Music I Love!

I heard this song on Witches of East End and loved it. I could listen to music like this all day and some days I do. It takes me to a relaxing place in my head and helps my creative flow be constant and fluid. Wanted to share with everyone.


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Belize, you have my soul

It is time to talk about Belize. The beautiful Belize, the country where I left my heart and soul. It sits waiting for my return and every day I am pining for that time to come when I am boarding a plane to head back to a place I love. I was in Belize the beginning of December for 6 days. I can say it was love at first sight as I was instantly drawn in. I felt like it was home and where I belonged.

Belize is a country that is maybe the size of Massachusetts, with a population about 350,000. Yes, 350,000 is what I said. They are an English speaking as they were a British nation until 1981 when Belize became an independent country. The other languages are Spanish and Creole. This makes it real easy to communicate with everyone you come in contact with.

Traveling there is easier than I had thought from the west coast. Only one lay over and then we were in Belize. The small airport reminded me of a the airport from my hometown back in the seventies. Getting off the plane on the stairs rolled in on a truck and no terminals. It was like I had gone back in time. Next was customs and it was not to crazy in this small airport and we had to turn around and check in for our flight on the Tropic Air little plane to get over to Ambergris Caye. If you are staying on the main land, you can rent a car to your destination or you are met by someone from your resort. The 15 minute flight to the island was more than enough to enjoy the views from above. The waters so blue and the small islands spread out on the inside of the barrier reef was a beautiful sight to see.

As we landed, we were met by the manager of our resort, La Perla Del Caribe. Enrique was his name with a great welcome to his little tropical oasis he was willing to share with us. He put us on a taxi and took us to board the water taxi that many of the tourists get to know well as these boats are mostly the main transportation on the island. There are no cars (with the exception with the taxi's that pick you up at the airport) and the prime mode of transportation besides the boats are golf carts, bicycles and the use of your own feet.


We were settled into the boat and headed up the coast line towards our destination of La Perla Del Caribe. Passing along the shoreline were many beautiful resorts and homes. The residential homes ranged from very moderate to fancy but not any looked out of place for this island. The sun was setting during our boat ride and the air was cooling off. Comfortably warm. Once we landed our feet on the boat dock, we all looked up and saw our beautiful home for the next 6 days. White sands, palm trees, turquoise blue waters, the sound of the water breaking at the reef and our villa. Ahhhhhhhh, heaven.

The villa was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath that was set up with the living area in the middle and each room at the each side of that area. Each room had a screened in sun porch to enjoy if you wanted to just hid away for a few. The villa also had a front deck with lounge chairs to just sit with the waters edge about 30 feet away and watch the people who walk along the beach. It was the best place to sit and enjoy your morning coffee while watching the sun come up or relax with your cocktail in the afternoon as you watch the locals ride their bikes home from work on waters edge. (This is their rush hour.) Enrique was great at making us feel at home. Anything we needed he or his other assistant Toshiba was there to help out at any time. As they made us feel like family the entire trip. 


Morning

 
Since we were a bit further north of the main town of San Pedro, the options of restaurants were a minimal and our villa had a kitchen. So what did we do; ordered our groceries with alcohol too. What a great thing to do. There was food for us at any time we were hungry and our alcohol was plenty. We did not have a problem cooking while on vacation. We did wander up the beach to a restaurant called Portofino for dinner one night and it was delicious with a lobster bisque soup so creamy and buttery it was divine while sitting on the second floor balcony listening to the waves and the trade winds blowing slightly. We could have taken the water taxi's into the small town and tried the cuisine there but we found ourselves completely content staying where we were.

There were days of excursions that entailed of doing a bit of snuba (not spelled wrong, it is snorkeling/scuba mixed. It is a great way for us non-certified scuba people to try) This is great for snorkelers to get underwater and enjoy its beauty. The boys went bone fishing with an old fisherman who new every nook and cranny of the area surrounding the island. This is a good adventure for any fly or spin real fishermen out there, the guys really enjoyed themselves as the girls sat on the villa deck looking out at the ocean and drinking the local Belkin beer. Then we went to the main land seeing the country side touring a Mayan Ruins Xunantunich and cave tubing along the Yucatan range. We learned about the Mayans and where they loved and praised the Gods and then to the caves where the river flows trough and you are tubing through learning about how they sacrificed to those same Gods in those caves. This was a full day. We had a long boat ride to the main land then the car ride to the ruins which was across the country itself. Literally, we were a few of miles from Guatemala, then we had a great local cuisine in Benque Viejo del Carmen. A small town nestled along the river bank of Mopan and up the hillsides of the Yucatan. On our way back to Belize city was where we took a turn into the jungle of the Yucatan, this is where we went floating into caves. Equipped with our protective headgear, head lamps and float tubes we were off on our hike through the jungle. The guides educated us on all the trees and plants. Then we came over a hill looking down was this turquoise pool of water peaking out from in between the caves. Making our way down into the really cool water, we all attached ourselves to each other and into the cave we went. Pitch black except for the little spot lights from all of our head lamps. Listening to our guide telling us about the history of the caves and of his own heritage as well, it was one of the best lazy rivers I have floated. We also had a great time going to the marine reserve to snorkel around swimming with sea turtles, sting rays, nurse sharks and many other aquatic sea life. I really recommend this one because of all the marine life you get to see and experience. Don't be afraid to swim with the sharks it is a thrill of a lifetime and they are only nurse sharks. On this excursion we were able to meet a couple of men cleaning the conk that they had farmed. Then we were able to try ourselves some raw conk. I can say it was one of the most delicious raw seafood I have had. It was like a sweet buttery flavor. I can still taste that little morsel of goodness. All of our guides were kind and gave you the history of Belize and its surrounding areas. 

This trip was filled with fun activities and we were able to just sit and shut the world out while relaxing on the deck or by the pool. I did not want to leave. I felt like it could be home for me and that is what I plan on making Belize someday. Time stood still there.





The Right Bra Size

Ladies, let us talk about the brassiere. All of us, who have not been fitted or fitted properly, have been wearing the wrong bra for years. Many of us hate our bras and can't wait to get home to rip them off. There are us women who would wear them all the time including in bed (if they were not uncomfortable to sleep in). I happen to be the one who does not mind wearing my bra as it holds these two squishy things that protrude off my chest wall. So, during my perusing of Pinterest, I have seen many pins on how to properly find the right bra size. I knew I wasn't wearing the right bra as I have gained and lost weight and those seem to be the first to come and go on the weight gain and loss. I was curious.
I have been sized once before at VS and I was a size that kind of shocked me. The bra had fit, (I thought it did) but I stuck with that size maybe changing the cups with many different brands of bras. As I have paid attention to TV shows and articles about our bras and how many of us are walking around with wrong sizes, I knew it was time to re-check. I looked at some of the websites that have been pinned and tried out the bra calculator and then the plus and minus thing as I got different sizes. Then I found this site http://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Your-Bra-Size  holy crap this was a new way of measuring. I understood all of what it was saying.
The bra calculator site had given me the measurement of a 30D and let me tell you finding that size in cute bras is a needle in a haystack. I did get a cute Calvin Klein bra that fit like a glove but could not find any others. I do know that every name brands have their own sizing's. This can be very frustrating when shopping, let me tell you. No wonder us women have a couple of bras and we live with those old things for a long time. Finally at one point I had remembered my friend telling me that she learned to go up a size and down a cup size. Ah-ha, so I did that one day when I went for a quick bra shop (ha-ha, quick bra shop, now that was a funny statement). So, I actually found my 30D's and then I took in 32C's that were bra's I liked and tried them on. The D's were actually to small but the C's were perfect. Well, I'll be damned, look at this, all I had to do was adjust my sizes. When was someone going to give this little secret out? Now I at least know what to do and I can get some cute, fantastic fitting bras.
Ladies, try those bra's on in the store. Yeah, yeah I know it a pain in the butt, but it is well worth it. My bras are even more comfortable and I don't feel strapped in. I now have the right band/chest size, cup size is perfect and not spilling or flopping around in the bra, the straps are not the ones holding the girls up digging into my shoulders. Then finding out that we should be hooking the bra on the last hook (the very end one) not the middle or third one (which I don't know why they are there in the first place) I don't have that digging in my back. Now that my girls are up where that are suppose to be, I have been asked if I have lost weight or if I have changed something. It's just a bra that fits right and it is amazing what the girls can do to your body shape when they not where they are suppose to be.
I am here to say, that I have  been transformed. The above website gives you all kinds of info on what type of bras to wear and how to measure. I can say that bra shopping will be a bit easier now that I know how to size myself up or down if that brand does not have my size or it is my size but does not fit in that brand. Give yourselves the luxury of the right fitting bra. It makes a world of a difference.

The Dingy Headlights

Here is a quick little blog about those nasty, dingy headlights. If you live in an area that has weather that requires sand and salt to be blasted all over the roads to keep you from being in a twisted metal outcome and you have an older car with an old, plastic lems covers (apparently not used in the new vehicles headlights) and they get pitted and oxidized as they hold onto any grime not letting go, then this is the trick to help out.

I have washed my car many times and could not get those pesky headlights to shine clear or look as good as they once did. I knew there are those cleaners/ polishes you can buy to do the trick and my lazy ass had never gone to get any, nor did I want to spend the money for them and have this bottle hanging out in my garage with all the other random car cleaning products I own. I mean, come on, I really actually go through the car wash place that I sit my ass in the car and let it do the work. I clean my motorcycle with more efficiency than my poor car. But hey at least I clean it. Back to the headlights; I have found in research and asking friends, that the polishes will work but for only a little while. This is pretty much common sense that once that plastic is pitted and been eaten through by salt and whatever else the environment wants to blast at it, that plastic is never going to look brand spanking new. I knew I just wanted the yellow haze look to be off of it. I have tried to scrub it off from time to time with no effect. Then I saw a pin about using toothpaste. What do I have to lose to try something as simple as toothpaste; nothing. So the other day amongst the other random things I was doing around the house, I grabbed the toothpaste, two rags, one wet and one dry and headed out to the garage.

With those dirty headlights looking at me straight in the eyes, I went in to give them my Brut force called elbow grease. Here is my outcome:

Before:

After:

 Drivers after:

 

 



 

I jumped completely into it and forgot to take the before picture of the drivers side and it was really bad compared to the passenger side. The difference was day and night on the drivers side. What I used was Colgate Total Advanced whitening toothpaste, an old wash cloth to rub the toothpaste on, and then I took an old towel, wet it down and wiped the toothpaste off. I did the whole wax on, wax off circular motions with the toothpaste and then just rinsed it off with the wet towel.

The headlights look so much better. There is still the oxidized plastic from the pitting and blasting of the world on them so they still are a little foggy looking but they are clean and not yellow. I can actually see the headlight bulb now, and I couldn't before. It is going to be amazing at night to be able to see the road actually. Hee hee, yeah those lights were getting bad. Now if only toothpaste would help my timing chain from clanking around my car and I would be golden. :)

 

 

Original pin post: http://pinterest.com/pin/139400550938315411/

 

Now the pics in this post makes them look brand new but don't expect that. 

 

 



Cleaning the yuck off the water dispenser tray....

 

OK, I admit I let this little tray go a long time before cleaning it.  It's disgusting and for some reason, even if you wipe it down each time water gets on it, it still ends up looking pretty gross.  In the past I have tried ways to get the yuck off and it always ends up not turning out so well.  So when I saw this simple way to clean it on Pinterest, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try again. 

 

Ingredients needed:

White Vinegar

Dish Soap

Toothbrush (not to be used for actual teeth cleaning afterwards!)

 

I had 2 gallons of vinegar left over from when I was told that it helped removed wallpaper.  (BTW, it didn't and only made my house smell terrible!)  Of course we all have dish soap.  And I had a toothbrush left over from last dentist appointment.

OK, let's get started.  I took the tray out and placed it in the sink.  As the original said, I poured the vinegar in the tray. (Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of this stage).  I filled it up until it started coming out over the top (what? I wanted to make sure I had enough in all the grooves!)  The pin said to wait only 3 minutes, however I did not feel that was long enough so I waited for 7. 

The pin stated to put dish soap on it at this point, but I decided to start scrubbing with the vinegar still in the tray.  So I gently brushed the toothbrush around in the little grooves.  It really didn't take much effort to see the yuck coming off.  

Once it looked like I couldn't get anymore off, I dumped the vinegar out, put dish soap in the tray (no water) and started brushing again. 

 It seemed like it was working...  I rinsed the tray and here is the end result...

Not completely rid of all the yuk, but a vast improvement.

Next I figured, Hey!  Its 7:00am on a Saturday morning, I'm waiting for fabric to dry for my next project (blanket for my cousins 5th birthday, pictures to follow!) why not make the house smell like a little more vinegar?!?! (I'm sure my husband is appreciating this while he is sleeping!)  I decided to fill a tupperware dish up with about an inch or so of vinegar, emerge my tray upside down in it and let it soak for another 20 minutes.... I really want this thing clean!

After the soaking I brushed the tray again with the toothbrush while still in the vinegar.  I could still see that some of the yuck was still not coming off, so I took the scrubber side of the sponge to it.  When I was satisfied, I pulled it out and did the dish soap thing again. Rinse and.....

Not bad!  It turned out pretty darn clean.  Now, to make it shiny again and to hopefully help prevent some yuck in the future.... the husband suggests Paste Wax.

 

Paste Wax provides rich, satiny lustre and protects multiple surfaces including plastic! WOOT WOOT!  This can help!  I took a paper towel, folded it up, swirled just the corner in the wax (you really don't need very much!), and then rubbed it all over the tray.  VOILA!

Thanks all for reading and happy cleaning!

Amanda 

The Ta-Ta's: Please read ladies

To start off, yes this is one of those blog about awareness. Yes, this is about ta-ta's, boobies, breast, whatever we want to call them. These two mounds set on our chest that most of us women have to strap a contraption on to hold them up throughout the day (if one prefers) so they don't sag down to our knees when we get old and wrinkled. (what a visual huh?) Yes, bra's are great to keep that tissue from breaking down and letting those girls stay put as well as they can throughout our aging process.

That being said, there needs to be another caring moment us women should do to ensure the well being of the ta-ta's and our life. The self breast exam! I know it's not October when it is breast cancer awareness month but I think there should be a reminder every month.

The reason I am bringing this up because of my recent scare; again! Let me give a brief history. I have had mammograms since I was 17 yrs old. I had my first little pea size cyst at 17 and it was fine as it actually went away. At this time, I learned to do a self breast exam and began to do these when I would remember. Not all the time but here and there. By 27 yrs old, I had my next lump. This one I was reminded by a magazine article about doing our exams, so I did and found it. This was oblong in shape and about a size of  a stretched walnut. I went in to the doc immediately and had another mammo. It was a fibroid cyst and we had it removed, no cancer. Now about 10 years later I found another one only because of the last scare, I was really diligent about checking my boob's for anything out of the ordinary. I found another one, this time in the other breast. But by this point I was not freaked out. I went to the doc and did the usual mammo/ultra sound and yep, it is another cyst. The radiologist let me know it was fine. Nothing suspicious, just another cyst. Yay. My doc said I can leave it or take it out. I left it. I can live with it checking it to see if there are any changes (mammo's and feeling it myself).

Recently, I had the scare of my life. Because I am fully aware of my breasts and any changes in them, I randomly felt a lump. I had done a breast exam on myself about 3 weeks before my discovery and nothing unsual than the usual lump. So, this new lump came on fast and it was shaped differently than the others. I made my appointment with the doc quickly and then she scheduled my mammo/ ultrasound appointment. I had a week between the two appointments to dwell on what this could be. At some point I had myself convinced that not matter what, I will still work and I will still do what needs to be done to keep the flow of our family moving if this was the one. All kinds of thoughts ran through my head. "I can and will do this if I have to", was all I kept saying to myself. This lump was new, different and did not react or feel like the others and I am in my 40's which seems to be that magic number in the medical world. So my fear was in full force. The day of the mammo could not come fast enough.

The results of the tests were fantastic! I do not have anything suspicious. What I do have on the other hand; a town of cysts on one side of my boob and then the suburb at the top. Holy crap. There were more cysts that I did not even know about. I never felt them under my boob because of the dense tissue. (I all of a sudden have dense tissue in there too) This is why mammo's are good to have, you may not even feel anything. The shape of the new lump being different was because of other cysts underneath it. I exhaled and could not have been more relieved. I am ok.

I was due this year for my screening anyways and this just expedited it. I am in my 40's with a history of breast cancer in the family. I do get mammo's and I am proactive about checking myself and we all should be feeling the ta-ta's starting in our 20's. If not, by 30's. Listen ladies, having the doc check them only when you go in for the fancy stir up check up, is not enough. If you know how they feel and look all the time, then you will know when something is wrong. If you do find something, PLEASE don't be afraid to go in and have it checked. If anything, it may be nothing at all or cysts like I have. Can mine change into breast cancer; I don't know. They may or may not but because I am getting mammo's every year, I will know. I can have these cysts drained if I want or leave them. If they start to bug me and are uncomfortable or grow for that matter, I can have them drained. As for right now, I am leaving them. I want to let other women who don't know what a lump feels like to be able to feel mine so they know. It will at least give them an idea of what to feel for. Since I have many sizes in there, these cysts are going to be educational for my friends out there. :)

Now I keep talking about mammo and ultrasound. We all know the typical mammo and for anyone who has not had one yet; they do not hurt! Now if you go before that monthly visitor and the girls are tender, then yes there may be discomfort but anything touching them during the tenderness time will be uncomfortable. Just try to not go during that time unless necessary. The ultrasound is used when something is seen in the mammo. This gives the radiologist a chance to get a better look at what is coming up suspicious in the mammo or they do ultrasounds because of breast size, density, or any other reason that a mammo can't be done or it is not sufficient enough for a reading for the radiologist. Either way, they need to be done.



Graphic done by:

http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/myths-and-facts-about-breast-cancer-infographic/

If you do not know how to do a self exam, ask the doctor to show you or you can look it up on line. Here is a link that helps show how to do a self-exam: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam this also has other great learning tools as well. The graphic above with the link also has information as well as more websites to visit. You can also Google breast cancer self exams and get many helpful sights.

We all know someone who is fighting, in remission or has lost the battle to breast cancer. If you don't, you know someone who does know someone or you have heard someones story. It's nothing to sweep under the carpet. Just keep feeling up your ta-ta's ladies,  being proactive and early detection is your best defense!!

(Just to let you all know what my New Years resolution is: from here on out in January, I will go get my mammo done. Now that's a resolution I won't break.)