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3) BELIZE BUZZ – No I’m not LATE , my dog ate my computer

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No, I’m NOT LATE, see the guilty look on Cookie’s face? It’s all her fault. She’s in so much trouble. Last night she ate my computer. I SWEAR.

Back to work. Thanks for all your interesting comments. I grouped your answers below.

Lady Glamis said…

So how well did that cream work?

The cream seemed to work at the time, but I’m not sure if it was because anything cool, on a swollen bug bite would feel soothing. Carol really believed in her cream and protected her recipe like a secret agent.

Countries/Areas where people stop by:

Denmark: Kelli Norgaard
England: LadyFi
Iowa, U.S.A: GrammaAnn
Oklahoma, Indiana: Stacy Nykos
New Zealand: Mad Bush Farm
Paraguay: Jungle Mom

Cities/ people either too busy, have to call first or don’t stop by:

Chicago: Lauren, Crimogenic
Sweden: Lady Fi
Egypt: BLOGitse
Finland: BLOGitse

Places/Countries where it depends who your friends are:

??? Hit40,
Paraguay: Betty, Brenda
Canada: Rob-bear


Back in February 2009, Crimogenic offered me this Award and I promised I would accept it and submit it to bloggers I admire plus I have to reveal 5 obsessions and pass it on, so here goes:

Gutsy Writer’s 5 obsessions are:

1) Weight lifting (heavy)
2) Blogging/Writing
3) Strong great coffee
4) American Idol
5) Belize and TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD.

I decided to pass this along to just a couple of friends who are starting out with their blogs, and to one whom I’d like to encourage to reach out to more people as she has a very interesting blog:

Kimberly Keilbach
Dodie Cross
Miss Footloose

FRIDAY I’M A GUEST BLOGGER ON A FITNESS MINUTE WITH PAT ANDERSON.

3) Monday is Belize Day-"Just stop by." Not used to that.

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“Just stop by,” the expats would say. So I did just that, something rarely done in Orange County especially when you hardly knew the person.

We had a new life in Belize and I needed help. Advice on schools, grocery shopping, what local Belizeans were like, where I could get a supply of fresh milk.

Carol, a French Canadian who lived in Corozal, was the only expat I knew with kids. Her front door stood wide open maximizing on sea breezes from the bay of Chetumal. Air-conditioning was non-existent in most houses. Carol invited me in for some refreshing watermelon juice. Her house was the size of a large bus and squished on the side sat a trailer they’d brought with them from Quebec. Carol told me they preferred the trailer to the house, “because it’s air-tight. Mosquitoes can’t get in, so we sleep in the trailer,” she said. I found this very strange that they’d pay for a house, yet sleep in the trailer.

Carol needed to talk just as much as I did. We sat on a couple of Mennonite chairs in her shower-size kitchen when a truck drove by and Carol knew, from the sound of the engine, this was the “Crystal” water guy. He walked straight into her kitchen and dropped off a 5 gallon plastic container of water. She searched for a coin in her soap dish container, to pay him.

Carol answered all of my questions regarding shopping and then handed me a gringo expat list of names and phone numbers for me to keep. I was amazed at how everyone helped one another here. I complained about the bug bites and Carol lifted her trim body from the kitchen chair and tiptoed to her bathroom, returning with a tin of cream she’d made herself. “What’s it made from?” I asked.
“I invented it,” she said. “I mix beeswax, olive oil and herbs. “Here,” she said, handing me the tin. “Try it. Tell me if it works.” I thanked her and spread a dollop on some swollen mounds on my legs. Carol stared, waiting to see my reaction. I smiled and told her it was a miracle cream. She wanted to market it locally, and called it her “very secret recipe.”

A guy on a scooter stopped in front of Carol’s house and honked. “It’s the mailman,” she said. She greeted him and returned holding only one letter, no junk mail. I thought how wonderful to live in a country where trees aren’t cut down and turned into junk mail. Back in California, I never bothered to look at junk mail. I hated the glossy photos of garages that looked better than many living rooms around the world. I felt embarrassed that people would need a granite-looking garage floor to park their perfectly shiny SUV or Mercedes. Who cared what the garage floor looked like, certainly not the car. I used to throw junk mail into recycling, without even looking at it.

I’d like to know where you live now and whether you can just stop by to visit? Do you have to call first, or make an appointment to visit with a friend or neighbor?

Any comments on junk mail, and whether you read it, need it, etc?

Any questions or comments you have, I shall be happy to answer on BELIZE BUZZ Wednesday, where I link your question to your blog, and answer it.

Thanks, and have a great week blogging. Enjoy life.

Do I have to fit into society’s expectations?

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After my son sent me a YouTube video, of Susan Boyle, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with by now, I questioned, “WHY DO WE HAVE TO FIT INTO SOCIETY’S EXPECTATIONS?” Listen to her sing with your eyes open and then with your eyes closed. Something dramatic happens. Would you agree?

Unfortunately, where I live now, in Orange County, California, not far from Hollywood, I would say the answer is an overwhelming YES I HAVE TO FIT IN.

You have to fit in to what society expects you to look like. If you don’t look the part, you don’t get respect or attention, or the JOB. Even I have become overly judgmental over the way people look. I’m not proud of it either, but I think I’ve been brainwashed by the U.S. media. When I look at newscasters on TV, most of them, especially the women, look like Heidi Klum and Angelina Jolie. It’s reached the point on CNN, where you stare at the face and barely listen to the words. Whenever a journalist pops up from another country and has crooked teeth, a large nose, or ears that stick out, you get distracted and have to close your eyes to “listen.” Of course that’s superficial, but I have to say it’s thanks to the unrealistic expectations that society places on everyone about youth and beauty. At least that’s the case in the U.S. Now you may understand why I felt at peace in Belize.

Every morning when I drive to Newport Beach library in an upscale neighborhood. I stand in line for my Peet’s coffee and see more beautiful women in expensive exercise outfits, women in designer suits, with freshly Botoxed and Juvedermed wrinkles and flawless skin. The sad part is many look angry and rarely smile or make eye contact.

I would be lying if I told you that I don’t look and question what procedures they’ve had done, how old they are and more. I’m sorry to say that now when I see a woman with bags under her eyes, I question why hasn’t she had them removed? I’m not proud of thinking this way. Part of me envies the woman for her courage to be different, and not so superficial. I feel very sorry for young girls, in this part of the world, where looking “perfect,” is their ultimate goal in life.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, whether you agree, and if this is mostly a U.S. phenomenon or if the same applies all over the world?

2) BELIZE BUZZ WEDNESDAYS

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Hi to all my blogger friends. I’ve answered your questions and comments from this week and last week. First a new visitor to my blog, and I love his name: LZ Blogger.

LZ Blogger said…

It sounds like Duke and I have a lot in common! At least until you woke him up. I’d have just rolled over and gone back to sleep. I too am an Orange County escapee.

Is that how you got your name, “lazy?” What if your wife had pushed you out of bed to wake you up?

Brenda said…

Love the pictures! Yes, things like this have happened to me a lot and my husband reacts the same, he always just gets out of bed to help me. Another good guy!

So living in Paraguay you have similar stories to tell. Yet what about city life? Aren’t there clean/airtight houses with AC and no bugs?

Lady Glamis said…

So why had you kept the icky sheets?

Since our hut was a rental, we couldn’t throw the sheets and towels away, although I dread to think about all those other sweaty bodies that had been in those sheets.

Gramma Ann said…

How did they get so full of the yuck stuff, anyway?

We lived in a palapa style hut, where the vaulted ceiling was made from palm fronds. It invited scorpions, geckos, spiders, giant ants and more. The geckos would fall from the ceiling and I’m glad we had a mosquito net as I never knew what would land on our bed. We did find a scorpion once on the top of the net.

Betty said…

Why did you move back? Or is that a separate post?
Betty, I’d love to answer, and there were so many reasons. I’ll let you guess for now. That leaves me wondering: Will you be staying in OC for the rest of your lives or at least for the foreseeable future? I know we shall not stay here for much longer. My youngest has 3 years of school left and we might wait or leave before if something else develops. What about you?

Jungle Mom said…

I am wondering if snakes were a problem there? We saw some baby snakes, but never had a large one in the house? Have you had many?

Brenda said…

Its too bad you could not have stayed longer than a year. I find that when we repeat landmarks, when things happen for the second time,they take on a whole different dimension. One year is very short 🙂 I agree, and I know it takes about that long to know whom you can trust, etc. How long have you lived in Paraguay?

Peggy said…

How did your children like it, did they miss their friends? What about you, what did you miss? My 3 sons all reacted differently. The middle one, Austin, was 13 and desperately missed his close friends. I missed good food, books, classes, a good hairdresser and good coffee.

Rob-bear said…

As to your question, “What do you think?” I think you stayed as long as you thought it was appropriate, given your situation.

I also think you probably want to go back there, and probably will. I am fascinated by how you came up with this Rob. Please let me know as I’m curious.

BLOGitse said…

so now you’re back – was that difficult to come back? Yes, in many ways. The conveniences were great, but part of me wanted less, not more. So strange to me. Anyone else have that feeling?


Thanks for all your questions and please share your own stories, from home, from your travels however close or far.

2) Monday is Belize Day– My Fun Video

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I’d like to thank Lady Glamis for introducing me to onetruemedia.com. She said it was easy, and I had so much fun selecting the music and the photos. It didn’t take long and it was FREE. Try it, and I’d love to see and hear what you think of the program. These photos were taken last year in May when I went back for a visit on the island of Ambergris Caye. My snippet of our life below is from the mainland where we lived for the first two months.

Duke and I made an agreement. He would put clean sheets on our bed while I scrubbed the dirty dishes and pans with our sulfur reeking well water.

Hearing his snores all the way from the living room, I tiptoed towards our bedroom where I found him collapsed in bed. To my horror I saw the pale yellow sheets stretched over our uneven mattress. Instead of using our soft California sheets, Duke had grabbed the itchy polyester set from the top open shelf. Those were infested with gecko, mice and cockroach poop and despite my sweaty body, I refused to place a millimeter of my skin inside them. How could he not smell them?

There was only one thing to do. I had to wake him up.
“Those aren’t the sheets I asked you to put on the bed Duke,” I whispered in his ear.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, but I refuse to sleep in those icky sheets.”
“They’re clean” he said.
“No, they’re filthy. I won’t sleep in them. I want the ones from California.” So Duke got out of bed and helped me change them without a single complaint. Had he woken me up to change the sheets, I’d have been so mad.

Has something like this ever happened to you? How would you react?

I’d love to hear your stories, comments or any other questions related to this topic. I’d like to get a discussion going on BELIZE BUZZ Wednesday.
Thanks.

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