I've gone international! Now appearing in... Florida?

You're probably going to laugh at this. You're going to roll your eyes, and you're going to try not to laugh at with me, but you're not going to be able to help yourself.

Guess which newspaper I'm in today?
Give up? The Tampa (!!) Tribune!

Guess which section?
The food (!!) section.

Guess why?
C'mon, guess!
Why, candy swap, of course. It makes perfect sense now, doesn't it?

Last week, a reporter from the Tampa Tribune was thinking about doing an article on candy swaps, and he came across my posts about the candy swap hosted by Andrea earlier this year. He interviewed both Andrea and I, and we're featured in his article, "Gimme Some Sugar", that appears today. Fun, eh? It's not in the online edition, but the paper edition may feature this picture of Tristan and Simon, opening my candy swap bounty from Bethany, that's in the original post. (I tried to copy the photo here, but after two hours - grrrr! - of fighting with Blogger Beta, I give up!)

Maybe it was my Canadian accent, but somehow he transcribed my candy beneficiary Nancy as Melissa. Sorry, Nancy, I really do know your name - honest!!

The interview was fun, as the writer and I compared childhood notes on such favourites as Pop Rocks, Bottle Caps and Fun Dips. But did you know they don't have Mackintosh Toffee in Florida? Scandalous! Maybe it's a Canadian thing? Anyway, the writer was very entertained by the idea of the very satisfying ritual of thwacking your Mack on the table to break it into bite-sized pieces of caramelly joy.

Speaking of childhood fun, please pardon the non-sequiter but I have to tell you about the Christmas present I bought for the boys yesterday online. Shhh!

It's from Cranium, the company that makes Cadoo and Balloon Lagoon and our favourite, Hullabaloo. It's called Super Fort: a 73-piece fort building kit. How cool is that? It comes with foam tubes - some rigid, some bendy - for building the structure, and magnetic connectors. It also has a handful of colourful cloth panels for walls, floors and ceilings, and clips to afix them. It's all designed for little hands, ages four and up. I can hardly wait until Christmas to see them open it up!! I love that feeling, when you know you've found a perfect gift. The Canadian Toy Testing Council agrees - they gave it their highest rating. And best of all? No batteries and no volume switch!

Heck, I guess this resolves the two-beds or bunk-beds question. We'll just throw a couple of pillows and blankets in with the box, and we'll be golden!