Sunday 13 December 2009

Influence? Make it green.

I did not know the influence I have on my son, still I saw this slideshow he created with photos he took during his trip to Cameron Highlands.



What imprints are you leaving on your children?

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Living Furniture

Now that you know how to appreciate trees with your five senses, let's check out how tree grafters enhance the values of trees.



You can see more of tree-shaping techniques developed by Peter Cook and his wife Becky Northey, on their site Pooktre.

Monday 30 November 2009

School Holidays Activities

Do you have a problem getting your children to read books that you think will be useful or meaningful for their future? Are these books collecting dust on the book shelves?

My children enjoy sitting at the computer playing games or watching television programmes. Putting two and two together, I had my son watched "Restaurant Makeover" with me and work with him to create a slideshow about what we have picked up from the show and this is the result.



I think that the best way for children to learn is by getting them to create their own lessons electronically. Work on such lessons with your children and you will not only save some trees but also money from buying more books. And don't forget the quality time you will be able to enjoy with them doing stuff that they enjoy doing too.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Trees? Sense them.

Yes, Blog Action Day 2009 is over but that shouldn't stop us from talking about climate change.

Sunday 8 November 2009

Boredom? Doodle that out!

If you are a parent trying to save some bucks, start collecting scrap papers and colouring pencils now for your children and learn to doodle their way out of boredom during the coming long school holiday.

First you will have to pick up some skills from Oistein Kristiansen either on his TV programme, "Cows and Crayons" or on his YouTube Channel, Oistein's Art.

Who is Oistein Kristiansen and what is this about? This video will give you an idea what he is into.



So, what are you waiting for? Learn how to doodle. Once you have your children interested in this creativity, you will not have to enroll them in workshops or take them out to entertainment centres or buy them toys to occupy them during school holidays.

Friday 30 October 2009

Dead mouse? Great gift!

If you think that only people who are despised would receive dead mouse as gift, then you have obviously not heard about Jeanie M. She is a taxidermist who can create angels out of the dead that you wouldn't mind displaying in your home.

Check them out on her site at Mouse Angel.




Thursday 22 October 2009

Share this. It's free!

Who need books when you can learn online? Denise shared some educational sites in her slideshow.



Go help save some trees. Take the lead for free lessons or create your own to add.

Bad bags days? No more!

I don't buy reusable bags. Sometimes I get them free from exhibitions attended or with stuff purchased. My children get them from the school they attended.

Take a look at these reusable bags we have on hand.

Do you like the colour enough to go shopping with it?

Some can't even take the weight it is supposed to!

Even if it is reusable, would you continue using it if you can't wash the stain off it?

I am sure you are facing the same problems. Do you have a solution to these problems? Me? You bet!

If the kids don't fancy the colour of their reusable bags to use them, slip them into another that they would consider taking.

Here is a lacy bag that I crochet.

This is how it looks with reusable bag tucked in.

The kids are more likely to handle their reusable bags with care if they like the colour and the design. So, while the reusable bag is still new...

...reinforce the handles by running stitches where they join at the bag.

Here is another crochet bag design I created for reusable bag.


With this design, I can slip the handles of the reusable bag through the handles of the crochet bag.


That should keep our reusable bags from landing in the trash bin any sooner. How do you like that?

I hope that producers of reusable bags should rethink how they design their bags so that they not only will last longer but will be fashionably, the bag of choice.

Friday 16 October 2009

Bad photos? Great for creativity!

On photography, if there is one thing I have picked up, it is that it's nearly impossible to take a good image of every member in the group posing for the photo.

So, what do you do with digital photos where you can see someone displaying an odd expression, strange gestures or weird postures? Maybe it has something to do with the camera or bad lighting, since no one is going to admit that they are bad photographers. Yes, there are going to be photos that will not land up in the photo album. But wait! Don't delete them on sight!

Once you have gotten over those distractions, you will notice that you can still make partial if not full of bad photos with some creativity of cutting, editing and pasting. Check out what I did with my lot.



So, did you get the green ideas here? Miss them!!!?? OK, here they are:

1) By deleting your digital photos, you are wasting your batteries.
2) By creating your own greeting cards digitally you can save some $ and the environment going paperless.
3) Remember my posting on "The Pain. About Relationships" and how broken families can create wastage? So, make your relationships work by learning to express your love.
4) You will discover many little images of facial expressions that will make great photo ID for the next social media that you sign up for.

So, remember that you don't have to waste batteries taking more photos for that perfect shot. Just go through those bad photos.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Today is Blog Action Day


Here is what I have to say about climate change.



Are you talking about it too?

Thursday 8 October 2009

Transforming my lanterns

So the mooncake festive event is over. What did I do with the lanterns I made? No, there is no museum in my home to display stuff I have made. I have not reached that status yet.

Here is the lantern for my son dismantled for storage. It can come in handy if there is a fancy dress party for my son to attend. I can turn it upside down and let him use it as a hat.


I would also consider sending my creations to the recycling bins if they are no longer in their pristine condition. But before I do that I usually keep a record of how I have them made.

Check out what I can do with the lantern I created for my daughter.


I can join the pieces together and transform them into a container for storing my electrical plugs.


Make a few more of that and I can use them to store undies for the kids. That should save me the hassle of folding them neatly in their drawers to have them all messed up after each bath. Now that's a neat transformation I will work on.

You think a square container looks better or a round one?



Maybe I should tone down on the colours...


If you are wondering what these containers are made of, you have definitely missed my earlier posting.

Saturday 3 October 2009

Another Lantern for Mooncake Festival

I thought my son is too old for lanterns until he told me he wants one too after checking out the one I did for his sister.

So here is the model I created for him and it is made up of a cardboard box for a monitor.



It is obvious that I have been inspired by all the traditional stuff I saw during...


...my trip to Beijing.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Green brooms sweep clean

I just got back from a trip to Beijing and I noticed that the parks and places of interest I visited are very clean. How did they managed that? Nothing high tech. Just some sweepers with brooms they improvised from bamboo stick and branches.

Image search at PicPoke.com

Image search at PicPoke.com

Here is another version of a bamboo broom.

Image search at PicPoke.com

What else can one do with a bamboo broom? Check this out.



Bamboo plants don't grow in your country? There are alternatives.

Lantern for Mooncake Festival

We are celebrating the mooncake festival this Saturday and I have created a lantern for my little girl.


How much do I have to spend for materials? Nothing! It's made up of plastic bags that I have cut into strips to crochet into...

...granny squares...


...to decorate an empty container for cooking oil, with its top cut off.

Here is a closer view of the lantern.


May you have a wonderful time eating delicious mooncakes and drinking good tea by your lanterns.

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Blog Action Day 2009

Blog Action Day 2009 is on October 15 and this time bloggers will be writing about Climate Change.


On a serious note, if you are concern about the effects of climate change on the environment, register at www.blogactionday.org and check out issues you can write about.

Saturday 12 September 2009

The cover, a cap? A bag too!

My girl wants a woolen cap for her trip to Beijing in Autumn and I am pondering if I should get her something that she is not likely going to wear again.

She solved the problem for me as she has discovered an alternative from my kitchen.


So, what you do think? Does it look OK? I looked at my mother-in-law for answer and she said, "Make one for me too".

Now what is there to stop me from adding a strap to make it handbag?

Friday 11 September 2009

GET TO KNOW THIS CAT CAR

Saw this CAT (Compressed Air Technology) car on Discovery Channel today. It is developed by Motor Development International (MDI), based near Nice, France.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

Rice water? Good for diarrhea.

Received an interesting email from a friend and discovered that the excess liquid from cooked rice can be used to cure diarrhea. A search for the recipe lead me to one that you can also use to heal your pets of the same ailment:

Rice Water Recipe to Control Diarrhea

Following is the email message I received which provides a link to support this cure:

With the recent cases on the Gelyang Serai food poisoning out break, I would like to share the info received from a friend. Pls read on, it may be of help...

When someone gets diarrhea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer. The secret is in rice water. This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it.

==============================================================================

(My mother) knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore for a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.

Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water. I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, lucky it worked, I thought to myself.

I was discussing this some years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable pediatrician teaches. I was shocked and made some comment how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he to do with it?

Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten. Either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me
seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it at some conference after he had done clinical trials. Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method.

Ah, so! I am impressed.

It is rice water and not rice that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary. This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice water sooner and cure himself or herself sooner.

When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine. But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.

How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to


http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2


It is good to pass on the news to everyone you know because the complaint is so common and people suffer unnecessarily. You would be doing your friends a great favour to relieve them of their misery when the occasion arises.

==========================================================================

So the next time someone in your family is down with diarrhea consider boiling porridge and keep the excess water as a cure.

Green Business Practices

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Saturday 15 August 2009

The Pain. About relationships.

Is it silly to consider posting my contribution for The World's Best Presentation Contest 2009 here? After all, it is about relationships. So, what is "green" about sustaining relationships? Wait! Before you think that I greedy for votes to win this contest, listen me out.

Imagine setting up home for a family. Now imagine setting up home for the same family in two separate locations because mummy and daddy can't get along anymore. Talk about creating wastage and increase in energy usage, broken marriages and relationships are not going to help reduce them much. Don't you agree? So, here goes my slideshow on relationships. Reduce wastage, let us work on making relationships stick.



Yes to "In sickness and in health, living in the same house, till death do us part".

Wednesday 5 August 2009

Meet the Free Green Can

A great idea by Free Green Can to get free recycling cum trash bins and get paid to recycle.



And why would any company want to advertise on a bin for recyclables and trash? According to research, consumers are more supportive of companies who are environmentally conscious.

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Making use of obsolete books.

Other than recycling, what can you do with books that are no longer useful? Check out what creative people are doing with their collection of books and see if you can adopt some ideas.

Thursday 23 July 2009

Adding class to waste

So, you think I have no standard? Can't blame you if you have read that I have used plastic containers from cooking oil as drawers for my kitchen shelf.

Is it possible to add class to waste material re-used in this manner?

Take a look at this woolen cover I have made for my containers and decide.



I can also add length to it...


...so that it covers the contents in the container.



I can also invert it so that its bottom is now its top.



Is that classy enough for you to re-use your waste now?

Orange gift for my girl

I decided to buy this book...


because I wanted to...


...make this lovely little doll for myself but I did not get around to it until my girl asked for it.

So, here it is according to her specification; "...in pink and without apron..."



I made it out of some leftover wools I have on hand. And note my 2-in-1 touch to the design. I added frills to the back in place of the apron so that when I turned the head around, wallah, I have a princess in the making.



Hang on here. Shouldn't this be posted on my blog for my kids?

If that is what you are thinking about, check out this whiskey bottle I will be hanging on to once the content is all drank up.


That is what holds the doll in place.

And if you are wondering what's "orange" about a pink doll, you have obviously not read about my "orange" article on giving.

I love it when my daughter "oooh" and "ahhh" over some abandoned material I managed to put to use. And since I bought this book in 1977 and still find it so useful, it is definitely an "orange" gift for myself.

Friday 17 July 2009

Bottled Water Disaster

More facts to swallow about bottled water.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Plastic containers? Modify and re-use.

What does this empty ice cream tub has in common with the cooking oil container?



Their diameters are close in size. So what?

I cut the top off an empty oil container at the right height and I can store my less often use stuff. Then I placed the ice cream cover over its top, to prevent cockroaches or lizards from running all over and staining them. Got the picture?



They are also handy drawers for my kitchen shelves for storing my 3 in 1 packets drinks.



You have to be blind if you are not able to find your stuff with these modified containers.

Garbage? Good for health.

Before you pick up your trash and head off to your garbage bin, pick this up first.



Who said you can't find abundance from garbage? Don't you know that health is wealth?

greenbeingnancy gmail a/c hacked into

Please note that someone has hacked into my gmail account and sent out emails purportedly from me with the following heading

"greenbeingnancy Newsletter ISSUE 114"

Please note that I do not spam.

DO NOT CLICK ON LINK PROVIDED ON THE EMAIL.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Travelling light and cosy.

Traveling light does not mean that I have to pack in less and bear the cold in the place I will be going to. Check out this little piece I have just created for my next holiday trip.

It's a one size fits all blouse...


cum bag...


...so that I don't have to buy another bag to hold souvenirs I will be buying.



It's one of my "1 more need less" ideas that my daughter is looking forward to bag and wear. And have I reuse anything to create this? You bet! The draw strings looped into the top of the blouse were from a paper bag while the one that gathers it's bottom into a bag is from a pair of my son's sports pant.

Hmmm, do you think I can turn this green idea into a business venture?

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Woven a loop. Now what?

Do you still remember the lamp I taught you to weave on a tool made out of cardboard?

See what else you can make with it.



Instead of cut strips of plastic, my friend weaved this with wool on a commercial tool and sealed one of its ends up to form a bag. All I did was crochet two strips and weaved it through the centre, equidistant apart so that when I pull both strings and tie each into a knot, I have a crunch bag variation.



I hope you like it, Alicia.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Newspaper and magazines? Not for reading only.

A group of disadvantaged Malaysian women are not recycling their old newspaper and magazines. There is something more ECOnomical they can do with their collection of newsprint.



With the support of eHomemakers, they have discovered abundance from the abandoned.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Water? Before you drink...

I have written about why we should be concern when we are drinking or eating out of plastic containers.

Pedro Ricart shared on SlideShare more reasons not to go for bottled water.

Friday 5 June 2009

Sand? Not for beaches only.

Children of my time are allowed to play with sand. We didn't have to wait till we were brought to a beach to start. We could find sand to play with in our gardens or in that of our neighbours'.

There was a lot of sand to play with in the compound surrounding our houses too. So, we didn't need paper or pen to express our creativity as we played and drew on the sand.

The houses that our children grow up in now are usually built close knit and all paved up. Most parents of today will be aghast if they caught their children playing with sand and with crime rate rising, they wouldn't encourage their children to play outdoor.

Maybe it is time for us to revive that interest again to reduce usage of paper. How? Let Ilana Yahav shows you with her sand art, "Let's Get Together".



Yes, one can make a living playing with sand! And don't forget that playing with sand can be therapeutic for children and adult. Sand play therapy has been used by therapists as an Emotional Literacy tool for personal development and as an aid for emotional healing.

Let's find a tray or build a pit and play sand with our kids.

You can view pictures of a sand tray and the kits used by therapist, courtesy of Kristina Walter on Wikipedia.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Planning for the futrue.

A good reminder from Ecumene of the kind of legacy we should be leaving behind for the next generation?

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Lets Talk Poverty

If you can't think green, think poverty. Denise Caron shared on SlideShare what poverty is about. Maybe compassion will help to remind everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle for a greener environment.

Friday 29 May 2009

Wanted. Dead or infected!

It's a plant but people making a living out of it would rather collect it when it is dead or infected.



It's the Agarwood which is valued for its aromatic resin produced when it becomes infected with fungus.

The wood can be sold for pharmaceutical uses or distilled for its oil as a perfume ingredient. It can also be harvested to be used as incense. And of course, there is a demand for it in countries like Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East with price ranging from RM500 per kilo for low grade wood to RM37,000 per kilo for processed high grade ones.

So, the next time you shun a dead or infected tree, figure out if there are any undiscovered uses for it. It may well turn out to be your abundance from the abandoned.

Note: Batteries not required by sharing image by Hafizmuar posted on Wikipedia about Agarwood.

Wednesday 27 May 2009

What's your town like?

Where I live, I can tell that parents love their children to bits. They bring them to the neighbourhood park every evening. The children are always fed all kinds of sweets and tidbits while they played there. They are never left thirsting for water and they are cleaned up before they leave for home. I can also tell that the adults enjoy using the park too. How do I know that?

Every morning when I go for my morning walk, I can see all the tell tale signs like sweets and tidbits wrappers, empty mineral water bottles, plastic bags, cigarette butts and used tissue paper lying around the park.

Do these small bits and pieces lying around the park really matter? You don't have to hear me nag about this. See it through the eyes of this 8 years old Sicilian inhabitant of a little town named Pedara.



Always remember that "Sedikit sedikit lama lama jadi bukit".

Tuesday 26 May 2009

Ashes? As good as diamonds.

Before you put aside the urn bearing the cremated remains of your beloved pet or loved ones, consider this option; have the ashes made into diamonds. A company in USA, LifeGemDiamonds, offers such a service.



I think it makes a priceless reminder of someone you cherish.

Friday 22 May 2009

Things that captured my eyes.

What do you look out for when you are traveling? Me? Take a peek at my snap shots.

I discovered these little piglets selling at a sourvenir shop at Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang. They are made of coconut shells.



Loo at the facial express of an old man carved into a wooden tree stump. The "hair" and "beard" is formed by the roots of the stump.



This kind of handcrafted souvenirs have been selling in Malaysia for generations. So, what can you say about abandoned stuff from nature?

They sell!

Tuesday 19 May 2009

Making every scrap count.

Do you recycle every scrap of paper you encounter no matter how small they are?



I do.

Why? Learn from this Malay proverb, "Sedikit sedikit lama lama jadi bukit". Got the picture?

Image search at PicPoke.com

No? It means, little by little, over time a mountain is created.

And you don't mess up your home collecting your scraps. Standby an empty tissue box and just dump coupons, tickets, receipts, labels and whatever little pieces of paper you come across into the box.



Then when the tissue box is all filled up, just put it into the recycling bin.

You don't have to be messy to be green.

P/S Note that kittens are not recyclable and no batteries have been wasted sharing these images from TinyPic.