Christmas in July

It's been a long time coming.

I picked my new bike up on Friday night and have been having a ball riding it to the shops, to lunch and to work ever since. I love being on a bike, any bike, but this is lots of fun. It's heavy as hell, but sturdy. I'm particularly bad at handling it at slow speed, but gosh its awesome when you're going fast. I love that I can ride it on wet roads and not end up saturated like on the road bike. Here here to a healthier lifestyle and to Mr T for my present!

Chemistry

Somehow while setting up home, I never did acquire a silver cloth or silver cleaning product for that matter. Odd because when I'm not wearing Dinosaur designs resin, I'm wearing silver. But I found a nifty and environmentally friendly way to clean.

Line your sink with aluminium foil and place objects to be cleaned on its surface. Cover with hot water (don't burn yourself) and sprinkle with bicarb soda (the stuff is good for everything!). Watch the bubbles form (there's your chemistry) and watch the tarnish vanish. Dry and polish with a soft cloth for best results.

This week in the garden

I'm spraying my plants with a homemade aphid spray mix.

I wanted to make a natural recipe and used this:
Add 1/2 tblsp pure soap flakes or grated sunlight soap to 1/2 cup boiling water and dissolve.
Stir in 1/2 tblsp of white oil. Dilute in 1L water and spray as required.

You'll need two spray bottles for this quantity.

White oil
1 tbs vegetable oil mixed with 1/4 teaspoon washing detergent. Only use half.

So far so good. It does require frequent spraying in the late evening so as not to burn the plants foliage.

250mL of goodness

The keep cup has to be one of my favourite recent purchases. The two bakeries on the way to the station sell their coffee in polystyrene cups. Gah! I couldn't bring myself to buy coffee from either of them. And the paper cups favoured by most other coffee vendors are currently not able to be recycled because the paper is coated. So take away coffee has kind of been a no win for the environment. Until now. The keep cup combines my love of coffee and the environment in one handy 25oml package. And I think it's cute.