Hostess with the Mostest

I admit it. I didn't want to let Hostess slip away without a fight, so I scoured a few local stores and bought a couple of things.

At the first store, the only items left were the donettes; everything else had been swept off the shelves. Not bad though. I love those little powdered sugar donettes! And of course for Kevin, my choco-holic, I had to get the chocolate covered donettes =)

The next store was a bit better. I found the cupcakes, crumb cakes and chocolate filled twinkies. I was disappointed to not find the vanilla creme filled twinkies, but at that point, it was buy it before it's gone, so I did. When I was a child, they didn't even have chocolate filled twinkies, but what the heck. Other than the donettes, I didn't really plan to eat them myself. A box of the cupcakes and the twinkies are a fun 'gifty' for Pat and Drew (which they are very excited about!); the crumb cakes are for Deb; Kevin and I will keep the second box of cupcakes and may or may not eat them. But I'm definitely saving the box.

They're talking about another bakery - Bimbo - buying some brands of the Hostess Bakery. I'm glad to hear that and I hope they do. It's just that ... well, I wanted tangible evidence of the Hostess that I remember.


...and I'm glad I have it; it goes well with the wonderful memories already emblazoned on my heart.

Periodicals

(Why are they called 'Periodicals' anyway? Isn't that really just a snooty-nose-in-the-air name for magazine?)

Well I know it's fall because we're right smack in the middle of our fall magazine drive fundraiser at school. Yes indeedy, time to re-up our subscriptions to most of the 13 magazines that we subscribe to. Yep, you read that right - 13 magazines. (Kimberly, our mail carrier, absolutely hates us at the beginning of each month!) I say most of our magazines because when I looked up the end dates for all our subscriptions, I found out some very interesting.

Apparently I've re-subscribed to the same magazines year after year not realizing that often the subscriptions are for two years, not just one. When we do our fundraiser, the staff is able to purchase magazines at a heavy discount, so it doesn't occur to me that the meager $10.00 I'm paying for a particular title is actually for more than 12 months. What a deal, right? Anyway...what I discovered is that the current subscription for one of my magazines isn't due for renewal until 2020. Guess I'm a little ahead on that one. A couple others are due for renewal in 2016. Another one in 2014.

OKAY! I admit it, I'm a magazine junkie! And so is Kevin. We're not really interested in a 12 step program to curb our addiction. In fact, we squeal with delight each time we receive a 'fix' in the mail. There is just something about a brand new issue of a beloved magazine arriving in the mail: smooth, crisp, un-read pages; a glossy cover with a fabulous photo on the cover; page after page of wonderful ideas/recipes/stories. Sheer Heaven!

So, now that I don't have to renew my subscription to a couple of things, I'm thinking of ordering a new title or two (sorry Kimberly!) for even more monthly inspiration. In reviewing the vast quantity of magazine titles to choose from(who says magazines are suffering during this economy?), it struck me: Who thinks up these names anyway?

For instance, did you know that there is a magazine called 'Hot Bike Baggers'? Do you even know what a 'hot bike bagger' is? No, me neither. How about 'Gun Dog'? Does that arrive on your doorstep? Nope, not mine either. Then there's always 'Dirt Rag' - which I misread at 'Dirt Bag' until I typed this post. And why, I ask you, do we need 21 different 'Game and Fish' magazines? I kid you not. They go by state: 'Fish & Game Kentucky', 'Fish & Game Pennsylvania', 'Fish & Game California'. I realize that different regions probably do have different types of fish and game, but really? Do you fish differently in Iowa than you would say in Maryland? Isn't the method at least similar enough that you could capture all 'Fish and Gamers' if not with one magazine, at least one per *region*? And what about the other 29 states? Is there no fishing or gaming in any of those states? Or are they just not allowed to do so because they don't have a magazine?

Curios questions, these.

I think I'll stick with something simple such as Sunset magazine. Maybe I'll subscribe to it until 2020 when, no doubt, there will be even goofier magazine titles out there from which to choose.

A Philosophical Debate:

Are orange pants ever a good idea?

Let me start by saying that I am a girl who loves orange. Pretty much any shade of orange really, except for possibly a neon fluorescent shade, but other than that, I'm definitely and orangophile.

I have a couple of really cute sweaters in varying shades, a couple of tops that are either out-right orange or have orange in them, and a couple of scarves that are in the orange-ish vein - you get the idea.

Something I don't have is orange pants. Frankly, I'd never even given orange pants a thought. At least not in a very long time. We're talking sometime in the mid-70's when my excuse for having absolutely no fashion sense at all was that I was but a mere child. Nope, orange pants weren't even in my vocab.

...until today.

I happened to get out of the office at lunch today and headed over to the mall just to get out a bit. I was looking at a rack of new arrivals for fall when I happened to spy a top I already own:

paired with a really cute pair of orange corduroy pants:

At first I thought "Those are so cute! I *have* to have them!" ...and then I started thinking. Orange. Pants. Orange pants. Are orange pants ever really a good idea? Hmmm. Maybe they are. If you're 5'10" and a size 2. Huh. I'm neither 5'10" tall, nor am I a size 2. Maybe orange pants aren't such a good idea. At least for me. I mean, do I *really* want my caboose covered in orange corduroy? Isn't that just inviting some sort of talk that should really be avoided? I think so.

Needless to say I thought better of it and left the orange pants hanging right where I found them. Next to my cute top that I wear with *navy* pants - muuuuch more flattering.

Oh, and I found an adorable pair of *navy* peep toe pumps for $5.00! Now those, you can talk about all you want ;o)