Saturday, April 27, 2013

SugarWish


Sugarwish
When I was a kid, my life revolved around candy.  I bet yours did too.  Remember when you were a child and you thought the only purpose to being a grown-up was to be able to eat as much candy as you wanted, any time you wanted it?   I do.  Those were simpler times, weren't they? Your days were about candy: how much you could get, how much you could eat, where you could hide it so your little brother wouldn't steal it, and when you could get more.  Candy, to a kid, is as precious and valued as a diamond is to a 1950s unmarried woman.   You just knew that when you were under nobody's control anymore, when you were a "grown up,"  you would eat as much as you wanted, anytime you wanted, any kind you wanted, and nobody could stop you. Your house would be decorated with candy, every drawer full of it.   Life would be perfect.

Then you grew up.  You realized teeth don't last forever, waistlines grow, and unless they have a fetish, men don't kiss women with blue tongues.  So you stop the candy eating.  You never really lose your taste for it;  you sneak your favorites out of your kid's Halloween bag and sometimes buy some, but mostly you stick to chocolate because it's for adults, and hey, it may have some health properties.  But all those things you used to love: Sprees and Swedish Fish and Sour Patch Kids and Jawbreakers?  They are a distant memory.

And then, you get cancer.

One thing about cancer is that people are very kind to you.  I had absolutely no idea how very gracious human beings could be until I was struck by this disease.  It seems that nearly weekly, somebody drops me a pot of food, or brings me a little treat, or sends me a card or does something to otherwise surprise and please me, for no reason at all except they want to help me through this.  The mail will arrive and in it will be a rub-on tattoo of a kind I'd wished for, or a bag of mints that helped somebody else with nausea or, like recently - flowers.

It's just astonishing.  I really didn't know that people were this kind and caring until I got this horrible disease.   Despite daily media portrayals depicting the worst of humanity, the vast majority of people are loving beings who care about others and want to help.

This outpouring of kindness I've experienced can create a small problem however - thanking them.  I'm sure for normal people this is a simple task: you just whip out thank you cards and your pen that you keep in a specific place, write a thank you note, find a stamp that is also kept in its place, and slip it into your mailbox.

For me, with my ADD tendencies this desire to thank somebody can take on  Keystone Cop-like confusion.  Worse, because I'm a scrapbooker, I also have started to become a card-maker.  Now when somebody does something nice for me,  I want to make a unique thank you card from the heart rather than use something store-bought.  It seems the least I can do, to give thanks with something made by me.

But first, I need to gather my supplies:  my scissors, which are in some drawer somewhere, my crystals, which might be in that blue box in the computer room, my punch which I think I last saw on the shelf near the scrapbook magazines, my paper which actually is kind of organized by color on a paper holder but which has a six foot container of shoes and two shelves in front of it.  Then I must grab my cards, of course, my embossing machine, my sandpaper, my embossing powder and my glue, which I know I put in a jar......somewhere.  I lent my papercutter to my son for a science project a few weeks ago so he must know where it is.  Then, because I don't want to send somebody something old-fashioned, I need to flip through the latest magazines and Pinterest to see the newest card techniques. Being a newbie, designs have to be simple, so I find easy-to-make cards but realize I'm out of blue Washi tape so it's off to Michael's I go, but first, I have to take a pain pill and a hot bath to loosen my muscles for walking.

Hours later, supplies gathered,  I'm set up, which means my stuff is spread all over the dining room table and I have to finish quick before dinner.  Finally, first card finished, glue dried,  it's time to write a note and mail one.  And, I hesitate.  This is where  my perfectionist tendencies kick in, and I realize none of the cards I made are good enough to send to people who have been that nice to me.  They all look like novice crap, how can I send that??

This is an old psychological problem from back in the day when I, as a little girl, made my mother what I thought was a beautiful and useful box for these tiny sugar pills she carried around for coffee.  I used an aspirin tin, tissue paper and Modge Podge and proudly handed it to her, imaging her thinking of me as she dropped sweetener into her coffee at work or school. Instead, she threw back it at me saying it was the ugliest thing she'd ever seen - a lasting memory, and one that affects me each time I make something.   So, aside from all my ADD organizational problems, I also must overcome this psychological one and spend time reminding myself that incident was 50 years ago, my mother wasn't sober, people do like homemade things even if they aren't perfect, and they will know it was made with love.  Dammit, I AM good enough.

Then, convinced,  note written, bad handwriting and all,  I try to find the envelopes that match the cards.

Sigh.  Where the f*ck are they???

I can't find them.  They are probably with the stamps.  Where are the stamps?  Now what am I supposed to do?

Well, it's dinner time, and I'm not exactly sure where I left the recipient's address anyway.  So I'll clean up and try again another day.

So, if I owe you thanks, you can see why I'm behind.   I'm sorry.

Stick with me because this story is related:  Remember a couple weeks back I'd been really sick and unable to get out of bed?  It happens off and on, and I now call them my "downer days" after that picture of that poor cow we've all seen being "encouraged" to stand up with a forklift.    Anyway, I was recovering but sick and feeling ooky and still too weak to stand, and I decided to check my email because I can do that in bed.  I got an e-card saying I'd received a SugarWish.  I paid little attention to it because I didn't know what it was.

Then, a day or two later I was finally up and about and feeling better but still depressed, knowing more of these days were in my future, when I got an emailed reminder about my SugarWish.  This time, I followed the link, and saw it was an e-card from a friend, inviting me to pick out candy.

Pick out candy?

Suddenly intrigued, I clicked the link, and I felt that old childhood candy excitement mixed with greed.  My spirits surged immediately.  Here's what is is:  SugarWish is is a company that a buyer uses to send an e-card message to their giftee along with a specific number of candy bags.  The buyer pays in advance, shipping is included, they write the message, and all they have to know is the person's email address.  The recipient gets the e-card with their friend's sentiment and telling them that they can choose candy.  They select their allowed number, put in their address, and that's it!  A couple of days later, their choices arrive, well-packed and fresh.

And, SugarWish has about 50 different kinds of candy to choose from, so there is sure to be something for everybody.  I went through all of my choices, feeling like a kid again, just simple and joyous.  I could have any of this?   I could have FOUR?  And I don't have to pay?    I called my 16 year old son over and he sat next to me and told me what his selections would be and we had a good conversation about candies and what I'd liked as a child and how I used to eat jawbreakers until my tongue bled, and the rule was to check all the colors as you licked through it. We reminisced how I'd eat all the yellow runts when he got them in machines as he didn't care for banana, so he shared his candy memories too.  I had a serious blast choosing; it took at least an hour to go through the candy choices and reminisce about the last time I'd had that kind, and did I want it again,   and the whole experience brought me right out of the funk I'd been in.   (I picked Sour Patch Kids, Spree, Mike & Ike's and Gummy Grapefruit slices, if you must know).  I hit send and three days later, a package showed up on my doorstep, beautifully wrapped,  with the individual bags of candy in it.  And, there was plenty too, it wasn't skimpy.  And, I had as much fun eating it as I did picking it out.  Most of them I had not tasted in 30 years.

Sprees are delicious, my friends.   Delicious.

My doctor had given me orders to gain weight and I went from the 90s to 101 in the week I got the candy.  I'm not saying that the candy did it, but I think just feeling so excited about something, feeling silly and child-like just stimulated my appetite.  And, if I felt like a little snack I could grab a piece (like a kid) and not have to do anything or ask anyone.  And, I ate it like a kid too, which means you pick one of each color and eat them in order of worst to best.  (Worst: Green.  Best: Red)  As for my health?   My doctor told me "calories are calories" and is fine with my eating this stuff.

(It's sad I have to say this, but it's a cancer blog:  according to the Mayo Clnic and every single legitimate medical site, that old "sugar feeds cancer" myth is just that - a myth.  So, don't put that in the comments as I don't want misinformation spread and will delete them.)  Obviously, nobody is talking about it being a main part of anybody's diet, just a treat here and there.

I realized that this not only was a fantastic gift for me, or any ill patient to get, but it could be an enjoyable gift to give for birthdays or special days.  It's easy to use, I don't need to gather supplies, go shopping, find stamps, go to a post-office, or do any of the things I now find quite difficult.  And, everybody likes candy.

I immediately sent one to a friend of mine whose cancer is growing like mine and who is struggling, as am I.  She had not been able to eat for a while as she is having upper digestive problems, but told me that suddenly, food was going down and she can eat, so I immediately sent her one in congratulations, and she also loved it.  And, my sister has a new grandchild, so I sent her one to remind her that just because she's a Grandma, that doesn't mean she can't be kid-like too.  And, both of these ladies were as excited as I was to select their candies.

There is just something amazingly fun about this SugarWish idea.

I don't often discuss products here on this blog, despite hundreds of requests -  but this one upped my happiness factor tremendously, and not only that,solves a big problem of mine:  It's a simple way for me to send gifts and anything simple is important to me right now.  Also, I want people to know this is a fun gift for anybody with a catastrophic illness who can still eat, as it takes you right back to childhood.  Anything that makes me feel like a  kid again; that makes me forget cancer (or whatever illness we have) for a few minutes, well, it's a good thing.  Anything that gets me eating is a good thing, and anything that puts calories in me is good.

SugarWish is all of these things and more.  Good for the sick to get, good for the sick to send.  Win/win.

I love them.

So I did something out of character for me.  I contacted the company and asked if they wanted to hold a contest on my blog.  They had never heard of me, but decided to do it.     Now I have to tell you that I get 20 or 30 requests from PR people wanting me to post about something every single day and I mostly ignore them.  But I loved this company so much I wanted you to know about it.

So, try them yourself.  Enter the contest and win a Petite Sugarwish.  How?    First, like them on facebook here:

 https://www.facebook.com/sendasugarwish

Then come back and post a comment on my blog saying you've liked them, and tell me a candy memory, or your favorite candy or something fun about candy.   I will pick a name randomly, perhaps by video, and you will win a Petite Sugarwish, which you can send to yourself or somebody else.  It's up to you and nobody will ever know what you choose.

Also, if you choose to buy any, please put my name in the check-out box after payment, just to see if I've done any good for them.  :)  I am not on commission or anything like that; I won't get something from sales - I truly want to help a sweet start-up company get started.  But it would be nice to know if I helped them.

The contest will end on May 10th at 12 noon CA time, which is still time for mom to get the e-card by Mother's Day.  So you have lots of time to win.

Good luck.

Now, I still have a card to mail and where are those damn stamps?









96 comments:

  1. I liked their page. Hmmmm.... Here's my thing about candy.... it can't have any nuts or peanut butter in it... I love nuts and I love peanut butter, but they cannot be in any of my candy.... or cake.. or food... lol

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    1. If you win, I'll ask them if they are nut-free. Some must be, right? If not, I'll give you a different prize and pick a secondary winner. But if you get the secondary prize, I have to ship it, which means you will get it something in the year 2013 or 2014. :)

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  2. Ali_R ... liked! Candy was very important to me, too! What was it back in the mid 70's? A dime? Fifteen cents for a full size candybar? Pinball was just becoming the rage but that was a whole quarter!

    Picked my candy by how long it would last. (After Caddyshack never could eat a Baby Ruth again.) Bought into the sales gimmick that the $100,000 bar was longer, ergo lasted longer, than all others. Never patient enough for all of the layers of the gob stoppers. Loved pixie stix but I could never manage to eat them properly... they always clogged.

    Had to hide my candy habit from my crazy health conscious parents - hippies should think hard about reproducing and then raising their offspring in the middle of all the good stuff ... candy, television, and my girlfriend's favorite: wonder bread with margarine and white sugar! Oh yeah!

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  3. I make myself sick eating those grapefruit gummies. White grapefruit, please ;)

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  4. Ann, what a fun, fun, fun story! I have memories of my dad getting the multicolored licorice from the Sears candy counter . . . remember those? We had five kids in our family and we were somewhat poor, so it was a rare treat to get candy. Each child would pick out a favorite color and enjoy it. One sister absolutely couldn't stand licorice so my parents would buy her the "jujubees." (I think that's what they are called.)

    At any rate, I've liked Sugarwish because of how much joy they have brought you, both in receiving and giving their products. It's little things that make a difference and I'm sure they never imagined the impact they would have on someone.

    Have a great weekend!

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  5. I love, love, love this blog post, Ann. It's neat to think how that candy brought you so much joy! I want to send some to some friends and family.

    Here's my candy memory: When I was about 10, I had a neighborhood friend who was bad news. One day she asked me to go to the neighborhood pool with her. Once there, she came up with the bright idea of stealing money from under people's towels, and put another friend up to it while we "stood guard". The friend stole 75 cents so we each had a quarter to spend on candy at the concession stand. I bought and devoured my candy: a Zero bar, a long stick of gum, and some Sweettarts, but my conscience was uneasy. That night when my mom put me to bed, I burst into tears and confessed my crime. My mom told me to listen to my conscience and never do anything like that again. And I never did!

    I liked the page!

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    1. Awwwwwww......what a great story.

      (I can't help but respond to these so I'll just have to cut my responses out, lol)

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    2. I have my own personal candy story fav, but my all time favorite actually involves my son. He's never really been a big candy eater and one day while in first grade, he came home so proud of himself because he used his lunch money ( I believe about $1.50 at the time) to purchase a WHOLE strip of candy "dots". The paper candy as I called it. I wouldn't let him forget that story. A few years ago, I opened my Mother's Day card and sure enough, it was a strip of candy dots. <3

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  6. Liked the page! Chemo has killed my sweet tooth but this is such a sweet idea. I will definitely send a sugarwish to someone in the future.

    As a child we did not have candy in the house. I remember helping my dad with yard work all day and he would pay me in quarters. I would ride my bike to the five and dime (am I really that old?) and buy a package of candy that I would consume before leaving the parking lot.

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    1. It's funny, because chemo has heightened my sweet tooth. when I was on the kind that made things take funny, there were certain candies I could still taste, and only sugary things. I think that's when I went back to my sweet eating as it was the only thing that tasted semi-normal to me.

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  7. Liked the page. I loved red gummy hearts. And the fake lipsticks

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  8. I liked their page. What I really like is that the shipping costs are all handled up front (plus I really like their candy selection)!

    I would always buy vanilla taffy on a stick at the movies and then soak it in the water fountain. It's been decades since I've done this, but I can taste it as if it's sliding past my taste buds now!

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  9. FYI: I can't respond to each note otherwise it'll mess up my way of choosing the contest winners (I print, cut them apart and draw them out of a jar), but I'm reading them all! Thanks!

    I liked Pixie stix too and they always clogged but then you had to rip open the paper and lick it up. :) And, there was nothing like a candy necklace. Wearing as jewelry your sweet treat - fabulous dahling, fabulous.

    I don't remember the Sears candy counter! But I do remember when lifesavers were 5 cents a roll and a candy bar was 8 cents. :) Ah, the good old days. There was some sort of hard candy that came like lifesavers but individually wrapped. What was that???? It was more sour than lifesavers which mean I liked it more. :)

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  10. Liked. I used to sort my M&M's and eat them in pairs, two green, two red, etc. If I didn't have a pair I'd give the mismatched ones away. Is it any wonder I grew up to be a librarian?

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  11. Liked !

    mmmm i loved penny candy as a kid. we would go to the corner store on our bikes on the weekend and get a small paper bag of assorted penny candy !

    and throughout chemo, i was able to enjoy the flavour of orange. so there were many days where all i ate were orange sours or orange jellybeans.

    thanks for the fun post ! nicola in canada

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  12. What a great idea! Liked their fb page and LOVE their site! Guess what the moms are getting for Mother's Day?

    Chewy sprees help me get through chemo. I chomp on them instead of the Jolly Ranchers that the chemo center has (although the green apple ones are to die for). Jelly Belly's are also a fave! Seems I can taste the fruity candies best during chemo.

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  13. Liked :)
    I remember going to the department store and getting gummie bears by the pound (that was the only way to get them then). It was such a treat...but as a kid I could never afford a full pound!

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  14. My mother worked in the Candy Department of May Company in North Hollywood, CA. She was very popular, of course, & made friends with the sugary stuff & her sweet personality. She brought home chocolate Binky Bunnies one Easter (we are Jewish, but candy is candy). My sister still calls me Binky as an affectionate nickname. I have No Evidence of Disease after treatment for FBC. I love your blog, & am sorry that you are going through your "Stage IV lifestyle." Keep up the sense of humor, & share your story. :)

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  15. I love, love, love this idea!! My favorite candy memory is that every time we would go to my Grandma's house, she always had a green frosted candy bowl full of lemon drop, aw sweet memories for me! I have liked the Sugerwish page and truly hope this gives them tons of business! Now, the burning question is where you found those adorable candy shoes you posted on your FB page!!

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    1. Google! They are cool shoes though, aren't they? Converse allows you to design your own, maybe that's where it's from.

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  16. Peanut M&Ms. I do remember loving to get the candy necklaces when I was young and eating one piece at a time.

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  17. Memories of going to my grandma's and being allowed to go the local drugstore and pick out my penny candy!! So many choices, and being young and small, it looked like SO much. I loved it all. Big candy fan!

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  18. Liked their page. What fun!

    I have such fond memories of the days when I was old enough to earn an allowance AND rollerskate three miles to the 7-11 to buy as much candy as I could afford. I felt so independent--mistress of my own destiny! My favorite candy from that time is sadly no longer in existence. Remember Wacky Wafers? They were large, flat disks in a long package, one of each flavor. I'd save the watermelon and banana flavors for last. I'm pretty sure I have a 20-year-old pack of them hidden somewhere in the boxes in my garage. If I come across them I should undoubtedly throw them away but I might be tempted to take a nibble of each.

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  19. i love this post ❤ i also love anything grapefruit flavored, the flavor makes me happy because i can't eat actual grapefruit because of some of the meds that i'm on.

    no story here, no contest entry from me, just wanted to pop in and share my love of this post. lol. enjoy your candies, and i hope the winner enjoys theirs too! :)

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    1. Why no contest entry? I can draw you out with anon, date and time.

      If anybody wants to enter and doesn't have the ability to use their name, that's okay. I can make it work. Your date and time is stamped and that's what I'll use.

      Let me know if you want in, okay?

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    2. nah, i have access to lots of candy.;) give it to someone who needs the pick-me-up more than i do!

      but i will tell an embarrassing candy story. when i was about 12 (circa 1991), my mom took my and my friend to the mall, and she let us go off on our own for about half an hour. very big deal at the time! ;) so my friend patty and i headed off to the candy store, and i got 1/4lb of white fudge (ew, what was i thinking?!) and then 1/4 lb of swedish fish. and i ate it all at once. unfortunately, this set off my irritable bowel syndrome. i was stuck in the bathroom for an hour, sweating, shaking, and well....super poopin'. so humiliating for a 12 year old girl! lol. i cannot even be in the same room as white fudge now, almost 22 years later! i can eat swedish fish again though. haha. :)

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  20. As a new reader (saw your blog mentioned in the NYT story on mammography), this post made me laugh out loud and I love the idea behind SugarWish too!

    My favorite candy memory is of my mom allowing us to pick out our favorite chocolate bunnies every year during Easter :)

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    1. Welcome and read more! I don't always write about candy, lol. :)

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  21. This brought me back to my childhood when a dime bought an entire bag of penny candy and you could stretch it out for a few days. With a DIME! A quarter was enough to share with the entire neighborhood! But then again, I am 58 and life was a bit less expensive back then. Thanks for the memories. I "liked" the page.
    Joyce Bagley

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  22. I'm in Canada so no idea whether they can ship here but.....love the idea. Candy is my nemesis...especially that old-style 80' candy--the dip and sticks--the liquorice cigar....I could go on and on...reason that I am trying to lose weight...candy...chocolate but damned..candy is the best :)

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    1. I don't know either, I forgot to ask them. Like I said to somebody else, if I draw your name and you win, if they can't ship to Canada, I can. I'll ship you an alternate prize. :) It won't be as good as Sugarwish though.

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  23. I liked their FB page, what a fun idea!

    My primary candy memory is a little warped. My grandparents lived with my parents and me (an only child) from the time I was five, so I was spoiled rotten.

    My grandmother had a large black desk with two drawers on each side. In the lower left drawer, she kept a stash of my favorite candy (Kit-Kats, Mr. Goodbars, Whatchamacallits...) and not the "fun size" (which is a misnomer for sure) but the full size candy bars, that I could help myself to, as long as I didn't let Mom or Dad figure it out. Under that drawer, she kept her handgun, a little Saturday night special, which I was told a millions times to never touch. The mixture of candy and danger is still with me, even at 42!

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    1. How could I not respond to this story! I think I love your grandmother. :) LOL.

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  24. what a wonderful gift to give! I liked their page. . Thank you for bringing them to my attention. I would have to choose smarties , still love them and take them from my kids!

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  25. Sugarwish liked - check! Wonder if they have banana flavored Runts... yum yum yum...

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  26. Liked! We scrounged pennies as kids..returnable bottles, begging from our parents, finding a penny by chance..just to buy candy. Oh the choices and bless the patience of the clerks as we agonized over a strip of dots, or one of those liquid filled wax bottles.... Thanks for the memory and thanks for everything you do.

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  27. Liked! I remember reading Pippy Longstocking when I was young. She had unlimited money that she could spend on candy and I wanted so badly to be her. We got an allowance of $0.25 every week that we would immediately blow on candy. 7-11 had the best selection and you could get a whole bunch of stuff. There used to be this bubble gum in the shape of a hot dog (it may have even been called hot dog gum)and these orange circus peanuts. I would cut the orange peanuts down the middle like a hot dog bun and then stick a hot dog gum in the middle so that it looked like a "real" hot dog. - Jamie

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  28. I liked them!

    I was also directed here through the NYT article.

    Shortly before my 17th birthday I was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. I underwent 14 rounds of chemo spread throughout just over a year. We were very low-income (and were actually living cross-borders for a time)but the one thing my dad could afford to give me was a treat before every chemo hospitalization. We would stop by the pharmacy and he would let me choose a bag of candy. My favorite were jelly beans or maybe red vines. The candy treat had two purposes: to give me something to look forward to, and to remove the nasty taste chemo gave me. I'm now 24 and cannot have a jelly bean or red vine without thinking about how much my dad cared for me.

    Sugarwish sounds like an awesome idea!

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  29. LIKED!!!

    joining the nyt article bandwagon. :)

    loved your post, i bought some immediately for my boyfriend, who can't get enough sugar in his diet. my favorite candy memory is going to the candy shop in the food court at the local mall, situated between pizza hut and wahoo's fish tacos. picking up a small plastic bag and feeling the endless possibilities encapsulated in the plastic bins before me. the serious deliberation of the choices. chocolate malt balls and sour patch watermelon slices were a must. coca cola gummies every other time. mini m&m's if i was feeling fun. individually wrapped caramels if i was feeling grown up.
    it's great to know that there's a virtual edition for the kids of today!

    -jackie

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  30. I posted last night... not sure what happened. I was on my phone. Yep, that was it. lol.
    Loved the blog, Love to read your writing. You speak from the heart,.. and I liked the page! What a wonderful idea.
    Remember the candy necklaces? I remember the second time I got cancer, my sisters brought me a butt load of them. I had lost all my taste but, sugar I could taste! Go figure!
    Growing up, in the late 60's there was a little mom & pop candy store right up the road from us. Every penny I found, I saved just to buy those silly necklaces. Not so silly any more..... <3
    God bless Ann. Always praying for you!
    Robyn Sloan ~

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  31. I found you through the NY Times article, Ann, and I'm so glad I did! I am rooting for you.

    I also "liked" Sugarwish on Facebook. I am a candy addict, and I always was. I grew up in the 1960s, and one could get a lot of candy for 25 cents, which was my allowance. I remember walking downtown and buying 25 pieces of those caramels with the white centers. I would bring the pleasantly heavy brown paper bag home, go up to my room, get a book to read on my bed and start chewing caramels. After 25 of them, I generally felt kind of sick, but I was always eager to buy 25 more a few weeks later.

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  32. Liked! And I also bought a petite wish for my brother, who just got a new job. What fun!
    My great Aunts Sadie and Ruth for years ran a little candy store out of their house in Marblehead, Ma. It was on the way to the beach, and all the sun and sand revellers would stop in to get some of their famous homemade fudge and hand-churned ice cream. My mother has rapturous memories of licking the paddles from the ice cream churn.
    By the time I was a kid, they had gotten too frail for the fudge and ice cream chores, but they still had a lovely old glass case full of penny candy. Your post brought back that effervescent feeling of looking at all those choices l and being giddy with the idea that some of those--and I get to choose! would be mine. I recall being partial to sour apple gum, and some sort of minty taffylike candy. But never the orange peanuts. Those were dreadful.
    Hildy

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  33. Liked here as well! I spent many, many days with my grandparents just outside Chicago as a child. On the most special of days, my grandmother would buy us (my brother and I) each a sheet of "dots" (those little bumps of sugar candy you have to bite off the sheet of paper). We could spend an entire summer day sitting in the hot sun slowly savoring those dots. We connected over those dots. They bring back happy memories of her, her love for us, and the way she could make life so very special. Who would have imagined that dots of sugar could do such a thing?

    Ann, I've followed your blog for a while, but never commented. You are an inspiration to so many. Hugs and hugs and hugs!

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  34. What a perfect gift you received! I "liked" them on Facebook and checked out their site. I'll definitely be using them in the future! When I was 9 and living in a tiny town in north Idaho (population 100), we didn't have a lot of money at all. With two kids and a baby, my mom and dad made sure they had enough to give us a weekly allowance. However, we had to earn that allowance! Although it was only 25 cents each week, to my sister and I it was an amazing amount of money! To earn that money we had chores to do. If we didn't do a chore or didn't do it like we were supposed to, we got docked an amount from our 25 cents. My sister was the type that was always good. There's always one in a family it seems and she always received her full amount. Me, on the other hand, always looked for shortcuts so I could get outside to play. Or I would "forget." lol I hardly ever received my 25 cents, but loved it when I actually got a dime instead of a nickel! Anyway, this is leading to a candy theme! In our little town there was a country type store that had the bare essentials of food, etc. Up front they had a candy area where the left rack held nickel candy, the right rack held dime candy, and at the register, it held quarter candy. I never got to pick the quarter candy, but I remember standing there with my prize every week picking out the perfect candy choice as my reward! That is where I got my love of jaw breakers. They would last forever! This is the candy I would snitch out my kids Halloween treat bags every year.

    Thank you so much for the fun memories down candy lane! Blessings to you, Ann!

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  35. Liked! Root beer barrels - yum! Remind me of my grandpa who always had some for me when I visited! The site is great - will definitely use in the future. Thanks Ann - been following you for awhile, wishing you the best...
    Jill C. in Novi MI

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  36. Just ordered Mother's Day gifts :)

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  37. I liked their page and finally made it back here to post a comment. You meet a need in the Stage IV community, humor and truth. My earliest memory of candy would be butterscotch from my Granddaddy.

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  38. Liked! Mmmm, the caramel squares! That's the taste of my childhood, right there. Man, I haven't had one in years.
    I love the Sugarwish concept. I'll be keeping them in mind for future gift-giving opportunities.

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  39. Liked. Not so sure they deliver to UK but what a great idea! I would love to get a gift like this. Our candy is different to yours so my memories will probably confuse everyone but.........white mice, pink shrimps, flying saucers, black jacks, fruit salad and sherbet fountains are all part of my growing up. If I close my eyes I can picture them now - and remember queuing up in the newsagents after school to get a 3penny mix! What lovely memories! X

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  40. I would send candy to my darlin' husband. He is a rock of resolve and a gush of loving tenderness...besides he has a huge sweet tooth.

    Thanks, Ann for writing your blog and sharing this time with all of us. I say a prayer each night for you and send white light to surround you...

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  41. Liked! My husband and I like totally different candy. He still likes what I call "kid stuff"-- Laffy Taffy, Lemonheads, Hot Tamales... and my sons (who ARE still kids) do too. When any of they go to the grocery store, I can count on Sour Patch Kids being on the receipt!

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  42. I liked them! And I LOVE candy! I'm going to send one to my daughter, she's having a tough time.

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  43. As a little girl I loved going to Wolworth with my grandma she would pick her yarns and would give me quarters to keep me out of her hair. I would always put them in the little machines tasting the handful of boston baked peanuts or chocolate covered raisins my favorite. By the time she was done I would get in trouble for having red stains and chocolate because I would wipe on my shirt or dress. Oh good times!

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  44. "Liked" and how wonderful it is! I have a serious sweet tooth, so looks like a wonderful way to take care of it! xo

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  45. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing this with us, Ann!

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  46. Very much "liked" their page!!! s for a candy memory...my sisters and I would go with my mom to the corner store for the Sunday paper and penny candy. This was in the 1960's . My favorite were the flying saucers and wax bottles filled with flavored syrup inside. First you bite off the top, suck out the liquid and then chew the wax, just like gum. Life was good.

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  47. what can we say about candy. I'm so glad that the idea that cancer 'loves' sugar is a myth. My grandparents owned a little candy store. I'd go in with 5cents and the penny candy was 3 for lcent. How delicious! I can remember getting that little brown bag and picking and choosing my candy as tho they were gems. mmmmmmm wonderful memories!

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  48. I liked it! I always like candy and you're right in that it always helps with the weight loss. My favorite candies were the sour patch kids and I would suck on them until it was too painful to have anything in my mouth anymore.
    Ginnie

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  49. I LOVE CANDY! I remember feeling I was so lucky when I could walk up to Raley's with friends and buy candy. Package after yellow package of peanut M&Ms were wolfed down regularly. But, like you Ann, I had many favorites...Butterfingers, Big Hunk, Look, Milky Way, red vines, milk duds, Starbursts, Mike n Ike's. Oh man...I think I could have been one of Santa's elves! I better look into my geneology a bit closer!
    Kelly

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  50. I like their FB page. I don't remember having much candy around the house when I was little. I do remember loving chocolate stars. We got them on rare occasions and they were the best...just never enough. When I went to work at age 12 I think it was one of the first things I bought to eat all by myself. I wonder if they taste as good now....
    Abby B.

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  51. Liked and liked! Great post.... I am a candy face! Love it. One of my favorite and only memories was of my grandpa Larsen who always had black nibs in his shirt pocket and he always gave me some. Thanks Ann, you make me laugh and cry!

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  52. 599th like. When I was a child in Pittsburgh, PA, we'd stop at the candy store every day on the way home from school. It was one of those little corner markets that were important before everyone had cars. I collected Wacky Packages (stickers plus gum). Other favorities were Spree, Sweattarts, Swedish Fish. To this day, I can't buy Swedish Fish to give out at Halloween, or I'll eat the whole bag before Halloween. Who else has to buy only candy they don't like to pass out to the kids at Halloween?

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  53. I "liked" them on FB. What a cute idea and company! I remember as a little kid walking up to the neighborhood store named Quigleys with all the neighborhood kids. THey had a candy counter at the back of the store. You could then "order" whatever kind of candy you wanted, and they would place it in a little white bag for you (and of course everything was like 5 or 10 cents!) Yes, I will take 1 box of Boston Baked Beans, one watermelon now & later, one lemonheads, etc... Ohhh... how much fun that was!

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  54. Hi, i liked their page and immediately sent a sugarwish to someone for their birthday! what a great site. Recently, i went to Dylan's Candy Bar in NYC with my daughter. I love candy, especially the hard to find candies, and was so excited to go to Dylan's. Boy, was I disappointed with Dylan's Candy Bar. The store was dirty, service was mediocre and the candy was yucky looking- and it was filled with so many non-candy items (junky plastic toys) that it was actually hard to find some of the 'old fashioned' candy. Now that i have seen Sugarwish site (plus your great recommendation) I am excited to share the this with my friends and family. thanks so much!

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  55. I liked their page. I think it is such a good idea and I will most definitely be using them in the VERY near future. Thanks for the heads up Ann, well worth a blog post :o)

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  56. Liked! And I was totally sold on the idea that "sugar feeds cancer," so thank you for letting us know that it's a myth and we can enjoy a little candy now and then, guilt-free! :-)

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  57. “Of course." He picked up the brown bag of candy on the table. "What's your..." He trailed off as he weighed the bag in his hands. "Didn't I give you three pounds of candy?"
    She smiled impishly.
    "You ate half the bag!"
    "Was I supposed to save it?"
    "I would have liked some!"
    "You never told me that."
    "Because I didn't expect you to consume all of it before breakfast!"
    She snatched the bag from him and put it on the table. "Well, that just shows poor judgement on your part, doesn't it?”
    ― Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

    Love your blog, pray for you and Jo Skinner everyday for peace in a way that is comforting for you. I may be candy...
    Roberta

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  58. I liked their FB page. I wasn't a big candy fan as a kid, but I do remember liking the little wax bottles of liquid.



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  59. I liked their page. I have always loved sugary candy--spree, sour patch kids, Mike and Ike's, Sweetarts. I remember going to the five and dime with my Nanna on Saturdays and picking out whatever I wanted. :)

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  60. I have to tell everybody who posted that these stories of candy memories are making me VERY happy. I share many of them, (like those wax bottles of juice) and have more. Remember the long skinny taffy in the wax paper with the powdery stuff on it? I used to buy it at flea markets. Sometimes you can still find it but it just doesn't taste the same - gee, I loved that stuff. Also, the Japanese candy where you could eat the paper that was made out of rice? That was fun. I also liked to buy cinnamon flavored toothpicks for some reason.

    Give me some candy, a dill pickle, a coke, some sunflower seeds and a good book and you are describing the happiest parts of my childhood.

    Keep 'em coming! Loving these stories!

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  61. I liked 'em...and the candy of my childhood was Hot Tamales. The best place to eat them (or where they tasted the best at least) was at the movie theater. It's still my favorite candy to get when I see a movie, even if it's just an at-home rental. And thanks for the link to the sugar myth article. I posted that at a cancer forum I frequent where there has been an ongoing argument about that topic.

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  62. Liked - what a cool site!

    Remember candy buttons - they were so pretty and pure sugar so of course delicious. And rock candy! And fizzies that you put in water! I loved going to the candy store when I was a kid.

    I found your blog through the NY Times article and it is really amazing. Love your Facebook page as well!

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  63. What, no mention of rock candy? It rocked back in the 60's and 70's and still does.

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  64. I liked them on FB too! I had never heard of SugarWish until you posted about it. What a wonderful creation! My mom's oncologist was none too happy about her losing weight, as opposed to gaining, so I'm hoping I can get her some of her favorite candies too! Sugar is heavenly! : ) I remember as kids, Mom used to love the swedish fish, chocolate babies, caramel creams and candy corn! I never got into the candy corn but Mom eats it year round.

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  65. Regarding the article "our feel good war on breast cancer" its SHORTSIGHTED. While the author does discuss the different types of breast cancer she doesnt ever acknowledge that it is those "more aggressive" types, HER2 and triple negative, where mammogram may actually benefit young woman. The literature is vast, and I wouldnt put too much stock in a 5 page summary by someone without a background in reading and interpreting medical literature. She simply gathered other individuals thoughts and summaries. A HER2 positive cancer in a 35 year old is not going to disappear, not if you know anything about the biochemical structure of that cell and receptor type, not if you've watched the speed at which it turns on growth factors and invades surrounding blood vessels going from insitu, to invasive to micromets in a very short period of time, a time period, very , very different than the vast majority of estrogen receptor positive tumors.

    And that is the heart of what this entire debate is about. The vast majority of breast cancers are hormone positive, and they grow slowly, and they take years to kill if at all, and they are held at bay by Tamoxifen, and aromatase inhibitors and this is the type most people have. So, it is NOT COST EFFECTIVE TO SCREEN WOMAN WITH BREAST CANCER of the hormone positive type. Too bad for you if your cancer is one of the 20 percent, of breast cancers which are HER2 or an even smaller percentage that are triple negative. Theres just not enough of these patients for screening to be considered cost effective even though in this population mammogram does have a role in early detection and subsequent prevention, and chemotherapy and Herceptin does decrease deaths by logorythmic killing of agressive cancer cells in patients whose tumor has already left the breast but the quantity of those cells is not large enough yet to set up shop and to take over its host.

    The "unnecessary toxic medications" that patients are supposedly receiving, as this article purports has now dismissed the very individual counseling that patients receive and the risk that they are quoted for their cancer "coming back" AKA, the risk that it has already traveled outside the breast, a number we have made an educated guess at based on years of research.

    Its only unnecessary if you can proove that without it, it would have never come back anyway because it was cut out of the breast at surgery.

    This article is written for the layperson and the author knows just enough to make her dangerous as the scientific details obviously escape her.

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  66. ..and I love candy too and it doesnt feed cancer thats bullshit...and I only wrote the above because I want you to write me back. Damn I'm such a needy child..

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  67. What a great idea! I liked them on FB. Candy memory? Necco wafers. Growing up Catholic and pretending they were the host. :)

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  68. What a wonderful company. So heartwarmimg to hear its effect on you! Love those little joy filled moments. I love all candy, I have the biggest sweet tooth, inherited from my family. Neat story, candy is also helping my mom in her surviorship after bc treatment in that she retired from her job and is now a candy caterer, creating candy buffets for weddings and parties, because life is sweet and is to be celebrated!

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  69. Love the website. Newly diagnosed with serious cancer. Don't have a Facebook account but have many positive and happy memories of candy from growing up in the uk. One day a week I could buy candy and I would love to look at all the jars of candy lining the shelves. Thank you for sharing.
    Elizabetg

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  70. Just liked the FB page, and love their website! The Sprees -- yes, delicious my friend, delicious :D -- and lemondrops are my favs. Chocolate has been my friend for years, but with these crazy chemo tastebuds, strong and sour is the way for me to go!

    I remember as a kid in the 70's, riding bikes with my best friend down to the party store, carrying all the 10 cent deposit/refundable cans (Michigan recycling incentive) that her mom saved just for us. We poured over the vast array of tastiness, trying to choose the best way to spend our windfall. The variety, the quantity, was staggering. Sprees were my favorite, even way back then.

    Still love the memory of clutching that bulging paper sack on our way back to her house -- 80 or 90 cents went a lot further back then!

    I have to get groceries in a few minutes, after a short nap. Now I'm going to have to spend significant time in the candy aisle, which I haven't done in decades! (Besides, it's my 43rd birthday and calories are guilt free, on birthdays -- right?)

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  71. Love and hate that I'm able to relate to everything you write about Ann. I tried to find a funny blog for a while, and was so glad to find yours. Wish of course, you had no need to write a blog about cancer. Wish I had no reason to read it, but here we are = two 50ish women with Stage IV. So, what's there to do?
    I've "Liked" Sugarwish's Facebook Page and now I'm in the process of checking out their shipping to Canada. Would be too, too cruel to introduce us and then find out they don't ship to Canada....

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    Replies
    1. They will ship to the winner of this contest to Canada and the UK. Normally, they want the buyer to call them so they can do it, apparently there is some glitch. But for this contest, it won't matter. So don't worry about that!

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  72. Lizzy's Aunt KatieMay 2, 2013 at 7:59 PM

    Like! How could I not... a chance for free candy?! I always loved sharing candy with my niece. For her birthdays I would always give her a candy treat that she doesn't normally get. I'll always think of her whenever I have one of those strawberry hard candies with the soft almost gooey strawberry insides...

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  73. When I was in kindergarten on Halloween I fell at school and hit my chin hard enough to get stitches. That night when everyone was going Trick or Treating I couldn't go - so my two sisters and my brother each took an extra bag for me. I ended up with THREE full bags of candy. Best day EVER.

    Judi in Reno

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  74. I live on a farm in Denmark, and me and my dad used to spent the mornings during the spring out in the field, close to the forrest. We had brought a very typical white blanket with red stripes, just as in the movies. We just sat and looked at the animals which sometimes passed by. The day before we have always have a daily trip to town, pickin' what ever sweet I want, and it could sometimes be a rather expensive trip ;).

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  75. I used to love those FunDips until I took an entire layer off my tongue during finals week in college. Haven't had them since...

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  76. I liked SugarWish.

    I don't eat them now because I am afraid they will pull my teeth out, but I once loved Now & Laters — apple flavor was the best!

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  77. I liked Sugarwish and I like you! I love their concept and will keep them in mind the next time I want to send someone a gift. It makes me remember going to the local candy shop when I was a child and getting to pick out candy from the case. I used to get those little pieces of sugar on paper a lot. I can't remember what they're called.

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  78. I love that site. I am nostalgic about candy. Seeing something I forgot as a kid triggers a fond memory. Walking from my elementary school to the mom and pop candy store a block away. Small brown paper bag in hand, loading up with all the candy my dime could buy. Penny candy, sometimes two for a penny. Tootsie pops, bon bons, tootsie rolls, taffy.
    Hand candy helped me with dry mouth when I went through chemo and I still keep a bowl close by. And I have tootsie pops stashed in my bedside table for plopping in my mouth when I write in my journal.
    You rock lady.

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  79. Kathy Shanahan MichaudMay 8, 2013 at 1:04 PM

    I liked their page. What a great idea! One of my favorite candy memories is going to the candy counter at Sears and getting ten cents worth of milk chocolate stars in a little white bag. And keeping the halloween candy in the freezer to enjoy for months and months! (a pillowcase holds ALOT of candy!)

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  80. Elizabeth HutchinsMay 8, 2013 at 1:08 PM

    I liked their FB page-what a fun, happy business!
    My candy memory: When my sister and I were little (7 or 8 years old) in the 1970's we received some giant pixie sticks full of powdered candy. We proudly put on our candy necklaces and candy rings (remember the big hard candy "stone" on a plastic ring?) and marched up and down the street twirling our pixie sticks like we were in a parade! Maybe we were high on pixie dust...makes me smile just to think about it.

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  81. This post makes me very happy :)

    As a child I rode my bike to Saturday morning classes. I would always stop at the dime store for candy and would often buy a foot-long Bazooka Joe Red Hot Cinnamon Bubble Gum. I would generally chew the entire thing during my three-hour class by biting off a chunk, spitting it out as soon as it lost its flavor and then biting off another chunk. By the time class was over I would have burned off my taste buds. Good times :)

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  82. Liked the Sugarwish page, what a cool idea, I am definitely going to be utilizing their services in the near future :). My favorite candy memory is from when I was a kid, we had an older gentleman that lived in our neighborhood that rode around on his bike for exercise and handed out candy to all the kids in the neighborhood. I was always excited when he had some of my favorites, like grape Now and Laters and BBbats, I was not a big fan of the root beer barrels. We called him Uncle John, of course, all of this now sounds a bit creepy with the way times have changed but growing up in the '70's it was all completely innocent. Miss those days, especially with my kids growing up now!

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  83. The contest is closed and any comments past this one will not be counted. I will announce the winner later today.

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  84. So congratulaions to Dawn! I hope you contact me before mother's day so you can get your mom some candy. ButDoctorIHatePink AT Gmail DOT com or message me on facebook. I'll need your full name to tell the sugarwish folks.

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