Tag: tricks

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SoFlo Gardening: March 2021

What to Plant

Annuals/Bedding Plants: Dianthus and other cool-season annuals continue to flourish. Consider planting warm-season annuals such as angelonia, was begonia, and zinnia at the end of the month.

Bulbs: Plant dahlia, canna, and glorious bulbs for spring and summer flowering. Provide stakes as needed to support growth.

Herbs: Consider growing edible ginger. Plant rhizomes in well-drained soil in full to part sun.

Vegetables: Begin planting warm-season crops, such as beans, tomatoes, squash, and corn, early in the month for late spring harvest. Protect from frost.

What to Do

Azaleas: Prune azaleas when they have finished blooming to reduce their size and improve the form.

Shrubs and trees: Prune when the dormant season ends and new growth begins.

Palms and shrubs: Fertilize palms, azaleas, camellias, and other ornamental shrubs if needed. Choose a fertilizer in which at least 30% of its nitrogen is slow release.

Irrigation: Check your sprinkler system for problems such as broken or misaligned spray heads.

Source: University of Florida IFAS Extension

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Simple but savvy moves for heart health

This month is all about hearts, love, and adding a little TLC to your everyday life. February is American Heart Month. This month is dedicated to driving awareness around heart disease, or cardiovascular disease (CVD). These are the leading causes of many health-related issues that can not only affect your ability to work, but impact your overall quality of life.

It’s important to know that some of the at-risk factors to heart health issues include poor diet, being overweight and lack of physical activity. To ensure that you’re on the right track to improve or maintain a healthier heart, show yourself a little more love by following some of these recommended adjustments for improving your diet by managing your portions and staying active.

Improve your diet

• Start the day with a low-fat breakfast. Try these simple ideas:

• In an electric blender, process 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 cup vitaminwater zero, 1 6 oz. carton Greek Style yogurt, and 1⁄2 cup fresh or frozen fruit to make a fruit smoothie.

• Spread toasted multi-grain waffle with 1 tablespoon peanut butter.

• Top oatmeal with chopped apple, raisins, or 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts.

• Eat every three to four hours or five to six times a day; this prevents you from becoming too hungry.

• Stay hydrated, drink plenty of water –eight to ten glasses a day will keep you hydrated. If you are looking for hydrating options in addition to water, try flavored varieties such as vitaminwater zero or sparkling water. Most importantly, remember that all beverages hydrate. Thirst is an indicator of dehydration and sometimes thirst is confused with hunger.

• Include more fiber in your diet such as whole grain breads and cereals, beans, legumes, and nuts. Higher fiber will aid in helping you feel full.

• Include more vegetables and fruits—these too will help fill you up, and not out.

Manage weight with right-size portions

It’s important to have a good relationship with food, so my mantra is “all foods and beverages can fit into a balanced diet in moderation.” Below are some guidelines to help you keep portion control in mind and some products that can help you do so.

• Choose 3-oz. portions of lean meat, fish, or poultry. This is a serving about the size of a deck of cards.

• For fruits and vegetables, consider a portion about the size of a baseball. If you enjoy avocado, go for one-half of a medium avocado.

• Servings for grains, beans, and legumes should compare to the size of an adult fist.

• Beverages also come in perfectly-portioned sizes. Coca-Cola has mini-cans available at about 7.5 ounces.

Keep it moving

Regular physical activity and exercise can have long term positive effects along with reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. By getting your body moving, you can improve control of your weight, combat heart disease, increase your energy and mood, decrease stress, and improve your sex life.

Scheduling the time to exercise on your calendar will help make it part of your standard daily routine. If you cannot set aside a 30 to 45-minute block of time, do several 5-10-minute segments daily. The buddy system works well here—having a friend on board will help keep you both motivated and on task.

Take Away: Focus on heart health this month. Start to make life long changes to your lifestyle choices and show a little love to your heart and those you care about around you.

 

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Ultrasound new path to great facials

Electric toothbrushes use motors to move the bristles rapidly usually between a few thousand times a minute to approximately 10,000 to 12,000 times per minute ( 1 Hertz (Hz) is 1 movement or cycle per second). This high frequency works well for dentists as it is anti-bacterial and helps remove plaque. For cleaning your face, however, that’s too high. You’re looking for a gentle pressure cleaning that still has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Machines, like Aesthetic Science’s Epiwave® UltraSonic Machine, that use lower ultrasonic frequencies (20kHz and up) attain the cleansing and exfoliation that also prepares the skin for the facial treatment ahead.

Our skin is our largest organ. It has three general layers: the epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutaneous fat (or lipid) layer. Each of these layers breaks down into sublayers. Skincare is mostly focused on the epidermis which breaks down into five different sublayers. The top layer, the stratum corneum, is where the dead skin cells collect and need to be cleaned and exfoliated (removed).

Unfortunately for us in the Sunshine State, the sun is the biggest cause of skin damage. Premature aging, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation (dark spots and uneven skin tone), and skin cancer are all aggravated by prolonged sun exposure. What’s worse is that many skin treatments, when done too frequently to the skin, especially sensitive or sun-damaged skin, can add to the damage instead of merely leaving a clean slate. Microdermabrasion, peels, dermaplaning, and others all remove layers of the epidermis, which can be good when done in moderation.

Many facials are done by hand, however, some steps can be performed by machines. In the case of the Epiwave®, it is a three-step process that starts by gently deep pore cleaning and exfoliating without irritation using low-frequency ultrasound. The modality, or function, of the machine can then be switched to the infusion (or sonophoresis) step using the treatment and/ or serum so that any molecules that are too large and require a pathway through the lipid portions of the stratum corneum, can be transferred using ultrasonic frequencies. It is this low- frequency ultrasound (again just above 20 kHz) that enables dissolved gases in the lipid regions between skin cells to bubble up and start to move, creating pathways. This is how to get the antioxidants, nutrients, and hydrating products that do the most help to the cells where they are needed while doing the least, or no damage, to the upper layers. I call that a win- win. The third step heals the cells by using a low-level current in the Hz range to restore the natural electrical potential of the cell membrane. You finish off the facial the same as before, “sealing the deal” with moisturizer and sunscreen.

Everyone ages, and without proper protection, the more sun your face is exposed to, the more your skin ages. There are many machines and products available in salons and spas, and for home use, that can help protect against and slow down the aging process. Ultrasonic machines are just one, but they are effective and do not cause any additional damage. Ask your esthetician/skincare specialist about this technology and see how it works for yourself!

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SoFlo Gardening: January 2021

What to Plant

Annuals/Bedding plants: Plants that can be added to the garden during the coolest months include begonia, browallia, lobelia, dianthus, dusty miller, and nicotiana.

Bulbs: Winter is a great time to plant bulbs that will bloom in the spring. Some examples include Clivia lily, crinum, and agapanthus.

Herbs: Many herbs will thrive now that temperatures are cooler, including tarragon, thyme, dill, fennel, and any of the mints.

Vegetables: Many vegetables can be planted this time of year. This is the last month to plant Irish potatoes, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, and turnips.

What to Do

Landscape: It is a good time to plant woody shrubs. Water frequently to get new plantings off to a good start.

Irrigation: Water plants if temperatures remain higher than normal and rainfall is scarce.

Shrubs and trees: Prune non-spring flowering shrubs and trees this month to improve form.

Arbor Day: Celebrate Florida Arbor Day (the 3rd Friday of January) by planting a tree in your yard or community.

Crapemyrtle: Remove seed pods, crossing branches, and small twiggy growth to improve the plant’s appearance and form, if desired. Hard pruning is not required.

Cold protection: Bring sensitive plants like orchids inside if a frost or freeze is predicted. Thoroughly water and cover sensitive plants in the landscape 12–24 hours before a freeze.

Pests: Apply horticultural oil to citrus, shrubs, and deciduous fruit trees while plants are dormant to control scale. Apply copper spray to mangos after bloom.

Source: University of Florida IFAS Extension

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Apps can help keep you organized

November is about being thankful for everything: Health,
family, & friends.

This time of year can be stressful and challenging for many because they need a bit of organizational direction.

As an organizer, I’m constantly asked by friends and acquaintances how to get organized for Thanksgiving and the holiday season. My answer is simple: Plan ahead.

Let’s talk about Thanksgiving. As a result of the current pandemic, this November may not necessarily be about big Thanksgiving get-togethers, but you still may be hosting and you’ll need to start to get organized and plan.

Starting early and not waiting for the last moment is key.

1. Make lists of what you need to purchase. One of my favorite things to do is to use the Amazon Alexa app to create “shopping lists.” Not only can you create any type of list with Alexa, but you can tell her what to put on it. So as you are planning that recipe or hoping you’ll remember to buy a bouquet of flowers, just ask her to put it on your shopping list. This eliminates the need for a paper list (that inevitably gets left on the kitchen counter..lol) and it’s automatically populated in your Alexa app.

Another option to manage your to-do list is called TeuxDeux. It’s simple and doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles…try it!

2. Consider using an inventory app like Sortly. There are quite a few home inventory apps out there, and keeping track of your items and where they are in your home can be a tedious process. If you know what you have in your home and where it is, taking out what you need for any holiday or occasion will be a snap. You’ll be happy to avoid the headache of trying to find the things that you need at the last minute.

3. Thanksgiving brings us to the holiday season and everyone’s time is so precious.

To keep track of all of your online purchases, try an app that syncs with your Gmail app called Arrive. Not only will it track your online orders from Amazon and Walmart, but it will also give you status updates with UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL.

No more searching through emails!

4. Trying to locate your holiday decorations can be challenging if you don’t have a “home” for them all. Consider organizing these items in clear, plastic, labeled bins. This will keep everything neat, tidy and you’ll always know where to find what you need.

Happy Holidays to you and your family from the Lisa eOrganizer team!

Lisa Haubenstock is a Professional Organizer and owner of LisaTheOrganizer, LLC. servicing Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties. She is a member of NAPO and serves on the board of the South Florida chapter. She holds certificates in household management and residential organizing.

Email Lisa at Lisa@lisatheorganizer.com.

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