Watcha Doing? Version 2015.5 Showing 651-700 of 2,846

[Peggy]

Sounds lovely Sandra :)

[Sarah]

@Peggy and Cherie - It is legal to moor anywhere towpath side along the canal except where it states no mooring. Also you can't stay in a lock or its approach or moor under a bridge. Most spots you can stay there for 14 days before having to move. Other spots you can only stay for 24/48 hours. Mooring is free because it's kind of included in our license fee that we pay for the year. So basically we have to move every two weeks. We've chosen this kind of license. The other option would be to pay to have a permanent mooring where you can stay all the time. These vary in cost. I love that we move as we get a different back yard every couple of weeks and if we don't like our neighbours we can move. This week we moved up nearer to where we went to a party and now we've moved back.

Since living on the boat, we've stayed in 9 different towns/villages but at different spots in each. We've stayed in more if you count the places on our trip down from collecting the boat.

No parking fees as we stay on the road but on occasions we've paid parking fees to be closer to the boat if we need to load/unload anything.

It's a gorgeous day here today.

[Stephanie]

Where is Poconos in relation to Pittsburgh? I will have to look on a map :) We went to Pittsburgh awhile back to go to the Penguins hockey game and we stayed at a hotel in Green Tree! Went to Olive Garden in Green Tree and it was the BEST service we have ever had at Olive Garden :) Pittsburgh was fun to visit!!

[Tasha]

Stephanie, it's still pretty far away.

Sarah, it's so cool that you are getting to live in all these different places!

[Stephanie]

We spent the afternoon at the Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. I liked the Grand Caverns better than Luray because Grand was a guided tour so we knew what we were looking at. With Luray there was A LOT more to see but we didn't know the names of the formations like Snoopy's house, etc...if we go again we will do the audible tour :) still cool to see though!

[Sandra, Moderator]

That's really interesting, Sarah. I imagine what a change in your life the boat meant.

[Sarah]

Totally Sandra. I have to think now when I go home as to where I've left it for one. But there are so many changes it's brought about. All good though. What I am particularly liking is that I now appreciate the small things which I may have taken for granted before seem to make my day - a nice sunset, watching the water vole, seeing the baby swans when I've not seen them for a while, a chat with a stranger, etc. I feel much happier now.

[Cherie]

I am amazed Sarah. I never thought you would have to move so often. I forget where I park my car in the parking lot at work if I have to park in different lots every day. I try to park in the same section and row if I can. I cannot imagine moving my home every two weeks. Some days my brain just goes on auto pilot and I am home before I even realize I have consciously driven there. I can see that you would always be thinking about "the where". What a life style change, indeed. I admire you for taking on the challenge.

[Peggy]

Lol Cherie, I would probably also drive or cycle back to the place where the boat was moored the previous day ;-)

I enjoy reading your boat-stories Sarah. Even from the things you write here it's very obvious that you love it and you're very happy :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

I agree with Peggy. It's obvious you feel happy and complete living in the boat, Sarah, and I'm glad for you.

[Jayme, Moderator]

@Sarah - I didn't realize that you lived on a boat. What an adventure! I had a colleague who lived on a boat, but it was moored in one marina during the school year. How do you manage work and moving your boat so often?

@Stepahnie - I've been to Luray caverns several years ago when we were exploring the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Virginia is a great place to live- there is always so much to do. Have you been to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky? That place is amazing.

Off to clean the house. I'm hosting a meeting today for my Soroptimist group to plan a fundraising event for a local women's homeless shelter. Have a great day everyone.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Oops, I missed your post, Stephanie. It sounds great. I agree that knowing more about what you are looking at makes it better. You have a reason to come back now. :)

[Stephanie]

We haven't, Jayme. Never been to Kentucky, but when we go we will make sure to put Mammoth Cave on our itinerary :-)

[Tejas Janet]

Sarah wrote: "Totally Sandra. I have to think now when I go home as to where I've left it for one. But there are so many changes it's brought about. All good though. What I am particularly liking is that I now appreciate the small things ... I feel much happier now. "

So awesome, Sarah : )

[Sarah]

Thanks guys. We've yet to go to the wrong place but we have friends who have. I'm sure it will happen at some point. As for working Jayme, I work for myself so i can be flexible with my work hours giving me time when i need it on the boat. My partner works full time though and it's much easier moving the boat with the two of us so we tend to do it at the weekend.

@Jayme - what's a Soroptomist? I've never heard of it before. Clearly something to do with women as it is rooted from the same word as sorority (i think some of discussed this is glossing the glossary. I can't believe i remembered.)

[Jayme, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "what's a Soroptomist? ..."

Soroptimist means "best for women" it's the largest professional women's service organization in the world - 90,000+ members. We work to improve the lives of women and girls locally, nationally, and internationally through programs that educate and empower. Our local chapter works on issues and concerns in our area, but we also support the bigger national and international concerns i.e. sex trafficking of women and children, laws regarding victims of domestic violence etc.

[Sarah]

Thanks Jayme for explaining. I will check out there website later. Sounds like a great thing to be involved in.

[Lynda]

So we ran down to Portland yesterday (a 3-hour drive). Picked up my sister's present for my mom's birthday in Camas, WA, and decided to cross the river to participate in some sales-tax-free shopping. It was fun, and we found a great sale w/ mom's preferred label at JC Penny's, but it was an exhausting 13-hour day.

Family is coming over between 1 and 2 today, I still need to clean, and start cooking, but all I want to do is curl up on my couch with a cup of coffee and a book.

[Lisa]

It's been a lovely day here today so I have spent most of it relaxing in the garden. Put on factor 20 sun lotion and was in and out of the shade and I have still managed to get burnt on the tops of my arms and on my chest. My skin is dreadful, I swear I could wear factor 100 lotion and still end up burnt to a crisp!

[Sandra, Moderator]

Couch, coffee and book sounds like something I would enjoy right now. We are heading to a lake with a beach in the area. I'm thinking of you Lisa, since I'm starting to daub my kids with sunscreen...

[Peggy]

That sounds like a great organization Jayme. I never heard of it before, I'm going to look up if we have it too.

Sounds like a great day Lisa! It's been sunny and 25-30 degrees here all week, but yesterday and today it was cloudy and only 22. Yesterday the wind was even too chilly to sit on the balcony. Seems like lesser weather almost always happens on the weekends.

We walked to the house we're going to view on Thursday, just to have a quick look at it already as well as the neighbourhood it's in. There's a nice park right behind the house so we walked there too.

[Travis]

well it seems after chores in the morning Sunday is my day to mow the lawn. So I had a beer and mowed it. it was hot and I got thirsty so I figured I better have another beer. Then I got hungry. Wife and kids are gone for the day so figured with nothing else to do until night chores I'd do some grilling. So I grilled up 1 huge steak, 4 pork chops a bunch of sweet sausage patties, a package of hot dogs in bbq sauce and 4 summer squash. Then fried some zucchini in the house. Now I've got the stereo blaring watching NASCAR on mute and working my way through my feast. Although wife just texted saying she worked up an appetite hiking her mountain today so I guess I'll get some help. And I even had everything cleaned up by the time the food was ready which happens never. Oh and I had more beer.

[Tasha]

You've been busy, Travis!!

Good luck with the appt Thursday, Peggy.

Jayme, I heard of that group long ago when I used to work at a women's halfway house. Our director was a member and I went to one of their functions.

[Tejas Janet]

Lisa wrote: "It's been a lovely day here today so I have spent most of it relaxing in the garden. Put on factor 20 sun lotion and was in and out of the shade and I have still managed to get burnt on the tops of..."

Time to use the apple cider vinegar. It's a good sunburn treatment. 2 parts cool water to 1 part vinegar. http://sunburntreatmenthq.com/5-effec...

Coconut oil is good for follow up to pamper damaged skin.

[Tasha]

I love coconut oil too! I use it on my face all the time.

Another good use of ACV, I'll have to remember that. Great tip. :)

[Lisa]

Tejas Janet wrote: "Lisa wrote: "It's been a lovely day here today so I have spent most of it relaxing in the garden. Put on factor 20 sun lotion and was in and out of the shade and I have still managed to get burnt o..."

Thanks for the tip TJ! I will have to give it a go :)

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "We walked to the house we are going to view on Thursday, just to have a quick look at it already as well as the neighbourhood it's in."

Good luck with the house viewing Peggy.

[Janice, Moderator]

Holy smokes! That was some feast, Travis. I got hungry today and made soup.

But then, I didn't drink any beer.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Lisa wrote: "It's been a lovely day here today so I have spent most of it relaxing in the garden. Put on factor 20 sun lotion and was in and out of the shade and I have still managed to get burnt on the tops of..."

Standard here is SFP 40+ and I still get burnt through that. I forgot to bring sunscreen with me when we went to Thailand, so went to buy some there. It was SFP 5+. I have never seen anything below 20 in my life and Lexx had to drag me ranting out of the shopping yelling "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN BOTHER!!!!"

So yes, feel your pain. I get burnt wherever I go, even out of this sizzling country with our strong sun and ozone hole.

Aloe vera. And lots of water.

[Sarah]

Good luck with the viewing Peggy. Fingers crossed.

That was a big feats Travis. I can see why you needed the beers to wash it down. I take it you didn't eat all of it to yourself?!?

I used to burn in the sun badly and I've had a couple bad experiences, one where my eyes swelled closed and I could stand up and had to have the doctor out. That was when I was a teenager and I'm much more careful now. Since being outside more, my skin seems to have got a bit more used to it. I was sat out yesterday reading for a bit and I didn't have any lotion on (stupid I know) and I didn't burn. I love Aloe Vera for immediately after sunburn but coconut oil is great to help rehydrate and moisten the skin. As the years have gone on, the sunfactor on my sun lotion has gone up and up. I think mine is 25 now but I find that I still tan when it's on, just don't burn.

We had a nice weekend. It wasn't too full on - we did some things that needed to be done but we also had down time too. I think my partner was in need up it. It's hard to believe that the weather was so gorgeous of the weekend after waking up this morning to heavy rain. I have two unbelievably busy days for me at work tomorrow and Wednesday but then I am off work for 2 and a bit weeks. I need to think about what I'm going to do with my time off. Read is a given but I need to do some useful things too.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

That beer and food wasn't going to put itself away Travis, so I'm glad you helped tidied the house by getting rid of it for your fam.

[Peggy]

Enjoy your holiday Sarah!

[Travis]

I ate all I could. When everyone got home they ate and there is still more hanging around for lunch today

[Sandra, Moderator]

I generally use SFP 50 for the kids here, and most of the time I use the same because I forget to carry mine (SFP 35), or buy another one when it runs out.
I read a couple of months ago about a research a university did about sunscreen and their SFP, and they found out that many of the sunscreen in the market (including the well known brands) don't have the SFP they claim, but less. I'll try to find the article later.

[Peggy]

Did anyone notice issues with the notifications for new posts again? It seems I sometimes randomly don't receive them.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Not today, Peggy, but it happens to me from time to time. I didn't find a way of fix it, just wait. :(

[Kandice]

I also read an article that explained in exhausting detail why anything above SPF 40 is a waste and you are simply paying for a number, not protection.

Here's a little part: How high an SPF should I use?

Pick the SPF appropriate for your skin type and expected time in the sun. UVA protection in American sunscreens maxes out at about 15 to 20. Higher SPF products will not offer proportionally higher protection. The American Cancer Society recommends that people use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, while the American Academy of Dermatology opts for 30. EWG recommends that you avoid sunscreens with SPF numbers higher than 50. More important than ultra-high SPF numbers is to apply sunscreen generously. Most people put on only one quarter to two-thirds as much as it takes to achieve the product’s SPF rating (Diaz 2012, Grosick 2004).

[Peggy]

That last thing is a good point Kandice. We used this sunscreen that came in 200 ml bottles, and on the bottle it said that if you cover your whole body, you should use 60 ml. So basically you can use it only 3 times if you go to the beach. And you should reapply it after going in the water, even the waterproof stuff. We did waaaaaaay longer with our bottle than that. I still felt I was using it generously though..

[Tasha]

We found out today that my daughter was the winner of a kindle fire from our local library's summer reading program. Needless to say she is thrilled!! I am too. :)

[Peggy]

Nice Tasha! That's a great prize to win :)

[Tasha]

We were eating breakfast out when I happened to check my email. It was so crazy!

[Sarah]

That's great Tasha! I bet she's well excited.

[Tasha]

She is, we got it all set up and she says she's playing on it all day. No reading though... ;)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Wow, that's great, Tasha!

[Stephanie]

That's awesome, Tasha!!

[Lisa]

That's great Tasha! What a nice prize for her to win.

[Tasha]

thanks, guys. :)

[Kandice]

Just as I was leaving the office today UPS delivered our curriculum for next year. Tomorrow I will be sorting and distributing books, work books and pamphlets all day. Blech!

I am glad they got here early, though, so can't complain too forcefully.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Wooohooo Tasha! Grats to your daughter.

Completely agree with your point Kandice, about reapplying much more important and putting on lots. That's drummed into us in Aus, as it's so harsh. But I will say anecdotally as a redheaded, freckled, white skinned person in Aus, the SPF still makes a difference.

[Stephanie]

Good morning all!! Hope you all have/having/had a wonderful sunshine filled day!! It's another cloudy and rainy day here, blah!