Tue Sept 30

Put hubby on plane home yesterday so now it's back to work. Had a great time and was a nice break. Cooked some (blackened grouper - he gave two thumbs up on new recipe), ate out some (lobster fritters at Sunset Grill hands down the best on the island, awesome cheeseburger at Fido's, chicken burrito at BC's - my absolute favorite), also just hung out and relaxed. Cloudy and rainy most of the weekend but sun peeked out occasionally so it was all good.

Island is very quiet right now, very slow. Trying to find as much work as possible for my crew during the off time. Cleaning, painting, odd jobs, etc. Not much fun but puts food on the table. Going to have to all just hang in there and take care of each other until it picks back up. If I wore all of the ankle bracelets that I've bought from the street kids they would reach to my knees!

Checked in with Enrique on construction a couple of times over the weekend. Looking REALLY good and almost done - final touches. Have to patch a place in the ceiling - roof leaked during rain night before last - took down a 10" x 4" section of the newly floated and painted ceiling *aaarrrggg*. He's going to find the leak, patch the roof, re-do the ceiling. Tiny step backwards but not a biggie.

Mike is sanding and varnishing the chairs, they look so much better. Didn't realize what a difference that would make. Probably need to do it every year - salt and sand very hard on them. Makes me wonder what it's doing to my skin. Note to self: stock up on moisturizer.

Headed into town to meet with Sharon & Cassidy on the sushi bar. Probably should clarify, have had some questions on who's this new gal taking over the sushi bar. Not taking it over, just heading up some of the nuts and bolts and obstacles so she can focus on sushi and her awesome energy and what she does best. Looking forward to the opening, they're going to do great I have no doubt.

Ezekiel's in the sushi bar installing the ceiling fan and servicing the a/c. Paint, blinds, etc. up next. Can't wait to see the 'finished product'! Sharon & Cassidy have done a good job of planning it all, now just get it executed and we're good to go. Went over their new sushi, drink, martini menu and really impressed. The martinis look very tempting, will have to try them out. Of course their Sake is hard to beat. Decisions, decisions... =)

Back over to Nautica to meet with Enrique, got a quote to fix the roof. Extra expense but needs to be done. Since it's the Fido's building they get the pleasure of footing the bill this time, not me. whew. Only prob is it's going to take two rolls of tar/roof paper and there's none on the island. And big storm coming in this weekend.

Enrique, bless his heart, offered to take the boat over to Belize City, pick it up, bring it back, get it fixed tomorrow. Didn't even want extra to do it. Really impressed with him. If anyone ever needs a contractor - he's your guy.

While on the phone with Fido's owner to get okay on roof work my cell signal kept breaking up so went out onto the balcony. My lovely balcony overlooking the ocean with 8" square tiles and pristine white grout. OMG!!! HUGE black stain on 5' square section of tile. Can of dark mahogany stain was leaking and went unnoticed evidently - I wanted to scream / cry / laugh all at the same time. What next? A hurricane?

Enrique came through for me again - or maybe he was scared by the wild frenetic and not very rational ranting and raving that somehow was coming out. Don't know. But he cleaned it up for me and wasn't even his fault or his can of stain. What a trooper.

So now it's 1pm, back at the house working on recipes and putting out other minor fires. Still have to get a quote on signage, check on the Hot Book ad layout and hopefully get a quote on vinyl roll down curtains for balcony.

2:30 and back downtown. Electrician needs me to look at wiring in 5-gang cluster of switches in sushi bar. Some hot, some not, all loose and shaky with exposed wiring. A fire waiting to happen. Looked them over, agreed two can be eliminated (dead) others clustered in one (safe) box, then will fill the gap when we patch sheetrock in prep for painting. Ceiling fan looks great. Had to go with white, out of wood tone. Looks better I think.

Check for electrician for balance of labor, check for Mike for chairs. Couple of other details then back home.

5pm call from electrician. Check I left for him never got signed. Called Brian, he headed down there to sign it, gave it to him, all good.

Headed for shower then porch. Postponed trip to Belize City tomorrow - need to make sure roof gets fixed. Will go early next week hopefully.

Some good news: The basil plants that I started and planted are coming along great. Yes, minor thing but hey, I'll take it!