We picked up a pot of fern at the nursery on Friday and I’m glad we finally get to use our pretty Ikea pot with lace like details we bought months ago!
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As I was watering my plant in the dark I spotted two caterpillars on my plant. I don’t know if I should be happy about my nocturnal eye power! OMG. I hate creepy crawlies! I am going to judge a caterpillar by it’s look and I bet it’s a moth! Eek!
Specimen 1
A tiny green caterpillar on my mint leaf plant!
Specimen 2
This is damn ugly! It’s fat, brown and ugly! I know I’m not supposed to judge God’s creation but OMG.
I am going to consult three experts that I came across and hopefully they have an answer!
The three experts I am consulting are:-
- My all time favourite gardener Ms Green Fingers who previously helped identify my dying Carnation
- Another regular gardening blog I read, The Curious Gardener who has many years of gardening experience
- A random blog I found which was aptly named Butterflies of Singapore – Butterfly Circle. Looking at the name of this blog I am sure the blogger has the answers!
Helped! Can one of you please help? This is an emergency! Thanks a million!
I always wanted to fill my planter box with lots of flowering plants and edible herbs but the afternoon sun at our balcony is bound to kill a whole lot of plants! So we bought two plants to try out at our hottest spot at the balcony. So far the purple flowers (not sure of their names) are surviving well but the leaves of our star daisies is turning crispy! We are not watering twice a day to keep them hydrated! Hang in there plant! He wants to ensure that the plants can survive a cycle (meaning old flowers drop with new flowers growing) before buying more to put in our planter. Grr.
Anyone has any recommendation of plants that can survive direct afternoon sun. Ms Green Fingers? Heh.
A while back I bought a Marimo from a street store at Clarke Quay and I shared it in my blog here. I love Marimo and they have been cheering me up after a bad day at work and I happened to take this picture with my latest Squareroom magazine featuring Eco Chic design ideas! Me feeling all greens and eco-ly decided to take my marimo with the front cover and it turn out pretty well! These Marimos will be sitting at my bathroom in my new apartment and I can’t wait!
The store owner, Give a Plant, invited me to take part in the Marimo photo contest and winners will win the following.
- 1st prize – 2 x marimos in limited edition glass whale + 2 x marimos in limited edition glass apple worth $60.00 in total
- 2nd / 3rd prize- 2 x marimos in (choice of limited edition glass apple or whale worth $30.00)
I’ve decided that I will be giving out all the prizes (if I win them) to my blog readers! As I don’t need any more Marimos but I’m sure one of you might need one to cheer you up! So depending on how much you want it, you can start voting for my picture! Do drop a comment here if you voted so that I can randomly select winners for this contest. So this contest is not mine, but yours! If I got the 1st prize, there will be 4 to giveaway and if I got the 2nd or 3rd prize, there will be 2 to giveaway! Also, the owner will be picking 3 voters to give them one Marimo each! After all, good things must share! Haha! Do remember to vote for the correct picture though. Haha.
So vote here, if you need a Marimo or if you think someone needs a Marimo!
Remember a while back I mentioned here that he found a pot of dying looking plant near the lift landing? It was abandoned and looking pitiful. He took pity of it and decided to adopt it. Also, he is a firm believer of not buying things but adopting things (hence Barley!). Haha.
With lots of love and care, daily watering and lots of sun, the plant actually bloomed! WOW. He definitely has got green fingers! Now, we need to identify this plant! Anyone has any idea?
Before
In this post, I will be sharing the ceiling and hanging lights (standing and table lamp will not be featured here) that we have chosen and installed in our home! We wanted simple lights which fit our Scandinavian theme and also to create a soft ambience! This explains why most of our lamps / lamp shade are white and why all of our lamps came with either yellow or warm white light bulbs.
Our 3 main lamp shopping sources are as follows:-
Light Craft
131 Jalan Sultan
199015
Tel: 6297 6658
Ikea
(no introduction required)
Chelsea Lighting
353 Jurong East Street 31
600353
Tel: 6561 3759
Through our lights selection and installation we learnt a lot and so, here are some pointers to share!
(1) Always take the measurement and dimension of the lamps into consideration! This, once again, we entirely forgot! We didn’t realized how low our ceiling is and how misleadingly gorgeous it looks on the high ceiling at the light store. Nonetheless, our lamps turn out a ok.
(2) Don’t go overboard on the yellow / orange! We realized that our entire house is orange! My sister warned that I may walk out looking like a ghost even if I look stunning in the mirror because warm lights make EVERYONE looks good. Even a ghastly one with heavy makeup on. HMPH. May have to change the bulb for one or two lamps. We’ll see after we move in. Hah.
(3) Try to use energy saving lights as much as possible. They are obviously greener (not the colour sense) and cooler (not the fashion sense) for your home!
To cut this post short, here are our lighting selections!
Door Entrance – LightCraft
A simple white ball, simple and often seen in Scandinavian design. We also used this lamp at our corridor. Energy saving bulbs!
Breakfast Counter – LightCraft
Pretty but not energy saving at all.
Living Room – LightCraft
We have no other lighting point at our living room except these two track-lights to feature our soon-to-be-painted-white brick wall and wall of fame behind our sofa. Sorry Mother Earth!
Balcony – Chelsea Lighting
The only non-white lamp shade in our house and for obvious reason! It’s in the outdoor! Energy saving!
Kitchen – LightCraft
Love this UFO lamp which is retractable! Energy saving!
Yard / Toilets – LightCraft
For our yard area and both our toilets, we used this simple ceiling lamp. Energy SAVING!
Store Room – Ikea
We didn’t even bother to get this lamp a lampshade! For goodness sake, it’s in the storeroom and who cares! Haha. Energy saving!
Study Room – Ikea
This is a trademark Ikea lamp and he loves it! Study room is officially “HIS” room while the walk-in-wardrobe is MINE! Haha. Mother Earth loves me!
Walk-in-Wardrobe – LightCraft
I love this lamp! Just give it a little time for the wires to settle down. I can’t resist having a hat-ful of lamps in my little fashion paradise! 2 out of 3 are Earth friendly!
Bedroom – LightCraft
Yet to adjust the height of the five lamps but whenever I see this lamp, I get really patriotic. It looks like “Five stars arising…Out of the stormy sea…”. Ok. Cut it Serene. Not energy saving at all but come on! Who turns on the lights in the bedroom that often anyway. Hehe.
Doorbell – LightCraft
We bought our doorbell at LightCraft too! Haha. Getting lazy with all the shopping.
Look who’s fooling around while our electricians are at work!
Just to share, when my electricians first saw all my lamps, the first question was “All hanging lamps?”. I gave the “Er…ya…” answer and he gave me the “-_-”" look. Young couple these days didn’t realize how low the ceiling can get. I guess we’re one of those challenging customers he gets once in a while. No longer are young flat owners buying simple ceiling lights they see in their parent’s house! Just look up and you’ll know what I’m saying. How can we stand having all cool white, flat and round lamps and sometimes with floral motifs. HAH.
Total Damage: $1,500
Here’s the boring bit of our home renovation. We got our fridge in! Nothing fancy. I wanted an old school F & P fridge but he being practical and what not refused to let me get it. BAH.
Fits just right!
Look at him checking out our new fridge! Haha. My Domestic God. HAHA
Not forgetting that it must come with at least 3 ticks!
The man likes his freezer on top! Girls do you know what having a fridge means? The next time you guys chill at my place, there will be chilled drinks and you can bring a cake and eat it too! Haha.
I bought these Marimo from a stall set up by Give a plant at Clarke Quay last week and I love them! Give a plant is set up by a guy who has green fingers and who strives to convince people to own plants! Marimos are sort of self sustainable with little effort required except to change the water once a month! I am going to put this in our Masterbed room’s toilet! He thinks it’s a waste of money to buy a moss ball! Haha. These Marimo are from Hokkiado!
I also bought a Terrarium from they same store! This will be in the guest’s toilet!
To save money and to save the Earth through waste reduction, I’ve decided to come out with a “Things you should not buy new!” Do add on to the list if you’ve got something to share!
Books
I love reading and collecting books! But books are often never read more than once! Try scouring books from eBay, library book sales, thrift stores, garage sales and second hand bookstore and never, NEVER, buy them new! If you really have to buy the latest title, form a book club among your besties, split the cost, and take turns to read them!
I’ve been looking for two books by Candace Bushnell – Lipstick Jungle and The Carrie Diaries! Let me know if you want to sell them!
DVDs / VCDs
I’m a movie junkie! I love to give all movie titles a chance even though critics struck them down with harsh reviews. Try going through the piles of used DVDs / VCDs that rental stores try to get rid at a low price! Sometimes you may be surprised to find some classics in there!
Gift wrapping materials
Instead of buying a box from Daiso, try making one from an old box. Instead of using expensive gift wrappers, get creative and make use of old magazines, paper bags or old cloth!
Pets
They are supposed to be your friend, your buddy who stayed behind to listen to all your sobs and grumbles. They shouldn’t be bought at a hefty price tag! Try adopting from SPCA or other animal shelters!
Children’s Toys / Clothes
I often tell my fiancé that if I can dress our future child (I’m not having one anytime soon!) in rags I would! They outgrew them too quickly! Plus, their appreciation for clothes often involves poo or puke! So, get the toys / clothes from your siblings, relatives, friends or friendly neighbours!
What are some items you would not get them new?
A couple of weeks ago, I received a pair of tickets to watch the screening of this indie documentary.
In the movie,what struck me most was this…
“When we looked back at the various holocaust that happened in the past, we wondered what the heck were those people thinking, killing innocent mankind. In fifty years time, our future generation would asked, what the heck were we thinking, ignoring the obvious signs of global warming, killing innocent mankind.”
These are probably not the exact words but it’s along this line. SIGH. I can hear our future generation blaming us when I’m seventy. Some chose to believe that such movies are mere propagandas, others believe that the situation is not as bad as the media depicts, even if these are true, it doesn’t change the fact that the environment is changing and it is changing for the worst.
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