Whirl ‘n Wear review.
I’ve been looking at Pandora and Trollbeads lately, after seeing pictures of people’s bracelets and necklaces online. The beads are so pretty, but they are very pricey. I’m also not a bracelet person, and many of the beads look better on bracelets than necklaces, so I’ve yet to pull the trigger on either brand.
While I waffle over whether to spend money on little trinkets, the girls have dived headfirst into the wonderful world of charm bracelets. I bought the Whirl ‘n Wear Spectacular Spinner set and an accessory pack for a lark during a recent sale at Toys “R” Us, and they have whipped up several bracelets and bag charms. Here’s how to make a bracelet with the spinner.
The packaging. I think it's $39.95 for the spinner set and $19.90 for the accessory pack.
Apart from the charms, the packs come with all the necessary stuff to make bracelets and bag charms.
Step 1: Arrange the charms in the spinner according to how you like them.
Step 2: Turn the wheel to move the plastic hook through all the beads.
Step 3: Thread the thread through the threader. Ha.
Step 4: Move the hook so that it catches the thread and turn it anti-clockwise to draw the thread through the beads.
Step 5: Carefully remove your creation from the spinner. Keyword: CAREFULLY.
Step 6: End the bracelet with a charm stopper. This step is quite tricky and sometimes needs several tries.
Yay! Completed bracelets!
The three bracelets above are for Alison and her best friends – a sort of “welcome back to school” present I suppose. The girls wanted to make more but my eyes were so crossed after fixing the charm stoppers, I had to say no. So far, we’ve made three bracelets on the spinner, two small ones freehand for Zoe, and a bag charm – and there are still charms left to use. I’d say buying the spinner set and one accessory pack will last for quite a while, and you can always reuse the charms by cutting the elastic thread. All in all, a very good toy.
PS: I forgot to mention that although the box says this toy is suitable for ages 5+, Alison had some problems placing the smaller beads in the spinner, while Zoe could not not manage them at all. Even I had some problems, especially with ending the bracelet with the charm stopper. Be prepared to have to help your kids through the whole process.
The year that has been 2011.
K asked me to recall the significant events of 2011. By significant, he meant major illnesses, major purchases and other similar life developments. There have been none of these things in the past year, which is something to be thankful for. Still, a round-up of the year is necessary for posterity, if nothing else. So here goes:
Children
This was the year that Alison discovered an interest in healthcare. She joined the Red Cross as one of her two CCAs (the other being dance). She went on trips to the headquarters to learn a bit about CPR and other healthcare stuff, met students from other schools who are also in the Red Cross and visited an old folks’ home. Her keenness in Red Cross has waned somewhat but she hasn’t lost her blasé attitude towards the grittiness of the field. She is not squeamish at the sight of blood and is quite matter-of-fact about wounds and injuries, which is a good life skill whether or not she eventually becomes a healthcare worker. She still talks about becoming a veterinarian or a zoologist but is also interested in becoming an actress.
Friendships have not been easy for Alison this year. She started the year being best friends with one girl, and ended it with another. But there have been tensions created by an in crowd of which the first best friend is a part, which the second best friend does not like and keeps trying to pull Alison away from. K has explained that all this is part and parcel of friendship and that Alison should mend broken bridges in the new year.
At her request, Zoe started art classes this year but her interest in formal art education has dwindled. She still loves to draw and paint, and goes quite willingly to class, but has said that she doesn’t want to continue. We will ask her again when the time comes to renew her registration at the school. She has settled in at her kindergarten, but has some way to go before she starts reading and writing proficiently. No problem with numbers, though. She has a “boyfriend” named Dayton who is the tallest and “handsomest” boy in class. I don’t know if this “relationship” will continue in 2012, since she hasn’t mentioned him very often at all during the holidays.
Marriage
K and I hit a big bump in our relationship in the middle of the year. No, neither of us had a relationship with someone else. But 2011 marked 11 years of marriage and the bump was probably coming to us since we weren’t so diligent on working out the kinks together in the preceding years of marriage and even while we were dating. It hasn’t been easy, but being willing to do it together has made a huge difference. We’re in a good place now.
Work
Work for me has been challenging, to say the least, but I’m grateful for the opportunities that have come my way because of it. ‘Nuff said! For K, 2011 has brought lots of new work-related developments, and the future is looking bright. I’m excited to see what 2012 will bring work-wise for us both.
Health
No one in the family suffered a major illness and I can’t tell you how grateful and relieved I am that this has been the case. We’ve had the usual coughs, colds, urinary tract infections and trips to the ER for high fevers or asthma attacks that could not be managed at home but that’s been about it. Thank God.
Just me
I have questioned my own abilities a lot this year. Work as I mentioned has not been smooth-sailing, which made me doubt myself and the skills that people have hired me for all along. Then, I took the huge step of enrolling in graduate school, in a field that I have absolutely zero academic experience in. Keeping up with schoolwork requires more discipline than I naturally possess, so I’ve been studying really, really smart. I’m now at the tail end of my first module, and my final assignment is due in mid-January . The next module begins just a couple of weeks after that, and it’s a module that I’m dreading – biostatistics – so I will probably be doing a lot of whingeing about that in the near future.
I haven’t made time for non-material but important pursuits this year. I can’t remember the last time I put needle to fabric, and my sewing machine has been gathering dust. Crafting has always been therapeutic for me, so maybe that’s why my mental wellbeing hasn’t been at its best.
I haven’t made much time for old friends either. I miss some of the people I used to see quite regularly. Part of it is innate – I am simply too much of an introvert to make the effort to organise meet-ups or attend them. And part of it has to do with my discovering that my colleagues have made the transition from simply being co-workers to pretty good friends, which means that I spend five full days every week with people who make me laugh and can tolerate my idiosyncrasies. One can only hope to have such brilliant colleagues in every workplace. We meet up outside work quite often and I hope that that will continue in 2012.
So, that’s 2011. What will 2012 bring? K and I hope for another mostly-quiet year, and that’s what we’ll be praying for. Happy New Year to one and all from all of us at the Wee household.
New Year wishes.
In 2012, I would like to:
- Volunteer at an elephant sanctuary
- Learn to knit
and crochet - Do more crafting in general
Install a full-height bookcase that will take the weight of all my books- Get back to 2010′s 20km a week mileage
- Learn a new language
- Be more patient
- Suffer fools more gladly
Let’s see how many of these things I’ll be able to check off.
Turning 33.
Me at 33. The jade bangle is my birthday gift from my beloved K.
I used to yearn for the day I would turn 21, because that would be the day I would magically become an adult and all the answers to the universe’s questions would be revealed to me. A dozen years later, it’s patently clear that there is still much to learn about myself, other people and how the world works. Funny how we never think ahead about where or what we’ll be in our thirties and beyond. But all things considered, I am in a blessed place, and I really couldn’t ask for more. Happy birthday to me.