Is anyone out there????

Is it just me or does everyone wonder if anyone actually reads this blog?

Earlier this month I candidly revealed what a bad parent I am by recounting a text exchange I enjoyed with my drunken 15 year old while he was on holiday in Italy. And not one reaction! I love it really, that you all trust me to make sensible choices...

You can read the post if you missed it, it's called 'That's my boy....'

Anyway...this morning, finally a reaction...so I thought I'd post it!


Hi Gorgeous,
I love your book cover. I always knew you'd be a doll in pigtails; stick with them.
Letter from a mother whose fifteen year old is visiting Greece
Dear Son,
I'm writing this letter slowly, because I know you don't read fast when you're drinking.
You won't recognise the house when you get home: We've moved..........
Love, Your Mother.
Regards, MG


and now this...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is anyone out there????":

hey Caroline,I love your web/blog/blab and I try to read it everyday... I thought your text to your son was very laidback (and your son has a great sense of humour) and I hope that when my babies are old enough to travel the world... I will be as cool at parenting teenagers as you.keep writing as Im sure there are lots like me out in cyber world who like to read your take on life.

kind regardsElizabeth
Love it.

Shameless self promotion!!!!

Dear Caroline,

I received your Book yesterday (Sunday) from your beautiful daughter. Thank you so much. I gave her a cheque with my name and address written on the back.

As I am disabled I ride an Exercise Bike everyday - I am up to 10 minutes at a time now, two or three times a day. Today, as I was on the Bike I was reading your Book and it is great - I am so pleased that you wrote it. The photographs of yourself and your daughter on the front are lovely.

To you and your family have a wonderful and safe Christmas and a marvellous 2007.

Best Wishes - Anne Pooles (Buderim)


Dear Anne,

Thank you so much for your email.

It is so nice to get feedback...although I have to tell you, it's not my daughter on the cover of the book, it's actually me, way back in 1977 (I was nine)!

It does look exactly like both my daughters though, so it's very cute for me when people think it is them on the front (although perhaps a little scary for them - they can see exactly where they're headed in old age!!!!)

Thanks again,

Love Caroline

And.....

Caroline,

Thank you very much for my wonderful Christmas present (purchased by my husband)...of course I read it immediately and now wished that I had taken my time and made each story last longer. I know that you have many wonderful Is It Just Me? stories and am wondering if (it is not too much trouble) you compile another such book so I can enjoy another few hours of laughter, eye rolling (because I too have a teenager and toddler which is a deadly combination for anyone's sanity) and a sprinkle of tears....please! I promise that I would buy the book!
Jo

Dear Jo,

Thank you so much for your email. It's such a funny thing putting a book together...until I actually saw it in print I had no idea what it would look like/what an appropriate length would be.

Once it was published I realised it could easily have been longer (I was reluctant to bore you all stupid).

There are lots of other changes I would like to make too...so believe me, a second book is in the pipeline - once I get my money back on this little sucker and my husband recovers from the stress of going into (MORE) debt to satisfy my whims and fancies!!!

But thank you so much...I really appreciate the email.

Love Caroline xx

A big day!

Is it just me or does it seem fitting that today is a little grey and drizzly?

We're farewelling Cory Hudson today, at Stella Maris Catholic Church in Maroochydore.

What a terrible day for his parents, Steve and Donna.

i often wonder how my faith would be shaken by the death of a child? How could I stop myself from asking why? Why my baby? Why give me such a beautiful boy if you were only going to take him away? What did I do wrong? Where the hell are you God when you need You?

This morning, as I think about the day ahead for Coy's family, I don't have any answers. But I do believe in God and I don't believe He strikes people down.

I just believe that what is, is. This isn't heaven, it's earth and tragically that means it's never going to be perfect.

Heaven is what's waiting. And that's where Cory is this morning.

Cory Hudson

Is it just me or does everyone just sometimes want to ask why?

Cory Hudson died yesterday. He was a friend of my son Gabe. Both of them 15 years old.

Just before the Easter school Holidays this year Cory was out surfing with his Dad Steve. He said he had a headache and wanted to go in. Not like Cory at all.

During that week, Gabe came home from school and said Cory had fallen at school and hit his head "I think he had to go to hospital."

That weekend, at church, we heard that Cory was critically ill in Royal Brisbane Hospital with a baffling and very aggressive pneumonia.

The last six months have been terrible for Cory’s parents, Steve and Donna. They have three other boys, Jay, Slater and Taj who have been cared for by their grand parents. Steve and Donna have never left Cory’s side.

The pneumonia turned out to be something more sinister, in the most basic terms, Cory had a germ cell tumour, which caused a blood disorder which caused a lymphoma. He has never really come out of hospital.

Cory was a very bright boy. An A student in every subject, an extremely talented soccer player and surfer…the oldest of four boys.

The last time I saw Cory was probably only a week or so before he got sick, he was playing chasey with his brothers in the car park after church, just mucking around waiting for their Mum to come outside.

How quickly things can change.

There’ll be a prayer service for Cory at 2 o’clock today at Saint Catherine’s of Siena.

What's your Christmas tradition?

Is it just me or does everyone love learning about other peoples Christmas traditions?

My friends and I were talking about it last night, how in some houses, Father Christmas leaves the presents on the end of the bed, some houses he goes under the tree. In some houses he leaves all the presents, in some houses the parents get to give some presents too.

Different houses, different traditions.

When I was a little girl, Santa knew my Mum and dad didn’t have much money, so we used to get tinned fruit and cordial in our pillow case on the end of our bed.

To this day, even though Santa doesn’t come to me anymore, my Mum never fails to wrap up tinned fruit and cordial…

A friend of mine, Terry, who lives in Maroochydore now comes from Irish heritage and Christmas day is always huge for them…a big feast.

Christmas eve when he was a kid, his mother always made potato soup. That’s it. That was all they had the night before, but it was an open house, neighbours, family friends all invited round for a bowl of potato soup.

He says when he was old enough to ask why they ate potato soup his Mum explained it was not only good for you to have a simple meal before a Christmas pig out, but also to remind them that there are people everywhere who don’t have much at all.…

My friend says his family has kept the tradition for more than 50 years now and his children still have no other request for Christmas eve except for potato soup.

When my friend Melinda was a little girl, every year as her dad was taking the Christmas tree down, he would cut a thin slice from the trunk. In his garage, he’d sand it back, write the year on it, then varnish it and put a pretty ribbon on it…

For 30 years he did that and even though Melinda's Mum now has an artificial tree, she still hangs the ornaments to remind her of happy Christmases past.


Let me know your Christmas tradition...

Dee doo dee doo!

Is it just me or does everyone think it is sometimes impossible to deny the supernatural?

I went to Maleny yesterday and was asked by a lady to tell the story on the air today of Linda Birtish, an American artist who literally gave herself away.

This is a true story, taken from the American 20 20 program.

Linda was primarily an art teacher. When she was28, however, she began to get severe headaches. Her doctors discovered that she had an enormous brain tumor. They told her that her chances of surviving an operation were about 2 percent. Therefore, rather than operate immediately, they chose to wait for six months.During those six months Linda wrote and drew feverishly. All of her art, except one piece, was shown and sold.

At the end of six months, she had the operation. The night before the operation, she decided to literally give herself away. In case of her death, she wrote a "will," in which she donated all of her body parts to those who needed them more than she would.

Unfortunately, Linda's operation was fatal. Subsequently, her eyes went to an eye bank in Bethesda, Maryland, and from there to a recipient in South Carolina. A young man, age 28, went from darkness to sight. That young man was so profoundly grateful that he wrote to the eye bank thanking them for existing. It was only the second "thank you" that the eye bank had received after giving out in excess of 30,000 eyes!

Furthermore, he said he wanted to thank the family He was given the name of the Birtish family and he decided to fly to see them on Staten Island.

He arrived unannounced and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Birtish was looking at him and said, "you know, I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before, but I don't know where." All of a sudden she remembered. She ran upstairs and pulled out the last picture Linda had ever drawn.

It was a portrait of her ideal man.

The picture was virtually identical to this young man who had received Linda's eyes. Then her mother read the last poem Linda had written on her deathbed.

It read:Two hearts passing in the night falling in lovenever able to gain each other's sight.

Merry Christmas!

Is it just me or is everyone sometimes amazed at the fragility of life?

This is a true story, sent to me by Angie Johnson, it’s not a new story, was written by an American lady.

On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to kmart for last minute shopping.

Cursing the crush, I made my way to the toy section, and got started.

Straight away, I noticed a small boy, about 5 or 6 years old, pressing a doll against his chest. He was distraught 'Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?' The old lady just shook her head sadly and wandered away.

The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Intrigued, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wanted
to give the doll to.

‘My sister,’ he said ‘It’s the doll she wanted Santa to bring.'
‘Maybe he will bring it,’ I said, telling him not to worry.

'No, Santa can’t take it where she is now, I have to give the doll to Mummy so she can take it…….My sister’s gone to heaven. Daddy says Mummy will also go to see God soon too’. My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mummy
not to go yet. I want her to wait until I came back from shopping.’

I was devastated, he talked and talked about how he loved his mum but his Dad said Mummy had to go and look after his sister.

I took out my wallet and gave him some money….I told him to tell grandma I wanted to buy the doll for his sister.

When I got home I remembered a news story from 2 days ago, which
mentioned a drunk driver who hit a car, carrying a young mother and her little girl. The child had died instantly…the woman was clinging to life support.

Two days later, I read that the woman in the accident had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself, I had to know if she was the mother of my little friend. I bought a bunch of flowers and went to the funeral parlour.

There she was, in an open casket, with the photo of the little boy and the doll I had bought placed over her chest. I left the place crying, feeling that my life had been changed forever.

Letter to Santa

Is it just me or has everyone been a good mum all year?

I lifted this letter to Santa off the internet….

Dear Santa, here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache after a day of chasing kids (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to carry a screaming toddler out of the lolly aisle at the supermarket. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like a car with fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays grown up music; a television that refuses to broadcast any programs containing talking animals.

On the practical side, I could use a talking daughter doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with one potty-trained toddler, two kids who don't fight, and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because it seems my voice can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely..

Well, Santa,

Help yourself to biscuits on the table, but try not to leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
Mum

Party Party Party!!!

Is it just me or does everyone think the office Christmas party is fraught with danger?

Ours is this weekend and I can’t wait…I love nothing more than being inappropriate.
In the US, it’s being reported that office parties are being cancelled this year left right and centre. The ones that are still running are apparently not even allowed to be called Christmas parties anymore…

So, if you’re a boss who knows his staff have the tendency to slurp down a few sherbets and then start photocopying their nether regions, going the pash or anything else that might be deemed fun….you might want to put a stop to it now.

Slate.com, a great website has a solution….they recommend the following be attached to every invitation you send out this year:

WARNING: You are herein invited to attend a Holiday Party. Should you choose to attend this event, you are herein advised that you do so at your own peril.

Food served may be manufactured in factories that may contain machinery that may have touched peanuts.

In the absence of any coherent party-based sexual-harassment policy, you are warned that any hugging/touching/casual flirting/wine-stem fondling/hair tossing/breast gazing/butt grabbing will be deemed actionable at law.

All guests must maintain a 5-foot distance from all others at all times (spouses included).

Appropriate topics for conversation are: work; sports; light political banter; reality-television shows. Any unapproved conversational topics shall be cleared in advance by the Human Resources department.

All dance moves shall be preapproved by the HR department. Seminars on these moves shall be conducted twice daily in the small conference room on the second floor between now and the day of the party.

All closets, conference rooms, restrooms, and other possible areas of sexual misconduct are to be padlocked for the duration of the event.

Small children are to be chaperoned at all times. Any child found playing or otherwise conducting himself in a childlike manner will be summarily removed from the premises.

Once again, we wish you and yours a very happy holiday season, and hope to make this year's office party the best ever.

Book? What book?

Is it just me or does everyone hope a lot of Christmas shopping is still to be done?

My book, imaginatively titled Is it just me is rolling off the presses as I write…

We drove to Caloundra last night and collected the first hundred books from the binder Carl Stockel…it was very exciting…if a little nerve wracking.

I have to be honest. I've learnt a lot from my first foray into the publishing world, and the book is not perfect.

But I'm really proud of the words. I love the stories in the book.

It’s got everything really, (you can check out the cover to the right…) it’s a collection of columns I wrote for the Sunshine Coast Daily between 1998 and 2006, so you know the drill, witty, incisive…humble. But something you didn’t get in the daily, is really bad photos of my family through the years.

My brothers and sisters don’t know it yet but just for a laugh I whacked in the obligatory studio shots Mum had done in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s (well, late 80’s actually). I figured I could because I look the worst in the them all (although my little brother Harry looks a bit wrong in a couple too…sorry Haz!)

Anyway, wish me luck.

That's my boy...

Hi - this one is really for extended members of my family, who are aware that my fifteen year old son is in Italy at the moment on a school trip. I want to make it clear, that he is a lovely, beautiful boy (who actually paid for the trip himself working on the clean team at the cinema).

However, by the end of this, there is a chance that if you don't know me you will think I'm a really bad mother. Good luck to you. You can post a comment and I promise to print it, but I am still posting this blog because I know all my family will be amused. OK?


But back to the story, Gabe has always been a very good boy. When other kids were getting into drinking, he just wasn't that much into it.

In Italy, the legal drinking age is 16. I guess he looks 16.

He has been away since November 25, having the time of his life. A week ago he went to stay with a host family, the Lelli's, in a very small town called Cesena. Their son, who is 16, is Jacapo.

A couple of days ago we got a text saying he had been to the pub. I was happy for him, I mean I love the pub and I have been going since I was 16. So I was happy. But the following is our
text exchange yesterday morning (late Saturday night, Cesena time).


From Gabe...

Hi guys, how are you Im testing you from jacopo's doorstep because we have been at the pub and I foot (yes...I know it was meant to be don't, but I thought it would keep the authenticity if I typed out his text word for word) want to walk up his parents.We have had a very fun night and are trying to sober up now. Have fun at nippers. Love Gabe

To which I replied...

Hey naughty boys! What do you drink in Italy? Beer? Did you take your camera to the pub, I would love to see some footage.

To which he replied....

No, Pina colada's, sex on the beach and red bull and vodka! ha ha It's very hard to sleep on tiles, didn't take camera but will have great memories. Me Bridget and Anthony all live very close. We walk to the pub together then stumble home. Love you.

To which I replied...

If you can't sleep on tiles then you obviously didn't drink enough (that is the bad parent bit). Is Jacapo with you? (That is the good parent bit, where I worry that he is going to be kicked out by his host parents)...

To which he replied...

No, he was too tired. As as far as the not drinking enough goes, receiving texts while asleep is also hard to sleep through. Also wore off the drunkenness as much as possible on the walk home so we weren't acting like dick heads to signora lelli when we got home. But they all went to sleep and I am left freezing on the door step outside in the italian winter...technically autumn... Now leave me alone.

To which I replied...

xx nigh nigh (Mummy always has to have the last word).

Beautiful Bindi!

Is it just me or does everyone think there’s a chance Bindi Irwin is too young just yet, to know exactly what she has lost?

There is no doubt Bindi is an extraordinary little girl. And I love the fact that she is completely true to herself, never faking sadness or feigning tears because she thinks that is what is expected of her.

There’s a bit of Bindi about today, I think her television series is about to hit the screens and everybody wants to know how she’s feeling.

This morning, Bindi is quoted in Britains News of the World saying..

“They say time makes things easier but no one tells you how you can miss someone even more every single day.

“Sometimes I cry and cry but then I just think 'It's happened and you can't do anything about it, he's not hurt, he's in a great place'.

“He hated it when I cried.

“He would be so happy that I'm happy,” Bindi said.

“Some people might think, 'Oh my word she's happy, how can that be', but everyone has a choice of being happy or sad.”

Anyone who has ever lost someone close knows the first Christmas is always horrible, but Bindi says she will always treasure the memories of last Christmas.

“Santa left all the presents on top of our roof because our chimney was much too small for him to climb down it,” Bindi said. “So my Dad and I had to get a ladder and climb up the roof.
“It was just me and him - Mummy was thinking about it but then didn't want to, and Bob wanted to but he was a safety hazard."

“It was so nice up there. He gave me a big bicycle. It was really nice - it was the best Christmas."

Like I said, I think Bindi is completely in touch with her real feelings and that is a credit to Terri and everyone else in Bindi's extended family. It’s a long life though and getting over a lost parent is a marathon, not a sprint.

So good luck beautiful girl…your Dad would be very very proud of you.

Yeah, I remember that!

Is it just me or does everyone think you should hold on to your childhood forever?

Last night, Mark and I hosted Carols at Beerwah for the Glasshouse Mountains Chamber of Commerce. It took me straight back to my childhood. Beerwah, Glasshouse, Beerburrum, they are still country towns and I think their residents are lucky to live there.

Anyway, it reminded me of an oldy but a goldy, you might have seen it before, it was apparently written by a guy called Iain Hosking.

Take a moment to go back in time...

Before the Internet or the MAC.

Before SEGA or X Box...
Way back.... I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk.
One potato, two potato, three potato, four.
The corner shop.
Hopscotch, kiss chasey, elastics,
Running through the sprinkler.
Milk moustaches.
But wait....
Watching Saturday morning TV... Hey Hey its Saturday, Marty Monstor, Fat Albert, Road Runner, Penelope Pitstop and Bugs Bunny.
Short commercials.
A million mosquito bites around your ankles.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians.
Climbing trees. Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling downwas cause for giggles.
Being tired from playing....remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
I'm not finished just yet...
Eating Milo from the tin.
Remember when there were two types of sand shoes? One for girls and one for boys and the only time you wore them at school, was for "P.E."
When nobody owned a purebred dog.
When a twenty cents was decent pocket money, and another twenty cents a miracle.
When milk went up one cent and everyone talked about it for weeks?
When you got your windscreen cleaned, oil checked, and petrol pumped, without asking, for free, every time.
It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of them!!!
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that! Remember when....

Pauline Hanson does not speak for me!

Is it just me or does everyone think Pauline Hanson needs a leisurely stroll around a refugee camp?

I’ve actually met Pauline Hanson and she seemed like quite a nice lady but yesterday she threw her hat in the ring for the next federal election.

She said she wants to be in the house asking questions on behalf of Queenslanders – we live in a democracy, so ultimately it’s up to the people, but make no mistake, Pauline Hanson will NEVER speak for me.

Earlier yesterday, a decade after warning Australia was being swamped by Asians, Ms Hanson went on a rant about Muslims and said 'diseased Africans' should be barred from the country.

She said, "Why do we have to bring people in who are of no benefit to this country whatsoever?

I’ll tell you why Pauline, because we’re humans. No matter where you were born or what medical services you’ve been denied all your life, at some point in time, you deserve a break.

If you were born in Australia, it was just dumb luck…a happy accident. You did nothing to earn or deserve this rich and comfortable life, in the same way that a diseased African did nothing to deserve their circumstances either.

I suspect Pauline Hanson and her supporters are the same people who lament the demise of the old fashioned neighbourhood, where people took care of each other and community thrived.

Well to my mind, it’s the same principal. If the neighbourhood is dead it’s because of mean spiritedness – because we don't look for the best in our neighbour – and we don't lift him up when he needs a hand.

It’s a global village Pauline, and if people like you teach a new generation to be and insular and mean, to not see all people as brothers and to not say ‘what can we do to help?', then ultimately we’re all in trouble.

Pauline Hanson does not speak for me!

Is it just me or does everyone think Pauline Hanson needs a leisurely stroll around a refugee camp?

I’ve actually met Pauline Hanson once and she seemed like quite a nice lady…but yesterday she threw her hat in the ring for the next federal election.

She said she wants to be in parliament asking questions on behalf of Queenslanders – we live in a democracy, so ultimately it’s up to the people, but make no mistake, Pauline Hanson will NEVER speak for me.

Earlier yesterday, a decade after warning Australia was being swamped by Asians, Pauline ranted about Muslims and said 'diseased Africans' should be barred from the Australia.

"Why do we have to bring people in who are of no benefit to this country whatsoever?

I’ll tell you why Pauline, because we’re humans. No matter where you were born or what medical services you’ve been denied all your life…at some point in time, you deserve a break.

If you were born in Australia, it was just dumb luck…a happy accident. You did nothing to earn or deserve this rich and comfortable life, in the same way that a diseased African did nothing to deserve their circumstances either.

I suspect Pauline Hanson and her supporters are the same people who lament the demise of the old fashioned neighbourhood, when people took care of each other and no body was lonely.

Well to my mind, it’s the same principal. If the neighbourhood is dead it’s because of mean spiritedness, it's because we don't look for the best in our neighbour, not lifting him up when he needs a hand.

It’s a global village Pauline and if people like you teach a new generation to be and insular, to not see everyone as brothers, and to not wonder‘what can we do to help? Then ultimately we’re all in trouble.

High speed chases!

Is it just me or does everyone wonder how it is we’ll ever get our children to adulthood?

A 13 year old Redcliffe school girl is dead, after being hit by a car being chased by police.
Just yesterday, Caitlin Hanrick, was a student at Redcliffe State High School. I understand her school has two campuses, across the road from each other. So it’s common for kids to be crossing the road at all times of the day.

The school is just around the corner from Redcliffe Police Station.

Caitlin was with her classmates crossing the road at the lights when she was hit by a white Commodore sedan, suffering massive spinal and head injuries.

Police say they called off the pursuit a short time later before the white commodore was found smashed against a tree at Margate.

Redcliffe is one of two Queensland trial areas where police cannot pursue motorists for traffic or minor offences.

However, police sources said last night the pursuit started after the vehicle was recognised as being wanted in connection with at least three break and enters.

The pursuit lasted only two kilometres, police say it did not exceed 100 kilometres per hour and a police spokeswoman said two police cars attempted to intercept the vehicle but the driver failed to stop.

It might have been by the book, but a 13 year old innocent bystander is dead.

Police have taken five people into custody, the 19 year old female driver from Bethania has been charged with unlawful use of a motor vehicle, further charges are now pending.

But all the charges in the world don’t bring Caitlin back do they? In general I agree that police must pursue offenders and I’m not angry at the police for yesterday’s tragedy, not at all.

But we have to ask ourselves if there’s a better way? There’s a little girl lying on a slab in the morgue this morning…and maybe that could have been avoided.

Is it just me?

OK - first of all - if you log on regularly to read my random by oh-so-stimulating rants, then thank you and sorry that I have been a bit slack for the past two weeks!

I have been very busy though and the reason why is about to become clear!

Because I would desperately like to become a rich and revered author, I have decided to self publish a book of columns I have written over the years.

The book (imaginatively titled) 'Is it just me' should be available by next Tuesday, December 12 (just in time for Christmas - I hear you cry).

Thanks to my friend Rebecca Grisman at Gallery Group who convinced me to do it - then had her staff do the leg work - we are printing 3000 books. It's a tricky process - I have to sell about 800 books to break even - and I don't really know why I'm telling you all the gory details, other than I need to vent.

My friend Jo at work just asked me 'Are you ok?' (she didn't know about the book) and it occurred to me that I have probably looked like someone with a very bad headache for the past couple of weeks. Could look worse in the weeks to come!

Anyway...stand by for more details, thanks to Kook Multimedia, a pdf of the book is about to appear on this site (I don't even know what pdf actually stands for...but i know it means you are about to see the cover of the book)...

Thanks for listening...I'll keep you updated!

Love Caroline