Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun #256 And GiveAway Winners…

Well that was a busy week… as the end of the year dashes towards us, end of year events and hanging out with friends tend to pile up, before folk head out on vacation. We seem to have emerged quite happily and a day at Cape Point always helps!!!

Book Review of the Week

Hello from the Gillespies by Monica Mcinnerney published by Penguin Books: Sometimes a mother person needs to take a break and read a book for herself, not about homeschooling or parenting, not to the kids or for the kids… well this has been that book for me. It is a family drama of the “normal old family kind” so no murder or mayhem, just a regular family with mostly grown up kids and their mostly grown up lives, except when they dash home to their parents. The book is a book about the mom in the Gillespie family, who has the role of cheery annual Christmas letter writer. In one of those moments of mothering clarity, as she settles down to write about the usual trivialities… to present the picture of perfectness, she takes a moment to first empty her thoughts into a document, she writes and writes about all the things that are bothering her. Of course assumptions are made, frustrations are vented and secrets revealed… but nobody was meant to read it.

She rushes off to a family emergency and her husband does her a favour, without glancing at the mail, he hits “send” to almost everyone they know. Family life rolls on. It is days before the repercussions start to erupt… some folk are very understanding, and rally round to help; others not so much. Things start to unravel first a little here and then a little there… and it appears that this motley crew, held together by their stoic mother person, are in for a bit of a ride. And then there is an event, something bigger than a family newsletter…

This story is easy reading, the author creates a picture of life in the Australian outback. It is about an ordinary and less than noble family, living their lives and making mistakes. This is not a life-changing read, you aren’t going to live differently because of it… but if you need an afternoon off or you are looking for a good, easy holiday read, then this would be a great pick. I really enjoyed the read, and I am definitely going to look out for more from this author.

We were given this book by Penguin Books South Africa for review purposes, we were not paid to write this review and the opinions expressed are as usual my own.

Lovely Links

1. Oh I love these crafty creations: Rosie made a thing, spotted on Kireei.
2. During the crazy shopping season, if you just can’t stay out of the store then you might want to read this: 10 Subliminal Retail Tricks You’re Probably Falling For.
3. For our book lover friends: 10 Facts about Beverly Cleary’s “Ramona” Books.
4. For the wild and fun advent calendars posted. I liked this one the best…Poppy Talk… DIY in a Jar…
5. Head Heart Hand posted these 20 Reading tips for students, anyone really.
6. How pretty are theseDried Citrus Ornaments… on A Beautiful Mess. I think we are going to try them.
7. From the mother person who firmly believes, that if you have to do Christmas shopping, there is always the Hardware Store. I really liked: Alisa Burke’s Post on GiftWrapping…

And the se7en + 1th link:

8. A Blast From the Past: And here are a couple of links to posts, this week, from previous years:
   • 2008: Roast vegetable and Couscous salad… quick and easy family meal.
   • 2009: Children are people too… se7en gripes.
   • 2010: Se7en Budget Outings in Cape Town.
   • 2011: Se7en + 1 Stockings to Fill.
   • 2012: Se7en + 1’s Favourite Games… Family Games; Classic Games and Card Games…
   • 2013: Under an African Sky, we went to Meet the Bontebok – remembering MAdiba.

GiveAway Winners

Justin Bonello’s Cooked in the Karroo

All the entries…

And muddled together…

And the winner is:

Cat Nov 21, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Oh my word – salted caramel popcorn – need to get that recipe. I have long long wanted to go to Sutherland and visit the telescopes and see all that. We love the Karoo and am spending a night in the Karoo when going down to PE in December.

MapStudio’s Fabulous Factual GiveAway

All the entries… this GiveAway has two winners… a local and a worldwide GiveAway…

Mixed and picked…

Alesha: Nov 26, 2014 at 10:14 pm
I am reading your blog from Ragley, Louisiana in the USA. I have followed your blog for a couple of years now when I found it through one of the posts on Sonlight’s blog. Love your entries. You blog about the most interesting things. Would love to win this book and share with my children.:
Mrs FF. Nov 30, 2014 at 9:57 pm
Reading from centurion South Africa. This looks like such an educative and interesting book

Congratulations to: Cat, Alesha and Mrs FF, expect an email from us shortly so that we can get your prizes to you as soon as possible.

We would like to thank Penguin Books South Africa and MapStudio who supplied us with the GiveAway books. We were not paid for the reviews and the opinions expressed in it are as usual, entirely our own.

That’s us… Hope your weekend is a fabulous one and we are so looking forward to another week of blogging with you all…