It’s been a long time since either of us has posted anything and for this, I apologize.

After the wedding and our honeymoon summer we had the intention of getting our home ready for the market and moving in to our staging home before going off to sea.  While Dani and I were roaming about northern Wisconsin on our summer vacation my friend Willi Abbott, house flipper extraordinaire, asked me to join him in a rehab project on a Wayzata, MN property.   Our intention was to have a contractor do the work with little manual labor from us then have a real estate agent handle the sale.  Remember the book  Of Mice and Men? … “The best laid plans of mice and men oft gang agley”.

Decent contractors seem to be very busy in Minneapolis these days so for two months I was swinging a hammer and wielding a paint brush.  Not a day went by during that job ( anytime it seems ) I didn’t think about Danielle and me sailing off to get our sea legs.  After we finally finished the project, the real estate agent, try as he did, couldn’t get the house sold.  Now, instead of just our home to sell, I have two houses to sell.  I’m a limited broker so it’s easy enough to list the property and save the commission which we now need to do because the house has yet to sell.  Pictures of the Wayzata, house and our home for sale are included in case you know someone in market.

The best deal in Wayzata. Isn’t this a pretty kitchen!!

We’re trading her in for a sailboat. Know anyone looking for a great home in Eagan, MN?

After my construction stint I got back on the home selling horse and have started in on the last minute details of getting our house ready to sell.  One of those details has been gathering up all of the stuff that seems to have some value and selling it on Ebay and Craigslist.  Yes, it’s true.  People really do want to buy your junk.  I keep wondering if people will buy my old suits.  With the exception of our wedding, it’s been a while since I’ve worn one and I soon hope to only need my board shorts and flip flops to cover my tanned and toned body.  I also tackled the chandelier fix I’ve been putting off for the last 3 years.  The ceiling is 20 feet high and I don’t have a ladder that big.  Here’s what I did…

My make shift platform to work on the foyer light.

It’s not so high.

Just like being up the mast… right?

Speaking of flip flops, in our search for the boat we went to the Miami boat show in February.  I learned that in the boat buying world, we are guppies.  Our budget is nothing compared to the amount of money people are spending on boats today.  Brokers have little time for our deal.  They’re not to be blamed.  It’s much more fun fishing for the bigger fish.  We’re learning that we need to rely a little more on our own whit when it comes to buying.  There’s always more to learn.

While at the show I thought I would check Craigslist to see if anyone in Miami was selling their catamaran.  Yes, I’m addicted to buying and selling stuff on Craigslist.   An ex Canadian Army guy ( Steve ) posted his FP Athena 38 saying he’s motivated.  Dani and I rented a car and off we went on a mini adventure to Fort Lauderdale in hopes of finding the ” perfect boat “.  We decided to take Miami public transportation to the airport to get the car.  Take a look at the picture and you’ll find out what an adventure that was. We caught a nice buzz from the side stream smoke of the kids sitting next to us on the platform.  It was like being in the islands.

She wasn’t perfect but I almost fell in love.  I’ll write more about this boat in my next post.  For now I’ll say if the weather was perfect in our lives, we would be living on a boat right now.  Something I keep reminding myself is it’s important to wait for the the weather window with which one is comfortable before setting off on a sailing passage.   Hopefully Steve will still be living on that boat in the river after we sell some real estate.  The skies are clearing and the window is almost right.