Tuesday Beat: Luther Vandross - If Only For One Night / Jesse Powell - You

February is for the lovers so enjoy double plays of Old School and New School love songs




Bonus Donell Jones - I Wanna Love You

Stretching that dollar

Namaste... I'm feeling zenish so why not spread it around.

For the unemployed, partially employed, mostly employed, fully employed and over employed the economy has not been too kind. I'm now partially employed so every month I have to make sure that my dollar is all that it can be.

My sister introduced me to several sites that have all sorts of dollar saving ideas be it repurposing items or cooking a little differently. I've tried out some of the ideas and am happy to report that I have begun to make a dollar out of fifty cents. Check out the following:

Pinterest - Very popular with great ideas for crafts, household goods, you name it it's probably there. We needed storage baskets and I was not about to shell out boku bucks for one of these. Boxes were turned into storage baskets by covering them with a sheet from the thrift store. The liner was made from a contrasting sheet.Total cost $2 for 2 "baskets" and it took 30 mins most of which were spent waiting for the glue to dry. [boxes were taken from our local recycling place]

Duitang - Pinterest Chinese style. You'll need to have google translate enabled for this one but it is just as good if not better. I have learnt how to build a bookshelf out of boxes and am happy to report that my niece has some très chic and sturdy bookshelves. [duct tape -multiple colors- adds to the look if you have it lying around else glue away].

Instructables - This is geek territory mostly but the recipes scattered throughout are awesome. I've learnt how to make a case for my laptop [pictured above] in 20 mins and for $12 [including the custom embroidery of my name on flap]. I took it to the next level by making it two tone and it can be used as a carrying case sans laptop.

Tried cooking / prepping all meals for the week on one day? Here are some crock pot recipes from Mama and Baby Love.

Tired of buying expensive laundry detergent? Try this recipe from One Good Thing.

Microwave popcorn anyone? Try this low cost, preservative free alternative -- LUV IT!.

Coupons, coupons, coupons. There is no shame in couponing. I do not do any extreme couponing, but I can vouch for the doubling and in store savings. I have gone to a store with $20 and come out with cough syrup for kids [stuff costs 8 bucks a pop], Theraflu, a box of 96 diapers, 4-12 packs of Pepsi, Pringles, a bottle of Irish Mist and a free pack of batteries. Took me 15 mins to check out as I bought one item [double coupon], then used its in store rebate to buy the next and so forth. Also price matching is a godsend. It's all about strategy!

May the value of every dollar that you spend be doubled. Go forth and save!

O and a belated Happy Birthday to SweetT!

Tuesday Beat: Jabu Khanyile Bayete - Umkhaya Lo

Song after my own heart.

Saturday already?

Greetings me hearties! The weekend started well for ya? Hungover? Happy from a lil morning tumble [ye who speak British English know what I mean]?

Today it's the usual rambling to help me get back into the groove of blogging. I took an extended sabbatical to make some paper & now things have finally slowed down enough to for me to pick up this lil hobby of mine again. Alrighty then ...

Umm let's see. I am still unspoken for. No rush on that front as I haven't met anyone who has made me pause in quite a while. Where the heck are intelligent, spiritual women hiding these days? I've discovered that working vampire hours isn't exactly conducive to mingling.

I now have a 2 year old [she just turned 2] in my life who talks non stop and I do mean non stop. Not even toddler garbled shit. I mean we are talking talking complete with "No way auntie". She still refers to herself in the third person but you know what, she can tell you wtf happened when she comes crying and that makes troubleshooting much much easier.

Moving on ... To those that do not read Black n Bougie, I really think you need to. It is one of the most entertaining and informative blogs out there so get to clicking. Relationship advice - check. Employment advice - check. An opinionated readership - double check. The comments in and of themselves are worth the click.

There is a new blogger on the (i)qwoc circuit [queer women of color (international / immigrant part optional)]. She blogs as The struggle within me. She is feeling her way around round this here queer thing so please click on over.

O and shoutout to my Ukranian reader who reached out to me via twitter.

Peace, Love, and Happiness.

Thursday Beat: Jessie J - Stand Up

Back to regularly scheduled programming. Blogging regularly should also resume shortly...

And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars 

So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last