Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Honey Do's

Now that I am done with my boards, I have a lot of free time on my hands. Since the boy does so much for me, and I finally have some time to do things for him, I've asked him what little projects he has to get done that I could easily do without his help. And so started the "Honey Do" List.

He has been trying so hard to get our new boat "water ready" and with working 2 jobs, it has taken quite some time. Since I get to enjoy the boat too, I was actually really excited that he had some jobs for me to do that would help us get out on the water sooner!

My first job - Our boat has this wood trim on it called teak. If you are not familiar with teak it's a very beautiful wood, but it needs to be maintained. The previous owner did NOT maintain it. At all. His idea of maintenance was to put a varnish over it, which actually made a mess of it! It was peeling off and looked AWFUL! So my job was to sand it, then wet sand it, then oil it - twice. And I did, and now it looks AWESOME!!! Before I did all that, his dad had pressure washed it really good and used varnish stripper on it. I wish I had taken before and after pictures. But... since this was the boys project initially, and not mine, no pictures have been taken of the boat except that one I posted last week or so from when he towed it home. Here is a similar before and after picture of some teak patio furniture that was re-done.
Not exactly the same thing, but you get the picture. Big difference, huh?

My next project was to wash the boat. See, when it first came home the boy took a whole entire day (while I was studying) scrubbing it from front to back with soft scrub and hull cleaner and it looked great! But... then the tree that it is parked under started dropping leaves and goop and stainined it all up. Frankly, I think the boy was feeling a little discouraged with the progress he was making when he went out one day and it was a HUGE mess. So yesterday I went out there with some bleach water and a pressure cleaner and cleaned it all up again and made it shine :) I tell you what... I have never seen a more appreciative boy in my life when he came home and saw that his boat was clean again. Nevermind that I had cleaned the house, his boat was pretty again! lol... Now that it was clean, he felt better about putting it together and couldn't wait for dinner to be over so he could go out and work on it. He put the teak back on, and we put the cover on it, and he was happier than a pig in you know what!

It really wasn't hard work at all. It was little time consuming things that he just didn't have the time to consume it with. I am thrilled that I could make him so happy, and happy to have part in getting the boat ready. I'm pretty proud of my work! It's great having the time to do little things that make a big difference. I know that it is short lived, and that makes me kind of sad. According to a girl that works in the Nursing Admission Office at the local college I plan on attending for RN School, I have a spot in a program starting on June 24th. I have nothing in writing yet, but that's the rumor... So, until then, I'm gonna try and not waste my days away in bed, on the internet, or watching junk on tv... I'd much rather do some more Honey Do's, or cross some things off my lists, and do what I can to make that boys life a little bit easier since he does so much for me when I don't have the time. He is of course working two jobs and having little to no free time so that I can concentrate on being a nurse! It's the least that I can do :)

3 comments:

  1. wow! what a difference a little TLC makes!

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  2. What a good little "un-wife" you are!!

    We had a huge patio set made of teak wood, but I finally had to sell it last summer, because it was just too hard to maintain! Neither my husband or I have the patience for that:)

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  3. Teak is hard work...my dad is the captain on a HUGE yacht..and i worked with him for a month one summer..SO MUCH WORK!

    p.s. I love your blog and I think its pretty sweet! So I left a little something for you on mine :)

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