Bright Idea!

I'm taking a break from Honduras to post this fun and inexpensive project.

I receive emails from ReadyMade. They send all kinds of creative ideas and projects you can make yourself. These lamps that are hanging in the picture is one of the projects. It is just string wrapped around an inflated balloon, papier mache style.

I think I will do this! I am not quite sure where I'll hang it yet, but I'm thinking it would be nice to do a smaller one and use it as a bedside reading light on either side of the bed. I think there are already holes in the wall too!

DIRECTIONS:

Inflate your balloon to the desired size, and tie it off.

Take one end of the thread and tie it to the knot on the balloon.

Begin wrapping the thread around the balloon, keeping it taut but not letting it distort the shape of the balloon.

Keep winding the thread around until you have good coverage over the whole surface of the balloon. The final trip around the balloon should end up back at the knot.

Cut your string and tie it to the knot of the balloon.

Cover your work area with a drop cloth, and fill a shallow bowl with fabric stiffener.

Wearing rubber gloves and using the foam brush, gently apply stiffener to the entire surface of the balloon. Be generous, making sure to saturate the thread completely.

Hang the thread-covered balloon with a clothespin and let dry overnight.

Once it’s completely dry, pop the balloon with your needle and remove it from the globe.

Cut a hole where the balloon knot was, and insert your light fixture.

Install the ceiling hook in a nice spot, hang your new light, and let it shine.
{ TIP } To suspend light bulbs within larger globes, cut a small hole in the center of a round plastic takeout lid, and make another cut from the outer edge to the hole. Tie the cord in a loose knot, and slip the lid above the knot. To insert it into the fixture, fold the plastic lid and push it through the hole in the top. Once inside, the lid unfurls and the bulb remains suspended in place.

The Food

We definitely didn't go hungry while we were in Honduras. I took pictures of each meal we had to prove that we didn't have to eat scary things.

For breakfast we just had toast and cereal, I didn't think I needed pictures of that. Lunch was turkey, ham or pb&j sandwiches, again, pictures not necessary.

Day 1: Steak, rice, veggies, baked potato and a sauce for the steak. The drink is an orange/pineapple juice, it was delicious! I could have had that everyday.

It was Suzanne's birthday so she got a surprise princess cake.

Day 2: La Tuna y El Coyote. The appetizer is Honduran Fondue. So good! It is basically a warm meat and bean dip with a thick layer of melted cheese, yum!

The main course was Mexican Tacos. They were tortillas with ground chicken (and a few bones) with different salsas to put on them.

Let's not forget las cervesas (beer). These were the three big Honduran beers. The most popular is Imperial it has a very strong beer taste. Barena is similar to a Corona and Salva Vida (which translates to Life Saver) was my favorite but I don't know what it compares to.

Day 3: Chinese - just like in the States! No joke, fried rice, sweet and sour chicken, shrimp chow mien, egg rolls. Very tasty.

Day 4: Pupusas and Honduran tacos. The pupusas are the flat round pita looking things. They are filled with melted cheese and seasoned ground beef, these were really good. The Honduran tacos were very much like toquitos that you get in the freezer section and bake in the oven, crispy shell filled with meat.

Dessert, ice cream at Eskimo

Day 5: Mid-day snack, hand made Pineapple Turnovers, these were my favorite food from Honduras.

Lunch: Gringas - cubed steak and melted cheese in a grilled tortilla with rice. (gringa is also slang for 'white girl' so I'm not sure how gringa the food is suppose to translate.)

Dinner: The Log Cabin, we had bbq chicken, fried plantain, chili, and veggies with tortillas. My chicken wasn't cooked all the way, I did not like the plantain, the chili was ok, so I mostly had veggies rolled in tortillas...we are suspicious that this meal is what made the team sick, since I showed no signs of illness.

Day 6: This might be the scary meal I suppose, it was really good, but looks quite scary. Deep fried tilapia with fresh lime juice.

Day 7: The lady's running the day care center invited us over and made us chicken fajitas with fresh veggies and a warm potato salad. Others are suspicious that the warm potato salad was the culprit in the sickness experienced by some team members.

Dessert was Tres Leches - translates as 3 milks. It is a white cake soaked in condensed, evaporated and regular milk flavored with vanilla malt. It was very good. This comes in as a close second to the pineapple turnovers. Some believe this was the culprit to the sickness, I disagree strongly.

I told you I took a lot of pictures!! I hope you enjoy them!

Day of Travel

The first day we were there was mostly spent traveling.

We flew into the airport in San Pedro Sula.

We had a 4 hour bus ride from San Pedro Sula to Comayagua. We actually rode in a very nice bus with air conditioning. In previous years they took a very old bus that barely made the trip.

Along the highway we saw a roadside fruit stand and we decided we would stop and have some fresh pineapple and coconut milk. The pineapple was delicious! The best I've ever had.

We also stopped at Wendy's to get a pop.

After the fruit and pop, we needed a rest area! We found one that had an amazing nativity scene set up, a beautiful tree and a bird sanctuary.

In case we got hungry later, a man had his catch of the day ready for us on the side of the road, he also made it easy on himself and sold his fish in his front yard.

We saw so many things on just the first day, I was excited to see many more new things during the week ahead!

Stay tuned for more to come!

Hondruas

I went a mission trip with Hands In Service to Comayagua Honduras.


My team started building phase/building two of a day care center that is located in Independencia.


The day care center has it's first phase/building one mostly complete and is open. It is being run by a catholic group of women and is available to children with single mothers so the mothers can work during the day and the kids have a safe place to stay.


There are many single mothers in the area, the fathers tend to leave.


I took over 700 pictures, and I won't post them all, but I thought maybe I'd post a few pictures at a time highlighting certain parts of the trip. It will be a 'to be continued' series of posts.