A day off at Work

R went fishing offshore today. He took the guy that works for us, our brother in law (bil) and bil's father. So, a day I can relax. I do have several work things that need attention, but the bulk of my day is free. Free if I let my guilt over the messy house and needed chores subside. We'll see. I usually end up doing an overhaul to our house while R is gone. I just don't have much energy lately.

So, R has no idea I have this blog. He noticed I was reading a friends blog the other day and he just couldn't comprehend why anyone would do such a thing. So, I've been reluctant to mention this. Besides he'll think it's just a place I can complain about him. Hmmm, there's an idea! I'd hate to break his heart when he realizes this isn't all a tribute positive or negative to the great R. But what can I do.

About R
R is 39 and will be 40 in September. R was born and raised in Florida. R is a hard working person. He can not stand to be idle. Sitting doing nothing for even a small amount of time drives him crazy. He goes through spells of waking up in the middle of the night with his mind tooling. He's currently in that pattern. He doesn't feel good about himself unless he accomplishes something substantial everyday. Luckily he has backed down a little since we had Tide. He is a dedicated Dad. He has a great sense of humor. He jokes a lot. He'll shut down the joking completely if I try to get him to be serious at all, then he's not himself, so I beg him to just be him. It's a catch 22 if you will, I'd like him to be more serious, but I don't want him to be who he isn't.

R is very hard on himself. If it's not him constantly saying I don't find him attractive or that he's too ugly, it's him knocking himself down in another way. He doesn't do enough, etc. All of which I am constantly telling him my point of view and he blows it off like I'm bullshitting him.

R is a fabulous Father. He spends a great amount of one on one time with Tide. He would do anything for Tide. He was up with Tide until 1:30 Friday night playing. They played cars, football, baseball, played inside various boats in our yard, walked all over, splashed in puddles... And that's just what he mentioned to me. It made his weekend. Nothing is better to R then quality time with his boy. Just thinking that makes me smile.

About Tide
Tide was born August 12, 2002. He is a big boy, always measuring at the top or over the average growth charts. He was an adorable baby. (but aren't they all) Now he is a very cute toddler. He has spent his share of time in the hospital and ER's. He has asthma. He had his first surgical procedure at 20 months. A scrotal infection that had to be lanced to clean out the infection. We spent 6 days in the hospital during that episode. The infection was initially caused by a staph infection that he most likely caught during his hospital stay a few weeks prior. I always find that oh-so-nice.

Tide spent his first eight months in my office. (I'll explain our work/home situation soon) I started having difficulties keeping up with work and him during our busy season. I sent R's Mother out to research some local daycare's. Since we trust her opinions concerning child care, we went with her top pick. Tide started Daycare. Every week he was sent home sick. He just could not shake the "Daycare Crud". I pulled him out two weeks before our yearly vacation, (so I would have a healthy boy during our break), and never brought him back. We struggled through the next 2 ½ months until we found Granny.

Granny, (who's name is Francis), is a 75 year old woman who has been watching kids in her home for 45 years. Her and her husband Harry, (known as Poppa), were watching five other kids ranging from 6 months old to 4 years old. Her house is littered with glass knick knacks and immaculate. My first thought was that they must just lock all the kids in the closet in order to keep the house like that. I was wrong, of course. Tide loved going to Granny and Poppas. They filled a grandparent void that Tide has. (I'll explain later) Everything was very smooth until the Hurricanes. The first major one to hit here tore Granny and Poppas roof off and severely damaged the interior. They were luck enough to have a daughter that had the room to take them in and allowed them to continue watching the children in her home. Well, Tide was the only one who stayed with Granny. The other kids and parents found other places to go.

The great thing about Tide's time with Granny and Poppa was how he didn't get sick as much as he did in the public daycare. If he was sick, Granny would still watch him, give him his breathing treatments, medication, etc. The one element that was now missing was the other kids. Tide missed playing with kids his age. Granny ended up having knee replacement surgery, which she did remarkably well recovering from. Roughly two months later, her knee cap split in half and she was back in surgery. This happened in mid January. They told her at least 6 weeks with her leg immobile and then she'd have to go through rehab all over again.

I had to do something. If anyone ever thought watching an 8 month old and running a business was tough, try a two years old! So, I had to do something. R and I had taken Tide back to the first Daycare during the time Granny had her first surgery. It lasted two days, when I abruptly picked Tide up with his belongings and told the director we were leaving. She hemmed and hawed and I explained that I didn't need my kid in an unsanitary facility that seemed chaotic and unsupervised.

On a whim, I checked out a relatively new Daycare. It was part of a chain, several in our county. I was shocked. I walked in and could not believe the order and cleanliness. The teachers I met were all cheerful and upbeat. The kids were playing and noisy but in no way chaotic. I was sold. We brought Tide in the next day. He's been there two months now and loves it. They teach him the simple things with constructive play. They alternate their rooms all day, going from math to social studies to art to science... They have two large playgrounds outside plus a big inside one. I still haven't found any negative thing about this place. Tide has been sick, but nothing bad. Besides it's been winter.

All in all Tide is a very bright, cheery, inquisitive toddler. He melts down from time to time, but who doesn't. He recently learned how to steer his powered jeep. (small 6v powered jeep that he can sit in and drive around the yard) His language skills are flowing out of him faster than I ever imagined. He shares. He offers help when he sees us doing something. He likes to give hugs and kisses.

About A
A is me. I am 32, will be 33 next month. I am originally from Maine and am now living in Florida. I've been here 10 years, though it feels like more. I live three miles from the ocean on the Indian River. I love the water. R and I run a marine business. We do repair, a few sales and have a storage yard. My office door is attached to our kitchen. We live and work in the same physical location. It is good and bad.

I love what I do, though I hate people. Not all people, but a large portion of them. So, all the parts research and book work are great. The customer relations part... not my cup of tea. R is Mr. Nice-guy. This is a business he had started a few years prior to my coming to Florida. Once I was fully involved in the Business, I realized R had thousands owed to him. He would let people take their boats and trust that they'd pay when they got the money. A lot of these customers were commercial fisherman. Some of them paid, most had sob stories that would string R along. So I came in and took over the financial end. I became noted as the bitch. I made no exceptions. "No Payment=No Boat" I placed this sign in plain view in several locations. Attached to this was a reminder note indicating that we do take credit cards. Most of the people who owed us money would religiously say they didn't believe in credit cards. Which to me means they have no credit and no money. I know this sounds harsh, but R was actually putting payroll on his credit card because he couldn't afford to pay our employees. Which in turn means we had no money to eat. Something had to change. Thus, I'm the BITCH.

I love photography. I keep promising myself I'll take more pictures, which I haven't done, but will. I have changed over to digital. Which is a love hate relationship for me. I do have a very nice camera, but there's something about a manual 35mm that has always been my gig. I used to take almost all of my pictures in blk/wht. I still play with that mode on my camera, but it just doesn't feel the same. I miss dark room time. Though I have roughly 7500 photos currently stored in my Mac, I just haven't given myself the time or incentive to do anything with them.

I guess that's about it for now. Just a brief on who we are.