Someone should totally pay me for this stuff.

Many of you know about my love affair with peanut m&m's. It's been going on for years. I've tried some of the other candies in the m&m's family...peanut butter, coconut, mint, pb&j, wildly cherry...and so far nothing has been able to steal me away from that bright yellow bag. I guess that's a good thing considering most of those other flavors are for a limited time only.

As you know it is my job to find and report* on new food (ok...mostly candy) discovered in my stomping grounds. Well yesterday I ran across these babies.


Pretzel m&m's.

Now I love me a good chocolate-covered pretzel. The combination of sweet and salty just does it for me every time. I am uber excited that m&m has decided to join the fun.


Inspecting the color palette*.

And I tasted them. Actually I ate all of the ones you see pictured. I would have eaten more, but that was the entire bag's worth.

So how did they taste? Pretty much like you would expect a candy-coated, chocolate-covered pretzel to taste. I do think there was a tad too much salt flavor, which is surprising if you know me at all. I love me some salt. The chocolate to pretzel ratio* was completely in line with what an m&m should be, but I'm thinking they would have been better with a bit more chocolate on them.

Verdict* - I wouldn't turn them down if they were offered to me, but when I'm standing in line at the grocery store making my own choice I'll still be picking up the yellow bag.

*I realize that m&m's are supposed to be a fun candy and that my post sounds quite serious. Product review...it's a serious business. Of course it would be so much better and easier to remain serious if I got a paycheck for all my research. I could have a spot in my house to actually do reviews. There would be a photo studio so I wouldn't be tempted to take pictures of the products on my unmade bed. I can't promise I wouldn't eat the candy in bed, but at least you wouldn't see the sheets in the background.

Sunday afternoon in the park

problem solved

Remember this?


Well, I happened to be driving by that same billboard yesterday and saw this...

Much better!

World Autism Awareness Day

Since it's World Autism Awareness Day I thought I would write about a little something that's been on my mind lately.

Right after spring break I got a new student. He seemed to be having trouble adapting to our schedule. After 2 weeks of teaching said student I'm almost positive he has Asperger's Syndrome or some other form of autism. My niece has it, and there are many similarities to the glimpses I got of her at that age. I haven't said anything to the parents, because I'm not sure why he transferred to our school. I know he is closer to his mother's job now. I know they pay tuition for him to go to our school, because they still live in the district where his old school was. I can't help but wonder if the teacher at his old school mentioned that he might need to be tested because of his problems, and his parents didn't agree or want to accept it. From what I can tell he's an only child. He reads and writes beautifully (From what I've read good handwriting isn't normal for autistic kids...hm...). He can count better than most. Based on those things he is a model student. But something is definitely wrong. I've talked to my principal, and she thinks we should wait to talk to the parents. She told me to make notes. Document behaviors that stand out. I've started doing that. I just wish I could call his old school and get some feedback from them.

While looking things up online I came across this fictional story about a kid with Asperger's Syndrome that I thought I would share. Just in case anyone out there is interested.

I'm thinking bald is beautiful.

I have never liked getting my haircut. I don't like the amount of time it seems to take. It's not like I think I have better things to do with my time. I'm not one of those people who has to be on the go all the time either. But for some reason when I'm getting my hair done the time seems to drag on and on. Waiting for that golden moment when you're given the mirror to check yourself out seems like it's never going to come. When the cape is finally removed and I'm allowed out of the chair all I want to do is throw my money at the counter as I run by. I feel as though I have to escape before my stylist sees an errant hair that he missed and pulls out those scissors again. I don't though. I actually stand there and pay like a good customer.

When I lived in Turkey I really hated getting my haircut. And yes, hate is an extreme word, but it is the proper one here. I never knew what to expect at the salons there. After a couple of really bad haircuts (due I'm sure to my extremely limited language skills when we first arrived AND earning me the nickname Larry because one was SOOOO short) I was quite skittish anytime I needed a trim. And believe me the only time I ever got my haircut there was when the split ends were taking over and I had no choice but to get a trim. There was no way I was going to let someone actually give me full out haircut. I saved those for my trips to America. One of the things that seemed so strange to me in Turkey was the fact that it took 2 people to style your hair. One person was the hairdryer holder while the other used the brush and aimed the hairdryer. And even though I was only getting trims it still seemed like it took forever.

A couple of weeks ago I had my hair colored and highlighted. It was spring break and the only available appointment my colorist had left was on a Saturday. Let me bear witness here that Saturdays are crazy busy at my salon. After looking over my hair my colorist decided that it was time for some highlights and low lights as well as the normal root touch up. Being completely dense about these things myself I let her make those sorts of decisions for me. So far she's never steered me wrong. She mixed her colors and set about foiling my hair. By the time she was done with that portion her next client had arrived. She passed me off to a girl who basically runs around the coloring station helping everyone. She applied the base color to my roots and wherever else it needed to be touched up. I waited. When it was time to rinse it all out another helper girl took me to the washing sink and rinsed. She applied a 2 part leave-in conditioner that needed to be heated so I sat under the dryer for 20 minutes, rinsed, was conditioned again and sat under the dryer for an additional 15 minutes After everything was washed out I was taken to yet another person who dried and styled my hair for me. 4 hours and 4 people later I was done. Finally done. All I can say is thank goodness I hadn't planned to get my haircut as well!

Note...my hair was beautiful. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it.

Note 2...I made another appointment while I was there for a Tuesday night weeks in advance. I NEVER do that, but I don't think I can handle another Saturday appointment again.