View from the balcony - Part 1

The view from the balcony is one of the main reasons why we bought our place.

This is not the first place we lived in after we got married (In fact, it is the third).. but it is the first house that really belonged to us.

Our apartment had and still has a lot of faults when we bought it.

When we bought it, the walls were painted with the oddest colours of turquoise green, bright pink and orange. We changed everything to off-white.

The old lights were beautiful and rustic looking. But they were HUGE and they made the small apartment looked even smaller. We removed those and installed simple lights with warm colours.

The architect who built the apartment must be a most impractical person.. Either that or he (or she) does not think that space is precious. There is quite a bit of space wasted in the apartment, like a places we can't access and ledges built below the window that should have been built with storage space below but instead is more wasted space.

And we have 3 balconies.. for a apartment, 3 balconies.. is a lot of balconies! And in the opinions of many.. such a waste!

But.... I love the view from all three balconies. The balcony I least liked when we moved in is one of my favourite of the three, because although it is the smallest, it is also the coziest...

I really enjoy watching the sunset from the balcony. See how nice the sky looks like this evening when I got home!

Hello Sunshine!

I love it on days when the sun is blazing hot and there is a little breeze blowing.

On days like that, some of the flowers in my balcony will be smiling at the sun and swaying in the breeze. It's quite amazing to watch actually... they look like they are dancing in the breeze.

This colour is really pretty right? I don't remember the names for this

but they are easy to grow.. like portulacas

I like the way the petals flutter in the breeze..

Sky - I manage to get my hands on these from World Farm!

Baking Soda and Vinegar

Lemons are amazing.. but I find that baking soda and white distilled vinegar are also very useful things to stock up in your kitchen.

Baking soda absorbs smell, so a small box of it will absorb weird smells in your refrigerator. You can also sprinkle some at the bottom of your dustbin to absorb away bad smells.

Baking soda is also good for cleaning silverware and silver jewellery. Rubbing your silverware with 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water will make them clean and sparkly.

It can be added to your laundry to remove odors and stains. It can also be added to bleach. Apparently, it improves the effectiveness of bleach and can make your white clothes sparkly white.

Vinegar is acidic and can be used very much in the same way as lemons. It is effective for killing most mold, bacteria, and germs, due to its level of acidity. A mixture of vinegar and water can be used to wipe clean most surfaces and remove ordors. I find it very helpful in cleaning out glass surfaces and mirrors.

Baking soda and vinegar is a powerful combination. You can clean and deodorize a drain or sink by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. After 5 minutes, pour in hot water and you get a very nice, clean and odorless sink.

I like using baking soda, vinegar and lemons because they are all very green.

What else from the kitchen...?