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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