A Slice of Life

Ean is fixing the port forward berth, which caved in when we loaded it up with 350 cans of cat food, two cases of booze, six mega jars of peanut butter, two mega jars of olives, one case of tuna, one case of Dove body wash, and various other “provisions” (and, oh yeah, Ean was on it, too).

This morning I have TWICE managed to knock over Ean’s FULL glass of iced tea.  MORE TEA EVERYWHERE!

I am trying to make tea, heat chili, and wash clothes at the same time.  Also, I am testing some of our circuit breakers.  Lessons learned:

One A/C unit, washing machine, water heater, and microwave, all running at the same time: 30 amp shore power breaker pops (solution: we will soon have a second 30 amp shore power cable)

Electric kettle (for the tea) and microwave running at the same time: 20 amp starboard outlet breaker pops (solution: don’t use the electric kettle and the microwave at the same time)

We are about to update our website with a current list of blogs that we follow, so I am looking at several blogs that we’ve recently learned about from various sources.  These blogs are all written by people who are younger and prettier and smarter and more creative than we are.  They fix engines, install solar panels, sew cushions, grow sprouts, revarnish their teak, and understand how their systems work.  In their spare time, they sketch, make jewelry, write poetry, play the banjo, kayak, scuba dive, take fabulous underwater pictures, and never watch television.  They don’t even HAVE air conditioning, a washing machine, a water heater, a microwave, or an electic kettle, so when I complain about not being able to run all these things at the same time, how ridiculous must I sound?

The door to the washing machine is jammed.  I try to run it through another short cycle to see if it will “unlock” the second time around.  Now we need to fill the water tank again.  And the door still doesn’t want to open, but brute force eventually does the trick.  I’m afraid to do another load, since I figure the door’s going to jam again.

While Ean is finishing up his chili, I yell, “Ow!”

Ean (greatly concerned):  What happened?!  Did you burn yourself?

Jane (rolling her eyes):  I stepped on an ice cube.  I must have dropped it, the THIRD time I was refilling your damn glass.

Ean (disgusted):  Really?  An ice cube?  I take back any sympathy I was feeling for you.

Jane (muttering):  I don’t need your stinkin’ sympathy.

Isabel (waking up from a nap):  AarrrAAYH?  (Which means:  What?  Who?  Where am I?  Why aren’t you paying attention to me, Daddy?)

Ean (pointing his finger at Isabel emphatically): Quit yer whining!

Suddenly hearing ourselves, we start laughing hysterically.  Ean, in his best British monarch accent, trills, “MORE!  JOY!  EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!”

And, SCENE.