still sick

…although slightly less so.  But sick enough that I’m just not spending time on the web, sorry.

I’ll get caught up soon.  Thanks for all your well wishes yesterday.  With Ulcerative Colitis, when I get a stomach virus like this (and I think because of the headache I can safely say that’s what it was)…it takes a bit longer to recover than most ‘normal’ people would be.  Oh well….

thanks again!

sick

Started at 2 am; bad headache, upper abdominal pain, diarrhea.

Back when this crap is passed.  Sorry.

Have a good week and happy Halloween if I don’t get back before then.

Shit’s about to get real

I love Reuters.com.  They are international, and they are about as free of partisan American politics reporting as you can find in the world anymore.  I trust them in that regard.  Even though I’m very liberal, I don’t trust cnn.com.  I do like their commentaries, but I take them with a grain of salt.

So back to Reuters.  This is the top news article of the day, having broken as a story last night:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-charges/first-charges-filed-in-u-s-special-counsels-russia-investigation-source-idUSKBN1CX00V

Shit’s about to get real.  Too bad I can’t eat popcorn anymore…

 

 

 

Most hated Halloween candy

Everyone wants to be the cool house on Halloween. But if you hand out bad candy, all the great decorations and spooky music in the world won’t save you from eggs and toilet paper.

To find out which candies people hate the most, bulk candy retailer CandyStore.com  looked at 10 years of sales data and 12 independent “best” and “worst” candy rankings, and surveyed 40,000 people. After crunching the numbers, they came out with a definitive list of the worst candies to find in your Halloween haul.

Stay safe, and avoid these 10 terrible “treats.”

(Image credit: Amazon)

10. Mary Janes

These chewy peanut butter candies look decidedly old, and not in a fun, retro way. Kids will look at these yellow and red wrappers and think you bought your candy from the antique mall. The flavor isn’t even particularly good, either. They’re like peanut butter-flavored Bit O’Honey, and eating one is like having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

(Image credit: Amazon)

9. Good & Plenty

Good & Plenty is a licorice candy, and kids hate licorice so much it’s on the list twice. The colorful candy shells of Good & Plenty are almost a mean trick, because they disguise the licorice. A kid thinks they’re getting a piece of candy, and then as soon as they take a bite they go, “Ugh, licorice!” Good & Plenty is a good candy to hand out if your goal is to troll some children.

(Image credit: Amazon)

8. Black Licorice

This is about black licorice, not red licorice. Kids love Twizzlers and Red Vines, but handing out black licorice at Halloween is a quick way to become the most hated house on the block. Adults might like black licorice; it’s a sophisticated flavor, and many people acquire the taste with age, like they do for things like dark chocolate, espresso, and whiskey. Kids tend to think it’s weird and bitter.

(Image credit: Amazon)

7. Smarties

These crunchy little candies are cute and lively, and their fruit flavors are all distinctly different. Something about the little roll they come in just feels special, and it’s fun to watch them roll across the table. The problem with Smarties is that one roll of Smarties is fun, but it’s tough to eat more than that, and kids will get 10,000 rolls of Smarties in their Halloween bags. In Canada, these are called Rockets.

(Image credit: Oriental Trading Company)

6. Tootsie Rolls

Tootsie Rolls are tiny and chewy and they look like they should taste like chocolate, but they don’t, and that’s cruel. Tootsie Rolls are not the worst candy, but they’re pretty boring, and Halloween is not the time to be boring.

(Image credit: Amazon)

5. Peanut Butter Kisses

You’ve definitely seen these things, but you might not have known they had an actual name. These are big chunks of what looks like peanut butter-flavored taffy, and they come in plain black and orange wrappers. They’re ubiquitous at Halloween, but they’re mainly useful as a calendar-keeping tool: When a kid’s trick-or-treat bag has nothing left in it but these uneaten orange and black things, fall is officially over.

(Image credit: Amazon)

4. Necco Wafers

Necco Wafers must have been designed for kids who want eat sidewalk chalk. They’re basically huge, flat, powdery Smarties with flavors like licorice, clove, and cinnamon. These candies were popular in the 19th century, but we have better candy now.

(Image credit: Amazon)

3. Wax Cola Bottles

These always seem like such a great idea. Biting into a tiny wax cola bottle to get a mouth full of the “cola” sounds like tremendous fun, but it’s really just a squirt of sugar water, then you have a mouth full of chewed-up wax. The novelty of these wears off fast.

(Image credit: Amazon)

2. Candy Corn

The second-most-hated candy in America is also the most divisive. A lot of people really, really hate candy corn, which is how it got to the number-two spot on this list. But candy corn’s defenders are passionate about all the great qualities of their favorite candy. Candy corn is really just sugar, shaped into a little triangle, but it still gets points for festivity. Nothing says Halloween like a big bowl of candy corn.

(Image credit: Amazon)

1. Circus Peanuts

Candy corn inspires intense debate, but nobody is debating the merits of the circus peanut. These are by far the most-hated candy in America. Nothing about a circus peanut makes sense. It’s a chewy orange marshmallow shaped like a peanut, and for some inexplicable reason it tastes like banana. Why would a peanut taste like a banana? This is what would happen if you asked a space alien to invent a fun new candy for human children.

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I love a good handful of Candy Corn, and I’ve always liked Good n Plenty.  So sue me.  LOL  What about you?

A special day

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary.

This man is my absolute rock star.  He defines unconditional love, and he’s the best thing that ever happened to me, especially so late in life.  I adore him, and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

a heart-warming story

I don’t know how many (if any) of you watch NFL’s Monday Night football, but tonight, leading into the game between Washington and Philly, they had a heartwarming story about Philly’s 2nd year quarterback, Carson Wentz.

A little 9 year old was suffering from stomach cancer, had been for over a year.  He had a grapefruit sized mass in his stomach that needed to be removed. Carson Wentz was his favorite player.  I guess a radiologist where he was getting treatment, notified the Philadelphia Eagle’s about his plight.  The QB, Carson Wentz, sent over a video message to the boy, Lukas Kuster, while he was in the hospital.  The boy broke down, he was so excited.

A few weeks after his surgery, it was found that his cancer had returned.  When his parents learned he didn’t have long to live, The Make A Wish Foundation asked Lukas if there was anywhere he wanted to go, anything he wanted to do.  He didn’t want to go anywhere, he just wanted to thank Carson Wentz for the video message.

Well, the Eagles and Carson Wentz did better than that.  They arranged for Lukas and his family to be brought, by limousine, to the Eagles stadium/team facility.    They  gave them a personal tour of the facility, where he met Wentz and his favorite defensive player, Jordan Hicks.  When Lukas was leaving, he gave Wentz his wristband, sporting his nickname, ‘The Dutch Destroyer’, and rose from his wheelchair to give Wentz and Hicks a hug.

Lukas died 13 days after that visit to the Eagles facility.

However, the connection didn’t end there.  Lukas was buried in a Wentz jersey, a fact that still chokes Wentz up when he’s asked about it.

And when Wentz took the field for the season opener, he did so wearing his ‘Dutch Destroyer’ bracelet, to the surprise of Lukas’ family.  And Wentz has worn that bracelet during every single game since.

When Lukas’ family was brought to the game tonight as guests of the Eagles, and Wentz saw them on the sidelines during warm-ups, he came over to the family, and spent over 15 minutes talking with them.

Below is Wentz after they won tonight, with Lukas’ dad.  See the “Dutch Destroyer” bracelet on his left wrist…

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The entire story from ESPN.com’s Tim McManus and the accompanying video from Tom Rinaldi is worth your time, but be sure to stash a box of Kleenex nearby. And next time you see Wentz out there making a name for himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in the game, remember that he carries a little bit of the Dutch Destroyer with him every day.  As Lukas’ mother said tonight, “Lukas will never get to live his dream of becoming an NFL player, but he’s pretty darned close to it right now.”

100 x 2

It’s supposed to be 100 here, for the next 2 days.  Then Wednesday will be in the 90’s, then ‘back down to’ high 80’s by Thursday. 

Actually, I’d prefer this to cold, wet, gloomy.  (part of the reason I look forward to moving to AZ in about 2 years.)

Still, weird for this time of the year, even for here in southern California…  we don’t usually need our heater before 11/1, but looks like it will be much later this year.

Guess a few more days of A/C use.  (we try never to use it unless it’s over 90.)

Here’s the forecast for the next 10 days:

C’est la vie…

Such a lovely day!

First off, the weather was AMAZING.  About 80 degrees, but a nice cool breeze.

We started off by going to lunch, because Luke’s party was at 4 so we weren’t sure if there would be anything besides dessert.  (I forgot to ask.) 

Then we went to Jack’s soccer game (Luke’s older brother.)  Jack scored 2 of his team’s 5 goals, and they won 5-1.  They have not been defeated, and have won all games except for one that they tied.  It was great!  I’m so proud of him!

The party was a lot of fun.  Ends up they did have pizza…and Luke isn’t a dessert or cake person, so they had gotten 3 boxes of donuts, and Luke blew out his candle in a donut.  And the little stinker I think now owns every Incredible Hulk toy on the market.  LOL

All in all, a great day!  Here are a few photos.  I have a huge smile on my face.

Here’s a Hulk mask that was one of the gifts we got him. Clearly a big score.  🙂

They always do a pinata for the boys.  Birthday boy gets first hits.  Luke took it VERY serious this year.  LOL

All of the other younger kids waiting for their turn at the pinata…

And Luke with his birthday donut.  Silly boy.  LOL  (me, I’m a birthday pie kind of girl, so who am I to talk…)

No, that’s not Luke’s Coors Light in the background.  Not sure who it belonged to.  hehehe.  🙂

5 years old!

My youngest grandson turns 5 today.  The family party for him is tomorrow/Saturday.  I can’t believe he’s already five, but he’s finally coming out of a shyness stage and is now all boy.  And I’m completely partial but I think he is THE cutest little boy!!!

Here is his sweet life in photos:

I remember this sweet little autumn colors knit hat that the hospital gave him.  🙂

Yep,  we breed well.  LOL

Happy birthday, sweet Luke!!!  Grammy loves you to the moon and back!

Throwback Thursday

Circa 1987…(yikes!  30 years ago!!)

Two photos of me and my daughters when we (with their dad, too)….went to Hawaii…the one and only time the four of us went there together.  ETA:  I take that back.  The older one went to UH-Hilo for one year, and we all went back when we took her back for the start of that year.  DOH!   The oldest daughter was 13, the younger 11.  We had a blast!

Oh, how I long for the thick hair I had back then, at age 36…..probably the best tan I ever had, too.  Being of Scotch-Irish-English descent, it was usually burn-peel for me.  I had to work VERY slowly to develop this kind of tan.

And no, the oldest wasn’t being sullen.  Just a poor snap by the husband.

This next picture, us girls were on these rubber (plastic) rafts at the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s lagoon.  And I LOVED it.  Probably the best afternoon of my life!  I don’t swim, but the lagoon was self-contained, and not deep at all, so we could just float without a care in the world, and we did.  Just taking off from the ‘shore’ here.  Such a wonderful memory!!!

Have you ever been to Hawaii?  With family?  What are your best memories of that or any other specific family trip?