a woman’s prerogative

… prerogtive. Just doesn’t look right does it. I always thought it was perogative. Well, that’s what I’ve been saying for as long as I can remember. Which isn’t that long in my world. My husband insists that I have the memory span of a fish. LOL! I am hopelessly forgetful these days but I’ll blame that on the kids

Okay, so I’m thinking of heading back to blogger. Purely for all the little extra’s that I get to add to my blog. Yes, yes. How very materialistic of me, but I like widgets and Amarinda has a wizz-bang little clock that I like I’d also like to be able to play my slideshows of the covers I’ve done. Can’t do that here at WordPress. Well, perhaps I possibly could if I paid the money to upgrade, but I’m not ready to do that quite yet.

You know I came to WordPress from Blogger because I found Blogger ‘hard’ to understand. Mind you I was very new to the whole CSS/Blogging thing. Now I’m beginning to think that I may have jumped ship a bit too early. So just be warned. I’ll post a notice if I do switch back.

Worth the Risk

Phew! Another cover has been released in the ‘Coming Soon’ section at TEB. I was beginning to get antsy as I had nothing really worthy to blog about. Well, other than the mundane grievances of life LOL!

Worth the Risk by Jamie Hill is the second book in the Unexpected Love series.

I tried to keep the same ’style’ to the covers and think I managed it pretty well. Took a while to find the right mix of models and I particularly like the woman and was quite determined to use her. Very straight forward . Not too much blending or adjusting.

Just ordered myself a couple of books online – Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris. Yeah, it’s taken me a long time to get around to reading CH. It seems it’s a must that everyone who loves Vampire books will have read this series. My interest was piqued by the fact that there’s a new TV series coming that’s being based on these novels called ‘True Blood‘ . Yay! Another vampire show with an Aussie, Ryan Kwanten amongst the leading characters Mind you we’ll probably only be teased with the first few episodes and then the network will just stop airing it without a ‘don’t mind us’. And yes, I’m still ticked off about Moonlight!

I’d love to see Sherrilyn Kenyon or JR Wards series on the TV but that may be pushing the friendship a bit.

Happy Easter

First things first … HAPPY EASTER!! (yes I’m a bit late for the Aussies)

 

Just whipped this up because I couldn’t find a suitable image on google LOL!

Oh, and get a load of this!!! The Belgian chocolate made the chocolate egg with at least 50.000 bars.The egg measured 8.32m high.Twenty-six craftsman worked altogether 525 hours to build the easter egg. They needed 1950 kg of chocolate.Alderman Urbain Vercauteren of the city of St.Niklaas said the egg wasn’t meant to be eaten.He said: “After a week outside in all weather conditions, I don’t think it would be very tasteful.”

So, now that we’ve indulged ourselves, I can tell you that not much happening in my small part of the world.  I’ve done my covers for the month but they’re just taking their time being released. I’ll post them here as soon as they’re released over at TEB.

School Holidays are looming in a few weeks. Don’t know how I’m going to entertain the kiddies. Luckily my son will still be attending Preschool for his 3 days a week. The idea crossed my mind to head off to Sydney for a week, but it’s such an upheaval with all the packing and the 5+ hour drive down there. It’s hard when it’s just me in the car as my son still get’s a bit car sick. Although he is quicker to grab the ‘chuck bucket’ these days.

So I might take my daughter horse riding and shopping. Maybe we’ll visit the movies and she’s been mentioning Ice Skating but I’m not sure how my old bones would hold up to that LOL!

Speaking of my daughter, she had a sleepover at her cousin’s last night so I’d better head over and pick her up before she wears out her welcome. Oh, and I must drop in and apologise to my neighbour as I forgot to set my alarm this morning (6am) for our morning walk. It was nice to sleep in though

Just another day ..

Not a lot happening in this neck of the woods. I took my 3yo son to the hospital the other morning as he’d been bleeding from the ear over night. He’s been suffering from Glue-Ear, which is a build up of fluid in the ear which puts pressure on the eardrum. Well, it appears that he’s either stuck something in his ear or the ear-drum has burst. I’d say he stuck something in his ear because he was sick of waiting for the Dr’s to do something about it.

He’s been on a 3 week course of antibiotics and an endless stream of ear drops. All which seem to be doing nothing. Oh and then there was the ‘try to get him to blow air into his ear canals’. You know, when you hold your nose and blow to make your ears pop and crackle. Well, how do you explain to a 3yo how to do this? As you can guess, I’ve had no luck so he decided to do something he did understand and stuck something in his ear to relieve the pressure.

Anyway, so we’ve been given MORE antibiotics and MORE ear drops. Yes the Chemist loves us.

I also noticed that gone are the days when during your visit to the Dr’s or emergency department the nurse cleaned you up before sending you on your way. We came home with the crusty, bloody ear that we went in with. I’m sure that would have never been allowed in my mum’s day (she was a nurse). Even in the days when I was a kid. You can’t deny that it’s comforting to have someone who knows what they’re doing patching you up. Then again. Maybe it’s just me.

SO. I’ve been avidly watching So You Think You Can Dance – Australia. I love these reality shows. Idol, Dancing with the Stars and now So You Think You Can Dance. I love to test my knowledgeable taste against the rest of Australia LOL! Not that I know much about singing and dancing. But I do know what I like and what I don’t and what I do like is RHYS BOBRIDGE! Go Rhys!

Check out Rhys and Jemma’s Waltz

I must say that I’m quite taken with our young Rhys. Usually it’s the woman that catches your eye in the dancing but I barely even notice she’s there. Also for those SAHM in Australia you may also recognise him as ELF from The Fairies TV Show and if any Melbourne Drag Queens just happen to stumble across his blog (yeah, right ) then our young Rhys is none other than ze bootiful, Regime!! Oh, and he is a make-up artist too! Talk about versatile! I do wish he’d do something else with his hair though. He’s got a real Hitler thing going LOL.

Anyway, I thought I share my favourite performances this week:

Henry & Vanessa

Kate & Graeme

Rhys & Jemma

The show’s on again tonight so I’ll be plastered to the lounge from 7:30pm. Much to hubbys disgust. He’s missing out on Grey’s Anatomy LOL.

Mistress Mine

Righto!! Back from the hangover from hell. Funny how the post with the least words, got the most comments LOL! Anyway, nothing to be proud of I know, so we’ll move on shall we

Here’s the latest cover to be released over at TEB.

Mistress Mine by Lyn Cash is the first book in the Kinky Cruising Series. It was an odd combination – a cowboy, a dominatrix and cruise ship and because of this I wanted to try to get all elements in the cover. I did muck around for a while, trying different things but this combination seemed to work the best. I added the leather cuffs to the woman and hair to the guy, removed some tatts. Oh, I also gave him a shave LOL! Something I haven’t done before but apart from that it was all pretty straight forward.

..

hangover.

Help with iTunes

Okay. I need some help. I’m still only new to the iTunes world. I don’t even own an iPod, but that’s another story. Thing is. I want to purchase a couple of songs: Let it Go by Fauxliage and Aurora by Lapush. Unfortunately they’re not available on the Australian iTunes site. From what I can see they’re only available on the American site (possibly the UK site but I haven’t checked).

Anyway, to purchase from a US iTunes store I require a US mailing address and/or US credit card. Of course I don’t want either. I just want the music. I guess I could always go and purchase the CD’s – providing they’re available in AUS. But I don’t want to do that. I just want one song off each album.

Does anyone know a way around this? OR Is anyone who lives in the US able to purchase the song for me (I’ll pay you via paypal) and then tell me how on earth I download it to my computer? LOL!

Thanks in advance!!

Upgrade! & Wishlist for 2008

Yippee!! My computer has more RAM. Don’t ask me how much more. I don’t know. But it has more!!! I haven’t taken him for much of a test drive just yet. I’m still checking out messages & blogs since he’s been at the ’shop’. But I can’t wait to get into Photoshop and see if there is much difference in speed.

I always wondered how the artists over at DA were able to have photoshop, email, music and numerous other ‘things’ open all at once without their computer having a major meltdown. And why I would have trouble just running photoshop and Outlook! It cost me $100 so there better be a noticeable difference.

Anyway, this year I am going to try to upgrade my workstation. My printer and scanner no longer work. Well, they work but they’re no longer compatible with the computer. I would like to get a colour laser printer/scanner. Possibly even a fax although it’s not on my high list of priorities.

I believe that a new cordless keyboard & mouse is on it’s way for my birthday (YAY!!) My old one still works but it is getting a bit grotty. Needs a clean Anyway, I prefer the ergonomic keyboards. I know. I’m strange, but I really do find them much easier on my wrists.

Then I need to upgrade and get myself Photoshop CS3, Illustrator and InDesign. My student status should get me that at a reasonable price. I just hope that the student versions aren’t missing anything important. Something I’ll need to look into first.

And last but not least. A camera. My little pocket rocket is about to give up the ghost. I’ve noticed that the focus is off in the bottom left corner and sometimes it just won’t focus at all. I’ve tried cleaning the lense but I think it’s something internal. Geez, it only cost me $150 so I guess it’s done it’s job. So for the next camera, I’m thinking a Canon EOS 450 or equivalent. I’ll need to look into it a little more. There is mention of hubby possibly heading over to Hong Kong later in the year, so I need to get my butt into gear and start putting some money aside so he can get it for me Duty Free. The goal for having this fancy schmancy camera is to eventually learn how to take my OWN stock photos. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get daring enough to hire a couple of models *OMG!!* Unfortunately me and mine aren’t ‘Cover’ model material Then again, I am a photo manipulator for crying out loud LOL.

Yes, I know this post makes me sound like I’ve got money to spend. I don’t. I wish I did LOL. But if I want to continue down this road as a Cover Artist, I really need to step up to the plate.

So what’s on your Wishlist for 2008?

Shameless plug

I got an email from my good friend Kate, today. It’s been a good 12 months since we’ve spoken. Oh, we’ve traded Christmas cards and the like but unfortunately life has us both firmly in it’s grasp. It’s sad when you just never quite get around to picking up the phone and giving someone a call isn’t it. I’m terrible for that kind of thing but I get all nervous when it comes to making phone calls. I have absolutely no idea why.

Anyway, Kate’s email proudly announced a new business venture. It started with an invention her hubby came up with for their wayward dog Dave (or ‘Strewth’ as I seem to recall him being named in his early days) and it’s called the Walk-Me Slip Harness. They now have their own website and are taking orders. I’m not sure if they’ve had international sales, but I guess there is always a first? So if anyone has troubles walking their dog get onto this product ’cause it really does work!

I was also sadly advised that Dave had recently passed away. No doubt he’s up in heaven, running rings around his old mates, Nugget and Kelly. Cheers old fella!

Now on a lighter note … in all my boredom (yes, I’ll do anything to avoid housework) I decided to create a mock-promo of a sequel to Dakota’s ‘Sweet Dreams’. Those of us who frequent her blog will possibly recall a comment in a recent review, touching on the topic of ‘Wet Dreams’. Well. Of course I couldn’t resist, so in honour of Dakota’s fantastic book, here is a mock-promo (meaning totally PRETEND! that is of course unless she decides otherwise *wink-wink, nudge-nudge*) advertising the next book in her ‘Dreams’ series

**Again, Dakota has NOT written this book. There is no series at this stage. It is a fabrication and has totally stemmed from recent comments on her blog.**

Enjoy m’dear and congratulations on a fantastic review!!!

All things cowboyish

Ugh! I just got a message back regarding my most recent cover. It seems that the hero in the book was actually a Native American with long hair and not just a ‘cowboy’ as stated on the form. Of course I had a ‘cowboy’ with short hair and facial stubble. Sheesh! I’m not a mind reader. We fill out a form for a reason folks! So now I’m off to hunt down a replacement *grumble, grumble*

Hopefully it won’t take too long to find something suitable. Not that there’s a lot of American Indian stock available out there .. which means I’ll have to add long hair to a ‘cowboy’. I’m not good with hair. Anyway, I guess it’s not the end of the world.

And since we’re on the topic of all things ‘cowboyish’ (ooh look, there’s a word for you AJ!) my 6yo daughter had her first riding lesson yesterday. Well. The word ‘Lesson’ might be stretching it! From what I could see it’s learn as you go LOL! They just plonked them on these horses and then headed off into the bush on a trail ride for 2 hours! Cripes!! I almost died of a heart attack. There were no leads or anything … just a long line of terrified little girls with big, buggy eyes LOL!

I think I needed a stiff drink as I watched them disappear into the sunset. My daughter is a little on the timid side when it comes to new things. I’m surprised she pulled herself together to even get on the horse, let alone be left to their own devices. She found herself on a showy little Palomino called Kahlua (aptly named as I could have done with a few myself!). There she is in the picture. LOL! Look at her shoulders she looks like she’s ready to implode He was a sweet little pony though.

But you know what when they came back she looked amazingly comfortable. She was twisting around in the saddle to talk to her cousin and looking quite animated. So who know’s. Perhaps she’s got my horse riding abilities. YAY! Finally something we can do together

Mind you it was a struggle to convince her father. He’s a ‘team sports’ kinda guy. ‘Horse riding is not sport’ he tells me. Yeah. Right! It’s only been in the OLYMPICS for the last 100 years! (hmm .. don’t quote me on that ’cause I can’t be bothered googling to find out ).

Anyway, the thing is she made it back on one piece and with a smile on her face and I don’t have to explain to my husband why his 6year old daughter is in intensive care! Yay for me!!