Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Halloween Hangover

Halloween stats (several days late):

44 bags of candy handed out
3 trick-or-treaters: a pirate (Susie, and a very cute pirate she was), a black widow spider, and a reluctant teenage bat (Brian, who realized at the last minute he wanted some candy)
1 mom (that would be, uh, moi) who kept all the short, chewy strawberry Twizzlers for herself
8 costumed neighbors who attended our candy-swap party after the main event

All in all, it was your typical Halloween around here. We're still eating candy, although the girls are being remarkably selfish about their KitKats this year.  You know, you think you're raising them right, and then reality just up and smacks you in the head.

But that's okay, I just wrote them both out of the will.


Just add some bicycles, and this is pretty much us.
Larry has suddenly become interested in all the various little campers I've been looking at for the past year or so: the Little Guy, the Happier Camper, the Alto.  It might have something to do with the fact that we actually lost a little piece of our camping trailer last summer on our way up to Maine. Picture it: We're 3 hours late getting on the road, only halfway there, stress levels cranked up to max, and someone pulls up next to us on a major highway, trying to get our attention.  At first we didn't notice, because our car is quite a sight when we are towing the camping trailer with the cartop carrier strapped to its top, 2 bikes on the roof of our minivan, and 3 more bikes mounted on the back hatch.  I mean, LOTS of people stare, because we look like the Beverly Hillbillies of the camping set. But then I saw that the guy was gesturing at our camper and trying to tell us (at 60 mph) that something was wrong. We (meaning, Larry) managed to pull off the road and fix the problem, but not before one of those thingies (legs? struts?) that holds up the camper had gone missing.

Like I said, STRESS.

So, earlier this week, Larry asked me to show him all the mini-camper websites and even appeared to be listening to me as I explained what I thought were the pros and cons of each one. Then he spent the next few days doing his typical obsessive thing of comparing and evaluating absolutely every detail about these things.

Me, I just look at the pictures.

So whose method is better? I can't say, but I can tell you that we both pretty much came to the same conclusion as to which camper might best fit our needs.  And my way left me more time to eat the Halloween candy. Nuff said.

Of course, all this research was completely theoretical, since we don't happen to have $12 - 20K lying around right now to throw at our camper problems.  But, hey, we all need our fantasies, don't we?



[Beverly Hillbillies image: MoreThings]

8 comments:

  1. So which camper did you both think was The One?!?

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    1. I think we were both looking at the T@G Max, but I just changed my mind again. Doesn't matter, as it is all still theoretical. I keep thinking, hey, we might just as well go big and get the Alto Safari. But we would have to drive up to Montreal just to check it out, and I don't even have a passport, and c'mon, be real, we're not going to just head up to Montreal on a whim, plus it is $35,000. So I'm not being realistic. AT ALL.

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    2. Those Altos are calling my name. I don't have a passport either, but WA has the option of Enhanced Driver's Licenses which I do have and it gives me the ability to cross the border and come home again. Unfortunately, it does not give me $35,000. Reality is such a bummer.

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  2. You could do camper tours, sort of like people do college tours. Just have fun driving around the country looking at all the campers you MIGHT get. Get that passport, and then find a camper that resides in Vancouver. Road trip!

    Last year my husband and I spent a fair amount of time looking at treadmills/exercise bikes, and then after all that he refused to buy anything.

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  3. 44 BAGS of candy? Good grief! Would have been cheaper just to buy your kids some candy and cut off all the lights. I'm such a Scrooge! BAH HUMBUG! :)

    You don't happen to live in Alexandria, VA do you? We were at my sister-in-law's for Halloween and I was totally amazed by the sheer volume of people that were there. They block off streets and it was like a giant street party. I felt bad for all the people who had to hand out candy because I imagine they spent a ton of money.

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    1. Whoops - I meant 44 little treat bags. We started the tradition years ago of packing those little bags with a few pieces of candy each (because it gave my kids an excuse to play with the candy on Halloween morning), and we've never gotten away from it.

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  4. I love the red Twizzlers too. Can not resist them and I've also become obsessed with Butterfingers, which I used to hate. Yesterday I saw butterfingers baking bits in the grocery store.

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  5. Ah, 44 treat BAGS! Got it. I like that you still sent 3 trick or treaters out. I only had two, and one almost didn't go!
    I wish I had a husband who agreed a camper would be a good idea. He does NOT and there's not a chance of changing his mind.

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