the other day in an admitted fit of premenstrual chocolate lust, i set off to find something to satisfy my all-consuming need. i drove in the direction of the newest, most incandescent, state of the art supermarket in columbia. i know, i know. it sounds like an oxymoron (state of the art and columbia), but naysayers aside, columbia is growing; but i digress. chocolate. i’ve been spoiled by these delicious truffles my boss brings me after trips to st. louis. in him, i’ve found a kindred chocolate addict. so at my state of the art supermarket, i set out to find the most outrageously priced, most decadent morsels of chocolate heaven that i could find.

i meandered through the designated chocolate area (way too small by my standards) and was suddenly captivated by a tacky yellow box. an entire box of sixlets, just sitting there. sixlets? they’re not even real chocolate, but that’s what i walked out of the store with. i went in with truffle standards and walked out with a 1.99 box of carob. what just happened?

the box itself is very unassuming. yellow with skinny white stripes serve as the background for the thrift store looking logo and a catapillar (?) made out of the candy with a rather unfortunate pair of coke-bottle glasses and odd white gloves on only three of its legs. i’m sooo confused. why does a bug have to wear glasses? and why would a bug wear gloves, much less on its feet? and what happened to the other glove? did the other candy catapillars beat him up because he’s differernt and steal his glove? or is it a catapilar fashion statement?

is this a government issued confection? did i just buy the candy version of government cheese?

the thing is i love this candy! mostly it’s because of nostalgia. when my sister and i lived in dogtown, there was a corner store about half a mile away. sometimes we would walk down the way, our pockets jangling with liberated change from our mother’s purse. as soon as you opened the door, it was a child’s paradise of sugar and artificial coloring. the first two aisles were shrines to candy. kit kats, hubba bubba, laffy taffy, now and laters, and sixlets were just a few of my favorites. but for some reason, i was really drawn to sixlets. so they were a cheap m&m ripoff, i think it was the packaging. simple, clear plastic elongated package stuffed with candy coated, chocolate “flavored” candy. i’m a simple girl and i like semi-uncomplicated things. and i obviously don’t go by brand names. maybe this explains my related penchant for smarties, the canadian ripoff of m&ms?

anywho, my cheap carob chocolate wannabe candy is still sitting on my desk. i’m slowly making my way through the box, although if that catapillar keeps staring at me i’m going to have to do something drastic.

i hope my trip through nostalgia candy land reminded you of similar guilty pleasures. post a reply and share with all of us your story!

speaking of posting replies, i want to give a big hug to those of you who have replied! blogs tend to be lonely places for the writer. sometimes it feels like i’m writing this really great email to a friend who doesn’t write back, and that sucks. but, i know i have a few readers and hope to gain more so please, please, please, drop a line or two or three.

also, check out the ‘montage’ section for two movies. many thanks go to my tireless husband tony for posting those (and i didn’t have to nag or anything, i swear!).

upcoming topics to mull in the meantime:

–the soundtrack to your life
–world travel and a wannabe female nomad

this weekend was the third annual rafiner float trip. tony and i are counted among the friends and family of the rafiners. ashley’s one of my best friends and we’ve enjoyed our floating adventures with her and her family.

we made the four hour drive to southern missouri to float on the current river, a popular floating spot. i think the fact that our party had all their teeth was a sign that indeed we were not locals. it wasn’t that bad, but we did see a lot of rebel flags proudly displayed on several john boats. i don’t know if they realize that missouri was technically a neutral state during the civil war, and that we aren’t considered southern by any means, but i guess when you live that close to arkansas it would be easy to get confused.

all right. enough of my mid-missouri snobbery! we drove down friday evening and set up camp. it wasn’t too hot (tony’s whining aside) and we sat around the campfire and headed for bed after some beers and smores. despite not having my own bed and the cool comfort of ac, i would have slept fine. note the “would have” section of that sentence. around 11 p.m. a man and his guitar on the other side of the campgrounds began singin’ and a pickin’. i consider myself a lover of all music, but not when i want to get some sleep. this went on for another three hours. i don’t know about you, but i’m prone to insomnia anyway and a guy starring in his very own campfire singalong special at three in the morning is someone who needs his ass kicked. finally someone from our group yelled at him and he packed it in.

i awoke at six to the gentle roar of john boats speeding down the river. we stumbled out of our tent and had breakfast and made our way to the landing to put in. the current river has somewhat of a dangerous reputation. it has a really strong current, that’s why, um , it’s called the current. and when you add that to a canoeful of drunk people, well, you do the math. so i was a little nervous at first, but then i had a beer and my whole perspective changed…all that aside, we had several drunk people among us, two tip overs, and one lost canoe. who knew it was so easy to lose a canoe? all in all, a good time was had by all, despite the sun burn and pruny feet. tony and i even managed to spend most of the trip in the same canoe without having to throw down. couples that canoe together, stay together, or something like that. another four hour winding road trip home and we crashed. it was good to be home.

anyway, i’m back safe in my climate-controlled environment now and it’s getting late. before i go, i’d like to send a shout out my grandpa indelicato in st. louis who’s been sick, we’ll see you this weekend!

next time: summer spectacular 2003