Kinky Night In: On a Budget

The Frisky had an interesting article recently, Everything You Need For A Kinky Night In. We at YG10M love a shopping trip, but after I added up all of their S&M goodies, the $995 pricetag gave me a jolt. And not the good kind. So I headed off to my local 99 Cents Only store to see what I could find to kinkify your boudoir.

The one thing I knew they would have were the cosmetics. Red nail polish and red lip gloss. Simple, quick changes that can work wonders. Especially a glossy, red mouth!

My next item proved a bit harder. A black push-up bra. Their version was sexy and lacy, and $41, ours is more "sexy girlfriend." A cotton lace-edged tank with a sheer red thong. Which can totally work. Especially for $2.

Riding crop? For reals? Here's what I found for $1:

I know. Not the best. But slightly padded with rubber with a gorgeous rainbow wood stained handle. It's S&M-ie,...no? Well, it gets worse. This one involves crafting skills:

I thought maybe a little hot glue, a bit of leather...smack! Pleasure abounds! Okay, I'm reaching...

For our next accoutrement of pleasure, The Frisky mentions a nice silk rope as a restraint. I love a multi-tasker, and sparkles, so I give you:

After that, and this weird policy the 99 cent store had of setting the air conditioner at 99 degrees, I hightailed it to Target, (my first love), to fill in the rest. Just to recap so far:

The Frisky: $91

YG10M: $7

Now, Target was slightly more complicated, I had left the tougher items for them to fill in. We still need Christian Louboutins, a corset, a blindfold and handcuffs. Not exactly my everyday shopping list. I knew the beauty section would have some kind of face mask and it did not disappoint. This little guy was around $5:

The Louboutins could be thought of as impossible to find, but not with my pioneer spirit! And my deep, dark memory. I read somewhere that Martha Stewart has her assistant black sharpie the bottom of her red soled Louboutins. Inspiration! Black patent heels, on sale for $17.84. Sharpies:$5. Feeling sexy in your own shoes: Priceless.

After my coup with the shoes, I was nearly bubbling over with inspiration. And since I felt my riding crops were sort of,...ridiculous...I was happy to keep looking in the one place I knew I could find something. A place where sex toys and pet toys collide. And? It jingles!

Okay. So I would probably remove the bell. I don't want any Pavlovian reactions come Christmas time.

And last but not least, the corset. That one really got me. The only corset-esque item was a black girdle in the shapewear section. The kind that when shifted, rolls, exposing flesier-flesh than if you were naked. Yuck. So, I went with what I found at the 99 Cents Only store...wait for it...

Okay, so not exactly sexy. But confining, won't roll up on you. Could double as a restraint. Unisex color. (Although not exactly racially sensitive). It could work. What do you want for 99 cents?!

Sorry. Ahem...

That leaves us spending a grand total of $33 which is a savings of $962. That's the same as three cups of coffee a day! And now you get to feel sexy, have some fun and still afford college for your little guys.


*I know, I know, I forgot the handcuffs. Use the scarf!

Bookstore Bonanza

Dear readers, I did it. I went to a new bookstore (a big 2-story Borders), bravely sought out the naughty section, and even (gasp!) made a purchase.

It wasn't easy. I wandered around for quite a while before I found anything good. I didn't expect there to be giant SEXY BOOKS OVER HERE signs to point the way, but sheesh, there's gotta be a way to make the good stuff easy to find, yet not in full view of the coffee bar and children's section.

Anyway. Among my wanderings, I saw this book and the cover made me laugh. Fae lust? For realz?

Then I found the self-help books, which always seem like they should include some good stuff on sex, but never do. I mean come on, when you see Dr. Laura smiling out at you, you know it's not getting sexy in that section.

The hottest thing I found here was:

Puh-leeze.

But finally, upstairs in a back corner at the end of the literature section, I found it. Eureka! Two big fat cases full of sexy reads.

I thought it was funny that the official category here was Sex/Fertility/Contraception. There were ZERO books on fertility and contraception, and a LOT of books on Kama Sutra.

The erotica looked pretty good too. Quite a few Penthouse anthologies, which I'm assuming aren't really my taste, but lots of other books that looked intriguing. Has anyone ever tried the Sleeping Beauty books by Anne Rice?

I love love love this title (and it's totally cheap at Amazon):

But this was the book that finally tempted me to get out my wallet. Full color photos of good looking people engaging in literally hundreds of positions. At last, I've found what I was looking for:

My bookstore bill went over $70 in the end. Oops.

Then I came home, set up an Amazon store for this site, and discovered that all these books are MUCH cheaper on Amazon. So, lesson learned.

And, if you like any of our book, movie, martini, and "toy" recommendations, please consider making a purchase through our Amazon store. We'll get a pittance, which we'll plow back into this important work we're doing here. Thanks!

Erotic...ca

Seriously, try it. It's so much better now than it used to be. Here are a few reviews and tips on finding what you want:

I recently purchased Nancy Madore's Enchanted. I bought the digital version, which was delivered to my iPod instantly. (Have I mentioned the love I feel for instantaneousness?) The book is a collection of short erotic stories based on classic fairy tales, each focusing on a sexual fantasy or quirk. There's Bluebeard the sadomasochist, The Goose Girl-on-girl, and The Sheep in Wolves' clothes or the wife in hookers' clothes.

I think her books are excellent introductions into erotica, because you get a taste of what's out there and can more easily find what you like. She also has a collection entitled The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which tells a story about each of the princesses and the discontent they feel in their marriages. And how they remedy it. (A little bit harder for me as I don't enjoy stories about rocky marriages and balancing kids and husbands. I do that everyday).

Once I figured out what I wanted in erotic fiction, I needed to figure out how to find it. If I was gonna go to a bookstore, I want to spend as little time as possible standing with my two kids in front of a giant sign that reads "ADULT/EROTIC FICTION." So I found theeroticreader.com. The reviews are exactly what I want. Short, without giving away too much and without expounding on the merits of good vs. bad storytelling. I don't want to read a dissertation, I just want to know if my $6.99 is a good investment. They also divide their reviews into categories, like instant reads, or ebooks, and audiobooks.

Another review site, coffeetimeromance.com, lists book reviews by month reviewed. Some feature a little caution blurb which tells you what you're in for. Nice if you don't like something, or if you really, really do. Information is separate for each book, so you have to click on the review to see which format is available. It really needs some categorizing, because I don't have time to click on every book to see if I like it. But it's nice that someone did most of the work for me. Did I mention how lazy I am?

Are you a multitasker? Is holding a book too much trouble? In our next installment, Jen* will tell us all about erotic audiobooks.

Posted by Jen* and Kimberly*

Desperately Seeking Erotica

I'm in the market for erotica: stories about sex. And maybe something else: a book about positions and techniques, maybe with photos.

Yes, I can shop online. But sometimes it's nice to see in person what you're getting, plus if you pay for it in a store with cash, there's no record that you bought it. You don't have to worry about Amazon recommending More Porn!! for you every time you log in.

So I went to the Borders in my local mall, and was gratified to see a good-sized section clearly labeled EROTICA. Maybe too clearly. Even though there were some tempting tomes waiting on the shelves, I lost my courage and didn't linger. You see, this section was right on the end of an aisle, in full view of the kids' section (where there was storytime happening, for cripes sake) as well as the coffee bar.

I'm no shrinking violet, but I just couldn't bring myself to flip the pages of the luscious looking black and white erotic photography book...with the whole store watching.

So I talked Kimberly* and Stacy* into joining me at a local independent shop where I assumed we'd find a fabulous erotica section, and hoped it would be more discreetly located.

That's when the hunt began. We wandered all over that store for at least half an hour looking for the good stuff.

We found the Relationships section right off, and for a while it looked like that's all we'd find. It had a couple of books on sex that looked interesting, but they were more therapeutic than stimulating.


Obviously, they had a big fat Romance section. Nice, but not what we wanted this trip.


Somewhere along the way, Stacy* found this book and we didn't hear from her for a while. I think she got a few good pointers from it. Stacy*, do you recommend it?


Finally, Kimberly* took charge (as she so often does) and asked a clerk for help. He directed her to the Fiction Anthologies, and it took a bit more searching to find the very small erotica collection actually located under Essays & Criticism.


Finally! We found a few anthologies that looked pretty damn good, though it was disappointing that there were fewer than a dozen to choose from.


I may have to drag Kimberly* and Stacy* to Borders next so we can compare their offerings in more detail. Maybe start with a glass of wine so I won't mind the exposed location.

Safety in Numbers + Liquid Courage = Successful Hunt for Erotica? I sure hope so!