TIP: HOMEMADE PLANT POTS

I have been on work leave this week.  At first, I was so confused of what to do to fill up the time.  So I made a to do list of things that I wouldn't do if I were at work or things I have been postponing.  Now, as the first week of leave's over, I totally LOVE my time off.

One of the things I did was gardening.  My teacher just inherited me plenty of plants that took over our patio.  As a result, for the past 1 month, Marcel hasn't been able to do our bike maintenance.  With this time off, I was determined to get the patio cleaned up so that both of us can enjoy our hobbies there: gardening for me and maintaining bikes for Marcel.

When I was working on the plants, I realized that lots of my plants have "given birth."  So I needed to re-pot them.  But what could I do?  I got no extra pots to use?  Hmmmm, I thought to myself.  Then, I found 20 empty water bottles in the kitchen.  At that moment, I was in the mission to make use of them.

So here you go, I would like to share with you how I made 20 FREE pots.  Best of all, remember my post about bromeliad pups?  Well, three of the pups were big enough to be repotted.  Check out the last photo in this post.

[Click to enlarge]

These bromeliad pups were from here

May this be handy for you!

STORY BOOK: JEREMIAH 29:11

It is wonderful to be a child of God.  God always has the best interest in me.  


I was first introduced to Jeremiah 29:11 back in January 2006 by Susan Mukunda - a mature Christian and dear friend of mine whom I met while I was at my first job.  This verse then became the first verse I was able to memorize and has been my guiding light when my life's a fork in the road.


This past one month, again .. after so many times, this verse was God's deliverance for me and Marcel.  And I would like to share that through my 4th story book.

[click to enlarge]

May this be a blessing!

CLOCKWISE PESCADERO LOOP

Marcel and I did another uphill training this past Saturday.  Since one of our friends had to be back home by noon, we headed out pretty early.  Got up at 6 o'clock, left home at 7 o'clock, arrived at the start point at 8 o'clock, started the ride at 8:30AM.  The weather was in the low 50's, really cloudy, and foggy when we started.  The mist was pouring on us making it difficult to see.


It was quite a scenic route with lots of ranches, barns, and farms.  Hmmm, so much green!!  LOVE IT!!!!  There were 3 uphills along the way.  I praised the LORD because for each climb I did, I continued to feel better about it.  And this time, I was also grateful for the chance to train myself going downhill.  I never thought going downhill would be as heart pumping and skill challenging as going uphill UNTIL I switched to a road bike recently.  Phewww, talking about rolling down on a curvy hill with tiny wheels.  I still need to do lots of downhill training.  But I have a feeling it could be a slow progress since I'm not a fan of speed and height (yeah, roller coasters are NO NO for me too).


If you are thinking of riding in this area, please keep in mind that certain phone providers can only do Emergency Calls.  There's no signal in the area.  And somehow, our GPS signal was also weak.  I'm guessing it's because of the tall trees.  But hey, I'm not an expert in that area.  What I know was that our ride's statistics wasn't recorded correctly.  The ride was supposed to be 28 miles long with 1600 ft elevation gain.  However, due to spotty signal, our recorded statistics displayed 100 ft elevation gain on a 100-mile ride in the second picture below.  HAHAHA.  Almost got myself tricked there.  So for your reference, I have also provided the "should-be" climbing profile.


The sun was still not out by the time we finished.  But we had a great training!!!

Pescadero Loop - San Gregorio - La Honda Route SHOULD look like this

Due to spotty signal, our statistics wasn't recorded with the correct elevation and distance

Map of our ride wasn't fully recorded due to spotty signal 

May this be rolling!

STORY BOOK: PERSEVERANCE (ROMANS 5:3-5)

Here goes my third story book.  This is inspired by the year-long training (in biking).

[Click to enlarge]

And this is the climb I was training to do.  We recorded our last 2 climbs using My Tracks application.  The first climb?  LOL, if you've read the story book above, there's really no use to record the first one.  :-)

Los Altos - Alpine - Page Mill Climb Profile.

The stats from July 10, 2010.  Total time was 2:00:42.

The stats from August 7, 2010.  Total time was 1:34:45.

May this be a blessing!

TIP: MAKING FOAM SOAP

I really like foam hand soap because it rinses faster than the regular liquid soap while cleanses well too.  Since the price of the foam soap refill is the same as the regular liquid soap refill, I have decided to make my own homemade foam soap refill to save some money.


You will need:
- A foam soap dispenser (the one with the wider spout)
- Water
- Liquid Soap


Direction:

1. Fill 1/3 of the bottle with liquid soap
2. Fill with water up to 1/2 the bottle
3. Shake and mix well (this will instantaneously create bubble inside the bottle)
4. Fill up with water again up to 2 inches below the opening to allow enough space for you to insert the dispenser without spilling too much of the mixture
5. Pump for foam

Now, I can make three times more refill with the same amount of money.  Yayyyy to saving money!!!


May you find this tip useful!