Sunset

Last Friday, we went to McKees Rocks in PA  for my  husband's participation in the 5k run.  The  race did not start till 6 pm.  It was already getting dark when we hit the road going back.

 We saw this beautiful sunset going back home.

 We planned on participating on the 1k  race but  after seeing the  venue, we decided not to especially that our daughter wasn't feeling well that time.

We were there for moral support for my husband and we feel good to be part of his  getting fit goal and journey.

Tomatoes

Nothing can beat the feeling of satisfaction when you start ti harvest what you have planted in your garden. My  tomatoes are starting to  ripe now.  I was going to wait till they are fully ripe to pick them but the strong wind knocked some of my  tomatoes already, sigh.   We have been enjoying a fresh tomato salsa  now.  My  daughter loves it when I chop some tomatoes, and ad  soy sauce in it.

I have different kinds of tomatoes, roma, big boy, cherry tomatoes, and other kinds.

Good Insurance Saves You Money

If it wasn't for a good  insurance policy that we have  for our family, our dental bill must have been piling up by now because my kids teeth are very brittle.  They break so easily and as a result, we go to the dentist quite often.  But since we have two  dental insurance , we almost have very small amount of co pays.   Below are some photos of my kids at the dentist's office.

It is so nice to have a good insurance policy that  meets the need of your family because it saves you money.  If you want to know if you can save  or not with your current plan, I recommend to compare quotes from  don allred insurance.  You will be able to compare prices  and you are on the road to saving if you can find a much lower payment but gives you the same service on an insurance.

Golf Clubs, Painting Project, and More

Do you remember these golf balls that I posted on my other blog?  These were given to my kids by our family friend here in the neighborhood.  The couple are golfers and they have  a selection of golf  stuff and accessories displayed at their entertainment area  in the basement.  They have quite a collection  of golf putters that they  accumulated over the years.  I thought I have lost these  balls because I couldn't see them anymore but when I organized my kids  toys at the basement, I found them again.

I am on the process of relocating my home office down the basement but before I do that, I want to brighten up the look of the basement so I decided to paint it  white.  We painted it  like purple-ish pink when we   updated our basement but looking at it, it is so dark.  I started my painting project last  weekend and I haven't back there yet.  I plan to make some progress today though.  Here is the look of my basement, soon to be my gym, office, and  play area for the kids.

I can already see the big difference  after painting one of the  walls.

Wish me luck on my painting project.

Pumpkin

I did not  plant pumpkin this year but two just  came back from last year's  seeds on the garden.  I haven't seen any fruit yet.  Well, I did see a couple but they did not mature so I don't know if this will give me fruit or not.  I hope that I can get some pumpkin before Halloween comes  for us to carve.

Children Deserves a Pristine Planet

Weekend is always busy at my end because I do a lot of cleaning and laundry. I was particularly excited to do the laundry last weekend because I wanted to try how this Soap Nuts Liquid that Green Virgin Products sent me to try and review.  I love that it is  available in HE washers (high efficiency) because that is what we have at home. 

I was a bit skeptic how this little of a bottle can do  120 loads, I thought there is no way. When it arrived, I was very curious so I used it  with my  weekend laundry. See how small the bottle is compared to my other  laundry products?

The package came with a pump. A regular load of laundry needs two pumps of this non-toxic and hypoallergenic laundry detergent called Soap Nuts Liquid. So what is soap nuts liquid made of? According to their description, soap nuts are the  fruit of the Chinese Soap Berry Tree that has high saponin content.  Saponin is the natural soap content found in the shell of this berry that has cleaning ability.

This is highly concentrated that's why you only need two pumps for a regular load.  This small bottle costs $18.95 and it it is good for   120 wash  loads  and  another  great thing is, you don't need a fabric conditioner when you use this detergent.  So not only that you are saving money in using this non-toxic and eco-friendly laundry detergent but you are also saving  Mother Nature by not using non-toxic  products. 

I did four loads yesterday so  should have  116 loads left in this 8 ounces bottle of soap nuts laundry detergent.   With my first experience of using this soap, I can say that the clothes are so soft. I would probably buy this again just because it is eco-friendly and our children deserves a pristine planet and that's what Green Virgin Products aimed for.

Disclaimer: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review. Opinions expressed is not in anyway influenced by other factors. The product/s mentioned above was provided for FREE for evaluation purposes.

Bees and Mint

This is the first time that I've sen my mint bloomed.  I think the bees love it's flowers as I've seen a couple of them feasting on it.

I love incorporating mint leaves in my coking and in my smoothies.  It is so god  together with  fresh cucumbers and some ice when blended.

Come to think of it, I will have to make some again tomorrow. It might help ease the pain I am having with dysmenorrhea.  We will see.

Twin Cucumbers

I picked some more cucumbers this morning to give to a friend who is craving for some.   I got one that is very unusual, it's a twin cucumber hehehe.

A friend of mine asked me if she can buy some of my veggies from the garden but I told her that I will give her some after all, she is preggy and she's a friend so why sell. To bad, I did not have any more beans so I can only give her tomatoes and cucumbers.

If I harvest  more tomatoes, I will  have to make me some  home made tomato sauce again. It is great to cook with homemade sauce.

If only I know how to make pickle, I would pickle  the cucumber because  the only cucumber plant that I have is giving me so much fruit.

Summer Job for Kids

Our neighbor went for a two-week vacation last month  so she hired our kids to water her plants while she was gone.  She also  hired them last year when she went for a vacation.  She has a big vegetable garden which is plenty of fruits.  She asked us to pick some of her vegetable that are ready

I love to watch my kids work in the garden and I love the fact that they love what they do!

I told the kids that  if she try to pay them that they should tell her she doesn't have to but she insisted  to pay them $30.  My daughter's share went to her savings  and my son went to his wallet.  He said that he is saving for something hehehe.

When I was a kid, I used to look for something that I could do during summer time when I am off from school.  Mist of the times, I helped my Mom cook some snacks and sell it to our neighbors.
Shadow Shots

Great Business

When we were  down in Maryland, one of our favorite  refreshment was lemonade. You can buy one big cup for $5 and it's really good to drink  especially after a long walk in the  park.  Took a shot of this  inside vendor at Jolly Roger Park. Most of the    employees are students who are   doing some summer jobs in the Park . I think that lemonade stand is a great business during summer time.

Excitement in Seeing the Ocean

Seeing the  other side of Maryland  made our children so excited when we were driving to go down in Maryland.  They were disappointed as it was  just a teaser.  We still had a long ways to drive before reaching our destination.  Upon seeing the  ocean makes us so excited though.  

It's funny that you drive along one of the  side of Maryland and then in order to get to  Ocean City, you still have to drive  through one State (Delaware) to reach our destination. 

Irrigation System

I grew up in  a farm, a big rice field that my father used to take care of.  We do all the things manually with the use of the carabao.  We did not have any machinery out there.  Even our irrigation system was man-made where we  get our water from the river.  Driving  in the farmland here in the States  makes me  realize how  awesome and advantageous it is to be a farmer here because there are machinery and  even the irrigation system is  awesome.

These photos were taken in Maryland farmland.

Charm of Flowers

These are some pretty flowers I saw at Lake Arthur Regatta in Moraine  State Park, PA.  There is something about flowers that usually attracts me, I can't help but to take pictures of them when I see them, no  matter where I am.  I guess, flowers posses  that charm that a gardener in me can't resist. I hope you enjoy the photos!

I have some of these in my garden as well.  Only that, they are not as big as the ones that I saw in the park.

Butterfly Enjoying the Butterfly bush

Ever since my butterfly bush  started blooming, butterflies are constant visitors.

I don't like the resolution of my iPhone's camera when I am zooming the  subject.  It doesn't look  pretty compared to photos I take with my  DSLR camera.  That's one thing I miss about my Samsung Galaxy phone, it's resolution is better than the iPhone when taking a photo.