It feel good to declutter / give away / throw

Last Saturday, I managed to get rid of 4 boxes of recyclable items .. ie. cardboxes from packaging, old VCDs (if you still remember what they are:) recyclable plastic items, old clothes and some preloved books.

i have to say it feel so good to be able to clear the stuffs that have been sitting at my home for so long because they stop taking recycle stuffs from a few months back. Previously they use to collect recyclable items and garden compost every Thursday.

I feel that my burden are lifted ... perhaps the clutter has been a nagging need-to-do item at the back of my brain giving me invisible stress. I feel at last I managed to do something after promising dear for so long that I'll clear the clutters at home.

With this in mind, I'm looking forward to more clearing and decluttering sessions which actually helps to calm us down. My dream to make our home clutter free although I've been trying for so many years... but still I refused to give up and will even work harder towards my goals.  Till then...wish us luck :)

Grounds for our ground

Gone were the days when I have to be thick-skinned to ask major coffee joints for grounded coffee bean. Read about history here
Cause now they are providing it for free ... and it's so accessible.
Love Starbucks for their corporate responsibility initiative ... at least the waste is put to good use and not wasted

separating waste

Despite a tumultous 2015 with all the *bs* from the leaders 

if you asked me is there still a tinge of hope ... 

I would say, for 2015, that 1 thing that I think we somehow got the right direction is 

'separating waste'

I know I know

what's the use of separating waste when we can't even get our education system right?

ps. I suspect I could be environmentalist in my previous lives, else why do I always have a weak spot for the environment?... haha

grounded coffee bean

Thank you to a CETDEM booklet about home composting, 
I discovered a whole array of use for grounded coffee bean.
Would like to know too? Here you go...

Since our household doesn't consume much coffee,
So I with the 'thick skin face'' again think of ways to get for my garden especially.
So this was my execution.

1. check with coffee enthusiast / regular colleague, the nearest coffee shop / joint / franchise
2. check with coffee enthusiast / regular colleague, find out more about people working @ the coffee shop / joint / franchise
3. find out about their busy hours and not-so-busy hour (more appropriate to ask for something).
4. So I found the nearest is Starbuck and Gloria Jean Coffee. 
5. Starbuck is bigger franchise, may have protocol to follow. The Gloria Jean is a family owned franchise - easier to make decision.
6. So lunch time I braved (forced) myself to go, waited till all customers are served.
7. I told them I would like to buy grounded coffee bean from them. I honestly told them I am using it as fertilizer.
8. The pakcik asked if I am using for 'pokok bunga ros'? He knew & heard it was very good fertiliser. I told him I'm using more for fruit trees & vegetable compost.
9. The makcik asked if I am using it to make mask & body scrub. I say more for fertiliser, may tried that next time. 
10. I guess I could not be the 1st to ask them.
11. As it is mid-day, and some busy hour, I told them can I come back after work? Uncle told me yes, so he can collect more and stuff the plastic bag full full. 
12. So I went back after work. It was the pakcik's anak saudara on duty.
13. No customer at the moment, so they helped me to pack the grounded coffee bean (compacted into something like a big biscuit) into plastic bags.
14. He asked how frequent do I want the grounded coffee bean? So they can pre-pack for me instead of dispose. 
15. I told them my 1st time do compost use this, so I try out 1st.
16. He volunteer give me contact no. and ask to just call if needed so he can pack.
17. I paid them some money as token of appreciation but he refused to accept saying 'kita pun buang ini, baik kalau ada orang guna daripada bazir'
18. Since it was chinese new year, so I gave both the 'anak saudara' angpows. 

I couldn't thank them enough.
For their good deeds, I'll pay it forward since I doesn't really drink coffee much.
The grounded coffee bean is doing their 'magic' in my compost bin now (hopefully).
Maybe,  next round I will try with the body scrub / mask ...imagine basking in the aroma of coffee .... lol

I found that really if I didn't ask, I wouldn't have gotten the grounded coffee bean
and recycle it.
Sometimes it's this little things in life makes me feel great, makes me feel thankful. 
It could be some thing as disposable as GROUNDED COFFEE BEAN =)

project : reviving garden

Having a garden on my own has always been a dream since childhood (even though I do not have green fingers and sometimes plants that come to my hand die)

I always dream of having the time of my life to do gardening. 

(which explain why I insist to keep the part of our house a garden instead of cementing it).

And I always tell my kiddies that they can help me plant many many different type of plant in our garden. Now I started training them with watering and helping me with the potting.

When I got married, I did have a little nice garden (not something too big or fancy) but just enough to make me happy.

However, as time goes by, my garden turn from one with many plants to being a field with lots of weeds. 

So I made myself a vow to revive my little garden, this time with a twist. 

I'm going to make it a more edible one. 

Yes, at last the practicality in me took over the decorality in me.

So I started dreaming again ... of all the fruits / vegetables / herbs I'm going to pluck from my little garden.

It is not really a right time ... with the draught, haze and water condition in our area. 

But it still has to start, if not now then when?

Sounds crazy, but I do have a list of plants I wanted : 

papaya

custard apple

rozelle

aloe vera

raspberry

spring onion

avocado

pandan leave

curry leave

lemon grass 

ginger

kunyit / turmeric

kafir lime

vegetables

herbs

and I created a little spot for compost of garden waste with the hope of better soil for my future plants.

Another bad habit developed : I started eyeing what plants other people have in their garden / compound and am thick skin enough to ask for some stem / seed if I wanted it badly...LOL 

 Lemon grass, ginger, curry leave (which is still struggling to survive). Thanks to dear & kiddies for helping me pluck baby curry leave plant from nearby field.

Some kind of plant which help to clean the air @ home they say. The taller ones had turned all yellow due to renovation and all before I start to revive it. Smaller plant given by someone who saw my eager'ness in gardening.

Here's the nursery / rehab place : growing more roots for pandan leave, growing different types of lucky bamboo, a pot of japanese rose given by people, and another plant growing from the stem.

some other plants saved from older times.

Japanese rose with different colours. Too bad there are not flowering yet.

ps. if you do have any plants / seeds / gardening things which you wish to dispose, please do consider donating it to me. thank you very much =) 

itchy hand project 2 & 3

I'm crazy about being healthy and natural lately...
so explain my projects below

mosquitoes catcher 
verdict : mosquitoes too smart to get trapped in, but some other not so smart insect went in instead.
fruits vegetables leftover enzymes cleaning liquid 
verdict : don't know yet as have to keep 3 months before sieving to use.

one of the many things

of the the many things ...

he did for our home.

Although at times his action or rather inaction 'kek sei' me

but when he does it ... it makes me smile, sometimes even better

makes me laugh, sometimes with cheeky little suprises ... lol

one of those things

for the past 2 - 3 months ago

yet everyday I had to on the pipe by turning the bolt hexagon shape knob with a piece of cloth (using plain fingers will be too painful)

on one fine night, suddenly my kitchen water pipe has a new 'upcycled' look.

see that blue little 'knob' to on the water pipe?

see that pureen baby washing liquid bottle on the left 'with its missing dispenser'?

so now 

he's happy ... she no longer nag about changing the pipe

she's happy ... no more difficulties with the pipe, in fact she smiles every time she washes the dishes @ the 'novelty' of such idea.

wallet & purse is happy ... no need keluar $ 

the earth is happy ... one more plastic item 'upcycled'

perhaps the pureen bottle is 'upset' having its' head stuck on someone else's body ...lol

Monday to Sunday (6/8 to 12/8)

The past few days of this week had been eventful.
Somehow it has given me the hope that life is still beautiful.

Monday (6/8/12)
started the week tired due to working previous saturday but was looking forward to submitting the claims. 
The email on Wednesday arrangement flowing in and out has been building momentum to the actual day itself.
Received 3 pairs of flats from MIL - she got them for me at RM15/pair because she saw I was wearing sandals to work. (Actually I was wearing sandals because I can walk faster & easier in them and I have another pair of proper shoes in office)

Tuesday (7/8/12)
Thinking of putting some in when JPY rates dropped a little further than usual and wanted to open silver account but failed due to lunch time constraint.

Wednesday (8/8/12)
Today is the day we have been anticipating! Today is Keef & Elven ROM and for unknown reason I was feeling very happy & excited. Congratulations Keef & Elven ..you both were very sweet. In fact, it was a very sweet & relaxing day for me.. taking pictures, going to Keef house, playing with Zhe Ming, spending time walking and shopping with buddies @ VIVA, having pumpkin porridge based steam boat for dinner. At the end of the day, I didn't want the day to end so soon.

Thursday (9/8/12) 
Back to reality and attended a meeting on standardisation project. 
Was forced to send out email detailing pending items and where we are stuck & who's responsible. It wasn't a nice job but it does get things moving. 
Managed to put some in for JPY and opened silver account.

Friday (10/8/12)
Today's is another buddy (Foong Ling's) birthday. Wishing her healthy & happy always.
Also since friday is a more relaxing day (plus my boss is not around), I took a longer lunch and carry my 3 bags of to be recycle stuff to SOGO. In case you're wondering, we don't have recycle bin in my building. 
I left on time and went over to KL convention centre for IBEX (International Baby Expo) to try to get some trade contacts and survey market. However was a little disappointed as this is merely a fraction of what we had in MVEC 2 weeks ago.

Saturday (11/8/12)
Another happy day for me... got to spend some time with my kiddies. 
My elder one gets the chance to go swimming (thank to MIL) while my younger one gets the chance to have mama's full attention and all the pretty jie jie attention.
Really thankful to my bunch of good old buddies for coming over with buka puasa food and accompanying me for the night. Although tired, it made my days & nights more bearable especially when I have something to look forward to. Thank you very much CY, FL, KF & SY =) 
Thanks to my buddies for the clothes they gave me too...I love them. Thank you very much.

Sunday (12/8/12)
Now it's time for bed ... to have a nice slumber and have another great day tomorrow.

收旧床单..old old bedsheet.. cadar cadar lama ..

If you have any old bedsheet, old pillowcase, old bolstercase which no longer being used or which you may want to discard... please please donate them to me. TQVM!
I'm take in all old bedsheets(any condition, any size, anything) for my recycle project. TQVM! 

pic source : elle deco (google image)

pic source : alibaba.com (google image)

特别的爱给特别的你

Last night, I was sleepy but I feel like giving some love ...
and so I took out my sewing box.
and so I cut out the cute picture from a pre-loved stained little pant.
and so I started filing it with love..
and here's the outcome 
and I absolutely love it
and it will be breakfast suprise for little ones..

Front 

Back

scrap toy 2

After cutting out circles for baby mobile project

I have some bits & pieces of fabrics left ... again, I feel it was a waste to throw away so this is what i did.

scrap toy 2 ...

can be bangle for sunny days / beach days / holidays / fun days

can be baby toys ... things for them hold / catch / roll on the floor / play throw rings to stick / (can be used as teether if tube use is safe for babies).

can be decorative item @ home

ok, i lied. 

The tube is not scrap. The tube was brought from the aquarium shop at 50cents per metre.

Honestly, do you think babies or mothers would like to receive this as gift? 

the FERRERO ROCHER project

the Ferrero Rocher (empty box) that is


transparent box for small ah bi
ah bi is fascinated and having fun tracking the colourful items movement inside. 
To keep things fresh, I rotate the things inside. Rather should i say can throw anything colourful inside. Baby don't know how to differentiate what is what yet..
tray for big ah bi
Good for refining their fine motor skill - picking up tiny things and sorting them.
Items can be rotated to avoid boredom. In the picture, I used wolfberries(geiji), soya bean and 'bak guo'. Home no more red bean, green bean and black bean.