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.)

Welcome to fall and some Pumpkin Poppers!

OK, so I've been out of the loop for a little while now, but since things with my life are starting to calm down and fall is my absolute favorite season, I figured now would be a great time to post my most recent  pin.... Pumpkin Poppers!  Yes, a bite of pumpkin goodness! The recipe came from a blog called Just the Little Things, click here for the recipe.

I had everything needed on hand except the Allspice, but I attempted to used Pumpkin Pie spice instead. So I made the little poppers exactly as the recipe called for, again except for the allspice.  Here is my original finished product....  (sorry,  I'm no food photographer!)  

 

They tasted delicious, however I didn't feel as though I could taste a whole lot of pumpkin and with how much cinnamon and sugar were coating them, I more felt like I was eating, well a mouth full of cinnamon and sugar... It's kinda like dipping them in the butter made them expand as well.

So I had a small amount of the batter left, enough to make 6 more poppers.  This time, with the cinnamon/sugar mixture,  I used less cinnamon and added pumpkin pie spice.  When they came out of the oven I only dipped the top half of it in the butter and cinnamon/sugar mix.  Here is the second finished product.

All in all I think this is a fun, tasty recipe and very easy to make.  I do enjoy my version a little better, again I personally can go without as much of the sugar mixture! And of course, next time I will make sure I have Allspice on hand!

Enjoy!

Shoo Fly Shoo

I had come across a pin that was a homemade wasp trap. Actually a couple of pins. I can't find the exact one but in the comments I read about how to deter flies. Living in an area with horses and other barn animals my neighbors love to have, my fly problems get crazy. I had not tried this around my house. (not from lack of trying) I have the easy contraption laying on my barbecue but did not figure out where to hang it around my sliding door area. Then I just got lazy and gave up.
Over the last holiday weekend the family had the annual camping trip and being that the campground resort is a couple of miles from a cattle farm, the flies were obnoxious. So I brought up this little idea I had read and we decided, why not? It doesn't hurt to try it. Next thing I knew it, the contraptions were brought out and being hung by the camper with care. 

1 sandwich Ziploc bag
1 shiny penny
Water
Something to hang it

Place penny in bag, add water, about halfway, and hang in the desired area to deter the flies. Here is the picture.

You can see duct taped to the awning was the bag with the sparkly penny. lol. Two were placed on each side of the awning.

Now the question is; did it work? I am not completely sure. It seemed to work that there was less flies under that awning than the one we were sitting under facing it. The flies also seemed to accumulate at the tables in between us but under that awning it seemed those pesky little buggers were not wanting to go under. Coincidence or was it working? I would like to think so. We did it the next day on the other awning and there seemed to be flies but not as much. Again, was it working? Hmmmmm. I would say maybe.

I guess the best way to test this little trick out is at my back door and really see how the flies react. This will have to be tested next summer as our weather is cooling off enough that the flies have diminished to one or two by the door other than 20 or 30. Why not test again when really it is a pretty cheap way to deter the flies. Looks silly but who cares. :)

I also read this can help deter wasps as well. I don't know about that one either but 2 for the price of one, I say go for it.

I also noticed some campers were using electric fans and had them blowing to get rid of flies. Yes, we were fancy camping with hook ups so electricity was available.

Ooooo Jalapeno Poppers with BACON

While perusing Pinterest, I came across this wonderful picture of the infamous Jalapeno Popper that had bacon and using crescent roll dough for the shell. Ooooooo this looked so good. I tried them immediately. Here is the link to the original recipe on the blog Hellohue http://www.hellohue.com/2011/01/pop-em-like-theyre-hot.html.

Now, I had the crescent rolls dough, cream cheese and uncooked bacon in the fridge but no fresh jalapenos and I did not want to go to the store. I know, lazy but dammit the store is annoying and we all can admit that we try to avoid it as much as possible for one small item. Plus, I just don't come home with that one item. It is usually a few more goodies I see and have to have.

OK back to the subject, I had jarred Jalapenos in the fridge too. They are a little spicy but I thought why not. I also had the pre-cooked bacon that you can just heat up in the microwave. (I kind of suck at cooking bacon for some reason) I am set to try this out my way.

 I rolled out my crescent roll dough out and looked at it. Those triangles suck and are awkward. To make four triangles out of two just seemed hard to pinch together to make the poppers. (I tried and failed) How the hell did she manage to do it; I thought to myself and sat there staring at the pesky triangles. I then had this idea, I decided to just pinch the two triangle dough pieces together and I got the rectangle to cut into 6 squares. One cut down the middle, length wise and two from top to bottom. Well, this seems easier. I cut up my bacon into chopped pieces and began to create these gems. Here are pics of the process.

Above you can see where I had pinched the crescent roll triangles together and my cuts. I then added the cream cheese, jalapeno, and bacon.

Then I took each corner and pulled up to the center and pinched together.

I pinched the seamed together as well.

I placed them on the cookie sheet about and 3/4 to an inch apart. I then followed the time and temperature for the crescent rolls to cook in the oven. That is 350 between 10-15 minutes but I go about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

This is what they look like finished. They were a huge success and warning: very addicting. You just can't have one. My first batch I think I ate all but 5 of them. I had to make myself stop.

I would love to try it with the fresh ingredients and someday I will. But for now I will go for the jarred jalapenos and pre-cooked bacon. Quick, easy and a great appetizer for a party. They will go quick, so make a lot.

Costa Rica: Let me take you on a trip

Need to write about a beautiful place I had gone to. Costa Rica is one of the most wonderful places to see and visit. We had stayed on the pacific side of the country in an area known as Manuel Antonio. This is located south of Quepos which is a small town famous for its fishing excursions.

To start out, we had our long journey with the plane trip. We had landed in San Jose, Costa Rica mid afternoon and were ready to find our rental car. This airport is not big nor small and pretty easy to get around. Of course our first stop was the Duty Free store to pick up our alcohol we would be consuming during the week. Good ol' bottle of Sailor Jerry's was pretty cheap. What can I say; I was on vacation and drinks were planned to be flowing.

We got our luggage, made it through customs and headed to get the rental car. We had to drive 3 hours ahead of us to get to our destination which would have been cut down by an hour if we could have gotten on that wonderful new freeway. That is for the next paragraph. We got into the shuttle to the rental place and I am noticing all the bobbed wire along the tops of fences of houses and buildings. It was a little nerve racking at first but eventually I found myself pretty comfortable with the beautiful surroundings. We all loaded into our little SUV with our GPS and off we go. Now thank god our friend was not scared to drive here. He just took the bull by the horns and went for it. As we all laughed, we assumed the driving would be crazy. It was not bad at all. A little pushy is all, not like there were no laws on the roadways. Everyone seemed to go pretty smoothly.

We start out following the GPS and the crazy lady's voice on that device trying to tell us to get onto the freeway. UH, no! No on ramp! What the hell? We drive down the road which became a dirt road and come across some kids on little motorcycles and rifles slung to their backs. We drive by them in awe and try to convince ourselves they were probably out shooting iguana's or something, not a big deal. At least that is what kept me from freaking out. You just don't see that much in the states. We are in a foreign land we know nothing about except from what we read in our tour book. "It's an advneture" is what we kept saying and that seemed to keep us laughing through this drive. We drive along and pull into a small town as we try to get ourselves situated with the GPS and her telling us over and over to turn right, (she is pushy) then finally we were able to turn right. Now we found a road that runs along the freeway and we keep trying to find an on ramp. The lady keeps telling us there is one and when we get to it, it is blocked off. We finally get to one that a cop was at. We could see that the traffic was going east towards San Jose in all lanes. The boys go and talk to the cop. Both not knowing any Spanish, this ended up with the cop whose English was not good either he gave us directions to who knows where. That is the thing about Costa Rican's, they don't like conflict with us foreigners so even if they don't know the right info they will tell you something. We knew this before we went and it was no surprise. So at one point looking at our map in our trusty tour book we found out we were on the old highway and to just keep going. We will reach our destination. This road was narrow and twisty but the beautiful scenery and views were amazing.

We drove along hillsides, down to the shoreline, through the palm trees that our palm oil comes from, passing little resort towns including the last one, Quepos. We drive up this really narrow twisty road into a thick rain forest environment with resorts on the cliff edges. We could barely see them through the lush tropical trees. Wow, this is beauty. We made it to the resort we were staying and it was amazing. Los Altos is the name of this resort. These are condos with 3 large rooms, 2 baths with the kitchen and living area. This place was around 2300 square feet. The balconies looked out over the pool, rain forest and ocean. The Bali style interiors were refreshing and clean. While here, my big mouth and my friends husbands big mouth had some how made acquaintance with the owner and his son. They had breakfast with us and were very charming people. The staff is amazing! They helped with every thing we needed with a big smile on there faces. Check the link out. Pretty sexy place let me tell you.

Through this trip we had plans for different things to do. The first thing was the beach. Awe the beach. We go down towards Manuel Antonio and park. We paid a couple of people for an umbrella and a couple of chairs as we all set ourselves to embark into the warm waters. I did nothing but body surf the whole day and would only come out to drink my rum and cokes. The nice thing about paying for the chairs, the lady would run and get us drinks when needed. Good times.

That night we headed into Quepos where we were told to eat at El Grande Escape' (I can't remember how to spell it). This is a lady who had moved to Costa Rica in the mid 80's from our home town. She use to run one of our most popular restaurants here and now she is a successful restaurant owner there. (small world, huh?) We were able to talk to her and get her story. What a great lady and her place is fantastic. She knows everyone who travels there on a frequent basis for the fishing. If you catch it she will have her chefs cook it for you. We ate there twice. This is when my drinking had started kicking in and I was able to understand Spanish but for some reason would answer in Italian. What? Yeah and I don't know squat in Italian but seemed to after a few cocktails and the waitress seemed to know what I was saying. Well, there are a lot of Europeans who go to Costa Rica for vacationing as well. 

The next day we went on our adventure to the rain forest for some zip lining. This was one of the best experience ever. We learned all about Costa Rica and it's agriculture, to the eco-system there. Then the zip line itself, woo wee. After floating through the rainforest canopy the company of our tour fed us a great lunch full of Costa Rican cuisine. The best!

We had a spa day with our package at the resort and took one day to indulge in that as we sat by the pool too. We have a friend who moved to Costa Rica a few years ago and he came to visit. This day was great relaxation.

On another day we took a guided hike through Manuel Antonio park. This is a preserved place of the rain forest and we saw many animals. From howler monkeys, sloths, boas, to bats and raccoons. We learned so much from our wonderful guide. She was so passionate and knowledgeable.

That same night we did the catamaran boat trip. This was a big boat full of people with drinks and dinner all included. We found some dolphins to play with along side the boat and followed along the coastline that we have been experiencing on land. There was a stop for a little snorkeling and then the sunset began. Gorgeous being out on the water with the orange ball sinking into the ocean waters.

By the last night we were not ready to leave. Just a few more days would have been perfect. Isn't that always the case on vacations.

With all of our excursions we were picked up by the shuttle and taken to our destinations and back as well. Our boat tour we were picked up in a cab and it was paid for by the resort to get us back. No worries about us driving anywhere. We only drove into town and to the park twice. That was it. So nice and easy. The resort had done all of the arrangements for every excursion. No stress until the drive back to San Jose.

Now, a word of warning, when you are told to just hit the home button on the GPS it should take you back to the rental car place. No. Not in our case. Check it to make sure it is the right route. We ended up where the picture below shows. Yes someones "home". After this anxiety ridden drive and being in a small town that I would no way get out of my car for directions, we ended up at this little home. What a view.

We did eventually make it back, and before dark. Barely. The rental car place deducted the GPS from our charges but we still got charged for being late. Oh well, all I cared about that I was in the hotel lobby. I can sleep to get ready for our long flights home.

Honestly, I will go back to Costa Rica anytime. Now that I know how to travel around there. It was one of the greatest experiences in a beautiful country. I can see why people move there and love it. The ex-patriots I had talked to have a great love of the country and have not looked back. Now mind you it is still a poor country and there was the notice of that but I met great people from the Costa Ricans to the transplants that live there. What a fun experience and I will say it again, beautiful. If you haven't put this place on your bucket list, you should.

Oh and the food was amazing! The coffee was a coffee I had never tasted and I didn't even need cream. Have the Costa Rican breakfast while you are there as well. Eggs with a rice and bean mixture, to die for. I ate it everyday and never got sick of it. Everything was crisp and fresh.
FYI-
There are times of the years that are best to go. January-June is high season. Around August-beginning of December the rain season is upon them. We experienced a taste of this rain and it makes our dessert monsoons look like trickles.
The money are Colon's and exchange is pretty good. Check before you go. Tipping is appreciated. Even though you are charged when you eat at restaurants for the tips which is somewhere in the tax or something, the waiters or waitresses may not see it depending on the business. So tipping them yourself is nice.

Los Altos link:
http://www.thepreserveatlosaltos.com/

If you have any other questions ask me in the comments below. I will try to answer the best I can. :)

Lint Balls

Yes I said it, "balls". Lol! I had seen this on a pin and I was thinking, "why in the hell didn't I think of that?" Oh well, it was someones genius idea and I loved it.

Lint balls~better known as the crap that accumulates in your dryer that you need to clean out at least every couple of loads. Plus, from time to time you need to check the exhaust tube going out the house to make sure this stuff has not stuck to the inside of it like a clogged artery. Thus making it a very dangerous hazard for a fire. Yeah, fire, people.

That is what I am sure what led to that smarty pant person to think, "hey, keep that lint and use lint balls to start a campfire or fire in the fireplace." Yes, I am assuming what would go through a persons head while coming up with these ideas. Any who, I did save lint from my dryer, made balls about the size of eggs and placed them in a egg carton for storage. They went to my camper (I use to tent camp but my spoiled ass is now in a camper, heehee) and was ready to go for the next camping trip.

This last weekend was the chance to try these little balls out. My friends laugh at me because I am a Pinterest obsessed freak and now I blog about it but they let me do what needed to be done for this blog experience. :) So there was already some paper plates from dinner in the fire pit and I grabbed a few sticks and bark and made a little bit of a mound. Then I took three small logs and stood them up like a tee pee over it. I placed three lint balls in separate areas of the spaces between the plates. I actually placed one under the bark just see what it would do without the plates. The balls were the only thing I lit and viola' they lit up. They seemed to burn long to allow the plates and bark to light up as the fire grew. It kind of had me thinking why they say to clean out your lint exhaust and tube. Woo wee the lint burns sloooooow. Not fast like a paper towel or Kleenex. So, that allowed the fire to get going and light up the small logs I had placed on there. Also the nice thing, we did not need the trusty, smoky, old pine needles help either. We had a great fire and easy to get going. YAY!

I wish I had got more pictures of the process but only this one of the balls in my carton. Plus, I had a few totties and didn't think about doing more. One task at a time for me at that point.

For any of you campers out there this was a great little idea. They hold well in cartons or in a baggie for that matter and are small to carry. They are light for backpackers to have as well. They would not take up much space in a pack at all.

Happy camping with happy fires. (in the fire pits of course) And don't burn in areas that are not permitted.

Link to original site:

http://www.intuitionphysician.com/how-does-my-garden-grow-and-tutorial-for-free-firepit-starters/