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A Life Less Ordinary

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A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Rocklin, California

January 7, 2017 / / 24 Comments

Most of the time when Mark and I do a house sit that is longer than one week, I create a post about how an ordinary day in our life as house and pet sitters looks like. Many of the tasks are the same, but there are always some unique aspects that have to do with each home, area or pet. Past “A Day in the Life of…” posts cover our time in The Villages, Florida, which is the biggest retirement community in the world, Kent, Connecticut, where we took care of four pets for a highly creative and accomplished couple and Heath, Massachusetts, where we lived on a maple farm.

As I was thinking about this particular house sit, I couldn’t help but realize that our days are probably pretty similar to most people of our age living an “ordinary” life, with the main differences that we both work from home and don’t have kids.

This is how a normal workday for us looks like in Rocklin during our three month sit: Continue reading

IWSG Writing Update – January 2017

January 4, 2017 / / 28 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) encourages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement or anything really about their writing.  Since August 2016, the IWSG offers a particular question as a writing prompt for their members. Answering it is optional. This month that question is “What writing rule do you wish you never heard?”

December has been an interesting month, what with the “holidays” (do writers – or their heads – ever take holidays?) and our time in Rocklin, California dwindling down. During this recent three-month house sit, Mark and I lived in the suburbs of Sacramento. Due to the “boring” surroundings and less than ideal weather, I happily sat behind my computer every day, all day. I worked a lot on my memoir and think about it constantly when away from my temporary desk. Continue reading

Monthly Expenses – December 2016

January 2, 2017 / / 10 Comments

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting and relatively adventurous life without being rich. Or even without owning/earning a lot of money. That being said, Mark and I seem to manage one big expense a month for some reason, whether it is car, plane, travel or computer-related. Luckily, we live totally rent-free and in comfort, wherever we end up. 🙂

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for the two of us. Under groceries we incorporate all the food, produce and non-alcoholic drinks (100% orange juice, oat milk for Mark and organic 1% milk for me) predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and Mark's vitamins and supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor's visits starting in 2017. Utilities are always Skype-related, since that is how we make phone calls. 

From now on, you will see health insurance and costs related to my health care, since we are not in the lowest income bracket anymore and I am not a US citizen. Mark is still eligible for free health care in the state of Massachusetts as of today. If something were to happen outside of that state (we are currently in California), it will be expensive for either of us! I still pay a small three-monthly fee in Belgium for health care (required to keep my citizenship), which I will report on in my year report.

Here is an overview of our expenses in December. We really thought we would manage spending less than $1000, despite the holiday season, but, our car needed some work! Thanks to our friends Sue and David from Travel Tales of Life, our eating out category is lower than it could have been. 🙂 Next week, I will post our expense report of the year 2016.

Continue reading

Mark and Liesbet’s 2016

December 31, 2016 / / 29 Comments

2016 has passed in a jiffy. The older you get, the faster time flies. I am a firm believer of that “theory”.

In October 2015, Mark and I started our life in the United States. We applied for my green card (for the 2nd time in ten years; the 1st one, obtained in 2008, was “returned”), which I received five months later. The process for that took a tad longer than writing these two sentences! We began house sitting, expanded The Wirie business and I decided to write a book. A month later, I created this blog and an initial outline for said book. In December, we escaped to Florida for warmer weather.

2016 is our first full year of house and pet sitting in the US. The business has been successful and much easier to “handle” than from a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. I worked hard on my blog, trying to keep up a schedule of three posts a week. In April, for the A to Z Blogging Challenge, this became one a day! I worked on my memoir, which I will write more about on Wednesday, and we took care of a bunch of sweet, entertaining and smart animals. Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Path

December 28, 2016 / / 27 Comments

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays.  Also, I can’t manage “completely wordless”, but I’ll try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

With thousands of photos haphazardly archived over the years, I can’t easily pick what to post, so I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “path“.

This theme is very appropriate, because it is thanks to the paths we take that we are where we are today, physically and mentally. We live our lives and arrive at intersections. We stop. We think. We contemplate. Sometimes, there are multiple roads to pick from. Where do we go? Which direction do we choose? Which path do we take? Will we get lost?

Continue reading

Then and Now – Christmas

December 27, 2016 / / 22 Comments

Here is another topic for my “Then and Now” series. This festive time of the year has been different for us, over the years, as my article “Caribbean Christmas Afloat” in All At Sea magazine partly depicts. Underneath is a glimpse into our Christmases then (mostly during the time we lived and sailed on Irie) and now, at our current house sit.

2008 – Culebra, Puerto Rico

Mark, Darwin, Kali and I were ready to explore the real Caribbean in our 35′ sailboat. Unfortunately, the day after Christmas, our sweet girl Kali passed away and nothing would ever be the same anymore.

A special breakfast with bacon grease for Kali and Darwin

2009 – St. Pierre, Martinique

One of the most beautiful anchorages in the Caribbean was our location on Christmas in 2009. It was just the three of us enjoying a quiet day of giving Darwin a bath and exploring the town.

A bath for Darwin

2010 – Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Continue reading

Happy Holidays to All!

December 23, 2016 / / 23 Comments

The festive season is upon us! While Mark and I are having a quiet one, across the country from his friends and family and across the pond from mine, I hope most of you are enjoying this period in the company of loved ones. It is a time of reflection, love, friendship, tolerance, peace and coziness. I hope all these feelings can be extended throughout the new year! Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Anticipation

December 21, 2016 / / 6 Comments

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays.  Also, I can’t manage “completely wordless”, but I’ll try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

With thousands of photos haphazardly archived over the years, I can’t easily pick what to post, so I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “anticipation“.

Anticipation is an interesting theme. It lifts the spirit, makes your heart jump, creates excitement, and can be fun, unless reality turns out to be nothing like you predicted. Anticipation does not prepare you for what will actually happen, which can be better, or worse. Anticipation can create dread if faced with something you don’t look forward to. When the situation is entered, things might turn out better than expected, leading to relief.

Anticipation’s big brother is expectation. Continue reading

Weight Loss Experiment – Take 1

December 19, 2016 / / 26 Comments

In November, I did a case study. Of myself. After months of staring at massive bathroom mirrors and the reflection being exactly the same, I remained disgusted and could not deny the horrible truth anymore: I am (getting) fat. For months, I thought all the scales in the houses we took care of were wrong. Yes, I was that naive. Until recently, when facing – and admitting to – reality. It boils down to this: I am not all-around fat; it just has accumulated in certain spots. My body has been disproportionate for a decade: skinny on top, bulky on the bottom. Recently, the bulkier parts can be labelled fat and some new areas of concern have appeared.

People that have known me for a long time are probably raising their eyebrows reading a post about weight loss… coming from me! Most of those people have probably not seen me in a while either. Yes, I was skinny as a teenager and happy with my weight in my twenties and thirties. Sure, I was still OK wearing bikinis on our boat two years ago, ignoring the emerging belly fat, attempting to sit up straight when in company. And then, I turned 40. I like to blame the unruly weight gain on my age, but it might have to do with Mark and I swapping our challenging boat life for a more sedentary and comfortable house sitting life as well. Food is readily available in a plethora of varieties now. Sitting behind the computer all day and eating more western food probably didn’t help. Despite going for a decent walk almost daily, I gained 10 pounds in the last year… How do I get rid of that, at this age, with temptations everywhere? Continue reading

Then and Now – Sunset

December 16, 2016 / / 27 Comments

I am sticking with my Friday “Then and Now” theme for a few more weeks, since I am having fun with it. I wonder whether these amazing and interesting skies would fit into Cee’s Odd Ball category for photography? While sunsets are beautiful, they do create some odd shapes and colors into the sky. 🙂

When you live on the water for eight years, there are numerous sunsets to enjoy. The best of them occur when there is a clear view of the horizon, in my opinion. In October, I posted one of my favorite sunset photos and here is another small selection of the – yes, you can believe it – hundreds of sunset photos I took or witnessed over the years.

Grenada, Caribbean – 2009-2011

Martinique, Caribbean  – 2010 Continue reading

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