Just like everyone else who participated, at 8:30pm sharp, we turned off most of the lights and fans at home. I think not many people in the neighbourhood participated – which was OK, as I believe this is just formality. The most important part is to treat mother earth nicely on daily basis.
Me and Wah, my parents, and little niece spent some time chit chatting in the living room. My mother told us stories of my grandparents which she had just learned from a relative early this afternoon. Stories of how my grandmother’s marriage was being arranged when she was only 6. Stories of why she could only come all the way from China when she was 27 or 28 to marry my grandfather, when almost all girls in China got married when they were 20 or so.
I certainly couldn’t imagine myself living in that century. Not that I’m a feminist, but marriage arranged at the age of 6?! And foot binding?!
This life isn’t that bad after all. :)
As I haven’t been able to keep up with the vegetable garden since months back, my parents had decided that they’ll take charge. My dad made a new fencing using old wood pieces and bamboo, and my mother is ready to start planting some vege. Hopefully months later we’ll have our very own-grown Pak Choy and Choy Sum again. :)
When my previous moisturiser was about to finish, I shopped around for some handmade natural stuff to continue applying on my face.
COMPLEXION ZEN Clarifying Facial Cream with Tea Tree Oil (Vegan – 2oz) and COMPLEXION ZEN Clarifying Charcoal Soap with Tea Tree Oil (Vegan – 4 oz) by Bunny Butt Apothecary.
The cream was good. Smooth, not greasy. I haven’t tried the soap yet, but will do soon.
Well the not-so-green part is that I had to have them shipped over from the U.S. One day, I’ll look around for these locally – or even make some myself. You’ll never know. ;)
Both the dogs are having ticks and fleas problem lately – something that I really hate. I’ve just had this with them about a month or two ago, and I thought I’ve killed all the little buggers. This problem is so much difficult to handle when they are outdoor dogs.
I don’t quite like using chemicals on them. I know I’m mostly the as-natural-as-possible type a.k.a vet’s enemy (I haven’t found a vet who totally like my idea, yet), and I just couldn’t get myself to use those heavily-poisoned drugs on them. Notice that whenever you are handling those things, they’ll ask you to wear gloves?
Natural remedies don’t always have instant results. It’s just like when you are taking herbal medications. They don’t always give you the instant-OK. But one thing for sure, they are always healthier.
So this round for the battle with the ticks and fleas, I’m using diluted Eucalyptus Oil. It has a strong but refreshing smell that bugs like ticks and fleas, or even mosquitoes don’t fancy.
I added a few drops in the water and spray some over the dogs after bathing. Making the dogs clean is not enough – their living area has to be clean too. So I mixed up extra and pour it over their living area at the yard. And then of course, I still continue to manually pick out the buggers on them every evening – and I love to see that it’s getting lesser and lesser. It’s a little slower – this is a repellent, not a killer – but it’s a lot healthier.
It’s only been a year but the bamboos in the yard have been growing from only three to at least ten (or twelve?) TWENTY of them. We found this little one pushing himself up two days ago.
