It's gonna have to be laterrrr

 Hello Possums (yes I'm really picking the Ozzie lingo!)

This was supposed to be a quick apology for my late upload of the next book .... big breath... however I have been busy.. oh yes, apart from the terribly thrilling hermit like days of contemplating my navel, counting the wrinkles on my face and wondering if anyone was going to put two and two together with all the goings on in the world, I house sat for my friend Meow Meow, who has a menagerie of animals that need feeding,  look nothing spooky, just a few chooks, ducks , guinea pig and doggo.

Chooks laid an egg for me!

We also had a bit of an emergency at home (no I did not call the ambos out of sheer desperation to see the hunky driver... puhleeseee... I go to the firestation for that! .. KIDDING!!! OMG.. people, I'm not that bad... yet) 

I'm thinking really hard

So I was having a bit of a rest ala "gone with the wind" (what! you haven't seen that classic.. what has the world come to !) anyway, I was lolling around on my chaise lounge when I hear BB yell out for me, sounded a bit dire, so I hustled out to the back and all I saw were two outstretched arms , and BB saying "take the phone, just take the phone ",  I'm like " uh.. okkkk". BB says "it's the vet, I can't talk to them  now" and dashes off to the back yard .  I gingerly take the phone and say " hello?"  long story short, its the local vet, she's giving me the name and address of the emergency vet's and instructions on the colour of the dog's gums...  right.

  So I dash back out to BB who is now cradling the doggo in her lap and I relay the address and then it hits me, we don't have a car because of all days today the car was being SERVICED!  So I say hang on, I 'll go see if the neighbours are around.  I slowly panted to the neighbours on the right (I'm operating on one lung ok, i get breathless fast!). "Hello!  Hello!"  no one is a round, right so then I duck to the left and I see our neighbour though his window, and tap on it say " hi, I'm your neighbour two houses down could you please give us a ride to emergency vets as dog is choking and we have't got the car today!".  Our neighbour Brody bless him says, "yup let me finish up and I'll be right over.

I hobble back to our house (i was wearing my mankiest sweats , you know the kind, with the elastic all gone and some holes in it but boy are the comfy.... uh huh) anyway I get to BB, tell her Brody will be here in a bit, carry the doggo out and I'l be there in a jiffy as I gotta go get some pants on ( listen, murphys law and all that be damned, I was  gonna wear a. proper pair of jeans and not embarrass BB and my daughter .. nuff said). so Brody arirves, BB grabs a towel off the line, we dash into his car,  I totally forgot his lead and as we screech to a stop outside the emergency Vets,  I have to leg it again inside( I must have lost at least 1 kilo yo) relayed to the vet nurse , "have a reactive doggo, barely breathing, choking on summink, forgot his lead, can you sort it out?!! " blink blink   ... 

"Yes of course" says competent nurse and organises for doggo to go through the back way.  They get all the Vets on call and have a con fab.  BB by this time is on the blower to Lan to relay the news, and of course the CAR has to be picked up!   We do a tag team, after reassurances that it will be a while before doggo is taken to O.R.,  I stay behind at emergency, BB races of to get the car before closing time  and Lan is 10 mins away from emergency.   

 Vet comes out to give me the news , and explains the procedure, the object is stuck stuck.  First she gives me the good news, ok ok we can deal with this , it's fairly straight forward, then she hits me with the 10% chance if it goes wrong... my eyes go round like saucers, flash backs of when that eejeet doctor was talking to me ....no he was patronising me with the Radiation treatment and then got  right into the after effects and the possibility of heart failure, breast cancer, lung infection... and I remember saying to the eejeet Radiologist Doc, "man you're really not selling this to me" ,... I digress, so I say "I've go to get Lan's approval a as it's her dog and she's ten mins away, then the Vet hits me with the price, my eyes teared up, uh.. it came to the same amount of my two day stay at the emergency hospital! .. 

Anyway, Lani arrived within 10 mins of the Vet con fab with me, she agreed to the procedure, and then BB and her had to pay deposits as Vets had to get that first before anything was done.  Yes policy. ahem

4 hours later, BB and Lan go pick up the doggo, who's getting anxiety from hanging around the hospital and groggy from anaesthesia, and show me the pics of what was stuck down his gullet.... poor thing. 

Doggo is all good now!  

So yes it was all a bit chaotic  for a few days but we're back to me binging on K-dramas.    I'm halfway with getting the next batch of books done,  thank you for reading my blog and watching my videos!

Love

Dx

Four walls and a window

One would have thought right, as the average common sensical person would, that I would have started blogging ages ago, right when the lockdown or self isolating started.  Where was my brain? Probably in twitter land getting myself worked up about the virus.

I had actually gone to Adelaide visiting my bff Miz P and going to the Fringe Festival there.  A first for me, flying since 2017 and the fringe. 

One of the tents at the Fringe that had some great shows

 It was during the last week that the seriousness of everything hit, I flew back after that to the Sunny Coast as I was concerned that they would shut borders down , (in fact they did 2 weeks after I returned.. phew) Just wanted to be with my kids.  A few days later, I asked myself why.. .. no really... ok ok WHY?

and I find selfies of my kids on my phone???

So there have been more "Zoom" parties and more online gaming
me:  "oi... keep it down" ( live music blaring from one room)
kids" "what ma...I'm in the middle of a game". (the other one doesn't respond)
me". I know, keep it down though, you're so loud!"
kids :" huh?.. wait I can't hear you, hold on.... *shouting to online players*  (live music still playing)
me : " I know you can't hear me,  turn the volume down!!!!
Kids: "gimmie 5 mins and I'll talk to you"
me: ".. what EVER".... *goes to watch Rupaul's drag race*. (noise cancelling headphones.. I love you)

I've gone through a load of seasons of some really banal crap on Netflix, I will never get that 1 hour and 50 mins back.  I've read countless e books, I think I need to go test my eyes... does cross eyed count for reading glasses? I've tended to me little backyard garden (am still having a battle with the ants and the grasshoppers) Grew my first pumpkin, and now have ordered more seeds to see how far I can go!

Talking about pumpkins, check this out.

can you see the strain in the wrists!

PUMPKIN CURRY... YUMZZZZ

Pretty proud of this. So I decided to start my videos again, as more people were leaving messages , this one is about making vegan curry with pumpkin. 

Leaving you with the link, drop me a line ,  always respond.  Have a great week ahead.
DX

Mini Road Trip

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A while back when I was experimenting with a product for our new business venture, Lisa the little faerie who designs my blog, mentioned a place that her mother recommended to buy the organic version.  So finally this weekend we went on a mini road trip to place called Janda Baik which is about an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur.

We zipped along in her little Swift and had to double back a few times as we couldn't find the turnings, on one of them we were actually only a hundred meters away from our destination but had turned back as it looked as if it was heading towards a dead end.  So after stopping to pick up some of the roasted chestnuts they sell along the way and checking with Lisa's mum again, we finally made it there!

The road was lined with vendors selling fresh produce, but I could not find what I was looking for. However I did stumble upon this

RED BANANAS!!

I picked up a bunch of these exotic red bananas to bring home for the kids to try,  as Lisa had never tried one she decided to eat one there and then!  I watched her face as she took a bite, she turned and looked at me "it's not bad, a bit tart and soft in the middle" she exclaimed.  Cool bananas! She also said they would taste perfect for "Pengat Pisang" which is bananas boiled in coconut milk So then we moseyed on further and I came across this beautiful red number

ROSELLA

We've all seen the Rosella syrup and teas but here it was fresh and abundant.  So I got myself half a kilo of this vitamin c packed wonder ruby and managed to slip in a few packets of their fresh veg. Though I didn't get what I  originally came for, I found something I could experiment on!

So back at the cave, I decided to do my "double double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble".  I first made the Rosella drink , by boiling and steeping the flowers 

It doesn't take long to boil and what a great colour!

Straining the flowers, and it's ready to drink,  you can add sugar or honey to sweeten it

I also made some Rosella Jam!  (errrr needed some form of creative outlet!)  Well the great thing is I've created a tasty jam and we've now found someone who produces what I've been looking for, which means another Road TRIP!!! wheeeeee

My home made Rosella Jam and Drink! Cheers!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and have a great week ahead!

Socially yours

Fying Elephants curtesy of www.floatinglemons.com 

I had an interesting chat with a friend the other day (well at least for me it was!)  She said " I'm terrified of social media marketing".  I blinked, looked at her and asked the most intelligent question ever created by the English language, "Why?".  ( I do try, we all have our bimbo moments)

This is what she said :-

"I don’t hate social media, I just have a slight phobia when it comes to sharing things online; personal things mainly. I pick and choose what I say and share like a lot of other people do, I’m sure.  I’m not a social butterfly – I’m far from it. I’m more of a major wallflower. I don’t have many friends at all. It took me ages before I got onto Facebook, and that was only because someone else set it up for me and handed over my username and password, “here you go, welcome to the world of social media…finally,” she said.

It is nice to see photos and read updates once in a while – catching up on the on-goings, and I suppose it can be a great stress reliever and morale booster when you get great comments and loads of likes on your posts. But then again, I do also believe there is such a thing as oversharing…a fine line, and the amount of hate that goes around too, oh boy. Sometimes I find my pulse racing, my palms sweating and my facial expressions morphing and I catch myself holding my breath. Sometimes I feel like a nosy little neighbour for some odd reason…it makes me feel creepy. Strange, I know…it’s probably all just in my head! 

I suppose being the homebody that I am I do tend to like my privacy and my space – I absolutely adore my studio and every day I design and work on something creative and fun. I used to blog about my creative endeavors and have only recently realized that I have almost 200 000 hits. Having quit my day job as a university lecturer and working on my design business from home now, I do believe I will take on board the advice so many have given me about doing more with my endless creative streak, start blogging about my journey again and share my creative processes once again…I might just befriend social media after all."  ~  Oxoloco's fb page is FACEBOOK OXOLOCO

Liza is a designer and artist, her site is http://oxoloco.wix.com/oxoloco

Talking to Lisa one can understand being gun shy of starting your own social media marketing, it's natural to feel a little apprehensive.  Later on the same evening I was having another one of my regular chat sessions on Skype,  (doncha just love technology!), you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for long distance calls anymore and you can chat for as looonnggg as you like, why didn't they have this when I as a teen? (my mother is probably saying the same thing!!)   Anyway I brought up the the topic of social media marketing with my good friend Mariana. She had a more philosophical response, and went on to explain:

"To say that I was extremely reluctant to interact in any way online when I first started my business 8 years ago is a huge understatement. I couldn’t see myself trying to convince others that it was in any way a good thing to buy my art, or products – even a soft-sell was a horrifying idea.

I was fortunate enough, however, to discover a community of like-minded artists who were hugely embracing and encouraging, and who persuaded me to begin blogging, and eventually open up a facebook page. Tentatively, I began posting my work and was surprised at the wonderful response. Complete strangers stopped by to comment and leave compliments, so I went over to their blogs and pages and left messages of thanks, and read and commented on their posts in turn, learning how to interact online! A whole new world opened up before me.

The fear of expressing ideas and thoughts online is now gone, replaced by an appreciation for the inspiration and motivation that groups of friends on various social sites are sharing. Products and illustrations are marketed on a regular basis, art is being shared, ideas are discussed, and not only have new friends been made online, but I’ve reconnected with old ones I might never have met again if it weren’t for social media. The trick is to learn how private or public you’d rather be on it, and to adjust your settings accordingly.

Having discovered that personal posts attract a good response, I’ve learned to mix those along with art posts, and the response is still incredibly encouraging. Sales and confidence have increased – what’s not to like about that?"  ~  Mariana is an illustrator with her popular blogsite called FLOATING LEMONS  as well as  MARIANA BLACK ILLUSTRATION

Mariana is in the midst of doing some illustrations for a children's book, http://www.marianablackillustration.com/

So you see, we all go through some form of unease to start with, but like learning to ride a bike it gets easier all the time. (that's not what my scarred knees say but that's me!)   To simplify,  I'll just break it down for  you in girl talk.   A fast way of hitting  three platforms simultaneously is via instagram.  You'll be able to share with twitter and facebook at a click of button, 3 birds 1 stone so to speak,  that's as long as you have accounts on them, (opening new accounts are easy so don't hesitate) .  We always take a load of pics, so why not take pics of  you, your product, your product and a customer, your customer telling others about your product...,  get my drift, and make sure you hash tag words pertinent to your picture. (#socialmediarocks)    Once you are more comfortable posting and have worked out your timing,  then start to interact more with your posts and likes and online adverts (facebook and twitter offer this).  And remember, ASK QUESTIONS always, there is no need to be shy about technology, it's there to help you.

I know a lot of you will be wondering about the "follow me and get 20K followers" accounts that ask you for a fee and say they can get you hundreds and thousands of followers/subscribers.   You want my opinion about it? (well you're going to get it anyway!)  Those are just not worth it.

As for Social Media Marketeers, you have the ones who are really good and some that are totally .. let's be mild here... useless.   Here's an example, on one of my media platforms, one of these social marketeers was promoting a client's product and quoted from a book Ayn Rand wrote called "Atlas Shrugged".   If you have read the book the most famous quote is "Who is John Galt?", so I posted the quote on his feed, he then responded back by saying he didn't KNOW who John Galt was.!! (contextually he was probably wondering WTF),  I explained it was a quote from the book, and get this, he hadn't read the book and didn't know the quote.  His only interest was pushing out the product en masse.   If I was using a social marketing person, I'd make sure whatever they quoted was relevant  to my product and it was a personalised.   So if you are going to use a social marketing person/company make sure you research them and their work ethics properly, get recommendations and make sure you look at their work, after all you're paying for their services.

There are so many more platforms,but I chose to talk about the ones that we're all familiar with and ones I work with.  Cheers all, have a lovely week ahead, I look forward to your comments and mails, so keep it coming!

The return of the mac

Has it really been since July that I've not posted a blog? Wow.. Have I been distracted or what? (what do you mean or what?) Ok lets bring this up to speed, as the posts are going to look like they're allover the the place once I start with all the stories I've been hiding in my little lappie..(lap top to those of you who aren't quite sure).
Right, I've been to France and back, I've had my final last ditch, no holds barred, lets do this properly, we're going to see if we have a future together with A..... and it was a total nose dive into "uh huh I should have SO not gone there", but it did make me realise a few things, one of them being that I was a lot stronger that I thought, that I can take the knocks and dust myself off and try again.

I loved France it was a perfect experience, and opened my heart and mind and said "what ever happens I'll just go with the flow". The French men sure have perfected flirting into an art form... if you want an ego boost, that's the place to go!
Coming back was a physical and mental let down, I thought perhaps because I needed to get away that I'd be back and life would go on with less stress, but Nooo, I've realised that it really is time to go, face the big blue yonder and just do it.

The end of the year is here, so many changes are brewing, I can feel and smell it in the air, much is afoot. I am excited, scared, curious, happy but most importantly grateful for this extraordinary life I lead. Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!
Oooo heh heh, I can't hardly wait!
Dx