Space Cookies

No. 3, Alien Bakery

Happy Halloween and UFO Day!
Must. Keep. Eating. Candy. And. Watching. Baseball.
Take Me To Your:
Jeter (I always thought he was an alien)
Couch
Fridge

Tubes (No, not The Tubes)

No. 4, Colorful Candy
...In tubes or sleeves or individual wrappers that sink to the middle of your trick-or-treat bag.

This hard and chewy category includes sleeves of Rain-Blo Gum, Jawbreakers, Wax Syrup Stix, Bubbegum Cigars (I prefer Pink Owl), Sixlets, candy lipstick—anything in a tube, sleeve or wrapper.
Green or ridiculously elaborate, if you can see through the wrapper, it's colorful, and you're fairly certain you can stick it in your mouth, dump the bowl in my bag, baby.

White Punks On Dope

Fartwood Manor

One of my blogger buds, displaced ched pals, and fantasy football rivals, Mary Ruth, goes all out on Halloween. She sent in a few shots from her front lawn, aka, Fartwood Manor.
She's got her cemetery, pumpkin totem, and a podcast from last year on her blog.
They get about 300 trick-or-treaters, I might buy something for a neighbor's kid or dog.
They use a fogger for their pre-Halloween party, I go to Parent's Night on State Street if I can find parking close enough.

The thing about moving from Wisconsin to Cali, pumpkins don't last and leaves have to be pilfered from around the neighborhood.
Thanks, Robot Monster!

Too Too Tootsie

No. 5, All Things Tootsie (no, this dog is not stoned, although I've had my suspicions)

My bloated stomach looks like Kuato (the resistance leader growing out of that guy's gut in Total Recall) and is threatening to drop down to my knees and do a corn syrup Happy Dance. I owe my current state of distress to a 47 oz Child's Play Tootsie Value Pack.
Why, Tootsie Roll Industries, why?

(Go Phils)

The pack I'm currently deflowering contains Tootsie Roll Pops, DOTS, Tootsie Fruit Rolls, and three sizes of Tootsie Rolls. I'm looking for a large satchel to dump them into so I can hand them out to the "kids" on State Street tomorrow ("Parent's Night").
Tonight I'm hoping to stay out of the ER—where's that giant bag of candy?

Born Again

Coming in at No. 6, Stuff From Just Born

This, my dangerously high blood sugared friends, includes Hot Tamales (love them, need them, have them often, eat them with popcorn and apples, want to bear their children—Lola Heatherton laugh), Peeps (what can you say about Peeps—squeeze them, melt them, torture them, stuff 12 in your mouth), Jolly Joes (which have resurfaced in places like the Dollar Store), and the I'mnotquitesureaboutthisbutI'vealreadyeatenallmyfavoritecandyandit'sbig, pleasant surprise in the middle of your trick-or-treat bag, hits-the-spot (the spot that probably doesn't exist if you eat Halloween candy the way I did...do) Peanut Chews.

You go Just Born, a tip of the pancreas to you.

Balls

No. 7, Novelty Gum

Another All Candy Expo photo (the gift that keeps on giving), these balls were begging to be chewed. Although the idea of biting into a tennis ball makes my teeth scream, the goo spilling out them makes these Fini sport balls a must-have.
I'm also a sucker (pun intended) for watermelon bubble gum.

Flavor of the Month

No. 8, Pumpkin Flavored Anything and Hot Cocoa

Love those seasonal snacks—apples, cinnamon, and especially pumpkin. Pumpkin muffins, donuts, cookies, ice cream, bread, candy, and yes, pretzels, why not—fahget aboud it.

Hoorah~It's Cold Enough For Hot Cocoa

Nothing says warmth and sugar like hot cocoa. Nothing says warmth, sugar, excess, and celebrity worship like Elvis Cocoa. Why not wash down your pumpkin snack with a special cup of Elvis Banana Peanut Butter Sandwich or Melted Knees Cocoa?

Scary Canadians

Some lovely er photos (Ab Fab reference #687) from the lovely C., John, and Little One.

Wish the beetles that have invaded my apartment were this cute.
A Halloween card is coming your way, C.

Number Nine

No. 9 (etcetera) Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, literally a Trick or Treat candy

Nothing like a mouth full of Pencil Shavings instead of a Top Banana, Moldy Cheese when you wanted Carmel Corn. The gamy Jelly Belly promotion, Bean Boozled, mixes up the tasty and the nasty, which look exactly alike (due out as a spinner board game this fall).


I got to play at the Expo last spring and became quite enamored with the Baby Wipes (which look like the Coconut beans and taste like baby wipes). I also carried aroung a baggie of Dog Food all summer.

My online spin gave me Rotten Egg instead of its counterpart, Carmel Corn, and one Sweepstakes Entry.
They're out of the 10 flavor gift boxes at Candy Warehouse (and the two-fer boxes at Candy Crate), so maybe other candy givers have the same idea.
What could be a more perfect gift for your Halloween party guests or host.

Snowbat

Thanks, Heidi, you win a Halloween card.
Excellent, excellent photo, btw. Look at those little cheeks.

It's What Now?

Blah.

In sum: apartment flooded, ten years worth of stuff juggled, shuffled, tossed, and given away.
For legal reasons suffice it to say that the nightmare of looking for a place to rest my weary (and wet) head, going back to face landlords and their employees every. day. (from August 15 up to Labor Day) and losing many of the things I took for granted (like sanity) is now the least of my worries.
The stuff I've yet to find is stuff I don't really know is missing—wrap your sugar filled brains around that one.
And finally, I found a computer desk.

Isn't she cute? Yes, I'm now anthropomorphizing furniture as well as computers, cars, and dogs.
This lovely Legaré desk is sometimes called the puzzle desk because it comes in a few wooden pieces that look like puzzles. Unfortunately I was one of those smash it in with your fist types and had a few pieces left over where the hard drive now sits.


Speaking of left over, how many of you have been Halloween candy shopping since July and which batch are you on now? Not having a place to live or something on which to write may have slowed me down, but it doesn't mean I wasn't watching. And waiting, brrrraaaahahaha.
I'm going to be posting a lot of old and new photos through Halloween and want to send a Halloween card (pictured in the desk photo) to whoever sends me a great Halloween photo.
I think I already have a winner, which is something, considering I haven't posted this yet.

More importantly, I'll also be listing my top ten Halloween Treats—knowing that although my math is unforgivably bad, this will take us beyond Halloween.
Here's Number 10.

The James J. Awesome Gourmet Chocolate Caramel Apple w/Pecans, $6.95

James J. makes them every Wednesday in Lake Mills and brings them to the Madison shop on Monroe, next to Mallatt's.
They go quickly. You may think $6.95 for a caramel apple is pricey (it is), but these are truly the best I've had. And I've had, believe me, I have had.
If you want to place an order for several (no limit suggested), you should have them within a week.
I reviewed them here, they're seasonal and life altering and I suggest at least one a year.