Hot! Hot! Hot!

hey there! I'm here for a brief whinge... (my monthly update is in the works and will be posted next week)

So, here in Perth, we are in the midst of a heatwave... the past 4 days have been 40 degrees Celsius or above (that's 104 degrees Fahrenheit in old money) and tomorrow the weather bureau is promising 42 degrees!!!

Oh Joy!  I don't do hot nor humid and it has been both.

Normally, our air con would be cranked up and we would be able to cope however it decided to curl up it's toes and die on us.

Talk about impeccable frickin' timing!!!

To be fair, the system was old... we guess at least 15 years... and the guy we called out to take a look and see if it could be revived told us we were lucky that it lasted that long. Small consolation though :/

So now we're having to have it replaced as they don't make compressors for our model any more :(
that's going to make the bank balance hurt but we can't not have it... not with the kids

My poor little Miss 3 became heat stressed and very ill even though we were doing everything we could to keep the kids cool, which was super scary. We've packed up and moved in with Nan & Pop and their air con to ride this  horrendous weather out until the new system can be installed.  Luckily, they have a big house so it's not too bad but to be honest now is not the time to be fussy. Cool is cool!

So that's my dummy spit for the day.

Hope you're faring better Take Care ;)

Update: a 42 degree day and a stomach virus do not go well together :(

the little shish that could...

back in October I wrote briefly about looking for employment and unfortunately I didn't get any nibbles from the resumes I had put about.

Disappointing but a tiny part of me was kinda relieved because I knew it was such a busy time of year. That's not to say that I couldn't have fitted a small part time job into the mix as well and made it work.

But what also disappointed me was seeing who the stores were hiring instead of someone like me... school leavers who had little to no idea about customer service. It's a big slap in the confidence department when you know how much experience you have in that area and you are still over looked. I realise that much of the attraction to hiring leavers is that they don't have to be paid as much... but still, more often than not you get what you pay for.

So that's my grumble.

But I am still looking, applying when something suitable pops up and looking some more.

My confidence levels have plummeted even further since October and I am realising that if I don't keep at it I might never do it :/

So I think I can... I think I can... I think I can... choo choo!!!

Kristie Cook: Teaser Tuesday - Cover Reveal!

It's just beautiful! I will surely pop! before I get to read this book :)

please click on Kristie's link below to see it

Kristie Cook: Teaser Tuesday - Cover Reveal!: Hi, my lovelies! Long time no blog, I know, I know. As I warned, I took a break for the holidays and then extended it so I could wrap up Dev...

Genesis by Kristie Cook

You might recall in the past few months me raving about some fab new books I had recently discovered and devoured... Promise & Purpose (Books 1 & 2 of The Soul Savers series) by author, Kristie Cook

And then since I couldn't get enough, I went onto read Genesis which is a prequel to The Soul Savers series. I mentioned I was about to start reading.. but it's only just dawned on me that I forgot to review it in my December post! (I'm losing track of where I'm posting reviews as I write them on Goodreads and Amazon as well)

Eeep!!!!  How could I!?!

Because I loved it! doh! doh! doh!

I don't like to include too many spoilers in reviews because I think part of the fun of reading is discovering the story for yourself so I'll be brief...

As I said before, it's a prequel to The Soul Savers series, taking you back to the origins of the Amadis. It provides a detailed backstory which helps you better understand the new life / society Alexis (in Promise & Purpose) is entering.

On the flip side, it's a great story all on it's own. Lots of action, love & loss. It's got all the elements and I really enjoyed reading it.

Having said that, I am glad that I had read Promise & Purpose prior to Genesis. Falling in love with Alexis & Tristan first made me hungry to find out more, so Genesis fell into place perfectly for me.

I can't recommend this series enough if you enjoy a good paranormal read!

Now before I go, I wanted to mention the exciting offer / giveaway author, Kristie Cook has on at the moment!

copy & pasted from her email...

Most of you should have already received the rest of this back in December. If not, cyberspace ate it and I apologize for its gluttony — it must have thought my email was a Christmas treat. If you did get it and you want to be entered to win a Kindle Fire, please review the rules. I've received lots of emails showing interest, but I have not received very many with actual links to reviews. Note: If I don't get links from you for reviews for Promise and Purpose, you will NOT BE ENTERED for the giveaway, even if you do a review of Devotion. Also, each link is an entry, so you want to send me as many as you have!


A rundown of the rules:


Post a review of Promise (#1) on your blog (or Facebook review page) and at least one other site (Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc.) by Jan. 15, 2012, and email me the links. I will send you Purpose (#2) ebook for FREE if you don't already have it. (If you don't already have Promise, let me know ASAP and I'll send the ebook to you FREE.)


Post a review of Purpose on your blog and at least one other site by Jan. 31, 2012, and email me the links, then I will send you an eARC of Devotion (will be ready on or before Jan. 15) along with a date between Feb. 1 and Feb. 24 to post your review for the tour. (If you request a specific date, just let me know what it is.)


Each review you post and email me the link to earns an entry for the Kindle Fire drawing. So if you post a review for all three books on your blog, on Amazon and on Goodreads, that's nine entries (3 books x 3 sites=9). Just be sure to send me the links!


You can earn extra entries by posting a review for Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella, the Devotion cover reveal and/or a Waiting On Wednesday (or similar meme) for Devotion. Again, just be sure to send me the links!


I'll do the random drawing and will announce the winner of the Kindle Fire on Feb. 29 (because that's a lucky day, right?). Open internationally.


I am very happy to provide an ebook giveaway for your followers to go along with the Devotion review. You can handle that however you'd like (comments, form, etc.) and just send me the winner's email address when your giveaway is over.


For those who have posted reviews to Promise and Purpose in the past: I love you! Oh, and you get entries for those! Any review dated before Jan. 15, 2012, for Promise and before Jan. 31, 2012, for Purpose counts. Just email me the links.


Remember: You MUST email me the links to your reviews to gain your entries. Also, I MUST have your links to Promise and Purpose reviews for you to be entered at all. This is the only way I can track all entries and be fair to everyone participating. Email to: kristie(at)kristiecook(dot)com.


Feel free to pass this on to any blogging friends you think might be interested. The Kindle Fire will arrive unregistered, so if you already have an ereader and you don't want it, you can always give it away to a friend, family member, soldier or as a prize on your own blog.


Thank you so much for your support! Let me know if you have any questions.


Kristie Cook

December 2011

Hiya!
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and managed to get some R & R somewhere in amongst it all.

I am happy to report that I did! Yay!

For the first time in many years Hubby was not required to return to work the day after Christmas ( a change of jobs helped there) and so as a family we had 10 days off together. We didn't officially go anywhere but the in laws headed interstate after Christmas and we house & doggy sat for them and it was not without it's perks... the swimming pool was right there for swims anytime we felt like it, Christmas leftovers to save us cooking ... and pay TV too (a novelty for us as we don't have it at home, you wouldn't be able to prise me away from it if we did! hence why we don't have it LOL)

So we did in effect have a "holiday", I got a little too used to taking a sneaky nap and it kind of ate into my planned reading and movie time... ah well I think I needed it!

It did get to a point though that I needed my own bed again, it is always the way with me and we had New Years Eve plans that were closer to our own home so we packed up doggy and returned home. *sigh* the sense of holiday was over but it was so nice to snuggle in my own bed again (and the kids sleep better at home too which makes everything better)

Now to find a home for all the new gifts... truly my house is a sh!t fight... I know I said I was going to stress less about mess but it's time to put a bit of effort in to keep it comfortable for everyone.... having said that I am not getting a lot done, motivation is scarce especially when I have 2 young cyclones tailing me undoing my good work.

But onto more fun topics... yes! It's ME TIME time LOL

Reading...

I started Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb the second novel in The Farseer Trilogy. I loved the first novel Assassin's Apprentice and the second novel has kept the pace and intrigue. I'm not terribly far into it but I am enjoying it thoroughly.

As an aside I also started reading Erotic Hauntings: The Haunted Houses of Pussy Willow Manor by Kevin Guest, it popped up as a freebie from Amazon and I thought I'd give it a go. Again I'm not far into it and I think I will reserve my judgement until I am finished..
TV...

Dexter Season 6: wow! wasn't quite expecting the twist with Deb and the final scene left me shouting at the tv NO!!! you can't leave me hanging ( but then I did read somewhere that Dexter had been picked up for 2 more seasons... so I am assuming things will work out???)

New Girl: OMG! this show is so much fun! Both Hubby & I watch this together and laugh ourselves silly.

Doctor Who Christmas Special: always good to see the Doctor again but why is it that the Christmas Special stories are never as good as the rest of the series? Maybe I should shut up and be grateful for any Doctor Who (and I am enjoying the re-runs they're showing at the moment too!) but the Christmas Specials always come off as a little corny. I will say though that Matt Smith has really grown on me, I'm loving his quirky geek chic! And the line "It's a Fez. Fez's are cool" ...only on him :)


Films...

Bridesmaids: you know what? It wasn't the kind of funny I thought it would be... don't get me wrong, it IS funny but I had expected to be peeing myself with laughter and instead I was finding I was kind of just saying out loud "haha that's funny". Still a good film though.

The Help: I love these kind of human spirit stories (you know what I mean?) and this movie made me cry... a lot! But a good kind of cry. I have put the book on my "to read" list.

Elf: I got this movie for the kids in the lead up to Christmas but found myself sitting watching and laughing with them... over and over again. I am not strictly a Will Ferrell fan but I love him in this.

Miracle on 34th Street (the 1994 remake): this was on tv one day and again I found myself watching it with the kids... I am a real sucker for Christmas movies. Love it :)

And that's me for now... still 3 1/2 weeks left of school hols... should be fun ;)