2011-11-25 - in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (up New River)

 It was provisioning day - I headed out right away and walked to the grocery store.  It's not too far from the wall downtown so it is fairly (by boat standards) handy.  I only got to aisle 7 and had to quit - my cart was full.  I checked out and headed home.  We have so much to do in these last few days before we leave.  It's a little overwhelming...but, we push through.  I am also trying to source some more feed cans for Dylan.  I ended up finding some online from another parent who had a surplus.  We are on a great discussion group where we can trade,  sell, offer or ask for equipment.  It is quite handy.  So, I am reminded as I was trying to set up payment to her on Paypal how difficult or sometimes impossible it is to operate on a boat.   For some reason I

had to reset my password, security questions, and phone number on Paypal before I could use my account.  The first two were fine.  The last one, my phone number, proved to me more difficult.  They needed to call the number I had on file to verify that that was my number.  I first thought that to be impossible as our home phone is basically virtual and only used for messages. But, then I remembered that I do have that phone on board (our cell phone), buried with the things that we won't need until we get home.  So, I found it,  juiced it up and turned it on. Then, I clicked, 'yes, call me now" - only to get the message 'we don't call cell phones- pick another line'.  Ok, now what?  I ended up phoning my mom(using Skype on the couture) to ask if she would accept the call from them.  She, thankfully, agreed.  I hung up and put her number in this time.  Then, the screen said, 'enter these four digits when we call.  Ahhhhhh!

"I lost something.....my second tooth!  check it out!!"

 I called her back straight away, but she had already picked up the phone call from Paypal and hung up as she didn't have the code.  I told her that I would do it again and then call her with the code.  This time the site did not even give me the option of using a phone number for verification.  It said that the phone failed and a letter was sent out to my address within 5-7 days with the PIN!  I finally asked my dad to send the money on our behalf through his Paypal and I would send the money to him through our bank.  Great - solved.  After 2 hours of that....Connor and I went to get the second load from the grocery store.  We did great - filled up another cart and proceeded to the check out.  Upon paying, the cashier looked at me shyly and said, 'your card has been denied - maybe you don't have enough money'.  The contents in my cart looked suspiscious - 20 cartons of UHT milk, 4 boxes of diapers, 10 boxes of pasta, 10 boxes of cereal.   It had already been a long day.  I couldn't really think of what to do.  Do I just leave it and go get the other cards....would that help?  Then she said, 'you can call the card company if you want to see what the problem is'.   My response to that was, 'I don't have a phone'.  Well, how strange is that?  Again, no cell phone, credit card denied, a cart full of strange items.  Anyway, she offered the store phone to call.  The problem was cleared up quickly.  The credit card company's fraud protection division had put a hold on my card due to very suspicous behaviour and buying patterns.  Really?  20 cartons of milk is not normal?  All was well, we paid and headed out.  The store allowed us to take the cart both times back to the boat with the promiise to bring it back.  Pushing a cart through the streets, after having my credit card denied and not owning a cell phone was not good for the ego but it did make for a good chuckle as we got back to the boat!

Kerry had been at the boat with Dylan.  He had patched our bike trailer wheel as well as storing the first load into the boat.  It's a big job.  I offered to put away the second load if he take both boys to the other boats at the Marina.  He was, I'm sure, glad to get off of the boat....and, I was glad to have a bit of quiet time.  I joined up with them later in the afternoon and chatted with them until dark.  We walked the 3/4 mile home enjoying the Christmas lights along the riverbank and called it a night.