I can't believe it's been so long.
But when ur busy and the scenery does not change, there is not a lot to write home about.
So what is happening, the curtains are finished, yay.
I managed to work out how to do the monkey fist with rope, so they are the new tiebacks.
I ordered cotton rope online, and waited forever for it to come, when it did it was so white, so I dyed it, yeah I know me and dye again, but this one was easy just a saucepan of hot water and heaps of tea bags, the next problem was how to dry it, I ended up putting it in a bag and then into Rich's dryer.
After awhile I sent the captain up to collect it for me, and he came back with 100ft of tangled mess, which stunk of earl grey tea...Hahahaha.
But he managed to sort it all out for me, so after all that I'm sitting here trying to learn how to tie the monkey fist finally nail it, and they are way too big, the rope is too thick, here we go again, have to order more rope thinner this time.
Nothing is ever easy or works the first time around here.
But I have to say after weeks and weeks, the curtains are all up, the monkey fist ties are all up, they are not perfect but I'm happy with the way they look.
I have also decided to do some decorative work with the rest of the rope, actually I have ordered more as well, three different sizes.
I have made six cushions that match the curtains and have sewn a rope trim around these, and also making more monkeys fist as grab ropes around the place, and I'm also going to do a few trims here there, just not real sure yet where and how.
We now have glass and brass door knobs, up on all doors, these were such a drama, with me having a dummy spit which ended in tears.
This seems to happen a lot lately, I think we are way over stressed, tired, wanting to move on, and me well I'm major homesick as well.
Anyway after a thousand and one different bits and pieces for the door knobs with the guys wanting to drill holes in them and all sorts if stuff I managed with a hammer and a lot if cursing got then all on, do they work?, not so good, but hey they look great.
We also have more floor mats as well now which are also not perfect but gives the boat a nice feel to it.
I'm onto the tiling in the Vberth head/bathroom, wow this has been a challenge.
to get the old basin out, Tom decided it needed to be cut out, and would take ages and be a real mess, the captain says maybe we should just leave it and do it later down the track, me well yeah dummy spit, tears the whole works, yeah I know I told you they happen a lot lately.
So after a nights sleep we get up and the captain decides to drill a few pilot holes in the top as we know it s screwed down somehow, so that does nothing, will not really but got me going with a hammer and screwdriver, and got the damn thing out, much to everyones surprise including myself and the amazing thing is the new basin fits in perfect. Huh...go girl power...lol
So moving right along the next problem is the tiles, well Tom says u have to lift all the surface stuff off first or at least sand it all back and get this special tile glue and filler, I just look at him and say no way, thats too hard, he is horrified as I managed to order some of my special glue that I used when I did the mosaic on Maddy's guitar, he was so sure it would not work, the captain was a bit worried too, and to be honest all this negative attitude had me concerned as well.
So me being me, just went at it anyway, I have also been using Tom's tile saw to cut them, it has a diamond chip blade and he promised me it will not cut your fingers so far I still have ten the last time I looked.
There were some tiles I just could not get the right angle cut so the captain came to the rescue and did those for me.
Has the glue worked?... Well those suckers are not going anywhere, man I tried to move one slightly and no way would it budge, the boat may fall apart but the tiles will still be stuck hard.
So today is grout day, I'm sure it will come with all it's dramas and a lot if tears on my part, but I hope it at least will look good.
The Captain and Tom have been real busy too, as we only have a short time left here, it's getting really really cold, and will start to ice over here soon.
We are both the height of fashion here at the moment we were so cold that a trip to Walmart was in order and we now are wearing track pants and flannelette shirts...so stylish.
But we now have ground tackle working, anchors chains and stuff, three solar panels in place still to be wired, an engine that can be turned off at the helm instead of having to lift the floor boards to turn it off, and the best thing is we now have hot water, yeap after months of heating a kettle on the stove to wash and do the dishes, I can just turn on a tap, and beautiful hot, steamy water comes out, well of cause we need to run the generator first to heat it but hey it works.
Well tomorrow is another day.