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Lately, I’ve been turning to herbal remedies for everything I can think of. It started with my struggle to get a good night’s rest—chamomile and peppermint worked wonders for me and my husband. I wish I had taken before-and-after pictures because, within two nights, my breakout was nearly gone with the help of the mighty patches. I know some people swear by lavender for its antibacterial and antifungal properties, but it doesn’t always agree with me when I drink it—though I absolutely love its scent. Chamomile + Nettle + Rose + Hibiscus How did I come to this combination? Karen M. Rose’s beautifully written and thoughtfully laid-out book, The Art & Practice of Spiritual Herbalism: Transform, Heal, and Remember with the Power of Plants and Ancestral Medicine, provided the perfect foundation. In her book, she recommends Burdock Root, Vitex, Chamomile, Mullein, and Echinacea for managing acne. I didn’t have Vitex or Echinacea on hand (though they’re now at the top of my herbal shoppi...

In addition to the flurry of life changes I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I also plunged our hands into the rich, nurturing soil of a new endeavor - a yearly garden. There's something profoundly therapeutic about connecting with the earth, planting seeds, and watching them burgeon into vibrant life over time. I'm currently working on a video that chronicles our agricultural journey this year, so stay tuned for that. Another delightful rediscovery from my hiatus has been my relationship with my flute. Its origin story in my life harks back to my childhood, a time when the desire to learn an instrument sprouted in my heart. After some deliberation, my parents agreed to my request, paving the way for the arrival of my beloved student flute. I recall seeing the payment receipts - sometimes $60, occasionally stretching to $90 - significant amounts back in 1994.  I cherished my flute and reveled in the joy of performing and participating in recitals. However, the lessons ...

Introducing Cordelia Moon: A Lawfully Evil Sailor Moon-inspired Sorcerer Prepare to venture into a world where Sailor Moon takes an unexpected turn. Meet Cordelia Moon, a noble sorcereress with a dark twist. Inspired by Sailor Moon, Cordelia embraces her own unique journey as a lawful evil character, adding an intriguing dynamic to the game. In the realm of character creation, Cordelia's path diverged from the lunar magic of the Sailor Moon universe. Instead, she developed her own arcane abilities, still harnessing impressive sorcery but in a distinct manner. Motivated by a hunger for power, Cordelia's actions and choices are driven by her pursuit of dominance. Cordelia presents a captivating visual presence, characterized by her ethereal aura and long, flowing blue hair. Departing from Sailor Moon's ideals, Cordelia opts for a firearms specialist class, adding an unexpected twist to her character. With guns and daggers as her weapons of choice, she embodies an anti-Sailor ...

Hello everyone, Currently, I find myself cozily nestled in the daybed of my little one. An infant no more, my darling daughter, now a spirited toddler, is embarking on the grand adventure of her second year of life. Our days together are filled with joyous exploration - sliding down the neighbor's slide, playing with bubbly froth, crafting vibrant stories on paper with her crayons, and even dabbling in a bit of painting. The beauty of her innocence is most apparent during our nightly ritual - a tussle with sleep that she insists must be a shared experience. As I lie next to her, watching her resist the call of slumber, I can't help but ponder a lingering question - why did I stop blogging? Reflecting on it now, it appears my blogging hiatus was a byproduct of my journey into motherhood. Navigating the transformative period of pregnancy, I was apprehensive, even superstitious, about sharing my experiences online. Despite the label of a "geriatric pregnancy" at 36, I wa...

I know.  I know.  There's only been two episodes and I'm already pretty annoyed with American Horror Story.  Here are some suggestions as to what I would do. 1. Two-hour premiere for the first night if things are going to be this slow.  Or back to back night premieres.  Yes, we've had two gruesome deaths but we're not sure what killed them or we're supposed to question ourselves as to who killed them. 2. Shorter seasons .  I'd be fine with a shorter season if it meant more action faster. I guess my millenial brain doesn't like the pace. So far Sarah Paulson is scared of stuff her wife doesn't see and Winter is a terrible baby sitter.  Yawn. This episode we pick up right where the last episode ended with Ally screaming.  Which is a good portion of the first episode.  And there's still no cult.  We knew who the Coven, the Freak Show, the Hotel, the Roanoke Nightmare, Asylum and Murder House were.  We knew where...

1. Who doesn't want to read an adventurous mystery novel about an African American detective set in the heart of Philadelphia? 2. Solve the case along with Detective Alexander Steele. 3. It's four hours long, you can listen to this adventure during your daily route to and from work. 4. Alexander Steele's friends are just as important to the story as he is.  Learn about how they all fit into his plans to solve his cases. 5. There's just one novel for the Alexander Steele Mysteries but a few short stories. Legacy of Death, Case of the Death Dealer, The Deadly Gamble, Death on the Delaware, Return of the Deadly Trio, and Case of the Deadly Ring. 6. Find out who Chameleon is and what is he up to? 7.  What new things is Sugar Bear into?  Will he hurt or help Alexander solve his case? 8. Who is the Philosopher? 9.  How does a flash drive get Alexander Steele onto the case? 10.  Will Alexander Steele take down the nefarious Chameleon?

Alexander Steele is a no-nonsense private detective located in the city of Philadelphia.  Follow him on his journeys. I completely copied this from the hard working people at at iReadBookTours: Blackout Join us for this spotlight tour from Sept 11 to 22, 2017! Book Details: Book Title : Blackout by Lawrence Johnson Sr. ​ Category :   Adult Fiction; 126 pages ​ Genre:   Mystery, Crime, Detective Publisher :  Self-published Release date : March 2011 Tour dates :  Sept 11 to 22, 2017 Content Rating :  PG Audiobook Details: Release Date:07-13-17 Publisher:  Lawrence Johnson Sr. Written by:  Lawrence Johnson Sr. Narrated by:  Alistair Dryburgh Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins Series:  Alexander Steele Mysteries , Book 1 Unabridged Audiobook Book Description: Alexander Steele is a private detective turned night club owner in the city of Philadelphia. Steele and his longtime girlfriend Shakia's plans ...

Fear the Walking Dead is back and everyone is just following Madison.  Except for Troy.  I've been watching Big Brother all summer so things are becoming a little blurred for me.  It feels like everyone has alliances and strategies to stay alive and win.  Or kind of like Game of Thrones, which alliance will win. Welcome to the Madison show, starring Madison the Magician!  Because how else do we explain everyone else just doing whatever she says? They're all idiots and the writers have things set up to look like Madison will win. Alicia is on Madison's side but she wants Jake to sit on the Iron Throne and run things.  Madison and Walker are really running things.  They seem to be the only adults there.   So far everyone has just been doing whatever Madison wants.  It's almost she has special powers of persuasion.  Madison says hey hand over the keys to Walker and Troy just does it.  There isn't really a reference of ...

I spend a good amount of time in YouTube.  I remember when it first started and I wish it didn't have commercials, I remember when it didn't have commercials and it's been so long ago I just can't believe what it looks like now.  I should, but I can't.  It's so commercialized, Charlie Brown warned us about these things. Anyway.  There are some Youtubbers I just wait for their next video to come up and I have my notifications turned on for them. 1.   Philip DeFranco . I remember Philip DeFranco during early youtube days, I thought he was interesting, cute, funny.  I usually found myself agreeing with a lot of the stuff that he was saying, not so much on his delivery and I didn't always agree with everything he said but it was new refreshing and like I said funny.  It was him and Shane Dawson videos that I used to watch and for whatever reason, I fell off from Shane and ended up keeping up with PhillyD. His "channel", because youtube di...

The fall shows are coming back I'm super over Big Brother which is the only summer show I'm watching right now so even though I dislike that winter is coming and Game of Thrones is over I'm looking forward to the fall shows. 1.  Mr. Robot.  The season 3 trailer was released a few weeks ago and I'm ready.  I'm ready for more twists I'm ready for the writers and producers to troll us some more.  I'm ready for what's next in this show that's steeped in 80s drama and yet it's Hackers meets mystery.  I'm a sucker for shows that have theories attached to them and the audience has to kinda work together to figure it out.  It doesn't matter if you're pro-choice or pro-life or think Brownie really did a heck of a job, we can all get together to try to figure out what's going on in a tv show.  I'm laughing as I write this but it's very true. 2. I am looking forward to American Horror Story very much so.  It's one of my...

This is one of my low key favorite movies.  I say low key because it was rough, rough around the edges, it may be more enjoyable as a short story.  But the fact that it was low budget was a plus in my opinion because it forces the cast and crew to be more creative and not go for the flashy-flashy.  You have you to be a master story teller to convey your vision with very little.  The story doesn't leave this one house which can come off as very hard do without making the story very stagnant. NOW, I will say there are some times where I think the story fell off for a little while but I think it was a story that had a clear middle and end and I like those kinds of stories. If you have read my earlier posts you'll know that I like stories that utilize the idea of multiverse theories.  That's why I liked Stranger Things SO much.  And it's also why I'm a little afraid of the Hadron Collider, but I digress. I think this movie was great because it wasn't...

I'm really wondering how much care is given to the viewer when they write these episodes. Judging by what I've seen on social media I might be in the minority of people who liked Roanoke Nightmare.  But here's my thing with the theme of this season.  I made it my mission to not fight with people on facebook about the election all the time, or anything really. So having a show centered around the theme of " not listening to one another as a nation " makes me feel like the show is using the anger from the election and the continued divide to get ratings. So the show is about the election.  And I know there's only been one episode and so far I ask myself, does it have to be? I don't see anything at all YET of where this show HAS to mention the last election cycle.  Right now that part feels like filler. I also didn't appreciate the false beginning of Twisty being back. It's episode one and Sarah Paulson makes me want her wife to leave her...

There's a bunch of shows I started.  I became really invested in them and for one reason or the other, I just stopped watching.  I loved Legion and Defenders so I've really been resisting rewatching those shows. The final season of Orphan Black aired.  I haven't seen any of this last season.  I forgot to put it in my dvr and I said to myself I don't want to watch this show weekly because it'll all be one cliffhanger each episode so now that all the episodes are up.  I may watch that this Labor Day Weekend.  The darkness of Orphan Black really reminded me of Max Headrom and Dark Angel so I was drawn to the show because of it.  And Animorphs don't ask me why but it makes me think of Animorphs.  But in this show I love it when they run into a new twin.  I first heard about this show on NPR and Tatiana Maslany is a genius. Another show that ran from 2013-2017 is Bates Motel. I have no idea of where I am with Bates Motel .  ...

I'm not going to do any youtube videos I don't want to face that kind of criticism but I will share what products I like for my natural hair.  I don't see very many videos that (to me) accurately discuss low porosity hair or "that hair" that isn't really discussed when we're talking about natural hair. It's frustrating when you're trying to find your voice and be heard and someone else takes over that sound of yours.  I know white women want to be heard when they're talking about "going natural" but this was a space carved out by black women to discuss their hair. I've seen women go to work like this, with their hair like this and no one says anything.  They say things like, "I just got out of the show and had no time to brush my hair" or whatever the case may be.  If this is your natural hair, great, good for you. But this is what my hair looks like when I step out of the shower and don't have time to ...

I had to wait until I got paid to give my money towards the Hurricane Harvey relief.  Once I'm doing financially better I will start placing my money in charities that are local, national and global.  I want to be able to give to three charities a month based on these parameters.  We'll see.  I'm trying to have a few things moving and shaking in my future. I donated to here and hopefully, all the money raised will help repair Houston and it's outside smaller cities faster than expected. This is the only way I could directly donate.  I went to the Amazon shop bought something and it will make it to the hands of someone in need.  It wasn't just money floating somewhere out there and I hope it makes it to whoever needs it.     

I couldn't get past the second episode of Iron Fist at first. But then I watched the Defenders and I thought, well maybe I should go back and try again.  And for whatever reason, it was easier to watch.  It doesn't help that all I know about the Iron Fist is that he's rich and Luke Cage's friend.  I grew up in the 90s and couldn't really afford comics like that so after I graduated high school I pretty much sat through Wikipedia and read a lot about the comics I couldn't buy haha. Iron Fist wasn't one of them.  I read about X-Men, Luke Cage, Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, Superman, Wonder Woman, ect.  So when I started to watch Jessica Jones, I really didn't know anything except she gets with Luke Cage and I didn't know a whole lot about her but I liked her and liked the series. But Watching Iron Fist I just feel like they took it too far with him being taken away when he was a child.  We get it, you know, he was a boy  when he was taken away his...

Out of all of the side characters, in my opinion, she's the worst. She literally killed a guy, shot him, murdered him in cold blood okay?  So, this is what I think about whenever she opens her whiny mouth to say something to Matt. Am I the only one who is bothered by her? "Matt, don't."  "Matt please." "Matt you don't have to do this." Listen, woman.  No one else in any of the other shows does this.  She's in the way. And that's pretty much the extent of their relationship now.  Karen telling Matt to do things and Matt not listening. I don't know what value or drama we're supposed to get from their relationship.  I just wanted him and Foggy to make up again.  I think that friendship was real, it's solid.  I'm usually against the whole ditch the chick for bros mentality.  But Karen is not the real friend she thinks she is. Friendships like Foggy and Matt, Tish and Jessica, Jessica and Luke, even Hogarth!  Ca...