Coming Together

Ok, I plan to make this the last post that's about home-making in Key West, instead of activities in Key West. Not that homemaking isn't an activity, but that's not what the blog is supposed to be about; and well, I'm no homemaker (not that there's anything wrong with that). I took off September to get us settled, but am hoping to find work next month to pay bills and replenish our savings. The posts won't normally be this long either.

Observations: You know your place is small when you can vacuum the whole thing without unplugging the vacuum. And your living room is so small, you have to put the bigger tv you bought into the larger bedroom...The good thing about a tiny place is that it sure is quick to clean! * We have to relearn how to grocery shop. We typically wait until we run out of just about everything and then do one big trip. With 2 mopeds, that's not going to work. I'll be better prepared with my new moped basket though (it's not on yet). * For the first time so far, I went somewhere new yesterday and didn't get lost. Wahoo!

So the outside table and chairs... The chairs came out great - you can see them here with one scrubbed and the other one not before I could spray paint them. I didn't bother to sand them. They weren't worth that kind of effort.

And the table. That was a bit more of a challenge - it's rotting and cracking and wouldn't take a smooth coat of paint. I started just trying to cover up the bottom first

and then attempted the cracks.



For the most part, I think it works. It's a little crafty for me and borderline Mickey Mouse with all the colors, but I'm hoping to find a more muted outdoor dining set that doesn't cost a fortune (cheap stuff is out of stock or doesn't ship. That should be just the right combination of tastefulness with pops of color and whimsy. A few plants will help too. And then we'll need friends to enjoy the space with us.

Over the next few days, we should be getting all kinds of odds and ends that we ordered from eBay and Amazon. I will be quite happy to see the bed frame and mattress show up soon as well. I've already put away what we got in the boxes we shipped from St. Kitts. Only one thing got stolen (one of the boxes was open) - a hand-held electric bug zapper (shaped like a tennis racket). Boo - I liked that thing. I forgot that I had 2 boxes of A Sail of Two Idiot books inside the larger boxes we've been waiting for, so can now get those out and about in Key West. Although the book is in major retailers (and in online/ebook), there isn't a major retailer here so I'll have to see if the owner of the one store on the island is interested in putting a few tomes on his/her shelves.

BTW, I got an endorsement from Chris Doyle, author of the cruising guides we used to propel us down the Caribbean:

Renee Petrillo packed up her home and husband, bought a boat and went cruising, despite having almost no experience in matters nautical. A Sail of Two Idiots tells the story in an entertaining and engaging manner, while at the same time enumerating the mistakes made and the lessons learned in the hopes of helping a similar-minded person avoiding some of the pitfalls.  I am sure it would be helpful to that target audience, but it is also a delightful read for anyone who likes cruising yarns, and what a refreshing change to read about sailing cruise where the woman in the skipper.

Thanks to Chris for that. I value his time and his support behind Idiots.

Burned out from too much work and no play, last night we decided to check out Walk on White. It occurs every 3rd Thursday of the month and is just a couple of blocks away from our house. You know you're letting yourself go, when you go out with your hair all helter-skelter and your shirt has a stain on it. Yesterday, I realized after-the-fact that I had gone to two stores with red paint splooched across my face (in 2 places). And no one said a word...But wait, where was I? Oh yes, Walk on White. So despite my horrid appearance, we decided to walk over and get some culture. Downstairs entailed some people doing readings,



and later a band that played Caribbean/Spanish music.

There was a little bit of everything art-wise downstairs, from excerpts of books on the wall to sculptures, to paintings. A number of people were walking around with little hats on their heads

or big hats.

I'm not sure what that was about. Upstairs an entire exhibit was dedicated to Ann Lorraine's crazy artwork. She's dressed the windows for Fast Buck Eddie's department store and designed several Fantasy Fest floats.

Note the fat reindeer's nose is glowing

 I love this one she did with Dracula chasing the bride.

And then we walked back home 30 minutes later. It was definitely nice to get out. Of course, we have more chores to get done. I got the printer wifi working but this morning my wireless router died. Sigh. * We were hoping to get our driver's licenses today, but Florida makes it very difficult to do so. One of Michael's co-workers moved from another city in Florida where he had lived for 30 years (!!) and said it was quite difficult to get a Key West license. I don't think we have enough proof of residency yet (e.g., bills with a KW address) and for some reason, our landlord postdated our lease for Oct 1st, complicating things. If the passport office won't recognize Michael's birth certificate then I doubt the DMV will either and and he's having difficulty getting a new one. * And if that's not enough fun, I started filling out the voter registration form and can't say I was surprised when I saw that I only have two options to choose from. We're neither Republicans nor Democrats; Independent and/or Undecided is a valid selection and should be on there. I'm wondering if we should request an absentee ballot from Arizona....Isn't this fun? Starting from scratch ain't all it's cracked up to be. I don't know how immigrants do it if we're having this kind of difficulty.

It doesn't sound like it, but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I must. Hopefully we can start October with nothing to do but get to know the area, the island, and its people. I can say that the every store/restaurant employee or owner I've come into contact with (except the cashiers at Sears), have been the friendliest group of people I've ever encountered. TGIF!