No.9 Planting Tomatoes and Basils

It’s a summer treasure to harvest ripe tomatoes from our gardens, isn’t it?
My husband is the person who is so willing to dig several holes in our garden, where the soil is so rocky and just to dig a hole is really a heavy duty, hoping for the best BLT sandwiches ever that he would get after this hard labor.
But, unfortunately, we didn’t think that we would have a long enough summer the tomato plants get ripe.
So, for this summer, we had planted only two red cherry tomatoes and one yellow pear tomato in 6” pots as the cherry tomatoes became ripe and tasty in shorter weeks while the bigger sized tomatoes didn’t turn to red last summer.



As far as for basils, it was our first experience that we really enjoyed homemade pesto from fresh basils harvested from our garden last summer. We don’t want to let this summer pass without the delicious pesto in our mouths, so, we had planted three 6 packs of basils.

No.8 Low Maintenance Gardening Moss Phlox

Every summer, I had planted several kinds of annual flowers in my garden such as pansies, marigolds, petunias. This summer, instead of my regular annual favorite flowers, I chose to plant perennial plants so that every year my garden would grow with more flowers, and this part is appealing to me, I would not have to do a physically heavy gardening to dig new holes to plant new plants every year. (Gardening is fun, but, I am not getting younger every year, you know.)

So, I have planted two kinds of Moss Phloxes, Scarlet Flame and Candy Stripe, which are perennial flowers. One of my neighbor’s front yard has been partially covered by a pink Moss Phlox flowers and Moss Phloxes seem to be a very good choice to plant in my area. Also, in Japan, Moss Phloxes are called lawn cherry blossom, I hope I am right about this, because their flowers look like. I had grown up with enjoying Moss Phloxes and I would be happy to see the Moss Phloxes would make a beautiful flower carpet in my garden and would help bees' population.

No.7 Feng Shui Green Plant

Long time ago, I have read one of Feng Shui experts said that green plants represent life and it would be a great way to start a day to see fresh green when I wake up.
By contrast, dried flowers are not good to decorate rooms as they don’t have any more lives.
So, I put a green plant pot in my bedroom.
My bedroom is not sunny so I chose a green which doesn’t need much sun.
And, I recycled an antique china plate for the pot saucer. (I am going to utilize my favorite china for daily use to enjoy them more instead of keeping them in a cabinet unused.)
Now, I am thinking that it could be a delightful thing to multiply this green plant to make more green pots. I suppose to be able to cut a little part of this green and to put into a cup of water until it starts rooting.
Living with fresh green indoor, that will refresh my room.

No.6 Celestial Fruit Green Tea

Celestial Seasonings 100% Natural Teas
Antioxidant Max Green Tea Dragon Fruit Melon
Wellness Supplement
20% RDI Vitamin C per serving
35% more flavonoid antioxidants than other leading brands(as well as strawberries, kale, red wine, dark chocolate and almond)

I haven’t been caught cold for several years (I am so lucky!) and I think it is because I intake Vitamin C through drinking lemon water or eating a lot of oranges.
But, it’s hard to make it a year round wellness habit because lemons and oranges are out of season during summer and actually, I have already suspended to purchase them.

I have found the above-referenced tea at a grocery store nearby my house and have started to drink as a substitute to the lemon water.
It has a very nice fruity mild flavor mainly melon.
Highly recommended!

No.5 Good Morning to Smiling Shirley Temple

I have been very diligent with doing a light exercise every morning for several years.
Including a recharging exercise, Japanese radio exercise, balancing one foot, push up on the wall, stretching legs and arms and deep breathing.

I have hanged the attached vintage Shirley Temple’s photo right on the wall where I do the balancing on foot.
I would count 20 for each foot watching straight at the Shirley Temple’s cute smile.
It’s a nice way to start a new day with exchanging smiles.

No.4 Night Time Prayer

I used to pray right before going to bed, and I shouldn’t say this loud, but, as quickly as possible because I was too sleepy.
So, I changed the time.
I started to have a short prayer moment sitting on the floor comfortably after finishing dinner any times when I would feel comfortable.
It is more relaxing and like taking a meditation.
I am going to make it a custom to ring a small bell praying for the world peace.
Love and peace to all sisters and brothers sharing the same this mother earth.

No.3 Dusting and Covering Electronic Equipments

For cleaning, vacuuming is the first priority and I have a hard time to make an extra cleaning time for dusting furniture.
I remember somebody said something like take it easy, relax, just to think a little bit dusts would be good to protect furniture.
Um, that was nice to hear, that was what I thought, but, I knew it was getting too dusty in my room and it had been bothering me.
So, today, I took a time to dust a TV, a CD player, a DVD shelf and a printer and found it difficult to clean the all dusts out from electronic equipments due to the small holes and such and the heavy weight to move.
And, I came up with an idea, “Why didn’t I cover them with some kinds of fabrics?”
After cleaning them up, I used Japanese furoshikis and vintage lines to cover each of them.
I hope this will keep them from getting dusts and make a cleaning easier in the future.

No.2 A Cup of Tea Time

It was really a cup, but, instead of having a tea for breakfast in the kitchen, I brought the tea to my room and sat in the chair that I had put a new slip cover yesterday and had a cup while listening to a Michael Jackson’s “Hold My Hand” from a CD, Michael.
It was so comforting. It was just several minutes, but, Michael Jackson’s voice was so soft and warm, and it was like shimmering in the music for several minutes.
Starting a day with just listening to a beautiful singing for several minutes was a rich experience.
And, I am going to make it a daily habit.

Today, I made an easy and quick picture frame utilizing a February sheet from a 2011 calendar that I have been using.
The paper says, “Live the Life You’ve Imagined.”
That’s a perfect motto for me to read every day.

Starting 365 Small Steps No.1 Spil Cover

Re-organizing and de-cluttering my rooms have been always in my mind. Probably over two years, I had enjoy checking in books and magazines regarding re-organizing, interior designs, garden designs and such but couldn’t start to do anything. And, it was my fault.
“O My God,” just recently I have noticed, “Another spring cleaning season has been passing.”
It’s really time for me to start to clean up my mess with 3Rs in mind and will transform my rooms into comfortable and lovely ones.
“Let’s make it a project and start to make a detailed plan.” This will not work for me.
“Every day, just do something small that I usually don’t do.” This is what I am going to do.
And, starting TODAY. (I told myself in an assertive voice to let me start.)
So, today is the day.

Today’s small thing: Putting a slip cover over a chair in poor condition.
My cat used to own this chair and scratched all over the surface.
I had checked several stores in order to buy a slip cover but I found only few selections were available and they were too pricy. Actually, I couldn’t find any designs I liked.
I have several curtains (43”w x 46”h) that I don't use at home.
I covered the chair with 4 pieces of them and put a vintage dresser liner. No sewing was necessary.
It was easy.
I like to keep the 4 pieces unsown so that it would be easier to wash.
And, I will keep the edges loose so that my cats can enjoy hiding behind the fabrics.

Replacing Broken Glass Frame

I purchased a vintage framed print for $4.00 at a thrift store. The original glass was broken. I wanted to keep the original frame so I took the artwork to a local glass store instead of a frame store. The glass store could take out the broken glass without damaging anything and replaced a new glass(41"W x 17"H) for $20.00. It was much better deal than reframing at a frame store. I am very happy with the result.