Wordless Wednesday 30th October 2013 {Halloween}

Up until a few years ago, Halloween wasn't something I acknowledged.  I always made sure I had lollies in the house for Trick-or-Treater's {who never came a knocking mind you!} but aside from that it wasn't a celebration we 'got into' but a few years back, I threw up my hands & said 'why not?!' The result, a fun time each year on October 31st..  Above is a glimpse of our Halloween decorating this year.. Simple but effective for a very eager 2 year old :) 

Tomorrow we plan on watching the Nick Jnr Halloween Cartoon line up, Trick or Treating at home (the kids can trick or treat us.. Unfortunately our neighbourhood doesn't get into it) and having a little Halloween party after school. All in the name of fun of course! 

Does your family celebrate Halloween? 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Why not pop back to yesterday's post to enter my 2kool4skool.com.au giveaway :) 

Linking Up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday. 

Still 2kool4skool.. A follow up review from www.2kool4skool.com.au

A little under a year ago, I was approached by a local up and coming company who sought to put the 'cool' back into school.   Kathy and her team from 2kool4skool.com.au launched their fantastic online store that was filled to the brim with funky stationary products promising to 'rock your pencil case'  right down to the uber kool pencil case that you could fit all the goodies in.  With kids who regularly harassed me for Smiggle products I was more than a little excited to have a look see at their product range and happily road tested some of their products for back to school 2013. 

For those of you that didn't get to read the review, feel free to catch up here; http://www.severalkindsofcrazy.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/heading-back-to-school-with.html

Fast forward 11 months and I was happy to accept a follow up review to let you guys know how I found their products throughout the past year & if they were holding up. 

I am happy to report that I have so far been impressed with the products I was given for the review and the additional products that I purchased from 2Kool4Skool.com.au.  

One of the BEST products that I cannot recommend highly enough is the 2kool4skool book covers.. Available in exercise, A4 & Scrapbook size, they were an absolute winner for back to school 2013.  One year, no word of a lie I covered 120 books for the kids & at the end of it, I wished for such a product... Kathy made that wish come true! Not only was book covering 'effortless' I was proud of the books I sent in to school with the kids & still to this day I am proud when I see their books at school or when they come home, because they are still so neat & tidy. Check out my Stepdaughter's Music book and my Son's Homework Book (my personal fave design ~ peace).  These are two books that travel back & forth weekly & they still look fab! Imagine how shiny the ones that sit in their desks still look, top notch! The spines are still in great condition and with no rips or tears in the PVC I could easily reuse these next year if I wished.

The kids said the covers were great because their books were easily recognisable & lots of their friends commented on the cool designs and searched for the ice-block (the built in game on every cover). 

Their pencil cases withstood the test of time, albeit a zipper tag has fallen off, but that's not bad going for an item that's used daily.  When they bought them home over the last school holidays, I did a quick inventory of their supplies, gave the case a wipe over with a chux (so handy they are all PVC) and refilled them ready for 4th term (a red pencil & red felt pen are a necessity for term 4!) 

Their pencils, erasers & sharpeners were all well loved or pinched by the end of term 2, they were just that popular. Mr 8 often complained of his funky smart phone sharpener going walkabout & would always find it on a neighbouring desk.. He stopped taking his gym boot pencil case to school a few weeks into term 1 because he was getting too many girls stopping by his desk to check out his kool stuff, too much female attention.. I'm sure he won't be complaining about that in a few years.. 

I didn't complain though because I scored that pencil case for my teaching bag, where it gets tons of positive comments & stores all of the cool products I snaffled for myself including my favourite scented pens (strawberry is divine) and a stock of the double ended scented markers (yes I like smelly stuff ~ who doesn't!?) And with scents like Choc Chip Cookie & even Pizza, you won't be able to stop sniffing your pencil case.. {warning might result in odd looks LOL} 

I was absolutely devastated when our school announced that they were supplying the books for 2014 & along with that, slip covers for the books... How bummed was I?! Thankfully the school is allowing us to cover the kids books as I wasn't going to miss out on the exciting new range of covers that 2kool4skool has released for back to school 2014.  No way! And I highly doubt with our Principals taste that his covers will be half as cool.. :) 

So with all that in mind, I'd happily shop & continue to shop www.2kool4skool.com.au the staff are lovely, they still have a great presence on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest & really, who doesn't want to make back to school shopping easier... Pop over to their website & start checking them out.. You will not be disappointed & have many hours to gain NOT covering books!

 

You can find 2Kool4Skool here or follow them on Facebook to find out about all their cool upcoming products & stationary lines for cool stocking fillers and back to school 2014 here!  

For those that want to try out a fantastic pencil case from www.2kool4skool.com.au enter my giveaway below as I have 5 fab pencil cases to give away to my lucky readers. *Please note those that don't have Facebook, please just leave a blog post comment to enter :) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking up with Jess from 'Essentially Jess' for IBOT. 

 

Recipe of the Week ~ Mixed Berry, Cream Cheese & White Chocolate Jaffles

I came across this recipe last week in the November edition of the free Coles Magazine & the beauty of this recipe is, if you can make a toasted sandwich, you can make these!!!

To buy all of the ingredients for the recipe wasn't terribly cost effective,  infact the ingredients were about $15/$20

 However, if you have some of the ingredients already its a bonus (I didn't!) but depending on how many you make, you will have lots of leftovers. As I only made these for my Hubby & I (4 Jaffles) we had plenty of leftover Cream Cheese, Berries & White Chocolate melts... Seconds!  

As I said, super easy recipe; 

Ingredients;

A loaf of white bread

Cream Cheese

Frozen Mixed Berries 

White Chocolate Melts 

Butter

Icing Sugar & Maple Syrup to serve (optional) 

* I used the Coles brand cream cheese & frozen mixed berries as outlined in their magazine but any brand would work fine. 

You will need to cook them on; 

Either a sandwich press or a frying pan. 

* I used a 4 sandwich, sandwich press. 

Start by buttering as many pieces of bread as you will need to make the desired amount of sandwiches. 

Turn the bread, buttered side down & spread cream cheese onto the bread. Place the defrosted/softened berries onto the cream cheese and sprinkle with white chocolate melts. 

Spread the top slice of bread with cream cheese & place it buttered side up onto the sandwich. You are now ready to place it into the Sandwich press. Cook until it is golden, remove, cut & dust with icing sugar to serve.. You may want a drizzle of maple syrup as well but as I had neither in my pantry, the sandwich still tasted fantastic without the icing sugar or maple syrup! 

These were a fantastic alternative to our usual Sunday cooked breakkie of Bacon & Eggs but would also make a yummy dessert as well. 

Try them out, you sure wont be disappointed! 

Thinking of my Nan... Happy Birthday Nanny Berl.

Today would have been my Nan's 73rd Birthday.  It's been 21 long years since my beautiful Nan grew her angel wings & was needed elsewhere & everyday I think of her & how different the family would be if she were still here. Nan or Nanny Beryl (Bubble or Nanny Berl) was the first person whose death made me realise we won't be here forever. It made me at 11 question everything I believed in & hate Cancer more than anything in the world. 

Yes, I had friends at school whose elderly Grandparents had died, but as a child you think, my family is young, they are going to be here for a long while yet. But that wasn't to be the case, because Nan died at 52... 52 is far too young! It is the age of my Mum now. This year really hit home, thinking of Mum at her age now no longer being here... Thinking of me, at my age now, without my Mum (as Mum was) was very hard to think about. 

We virtually lived at Nan's, Nan was with us all the time, we loved going to Nan's & Pop's place and would do so daily. Nan looked after us whilst Mum worked & because Nan didn't drive, Mum would take her grocery shopping with us every week. Such beautiful memories I have of Nan & will always hold dear. I remember their house more than my own growing up & I remember all the games she taught me, movies we watched and places we would go. 

One year Nan & Pop won a family holiday to Seaworld Nara Resort, they took my Mum, Brother & I along and we had the best time, we went on other holidays together to the Coast. Beautiful memories... 

I feel for my Pop, my heart breaks for him to lose the love of your life, your wife when you are 53, must feel like a lifetime of sadness & what ifs.. His house is filled with pictures of Nan & reminders of her such as soft toys, trinkets & even her dressing gown which made me cry to see hanging next to his after all these years. I never saw or heard Nan & Pop fight, never saw them say a harsh word to each other.. Just saw 2 people very much in love, enjoying life together, getting by & having a blast with friends & family. 

It breaks my heart that she didn't get to meet her third & final Grandchild, my cousin David. She loved us Grandkids so much, spoilt us absolutely rotten & I know she would be so proud of all of us today, all 3 of her Grandchildren & I so wish she could have been around to meet my kids, her Great Grandchildren as I know she would have adored them just the same. 

On my wedding day, I wore Nan's charm bracelet, I held the bible that she carried & I cried every time I looked at it cause I felt she was there... Sharing in my day & I wished she was there in person but knew she was there watching down over me. I have the charm bracelet in my jewellery box as a present on my 21st Birthday from my Pop, I take it out & look at it often as all the charms have a meaning & I remember playing with it on her arm & Mum and her collecting their charms together. 

Mum hasn't been the same since Nan died, Nan was a huge part of her & she lost a lot of her sparkle and security.. I guess her whole world changed.. Christmas' which were always spent together lost their sparkle, Mothers Day (which was the day they realised something wasn't quite right) never felt the same again & even Birthdays... I think Mum fearing each one that bought her closer to 52... Mum always said she was going to die at 51.. That she wouldn't live to see 52, but on October 6th this year she turned 52 and I drove home with her on the eve of her Birthday, late after a wedding  to make sure she made it to 52. She had me that worried.. 

Nan lived before computers, before fancy gadgets. Pop embraces all the new technology and I sometimes find it hard to think just how much things have changed since she passed. How the world was different... But how that we haven't changed, that we still miss her oh so much even though 21 long years have passed.  

Happy Birthday Nan.. I'm sure your partying up there with Great Nan, Grandad & every other special person who is no longer with us. Have a great big piece of cake & know we are all thinking of you on this day {and every other} I hope you loved your flowers that we chose for you.  xoxox 

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers 2013

A little backdated but I never got around to showing you all the beautiful pictures I took at the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers last month!  I used to live in Toowoomba for Uni, so iv got a bit of a soft spot for it.  Such a pretty town I often think of moving back there, but Hubby is of the impression that its too cold LOL. Oh well maybe one day... 

Linking up with Trish @ My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday. Xx 

2 Weeks Flew By...

I love Term 4!  It just feels different. I find it hard to keep the momentum going as we near the end of the year & feel like slipping into holiday mode by mid November. Right now I'm still in full swing though & organised and raring to give term 4 our best shot! 

A short 8 week term, I only have Mr 2 & Mr 8 at home because its the other kids term to be with their Mum {we do 50/50 ~ term on/term off} 

Initially it felt strange after having them home & having such a busy house for 12 weeks and it's terrible to say, but obviously there is going to be lots of difference between 2 & 5 kids! Where I was running out of milk & bread last term,  I now find myself having to use it up quickly before it goes stale ~ I even had to throw 2 loaves of bread & a 1/2 full bottle of juice out in the first week back!  I made too much for dinner & would often take out too many plates, cups, spoons etcetera.. But now 2 weeks on, I have adjusted.. 

I felt at the end of last week that I'd FINALLY caught up with the washing & the housework from the holidays, just in time for our weekend that all the kids return! {we get every 2nd weekend Fri-Mon in our 'off term'} but the weekend went well & it was great being the 'fun' parent again, with less discipline to contend with and no school work/homework drama's. But geez the fighting, the bickering, the volume (my stepchildren are quite loud) & the difference in their personalities become apparent after they have been away. For example they are heavily reliant upon the TV & Technology & that drives me bonkers! Disconnect! & when we do ask them to tune out they look at us like we've grown another head! 

But all the differences & the chaos aside, when we get the kids every other weekend it's nice to spend some quality time with them. We usually do things like board games/movie nights, parks, the beach etc. This weekend we managed to squeeze in breakfast out both days, the park, the Zoo yesterday & today, being a pupil free day, Mr 13 and a friend went to the movies whilst Mr 2, Mr 8 & I headed to see Turbo & do the shopping. Miss 11 & Mr 10 had to go home because their weekend ends at school commencement Monday, whereas Mr 13 as he's getting older stays till Tuesday all year round. 

So tomorrow it goes back to our family of 4 agaib for 2 weeks, which is never really 4 because you are always thinking of the others, cleaning, ironing & buying/paying for them. So whilst they aren't here physically, they are always technically here. But I guess during this term it gives me the chance to get on too of things before they come back for the Christmas holidays. :) 

A Change is as good as a Holiday..

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So last night I decided to take the plunge and changed the name of the blog from A Wishful Whimsy to Several Kinds of Crazy!   It has been a change I have wanted to make for some time, yet never got around to, but now that I have I am so glad.   I feel the name Several Kinds of Crazy holds more relevance to myself and to my family, which is the basis for my Blog.   So please feel free to follow along,  follow me on Facebook or check out my Instagram.

 

The blog address has changed to www.severalkindsofcrazy.blogspot.com.au

 

With the new name I am hoping to make more regular posts and will update the blog design when able.  I look forward to making Several Kinds of Crazy the blog I have always hoped it would be.. :)