Landscape Gardening - Feng Shui With Foliage

Landscaping your garden can make a vast difference not only to its appearance but also to the value of your property if you are putting it on the market.

There are some very gifted gardeners out there but generally landscaping work would need to be carried out by specialist contractors. Not only do they bring their years of experience to the project but perhaps even more importantly all their expensive equipment, not to mention their discounts at all the local gardening retailers.

What features might you include in your newly fashioned garden?

Water landscaping or water features are very popular, whether it is a pond, fountain or something else of that ilk. Obviously with ponds and other such water features a degree of excavation work is normally involved and this is best handled by expert professionals.

Gates, trellises and arches are also amongst some of the more popular features in a well landscaped garden. Even fencing may be found under this category. Design is important to make your garden look balanced and beautiful. Why not discuss your own design ideas with a landscaping professional to see just what is possible and perhaps discover what unseen potential your garden may have.

Every garden is different but especially here in the United Kingdom, usually the predominant colour is green. Trees, shrubs and lawns for that matter form such a large part in British gardens and the planting and arranging of these trees and shrubs is yet another vital ingredient in the landscaper's arsenal.

Perhaps you will have concrete patios or block paving in amongst the lawns and foliage or pathways winding through some trees or leading to a garden pond teeming with wildlife.

The experts will be able to tell you which trees will suit your particular garden and whether your ground is suitable for certain species of shrubs and trees. Knowing how quickly the plants and trees grow, which nutrients they need and how much light they need are all considerations that the landscaping experts will be able to advise you with.

Quality landscaping professionals should be able to show you examples or a portfolio of their work to date. Where do you get your own ideas from? Well unless you have your plans already, magazines, books and even online searches can assist you in making your choices for that dream garden.

It is only when you have your ideas and plans in place and have discussed them with your chosen landscaping company that you can assess the cost and most efficient ways of achieving your gardening goals.

Producing a beautiful garden involves hard work and planning, landscaping experts can offer a wealth of information and guidance. Jules researches and writes for website SEO company sigma web.

Placing Your Feng Shui House

If you are thinking where to locate your feng shui house and you are lucky enough to be able to choose the land to build it then you should apply the feng shui principles when selecting your block. If you haven't the luxury of choosing your own block don't despair there are ways with feng shui that provides alternatives to offset anything that may not fit feng shui principles of house siting.

The ideal fenq shui site is said to be where the descending heaven qi meets the ascending earth qi. There is no hard and fast rule about the perfect site but there are some general conditions you can look for. Generally, half way up a hil facing the sun is considered a good location for your feng shui house because you will have a distance view and you will get cool summer breezes and warm winter ones.

The best feng shui house location is called the xue (shu). It incorporates an open space in the front, called the "bright hall" or ming tan, with four mythical animals or spirits around it. A spirit called the red bird provides the distant front view. Another the black tortoise is the hill at the back which provides protection. On the left is situated the azure dragon with the white tiger on the right. Ideally you should have a stream flowing across the front of the feng shui house site as water is regarded as a source of food and method of transportation. It is also believed that the heaven qi descends down the hill and is held back by the water.

All the above provides a protective armchair shape that can be applied not only to your feng shui house site, but to the feng shui of a particular room, where the chairs are placed so the backs are protected and there is an open space in front of you or your garden. At the rear of your garden can plant protective trees if there isn't a hill. Being safe and secure is a large part of being happy.

The shape of your block of land plays an important part of the feng shui house. Symmetrical shapes are the best. An L shaped piece of land poses problems because it is incomplete and unbalanced. If this is the case you need to look at ways of balancing it.

A rectangular block of land that is wider at the northern and southern ends is considered to have the best shape for siting your feng shui house. If your block is not a true rectangle then it is better that the back be wider than the front. With feng Shui you will find there are several ways of balancing a block of land that is not an ideal feng shui shape. You should investigate the best ways for your particular block for your particular feng shui house.

Wilf Gerrard-Staton lives in Country Australia. Where he purchased land and built a house conforming to Feng shui principles. He now has created a blog that provides simple explanations to all aspects of Feng Shui. You can view his blog at http://www.fengshuidecor.how-do-you-do.info

Fire, Earth, Wood, Water, Metal - Feng Shui in the Bedroom

We spend a third of our lives in the bedroom, so it's important that we get it right when it comes to the layout of our bedrooms - creating a peaceful, relaxing sleeping space - When it comes to Feng Shui, this means achieving the proper balance of yin and yang. Yin (masculine) and Yang (feminine) are best described as opposite forces that are deeply interconnected, and must be balanced to achieve well-being and harmony.

Feng shui in bedroom promotes positive and sensual energy. Feng shui in bedroom invites you, lures you in, excites and calms at the same time. A good feng shui bedroom in bedroom is fun and pleasurable to be in, either you are there for a quick nap, a good night sleep or to make passionate love!

For having good feng shui in bedroom there is variety of ways like:

• The best position for the bed is too placed against the wall.
• All the doors of bedroom should open 90 degree.
• Having different level of lights in bedroom.
• Bedroom color should be soothing like light blue or pale to maintain the balance.
• Keep all the doors in bedroom closed in night.
• Don't sleep facing your legs facing the door.
• Put something interesting on the wall opposite to you so that when you wake you fell good and fresh.
• Put some flowers in the corner to make livelier.
• Don't put mirror opposite to you when you sleep.
• Put accessories in pairs.
• Don't put any electrical instruments like TV in the room as it beams brings negative energy in the room.

Elements of feng shui

Feng Shui elements can help us to have proper control over our lives and boost our creativity. The Feng Shui elements have a strong role to play for balancing a space or home. According to the Chinese everything's in this world belongs to one of the five Feng Shui elements: Fire, Earth, Wood, Water and Metal.

Fire
Fire is the most powerful of all the elements and represents energy, expansion and transformation.

• Fire can be represented by candle.
• Color that represents fire is red, orange and yellow.
• Direction associated with fire is south.
• Seasons which symbolizes is summer.

Wood
Wood helps to develop creative energies like inspiration, motivation and passion. It helps in personal growth and renewal. Wood can be represented by tress or anything green in color like green pillow.

• Color associated with wood are green, purple.
• Season that symbolizes wood is spring.
• Directions for element wood are east and south east.

Water
Water element of feng shui is related to the flow of money and career. Some of the studies shoes that flowing water helps us to let go of things and still water helps the surrounding energies to be calm.

• The water element can be represented by a fish tank or pond.
• Color represents water is blue.
• Seasons which represents is winter.
• Direction of water element is north.

Metal
Metal helps in mental strength and intellectual abilities, making it easier to focus and think clearly.

• Color which represents element water is white, silver, gray and black.
• Season represents metal is fall.
• Direction associate with element metal are northwest and west.

Earth
Element earth represents stability and home, giving a sense of security and grounding support. Rock features, thick Color that represents earth is brown, beige, sierra and other muted colors.

• Season is end of summer.
• Direction associated are centre, northeast and south west.

Jake produces a publication on a various holistic healing and well-being approaches including: Feng Shui, Meditation, Massage Therapy, Yoga, Pilates and holistic treatments for various health conditions.

Read his latest article now on Feng Shui For Beginners

Thai Dinner For Two

Do you have an anniversary, birthday, or other special day with your significant other coming up? Try a romantic Thai dinner, either dining out or cooking and dining in. There are many delicious and interesting meals to enjoy! Sometimes it is quite a challenge to come up with great menu selections. One might spend lots of time looking up or researching all the Thai dishes. There are really more than enough to choose from, and many great combinations, so don't beat yourself up trying to plan. This article outlines some choices for each part of the dinner.

Appetizers

Choosing a start up dish sometimes can be challenging. Try to choose a dish that is not too heavy. Choose a light dish but yet one that teases you to want more. My first choice would be "Kra Thong Thong", golden pastry cups with minced chicken and chopped vegetables. This appetizer is a cute little cup that will definitely impress him or her. The next choice is "Miang Kam", leaf-wrapped tidbits. This can be a fun thing to do and create nice start up conversations. It involves wrapping several kinds of little tiny items in a leaf, along with a sweet-and-salty sauce. The items include shredded roasted coconut, peanuts, diced lime, diced ginger, diced shallots and chilies. Third choice is "Po Pia Tod", deep-fried spring rolls.

Main course

Whether you are vegetarian or a seafood or chicken lover, don't worry, there is always plenty to choose from. Let's start with how many dishes to order or make. For 2 people, I would say 2-4 dishes. If you are dining out, two dishes are enough for two but might not have variety. Three to four dishes will definitely leave some leftovers for later days. However, if you are planning to cook them yourself, you can make a smaller amount of each dish. This way you can have more dishes for variety. Here are some different combinations of dishes.

• Combination 1: for those who like things just a little bit spicy
  • Khao Ob Subparod: fried rice with meat, pineapple, onions and cashew nuts, baked in a pineapple
  • Kaeng Kiaw Waan: a slightly sweet green curry with meat and vegetables
  • Gai Pad Med Ma Muang Him Ma Paan: stir-fried chicken and cashew nuts
  • Chu Chi: stir-fried fish (or shrimp) with kaffir lime leaves, Thai sweet basil (Bai Ho Ra Pha) and chu chi chili paste
• Combination 2: for those who like medium spicy food
  • Khao Pad Poo: fried rice with crab meat, eggs, tomatoes, onion and cilantro
  • Phanaeng: Thai southern style dry curry with meat, kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk
  • Gai Ho Bai Toey: fried chicken wrapped in pandanus leaf
  • Ho Mok Ta Le: steamed seafood custard
• Combination 3: for those who love spicy food
  • Tom Yum Moo Pa: hot and sour soup with wild boar, mushrooms, cilantro, lemongrass, nam prik pao paste and chilies
  • Kaeng Leung: a hot yellow curry, most common meat used is fish. Other ingredients are winter melon, chilies, garlic, turmeric, lemon grass, shallots and shrimp paste
  • Poo Jaa: steamed crab with pork
  • Pad Ped Tua Fak Yao Moo: stir-fried long beans and pork with red curry paste
• Combination 4: for seafood lovers
  • Goong Pad Yod Ma Proaw: stir-fried prawns with heart of palm
  • Poo Kan Chiang Nueng: steamed crab sculls
  • Hoi Lai Pad Ped: stir-fried clams with Thai sweet basil (Bai Ho Ra Pha) and roasted chili paste
  • Hoi Nang Rom Sod: fresh oysters with chilies and garlic dipping sauce

Desserts

To end your meal, it is great to aim for the right dessert that will perfect the dinner. After a non-spicy or spicy main course, something light is always a good choice. Some may already have an idea for dessert, Khao Niaw Ma Muang (mango with sticky rice). For a romantic dinner, I personally would choose something else. This is because sticky rice can be a bit too heavy as a dessert choice. You can be too full to eat but feel you should eat. So I would go with something nice and cold like Thai coconut Ice cream with ground peanuts sprinkled on top. Just a scoop or two would be enough. My second choice would be "Nam Kang Sai." This dessert is a combination of 2-3 items of assorted fruits, beans or sticky rice with shaved ice on top.

As you choose your dishes, consider how the taste, color and presentation go together. In doing so, you might find ways to improve the combinations. For example, to get you started, it is generally better not to choose food all of one color, or all chicken dishes or all spicy dishes. Try to balance one dish with another and create a harmony of dishes. This can help give you different tastes of sweet, salty, sour, bitter or spicy, and make the experience all the more enjoyable. Take these recommendations and run with them! The best part comes from your familiarity with what you and your significant other like, so have fun customizing. Bon appetit and have a nice dinner!

Napatr Lindsley

Get authentic Thai recipes at http://thaicookinghouse.com/

The Principles of Feng Shui

Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of telling your destiny. The five elements of Feng Shui are Wood, Fire, Water, Earth and Metal. The elements are presided over by either the productive or destructive cycle. When the elements are productive, Water produces Wood which in turn produces Fire and the cycle carries on to generate Earth and then Metal, follow by Water and it replicates itself all over again.

When the elements are destructive, Wood will break up Earth, which goes on to soak up Water, douse Fire and goes on to dissolve Metal. The destructive cycle is the process of decay but it can be rejuvenated to make room for growth.

In addition to, you have the eight directions and how the elements are represented by various colors.

The color scheme of the five elements is as follow:

Wood = Green

Fire = Red

Water = Black or blue

Earth = Brown or Yellow

Metal = White, Gold, or Silver.

The significance of Feng Shui is harmony, which is to achieve Yin and Yang balance. Ying and Yang denote the negative and positive energy that exist in our atmosphere. The principles of Feng Shui can be applicable to the planning of our home, the workplace and every aspects of our life including your internet business.

Fundamentally, you will need the expertise of the Feng Shui practitioner to assist you to achieve harmony with the environment. Feng Shui has been known to perk up your health, love life or finances and if apply rightly, can lead to good health, flourishing love life and excellent financial health. To achieve the desired harmony, the elements and colors must match as in the practice of Feng Shui, it is essential that harmony and balance remain so as to enable the chi to be positive. The dominance of one element or color over another will lead to adversity.

Water corresponds to prosperity and wealth so it is crucial to enhance it in the region of your workplace or home. The Wood element represents all living plants and trees, so wealth and prosperity will thrive in the home if they are found ideally placed. On the other hand, the Earth energy is warm and comforting by inducing closeness and togetherness. In the case of Yang element, it is symbolizes by Metal.

Incorporating the principles of Feng Shui can lead to harmonious relationship with nature, people around you and other features of your life. Feng Shui is essentially a principle to accomplish balance and harmony with our surroundings.

Jason is a creator of several websites and he loves the study of Feng Shui as well as incorporates elements of Feng Shui principles in his life. You can access the website at http://www.applyingfengshui.com

Nailing Or Screwing Drywall

Nails versus screws who will become the winner. When drywall first came out the installers used everything from regular steel nails to galvanized roofing nails. After a short amount of time they started to develop major problems from nails popping out of the finished drywall.

Nail popping results when the nail is driven into moist lumber and as the lumber shrinks the house settles and nail can actually pop out to the walls. Hard to imagine the nail could actually pop out of the drywall as the wood was drying out.

How far the nail would actually pop out was determined by how far it was driven in to the framing studs or ceiling joists. Well pretty soon drywall installers started to use ring shank nails to eliminate this problem. This worked great but these nails were hard to drive in and would often break.

As time went on the nails improved and were made out of galvanized metal with cupped shaped heads and came in a few different sizes. The size of the nail used was determined by the thickness of the drywall. These new nails worked great and had good holding power and eliminated a lot of nail popping.

Using nails means driving them in with a hammer. If you miss the nail you damage the drywall. This seemed to be a big problem and was virtually eliminated with the screws.

Well pretty soon people started using screws which had greater holding power and pretty much nail popping. Another advantage to using screws over nails is the simple fact you need less screws than you do nails to attach the drywall to the metal or wood framing.

This means less labor installing and finishing the drywall.

There is one problem with the screws and that is they have to be set perfectly. They can not break the paper surface on the drywall but have to be set enough into the drywall so that it can be finished properly. Most screw guns have an adjustable setting used to get just the right depth for the screws installed in the drywall. But this also was a problem when screwing into a hard piece of wood you can actually snapped the screw head off, strip the screw head or break the screw.

Nails on the other hand can bend while driving them into a hard surface.

Who wins the nails versus screws while installing drywall? I have got to give it to the screws. That doesn't mean the nails just got screwed or the screws just got nailed.

I couldn't resist. I actually preferred the screws over the nails except for when nailing the drywall corner bead on. Some drywall professionals use nails to hang the drywall and go back with a screw gun and some screws to finish the job. The nails sometimes seem handier than the screws when installing the drywall.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more Building and Remodeling Library and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Visit us and get more information on building and remodeling your homes and Carlsbad Home Improvement

Are Christians Really Interested

Self Help For the Self Employed

So much for Mr. Key Executive and his forerunner, Mr. Young Executive. As employees of Corporation Americana, their occupations offer them a unique and negotiable source of estate building. Yet not everyone climbs a corporate ladder, nor has the opportunity or inclination to do so.

For those reasons we want to introduce another character into the drama, a professional woman who is nobody's employee. Her name is Ms. Doctor, the young physician who nets $80,000 a year from her new practice. She has no compensation package and no negotiated benefits, no company to give her any of these niceties. Where are the estate-building opportunities in her occupation? Who is going to help her?

This, in a nutshell, is the situation of some ten million citizens of this country-all the doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants, architects, engineers, writers, artists, and actors, other independent professionals, and along with them the independent businesspersons: the sole owners or partners of businesses, large or small, the entrepreneurs. These are the self-employed. They range from the actress who commands $100,000 for a single performance and the individual business owner who grosses a million per year, to the corner grocery store operator who nets only $35,000, or the writer who makes $60,000 in a good year, half of that in a bad one, and the Web page designer who has seen his business boom in the last few years, and expects it to keep on growing.

There are no ready-made pension plans, deferred compensation arrangements, or profit-sharing funds for them. They can put up to $3,000 a year into an IRA or $6,000 where there's a nonworking spouse and they file a joint return. (If neither of them participates in a qualified retirement plan they may make deductible IRA contributions. However, if they are active participants in a retirement plan, the $3,000 IRA deduction limit per person is phased out for single taxpayers with income over $45,000 in 2004; $50,000 in 2005 and thereafter. The phase-out income threshold for married taxpayers is $65,000 in 2004; $70,000 in 2005; $75,000 in 2006; $80,000 in 2007 and thereafter.) Unlike the rest of their fellow citizens, their occupations do not automatically provide them with substantial built-in tax shelters. They are compensated as well as or sometimes better than the corporate employee. But since all of this compensation is in the form of income, it is subject to tax.

The heart of their dilemma is in the very word that describes their economic situation: self-employed. Our tax laws were set up originally to benefit the employee, the person who works for someone else. Large though their numbers are, the self-employed used to be an economic anachronism in our economy.

Today there are a variety of opportunities for the self-employed to establish tax-favored savings plans for retirement. The fence that once separated the tax-sheltered employee from the nonsheltered self-employed person is no longer an issue. Over the years it has been opened more and more, until the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 gave the self-employed the opportunity to provide themselves with most of the same employee benefits that their corporate counterparts enjoy. Since then many changes in the tax law and many more retirement planning opportunities have been added.

"Self-help" is still the concept, however. More than large corporation employees, the self-employed have to take the initiative and put together their own compensation packages, and have to know about and utilize the various opportunities available to them for building funds for retirement and for building an estate.

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