Swap Success

The "I'm a New Blogger, Follow Me" Swap was a tremendous success. I found some pretty original bloggers out there. Many from the good ol' USofA, and two ladies from Tanzania and Singapore, too.

@ Sharissa (sharylove) http://www.blog.sharylove.com/
Advice for pregnant women and new moms by Shary, a certified doula, and her own adventures as a mother of 1.
@ Rochelle (stampkrl) http://threeturnstohome.blogspot.com/
Sewing and quilting projects galore, an embroidery machine afficianado.
@ Joni (QUEENQUISA) http://wwwtrainmama.blogspot.com/
The swap organizer and definitely a queen in the coupon swapping kingdom.
@ Ambrosia (LadyAmbrosia) http://www.birth-ofa-notion.com/http://www.birth-ofa-notion.com/
Ambrosia loves all things mail: post cards, vintage stamps, wax seals, and tricked out homemade envelopes. Oh yeah, and Bon Jovi.
@ Jessica (icalea) http://jeffjessandmaxbrown.blogspot.com/
This mama makes all kinds of fab creations: felt flash cards, bed roll, camera straps, ouchie cold packs. Tutorials would be great (!) but hopefully her etsy shop (BambinoBazaar) will be filled with her wonderful wares soon so we can all enjoy them.
@ Jessica (sparsileactivity) http://sparsilevacivity.blogspot.com/
A fellow Georgian providing toy/game reviews and make-up reviews.
@ Tima (teemis) http://nisbetfam.blogspot.com/
Pictures, recipes, and observations of a Canadian mom living in Tanzania with her husband and 4-year-old son.
@ Pauline (scrappinauntie) http://scrappinauntie.blogspot.com/
A California geocaching grandmother, strawberry-loving, scrapbooking MACHINE! She has made over 200 pages so far this year alone.
@ Samantha (mireillie) http://neomuyeppeo.org/
Reviews of iPhone apps games and discussions/video posts of current music trends in Asia.
@ Crystal (3stairs) http://3stairs.com/
A graphic designer and homeschooler living in Texas. My 10th swap partner – glad I saved the best for last. She made a pictorial review of her 10 partners. Nicely done.

I do enjoy browsing other blogs, but it's been especially nice to find somebody reading mine for a change. Thanks you to all the lovely ladies who stopped by to find out what "Fun As You Make It" is all about. I truly appreciate your thoughtful comments.

Calling All New Bloggers

Back in April, I joined
 .

The reason I joined was because the Dollar Store Crafts blog challenged its readers to a) give up shopping for new craft supplies for the month in the 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' spirit of Earth Day, and b) to find someone on swap-bot to exchange surplus craft supplies with.

It has been a lot of fun seeing the types of swaps that people create. It seems that there are a lot of swaps intended to find pen pals or to exchange recipes, postcards, treats, and craft ideas. They can revolve around a theme of some sort (a specific color, a cartoon/anime character, a holiday or season) or they can be centered around what the recipient writes in his/her profile.

I have learned some new lingo involved with swapping, too, like newbies, flakes, sender's choice and angel. (**You swappers know what I'm talking about.**)

This week I found an intriguing swap. One that introduces 10 other swappers to your blog. In return, you also follow 10 swappers blogs as well. I think this is a fantastic idea because I love to hear what others think about my blog, but it appears that I have few readers. Hopefully this swap will cure my no comment blues, and maybe I'll make a couple bloggie friends along the way.

A Spoonful of Sugar

Yes, I know that song is from "Mary Poppins", but it seemed to aptly fit tonight's family activity: watching the 1971 version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

A few months back, we read the chapter book of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl to the girls. They were on edge while Charlie and his impoverished family were on the brink of starving, they were ecstatic when Charlie found the last Golden Ticket, and they were filled with wonder of the fantasy-filled rooms in the mysterious Wonka Chocolate Factory.

I am delighted to share with you that the girls were equally captivated by the movie. I was impressed that even several months after we had read them the novel, they recalled so many details. B told us that they didn't show the room where 'the square candies look round' , and M noticed that they didn't have the room where the squirrels sorted the good nuts from the bad nuts. (FYI: Wikipedia has a long list of other rooms that are mentioned in the book, but which were not visited by Charlie and the other guests.)

On occasion, the girls do ask for popcorn when they have friends over to watch a movie. But since we're not a family that has regular movie nights, they didn't even ask for popcorn tonight. Instead, to 'sweeten' their movie experience, just when Willy Wonka opens the doors to the chocolate room, I treated the family to a scrumdidilyumptious selection of confections. (Am I beginning to sound like Willy Wonka himself?)

While searching for a few pictures to add to this post, I also learned a cool tidbit about Roald Dahl's inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. According to Wikipedia, the story's origin was based on the feuding of the top two British chocolate companies during Dahl's schooldays. Cadbury would often send test packages to schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions on new products. At that time (around the 1920s) Cadbury and Rowntree's often tried to steal trade secrets by sending spies into the other's factory, posing as employees. Because of this, both companies became highly protective of their chocolate making processes. It was a combination of this secrecy and the elaborate, often gigantic, machines in the factory that inspired Dahl to write the story.

My two aren't about to steal any secret recipes from the big players in the world of chocolate making. But they are willing to sample their wares at every possible opportunity. Hope you enjoy a sweet moment with your family.