Seriously bad news on the commercial loan front. All the best will in the world has not proven effective. In the current banking climate, no one will give us the loan for the building. There is also no selling anything even if we wanted to. They'll give us about 2/3 of what we need to fund the loan. The rest is the cruising kitty and an investment from my mom. Ironically, this means that the property will start making us money in two months rather than costing us for the next 3. However, it's not enough to sustain us. We're going to play games with the cash, I'll pick up another writing contract, and DrC will work 3 months next summer instead of three weeks, and we'll be able to stay out here until May 2010. However, after that we have a hard stop due to lack of funds.

There is part of me that is totally crushed by this. There is another more sensible part of me that says WTF. It's not like realistically we could have kept cruising forever anyway. If nothing else would have stopped us, teenage girls would have put a halt to the whole thing in more or less two years anyway. There is also something rather settling about knowing The Date. We don't have The Plan yet, but at least we know when we get off the boat. It enables us to put boundaries around where we go and what we do. And finally, even before this all went down, I was pretty certain we were going to run out sometime in the summer of 2011 anyway.

Already, the family is brainstorming "What to do next!" There are many ideas floating around. By then, both properties will be completely self-sustaining. If we sell the boat, we can literally move anywhere, do anything, start over. We'll be broke, but we'll largely be unencumbered and we should be able to pull a small amount of starting money out when we offload Don Quixote.

The thought of selling Don Quixote makes my stomach clench.

However, I'm sitting in one of the prettiest docks in the world, listening to the gulls, and contemplating actually going to get a pastry and latte to celebrate circumnavigating Vancouver. I refuse to get depressed because I can't play hookie from making a living for the next forty years.

It's like there is a rule that everything has to get much worse before it gets better. That's not a Murphy rule but it might as well be. I'm going to whine for a bit here. If you don't want to read it, go browse until I'm done.

Things I have to do in the next six weeks:

* Thanksgiving dinner
* Close Eye Craft, sell everything, dump the rest on freecycle, and move the key parts over to Evergreen. Stop all the accounts and utilities, close out taxes, bank accounts and credit cards, and do all the final billing and insurance resolution. Also, get all those damn patients to PAY US.
* Get everything out of LTTM. It looks like we may may may *fingers crossed* be looking at a tenant after the first of the year.
* Move out of the basement. Take all the furniture down to Sacramento.
* Spend a week down in California doing the family thing.
* Homeschool the girls
* Settle in full time on the boat, wedging in everything from the basement that we need for the next few years
* Make Solstice gifts
* Close out the WASSER account
* At least one more DocuSign release

If that were not enough, I just won another contract, this time working for good old WGRD. It's a worthy contract... worth almost 3 months cruising kitty. But of course, the entire project has to be done by...

yes

mid-January.

Argh! And then finally a major breakthrough with my soon to be partners in web site building. Laureen and Behan and I finally figured out what to call the site. This is a bigger deal than you might think since their last idea -- Marlinespike Parenting -- halted my entire creative self in its tracks. Now that the juices are flowing, I really just don't have time to work on it. BAH.

I'm actually pretty clear that this isn't all possible. There is no way. But if you don't hear from me until February, at least you'll know why.

An old friend of mine emailed this to me this morning. I believe we did a similar meme not too long ago, but I think I never replied. Heh. It was interesting how wholly and completely I fail to fit into these meme's any longer. Behan, I challenge you to answer these in light of living on the boat as well. It's a bit daunting.

* * *

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00am

2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? H.P. and The Order of the Phoenix

4. What is your favorite TV show(s)? We don't watch T.V. I get Battlestar on netflix occasionally.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Vanilla latte and an apple

6. What is your middle name? Toast

7. What food do you dislike? liver

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Hehe. There is a theme here. We don't get CDs. I listen to a lot of Pandora and iLike recommendations. Currently, I'm tooting on World music and particularly fond of Andean music as well as Sweet Forest.

9. What kind of car do you drive? I don't have a car. Um... I guess you could say I “drive” an Avon 10' dinghy with a really old Yamaha short shaft 4 stroke 9.9 HP.

10. Favorite sandwich? Sourdough bread, sharp cheeses

12. Favorite item of clothing? Fleece pullover

13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would
you go? South. Anyplace south of here.

14. What color is your bathroom? White

15. Favorite brand of clothing? Value Village

16. Where would you retire? I'm either already retired by some measure or I never plan on retiring by another so this is a moot point.

17. Most memorable birthday? Wow, I can't remember any of them. I must have had a good time.

18. Favorite Sport to watch? You're supposed to watch?

19. Furthest place you are sending this? I'm going to post it on the Internet. This reneders distance a basically null.

20. Who do you expect to send this back to you? I wouldn't be surprised if Keet tackles this meme. Though I think she did one similar not too long ago.

21. Person you expect to send it back first? Joey. In fact, he's the only one I'll send it to. I'm posting it to everyone else on LiveJournal.

22.Favorite saying? “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” - Mark Twain

23. When is your birthday? September 17

24. Are you a morning person or a night person? Yes.

25. What is your shoe size? 8

26. Favorite food for Dinner? Sourdough bread, cheese, more apples

27. What did you want to be when you were little? Washington, DC lobbyist

28. What are you doing today? Homeschool parent, cruising sailor, wife, documentaiton consultant

29. What is your favorite candy? Frozen Snickers

30. What is your favorite flower? Gerber daisies

31. What day are you looking forward to most on your calendar? May 1, 2008 when we cut the lines

32. What church do you attend? None of them

33. What are you listening to right now? The waves hitting the shore and the boat rubbing against the fenders

34. What was the last thing you ate? Homemade beef stew and sourdough bread

35. Do you wish on stars? No

36. Do you believe in Angels? No

37. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? the broken box crumbles all melted back together into a fat, fit-for-toddler fist wedge

38. What is your pet peeve? There are way way way too many to list.

39. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Phone? You talk on them? Wow. I just use mine for text messages. Dr C of course.

40. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes. He never gives up on me even though we go for years with my being a nitterhead and not calling him.

41. Favorite soft drink? Diet Pepsi

42. Favorite restaurant? Mae Phim

44. Siblings? No

45. Favorite day of the year? Tomorrow

46. Favorite day of the Week? Yesterday

47. Spring or Fall: Summer

48. Hugs or kisses? Sex

49. Chocolate or vanilla? Rocky Road

50. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Comments on LJ or link followups would be preferred.

51. What is under your bed? a Yanmar 26 diesel engine

52. Who is the friend you've had longest? Joey now that I think on it. Keet comes a very close second.

53. What did you do last night? Made stew, tried to heat the boat with tea candles and a kerosene lantern, read a book

54. Favorite smell? BeanPod candles, especially the Pink Grapefruit

55. What are you afraid of? rogue waves

56. How many keys on your key ring? Don't have one

57. How many years at your current job? Homeschooling: 1 year, 5 months 2 weeks, 5 days and 2 hours. But who's counting?

58. Favorite city to visit? San Francisco

59. How many towns have you lived in? 14

60. Do you make friends easily? Acquaintenances with whom I enjoy spending time, yes. Really long term, inside baseball friends, very rarely.

That in the same year there would be both a hurricane Dean AND a hurricane Karen. I think someone is trying to tell us something. http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/2007names.htm

2007 Hurricane Names
Andrea
Barry
Chantal
Dean
Erin
Felix
Gabrielle
Humberto
Ingrid
Jerry
Karen
Lorenzo
Melissa
Noel
Olga
Pablo
Rebekah
Sebastien
Tanya
Van
Wendy

The practice is SOLD. I want a big SOLD stamp. The practice is SOLD.

We still need a tenant, but we are officially counting down to get out of this industry. DrC starts work for Evergreen Eye Center on December 1, 2007. He is contracted to them for six months and then we are outta here. OUT. It's DONE.

DrC is satisfied. He noted that he sold it for essentially the same amount he bought it for, less the condo. So over 10 years he got paid every year, learned how to run (and not to run) a medical practice, grew as a doctor, and earned an "extra" condo's worth of land value which he converted into our commercial property over on 153rd. Since the sale doesn't include the condo, that means the practice value roughly doubled in that time. That's pretty damn good. I'm proud of him.

Did I say we still need a client? The realtor guy hasn't called yet. I think he's meeting with the furniture guy tomorrow. Fingers remain crossed on that one. The clock is tick tick ticking.

SICK REPORT: For those still following the saga of the snot, I'm on antibiotics and they are working. The golf ball is starting to fade, I can breathe, and I actually functioned pretty normally. Mera is doing well also, with just some lingering snot/lung crap. Jaime and Aeron seem to have dodged the bullet. They keep showing preliminary signs but then they spontaneously remit. DrC, however, looked like death when he came home. He immediately went into the hot tub from which I anticipate he will emerge in a half hour, eat beef broth, and celebrate his practice sale milestone by going to bed and sleeping for 16 hours.

Thanks to samueljl. This is fun. I like the fact that basically I don't have an accent. Good for PODCASTING! Woo hooo!!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

So niherlas is right, it can get a lot worse. Though, ironically the predicted power of the sinus infection is the least of the problems. Now I've got an adenoid on the left side that is roughly the size of a golf ball. You can actually see it. It looks like I suddenly got really fat and my jowls sagged... but just on one side. The pain this causes is excruciating. I fear what Mera is going to feel like when she wakes as she had the same pain on the same side. This indicates that the lymph attack is pretty much the standard course for this virus.

Other than that, I actually feel better. The headache and sensation of fever are gone. I'm actually even fighting off the sinus infection just with over the counters and a lot of tea. In the absence of the golf ball in my throat, I probably would have made it without the 'biotics. We try to avoid them whenever possible.

On that note, DrC ordered antibiotics last night but the damn pharmacy closed before I could get them. Ugh. Don't know if that's good or not. In some ways, the fact that my gland system has gone bat shit indicates that it's doing it's job. If it didn't feel like someone had taken a hot poker and rammed it through my ear, tongue and down the throat to get the damned thing in place, I wouldn't bitch. Again, my big worry is Mera. We'll see how she's doing when she wakes up. DrC is symptomatic but insists his flu is "stress related." *rolls eyes* His Macho Maleness does not allow for just being sick, the asshat. I'll give him this, he's a hell of a lot less sick than we were. Knocked out and down for the count yesterday (which is incredible knowing him) but not dead to the world.

And of course today is Aeron's birthday party. Really. This is effing absurd. Last year, I kept postponing it until we agreed to do a half birthday. Then I postponed it until it became this year's party. I can't move it. I'm not infectious and neither is Mera. If she wakes up healthy, we're having this party. I've decided, however, that the theme is "The Crew of S/V Don Quixote didn't have a chance to get Aeron's party together!! Can you help?" It'll be like Blue Clue's except live action and with lots of cupcake sprinkles.

Two bits of reason we need all your positive karmic thinking.

Thing 1) Mera and I are STILL SICK. This is unbelievable. I can't remember being sick like this. Ever. The latest turn in the flu maze is that we no longer can see our heart beat in our eyes. The headache is easing. The body aches are almost gone. This would be great except sometime during the our snot turned green and filled with blood. BLOOD. Unf*ing believable. Infected and bleeding sinuses? This is the flu? Also, an intense burning pain started somewhere between the left ear and the roof of the mouth. Mera says it's in the roof of her mouth but in my case it really feels closer to the ear. I suspect it's originating somewhere in the sinus cavity. The pain radiates in both cases down the back of the throat. Absolutely nothing relieves this pain.

To make matters worse, DrC clearly contracted the virus. He says, "I don't have it as bad as you do." What he forgets is that this wasn't as bad when it started. It just gets progressively worse each day. We can't afford for him to be sick so keep your fingers crossed.

Thing 2) Our real estate dude may have found us a tenant. I'm almost reluctant to hope. But omigod that would be frickin awesome. So please send warm fuzzy Lease LTTM thoughts to a furniture guy in Burien who is looking for more space. He wants THE WHOLE BUILDING all 7200 sq ft and he wants it for the long haul (e.g. 3 years). It could not be better which is what makes me nervous. We need this. We really really need this. While we made the decision to go no matter what, it's the difference between going with no safety net and going with some money left over even if we stay out till Jaime goes to college.

So we need your good vibes. Laureen is teaching me the positive woohoo factor of good karmic thinking. Multiple it people. We need to be healthy and we need Mr. Furniture Guy.

Okay, it was way past time. Lots of folks have been trying to get me to get a hair cut. I look pretty wankers with short hair, and I look like a complete idiot with long. So it's the middle. We're going to go with the middle and hope for the best.

18 to 25 knots for nearly three hours last night during our DSS redux. We had Noey and the family. A sunset. Great wind. WOOOOooooeeee. Very very fun. DrC thinks it might have been our best wind in DQ. That says something really miserable really about the Puget Sound, when you think about it. I refuse to think about it.