If Daddy Ain't Happy, Ain't No One Happy

So hub has been harassing me for a boat for about 2 months. He's recently taken up fishing and swears that the fish will bite more if there's a big shiny thing in the water above them drawing them in. Sure, I believe that...

Well, I've been the debt attacker this year, and a boat was not in our budget. I'm steadily trying to get us closer to building a house, and I've thrown down the gauntlet..."Jason, I'll be 29 this September. By the time I'm 30, I want us to be living in the house we've dreamed of building." I know, I know. We'll be going into debt to build, but I don't want any extra to tack on to it. So as he's been begging for a boat, I've been steadily shaking my head "no."

Bless his heart, he told me that was fine and he wouldn't mention it again. Funny, how he kept talking about something that sounded just like a boat...yep, I'm sure he didn't switch to talking about goats, so...

He found a $500 boat. Well, that was better than the $3500 he was originally asking for, so...I caved. I acutally laughed out loud when I saw it. Whoever has been playing "Catch the Pineneedles" in this thing must've won big. The wood on it is rotten and the carpet is well, almost nonexistent. But if I know anything about Jason Randall Stivers, it's this: when he sets his mind to "fixing up" something, it's going to soon shine like a new penny. I have faith in him and his skills.

I came home today from teaching summer school, and he was in the back yard with Uncle Buster. I heard the motor start up, and I praised God that the THING was alive! A little while later he came running into the house, sweat pouring, and said, "Do you want to come out for its maiden voyage?" Well I stripped off my blue jeans right there in the dining room, threw on some shorts, and we were off, with Uncle Buster and his years of fishing experience at our sides.

We arrived at the boat dock to meet a family that was swimming in the river. Gag, I'm sure they had to knock corpses out of the way along with having snakes nibble on their toes, but whatever floats your boat! HA! No pun intended!

Uncle Buster backed the trailer to the dock and loaded her in. Well, there J and I were, in the river...floating! I was happy and felt successful! Apparantly, that's not enough. We weren't looking for holes in which to sink us, we were waiting to see if the engine would start. A turn of the key...sputter, sputter. Again, clackety clack. The Clampets yell from the water, "You're about the 3rd boat today that's come down, got in the water, and not been able to start." I wanted to hit them with the boat paddle. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Poor Jason tried everything, and with every crank, I could see the disappointment grow in his face.

Eventually, we had to give up, paddle back to the shore, and load back up on the trailer. Uncle Buster welcomed us back with his usual jovial self. His advice was, "Jason, we have to crawl before we can walk." I'm not sure if Jason appreciated this, but I felt better.

So they came home, and continued their quest for crankage. Wouldn't you know it cranked right up? I think we've got ourselves a boat that doesn't like water.

Bless my poor baby's heart. It's amazing how this marriage thing really does multiply our joys and divide our sorrows.

The best part of the experience was the view.

A Wild Weekend

After a long, hard week of teaching Vacation Bible School and summer school, who doesn't need a break? We upped and decided to go to Panama City with another couple from church and their children over the weekend. Now FYI, I have begged my poor hub for the past 5 1/2 years that I wanted to go on a spontaneous vacation. Being the "rule follower," I can see the beads of sweat pop up on his forehead when I mention this. Now here we were, driving through the night, on our way to sandy cracks and bathing suit tops full of seaweed. Ah, it was the life!

We stayed until Sunday and drove back that night, as I had to be the ONLY one in the group who had to work on Monday. Well, I got home with two hours to look forward to of sleep before I had to get up to go to school. Wouldn't you know that after being asleep for one hour, I woke up with the most violent pain in my stomach. I proceeded (trying to spare the details) to sit on the toilet and scream and beg God to take me home. It was awful. Jason just stood at the door in shock. Keep in mind, after I've had endometriosis coming out of my wazoo (literally) and my ribs scraped down just to have them tie-wrapped with metal as they fused my shoulder blades down, it takes a lot to get the ol' girl writhing in pain. I thought I was dying. At one point I actually thought, "God, is this some miracle? Have you grown another uterus inside of me, and I'm really giving birth right now?" Another time, I thought Michigan J. Frog was going to leap from my belly button and sing, "Hello my baby, hello my darlin', hello my ragtime gal!" I can't say enough how horrible it was. After an hour of bonding with the toilet, it eased up, just in time for me to go teach summer school. Thrill.

Here are some pics. Of the trip to the beach, not the trip to the toilet:


Here we are in Alvin's Island. I was trying out Cameron's crocodile, and J was trying on a golfer's hat.

She put us to shame in that bathing suit. Look at those baby abs!

Jason and Chad wrestling the crab legs. The boys won.

Our last day at the beach...about 10 minutes before a storm rolled in.

Our friends, the Case's, Chad, Heather, and Kaleigh minus Cameron, who was sitting with on our side of the table.

And our side of the table...