We are freezing! O_O

We have been hit with a sudden and very unexpected cold spell this week and according to the weather channel, things are just going to get worse over the weekend... 

So, since winter has decided to grace us with one last bit of freezing weather before the summer kicks in again, I have decided that the best place to be on a Friday afternoon is snuggled up on the couch with a good movie or two! ~ And of course a big mug of hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows to go with that... 

I was very tempted to add a photo of my penguins, or perhaps even the polar bears to this post on this very cold day, but I decided that little Roma and Rona Persis were looking very snug and warm with their fluffy fur. The two even decided to play outside in this cold wind, much to mother Salome's protests!

Unfortunately their fur isn't as silky and smooth as I would have liked (And as you would expect a Persian cat to be...), but I must admit that they do grow on you. :)

After all, I have never met a Sylvanian that I did not like....

Keep warm and have a great weekend!!! 

School Sports day in Rooibosch Hill

Since SSK has recently marked down the school sports day set (4416), I decided to jump at the opportunity and buy one for myself. I don't have any sports accessories yet and after all, it includes a Norwood mouse right? Who can resist!?

The lovely stock photo from SSK's shop website. See Katy Norwood there?

Aww, Katy Norwood is falling behind in the sack race!

And isn't Katy Norwood just too cute with that whistle (Note how big this soccer ball is...)

And finally we have the photo showing the included accessories, Barry Periwinkle (Let's call him a cousin) and little Katy Norwood.

Have I mentioned that little thing that I have with luck? Yes, this set does include a Norwood mouse... if you are lucky! However, Mr. Murphy never seems to smile on me and I usually do not have any other luck than the bad kind.

So, when my parcel arrived, I was very excited to add Katy Norwood to my village! Finally the Norwood mice would have a child of their own, Yaay! :D And, of course another Periwinkle  boy, because every Sylvanian village has to be overrun with Periwinkle rabbits... Bells were ringing and angel choirs singing in my mind as I opened my box to find:

Oh no, wait... Isn't that a Maces mouse?

Yes, it's true. I did not receive Katy Norwood in my box. Instead, I found a Maces mouse. I immediately contacted SSK to let them know about my surprise. I wanted to cry, the angel choirs were replaced by evil laughter, the bells and sparkles gone and disappointment set in.

I was much too disappointed to open the box, even after I received an answer from SSK that this is a known problem and somewhere on the packaging line a problem must have crept in, which has since been corrected. They did also promise to send off a real Norwood mouse figure for me for alerting them of the problem and I felt my disappointment lift slightly. None the less, this box has been floating about my study for a few days now and tonight I finally decided to open it.

Barry Periwinkle and Katy Maces decided to play baseball first, but Katy had some trouble pitching the ball.

So the two switched over to hockey instead. This went better, but Barry felt that playing hockey wasn't quite for him.

So he suggested that they try a sack race. However, Barry came second to Katy Maces and soon suggested they try something else.

So, Katy Maces drew a fictional goal line and Barry tried to get the tiniest soccer ball in Sylvania past her. This didn't last long either, since the little soccer ball was deflated to begin with! (The stock image's ball looks MUCH better!)

Lastly the two tried the egg and spoon race... Unfortunately Barry lost his balance just before the finish line and fell flat on his face, getting egg all over  himself while Katy Maces gained the lead.

At the end of the day, Katy Maces won the trophy and Barry Periwinkle went home with bumps and scrapes to remind him of the day that he was beaten by a girl! 

I don't totally dislike this set, but with the Maces mouse drama, I lost a lot of the zing that it had previously. 

Overall this is a good set though and you get lots of tiny pieces. The whistle is very cute and I really can't complain about much. Except the little deflated soccer balls... At least I think they are soccer balls though! :P

For some reason I couldn't figure the egg and spoon race out at first... It took hubby's laughter at my puzzlement over the inclusion of two spoons in a sport day set to finally realize that I was missing something. Of course he couldn't help but gloat at figuring out that the little white oblong balls were in fact eggs long before I did and we had quite a laugh at my attempts at figuring out what kind of balls they were...

Sylvanian Sweets Store Review

Back in 2012, I saw a review on another collector's blog about the Sylvanian Families Sweet Store. The little pieces were just so cute and I couldn't resist adding this item to my ever expanding wish list.

I finally gave in today and got myself a little sweets store to add to Rooibosch Hill. ~ Space is getting limited, so I need to buy buildings very carefully these days!~

Initially I though that this set might have been a little bit of a waste since I already have the village sweets cart and the cake counter, but after opening it up and seeing all of the little bits and pieces, I definitely think that there is space in Rooibosch Hill for another sweet treats shop!

The shop itself is quite tiny and is much smaller than Madeline's boutique, the only other small shop that I own at this stage. The pink and cream color scheme is super cute and makes me think of a little old-fashioned sweets store. The floor is brown with little "tiles" that contrast very well with the rest of the inside of the shop, but the best part is the roof. Yip, the roof! This shop's roof looks like a little sun roof and it looks so cute if you have lights shining through. It provides more than enough light inside to play and is the cutest touch ever!

Inside, there are two little shelves attached to the walls and you have a loose display counter to put all of the sweets and treats on.

The stickers were easy to stick: One outside on the shaped notice board, two inside the shop, one on the bottom of the counter and two on either side of the window. These stickers are quite cute and are printed to resemble sweets in stained glass. They are also printed in such a way so that the colors correspond if you turn the shop around and look from the outside in, just like real stained glass would be!

This shop has three plates to display the treats on, and you get little printed paper doilies to put under the cakes. You also get two boxes of sweets and two take-away / carry boxes to transport the cakes in that you have to press out and assemble. I have to admit that these are a little drawback for me. The boxes are not made of cardboard as usual, but rather from a thick-ish paper, which make them difficult to assemble and use. It took me forever to get them right and I still need to go over them with some glue to keep them in place, since they keep unfolding themselves.

The sweets and treats are lovely though! i would call this more of a cake shop than a sweets shop, since you really only have three lollipops and a box of chocolates for sweets, but lots of little cakes.

You get three assorted folded waffle treat thingies, three of the cutest cupcakes EVER and five assorted iced biscuits. I love the bunny biscuit and the cupcakes are so special, very different from the cupcakes in other Sylvanian sets.

Display counter.

The plates added...

And the doilies...

Some sweet treats...

And the folded boxes. Done!

All in all I think this is a great set and I love all of the little bits! It has a different feel than the more formal cake counter and is also a far cry from the village sweets cart (That actually sells sweets!). I can see this set as the place where kids would get together after school to spend their pocket-money on cakes to share with their friends, or where grandma would take the grand-kids to spoil them on their visits.

I can already see that this cake shop is going to be a firm favorite hangout spot in Rooibosch Hill from now on.

The Traveling Sylvanian - South Africa

And so another week has arrived. I have finally managed to sort my personal problems out long enough to allow me to spend some time with my Sylvanians again! (Yaaay!) Real life gets in the way of fun FAR too often... :) 

I have just finished uploading the story for the start of Damara De Wildt's world tour. Damara is also on her way to Sycamore Springs at the moment and I can't wait to see what she gets up to there. 

But, until she arrives in the USA, here is the story of how Damara's amazing world tour kicked off on home soil. Yes, this story is based on a perfect day out with my own husband a few years back (ice cream and all), and yes I know that  he spoils me rotten! But I like it! :) 

 Damara's family will miss her dearly while she is gone, but we are all looking forward to hearing all about her wonderful travels!

You can read the full story here.