Tuesday Tips #12 - Project Fatigue

There's always something begging to be done when you live on a boat. The stainless needs polished, the teak needs touched up, the deck has yesterday's accumulation of salt crust...you name it, it needs done. Even worse is the summer refit, a time when most cruisers hide out from hurricane season and work on The List of more major things that need done that didn't get done while turquoise waters and white sand beaches beckoned. We're nearing the end of such a summer refit, and I'm tired. Not just regular "it's close to bed time after a long day" tired, but tired to the bone and that's a dangerous place to be when you live on a boat. It's why a lot of cruisers quit cruising because things get added to the bottom of the list faster than they get taken off the top. It's called project fatigue.

If you want to be successful at cruising, you need to learn how to manage project fatigue. Sure, there's times when you just have to push through to get something done, but on the regular project list, you sometimes need to take a step back and remember why you're doing this. Sit in the cockpit and watch the mama manatee lift her new baby up to take a breath. Catch the beautiful sunrise. Go sailing for an afternoon when someone asks if you'll help them with their new boat. Smell the ocean air. Laugh at the antics of the pelicans fishing for their lunch. Ride your bike into town and get a double scoop of Moose Tracks. The project list will still be there when you come back to it and you'll have some new energy to tackle it.

Tuesday Tips #11 - Popcorn

On the subject of limited space...one of the difficult things to try to stock up on when we go to the Bahamas is chips. For the most part, we don't stock up on a lot of things before we go because we try to support the local economy since we're using their resources. There are a few exceptions to this rule though, as some things are just too expensive over there to justify buying and chips is one of them. A bag of Doritos that might cost you $3.79 here in the States is going to set you back about $8.00 over there. And beer? It will set you back between $3.00 and $4.00 per bottle. Some things are just non-existent like good decaf coffee and Fair Trade chocolate, so we stock up on just those few things.

For a while we solved the chips problem by buying Pringles but, let's face it, Pringles are OK for a minor diversion, but when you want a good potato chip they just don't cut it. Don't get me wrong - the packaging is great for boats since they can't crush and they take up a fraction of the space of a bag of chips. They just lack in the taste department.

The last time we went over we decided to go a whole different direction and buy popcorn. We don't have a microwave on Kintala, so we buy the regular organic unpopped popcorn kernels that come in a big bag for just a couple bucks. You get an incredible amount of popcorn for the money. And if you want it flavored? We buy this cheddar powder and butter powder which keep really well in the cupboard. Price wise - one 15.75 ounce bag of Lay's Classic chips has about 13 cups of chips in it for around $4.00. One jar of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn kernels costs about the same amount and it makes 240 cups of popcorn. To make it even more of a contrast, I usually buy the store brand of popcorn which is usually at least a dollar cheaper. Easy on the budget and easy on the storage space. It's a win-win.

Tuesday Tips #10 - Natural Deoderant

Using commercial deoderant really bothers me. Have you ever really studied the label? It's scary. Add to that the fact that it builds up and it was starting to make these very weird dark stains in my underarms and I was ready to try something new.

My daughter, who feels the same way about the stuff, has tried many different natural concoctions, but none of them have worked for me. So color me surprised when I bought a bottle of Magnesium Oil for my husband to use for its alleged properties of helping with insomnia and restless leg syndrome, and read on the label that it also makes a great natural deoderant. I've been using it every since and have been very pleased.

A word of caution: Not everyone can use this stuff. It appears that some people are very sensitive to it and react with severe itching. They tell you that if you are magnesium deficient, you may react more severely. They tell you to try just a small amount on the bottom of your feet, and if you don't react then you can progress to using more of it. I have never reacted to it since we bought it and have been using it as deoderant quite successfully for some time now. My daughter, on the other hand, reacted like she had poison ivy, so if you decide to try it, go slow and see how you do. I'm really happy that I found something that works as deoderant that's actually good for me! Oh, and the insomnia thing? Jury's still out on that one.

Tuesday Tips #9 - Portable Music

One of the things we try to do while cruising is to attend any drum circles we find. We've gone to the Coconut Grove Drum Circle by the Dinner Key Mooring Field that's held on the Saturday of the full moon each month. We've also gone to the very famous and long-standing Siesta Key Drum Circle, that meets every Sunday evening from about 6:00 pm till dark, year round. The problem with being a drummer is that drums take up a lot of room, and space is at a premium on most cruising boats.

A few months ago I happened on a new idea that Remo came up with. Remo is the manufacturer of many styles of replacement drum heads, and they designed a drum head that could be snapped on any 5 or 6 gallon bucket. Hmmm I don't think I've ever run across a cruising boat that didn't have at least one 5 gallon bucket on hand so this seemed like a really great idea. You can buy them in many styles. They have one that's labeled "Comfort Sound Technology" which is more of a fabric skin and produces a softer, more mellow sound that can be played indoors. Their regular heads come in three tones: a low, medium, and high pitch. We ordered the comfort sound technology head and a low tone head from Lone Star Percussion in Dallas, Texas, only because they had the best price at the time with the shortest delivery. The heads come in perfect cardboard boxes to store them in. We also ordered one of their dedicated Rhythm Pal buckets because it was a better shape than the $3 ones you get at Lowes. The drum produces a very nice tone and has been tested repeatedly at the drum circle. The really nice thing about it is that the head snaps off easily so you can store your sticks inside. We also store our maracas and our tambourine inside when we're not using the drum. Remo's bucket comes with a strap as well, so it's easy to carry - an important benefit because a lot of drum circles are a good walk from wherever you are. So if you've always wanted to have a drum on board or even if you're land locked and you want a very inexpensive way to get into drumming, try it out.