Leah's Blog

Six Word Memoir

2008-07-03T12:34:00.007+02:00

Shez at Homeschooled Twins tagged me at the Dutch version of my Homeschooling Blog with a meme about ten days ago...
I decided to put up my meme here.

Write a six-word memoir.

Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.

Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogsphere.

Tag 5 more blogs with links

Don’t forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I had to take my time; a six word memoir proved to be more difficult than I expected, but here goes:

Don't mess with me; I bite!

So, yes, I'm a thin, vulnerable looking woman and that means some people make the mistake of thinking they can mess with me.
So not!
Those who know me, know they'd better stay on my good side...

Other than that - I'm really nice, I promise.

***

I'm tagging
Sandra at Sandybvv's Blog
Lizzy at Lizzy's Blog
Gracia at Gracia's Blog
Melissa at Chardonnay Central
and Silver Arrows at Out to Lunch

A New Life for John Doe

2008-07-03T00:23:00.004+02:00

Just posted to my short stories blog:
A New Life for John Doe
Winner of the SimTales contest Sim Make-Over: John Doe

It's not really a short story, but still...
I hope you'll enjoy it.

The Fight

2008-07-01T14:54:00.002+02:00

Now posted at Priest Cutie's Blog: The Fight

Less than 500 words.
Enjoy!

The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 10

2008-06-28T00:11:00.005+02:00

I know, I know, it took forever, but it's finally out now:
The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 10

Want to know what's going on between Neil and Nathan?
You'll find out in this chapter.

Just a bit sad

2008-06-19T19:57:00.006+02:00

Alright, I'll admit it: I'm a sentimental old fool, but here you go.

My sister's lovley cat Flits died the other day, and yes, I'm sad about it too. Not as sad as her, I'm sure, but even so...

Flits was 17 years old.

First Object recolours

2008-06-09T01:00:00.005+02:00

I just made my first object recolours!

Our cat Kleintje.

An artistic Nude.

I'll make them available for download soon.

Totally Stoopid

2008-06-01T15:49:00.003+02:00

Silver, this one's for you.
I took the stupidity test and lookie how well I did!

Again, I aimed for the highest score.

Now tell me, what was your score?
Don't tell me you beat me here; I couldn't bear it!

Oh... and I'm a Total Loser too, ROFL!

Rosella's Wedding - Part 2

2008-05-29T10:46:00.003+02:00

Fairytale or Nighmare Wedding?
Rosella's Wedding - Part 2 is out now.

Enjoy!

Book Deal

2008-05-25T20:24:00.001+02:00

I've got a book deal.
As in I'm going to write a book and get it published. Garantueed! (And I haven't even written one word of it yet...)

We were at this Homeschooling Conference today, at a workshop and someone said we really shoud have a Dutch book about homeschooling. Then someone else (a publisher) said if he could find someone to write that book, he would publish it.

Well, what could I do but jump at the opportunity?
So I said I'll write it.
My publisher (wow, that sounds sooo cool!) wants me to write a 200 page standard work about Home Education in the Netherlands.

I guess I'd better get to work now...

Rosella's Wedding - Part 1

2008-05-25T08:15:00.003+02:00

Just posted to my Short Stories Blog:
Rosella's Wedding - Part 1 from the Spring Bride 2008 Contest.

With quite a few pictures that I didn't enter into the contest.

Spring Bride 2008 - Round Three

2008-05-24T10:37:00.008+02:00

I didn't think I'd make it, but I did: I finished Round Three of the Spring Bride 2008 Contest at Insim, and that means I finished the contest.

It was killing, and I'm still not sure whether or not I'll ever want to participate in a contest over there again. This was completely different from anything I've ever done before, and I did learn a thing or two - or so I hope.

As a writer I've only ever had to write what I wanted to write, and I found it hard to write according to a script that was at least partly designed by someone else. I had my own story to tell, and to make that fit in with the rules and guidelines of the contest was quite a challenge; in my story just about everything was different from the usual wedding stuff. And I'm not talking about my bride being Elven - that was the easy part.

I was shocked when I found out I'd have to write my couple's own wedding vows. I'd never done that before and didn't know where to start, but it sent me on a nice journey into the world of Wedding Vows.

I learned that Wedding Vows should be too high and lofty, and definitely not too long. They should be easy to memorize for the bride and groom, so they can recite them flawlessly even in the stress of The Moment.

Of course they should come from the heart (which was the easy part for me, as I always write from the heart).

They also should have a poetical quality about them - without becoming actual poems - and even "informal" vows should still be written in rather formal language. Ordinary speech would definitely kill any vow.

And, obvious though it sounds, many people seem to forget about this: vows are to be vows; not just a declaration of how much the couple loves each other. How would you feel if you got married to a guy (or girl) who told you how much he loved you, but didn't make you any promises at all?

Nutjob

2008-05-17T23:51:00.005+02:00

Don't ask me why I did it, because I honestly couldn't tell you, but it was tons of fun.
I took the "Are You a Nutjob" test, gave the silliest answers I could think of and ended up with a score of 106 - which is about as high as you can get...

If you decide to follow my crazy example... have fun!
And do let me know how crazy you are.

Remembrance of the Dead

2008-05-05T15:35:00.007+02:00

Yesterday was a special day for us.
On the Fourth of may, our country commemorates the victims of the second world war.
For as long as I can remember, I would watch the solemn ceremony at the Waalsdorpervlakte (Plains of Waalsdorp), near the Hague where I grew up. It has been my wish for years already to go there on the fourth of May and pay my respects to those brave men and women who gave their lives for my freedom.
Yesterday was that day. We arrived at the Waalsdorpervlakte by six, spent a couple of hours waiting, until finally around half seven the silent walk to the momument began.

Being there, in that place, where so many people were executed, meant a lot to me - even though I was born years after the war. Because even though I was never in the war, the war has always been in me. Through all the stories my mother and grandmother told me, the pain I have seen in my relatives lives, in their eyes... it's always been a part of me. And it will be, forever.
I was in awe, as if I were standing on sacred ground - which, in a sense, I was of course.

New Tutorial

2008-04-30T14:55:00.007+02:00

On request, I just posted my new tutorial on how to create a Blog with Bigger Pictures.

One advance warning: If you're afraid to experiment a little, this is NOT for you! =P
This tutorial was written with the more experienced blogger in mind.

Spring Bride 2008 - Round One

2008-04-30T12:57:00.004+02:00

I just posted my entry for Round One of the Best Spring Bride 2008 Contest.
The Proposal

Rosella is definitely at her best here. LOL!

The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 9

2008-04-21T12:50:00.004+02:00

Do you want to find who entered Cordelia's room?
The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 9 has just been published now.

Who entered Cordelia's room?
It looks like Cordelia isn't exactly happy with her visitor...

Again, I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I'm fairly confident that the quality of them, and the story itself of course, will make up for that.

Enjoy!

Do I creep you out

2008-04-21T12:41:00.003+02:00

This one is for Cordelia... Have fun, girl!

Do I Creep You Out | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Best Spring Bride 2008

2008-04-18T11:39:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I entered the Best Spring Bride 2008 competition at Insimenator.net with my beautiful, but bitchy sim girl Rosella Dalton.

The pictures shown here are not the ones I entered into the contest.

I hate MTS2

2008-04-17T11:02:00.003+02:00

Yes, it's official now: I hate MTS2!

Not only are their servers more often than not so incredibly slow you can't even download anything from there, but after uploading SEVEN clothing sets, and having all of them rejected except for one (and not even the best one!), I made up my mind: I hate them.

I'm not saying my CC is fantastic or anything, but it's certainly better than a lot of the crap I've downloaded from MTS2.

Either they're blind, or they're snobist, elitist and what-not-all, but I sincerely doubt that I'll ever even try to upload there anymore. I don't mind slaving over my recolours for hours, but I hate to have them reject my uploads with messages telling me I should put in a little more effort and not do simple slider jobs, I should put in shading, and what not all.
WTF???
I did put in shading where appropriate and certainly didn't do simple slider jobs either. I spent hours creating my own textures. Idiots!

I think I'll stick with uploading my stuff to InSim and trying to become a little more popular over there.

What? Oh, you'd like to see some of my hard work?

Here you go:

A nice black Hello Kitty outfit for your Teen Sim girl:

And a beautiful leather jacket for your sim girl:

Created to look just like the new clothes I bought my 9-year-old daughter the other day.

Hello Kitty for Teens and the Black Leather Jacket for girls are available for download from Insimenator.net.

For more of my CC, please check my profile page at Insimenator.net, or my Downloads Blog.

The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 8

2008-04-09T23:15:00.003+02:00

Chapter 8 of The Queen of Hearts finds Cordelia in hospital.

To find out what happened, head over to The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 8.

I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but I hope the picture editing will make up for that.
And don't worry about the story; the amount of text is still about the same as usual.

The Queen of Hearts 8 - Preview

2008-04-08T13:04:00.002+02:00

I finally started taking pictures for "The Queen of Hearts - Chapter 8". So far I've only got 8 pictures ready to go, but I plan on going into the game and taking some more today. With a little bit of luck Chpater 8 will be out by the end of this week.

Here's my favourite picture from this chapter so far:

I also jazzed up the "Queen of Hearts" Story Blog a bit. I changed the layout so that now I'm finally able to post my pictures at their original size.

And last but not least, I created a new banner:

Hospital in the Making

2008-04-03T00:35:00.006+02:00

No story updates yet, I'm afraid, but I've ben writing like crazy and I'm a few chapters ahead with both Priest Cutie and The Queen of Hearts.

First story to be updated will be The Queen of Hearts, but before I can start taking pictures, I need to build a few new sets.

Tonight I finally finished building SimTales General Hospital, which took me about a week to complete.

I'll be sharing it with my friends at SimTales.

The hospital

Main Entrance

Reception Area

Blood Testing Lab

Waiting area with drink dispenser and coffee maker

Cafeteria

Emergency Department - Examination Room

Main Entrance

Coming Soon: A Purim Spiel

2008-03-10T19:19:00.009+01:00

Over the last week or so, I've been working on a little Purim Project which obviously has to be finished by march 20, sundown, as that's when Purim starts this year.
First, I've written a Purim Spiel, which I'm playing out and illustrating in the Sims.

Secondly, I also decided to make a little Purim Movie. A decision I sort of regret now, because I made things rather difficult for myself here, but now that I've put in so much work already, there's simply no turning back.
Here's a preview...

T$R... Must Be Destroyed!

2008-03-04T13:06:00.004+01:00

I was shopping the internet yesterday and happened to find some very nice stuff over at WallSims. Paystuff, of course...

So I went over to my Favourite Pirate, The Booty and got about my business there.

That's when I noticed something that pleased me very much indeed!
Guess from what domain the downloads were coming?

Click on the picture for a larger view

Indeed!
tsr.mustbedestroyed.org

It made my day!