February In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Blog followers, Nicki and Keith, stopped by for a visit; (2) It's rained so much that I wasn't able to get off my boat a couple of times last month without risking spraining my ankle. One of the nice guys who works here set me up with a wood block to make things easier; (3) Alex, another one of the great guys at the marina. If you follow our Facebook page, this is they guy who got attacked by a wacko with a machete; (4) Our Rocna anchor - a little teaser for next month's A to Z Blogging Challenge; (5) Apples and lemons - they kept me going during the $4 a Day Food Challenge.

There’s been a bit of movement at Indiantown Marina over the past month. Folks have finished up their boat projects in the work yard, people have started to head south in search of tropical islands and (hopefully) warmer weather, while others have sold their boats and moved on to new adventures on land. It’s been sad to see people go, but I guess the good part about being stuck in Indiantown for the foreseeable future is that I’ll see many of them when they make their way back at the end of the season to put their boats back in storage.

Here's this month's recap in numbers:

• 29 – The number of days in February. You’ve got to love a Leap Year.
• $127.60 – My food budget for February as part of the “Eating On $4 A Day” challenge. You clever math people will have noted that it’s really eating on $4.40 a day (the average SNAP/Food Stamps benefit), but that doesn’t sound as catchy as $4 a day.
• $77.07 – How much I spent on groceries during February. It’s not actually as good as it sounds. Check back next week for the scoop on how I did on the challenge overall. Spoiler alert – I failed.
• $22.99 – How much our new stainless steel coffee press cost. You might remember from last month’s recap in numbers that I broke our old coffee press. A few folks suggested we go with the Aeropress instead of getting a new coffee press. While they do sound great for making individual shots of coffee (which you can turn into Americanos with some hot water), we really need something that can make coffee in volume (we drink a lot of the stuff), so we went with another coffee press. Someone recommended stainless steel which seemed like a good idea. Much harder to break than a glass one.
• 2 – Number of blog followers who stopped by to introduce themselves and say hi while they were at Indiantown Marina. Keith and Nicki are checking out places to store their boat after they bring it down from Maine later this year. It was great to meet them and show them around the marina. I can’t believe how many people I’ve met through blogging and social media since we’ve been back in the States. You never know who you’ll meet next! Check out their blog at ‘Til the Butter Melts. It’s a cute expression which refers to getting far enough south to warm climates where the butter will melt.
• 7 – Number of posts I’ve drafted as part of the “Blogging from A to Z” challenge, where you blog every day (except Sundays) during April. For those of you who have been with us for a while, you’ll recall that I participated in this last year, along with Jaye from Life Afloat. This year, there are some other folks who are thinking of joining in with us, including Stephanie from S/V Cambria, Samantha from Flying Pancakes and, our latest recruit, Melissa from Little Cunning Plan. I'm also hoping the Spunky Misfit Girl and S/V Sionna join in too. Who else have I forgotten? If you're taking part, leave a link to your blog in the comments so I can check in during the challenge. If you want to participate, it’s not too late to sign up. Check out the details here. Come on, join in the fun! I’ll reveal my theme for this year’s challenge towards the end of the month, but here’s a little hint – America’s favorite teenage girl detective will be investigating a new case. Some of you will know who I’m talking about.
• 2 – Number of months that I filed our US taxes early. Yes, we’re getting a refund. A small one, but every penny counts. That’s about the only thing that would inspire me to overcome my natural love of procrastination and file our taxes early. I was so excited about getting money back this year, that I even tried to file our taxes online to expedite things. Big mistake. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to spend all that time filling out forms online only to find out that they have a coding mistake in one of the forms we need to file. That meant every time I hit the submit button, it came back with an error message. Grrr. I figure by the time they fix the problem with the form, April 15th will have already come and gone, so I did things the old fashioned way by mailing in paper forms. Next up – our New Zealand taxes. Dead simple compared to navigating the complexities of the US tax code.
• 378 – The number of choices at the all you can eat Chinese buffet I went to on Valentine’s Day with some friends. Because nothing says Valentine’s Day better than eating way too much and wishing you had worn something with an elastic waistband. As George Bernard Shaw said, “There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”

Here’s hoping all 29 days of your February were full of fun, happiness and a bit of overindulgence and that March brings you more of the same.

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

A Different Kind of Bathroom {Or Living on a Boat is Weird}
Monetizing Your Blog {Or Stop Sending Me Form Letters}
Life Is Short

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