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Taking off from work to repaint my bathrooms at Christmas time and finding my 'floating floors' really were floating on water about an inch deep didn't seem like much of a blessing at the time. Let me take a moment to explain that the new laminate flooring isn't glued, nailed, or stapled down; it's a tongue-in-groove connection woven together to make a floor that's finished off with baseboard to look like any other floor. It could be moved to another house, if you were of a mind to do so, thus, it's considered to be a floating floor.

My mistake was to have it installed in the bathrooms. There a sneaky leak down the back of the toilet can slither under the boards unnoticed long enough to damage walls, the nasty pressed wood now used in vanities instead of real wood, and make your house toxic with mold. Since our bath backs to our second bath, it also became a victim of that insidious leak.

The blessing came when both baths were taken apart, mold removed, old vanities replaced and tile flooring replaced the laminate. We now had two lovely bathrooms which were an unexpected, but much needed expense and a blessing to use and show.

The next event which at first seemed the devil's handiwork was the loss of our fledgling boat dealership. Our first year had been a miraculous success with the sale of sixteen boats! Our second year began with the selling of the largest boat the company made. We were deliriously happy although those days my husband, Bruce, always seemed exhausted. We credited it to the long days required to make any new business successful.

The word came from headquarters our contract would not be renewed. We were being shut down because the company had acquired a new backer who insisted he be given the whole franchise for the west coast of Florida. Six of the franchisees were tossed out like yesterday's garbage. The others had additional boat lines to fall back on or specialized in repairs. We hadn't been in business long enough to expand and the company refused to take back any inventory. Now we faced the very real possibility of losing our home since we had taken out a loan against it to buy the six-boat start up inventory required. We were devastated. On the other hand, Bruce decided to take time for a doctor visit.

His exhaustion had gotten so bad, he could barely walk from our bedroom to the living room without taking a fifteen minute rest prior to trying any more walking. With a mere 1500 square feet in the entire house, he rested far too often. The

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