Bliss on a Stick! ;) ...

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There is a magical quality to the air recently...it occurs every year about this time.
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It is the hint of promises yet fulfilled...of new and purity...of wishes and dreams.
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It is HALLOWEEN SEASON! ;)
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Yes, I stand by my belief that this time of year heralds songs unsung, promises unspoken, and destiny yet to be fulfilled.
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This time of year is MORE like "New Year's Eve" to me...with limitless possibilities and the excitement of new and wondrous adventures propelling it along.
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Why?
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Well, it starts the same way every year, and it is just as exhilarating every time...
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It begins with the change in the air. With that faint, North wind blowing in... rustling the grass, and tinging the leaves on the tress...just beginning to tweak them towards their pallet of brilliant oranges, vibrant reds, golds, yellows, and burnt umbers.
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A long, hot Summer behind us, and the citrus-twist of Fall wafting slowly through the air...just the beginnings of the change-of-seasons eliciting excitement.
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The air quality changes...becomes crisper, sweeter, fresher...and invigorates my soul from within...rustling up the depths of memories...memories built and cherished from every year at this time.
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This phenomena began the day I was born...HALLOWEEN! =) ...The BEST of all days to have been born! =)
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As a kid, it was GLORIOUS!...
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It was always a special occasion...it seemed as if everyone in the world was celebrating with me.
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My child's eyes looked at it this way: It was THE BEST day to be born...everyone partied with you, and you did not get screwed-out of presents! ;) LOL! ...
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...Unlike those poor Christmas-time babies...with the one gift for both occasions...your birthday gift always being wrapped in gilt Christmas paper.
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I ALWAYS had costume-themed birthday parties, I ALWAYS dressed-up, ALWAYS had a Halloween-themed birthday cake, ALWAYS went trick-or-treating, and ALWAYS received loads of candy in my orange, plastic jack-o-lantern.
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I remember I was a witch for MANY Halloweens in a row. My wonderful grandma (whom could do ANYTHING!...Sew, paint, cook, had a magical green thumb, and was AMAZING! =)...
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Well, Grandma made witch costumes for my sister and I, when I was about 6, and they were WONDERFUL!...
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...If I close my eyes, I can still smell the thick, black fabric...and, oh yes, it DEFINITELY had a certain fragrance to it. Maybe it was because it smelled like Grandma's house...like roses, lavender, and ivy...Grandma's house always smelled like roses and lavender.
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My sister and I already had the long, black hair...so the witch-theme was a natural progression. I loved it too, BECAUSE I was born on Halloween...and I truly believed myself to BE a witch...still do! ;)
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And then, there were the years when those store-bought, plastic costumes were all the rage...with the thin, plastic smock, complete with a stamped design of whatever character you wanted to be...
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...and to top it all off, was that thin, plastic mask. The mask which covered your face, had a rubber-band across the back of your head, and only tiny slits for eye holes and a mouth hole.
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That would NEVER fly these days! Those masks were a complete safety hazard...you could not see, and you could barely BREATHE! ;)
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Never-the-less, I loved them completely...I recall that I used to stick the tip of my tongue out thru the little mouth hole, feeling the sharpness of the plastic...and building up quite the wall of steam behind the thing! ...Which, made that whole breathing-business all the more tedious! ;)
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Ah well...even then, I subscribed to the motto of: "It is better to LOOK good, than to FEEL good!" (Thank you very much, Billy Crystal, for voicing what I inherently knew, yet could never quite accurately convey. ;)
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My little "CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST", and "WONDER WOMAN*" costumes were two of my favorites! =)
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I have dressed-up in full-regalia EVERY YEAR of my life, for Halloween...I could not imagine doing otherwise.
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My costumes have become more extreme...custom-designed and sewn by some of the best seamstresses around. My sister even helped me to create a few...I the designer, she the seamstress.
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They were gorgeous costumes...
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Oh, BTW...I simply HAD to be a Disney heroine/princess every year there for a while. That was when Disney had a new animated movie out each year, and the heroines almost always resembled me! ;)
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So...they included:
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~"SNOW WHITE"...(go figure, huh? ;)
~"ESMERELDA" from "THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME"
~"JASMINE" from "ALADDIN"
~"MEGARA" from "HERCULES"
~"POCAHONTAS"
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~And then, I had to be "DARKWING DUCK", as well...LOL! ;)..."The Terror That Flaps in the Night!" =) ... It was a COOL costume.
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Now, of course, I have my full-on, jacked-up, authentically-fab WONDER WOMAN regalia!...and it is INSANE! ;) ...NOT a "costume"...the real deal! ...Remember?...I AM Wonder Woman*! ;)
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So, every year...about this time...when the air changes to candy corn breezes, and the corn stalks and hay bales dot the landscape...with scarecrows and pumpkins peeping out from their midst, it signals the beginning of my new search for THE costume...a heady feeling indeed...WAY better than designing a wedding dress...I get to do this EVERY year!
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I exploded into happiness yesterday, when I went to Dierberg's (our local, high-end grocery store chain)...I approached the entryway, and immediately spied the abundance of fresh Mums strewn about the patio area...blossoming in hues of reds and oranges.
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I walked through the automatic doors, and there...between the two sets of doors, was an eye-dazzling delight of festive orange!...It was the display of MINI-PUMPKINS! :o}
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I carefully examined them, for just the "right" one...the perfect little pumpkin, expressing a totally round, slightly squat shape, with a pert little stem on top. =)
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Finding my prize, I set the little jewel carefully in my cart.
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Ahhh...the 1st pumpkin of the season! Certainly the smallest, but definitely the cutest...and this one will last me through the Thanksgiving holidays, for sure...they always do. =)

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I will scour the pumpkin farms this season...as every season...culminating my journey at "ROMBACH'S FARM"...the Crown Jewel of pumpkin patches!... .
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...Resplendent with acres of pumpkins, hay rides, straw bale mazes, haunted attractions, spooky music, a giant mountain of enormous pumpkins, an outdoor barbecue area...plus cold beer, cider, and soda for sale...
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Oh!...also, a "pumpkin launcher"-catapult thingy--certain to thrill the kids, and the NASCAR-shirt-wearing, pick-up truck driving, mullet-sporting guys alike!
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(*NOTE TO SELF: The pumpkin farm is NOT the place to pick up a guy! ...Eeewwwww...)
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So!...
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...I ALWAYS have to buy THE biggest, most perfect pumpkin I can find...hundreds of pounds of pure, pumpkin-carving bliss! And, ooohhhh...the yummy pumpkin seeds I make out of those! Mmmm... :o}
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Many years, I have had MULTIPLE monster pumpkins...but now I try to keep it to just one massive pumpkin. However, I know that THIS year I need to buy TWO...one for Boomer, and one for myself.
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I DO NOT share pumpkin cleaning and carving duties. It MUST be PERFECT...and it MUST be MY WAY! LOL! ;) We are both too much of the "project manager type"...total control-freaks...so there is NO SHARING of the pumpkins.
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I learned that LAST year... he TOTALLY needs his own. ;) ...I am WAY more of a perfectionist than he is, ESPECIALLY when it comes to design/decorating. (Uh, yeah...possibly his own Christmas tree would be a good thing, too... ;)


.***(NOTE FROM TEACHERS: "Little Glitter Girl does not play well with others...although she MANAGES her play-group very adeptly!" ;)***
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Okay, so back to my sojourn into Dierberg's yesterday...the initial SOURCE of the inspiration for this blog...
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I continued on into the store...wheeling my grocery cart towards the produce department...and then...BAM!...
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...Nirvana beckoned from the little cooler-case display across from the Courtesy Counter...
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...THE PURE, CARAMELLY-BLISS THAT IS THE ~"MERB'S CARAMEL BIONIC APPLE"!~
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LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ...(Uh, that's the Heavens opening and the angels singing! ;) ...
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...LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! ...YIPPPPPPEEEEEE!!! :o}
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I was IMMEDIATELY transported to a feeling of divine RAPTURE!
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The "Merb's Bionic Apple"...an amazing and colossal creation of our local "Merb's Candy Company"...and a staple of my Halloweens since I was a kid.
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The Bionic Apple is an enormous Granny Smith Apple, double-dipped in the smoothest, butteriest, most succulent home-made caramel you will ever taste!
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...Then, 3/4 of the dipped apple is rolled in toasted, meaty pecan halves. The pecans are fresh and thick, and slightly salty...just salty enough to perfectly complement the divine sweetness of the buttery caramel.
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Heaven-on-a-stick, baby...no doubt about it.
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These colossal jewels are individually wrapped in their own little plastic baggies, tied off with a red ribbon-bow, and priced at a lofty $5...(which for here, is kinda steep)...especially since they USED to be 2 for $5...but, then again...EVERYTHING has sky-rocketed, has it not?
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I will totally forego an extra gallon of gas in my tank, in lieu of this divinity. ;)
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The caramel apple season only lasts until just after Thanksgiving...and then they disappear until this time next year.
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Which, is just about the right amount of time to allow me to get over foundering myself on them, and make me salivate for more, once again. ;)
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Damn, I love the Halloween season. (Just too bad that now it also means I am going to be yet another freaking year OLDER...ughhh...I am SOOO not liking the Yin/Yang dichotomy of THAT...makes it a little harder to get my verve' on to it! ;)
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However!...I will muddle thru! ;) LOL!...
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So, as I spun my cart through the produce department, I conjured up all the possibilities of how THIS Halloween season was going to be EVEN BETTER...brighter, more fantastic, and more ethereally magical.
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What a heady feeling. =)
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Halloween marks the beginning of that mystical and delightful season that is the Holidays...
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...which, to me, had always meant a new school year...and then those fabulous, well-earned BREAKS from that same school year!...There is NOTHING like the excitement leading up to Christmas Vacation!
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Hell, I feel like going back to school, just to experience that feeling again! ;)
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Of course, there are the actual holidays, themselves...
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~HALLOWEEN...(when the major department stores always start decking-the-halls with all the Christmas schwag. ;)...
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~THANKSGIVING...and Mom's yummy Thanksgiving dinner...
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~CHRISTMAS...with all the magical glory it beholds...
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...OMG...and do not even get me started on the Christmas season!...And the glitter, the majesty, the CHRISTMAS CAROLS!!! *SIGH*...God, I love it! =)
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And then, finally...
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~NEW YEAR'S EVE...the grand-daddy of ALL fresh-starts!
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So, Halloween has always brought forth these feelings of untamped excitement and wonder...wonder of what is yet to come.
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To ME, THAT has always seemed the perfect starting point for a new beginning...a new fantastical holiday season...which can be anything I choose to make it.
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I figure I have a 4-month jump on the rest of the world, making their New Year's resolutions...
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...While *I* am WISHING UPON A PUMPKIN! ...(It *IS* "THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN"! ;) ...Linus was TOTALLY RIGHT! And, hey...'ya just GOTTA' love that SNOOPY! =)
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...While I have started fresh with that first bite into the first caramel apple of the season...as I let the sweet and tangy juices run down my chin like a little kid...washing away all my sins, and the gloom of the past year...
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...(That's one powerful apple! ...Hey, it's not called a "BIONIC" apple, for nothing! ;)
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...The possibilities are ENDLESS!