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The animal lamp is quirky, creative and has an innocent, light-hearted feel to it. I didn’t purchase it for myself though, I purchased it for my daughter from Ivy and Wilde. Recently she’s had trouble sleeping in the dark (I think she’s been reading too many horror stories!) so I needed to find something that would relax her before bed, but still look nice in her room. Being a young girl, I wanted something more playful and quirkier – rather than a normal boring lamp.

Being slightly old-fashioned, I tend to buy on the high street as opposed to online, so I was a little apprehensive to make the purchase. But the free shipping was a nice little persuader, and the rabbit looked adorable. I work as an interior designer so my own house, as you can guess, is very purposefully designed. The products I buy all add to the ‘look’ I have gone for. With my daughters’ room, I wanted quirky-meets-girly. The rabbit in itself could very well be placed in an adult room, but with the soft hues and minimal design of my daughters’ room, the rabbit casts a lovely warm glow – especially at night.

The shipping went smoothly and arrived quicker than I expected. With a little trepidation, I opened the package. The first thing I noticed about the night light was the size – not big enough to be imposing but still took the focal point of the desk that I placed it on. It fit well into the room, especially because of the neutral colour. I could see this working well for either gender, because it doesn’t particularly radiate a girly or boyish feel. My little girl took to the night-light immediately – she barely gave me time to screw the LED bulb in! While this is both cute and annoying, my daughter is a little finicky when it comes to decorating – I guess she’s a mini me. But it seemed to appease her inner fussiness – especially when night came around and we turned off the main light to see how the night light stood in her bedroom. As the product description states, the low-key light it gives off is perfect for bedtime. It provides enough light to be a comforting fixture, without being bright enough to disrupt sleep. We’ve had some difficulties recently when it comes to getting a restful night’s sleep, but the night light is definitely helping her feel comfortable when the sun goes down.

Being a lightweight structure really impressed me too. It was easy to lift up and assemble the LED bulb into, and also means that if my little adventurer decides to faff with the night light, it won’t cause too much damage if it falls on her! It definitely feels less than 2kg, but it doesn’t take away the high-quality feel of the night light. It’s definitely child-friendly, and I would 100% recommend this to other mums looking to add a little flare of quirkiness/cuteness to their child’s bedroom.

I self-publish and love doing so, but self-publishing is not for everyone. It is a lot of hard work, but than again, so is being traditionally published. My advice? I say to try for both!

If you self-publish via POD than you have printed up this book’s “first edition” and when you finally find an agent and the agent finally finds you a traditional publisher, you will only be able to offer “second edition” (also known as “reprint”) rights. Generally, unless the book as sold over 10,000 copies a publisher will not buy second rights.

The average book sells just 500 copies. (at the average 4% royalty of wholesale price that averages out to: $1,000 – $1,500 total pay for you the author for the entire life of the book)

Rarely does a first book make over $2,000 for its author.

The average life of a book is 3 months. (meaning the publisher pulls it off the shelves and stops selling it just 3 months after it went to print)

In order to keep you book in print past those 3 months it must become a “bestseller”.

In order to become a bestseller, you must sell an astronomical 10,000 copies in that 3 months time.

Most publishers DO NOT promote your book. The books that become bestsellers had an author that put a lot of their time and money into marketing the book themselves. Most books, regardless of publisher, sell only as many books as THE AUTHOR promotes. This is true wither you publish via Scholastic Books (with it’s 100 new titles each month, including Harry Potter) or Twighlight Manor Press and its 10 books every other year.

Basically, all a book publisher does is list your book in their catalog and hope that bookstores choose to stock it on their shelves.

Books (such as Harry Potter – traditional published- and Eragon -self-published-) get famous, not from the publisher’s promotion, but from THE AUTHOR’S having gone out there and told everyone under the sun how great their book was and paying large amounts of their own money for advertising in such newspapers as The New York Times. In the case of such authors as J.K.Rowlings, Christopher Paolini, Steven King, etc., we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of the author’s private pocket money, (money they already had BEFORE book’s release.) Eragon, a self published book, became an over night best seller because of a single one day full page ad in The New York Times, that cost Paolini’s parents over $14,000! Within a few weeks, he had big name book publishers begging to sell the reprint editions.

So you see. What you the author are willing (or can afford) to pay for a marketing campaign is going to determine how many book you sell, not who you choose for a publisher. Keep in mind that when you see ads for book, either in newspapers or on TV, those ads were paid for by the author him-herself, NOT the publisher.

Most writers, once hit in the face with the harsh reality of these facts, never attempt to write a second book, which is why there are so many one-book authors out there.

On the other hand a self-published POD book never goes out of print and you earn 100% of the profits off the retail price.

If you are willing to promote and market your book hard enough, you’ll make more money in the long run by self-publishing, because you can keep selling your book for the next 10 or 20 years.

If you want to do both POD self publish AND traditional publish, than you MUST do it the other way around. Traditional publish first and POD later.

Your best bet is to hold off on the POD right now, and focus on finding that agent. Let the traditional publisher buy the first edition rights, get paid your advance and your royalties, let them sell the first edition, than next year after the book has gone out of print, you bring it back out as a POD reprint and continue to sell it for the rest of your life. (Many authors do this and after writing four or five books, they have a pretty steady monthly income coming in.)

If you want to have a bestselling book and boost it in the internet, try getting web hosting services. I defnitely recommend you read Canadian web hosting reviews to learn more.

The very idea of decorating a dining room says something about us. We don’t eat to survive. To us dining is a social activity that adds color and beauty to life. In our decorated dining rooms, we celebrate anniversaries, holidays, birthdays. To inspire your decorating, here are my favorite glamorous dining room decorating ideas. I hope they add sparkle and grace to your family’s special moments.
#1. Elegant Rug

Begin your glamorous dining room decorating from the bottom up. Invest in a beautiful rug that extends 2 feet outside the perimeter of your dining room table and leaves at least 2 feet of space from the wall. If you have a round table, look for a round rug, and avoid buying a rug that’s too long for your table. Like a picture that you fit in a frame, your dining room table should fit perfectly in the rug.

#2. Glamorous Table

The right table for your glamorous dining room with nice wooden dinnerware decorating depends very much on the size of the room. For smaller rooms, a glass table is ideal, as the view of the stunning dining room rug through the table will grant an illusion of space. A simply carved wood table will add glamour to a mid-sized dining room. And an ornate wood table or stone table will complete the beauty of a large dining room.

#3. Complimentary Wall Prints

Wall art plays a vital role in glamorous dining room decorating. Look for prints or art that will repeat the patterns and colors present in your dining room rug. Then frame your art to match the style of your dining room table.

#4. Painted Chair Rail Pattern

This glamorous dining room decorating idea works both for dining rooms with chair rail molding or without. Use a long fern leaf (either fresh or silk) to stamp a horizontal pattern midway up the walls all around the dining room. Use latex paint in a color to match your dining room decor, brush paint on the leaf, then press it on the wall, repeating the process as you work in a line. Be sure to tilt one leaf print a little up, then weave the next one as if in a garland just below with a downward tilt.

#5. Chandelier

Light plays an important role in glamorous dining room decorating. The light fixture should hang low over your dining room table, to create intimate light. Choose a light fixture that matches the style of your dining room table. An imitation glass chandelier (or crystal if you can afford it) should hang over a glass table. A vintage or mission style light will match a wood table. And a Victorian chandelier will best fit an ornate or stone dining room table.

#6. Corner Candelabras

This is my favorite glamorous dining room decorating idea. Using swag hooks, which you can find at a garden center, to ang four candelabras from the ceiling at each corner of your dining room. You can buy chandelier candelabras or you can make them, following these simple instructions.

#7. Glamorous Mirrors

To increase the pools of flickering light in the room, add a glamorous mirror to your dining room decorating, but do not spend a fortune on an expensive giant mirror. Instead look for small mirrors to match the style of your dining room decor. Hang them in a cluster to form a large square, rectangle or circle.

#8. Drapery

Perhaps the greatest impact in glamour dining room decorating will come from adding matching drapery at the entrance or entrances to the room and over the window. I recommend buying the fabric yourself at a fabric store and hemming it all around. The top hem should be widest and you can thread an ornate wood poll through it and suspend the drapery from ornate shelf brackets. Be sure to look for glamorous tasseled curtain tie-backs at the fabric store.

#9. Centerpiece

The center of any dining room decorating project is, of course, the centerpiece ornamenting the dining room table. I especially love the feral forest arrangements from Martha Stewart. You can plant moss and mushrooms in an elegant bowl that matches your dining room decor, or you can glue the bark of a tree around a simple bowl, as if your centerpiece is growing out of a stump of wood.

#10. Cadenza

If you wish to add a cadenza to your glamorous dining room decorating, move your dining room table further away from the wall by a measurement equal to the depth of the cadenza. In this way, your table will still appear centered in the room. In addition, be sure to move your overhead lighting to hang exactly at the center of the table. Use a lighting chain to conceal the electrical cord, and hang the lamp by a swag hook.

For more dining room decorating ideas, see my 10 dramatic dining room decorating ideas. And for all around inspiration here are 63 home decorating ideas and projects.

Consuming sugar is probably one of my favorite past times. I appreciate the substance in all its myriad forms and almost always have a bountiful supply in my cupboards. I’m guessing that you do, too. If not, it’s super inexpensive and easy to come by. Oh, and you can make the following (fabulous) recipes with the wonderful stuff! Here are 3 of my favorite DIY Beauty: Sugar recipes.

Orange Sugar Body Exfoliator

This is one of my very own recipes and I love it because it smells great and leaves your skin feeling clean, revitalized and glowing! Here’s what you need to gather before you begin:

2 tablespoons Sugar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sized lemon

½ teaspoon honey

This is mega-easy to make. Simply combine all of your ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. As for the orange, cut it in half and squeeze out the juice of one half. Remove any seeds should they escape into your bowl!

Next, mix well. Apply a generous amount to your washcloth or cleaning puff and massage into your skin in a circular motion. Rinse off in the shower with warm water and gently pat dry. Ta-da!

Sweet Cinnamon Milk and Sugar Face Mask

Another recipe conjured up in the kitchen of yours truly. This one is easy to prepare, too. Here’s what you need:

2 tablespoons non-fat powdered milk

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

¼ tsp. Cinnamon

1 tablespoon honey

1 tsp. milk

In a small to medium sized bowl, combine your cinnamon, powdered milk and powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, combine your honey and milk and stir until thoroughly blended.

Now add your liquid mixture to your dry mixture and stir until you have a nice, consistent paste. Wet your face and apply the mixture, gently rubbing in a circular motion. Let it set on your face for 5 minutes and then rinse off with tepid water. Splash with cold water to tighten pores and gently pat dry.

Vanilla Brown Sugar Foot and Body Scrub

This recipe is good enough to eat. Literally! But don’t be tempted once you’ve whipped up this easy as pie beauty recipe – it’s for your body! Gather these items:

½ cup Brown Sugar

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon vanilla

Combine all of your ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly. You don’t want any clumping! Next, hop in the shower with your mixture and wet your skin. Apply the brown sugar scrub to your body paying careful attention to extra dry spots like your feet, elbows and knees!

Massage with a loofah or washcloth in a circular motion for 1-2 minutes. Rinse off in the shower and gently pat dry.

If you liked these recipes, check out my other DIY Beauty secret’s by clicking on “Wendy Rose Gould” at the top of this article. Enjoy!

Have the extra glow for your skin. Buy some functional facial tools. Click on derma roller amazon for more information.

 

A malfunctioning computer generates an unpleasant feeling for any individual who relies on his or her PC for business purposes. A downed computer can prevent you from accomplishing routine tasks or become an inconvenience to your leisure time. If you’re incapable of diagnosing your computer dilemmas and rely on computer shops, it can be a timely and costly process to get your computer repaired.
A buzzing or rasping sound coming from your computer hardware devices could suggest that one of your components is running toward the end of its life expectancy. If the sound is exiting through your audio system, you may diagnose the problem as something with your sound card or speakers. However, could there be a more serious complication with your computer?

My Denon AH-D2000 headphones started to release a static sound. The sound persisted on the computer after I disconnected them from the mic-in slot, although the headphones worked splendidly on the stereo. I realized that the static sound was occurring through the mic-in slot and the speakers (not connected to the mic-in). I figured that my soundcard was dying or I needed to upgrade for my $20 desktop speakers. That’s why I love everything about Holoplot.

The problem persisted until the computer started shutting itself off that evening. I couldn’t keep the device on for over five minutes as it kept losing power. The interior of the computer was buzzing even after I eliminated the power from the machine and circuit breaker.

I successfully replaced the faulty power supply unit the following day. The speakers and mic-in slots weren’t raspy, and the power doesn’t fail anymore. The degrading quality that came from the audio system didn’t come from the audio components, however, it came from the computer’s power supply. The computer hadn’t been acting slow or showing any other noticeable issues; the power supply unit was responsible for the audio system temporarily failing.

A static sound from your computer’s audio system could be from your speakers, sound card, or other similar gadgets. However, that nagging sound could also be from a device that’s doing more damage to your computer than you’d expect. A faulty power supply or cooling system could result in excessive temperatures. These temperatures will overheat components, leading to a domino effect that could jeopardize the life expectancy of more essential parts of your computer such as the motherboard.

Don’t assume an audio problem is just a problem to an audio component or something that doesn’t need to be repaired. Whenever you notice an unfamiliar raspiness coming from your audio components, take care of the matter before it becomes an imbroglio in your life.

More from Yahoo! Contributor Network
Be Cool – Keep Your Computer and Processor from Overheating

Extending Your New Desktop Computer’s Life (Microsoft)

The Five Worst Breakfast Cereals for Children

 

Yesterday I was trapped in cyberspace by a false website. I went to the site after reading how Rachel Ray used two weight loss tips and experienced dramatic results.
The incident prompted me to research the proper way to escape a site without clicking any of the options offered by the site itself. While earning my bachelor’s degree, I worked in the computer lab on campus and would teach other students how to do this if they found themselves on a questionable site. I needed a refresher, maybe you do to.

Have you ever been trapped by a website that asks repeatedly if you are sure you want to leave?
Beware! The inability to leave is often created by a hacker to get you to click on the “cancel” button or the “accept” button to enable a virus or tracking device to install on your computer. When it isn’t a hacker, I guess you have to chalk it up to poor sales tactics.

How do you know if the site is using poor sales tactic or trying to hack into your computer? You don’t, but you can take measures to prevent the download from happening.

First, make sure your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are up to date.
Anti-virus/anti-spyware software is always your best line of defense.

Windows Users:
Open the drop down menu under “File” in the toolbar; select close the window.

Ctrl + shift + W – will also close the window. Get into the habit of closing windows with this key combination, so the response will be automatic should a problem occur.

As a third option you can run task manager and close the window from there.

Mac Users:
Simply requesting a force quit from your apple icon will do the trick.

Once you have managed to get out of the clutches of the website, run a full scan on your computer with the help of experts, especially in the field of net cms and other topics.After closing out of the site, I ran a full scan on my computer just to be sure. The scan found and deleted spyware. Although I cannot attribute the spyware to the false celebrity site, the coincidence is suspect.