Almost Getting Notebooks for Life

In my high school, it was tradition at the end of the year to pass around a big trash bag and dump in all the things you didn't need anymore. Nine months worth of class notes, flash cards, worn out high lighters. The amount of paper thrown away each year blew my mind every time.

When it was my class's turn to go clean out our lockers, I saw some of my friends pulling out big armfuls of unused spiral notebooks and throwing them away! Of course, I stopped them. As a writer, it broke my heart to see perfectly good notebooks go to waste. My friend Liam, who was throwing out the biggest armful, insisted "They're used. Look!" He showed me each notebook, with the first few pages of almost all of them scribbled in for some reason or other. Sometimes there were actual class notes, but mostly the pages were covered with stick figure doodles. 

"I'll take them!" I chimed up. My family wasn't the richest around and couldn't always afford new school supplies at the beginning of the year. So we were always looking to salvage what we could. Liam seemed shocked by this but willing to help. As he promised "Alright. I'll put them by your locker if I find anymore. 

I went to my last class of the school year, and the day, satisfied with a job well done. And after class, went to my locker to collect my things. What I found... was two extra-large black trash bags FULL of spiral notebooks, loose leaf paper, folders, and binders. Liam had taken it upon himself to fish out all the unused paper from what had already been tossed. (Nothing dirty was on it since they were all just school supplies anyway.) Then he'd gone up and down the halls, to every student, and made the announcement that anything unused and unwanted went into HIS trash bags. I came home the proud owner of over 100 notebooks that day. 

Liam did the same thing the next year, and the next. And after my first year at University, he started off my summer with three bags full! I've since used almost all of those notebooks for various class and personal writing projects. Just goes to show, if you have a great friend, you may never need to buy notebooks again!

Kick Off October Party!

Last night was our first party of the season! Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. The colors are gorgeous and the food is simply to die for. Speaking of, what better way to kick off out October than with candy apples?

October is the month of 3 C's! Costumes, creatures, and candy. It was only fitting we had at least two out of three for our first day in October, right? We started out with 4 Granny Smith apples, one bag of Brach's caramels, and one bag of MnM's minis.

We heated up the whole bag of caramels according to the instructions, then rolled the apples in while it was hot. 

Immediately after covering the apple in caramel, we rolled it in the MnM's. 

The candy didn't stick as well as we'd hoped, but they were SO good!

Later that night we went to ToysRUs and found these two spooktacular films on sale for just $10 a piece. With an extra $5 off for buying the pair, we got a total of three movies for $5 a piece. A steal!

To go along with our movies, we stopped by McDonalds for some adorbs Monster High gear. We got a locket including pictures of Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura; and a little kit complete with stickers, pencil, games, and note paper. 

Our night was a blast! And one of hopefully many fall celebrations to comes. How do you celebrate fall? 

To Infinity And Beyond! An In-Depth and Personal Disney Infinity Review

I realize this review is a little late to the table, but with the release of Disney's Infinity 2.0, I know there are a lot of new players hopping on board with us long time toy-boxers. My aunt and cousin are among the many buying the first game for the first time, and while trying to help them decide what to buy, we realized there is a serious lack of honest and informative reviews out there. So here's hoping to change that.

My experience. I've always been a big Disney fan. Ever since I was little, but surprisingly more so as an adult. I've also been a fan of video games since I was first allowed to use Dad's computer to play Freddie Fish. To top it all off, being the daughter and granddaughter of two avid collectors, I have a genetic tendency to want to collect things. Rocks, dolls, seashells. So it was only natural that when Disney produced a video game with collectible figures, I was all in!

Little by little, through savings and sales, I've collected all of the regular characters. Each character is regularly priced at $14.99 and comes with a trading card specific to the character. Stores like ToysRUs and GameStop regularly have reduced price sales. Pinching pennies and biding time can get you "3 for $30" at ToysRUs, a half off at Walmart, or even a rare but worth it BOGO. If you're not in it for collecting, keep an eye out for opened packages and missing cards. Some stores are willing to give discounts for open or damaged products, and a missing trading card won't hurt your ability to play! With a little more saving, I'll be able to add to that the seven crystal ToysRUs exclusive figures, then hopefully the remainder of the power discs, to my collection.

The more figures I collect, I have to admit, the more fun the game is. Though the toybox isn't my favorite aspect of the game, being able to play with a favorite like Jack Skelington or Ice Queen Elsa is pretty fantastic. The playsets are more my speed. The game comes with three to start. Monster U, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Incredibles. Monster U is great for little ones, with quests to play pranks and show your school pride. The Incredibles is perfect for the young kids who like the action and adventure of getting to be a super hero, with missions that aren't too difficult for younger ones and gore-free battles with robot bad guys. Lastly, of course, the pirates are perfect for older kids and adults who like to take the slow approach to the game, puzzle solving and treasure hunting galore!

To any new players looking for some extra adventure, I recommend the Toy Story playset. It's the right amount of action and quests to keep any age interested, and there are a lot of fun aspects to the game. Like getting to shrink Bullseye and supersize yourself. Giant Buzz on Mini Bullseye is hilarious! But if westerns are more your speed, the Lone Ranger Playset allows you to jump into the saddle of the Lone Ranger or Tonto and save the wild west from the money grubbing railway outlaws. For little racers, the Cars playset is all about the movie. Stunts and races and helping out your neighbor. It's a great time, especially playing with friends. Each playset costs $35.99 and comes with two characters, the crystal playset piece, and one card.

The game is good for any age. There are puzzles, mysteries, things to discover and explore. And if you're like me and can't build your way out of a cardboard box, there are pre-made downloadable Toyboxes so all your characters can fight bad guys, climb towers, and raise to the finish line!!

If you're not interested in buying every character out there (because let's face it, they're pretty pricey) focus on getting your faves! Armed with her epic frying pan, Rapunzel is the perfect pick for any princess loving player. Speed junkies will love the champion Lightening McQueen or the comedic Mater. Also, set aside a five here and there for those $4.99 power disks. They may seem like nothing special, but getting to motor over Omnidroids in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage with monster truck wheels is an experience you just can't top. Plus, having the extra power-ups in the playsets really helps defeat those tough boss bad guys.

Some things to look out for. Just a couple things we wish we'd known before hand. The Wii version of the game does not allow two player mode in the playsets worlds. There is a glitch in this version of the game only. On all other consoles, this isn't a problem. The Wii version does still allow two player mode in the toybox, but for a household with more than one gamer, this isn't a fair compromise.

As an added note, though not well advertised, there is in existence a 3DS version of the game. I wasn't able to find much information on the interwebs about this game before purchasing it. When we bought it, I realized why. It's nothing like the bigger console games at all. There are no playsets, no toybox. Instead, you get a series of arcade like games. The power disks still help out your characters, who still level up as they play, but don't expect a handheld mini world to build and create your own Never Never Land in.

Royal Rating. Over all, this game is family friendly fun for all ages. It has it's downsides, like anything, but the good outways the bad. I give this game a 4 out of 5 crowns!