilot chair. Jeez. Thanks. Not ALL of us can be 6'3 and have our feet touch. He didn't listen to me complain about the "baby" chair and pulled the whole thing out to give me my custom fit. At 5'2, that's a whole lot of custom. Complaints aside...

He was right. I love it. I have a step and my feet now touch. It makes a world of difference. Isn't he thoughtful? I never would have thought of that. A custom fit pilot seat! Thanks Handsome for the Easter gift and the productive weekend! A few more days like this and we'll be all set! I see Gulf fishing in our near future...

As for the heart stuff, the bunny did NOT visit us this year. Not one egg, candy or boiled, in sight. No unhealthy food anywhere. The hard boiled part was easy. Can you believe it? Neither of us can remember how to hard boil an egg. We're an utter failure as adults. After a discussion on our childhood egg dying days we almost broke down and called Corey's mom for instructions. HOW do we not know this?!? I guess there's always next year...

Hmmm...

Meet my husband Corey! Isn't he a cutie pie? He's become an unwilling example of how a few heart healthy tweaks can change your life. The man is one heck of a trooper. He loves his steak, potatoes, and thickburgers. Unfortunately, his wife had to go and have a heart attack then come home on a mission to "upgrade" our eating habits. Poor guy. He acts like I poked a stick in his eye.

I cashed in on his Heart Nazi habits and close working proximity. Every morning I'm up at 6:15 to fix him breakfast. He checks on me at 10:00 and I toss a healthy snack at him. By 12:00 he's back again and I've got lunch ready then he's home for dinner a few hours later. Nice huh? I love it.

No more fast food!!! I stole his white bread and replaced his snickers with granola bars. I sneak in lean beef, ground turkey, and low fat cheese. You name it, I've tweaked it. There isn't an unhealthy snack on the boat but there's plenty of food and he's never hungry. Some tricks are super sneaky. I replaced his candy bars with small, individually wrapped chocolates. He eats them slower and quits after just a few. FAR less calories! Yay!

Sometimes he complains and he's entitled. "Can't you buy some Bunny bread?" "I'm not eating that." "What's wrong with this CHEESE?!?" Most of the time though he suffers in silence and just shoots me the stink eye. I ignore it all and just imagine what my sister is going through feeding a 4 year old. We can do this.

What do I get for my efforts? At 38, Corey is officially SMALLER then when I met him! I kid you not. This picture was taken on our first date. Corey was one month shy of turning 32. Not bad huh? He won't cooperate and take his shirt off for the sake of blogging but trust me. He's in better shape now. Amazing. I can't claim most of this. The man has some seriously good genes. He's 6'3, has a full head of hair, and is disgustingly healthy. Lucky duck. At 38, the man is a model for how good healthy food drops weight and adds muscle mass. The man has pecks. Sigh. Small changes people! In 7 months he's dropped down to where he was 7 years ago. It's fantastic.

He'll never admit it but he feels better to. He's active, and his eating habits are gradually changing. His waist is down to 33 inches. The dude is buff. Is it wrong to say I'm loving it? He looks great! If I can just keep this up, I imagine we'll look fabulous in our 50's. I'm ridiculously proud of him.

Goosebumps

Do you remember those stories when you were a kid? They always scared the pants off of us but no one ever died or anything. Old school kiddie horror. My new boat would quality for several Goosebumps stories. It's driving me nuts! Let me illustrate...

The name itself! The Heart Nazi was in love with this boat! He wanted it so bad he spent weeks telling me how great it was. Unconvinced, I went with him to look at it. The FIRST thing I see is the name on the stern. Ms. Linda. My mother's name. She passed away 2 years and many months ago and I still miss her every day. I change my mind, I change my mind! Break out the checkbook, sell the old boat, we ARE buying this boat. Creepy how the thing Corey wanted most came with a name I couldn't say no to.

Awful, awful story ahead! If you don't like them, skip to the next paragraph. You've been warned! Corey wanted new parts to fix our pretty door. After looking everywhere I suggest calling the company on the decorative plaque. Maybe they knew something? A quick Google search told us the company was less then an hour away (amazing!) and still operational. Even better, when we called the guy who answered was the guy who worked on her before! Too good to be true! He remembered the Ms. Linda and her gorgeous unique teak door. Why? ..... Because the original owner had a daughter. Her fingers were cut off when the door slammed shut on her hand. AaaaaaaAAAAAHHHH!!! Holy goodness that's bad! I could have lived my whole life on this boat and not known that! No wonder the door doesn't slide well. It's not SUPPOSED to! Gross, gross, sad, sad. Now I can't bring myself to fix the door without adding a gas cylinder or something. It just creeps me out. I'm choosing to think happy thoughts on this one and believe that the little girl is now a young lady with all of her digits. It's that or nitro and I hate those pills.

I am a brand new shiny football fan. By football I mean the Saints. ONLY the Saints. I was born in New Orleans and most of my family are diehard fans. They've loved the Saints for decades. Most of them, my mother included, are gone now but the Saints finally did it! I decided to root for "her boys" in honor of her. My general disinterest in all things football means that I have no idea what I'm cheering for but if excitement happens, I cheer to. Luckily for me I haven't accidentally cheered for the wrong side yet. I got to watch my first Super Bowl! I settled in with my heart healthy snacks (It's a rule right? Snacks?) and was happily cheering away. The Saints scored a touchdown and I was doing a happy dance when the Heart Nazi intervened.
"You better calm down."
"I'm cheering for the SAINTS!!!"
"If you don't calm down you're going to MEET a saint."
My heart rate was 140. So much for cheering huh? Right then the bathroom door that I know was closed creaked open and slammed shut. Loud. Then the knives clattered to the other side of their galley drawer. Great. The Ms. Linda agreed with the Heart Nazi. Creepy.

What the heck it that?!?

Southern girls don't need this. This is the deep south and that means a sub temperate climate. That's just a baby step up from tropical. That means warm!!! I think someone forgot to clue in the weather guy. Freezing rain and even colder temperatures have settled in overnight and things were about to get ugly in the marina. Southern girl, meet ice. Ice, meet southern girl.

I poked my head outside on a mission to find a cup of coffee and a granola bar. My foot hit the dock and kept going. Flapping like a duck DOES NOT keep you on your feet by the way. My bootie hit the boards and I almost slid off the dock! Off the dock!!! Me and a piling quickly made friends and I managed to stomp on a taunt dock line on the boat next to ours. Eeeerrrack! The boat shifted sharply towards me and my dock line sunk. Shooting stink eye at the boat I hugged my piling tighter and shifted myself more securely back onto the dock.

What the heck is that?!? There's ice on the dock. ICE!!! In the south! The only thing I'm used to seeing on the docks is bait fish from some kid's cast net and some occasional pelican poop. I can't hardly believe it. I actually poked it with my finger. Yup, ice. Good grief. I've ridden out tropical storms and foul weather on board. This is by FAR the funkiest thing I have ever seen.

The piling gave me a splinter (Guess it wasn't my friend after all.) and I was wet and dirty with board funk. NOT a good way to start the morning. Forget it. I slipped and slid back inside and settled for oatmeal, an apple, and a Diet Coke. It's karma. I shouldn't eat the coffee and granola bar anyway. After digging out my splinter it occurred to me... this is the second time in one week I've been semi stuck! First I can't get on and now I can't get off! Adventure, adventure. Boating is supposed to be fun and interesting and funky! Somehow I just always pictured summer in those plans. Ha!

The turtle scores another lap!

I'm the turtle. Cute huh? It's the turtle that wins the race and even though recovering has been a slow process it's at least steady. Progress, progress, every day! Look what I did yesterday!

That's right, boat ride!!! That's me rockin' some aviators and some hiking boots. Corey has been very patient but I'm getting better and we DO live on a boat. Time to take it out! We even got up and put the engines to work! I think the "redneck" term is "Gittin' IT!!!" It was a baby boat ride, just a cruise around our part of the bay, but a sunset on the water was needed. My first time back on the water!

I was all bundled up and yes, I hid inside when I got too cold. Just like a turtle I poked my head back out just in time to tie up the lines. It's MY job after all, even if the Heart Nazi is in help mode.

Now I'm going to warm up with my hot chocolate (Decaf, nonfat. Don't judge.) so we'll talk more later! Keep warm everyone!

I'm stuck!

Corey was happily bumping around the marina chit chatting with the locals when I decided to creep out for a cup of coffee and some grocery shopping. I found a downside to the Tin Dome when I got back. I'm stuck! Winter low tides have set in and as you can see in the picture from yesterday the Tin dome has high docks. Our boat had dropped with the tide and was bobbing away several feet below the boards.

Stink. Now how does THIS work?!? I was soooo not letting go of my hot coffee (It's freezing!) and I could just see myself busting it, coffee and all, crash landing on the boat. How bad did I want the coffee? Pretty bad. I stood there on the dock, pacing back and forth and looking for the best place to land when Corey noticed me.

I can just see the wheels turning. Why is my wife freezing her butt off looking at the boat? I say nothing. He looks away. He looks back a minute later and I'm still there. This is getting embarrassing. See, these are the moments when it's good to be married. I'm about to look like an idiot. I've NEVER needed help getting on a boat! This is downright demeaning.

"You okay?" Dang it, the heart nazi in Corey has kicked in and he's walking my way. The moment of truth is here and I have to confess.
"I'm stuck!" I holler over to him. I puff up, waiting to get picked on, while he walks over and assesses the situation.
"Yeah, you're stuck." He pulls the boat over and helps me and my coffee onto the bow. It's the highest part to reach and at 5'2 it's still a bit of a jump for me. Good grief.

Corey doesn't say a word. He's 6'3. He goes back and grabs the groceries then nimbly jumps onto the stern of the boat. I'm ready for it now! He's going to pick on me. He deposits our groceries in the galley then pulls me into a hug. I got the sweetest of kisses, he touched my face, then flipped my ponytail. "I love you." He said.

Corey turned to go back outside while I stood there remembering all the reasons I love him. It's moments like this I realise how lucky I am. He's a keeper.

It's freezing!!!

Oh my goodness it's cold! Living on a boat is always an adventure. Living on a boat in winter can be downright entertaining at times. I love, love, love it but weekends like this last one make me question my sanity.

We lost power! By we, I mean a whole half of the marina. In the middle of a hard freeze. I practiced my new found skill of staying out of the way and poor Corey went outside to deal with it. No dice.

By 10:30 Saturday night we were dropping our dock lines and migrating to our new spot. The Tin Dome! Eastern Shore Marina is great. It's so close to downtown Fairhope and my favorite thing is the covered slips. No wind, no rain, absolutely safe and secure. We ride out tropical storms and severe weather here.

Talk about a brief and freezing boat ride! I tell you there's almost nothing more miserable then dealing with wet dock lines late at night in the middle of a freeze. It's just gross. Us marina girls are tough stuff though. After years of practice, Corey and I are champs at moving a big boat and tying up. He drives, I handle the lines. The only difference now is that in the cold I get shooed back inside once we're secure. Corey worries.

Here's a picture of the Tin Dome. Snug as a bug but the view isn't as nice! Here's hoping the marina gets fixed soon and I can show you a pic of our regular view instead. Stay warm everyone!