SwapBot - International Hot Chococlate Sachet #3

Almost totally forgot about this one! I have just reeived a request from Malaysia to re-send my package because it was not received yet however the same package to my second partner in England was received. Hmmm... should I wait another week? Maybe thier customs are holding it or thier mail is slow? I told her I would re-send so that my ratings wouldn't be tarnished. I received my pacakge to from my partner in Poland and what great surprise because not only was there the 2 sachets of hot chocolate but there were 3 extra teas and some cutie stickers too. I have given Aleksandra a heart as well as a BIG 5 rating for her great swap.  Thanks!!

Tea Swap #160 - 5 Herbal tea's

I have got SO MUCH tea now, even more than I can drink in a month. I am definatley going to have to take a break from tea swapping for awhile just so that I can catch up. It is coming summer and the amount of tea I drink will drop as the weather gets nicer. It seems like a winter thing to me to have a nice hot cup of ta on a cold night. Am I right? Well, money is getting tight too and so I will eventually have to cut back on my swaps (as much as it kills me to do so!) Anyway, here I have some new swaps adding to the collection! % herbal teas which is right up my alley cuz most of the teas I swap are herbal. Go a great package from Erin on the US including something called Trader Joe's Bedtime tea. Sounds cool. I have also received a swap frm Josey in California. Josey girl, you are the best trader! Always on time and always my favorites! Thanks to both ladies for the great tea! Still having a little struggle to get my tea out for this swap, will attempt after this blog post. Got new teas though to send to everyone so mine arn't always the same Stash brand anymore. :S

Sweets RR - Group 9 Gums

Nom, nom, nom! Who doesn't like gum? So I joined this RR because you got to send your partners 5 types of gums. I have receieved some now so I can post. Got my first package from Spain, 6 pieces of gumballs and a extra Lots-a-fizz candy. his are always good. the gumballs cme squished flat but still work and taste good all the same. Thankst Amapola for those. As well, DaeRiin also sent me some gums, more than I had sent to anyone else but there was a statement saying you could send more if you chose. I did not due to mail costs. I a hoping thatmy partners did not feel cheated by the lack of gum I sent compared to others. I feel there should be a better specification, not just "if you want" you can send more. I don't think I will be signing up for aher swap like this again and I should have given it more thought before I signed up. I had to go buy 5 different gums, most of which I would not chew myself. I only got them for variety purposes and to give someone else a different taste of gum from Canada (this is the reason for the swap) Now each of those packages come with 20 pieces so now I am left over with this gums that taste too sweet. Kind of a waste to me. I guess I could give it to my room mates child. The swap is a great idea but ony a one-time deal for me to see how it went. Not easy like the tea swaps!

SwapBot - International Book Swap

Heya peeps!
Joined another swap quite awhile back for a International book swap through SwapBot because i was looking for something new to read. I totaly love this idea of swapping a paperback book with someone else in the world. We were assigned one partner for this swap and had to go by what thier preference of book was in thier profile. My partner was a lady from the US who requested a mystery or crime type book so I sent her (from my own collection of books) A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. It was the only one I had in that genere because I have tried to get into that stlye of reading but connot. It had been hanging arond, unread for years so I figured maybe it needed a good home. I received from Germany the book Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Inncodent. I have started reading it and it is interesting based on the fact that it has to do with real life goblins, centaurs and fairys in real life. I haven't gotten too far into it but it seems pretty good. I have to admit, I have interupted that book with a different one called The Hunger Games.

Tea RR #172 - 5 Tea's

This particular swap has to be the BEST one I have recieved yet just because the tea's were so aromatic and OMG they taste like cinnamon and apple and mint!!! A BIG Thanks to Leslie (Ctrekoza) in Turkey for sending me the first of 4 to be received for this swap. She warned me on a note in the envelope that the one "Hot Cinnamon Spice" is very hot and caught her off gaurd when she first drank it. Thanks for the head's up but unfortunatley I choked too when I sipped it. IT's REALLY spicy!! Like 100 melted cinnamon heart candies or something. It took me awhile to drink it actually and it was kind of gross at the end when it got cold. Not quite a fan of that one but thanks for letting me have a try! It smelled great as did the whole envelope, the whole mailbox radiated cinnamon!! The postman either likes to deliver my mail or thinks I'm strange. Happy to see another Dr. Otker tea again. The only one I have in my collection came from Brazil last Christmas. I am lovng the loose tea bags more and more too. Once I have depleated my current stash of tea, I will go and get a better round of loose teas. I know a little coffee shop close by my house that sells Two leafs and bud teas. They are a bit pricey but maybe I'll try one out for starters. We'll see!! Can't wait for the rest to arrive.

April 28, 2011 - Oops! Have been far too busy and had to take a break from this for ahwile. I have received some teas and other items from swaps but now I have gotten them all mixed up and I cant remember what goes where. :( I know I have received Xiru's tea for this swap because it took the longest to get to me. I forgot to take picture of all the others that I got. I am so totall not organized anymore. I also received from Manme in Finland too. Thanks guys for all the great teas. I have to make a huge confession, I have not had more than one glass of tea this whole month. I am horrible but have been so busy. I know, not a good enough excuse. I have about 50+ tea bags that I have to scan and upload to my Flickr account. That is going to take most of the day to do. Unfortunatley, my days off from work were guided somewhere else. Maybe next Monday because I have 2 more days off then. Let's see if I can do it. The good news is that I finally got some new teas, not the same Stash teas that i alays get, some new one's from Mighty Leaf and Tazo as well as a Maple flavored tea made here in Canada. Yippie!! I will have to go and sign up for some new swap too to get back into the mix. Thanks everyone for being so paitent, if anyone actually read

these blogs???

Sweets RR - 50 grams Chocolate Bar

Received this package from Kenji in Japan today. Was a little dissapointed that it was only half the chocolate that I was supposed to receive, 26 grams instead of 50 grams BUT I am not going to worry about it. He sent a tea bag to make up for it. Thank you Kenji, hope all is well there in your area of Japan. Kenji re-sent his package which I received 2 weeks ago but I was too busy with work to be able to post. It got eaten inj like 10 seconds and was very good. I like almonds and chocolate! Thanks again for re-sending Kenji although you did not have to. Secondly I got a chocolate as well from Slovenia. WOW! This was the sweetest chocolate I've tasted in awhile but it was chewy which made it all the better. Yummo!!!:) I think I also got one from Josey in California but I forgot to take a picture and I ate them all but thanks to Josey ernandez too! LOve that Hersheys stuff, we don't get those sizes here in Canada.

Swap-bot 2 teas swap #2

Got this swap on Tuesday but I forgot which swap it was form so I did some searching and found it in my Swap-bot account from Valerie Donley in the US. Scored another Tazo tea and some others too. Gave Val a 5 for her swap.

Chocolate Bar RR #26

Yes!!! Chocolate again! This RR was specifically for Milk Chocolate bars and my 2 partners were Josey from the US and Ezhyki from Belarus. I received Josey's nummy Hershey bars last week but I was way too busy from worl that I didn't get the time to post here on the site. Truth be told, I ate half the fist Hershey bar on my lunch break the day it arrived :) I couldn't resist and even though I have tried and tried not to eat as much chocolate, it's becoming encreasingly difficult to do. I haven't received from Belarus yet but it has been sent. I have another swap that I have to send out for another postcrossing group but I am having some financial squeeze problems at the moment so I have to send my swaps out late this time. Gosh I wish I had a money tree sometime. Without it you can't enjoy hobbies or things you like to do. Gotta hit the gym again oon, get back on a proper schedule and start enjoying my time rather than stressing. Getting back on toipic here, will post when my second bar arrives :) April 5th, 2011 - Got my second bars of chocolate today from Ezykhi (sp?) Love the cute little faces and people they put on thier chocolate bar wrappers. All three chocolates sent tasted different but all were good and I ate them in about 5 minutes! I'm aweful!!! Ready for round 3 of this swaps.

RR #170 - Surprise Beverage other than tea

Woot! Realky like this RR. I got my three "non tea" items from Patricia in Poland. We were supposed to send our partners 3 individual sized beverage items other than tea. I have already tried the hot chocolate that she sent and it was really good, can't complain I drank it and loved it. There wa also a cheese soup and a 3 in 1 coffee which I am assuming is like cream and sugar included? I haven't tried the later 2 yet but will perhaps have myself a cuppa tommorrow before I go to work. Thank you, this was a good swap!!

Swap-bot Tea bag swap #3

Received from my partner Cindi on Wyomming, USA. These are good one's, 10 teas. Most of them are herbals and some are like traditional medicainal teas. The envelop got a little damp and one of the tea bgas had gotten wet but there was no major damage and I think the bag can still be used. I love getting different teas like these. Cindi received a 5 and a heart for her package and I am happy to receive it. Wants to try the Ahmad tea because I got the apple tea before and it was really good. As well, the Lipton Strawberry too. Thank you Cindi, you're choices were 100% awesome! I wish they hadn't changed the Tazo packaging here in Canada. They don't come in the foil packages anymore, they come in mesh bags in loose form. I do still lke thier tea but it's harder to send in a envelope because it's bulky. Boo to Tazo tea for that one :(

RR# 157 - Surprise Tea RR

This one just came yesterday from Lissel in Germany. I honestly don't remember who I sent to for this swap. Yay, more Teekanne Tee and the London Tea company looks interesting, I haven't seen this type before. I haven't tried Rooibos tea yet or white tea for that matter. I honestly have quite a lot of tea to go through nd I don't think I am drinking enough to keep up with what I am recieving. The ratio is not right. I also have to go and have a look through it all and get it into some order because at the moment the packets are all shoved into tea boxes and in no order of name. I have work to do but next weekend. I am gearing up for another 6 days at 10 hours. Meh!

\\\\\\\\\\\\\ - cat made those slashes as he tried to walk over the keyboard - :)

RR# 165 - 5 Tea Bags

Recieved these two on the same day and got myself confused as to what RR was what. That's what all this working long hours does to your brain. I can't concentrate on my tea anymore! Anywhooo, Kenji from Japan sent a wonderful variety but I have no idea what kind of tea's they are because the packages are of course written in Japanese. No problem, that makes it all the fun when I'm trying them! Hoping all is well Kenji and that you and your family is safe from that earthquake. And secondly got a nice lttle envelope with goodies from Leslie in Turkey. She had added some extra's for me because I helped another memeber with a swap that thier partner did not send them. We call this "angels" in swapping lingo. Thank you Leslie! :) Wanna get my hands on that "Hot Love" tea cuz it sounds like somthing with cinnamon :) Received my third package for this swap from Marcowa in Poland. There are some great looking teas in there and I especially want to try the Russian Cherry tea. I have not got any of these teas in my collection and maybe since I started swapping 2 have come the same. So, I am going to boil some water right now and try the Hot Love because i am in the mood for something cinnamony. Funny now that I open the package, it smells more like fruit and apples. No cinnamon? So I am looking at the tea package and in Spanish it says there is no cinnamon. I am intruiged now...let's see...raspberry is the first thing I taste for sure and it's actually quite good. It tastes very similar to the London Fruit and Herb company Raspberry Rendevouz. It gives off a nice after taste of berries. Wouldn't mind getting this one a s a double again.

Around the World Tea RR #156

Duh! I totally forgot to post this one! This RR was the BEST so far because I wanted to choose EVERYTHING! It was so hard not to take all the tea's. There were so many that I didn't have in my collection and wanted to try. Sadly, I cannot take all of the them so I had to leave some troops for the next person. This RR went to Lady_Kikic on Satarday, March 11. Tried the Rhapsody tea which was  blend of cinnamon and orange flavor and it was very tasty *likes* :)

Around the World Tea RR #146

This RR came on Monday but I was too tired to even look at it that day. Thank you Mylona from the Netherlands for sending this and for the GREAT extra empty teabag packets for my collection. That was awesome and when I get some time I will up load them into my Picassa site. So this RR had some loose teas and packet teas so there wasa nice variety to chose form. I think I am becoming more Pickwick tea fan as I do like it. I am excited to try the T Kick black tea with guarana, maybe before work so that I can have some energy??? Also, there a Marshmellow tea in my picks too that I'm gonna try right now. Tasting....tastes a bit different than I thought but it is sweet and not in need of too much sugar (I like sweet tea so two sugars for me please!) It's good, I like it. Good job Mylona!!! :) Sending next to Andre (Rhamdan) in Belguim on Saturday.

Mystery Envelopes #32 & #36

Gosh it's been a crazy start to the week. I have worked 10 hour shifts and I am dead tired! I can't keep up with my mail this way. BUT it's making me some really badly needed cash so I will suck it up! Here are my two Mystery envelopes received yesterday. First up #36 from Missleilani in the USA. Took only 4 items. Wasn't really in that great a need for the stickers inside but opted for the great postcards from Seattle. Sending off to Ania in Poland on Saturday. And next is #32 also from the USA from Timdani. Liked this one quite a bit especially the jigsaw puzzle magnet (haven't seen something like that before) and the tea. I like that on this particular group there is a rule that you have to write down what you took and what you replaced with so that people don't feel like they were jipped with items and if they do, then they know who put what back. These, in my opinion, have to be fair. The very first one that I got back which is not on this blog was NOT good quality at all. It had broken earrings and some childish cards that were cut out of some magazine. It was crap but I figured the next person might not want that so I took the crappy items and replaced with something nicer. It sucked for me but the next person had a chance to enjoy it. I know these are senders choice bur really people, think about who your sending to. If you're goig to send crap - don't join!

Swap-bot Newbie Tea swap

Got me my frst of 2 partenrs' swaps today from this swap in Swap-bot. Tracey had asked me if I had received this swap yet as she had sent it February 22 but I replied to her that I had not. Today It arrived wrappe in a plastic bag form Canada Post with an apology letter saying their machine had damaged the envelope during processing. Lucky for me the teas inside were not damaged in anyway, just the envelope got shredded. No worries, the tea is good. have not tried Bigelow tea before so I have a wide variety to chose from. I think that I will start with the Spiced Chai because that is another one of my favorite teas next to of course my #1 Cinnamon Apple. :) Thanks Tracey!

And Yesterday (March 14th) I finally got my second package that was coming from Gerri in the USA. I don't know why it took 3 weeks to come by first class mail but the tea's arrived in perfect condition and Gerri added a really nice card too. Got a Lipton cold brew packet of tea and I have never tried this before so I might just do that this weekend. I love iced tea anyway so why not? Gerri had added two packets of tea from the Eastern Shore Tea company and those look good too. Gonna be some good drinking this weekend...tea, of course!Thank you ladies, I am definatley impressed with swap-bot swaps.

Traveling Sticker Round Robin

Recieved my first envelope for this RR today. Took only 6 stickers out cuz the rest were not really my style but they maybe someone else's. Took TinkerBell out for my niece Cailie, who loves Disney Princess and all that. I will send them to her in her Easter card soon. The rest are great for my pen pal letters. Thanks Jessica in the Netherlands. Got second package for this swap (Kay's) envelope sent again from Jess18877. This one was good, took more tinkerbell and littlest Petshop for Cailie and some HK for me!! There were also some loose stickers which I took 11 of. I received the last of the envelopes for this swap now and it has become aparent that I keep taking the same stickers. I am not going to join this RR again.

Swap-bot - Pick 7 Tea swap

This is my first swap-bot swap and I have to say I am VERY impressed with this swap. Beyond impressed with my partner Debbie (LittleRed) from B.C. The purpose of this swap with to pick 7 teas from the list of 10 your partner was offering. I was excited to try my picks form Debbie's list because they were all new to me. So my package arrive today and kudos to Debbie from sending it out the next day. I got my 7 tea's plus 3 extra's which, again kudos to debbie for picking such good choices! Also, she sent along a recipe card for Chocolate cheesecake cupcakes. *mouth is watering* Gave her a big heart with my rating for that one. Anyone who pffers me anything chocolate is #1 with me. Not sure which tea I want to try first, the Chocolatey Chai or the Chocolate Mint from Stash. Decisions, decisions! Then there's the coconut macadamia tea, again mouth is watering. Gott go drink some tea now! :)

Would have been nice if I could get this picture the right way but it's aggrivating me so I'm just going to leave it for now.

Tea RR #167 - 3 herbal tea's

Wow!I could smell these before I even got to the mailbox, I swear! Recieved from Gina71 in Germany and she was the first out of the 4 girls from the swap so far. So one thing is very clear, European teas are way different than our lame North American herbal teas. I am impressed with these three that I got because they actually smell like herbal tea. I mean you can smell the eucalyptus and the verbena and the sage and they smell wonderful and very medicinal. I could just sit here and sniff the purple MeBmer packet all day. Almost too good for drinking. I may be a little over dramatizing this but I like these teas. Definatley going to join more herbal teas swaps. Thanks Gina!! Got my 2nd for this swap (Received March 3rd) from Chiara64. There is a very intruiging tea in here called Chili Kakao Tee and I'm guessing the English traslation is chocolate chili tea? It smells very chilish and I'm not sure, to be honest, that I will like this one BUT I am here to try everything. The two others seem to be for remedys of sicknesses hence the herbal tea.I like the cheeky cherubs name on one of them. It's or the sniffles...love it! Thanks Karin :)

Got envelope #3 from this group now from Dae Liin in the Netherlands

I see the girls on the PC links saying how much they love Greenfield's teas and I have never heard of it (naturally I'm new to the world of tea) but Dae Liin sent a grape tea and it SMELLS GOOD! love the Pickwick too, got another one I didn't have :) Good job Dae Liin!!! Thank you for wrapping it up so nicely in the card too! And Finally n March 16th came my last envelope to complete this sawp, from Elizabetha in Russia. She sent three more of those Greenfield teas. She mentione in her note that she had received a birthday present of these teas and was sharing them with the members of this swap. Thank you very much for doing so!!!Have 2 Festive grape teas now!!! Thanks everyone, this swap is now done!

Chocolate Bar RR #28

And OH WOW I got chocolate bars today too! GR8 day for mail I say! So in this Round Robin #28 we were to send any type of chocolate to two other people and receive 2 back. My partners were Lady_kikic in Slovenia and vvMariavv in Russia. I realize that my stuff takes a bit longer cuz it has to go across the ocean but I was seriously wondering since I had sent my stuff the day I got my addess list. Well, one has arrived to Slovenia but the bar to Russia ??? Not to worry, my teas arrived to Carolien today so maybe the chocolate will too. So I received a very nice selection of many small chocolates with really cute baby faces and designs with animals printed on the pacakging. I can't read the Russian but they smell really good. So let's do a little taste test here, I've grabbed the little brown square chocolate and it's squishy so there's a filing inside...bitting...very sweet! It's some kind of white spongy filling but it's pretty good with the dark chocolate. Mmmmm tasty. This is such a good swap! :)

Let's try the little red riding hood chocolate now. It's a waffer bar with a nutty filling and I LIKE this one a lot! Thank you Maria for sending such yummies!! It's really nice to experience something from a different country whether it be food, drink or a postcard. Just brewing up that tea here and going to take a taste test. Not much a fan of green tea but we will see. It does smell good. Well, not too bad actually, you can taste the cranberry quite clearly but I am still not a fan of green tea. I think that it must all taste the same in some way or another but this tea gives you a great berry aftertaste. :)

Got another package today (February 18th) from lady_kikic in Slovenia which means this RR is now COMPLETED and I have received all the chocolate bars for this group 28. Unfortunately I am still waiting on the confirmation that mine was received to Russia. If not, I can't join any further RR's. Not sure if I will now and if I do, it will be milk chocolate this time. This bar of chocolate that was sent is taunting me, I can't smell or taste it because I have a cold so it will have to wait for another time. Thanks to both ladies for these! :)

Mystery Envelope #33

I was not expecting mail to be delivered today as it is the Family Day holiday but there were goodies waiting for me when I arrived home this afternoon. *not complaining cuz I love mail surprises* Funny thing was that I went to go mail a small package and the office was closed for the holiday but then why did they deliver? I scratch my head on that one but anyway....GOT MAIL!!! I got my Mystery envelope from Helenafl from the Netherlands. Now because it's a mystery and people may read my blog I won't say what was put back in or what was in there already but it is my blog and I will say what I took out. I'm not ruining it for anyone if it's something they won't see and by the time Helena gets her package back, it wll be all new goodies :) I took out 6 of the 10 items which were all pretty nice. Heart napkins are always good for the old purse, chopsticks are petty self explanitory and we have none in our house! :) Some cute magnets, deco tape for sealing envelopes and cellphone charm that I think sings or lights up. Also a envelope with a single sheet of stationery in it. Not really a great item but I took it anyway. Oh and there were free bookmarks! So, tomorrow it is off to the USA to Timdani. Hope ya like the envelope as much as I did :)

Tea RR #153

Finally the mailman decded to show up with something useful other than bills! Well, there were a few bills but those got quickly strewn aide so I could see the three envelopes with goodies waiting for my hot little hands. :) And first up, TEA!! My favorite :) Got some great tea's once again from Elta in Greece. More Saffron infused tea's. I am really going to try these now because for the life of me I don't even know what saffron tastes like, I only know tht it is very expensive stuff. Also got some fruity teas *likes* from the Netherlands. Never heard of this brand (Pickwick) before but Carolien says they are her faves so I think I'm gonna try the green tea with cranberry. I can't read the Deutsch names but I'm guessing one is Orange Pekoe. I am going to add to this blog for Feb 17th now as I received more tea for this group. An envelope came from Germany today with tea rom Julia. These smell nice and fruity. *Updated February 22, 2011, today I received the last of the tea for is swap so it has now been COMPLETED. Thanks you Annalynne from Slovenia for the three fruity smelling teas that I can't wait to into.

                                                                                               

Postcrossing

Heya peeps!

I forgot I had this site from 2008 when I used to blog about my teaching in Mexico and so I've started it again as I want to start blogging about the goodies I receive in the mail. I love to collect things, all sorts of things but mostly things that are flat and rather cheap to send via Canada Post. I have been a member of Postcrossing for years and recently came across the Round Robin groups which allows you to send and receive more than just postcards. I've become a avid tea drinker and found a cool site care of Ctrekoza in Turkey which has quickly become my favorite, as well as the Chocolate Bar RR and the Mystery Envelope RR. I had forgotten about the Mystery RR and received a envelope in the mail out of the blue from when I joined months and months back. The actual swap itself had been removed bcause it was feared lost but it turned up from China and so it went onto Russia as per the list. I've now joined up again for some new RR's and I am paitently waiting for the mail man to arrive today with hopefully some stuff for me! I love getting mail especially when it's not bills! I am anxious for the chocolate bars to come....mmm...chocolate!

5 teas in this picture were received from the Tea RR Group #150. Other's were received from some penapls and in older Round Robins. I participated in a few more Round Robins in this group, 2 of which were Around the World Round robins which meant they are sent to 5 different people and various teas are put in and taken out by each person, acording to thier likes. These should be arriving sometime this month hopefully. I am anxious to get them so that I can upload them and add them to my collection. I was really quite intrigued by the Saffron tea's and may take one out to try. I don't normally like tea's with spices in them as I enjoy fruity tea's the most but this one is interesting. I got three of them and they came from Greece. Still trying to figure out how to post links on this site and make it easier for you to navigate but I am not very computer literate.