I just realized something.

[conuly]

Ana and Eva are now mature enough that I can buy Halloween stuff before the actual day of Halloween!

OMG.

***************************

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Comments

[notasupervillain]

Happy pre-halloween then!

[conuly]

Thanks.

[foliedemars]

The last one is very upsetting, and imagine how many more there are that were not even reported or never charged.

[conuly]

Given the percentage of cops : population, there must be scads more.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! So, whatcha gonna buy?

[conuly]

Mostly I only buy glowsticks, but this year CVS had a variety of non-candy options so I picked them up. Unhappily, I didn't realize the variety pack of 20 was $15, non-variety packs of similar items were more in the $2 range, so I'm returning that one in the morning and making an exchange. That $15 would never pay for my tooth (or anything else) anyway.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Glowsticks are always good, but... no candy?!? Trick-or-Treat spoze to be about treats: it's the Chocolate Harvest, during which a fast and perseverative kid can gather enough to tide them over till Christmas, even if they eat so much of it on Halloween night that they literally get sick.

I was fortunate enough to spend my best trick-or-treating years (9 to 14) in the endless suburbs of New Jersey, in the late 60's-early 70's when people still gave out homemade treats, and there were no "fun-size" candy bars, only the real deal. I used to take two pillowcases with me, so when one got too heavy, I could hide it in our yard and continue on my quest, without my Mom catching me and making me come inside. Those were the Glory Days; alas, there'll never be trick-or-treating like that again.

I buy salted caramel Ghirardelli Squares for Halloween, just in case anybody actually trick-or-treats us. Usually no one does; the neighborhood is mostly retired people; but I'd hate to have nothing on hand if some kid did knock. If this means I have to eat most (if not all) of the candy myself, so be it: Ghirardelli Squares melt very nicely into a hot cup of coffee. ;~D

[conuly]

No candy. I don't like buying non fair trade chocolate (slave labor), I don't like buying food coloring (gross), and I increasingly dislike buying non fair trade sugar products (slaaaaaaavery) and with 100+ kids descending on my house at Halloween I simply can't afford to get good candy for all of them.

Plus, I know at least one diabetic child (well, she's in high school now) who really appreciates being able to sometimes get something she can enjoy at Halloween rather than something she has to save in case she suddenly has super low blood sugar.

Now, if the entire neighborhood only gave non-food treats, that'd be one thing - but as it's really only me (and one neighbor who gives juice boxes, which are the big hit every year, go figure) I don't think I'm ruining the party too much.

At least I'm not handing out toothbrushes.

(Of course, the holy grail here is to find a halloween treat that's slavery free, fair to kids with dietary restrictions, inexpensive, and also doesn't produce garbage. Haven't worked that one out yet.)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"a halloween treat that's slavery free, fair to kids with dietary restrictions, inexpensive, and also doesn't produce garbage."

In years past, when I lived where we got a lot of trick-or-treaters, I've sometimes given out pennies by the (small) handful, about five per kid. "Money!!" they'd cry joyfully, but it cost me a lot less per kid than even the cheapest candy would have.

[conuly]

That's an idea. Too late to do now.

[conuly]

Hey, apropos of nothing, do you have any favorite color combinations?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

My actual favorite colors don't look good on me - cobalt/peacock blue, emerald green, bright purple - I love the bright, saturated hues, but I'm too fair to wear them well. "Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose" for my mundane clothes - Navy/denim blue, forest green. My SCA garb is mostly teal and black these days, and I seem to have inadvertently turned pirate.

[conuly]

Perhaps deep green and blue with a small accent of a brighter blue or green?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, but in all honesty, I'm very much a solid-color person, to the point of having to consciously work at not being totally monochromatic. For a lot of years I wore all black; then I got rid of everything black and switched to all green all the time, but for the past five years it's been Navy blue, because US Fish & Wildlife volunteer.

Sequim is the undressiest place I've ever lived - there's not a restaurant on the whole Olympic peninsula where a lady my age would look under-dressed in jeans and a sweater. I wear my fancy Elven/pirate garb at the Festivals, but at home it's always just jeans, boots, tank-top and hoodie, often accessorized with work gloves.

[conuly]

Well, you're getting a hat/scarf set now that my mother's able to crochet again, and nothing is less dressy than a comfy hat/scarf set. I meant to send you one a while back, but her fingers weren't working right.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I would love one; thank you; and for such items, variegated yarn would be fine - either deep blue or deep green. I'm fine with either wool or acrylic.

[conuly]

I think most of ours right now is cotton, that's also okay?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Absolutely; actually better than either wool or acrylic.

[conuly]

Your card came! Those are just the cutest little puppies! Thanks so much, you are such the best.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Surely welcome, dearheart! I knew you'd like those puppies! On Thursday I met a 'Morkie' - Maltese/Yorkshire - with a face like that; she's a little love, too. She must have been nearly lethally adorable as a pup.

[conuly]

Damn, I ruined the surprise. I'm awful at surprise gifts. Forget we had this conversation, would you?

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

No, my friend; you did exactly right, because I am extremely surprise-challenged, as well as being color-combination challenged.

Um, what conversation? ;~D

[halfshellvenus]

Late in my reading, but... my kids were never the problem with Halloween candy, since I could always hide it.

The ADULTS-- especially me!-- were the problem. I spent years buying 'low-temptation' treats like Smarties to give out. Though once you break into them, you discover that even Smarties are better than you thought they were. /o\

[conuly]

Ah. I buy glow sticks. Totally different problem!