So looks like I'm going to be flying to B'ham to sit for the nephews so brother and SIL can attend a wedding in Florida in April. Me as sole caretaker for 4 or 5 days. Probably be exhausting, but fun.

Also, SIL isn't holding a grudge over my brother appointing me 50% beneficiary on his life insurance. Which I found out from my mother. My brother and SIL have some ... differences over handling money. And he knows I'm even more conservative than him. When mom told me, I started laughing. "Because he knows what I'd do: get a lawyer, set up a conservatively invested trust with a monthly allowance that kept the bulk of the principle to pay for college and completely divest myself of any role in it. And no, I've not given this any thought before you told me that."

Typical brother communication. I find out the juicy stuff from a 3rd party.

Babushka used to give us those fruity hard candies in the tins. She'd just give us a whole tin as a present, though, I don't think she carried them.

We have a candy dish in my department at work that periodically gets filled by whomever is feeling generous. It's understood, though, that it gets filled with chocolate candy (and when you fill the dish, you announce, "The chocolate fairy visited!").

Except incompetent!boss, who KNOWS the chocolate rule, brought these NASTY unholy allegedly green-apple-flavored things that were the same goo that the circus peanuts are made of, AND -- this is almost the worst part -- they were shaped like Shrek's head.

Chatty!co-worker ate one (well, took one bite, I think) to verify that they were as nasty as they looked and smelled. Then we dumped them all back on incompetent!boss's desk and told him to never violate the sanctity of the candy jar with such horror again.

I think the jar is currently empty, but February 15th's half-price candy may lead to a magical refilling.

My grandma had those round tins of hard candy in her purse. I remember they were fruity and came in cute shapes.

These? [link] I think my mom's family used to bring them when they visited.

What's with Donnie Walburg's sunglasses?

Those are what I was thinking of, megan. After the candies were eaten, I saved the tins to hold loose erasers and whatnot in my desk drawer.

Oh yeah, we would have those for Fancy.

my grandmother had lumps of those ribbon candies. i ate one once, it was just crystalized sugar- no flavoring at all. I felt cheated. Nanny, OTOH, always had a dish full of Andes mints. Those were nummy. Until last week when i had one after years without and it tasted like minty cocoa-flavored wax.

Michael's is the bomb. It's my very first stop before planning any wedding.

When I worked at a Michael's, it was like they'd given a kid a job in a candy shop.

Jilli, I'm glad you got such a relaxment. You deserve it.

Well-getting wishes to all who are under the weather.

My grandma had peppermints (both swirly and blue) and Hershey's kisses. And a pound cake on top of the fridge, always, that we frequently had for breakfast when we visited.