The LuxMob Info Tags

One of the happiest moments in a houseplant’s life is when it gets to go back outside for the summer. The increased sunlight and fresh rain act as major growth stimulants for tired houseplants. And, it is very fashionable to incorporate houseplants and foliage plants into garden design. Having said that, every gardener has to follow a few simple rules for successfully moving houseplants into the garden.

Houseplants can be moved outdoors during the day after all danger of daylight frost has passed. The temperatures for these first few days should at least be in the low 60’s F or greater than 15 degrees C. to avoid temperature shock. A windless site is also important as a cold wind will quickly chill a houseplant into shock. Leaving a plant outside for only a few hours a day for the first few days is optimal rather than leaving it outside from morning until night.

Plants can be left outdoors at night after all danger of night frost has passed and after a week of daytime acclimatization. Again, do not leave the houseplant outdoors if night temperatures are going to plunge or if there is a cold, raw wind. If you wouldn’t want to be outdoors, neither would your plant.

The key to successful acclimatization of indoor plants to outdoor gardens is slowly acclimatizing the plant to increased levels of sunshine, cool winds and natural rains. Usually a week of moving a plant outdoors in the morning and indoors at night will serve to harden off the tender indoor plant so it will survive and indeed, thrive in its new outdoor location. While we all want to rush the season in seeing our gardens fully leaved out, rushing or pushing indoor plants into cold gardens will only set them back.

Doug Green, award winning garden author of 7 gardening books, answers gardening questions in his free newsletter at http://www.beginner-gardening.com.

With mounting to-do lists, big projects with short delivery dates, consuming workloads, growing obligations and festering unfinished tasks, it’s no wonder in this what-have-you-done-for-me-today world we often feel time deprived. Work-life flows to home-life, balance becomes imbalance, and goals and dreams get relegated to a closet shelf.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In a recent “Winning at Working” reader survey, the most commonly articulated work problem was related to time. Overwhelmed. Overworked. Overstressed. Too much to do and too little time to do it.

But here’s the reality. No matter how much we do, we will never get everything done. There isn’t enough time for all that needs doing, all we want to do or we’d like to do or we should do. There never will be, even with the most sophisticated productivity, organizational and time-management approaches. Sure, they’re helpful, but thinking the chaos and stress in life is caused by not having enough time is an error.

You see, the problem is not a time problem. We all have the same amount. It’s a choice problem. The choices you make determine whether you’re running your life, or your life is running you. And you do have choices. Sure there may be consequences to saying no, establishing boundaries or reordering priorities. But there are also consequences if you don’t.

All tasks are not equal. All commitments are not equal. All responsibilities are not equal. All clients are not equal. All people of personal importance to your life are not equal. Yet many of us operate as if they were. You can do fifty things today and get little, if any, result for having done them. Or you can do one or two that bring a big return, be it emotional, financial, physical or psychological. People who are winning at working know the difference and operate accordingly.

They see time as life’s currency and how it’s used as a choice. Choices shape your results and your life. You get the same twenty-four hours each day as your co-worker down the hall. But use differs. Practice the piano eight hours a day and you’ll be better than people who don’t. Practice and hone your workplace talents and the same applies. Or spend time getting ready to work, shooting the breeze, surfing the web, fiddling with email and you’ll complete the day having traded your time for minimal results.

How you spend your time puts value on what you’re spending it on. For years, I never had “time” to exercise consistently until a health issue caused me to re-prioritize my choices. Funny how I managed to find the hours when I had to. Choosing to eliminate an hour of television created 365 “found” hours a year. That’s nine weeks.

People who are winning at working know this secret: there is always time for what matters to them. So, they allocate their time carefully, understanding their life as a reflection of their choices. They make time for the people they love, the passions they have and work that uses their uniqueness. They focus on the results, goals, and life-dreams they desire, rather than accepting what comes their way. They do, while others talk of doing. They plan their day, while others let their day plan them. And they motivate themselves, while others wait for someone or something to motivate them. For people who are winning at working, it’s not about the time they have; it’s about the choices they make in how to use it.

(c) 2006 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.

We all know that professional hair-care products are best, but
what happens if you can’t find something that you like or can
afford in professional product lines? Are there any products
that you can purchase from the department store that will not
cause too much damage? You bet there is, but you have to be
choosy and have an eye for detail.

When it comes to over-the-counter hair care products, pricy does
not always equal high-quality. In fact, the most inexpensive
shampoos are often your best bet. We’ve all seen those
commercials that claim that a certain shampoo can make your hair
shiny, thick and strong from within, but the reality is that
there is no shampoo that you can put on the outside of your hair
to change its internal structure. Shampoos and conditioners
merely mask the problem until your next shampoo.

Knowing this, some hair care manufacturers have started using
ingredients that coat the hair strand and remain even after you
shampoo the next time. To the consumer, it seems like the
product is working because their hair feels so much better. But
what they are really feeling is the build up of these materials,
and extreme build up is responsible for hair breakage, spotty
color jobs, inability of hair to hold curl and a host of other
problems.

This problem involving product build up is your number one
concern when purchasing non-professional products. Granted, you
might not be able to get a product that conditions as well as a
professional product, but you’re not going to do any damage to
your hair if you use the non-professional product. So, that
means that you must keep your eye out for products that can
build up on your hair and avoid them at all costs.

Avoiding hairsprays and gels that build up on your hair is
fairly easy. You can almost tell that something is horribly
wrong the first time you shampoo your hair after using the
product. The tale, tale white gunk and flakes tell you so. But
when it comes to spotting build up caused by shampoo and
conditioners, the signs are not as obvious. The first thing that
you should watch out for is the feeling that your hair has
already been conditioned after you shampoo it. Most of the time,
you will be able to feel a coating on your hair when your hair
should be squeaky clean. You can also check for product build up
by running the sharp edge of a pair of scissors down a section
of hair. If a white gunk appears on the scissor blade, that’s
build up.

Fortunately, most of the products that can build up on your hair
are the more expensive products. These are the products that
claim to work miracles and make your hair strong enough to be
used as a tow cable. So, if in doubt, stick with the tried and
true hair care products that contain only the essential
ingredients.