What a lucky find! I was walking down the street about a mile away from my house when I saw this solid wood bookcase dumped outside someone's home. I liked it immediately and I saw potential but I was on my own and it was large so I decided to leave it. A minute down the road I thought, no way man, that baby's coming home with me! I walked back up, knocked on the door and asked if they were throwing it away. The lady said yes so I took the shelves, as that's all I could carry and walked home to ask my hubby to come and help me collect it. Luckily, it fit in the car. I decided to paint the book case white and the legs Farrow and Ball's Parma Gray. It took two coats of primer and two coats of white wood paint to get the bookcase as white as I wanted it to be. When I was done painting I thought it looked a little boring. It needed some life so I thought I would wallpaper the sides fully but the Cath Kidston wallpaper I wanted was £25 ($40); I wasn't prepared to spend that kind of money on a full roll of wallpaper that was mostly going to be binned. I started trawling through eBay to find other people's left over wallpaper and stumbled upon an eBayer who had already cut flowers off Cath Kidston wall paper and sold the pieces to people like me that wanted to decorate furnitures. She cuts around the flower in a circle and leaves it to the buyer to cut neatly around each flower and leaf. So, that's what I did. Cutting around the flowers took a fair amount of time, maybe two hours because I wanted it done neatly. Then, using wall paper paste, I stuck the flowers onto the bookcase. If you want similar wall paper pieces just search "wall paper decoupage" on eBay. A pack currently costs £6.60 ($10) including postage. To be totally honest, I wasn't sure if I would like the outcome but once it was done I loved it. It's probably my favourite piece in the house because it took so much love, creativity and effort. I share a tonne of savings tips in Build Super Savings:
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I am shirking work, yes! Stumbled upon this video on English accents. Reminds one that even within the US and the UK accents vary. There is no correct one. Views as at 1 July 2013: 16,037,360 This is the second take. I prefer the first because it was more "real". Videos that go viral unexpectedly usually are. It's good too though. Views as at 1 July 2013: 877,191
I don't know where it's suddenly come from but I am beginning to love upcycling. In addition to saving a tonne of money you also end up having very unique pieces of furniture in your home. I'll do a video later on showing where exactly we choose to put these chairs but for now, see how I created this awesome look. Obviously the fabric you like and choose is personal to you. I got this shabby chic patchwork cloth from Rolls & Rems in Lewisham, London. They have a huge collection of awesome fabrics. I bought the victorian chairs from an antique shop in Birmingham for just £36 ($55) for the two. Tried to get it down to £35 but the shopkeeper was not having it!
Some people have naturally great, photogenic skin. I'm not one of them! This week I received several inquiries about how I maintain good skin so I decided to create a video. In my teens and early 20s I used to get pimples all the time but now I rarely do and I think it's because I have a good skin routine. When I stop doing these things my skin starts to flare up, so here's what I do: 1. I drink eight 250 ml glasses of water daily. This does not include coffees, teas, juices. If I drink a herbal (i.e. non-caffeinated tea) without any sugar, e.g. a peppermint tea I will include in my water count but anything else does not count. All my water is drunk at specific times:
2. I jog I have no idea how this works but when I stop exercising my face starts to look less good. 3. I wash my face twice daily I do this almost without fail. It's easy enough because I also shower twice a day. Sleeping with makeup is an absolute no-no. 4. I rinse my face off with cold water after washing my face This is a must to close the pores. I even do it in winter. 5. I do not wipe my face with a face cloth I stopped doing this over ten years ago. Face cloths harbor so much dirt. 6. I use Dr Miracle's It Formula for my face I have been using them for about 3 years now and I think they are very good. The system consists of a facewash, toner and a cream. None of them smell good but they work! The pack lasts about 6 weeks. 7. I use Maybelline Dream Matte Mouse Foundation - Cocoa This foundation looks so good on me that about 10 other people started using it because of me including my mother, two sisters and cousins. 8. I should exfoliate weekly but I don't! Because I am doing everything else correctly skipping this one thing does not appear to be too problematic for me. When I do exfoliate I love St Ives' scrubs. They are very good and they smell great.
5/5 Intense. That's the only way to describe it. Fantastic acting; I loved Macy Gray although her scene was very short; a lot of the poetry went right over my head so I'm going to look it up because it was all really deep. When Thandie Newton's sister in the film was about to have the abortion that's when I first felt my blood pressure rising, I was glad they didn't show any of the abortion but my relief was very short-lived. The rape scene had my blood boiling. It was so unexpected. The guy came on as such a gentleman, he planned the perfect rape: dinner first, then he gets the girl to invite him over to her house and then he does it! I was in shock but it's "the scene with the kids" that had my heart in my throat. Unspeakable. I didn't cry but I definitely felt very emotional throughout the film. And in the scene when Janet Jackson breaks up with her husband, I just knew, I knew what was coming because that whole scenario was my sister's undergrad dissertation topic. Then the plot line of molestation at the hands of a grandfather?! That was too much. How so much drama was packed into a single film...the film doesn't really focus on race, it's more about sisterhood, the burdens we all bear and sticking together. Race played a part in every story but it was very subtly played out. I don't know why it took me so long to watch this great film - I've always liked Tyler Perry and I want to watch more of his films - more, more, more. A definite must-watch! You can watch it for free on YouTube!
Okay girls, I talk about this in Build a Booming Business but I thought I would write a brief blog about it too:
I've seen quite a few websites out there with footers clearly showing that the website is free. You may think that this doesn't matter, "at least you have a website", BUT it does matter, it matters a lot! If a potential customer comes to your website and it is blatantly free their initial thoughts are:
Especially if you are selling products you cannot have a site that is conspicuously free! It says too many negative things about the business. Your customers don't want to buy from a hobbyist, they want to buy from a passionate business owner that knows a lot about their business. They want to buy from someone that makes an effort and will respond to them quickly when they have an issue. Furthermore, with so much internet fraud going on nowadays people want to work with businesses that they can trust. Whether you like it or not, a free website doesn't not instill confidence in potential customers. A free service is not only limiting but it also kills potential business. I have been building my own websites since 2007. I used to build sites from scratch but now I make my life easier by using a drag and drop web builder called "weebly". You don't need any coding skill whatsoever and you can build beautiful websites with weebly in hours. I curently run over 1o websites using weebly's easy drag and drop tool.
Was it expensive?
No. I paid $78 for two years and the ability to build 10 websites. For most people 10 websites is enough but I paid a one-off fee of just $50 to increase my access to 15 sites. If you're running a free website or plan on starting a business, do yourself a favour and use weebly! It's one of teh best business decisions you could ever make! Examples of websites I've built with weebly include this one, girlbanker.com, fatcreep.com, exampleresume4u.com, UncleCanCook.com and katsonga.com.
I'll admit it, old age poverty is one of my greatest fears. I will work against it at all cost. It turns out, I'm not the only one. According to a UK survey, almost a third of people, 31%, aged 45 to 54 cite a lack of cash in their 70s and 80s as their top worry. This is followed by a loss of independence (26%) and dementia (23%). I don't think about old age poverty very often but it's there at the back of my mind; I only think about it when I'm at the supermarket and I see someone who is well past it mopping the floors or swiping purchases. So what about being old and poor scares me?
We would combine our money and live in a big house together with a couple of qualified nurses helping us take care of ourselves. With this arrangement if someone's partner moved on to the next life we would still have each other for company. I've never thought about this co-op way of living before but thinking about it now feels good. I'll run it by my friends. What are you doing to stave poverty when you're old?
Most people enter into a mortgage and as soon as the docs are signed and sealed they forget about it. Some don’t even remember when it matures or what the rate is. At the point of renewal their broker or mortgage lender shows them a price and they think, that looks alright, and roll over for another two or three years. You could be throwing away a lot of cash if this is you! I used a mortgage broker the first time that I ever entered into a mortgage but I know the market so well now that I am my own broker. I prefer to shop for my own rates. Here are three simple things that could help you save a bucket load: 1. Set a reminder As soon as you secure a mortgage, if there is a chance of you forgetting when it matures set a reminder on your phone or computer. An alert two to three months before the mortgage matures is ideal. If it doesn't mature for 10 years or more, set a reminder to shop around for a new mortgage deal in 2 or 3 years' time. 2. Call your lender to quote you a new rate two or three months before maturity, then shop around for better! I was on a deal of 3.26% for two years at which point my mortgage reverted to the lender’s “standard variable rate” (SVR). Assuming an interest-only mortgage of £250,000, that’s about £15,990 over two years. When I called to ask for a new fixed rate, I was quoted a 2-year fixed rate of 3.39% plus a fee of £500. Assuming an interest-only mortgage of £250,000, that’s about £16,630 before the fee. I thought this sounded okay and frankly I felt too lazy to shop around. I called my husband to confirm that I was going to confirm the rate and as he trusts me he said fine and “have you looked anywhere else for a better deal?” I hadn’t and although I didn’t feel like it I decided to do a quick, half-hearted search just to say I had. Within 15 minutes I saw a 2-year fixed rate deal at 3.09% with a fee of £1,000. Some quick maths told me that this deal would amount to a saving of just under £1,000 over a two year period. 3. Call your mortgage lender and bargain The reason you call is because actually changing lenders is a bit of a hassle; a new lender will have to do a full due diligence on you whereas the existing lender already knows you, so if you can get the same deal where you are there will be far less work involved for you. I called up my lender and told them the deal I had found. I was happy to pay the £1,000 fee for the saving of 0.30%. Being a reliable payer, my lender matched the rate of 3.09% and kept their fee at £500. Result! Over the two year term that was a saving of about £1,500: enough to fund a brand spanking new iMac. I certainly wouldn’t sniff at that. Two months after I had secured this deal news broke that mortgage rates were going up across the UK economy…I was more than a little glad that I hadn’t waited until mortgage maturity to act!
Personally, I don't think Rihanna is showing too much flesh in this picture. If my booty was that toned it would also be out and about regularly. The image amuses and entertains me. The fact that she got back with Chris Brown? Well the way I see it, she's a grown woman and she knew 100% what she was getting into. People get quite heated about Rihanna and her antics but Rihanna has clearly expressed that she doesn't try to be anyone's role model, she's out having fun and being true to herself. I respect that. That said, young girls do look up to, admire and emulate her so I'm cool with her acting crazy but only to a certain extent. If she took pictures of herself taking a class A drug and posted them to Twitter, I wouldn't be impressed. The pictures she took of herself smoking a spliff a while back are borderline, I would like to hope that any kids I had would be smart enough to know that's stupid. What do you think? Let's let Riri have her fun or "get it together, girl!"?
Rating: 5/5 Before you ask, no, I didn't cry - I'm made of very stern stuff but the film does tug at your heart right from the start. This film was very well acted. It didn't feel like a typical musical because I could hear practically everything. I usually have trouble hearing in a musical. I would have liked to see more of what life in a 19th century French prison was like. That might have made me cry. The fact that the man was sent to jail for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread is just a sign of how horrible those times were. That said, I think some American states may be going silly with their laws too: North Carolina is planning on sentencing women that expose their breasts in public to prison for six months - apparently this won't affect breast feeding. Federal law might start giving people maximum sentences of 5 years for unlocking their own mobile phones; don't worry though you might get away with the alternative $500,000 fine! Anyway, I digress. I hated Russell Crowe's character. I simply don't understand people who put the law above common sense. Anne Hathaway was excellent although she didn't act in most of the film. These were awful times for poor women; she went from striking beauty to a hairless, prostitute with teeth missing in hours. It was very unpleasant to watch, especially as she was forced into all those things. Though a much smaller role I also like Éponine, the only actress from the actual musical that made it into the film. I thought she was called Ebony until two minutes ago when I checked!! There is so much more I could say about the film, all I'm going to say is watch it!
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By Heather Katsonga-WoodwardI'm always thinking, debating, considering and revising my views - some of those deliberations will be shared right here. |