Aug. 18: More miscellany

Life got a little overwhelming there for a while, but I’m back and I have many different things to show you. This first thing is sump’n I found on Pinterest, and it fits in the category of decluttering so I love it. 

What you’re supposed to do—or what I interpreted as the instructions—is fill at least one bag from each area with items that can be tossed or given away. Since I’ve been decluttering for a few months now, I was able to cross lots of areas off right away. AWESOME! The list was inspiring, but I knew I needed to change it up a little bit to work for me.

The more I edited the original list, the more I added, and mine ended up being 60+ areas long. Nothing wrong with that. I even got the kids excited about working through it, because I said the reward for getting rid of all these things would be an overnight trip to the coast. I know Katie (our little packrat) thinks getting rid of old things just makes room for lots more new ones, so there has to be decent incentive to get any real work out of her, and fortunately they think going to the beach overnight is all kinds o’ awesome.

Speaking of the beach, when we went to Seaside last week, we browsed the way-cool candy store and were way-surprised to see these are still being sold:

Those, my friends, are candy cigarettes. Lots of different ones. There were two shelves full! My personal favorite is the “Just Like Dad!” brand. Oh, and on the other side of the store, they sold these:

Have you had these? I wasn’t brave enough to try one.

OK, is it weird that I think this iPhone handset is awesome and I kinda have to have it? I miss wedging a handset between my ear and shoulder sometimes.

Here are some more fun Pinterest finds.

 

Alright, back to overwhelming.

Jun. 19: Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there! Today especially, I’m grateful to my husband for being the good dad he is to our kids, and I feel fortunate to have a kind and loving father-in-law. This holiday is different now that my own dad is gone, but there are still plenty of special people to honor, so we celebrate BIG in our house. Like, soooo big: today Vic is doing laundry, I’m organizing my office, and the kids are playing outside. Yep, we go ca-razy.

It’s never easy to shop for Father’s Day gifts and cards for Vic, because most of the stereotypical dad things just don’t fit him. He doesn’t wear ties or play golf (regularly) or fight for the remote or work in the garage or fix cars or use excessive amounts of duct tape (my dad did ALL of those things). Victor does, however, work in the yard a lot and the kids always veer toward garden stuff when we shop for him. I try to discourage them because the time he spends in the yard is not exactly joyful to him; new garden tools are something he buys only when he absolutely must.

Instead, Katie and Jack chose to make this candy card/poster for Vic. They proudly presented it to him this morning:

Before they started writing and gluing, I helped them compose the note and asked which candy they wanted next to their names. Katie shouted “Smartie!” at exactly the same time Jack shouted, “Airhead!” That was a lot easier than I expected. Don’t say our kids don’t know themselves.

Grilling for dinner. Yum.

Oct. 26: The candy pyramid

With Halloween approaching, you’re probably needing some advice before you go shopping for the candy you’ll hand out to trick-or-treaters. It says so much about the family you are, doesn’t it? No? Maybe?

Here’s a helpful chart of candy hierarchy from boingboing.net:

The footnotes:

1. Note that many candies still await placement: York Peppermint Patties, Luna Bars, Reese's Pieces, residue from old paint cans, and Skittles, among others.

2. These may be rolled to a friend.

3. Whoppers blow.

4. Still no unanimous decision on the placement of Candy Corn, which as of 2006 remained unclassified, but as of 2007 had been tentatively placed in the Upper Chewy/Upper Devonian. 2008: no sighting.

5. Unless it's something caramel, pronounced "caramel."

6. Remains an outlier, since it is in no way "chewy." Further studies have not resolved this inconsistency.

7. Yet some would be just as well to be left off. Bit-o-Honey, for example, might be called a lower tier member, but why bother? It says to your trick-or-treaters, "Here, I don't care, just take this." The lesson of Bit-o-Honey is: you lose. Goo Goo clusters, too. You're making a social statement--"I hate you and everything you represent"--when you give these out.

As you can imagine, not everyone agrees with this hierarchy. The comments to this post are pretty good. These are my comments (because I know you were waiting, dying to know what I think):

• The only reason I would ever eat a Twix is if I was doing the whole George-slowly-going-insane routine from The Dealership episode of Seinfeld. Not a fan of Twix, or really any candy bar with the cookie crunch.
• Reggie Jackson bar? WTF?
• Whoppers do blow.
• Jolly Ranchers in the third tier? Unless they’re green apple or FIRE, they’re trash.
• Almond Joys should be higher than third tier. And they’re totally healthy because there’s fruit in them. AND there’s a nut. Health food.
• A lot of the candy in the bottom tier is stuff I like—non-messy, non-melting treats to eat while I’m at my desk. Smarties are perfect for that. I won’t argue for any of those to go up in the hierarchy, though—I know they’re “meh” compared to the good stuff.
• Debi and I decided long ago that “those odd marshmallow circus peanut things” are what they serve for every dessert on the Wal-Mart cruise line.
• Now ‘n Laters on the lowest tier? That’s funny. I used to love them, but nowadays I really only like a couple flavors. They’re also really bad for expensive dental work. They probably belong that low on the list.

When I took Katie trick-or-treating on our street for her second Halloween, a guy at one house was chuckling at how she so obviously did NOT understand the concept. I said it was better than the big kids, who T-o-T with pillowcases and don’t even bother to dress up. The guy said, “Oh, that’s why I have these!” and he showed me a bowl behind the door that was full of really crappy bubble gum—not Bazooka or a brand anyone’s ever heard of; it was truly nasty stuff. I thought that was a great idea, and I’ve had a small bowl of that stuff next to the good candy every year since.