http://pianogeek.today.com Surviving the Not So Great Recession with Humor Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I just found out that I am a TopMomma today.  I don't always feel that way and feel more like I'm Trying-to-stay-ahead-of-the-curve-Momma or If-I-have-to-pick-up-one-more-thing-I-am-going-to-lose-my-mind Momma .  You can give me a vote by clicking here, which will bring you right back here, but I want you to come back anyway.  ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/30/im-a-topmomma/ Sunday we decided to go out for breakfast.   Before we left, I looked over my cache of  coupons in the cubbyhole (my dad's name for glove box) in the car to decide where we were going to eat. I would predict I save 100's of dollars a year doing this. ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/29/the-coupon-challenge/ For those who have stopped by to read about being frugal, you can skip down to the next story about Payless Shoes.  I really enjoyed watching the space shuttle land today and had to take a moment to write about it. I am a true geek.  Technology gets me excited.  I ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/28/now-this-is-reality-tv/ When I was a kid, I had special shoes for my flat feet.  A very boring fact, but true.  My parents didn't have the liberty of buying regular shoes for me and they would put out about $12.00 for these special shoes to help my feet. Fast forward to today.  I ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/27/payless-is-really-paythesame/ Every Tuesday, my mom and I have breakfast and then we go thrift store shopping.  Her house is probably loaded with way too many porcelain cats because of it and mine is loaded with way too much costume jewelry, but we wouldn't give up our thrift store shopping for anything. As ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/24/if-this-is-a-thrift-store-it-must-be-tuesday/ Yesterday was my son's birthday party.  He had passed out invitations to the party and I had put RSVP on them. I was surprised over the week how many phone calls I got from people saying they couldn't come.  Previous plans seemed to be the reason, although I wondered if ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/22/why-are-kids-not-going-to-birthday-parties/ This morning I was thinking about the difference between frugal and cheap.  I have my own opinion.  I think Frugal is when you save change and roll it up and take it to the bank,  cut coupons and make things from scratch, but cheap is pretending you forgot to bring ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/20/frugal-or-cheap/ http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/19/handbook-of-niche-marketing/    You probably already have figured out that the hardest part about generating money from your website or blog is getting people to come back to it after they find it.  It's important to provide something that will keep them coming back, whether it's unusual merchandise they can't find anywhere ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/19/niche-blogging/ I was caught off guard today.  Last week I found out from a friend who writes for the Enquirer, about a website that she was writing for.  I wanted to see if I could write for them, too, so I shot off a short email.  I got an immediate response ... http://pianogeek.today.com/2009/03/15/this-is-my-resume-this-is-my-resume-on-the-internetany-questions/