I don't think either of us expected to come on this boat and do so much
1. Organizing
2. Throwing old, rusted, useless, tangled, moldy, gross stuff away
3. Shopping

Since Shawn came back from Florida (with not even enough time to spare to write his own blog entry, even) it has been a non-stop festival of junk on every surface of the vessel. First, we had the boat survey for insurance and our new registry in the Marshall Islands (and for extra safety measures before we head for Panama and the open Pacific on May 1). So everything had to be taken out of every hold anyway to examine the seaworthiness, security, and perfection of the boat for the examiner.
While this was done it was impossible not to notice how disheveled things had become, whether through neglect or ambivalence on the part of the former captain. Perhaps it was just less than stellar organizational skills--but my Captain and I do possess the desire and facility to whip any space into a freakishly perfect order when we do so choose. And this is now the titanic effort we are putting forth.

Add to that a rather initially benign request from the owner's wife to get all new dishes, glasses, sliverware, etc. for the galley and to generally spiff the place up to make it more welcoming and then it becomes an all-consuming project. See, it's not like we can just march on down to Ikea or the local Target and trot out our petty cash and go home with our spoils.

Not so much. It took us the first two days, driving on what we, in our US-centricity call the "wrong" side of the road, to try to hunt down places that sell such items. Who knew that you could buy throw pillows at the auto parts store? It wasn't until we went in looking for alternator belts for the engines that we ourselves discovered this Bahamian phenomenon.

Now, after five days of rental car and better bearings, we have now proudly purchased items we hope will meet the rigorous aesthetic standards of the very elegant Europeans for whom we now work.
And we've taken M-H out to anchor to spiff her up and get her ready.
Then we're going sailing for a few days, then back to Nassau again to pick up the owners on the 27th for a month-long trip with the whole family.

In a happy twist of fate, we were able to line up the stars, internet access and pirated YouTube videos enough to watch all three parts of this last week's episode of 30 Rock while we were still at the Marina. Though it was an ill-fated effort on her part main character Liz Lemon gave us the happy title for this blog--the love child of decorating and organizing that has consumed our daylight (and some long night) hours this week.

We are confident, though, that when complete, anyone could step aboard and find whatever they need, in good order, clean, unrusted, free from mildew and other stench, and enjoy a pleasant trip aboard this boat.

We hope the bosses agree...

And maybe we'll even post before and after photos.

Hope springtime is coming fast for everyone.