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02 February 2018

January In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) One of the books I won; (2) Star Wars Cosmic Shells that some friends gifted me; (3) Van party!; (4) Another book that I won; (5) English translation for a Spanish song that was sung at one of the cruiser get-togethers; and (6) Gifts from my mother.

It's time for our usual monthly recap by the numbers. January was chock-full of Indiantown Party Posse get-togethers (lots of fun and full of calories), saying goodbye to friends heading off on new adventures, and countless hours making final revisions before sending my cozy mystery, >>Murder at the Marina<<, off to the editor.

So, enough with all of those words, here's the usual random nonsense recap by the numbers:
  • 17 - How many books I won last month. Winning stuff is fun! 15 of them were sailing-related books from Melody at Saving to Sail. If you're interested in learning how to make money online in order to give yourself the freedom to travel, check her site out. I also won two cozy mysteries - Stowed Away by Barbara Ross and Survival of the Fritters by Ginger Bolton.
  • $11.52 (Canadian) - How much the postage was for one of the cozy mysteries to be sent to Florida from Canada. That's a lot of money! Very sweet of the author to do that. 
  • $0.81 (American) - How much you'll get for one Canadian dollar (at time of writing). I feel bad for our Canadian friends here in the States. The exchange rate sucks. Does anyone else remember when it used to be close to par?
  • 3 - Number of replacement fire extinguishers we got for our boat. We keep one in the aft cabin (where we sleep), one in the lazarette in the cockpit, and one by the companionway. Kidde has recalled almost 40 million fire extinguishers. If you have a fire extinguisher, check to make sure your model hasn't been recalled. It could save your life.
  • 22,700 - How many bees it takes to make a jar of honey. A wonderful couple here at the marina gave me a jar of honey that they made from their very own bees. How many people can say that they have their very own bees? Pretty cool.
  • 100 - How many books I've set as a target to read this year as part of the Goodreads challenge.
  • 18 - How many books I read in January. It may seem like a lot, but three were short and several were cozy mysteries, which tend to be quick reads. Once we get back in the full swing of boat projects and head out cruising again, I won't be able to read as much.
  • 342 - How many M&Ms are in a 11.4 oz bag. My mom sent me unicorn socks and a M&Ms. How's that for a truly awesome present? The M&Ms didn't last long. It's surprising how quickly one can eat 342 of them.
  • $9.11 - How much it cost to see a matinee of Star Wars. We rarely go to the movie theater anymore. It's so expensive and we're often disappointed in the movie. However, exceptions are made for movies like Star Wars. 
  • 17 - How many chapters are in my book. I've given them weird titles, like "Weevils" and "My Little Sweet Potato." It will all make sense if you read it one day. At least, I hope it will.

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite blog posts from last month:

Cost of Cruising & Living Aboard a Sailboat | 2017 Recap
New Year's Eve Boat & Camper Crawl
Some Days, You Just Need a Box of Kittens 


How did last month go for you? What are you looking forward to this month?

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26 comments:

  1. I'm impressed you took the time to count those M&Ms.
    Remember when the matinee was two bucks?

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    1. I also remember when you didn't have to take out a second mortgage on your house in order to buy popcorn and a soda too :-)

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  2. I remember when the Canadian and American dollars were at par and it wasn't all that long ago! Unfortunately more times than not the Canadian dollar is well below the American dollar and yeah that hurts. Luckily it doesn't really affect us when we are traveling down here in Mexico.

    I look forward to reading your cozy murder book one day! :-)

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. I feel so bad for the Canadian snowbirds down here - everything costs so much more.

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  3. I got stuck on the M&Ms. I love them. I love them too much.

    You did well on the books last month. That's a lot of books.

    I'm ready for some warmer weather. It's time to go boating.

    Have a fabulous day. ♥

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    1. It does seem like a lot of books when I counted them up, but somehow it didn't seem like it when I was reading.

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  4. Yeh on winning all those books! I recently won a book on Goodreads, and I'm looking forward to that arriving soon.

    I love Peanut M&Ms! I try to limit myself to an actual serving of them - it's difficult, but I need to. Sigh.

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    1. I much prefer the plain M&Ms. The peanuts just get in the way of the chocolate :-)

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  5. Very cool about winning that many books. A couple years ago, I won a LOT of books through Goodreads giveaways. A LOT! It wasn't unusual to win two in a single day and once, I even won SIX! It was fun at first, but it got to be too much. I felt pressured to read them ASAP so I could write reviews ASAP. Now I rarely enter a giveaway. Too much of a good thing can be overwhelming. :)

    You counted your M&Ms? Such self-control! Such fortitude! I am duly impressed. Me? I get candy, I shove it into my mouth. I'm worse than Cookie Monster with a bag of snickerdoodles.

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    1. I do feel a little bit of pressure now to read all these books quickly and leave reviews, but on the other hand I know how important it is to the authors to get reviews, especially the indie ones.

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  6. Oh, your mother sounds like my dear departed mom. ~hugs~ How did you win so many books? That's amazing! And I have to ask, what on earth are Cosmic Shells? Sorry to say, there are only three 'Star Wars' movies for me. I can't stand all today's CGI, though "Blade Runner 2019" did it well, I'm happy to say. There just wasn't enough Jared Leto. ~sigh~ I'm looking forward to the sequel.

    Thanks for the fun comment about my boots! I forgot about posting a photo of my footwear upon first finding your words and read 'boots' with two B's. Ha! I did a double take. Be well!

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    1. Oh, and I meant to cheer you on about the book. I'll have to read it just because I adore your sense of humor.

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    2. Aww...thanks for your sweet words, Darla. Hopefully, the book lives up to expectations.

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    3. The 15 sailing-related books were all batched up as part of one contest and I just happened to be the lucky winner.

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  7. Congratulations on winning so many books! When I read the number of fire extinguishers you have on your boat, I immediately thought of all the boats I've been on and how many boats seemed to need. Fire on a boat is bad. (I've seen one put out and helped rescue a few people on 4th of July one year.) I'll definitely check our extinguisher here at home.
    Way to go on your book and your reading!

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    1. Fire on a boat is a very scary thought. I hope we never have to actually use all of these fire extinguishers.

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  8. Oooh I love comps, I'm off to check them out on Goodreads. And congrats on the Saving to Sail win. That's an impressive target for books to read, looks like you're well on track too. It must be exciting to have your book almost at the published stage; do you have a date for when it's published?

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    1. No date yet. I've still got tons to do after it comes back from the editor. I'm going to just see how it goes, get all my ducks in a row, then set a date.

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  9. Busy month! And very colourful, judging by the pictures.

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    1. Now that you mention it, it was a colorful month :-)

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  10. My uncle used to raise bees. My mother brought 5 gallons to me when we lived in ABQ over 24 years ago and we still have 2 quarts left. Best honey in the world.

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    1. 5 gallons is a lot of honey :-) This stuff that I was given is delicious. I'm afraid it won't last very long.

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  11. It looks like January was a fun, tasty and productive month full of gifts! Did you find a publisher for Murder at the Marina, or did you hire an editor? Curious about the process...

    January was a weird month for us, and February will be weird for different reasons. Sometimes, I crave a normal life is the bottom line. :-)

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  12. Love these posts. Thanks for the tip about the fire extinguishers--I'll have to check mine.

    And wow, I can't believe you won that many books, never mind in a single month! It boggles the mind. I smiled when I saw one was by Barbara Ross. I know Barbara. We were in a social media marketing course together around the time her first book was coming out. She used to write darker mysteries.

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    1. What a small world that you know Barbara. I really enjoyed her book. I wonder what her darker mysteries are like.

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