Be cool for just $10. Or make your friends cool. Or, as my mom suggested, make your friends’ kids really, really cool.

Threadless is having a sale.

For the lack of posting, you’d think I had forgotten how to write at all. ‘Tis not the case. It was a productive blog silence, as I attempted my fourth NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.

Sadly, at about 18K words in, I pulled the plug last week. It’s further than I’ve ever gotten, so that makes me happy. But with trying to launch a site at work, two nights at the office past 11pm and a trip to the outlaw in-laws (outlaws only because my relationship isn’t legally recognized) in Eugene for the upcoming Tofurkey day, it wasn’t going to happen without a lot of pain. And I want to do NaNo in a spirit of fun and joy. There’s enough hurt in the world without scooping some more on myself.

That said, my newfound free time means a return to knitting, a chance to clean out some email inboxes, a truckload of Ravelry friend adds and hopefully more opportunities to be social. I’m back in the pool, too. As soon as that darn redesign launches, it will be a full return to normalcy.

Smarties are crack. No, not the Canadian Smarties, aka Nestle’s M&M’s (with a better quality chocolate).

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved the good ol’ fashioned, pressed powdered dextrose discs. And it has to be from Ce De Candy Inc., not some cheap imitation.

I prefer to eat them by color, after separating them into piles. Typically, I can’t just eat one. Sometimes I become so overwhelmed by desire I forgo the segregation step and cram a whole roll in my mouth. I know; it’s a problem.

Back in the late mid-90’s, I had a much worse problem with them. Around Halloween, I’d buy a 2 or 3 or 5 lbs. bag and horde them in my desk at work. I’d gorge myself on the bag for weeks. Usually, it was only one bag a year, however, there a few two-bag binges.

It’s been years since I bought a bulk bag. I’ve been able to eat a couple of rolls, here and there, when they cross my path. Yesterday, I found myself fantasizing about those days of yore, having a seemingly never-ending stash at an arm’s-length.

Thus far, I’ve remained steadfast and in control. No drugstore visit last night to the candy aisle. Yet, coworkers brought in their kids’ candy today, and I cherrypicked eight rolls which are sitting next to me on my desk. I can smell them, but haven’t opened one.

I’m using them as motivation to get stuff done today… yet I’ve just wasted 15 minutes writing this panegyric lauding them. Obsessed?