Oh woe to me

😭

Oh man, the past week has sucked!!

We have our leak in the closet which is repaired but now the closet is gutted,some of the floor had to be pulled up and it's a mess!  And I HATE HATE HATE messes!  Of course Jim wanted to fit a mini beer fridge in that pantry, the pantry needed to be re-designed and we both hated the floor so that will all be great eventually-when it's done which for me needs to be "yesterday".  So frustrating.

Then we went on our boat which should have been fun, but it wasn't.  I am beginning to hate that boat. It just seems like another source of stress.  Jim says the happiest days in a boat owners life are the day you buy it and the day you sell it!  I'm beginning to see why. We went out for a fishing trip, it is never a fun, laid back, sight see, let's explore a barrier island trip, nope never. Just marathon fishing, in the blazing hot sun. I am usually a good sport but after 5 hours  I was a burnt, head-achy frazzled mess!  Wasn't feeling good to start with but wanted to keep him from having to go out alone. And every time he tried to start the boat to move it, it balked. Sometimes taking 3 or more tries to get it to catch. And with every try he grew increasingly upset which trickled down to me.   I can't wait till his fishing buddy comes back from vaca!!!  And yes we do have a bimini top on our boat and it covers the console and ice chest, neither seat areas are covered. Hmm, what's up with that?  Try sitting on an ice chest for 5 hours, yeah, no thanks.

Then there was yesterday and I was trying to relax after the previous day's outing.  But mom called all upset and sick, she had been out of her stomach pills for two weeks and I had loads of extras! Why didn't she tell me before? Why didn't she tell the doctor??   So we dropped everything to drop off some pills then since we were out decided to get some groceries.  We had never been to this new place before and Jim who seems to be having memory issues lately got lost leaving and was putting us in every direction except towards home! The rest of the trip back was extremely tense.

Then home and the mail had come, yahoo, my purse came, or so I thought.  We noticed on our way out some empty box half way down the street from us and thought that looked awfully suspicious.  How sad I thought that someone probably was ripped off.  That someone turned out to be me!!  I had ordered a designer bag from a new web site THEREALREAL.   My jacket arrived the other day but I was upset that the Fedex guy placed it on top of the fence instead of inside it!  Geez, mister, why not put a bullseye or a flag on it!  I was so glad it wasn't stolen. Yesterday's item from the same company wasn't so lucky.  I looked online to see when it would be delivered and it said "it was delivered". Aw oh.  Jim retrieved the empty ripped box from down the street and it had my name on it.  Sigh,😭 I was so upset. I called Fedex and got a case number and then the Sheriff's office. They sent out a nice young man who took all the info and the box for evidence.

The Fedex guy who delivered it called me today. I told him what happened. And he said "you think it was stolen"?  No, raccoons did it!  Damn raccoons they really are the bane of my existence!!  Of course it was stolen. He said he is NOT ALLOWED to open gates and put things inside as they might be damaged by dogs.  I don't even have a dog!!!  That makes no sense what so ever.  I said please next time for the love of God put it INSIDE THE FENCE!!!!  I would rather take my chances with an imaginary dog than a very real criminal!

The site did refund my money quickly, so that was nice anyway.   And I posted my tale of
woe and warning on "Nextdoor at Woodhaven estates" a little neighborhood blog.  A person posted after me that they had a site on "gofundme" as they are poor and destitute and may end up living in their car.  Makes my problem seem really trivial.

And it makes me think. Yeah I have troubles but I live in a great home (even though it needs work), Jim has an awesome little boat ( even thought I have a love/hate relationship with it) and can afford designer stuff even though I usually don't spend money on frivolous things.  It could be so much worse, I could be destitute and living in my car.

Good news/bad news

It seems everything is breaking all at once. We had to get our car repaired, my computer died and that had to be fixed and now we seem to have sprung a leak in the dome and it is seeping up from the floor. They say bad things happen in threes, I hope this is all there is!  I am expecting a costly repair. Let's face it nothing is cheap and easy in "Moon Base Alpha". Plumber dude is supposed to show up sometime today.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that we don't get sticker shock!

Mom and dad's "prom"

Recently they held a senior ( and then some) prom at mom and dad's retirement home.  And they were picked as prom king and queen!   Mom was so excited especially. They had both missed their senior proms. Mom missed hers as there were no guys left and dad was out on an LST in the pacific while his was being held!  So this was so fun and exciting for both of them. Mom was very popular at her high school and was President of many clubs, dad was a jock at his.  How things never change they picked a popular girl and a jock for prom king and queen.

Prom King and Queen -dad hated his hat he said it made him look like the pope

Since they both are having serious health issues right now I'm especially happy this was a nice little surprise for them.  At 91 and 92 we have heard for the past 10 years that this is the last Mother's Day, father's day, birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.  And we always joke about it and say one year mom will be right.  In light of recent events , sadly this could be the year.

Update on Kevin's weird genealogy results

A few blogs back I posted the hilarious results of Kevin's DNA test, 100% Nicaraguan.  We couldn't figure out how crazy those results were. We expected 100% French, not that!  Then while watching an old episode of Jack and Ozzie's World Detour I had a eureka moment! Ozzie had drank coffee just before taking his test and his sample was tan.  Jack threw it out and said you can't drink or eat before the test!  Knowing Kevin is a heavy coffee drinker I asked if he had drank coffee before taking his test and his mouth fell open! He said he did and the coffee package said 100% Nicaraguan!  I can't believe they got  DNA of a coffee bean! At least there is truth in their advertising, the coffee bean package said they were from there.  So they will be taking another DNA sample soon, a "clean" one.

The World's Best house guest

While the kids are vacationing we are watching Mr. Fluffy for them.  Mr. Fluffy is laid back, really laid back and doesn't care where he is as long as his needs are met.  He truly believes in his ancient Egyptian heritage and thinks he should be worshiped as a God. And it doesn't matter who the worshiper is.   He has been sleeping with us and at night is on bug guard duty and has corralled a few assorted critters meowing loudly so Jim would come take care of the problem.  Another time while I had my Cpap machine open to fill it with water Mr. Fluffy helped himself and I came back to find him drinking it.  After all everything I do is for HIM, he is a GOD.

Have you spoken to your cat about the dangers of catnip

Boating trips

Before the kids left we Jim and Kevin took Bri and Kaity out on our boat.  Since Jim is adamant that it is a fishing boat they did fish. Kaity caught some Kaity sized fish-little pin fish and other bait fish and Bri turned out to be real natural catching a good size black tip shark!

Bri and her Black Tipped shark

Just recently Jim and I went out alone on the boat and was the very first time it's been just the two of us.  He was so nervous about it but it went real well, no major problems. He loves it when I go fishing as I usually out-fish him and this time was no different. I caught big blue runner which if we had still been in Weeki Watchee anglers I would have been angler of the month! I would have received a framed certificate and had my picture in the paper!  Argh!  I also caught a lady fish which flew off the reel and went flying right through the boat almost smacking Jim in the head, a Remora those creepy fish that stick onto sharks and a small sea bass.  He didn't catch anything but had fun watching me.  Every time I see a remora I think of the "Far Side" cartoon with a shark looking at himself in the mirror with all these remoras attached to him and the caption is "the heartbreak of remoras".

Till next time....

Big blue runner

The Remora

Fun day in Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs, FL is a real fun place with lots to do. So I made a date with some friends and my daughter to spend the day there. It is almost exactly half way between our homes in Clearwater and Weeki Wachee.  

Tarpon is also known as Greek Town and was home to the sponge diving industry for decades. And each year it hosts the cross diving ceremony on Epiphany day which is the biggest celebration outside of Greece. My husband picked to live there with his parents when they moved from New York so his mom would have neighbors who could speak Greek to her. And I lived there with them for a little while till we bought our first house together.  I have many happy memories of living there.

Historical Marker in Tarpon Springs

The main part of town has the sponge docks, all kinds of charter boats you can take, loads of cute gift shops, a museum , a little aquarium and several wonderful Greek Restaurants.  Down one of the main roads is St. Michael's church where several miracles have been attributed to it and has been on TV shows about miracles.   My daughter and I stopped there first. We lit candles for them to have a safe vacation and got a few holy water soaked cotton balls for extra security as Tara and family would be leaving on vacation sometime this summer.

St. Michael's Miracle Church

Next we waited for my friends Maj-Lis and Jacqueline to arrive.  I met them when Maj-lis and I both volunteered at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is home to Winter the famous tail-less dolphin.  I worked in the gift shop and sometimes handled tours and she worked the main register and also was part of the dolphin rescue team.  She had wanted me to go out for the rescue team and I told her I was a lousy swimmer and the dolphins would end up rescuing me, they'd be pushing me up on the beach with their noses!  Since my move up to Hernando county we have hardly seen each other and so we arranged this fun get together.

We decided to eat at Dimitri's which has excellent food and huge portions and over looks the water. The appetizer Maj-lis ordered was hilarious it was so big!  My Greek mother in law would have used a Greek phrase to describe it with the English translation being: it was enough food for 50 sheep herders!  It was all that.  And we all ended up taking some food home.  Maj-lis wanted to treat us to desert at Hella's bakery but everyone was so stuffed we could hardly even think about it. They looked huge, gooey and fabulous though!

Sponge smile outside Dimitri's

Hella's bakery

The view outside Dimitri's

There was a violin player in the sponge exchange mini shopping plaza and he was awesome! While listening to him we hit a few of the gift shops and each bought some little treasure to remember the day by.  Then said our goodbyes and each headed for our homes an hour drive in opposite directions. I hope this little excursion will be the first of many!

Unique gift shop with items made from vegetable ivory

Maj-lis in the shade of a beautiful and full palm tree

The catch of the day

The whole gang clockwise from left Tara, Jacqueline, Maj-lis and me