Candygram!

Patience may be a virtue, but it's not one of my personal strengths. Turns out some things are worth waiting for, though. Who knew?

No, I'm not talking about that other thing that's happening today, I'm talking about the arrival of my package this week for the great candyswap of 2006! Bethany not only came through for me, but she must have felt awfully guilty for being a little bit late (as if I'm ever on time for anything) because WOW! what a lot of great candy. But I'm getting ahead of the story...

I completely forgot to check the mail on Monday, so the poor package might have been stuck in the community mailbox in the blazing sun and 43C-with-humidity temperatures all day Monday. I was on my way home to a house full of in-laws when I picked finally retrieved the package on Tuesday afternoon, but couldn't justify putting off saying hello to them in order to tear into my package. (I tell ya, this being a grown up thing calls for a lot more restraint than I ever would have anticipated.)

In the bustle of our very-short overnight visit from the in-laws, I never did get the chance to open the package, but it didn't escape Beloved's eagle eye for candy. (I could paint the living room turquoise and puce with magenta accents, or come home shaved bald, and he might not notice. But a seven inch cubic square box of candy inside my messenger bag inside a closet he manages to ferret out. Go figure.)

He called me at work.

Beloved: "Can I open this package?"

Me: "Back off, Jack. That's my candy! You had your chance and you decided not to participate in the candy swap. Get yer paws off my box!"

Beloved: "But I shook it three times now, and it sounds like it's got some great stuff in it!"

Me: "Step away from the box. Don't mess with me on this one, I'm ovulating."

Beloved: *careful silence*

In the end, he managed to restrain himself. As he was leaving to teach his class after dinner tonight, he impelled me to open the box tonight, so he could inspect the bounty within. "It's full of American candy," he said reverently, his eyes glittering with expectation. "They have all kinds of candy down there that we don't have."

So shortly after we cleared away the dinner dishes and sent Beloved on his drooling way, notions of exotic American candy dancing in his head, my 'helpers' and I set about opening the package.



Inside, there was not only candy, but this really funky rainbow striped box. Is this a coincidence, Bethany, or did you know I have a container fixation?



And it was full - bountifully, blissfully FULL of snack-sized Twix Bars (mmmm), and sour Altoids, and sour Jelly Bellies, and Sour Patch Kids (my mouth is puckering just thinking about it) and a box of assorted flavours of Pop Rocks - remember pop rocks? I haven't seen them since grade school! I can't wait to freak the kids out by feeding them some. Watch for that excellence-in-parenting video to debut here soon! And last, but far from least, the biggest honkin' box of Willy Wonka Everlasting Gobstoppers I have ever seen. Bethany, you ROCK!!!!



And you know what? I know the perfect time to start making a dent in this most excellent stash of candy - this afternoon at the movie theatre. Heck, let's give that little embryo a sugar rush right out of the gate, shall we?

Thanks, Bethany, for the cornucopia of great candy!! And thanks to Andrea, too, for conceptualizing and creating the great candy swap of 2006... what a great idea!