Happy New Year - Gift Card Giveaway

And the winner is...
Craig Smith

email coming to you

Congrats Craig
And a huge, huge thank you to everyone who entered.
I had 304 entries in total!!
And it was such a lovely lovely way to celebrate my 40th Birthday :)
Thanks again

Celebrating Forty

I have been away to a place so remote that the internet goes at DIAL UP speed, AND I had to drive down the road to get phone access.  Yes. I have been at my parents house.

The Horror.

Civilisation I have missed you.

On Sunday it's my 40th Birthday. 1st January. Oh yes indeedy.

I bid my thirties farewell without much regret - though I do miss my early thirties pre-babies flat tummy (miss you xxx).  I'm looking forward to my forties, I think its going to be an awesome time for me and my little family.

Over the last few months I've been mulling over how to kick off this next decade.  Hubs and I have discussed a few ideas...

• Party - great except I'm an anti-social introvert
• Dinner somewhere nice - great except I like to be in bed by 8pm
• Holiday - great except travel makes me constipated - which would be a terrible state to start my 40s in

Oh I kid.  Any of those would be utterly wonderful and I'd love them, but hubs's work contract has just ended and we're hoarding the pennies.

So I got to thinking about celebrating my 40th in a meaningful way without spending much money (or none at all).  And that led me to thinking about the things that fill me with joy, and then I realised that those things don't cost anything anyway!

I ended up with this list

• Walk
• Cook
• Give
• Learn
• Grow

And my plan to celebrate my 4th decade (5th!! its my 5th decade, ahem, thanks Jennie :)) on the planet is going to go something like this...

• Walk - a dawn walk on Long Reef Beach with my family watching the sun rise up out of the ocean, we'll bring breakfast with us and thermos of tea.  Perfect. Also rain is my favourite beach weather, so I don't mind what the weather is.
• Cook - a feast at home.  Huge bowl of prawns with homemade mayo and a cold beer - something fun that doesn't take hours
• Give - I love to give and I love to knit.  So over the year I'm going to knit 40 of my world famous dishcloths and give them away - via the blog, watch this space! (On the subject of giveaways, a book voucher giveaway is starting here tomorrow - shhh, its a surprise)
• Learn - I'm starting Embroiderer's Guild courses this year
• Grow - you all know I love my garden. So I'll be planting an avocado tree and watching hubs turn the front garden into a space that fills me with delight.

I just cannot wait :) 

Christmas YAY

I am trapped in the house with my family and Miss 5 has just locked us all out of the bathroom. Help meeeee...

The Gingerbread house

Today was gingerbread house decorating day....

Decorated by hubs and the kids

I left the decorating to the rest of the family this year.

I am writing a novella at the moment (30,000 words).  I'm planning to submit it to Entangled Publishing on 15th January as part of their call for Geek Girl stories.  So far I have a kick-arse story, but its only 10,000 words long. Which has turned me into a bad tempered headphone wearing individual who is glued to her computer - well, in between over-compensating the kids with lollies and movies, to alleviate a massive glut of mother guilt because I'm not rushing about with carols on full blast and the house smelling of frankincense and myrrrr.

Honestly, if I'd been left to decorate the Gingerbread house, it'd would've ended up looking a lot like Edenland's House of Doom...

This sublime gingerbread house has an accompanying blog post and vlog over on Edenland's blog, which if you don't know it already, is well worth a read :)

The SAHM 12 Days of Christmas

On the First day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Very long school holidays

On the Second day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Two tired children
and
Very long school holidays

On the Third day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Three ice-skating lessons

Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Fourth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Four swollen tonsils

Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Fifth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Five days of rain

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Sixth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Seventh day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 

Seven howling tantrums

Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Eighth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Eight glasses of alcohol

Seven howling tantrums, Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Ninth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Nine Happy Meal Toys

Eight glasses of alcohol, Seven howling tantrums, Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Tenth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Ten loads of washing

Nine Happy Meal Toys, Eight glasses of alcohol, Seven howling tantrums, Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Eleventh day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Eleven presents forgotten

Ten loads of washing, Nine Happy Meal Toys, Eight glasses of alcohol, Seven howling tantrums, Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

On the Twelfth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me: 
Twelve burnt biscuits

Eleven presents forgotten, Ten loads of washing, Nine Happy Meal Toys, Eight glasses of alcohol, Seven howling tantrums, Six craft activities

Five days of rain, 

Four swollen tonsils, Three ice-skating lessons, Two tired children, and

Very long school holidays

sigh.

Holidays Day 3

Day 1 of The Horror: Supposed to be Ice skating, but thanks to a large selection of traffic lights simultaneously going tits-up - leading to unimaginable traffic chaos - we ended up at Puss In Boots 3D.  I thought it was weird to the point of creepiness, the kids utterly loved it.  Cost $48. I winced. Actually I'm still wincing.

Day 2 of The Horror: Finally made it to Ice skating.

Day 3 of The Horror.  Guess WHAT??? More ice skating.  If you see me around and about rugged up like a michelin man even though its Summer, its because my bones, liver and other essentials are still frozen.  So. Frickin. Cold.

The rink

Once I was turned into a human icy-pole, hubs rolled me out to the car and we hurried off to Brasserie Bread down in Banksmeadow (on Botany Bay near the airport if you haven't heard of it).  I had the kids enrolled in one of their free baking classes.

Hubs and I got to scoff artisan breads and cakes in the cafe whilst the Screamies created...

A bird, cinnamon scrolls and some pizza

And...

More pizza, cinnamon scrolls and a butterfly with choc chips

 There are worse ways to spend an hour, and the heaps long drive was so worth it.

They do grown-ups baking classes too, this is what you can make.
Awesome eh??

Eight weeks to go people. Eight weeks to go.

This post is dedicated to Jill, Lyndel and Megan. Thanks for the endless hugs and support and thanks for reminding me why I write this blog.  You guys are the best.

Have you any wool??

There is one person in the world who has had as tough a year with Miss 5 as hubs and I.  Miss 5s teacher.  The Universe smiled on Miss 5 when they assigned her kindi teacher.  We were blessed with one of the warmest, kindest, gentlest individuals that I have ever met.  We took the journey from bewilderment and frustration to Aspergers diagnosis together, and when I was beside myself with stress and grief she was a rock solid support, her positiveness and optimism never wavered for a moment.

A comment she made recently to my Mum has become my mantra when things are really tough.  "She has so much potential (Miss 5). It will take us a couple of years to properly unlock it, but when we do it will be wonderful."

She is so right.

There is no way I can ever fully express my thanks to that gracious lady.  But I did make this cross-stitch as a small way of showing our gratitude.

Thank you for everything you did for our little black sheep

Upcycling a towel rack

We don't use our heated towel racks any more - too expensive to run and really, not necessary in this climate. Also this one kept blowing all the fuses - which is upsetting with any electrical device, but doubly so when that device is in the bathroom.

So I gathered my initiative and have up-cycled it.

Yet another stroke of genius, or something

Decorating the Tree

So last weekend, with beer in hand and Michael Buble warbling away, we decorated our tree.

Slight issue with star on top

Lights

And the finished result - you can never have too much tinsel
Star got banished to the chimney - we decided it could be the 'guiding light' for Santa or any passing wise men

Home made pressies

Pressies for the teachers.... Four types of homemade soap, and some knitted dishcloths.

I appreciate the thought...

Hubs cooked dinner last night...

Writerly Talk - summary and links

Last Thursday night I was honoured to do the end of year talk at the Hawkesbury River Writers Group.  I promised those good folk I'd fling a quick summary up on the blog, and add links to various websites I'd mentioned.

So here it is...

• With the changes in the traditional print industry (ie move to author self promotion), and the explosion of the e-industry the ‘unpublished’ stage of an authors career is now a vital part of their success – it is not a rite of passage, or something to be endured until ‘your ship comes in’.  It is a busy, active time where you can establish yourself.
• Am talking about published and unpublished as if there is a line, or a hill, or everest in between the two. These days there is not.  If any one of you chose to, you could be published by tomorrow night.  I don’t recommend you jump in blind, but its there for the taking.
• Smashwords - has great guide to self-pubbing
• Kindle Direct
• Createspace
• PubIt (Nook)
• E-publishing or self publishing is huge.  With the massive popularity of kindle and other e-readers, millions have access to self-published e-books. There is cult-y following, and agents and editors alike are scouring sites like Smashwords to find new talent. 
• Fortunes are being made – Joe Konrath (has must-read publishing blog, which has info for any writer, self pubbed or not), Amanda Hocking
• Amazon’s new imprints are going to be massive and industry changing
• The unpublished part of your career is absolutely vital –
• establish yourself,
• make connections,
• get your voice out there, ie have a presence online, so that agents and editors can find you
• learn, about marketing, advertising, self-promotion
• what works - learn from other's mistakes
• what you like, what you can handle -
• I am passionate about... 
• blogging, 
• Twitter, 
• Facebook, 
• Goodreads - is a great great site for finding books and getting to know authors
• finding where and how you can promote your books once they are published

Any questions, email me... caitlyn . nicholas @ gmail . com

No spaces

Good luck to all :)

Bloggy Slackarsery

Hmm 

Yes, yes, if there was an award for bloggy slackarsery (and there probably is) I would be a contender.  Life, at the moment, is consumed with Miss 5 and getting her myriad issues under control - well, trying to figure out exactly what the issues are and then trying to get them under control.

A sensible approach, I'm sure you'll agree.
But.
Frankly.
Its war.

We are living with a 5 year old dictator, who we are somewhat unsuccessfully attempting to overthrow.  Its rather like a Fijian coup.  A great deal of stamping about, shouting and waving of arms, but in the end the same guy ends up in charge (ie, her), and life continues exactly as it was - but, with an added layer of knowledge about the capabilities of the opposing parties

Yes. Like all good despots, she is not going quietly.  The riff-raff who've had the privilege to serve under her (ie, us) are rising up, and she Does Not Like It At All.
If she had a band of minions (and I swear she's working on the prototypes) then they would be sacrificed without turning a hair.
There is no crime too outrageous, no line that cannot be crossed, no limit that is... er.... limiting.

Actually, am desperately proud of her.  She'll go a long way, Miss 5, if she learns to stop confessing to her misdeeds and gets better at hiding evidence.

Wish me luck.