Daily Archives: March 19, 2013

Maybe it’s because we’re in a vacation spot or maybe it’s because we’re getting closer to leaving the country but suddenly we’ve been enjoying more company than we’ve had up ’til now. Nancy and Dave were here for the Deluxe Cleveland Clinic Experience, of course. Then we had an afternoon visit from a blog reader who dreams of the cruising life. We spent so many years planning and working toward our goal that we were happy to listen to another path and share our experience, such as we have to this point.

Now it’s spring break and yesterday our niece Emily, her friend Jason and Jason’s aunt came to see us on EV.

It didn’t take long for Emily and Jason to strip down to their swimsuits and test the Lake Sylvia waters.

We had a great time just hanging out but when it was time to go the rains came and we plumbed EV’s raingear collection to keep everyone semi dry for the long dinghy ride back to land.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice I’m wearing a cycling rain jacket, unearthed from a drawer full to the brim with cycling gear. I hope we get back to our bikes sometime soon; we sure miss riding!

Next up for company: son Drew and daughter-in-law Ericka. We haven’t see Drew since last September, and Ericka in over a year!

Its easy to imagine that living on a boat is a permanent vacation, but we still have the same concerns as land-based people. We still have bills to pay and records to keep. In our house we had a basket that we threw all of our receipts in but here on the boat there are already way too many baskets, and sometimes it can get too breezy to have unsecured bits of paper. Months ago Jack started putting receipts in a clear plastic office envelope and while I wasn’t watching they multiplied. It’s my job to enter them into our bookkeeping software and categorize them. Eventually this leads to the monthly summary on the What it costs page, and gives us good records to refer back to about when we bought something and where and for how much.

With Jack still recovering and our activity level at a low ebb I forced myself to dig into the envelope and get some of the record keeping under control. It took me the better part of the day, but I got through most of it. The good news is that once the receipts are entered and the charges have cleared the bank or credit card I can toss them out. There is no room on a boat for long term file storage.