The Scariest Thing About Halloween? Baseball Fans

First of all, Happy Halloween! I hope everyone got lots of pumpkin treats and trick-or-treaters at their door.

This Halloween was a pain in the rear end. I'd just gotten up and was getting dressed around quarter after 8AM when Donna, the head front end manager, called. Could I come in as soon as possible? A cashier called out. I wasn't able to get in until around 11. I had to eat breakfast and get my Halloween costume together. I did manage to get Garfield's Halloween Adventure, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and two Monkees horror-oriented episodes, "I Was a Teenage Monster" from the first season and "Monstrous Monkee Mash" from the middle of the second.

I found out why I was called in when I arrived in my wings and flowered wreaths and wand. It was unusually busy for Halloween, with long lines. It seems Philadelphia held a parade to honor the Phillies today...and they couldn't have picked a worse possible day to do it. Kids were out of school (even here in South Jersey), adults called out of work en masse, and two million people were projected to try to make it into Center City. That's where that errant cashier (and many other Acme employees) ended up - the parade. Parades are nice, but making a good paycheck is nicer...and a lot more important when your rent is due.

At least the weather was gorgeous. It was sunny, windless, and warmer than it has been, but not too much for this time of year. As Matt at X-Entertainment mentioned at his annual Halloween Countdown, it even looks like Halloween. The trees are turning lovely colors, all golds and reds and oranges, and they crunch so nicely. Maybe that's why, even after the parade ended, the Acme cleared out and was more like it's usual dead-as-a-doornail Halloween calm.

Most of the adults who worked in the morning didn't dress up, but I saw more costumes as the day went on. There was a college girl in a gorgeous pirate costume (including one heck of a hat), a teenage witch, a dancer, several baseball players (surprise, surprise), a samurai, a black cat, a Scotsman (complete with kilt), and a teenage boy in drag. (Said he lost a bet, poor kid.) We gave out a little candy, but the Audubon Acme is on the busy corner of Nicholson and the Black Horse Pike, where mose kids can't (and shouldn't) cross.

(Note to self: try to get an actual costume together next year. My flower fairy get-up got a lot of snide jokes from older men who thought I was a "Hawaiian Angel" or something. Do it earlier than a week before Halloween, too.)

I got off in time for the tail-half of trick-or-treating. I saw lots of kids on Kendall Boulevard alone roaming up and down streets. Some little ones were with their parents. Older kids were with their siblings or in groups. Teenagers, some in costume, some not bothering, were also roaming in packs.

As I mentioned last year, I was never terribly fond of trick-or-treating. It seemed kind of pointless to me. I've always loved dressing up, though. That's really what I love most about Halloween - getting to dress up and show off my costume and have fun. Of course, when my sisters and I were young, we always had well-made costumes. No dollar-store plastic masks and smocks for us! Mom's a master seamstress and has made our costumes (and "dress-ups") for as long as I can remember.

The earliest Halloween costume I remember was my Disney Fairy Godmother outfit. I had a blue dress and a dark blue cape. We had that dark blue cape for years in the dress-up basket. I couldn't have been any more than three or four. There's a cute picture from about when I'm in first grade of us three girls in our Halloween costumes. Rose is a witch in an old wig spray-painted purple, a long home-made black dress with gold ribbon trim, and a real broom. I'm a queen in a purple gown from some Cape May Stage production Mom did the costumes for, a spray-painted cardboard crown, and a "scepter" made of a craft-store wooden ball and dowel. Anny, barely a year old, is a totally adorable Little Red Riding Hood in a little home-made red felt cape, a pale blue dress, and a blue-and-white striped apron.

Mom has another great picture of home-made costumes from when Rose and I were just starting high school. I was beginning my great obsession with mysteries and old movies and had elected to be a film noir private eye. I wore Mom's black fedora leftover from her Annie Hall phase in the late 70s, Mom's best black tie, old leather shoes, my own white shirt and black jeans, and a cap gun and handcuffs taken from a dollar-store police officer set. Rose, on the other hand, had just gotten into HER great obsession - fantasy novels. She dressed as a "Sun Goddess" in a white gown with gold trim that Mom made, sheer stockings, white heels, a gold spray-painted wire crown, and glittering suns on her cheeks.

Halloween On Parade

I slept in this morning and didn't get to the library for volunteering until around noon. It was a lovely day for a ride, blue and gold, still cold and a little windy, but nothing like yesterday or the last few days. The library was stone-quiet, not surprising on a gorgeous day before a holiday. I did the children's DVDs and put the adult DVDs away. I stopped at Super Fresh for Total cereal, then took a peek at Dollar Tree and Halloween Adventure for a last bit of Halloween atmosphere. Super Fresh had, in fact, cleared out its Halloween section already. Dollar Tree's had Christmas items out since September, though it still had a fairly substantial Halloween section.

I browsed quickly through Halloween Adventure before heading home. This is the local "Halloween Costume Superstore" that pops up in empty storefronts across the country between September and early November. I was hoping to find a halo. I did, but even at half-off, I didn't have enough money for it. The problem with most adult women's Halloween costumes is they assume any woman over the age of 12 wants to wear as little as possible for Halloween. Not only is that impractical in cold weather (and with my figure), but I'm just not that way. Not every adult woman wants to trip around in brief skirts and mile-high heels.

I spent what was left of the afternoon at home, watching Strawberry Shortcake DVDs and Mad Monster Party?, the latter as I prepared for Oaklyn's Halloween Parade. I created a "flower fairy" costume with the wings and wand from the Angel costume I bought two years ago, the leis leftover from a hula dancer costume from about five years ago, the peach ruffled skirt and white embroidered shirt I bought last spring, my summer shoes, and stockings. I still had glitter body makeup leftover from the angel costume two years ago that I put on my face and hands.

As it turned out, I was the only adult who entered the parade in costume. The parade is a far less organized affair than the huge one in Cape May. I ran into Uncle Ken and Jessa as they were heading over to the Fire Hall on West Clinton Avenue where the parade began. Jessa wasn't dressed, but she'd been recruited to give out numbers to the kids. I helped her, too. No one registered. There were no floats or marching bands, just kids in costume and their parents and fire trucks.

The kids were terrific. There were superheroes, Optimus Prime and Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk and an Adam West-era Batman in plastic masks. There was a Wizard of Oz crew, an adorable toddler Dorothy and Cowardly Lion and their older Tin Woodsman and Glinda siblings. A family of boys were dressed as soldiers. An authentic cowboy rode around in a cute "chuck wagon" of cardboard and a Little Red Wagon. There was a third group dressed as Disney characters - I especially liked Donald Duck. There were two firemen, Elmo, a very enthusiastic and noisy female Mad Scientist, a girl football player, a hippie in a tie-dyed t-shirt and huge Afro (he looked like a little second-season Micky Dolenz), a mini Medieval maiden, a "dead" cheerleader, Jack Sparrow, a girl pirate, High School Musical dancers, a ghostly prom queen, and some very scary monsters in freaky dollar-store masks and well-dyed "rags."

The whole group (including Jessa and me) marched raggedly down West Clinton Avenue, from the Fire Hall to the Oaklyn Public (Elementary and Middle) School. Despite my cousin Blake's complaints, it was really only a few blocks and took less than ten minutes, nothing like the trek from the Gazebo behind the Washington Street Mall to the Physick Estate the Cape May Halloween Parade does. After everyone arrived at the School, we proceeded to the auditorium, where each age group (and me) paraded for the judges, Samantha, Dolores, and another mother. I met the rest of Samantha's family there. David and I took pictures of adorable Faith, dressed as a cute little Cinderella, and her brothers Matt (the modern, "Dark Knight" Batman) and Ethan (a ghost), while the kids walked around the stage for the judges. I joined the "12 and Up" group. I didn't win (Faith and her brothers did), but that wasn't really the point anyway. I just wanted to dress up for something and do something in costume besides stand around at work. The Cape May Halloween Parade was always the highlight of the Halloween season for me.

I did get something out of it, though. All the participants received a bag of candy and small items (a key clip, a small box of crayons, a pen) from Commerce Bank. There were a lot of bags leftover, so I ended up with three. Since I probably won't be getting candy tomorrow, the candy and little items are almost as good as the 5 dollars most of the kids won.

(Incidentally, I do intend to dress up for work tomorrow, at least in the leis, wand, wings, and makeup. I'm just going to wear my regular work pants and sneakers for the bottom half. Those white shoes and the skirt wouldn't be all that comfortable for work, and I certainly couldn't ride to work in them.)

We are the Champions

First of all...Yay! The Philadelphia Phillies FINALLY won their first World Series title since 1980 tonight! I knew SOMETHING was up when I heard fireworks and booms and pops in the direction of South Philly. Shame the trees haven't shed enough leaves yet for me to see the fireworks...

Other than that, this was a very quiet day. I had fairly early work at 11AM. Work was on-and-off busy, no major problems. I got in quickly, despite the wind, and my relief was on time. I had a really nice ride to and from work, too. Windy days sure work your cardiovascular system! It was windy, partly cloudy, and still cold, but neither were as bad as yesterday.

I was going to clean the bathroom when I got home, but by the time I got in, changed, and took out the trash, it was really too late to drag out all the cleaning items. I ended up baking Ginger Cookies instead. I needed to refill my cookie jar.

Autumn Atmosphere

The rain that started yesterday evening (and made my ride home so cold) continued this morning. I needed milk anyway, so I went for a walk to WaWa this morning after sleeping in just to see how bad it was. When I got home, I was wet, cold, and windblown. It wasn't snowing, but it was raining hard and colder than it should have been for this time of year. I love the fall myself, but it felt more like Mother Nature decided to skip straight to Christmas!

Needless to say, I didn't ride my bike to work this afternoon. Even the Phillies weren't crazy enough to play today, World Series or no friggin' World Series. Work was surprisingly steady, given the weather conditions and the fact that this is the end of the month. Dolores drove me to work. Uncle Ken drove me home. By the time I got out (on time - no relief and it was dying quickly in there anyway), the rain had stopped but the wind was still crazy. Supposedly, we're only going to get a few quick showers tomorrow. It had better be while I'm in work. Uncle Ken and Dolores have doctor's appointments and can't drive me tomorrow, and Dad's out of town. I hate needing rides anyway. It makes me feel like a baby, even though people say they don't mind doing it.

Balancing Rain and Shine

I awoke to a lovely morning. The sun was shining, and though it was windy, it was neither too hot nor too cold for the time of year. I was a bit surprised at the lack of people at Yogawood. The 9:30 class wasn't nearly as full as last week's, just six women, one man, and the teacher Jill. Perhaps all those mothers are getting their children ready for Halloween.

I wish I were doing better with Yoga. I keep trying as much as I can, but I'm just not in the same place most of the other students are. I still can't really do handstands, and my balance is just awful. I can't stand on one foot for more than a few seconds. I do keep trying, and I do intend to continue the classes for as long as I can. I just wish it wasn't so obvious that I'm a novice. Maybe I'd feel more like I fit in.

I stopped at the thrift shop after class to say "hi" to Erica and to drop off a bunch of videos and cassettes that I was donating along with the CDs that FYE didn't want. The store was very busy. Probably a lot of people looking around for Halloween costumes, for themselves or others.

I went straight home after that, grabbed my laundry, and went over to Uncle Ken's to do this week's load. That mostly went well. Uncle Ken and Dolores was home. They were doing laundry, but not until a bit later. I ran the DVD and videos I took out of the Oaklyn Library back and bought deli ham while the laundry was in the dryer. I spent the rest of the afternoon after that working on editing some of our remaining role-play short stories.

Today was my late work shift. It was steady early on, dead by the time I got out. I didn't realize why it was so dead until I rolled out of the store and felt cold raindrops on my nose. I saw heavy clouds on the horizon as I rode to work this afternoon, but I thought nothing of it until I found myself riding home in a freezing shower. I probably should have called Dolores or Uncle Ken, but it wasn't raining that hard when I went home, and anyway it's a pain in the rear end to wait around for them. I did manage to get home before the rain got much worse. It's pouring as I write this. It's raining so hard, tonight's World Series game ended prematurely and will supposedly finish tomorrow.

Take a Giant - and an Eagle - Step

It was an absolutely gorgeous day for sports fans. I started off the morning just hanging around at home. I tried calling Mom, but she said quickly that she'd call me back. Work was on-and-off steady, no real major problems other than the usual listening to people whine about their jobs, their children, and their significant others. Must be nice to have good jobs, children, friends, and significant others to whine about. I always end up listening to my customers complain about their lives...but most of the time, I can't relate. I don't have children. I'm not married, and I haven't dated in almost five years. I have a part-time job I'm not all that fond of, though I do like my co-workers. No one brings candy in the back room unless there's a party going on. My boss is cool. Sometimes, I feel so out of the loop, I might as well be made of stone.

I didn't feel much better after work. I tried to sell two DVDs and two CDs at the FYE behind the Acme, but was only able to sell one DVD for a dollar. They said they were "overstocked" on the other DVD and just plain didn't want the CDs. I don't understand why. That's a good-sized and very popular FYE with plenty of storage room. I can kind of understand the CDs, but they should have been able to take both DVDs. I really do want to get rid of them, so I'll just give them to Erica at the thrift shop tomorrow.

Going over to Uncle Ken's cheered me up enormously. I wasn't going to go originally, since the Eagles game would have been over by then, but I needed to be around people who weren't going to whine about their lives. I'm very glad I did go over there. I had pizza, pound cake, cupcakes, and "hoagie soup" (beef broth, noodles, tomatoes, onion, Italian salami slices) while chatting with Uncle Ken, Dolores, his daughter Samantha, her husband Dave, and Dad's girlfriend Jodie. Chasing Sam and Dave's kids Ethan, Matt, and Faith was fun, too. Jodie told me Dad's out working, taking a cruise ship from Rhode Island down to Florida, and will be gone for three weeks.

This must be a good time for sailors to be out to sea. When I finally got a hold of Mom this evening after getting home from Uncle Ken's, she said that my stepdad's out fishing, too. She was just resting after working on a knitting project for a neighbor's son. Keefe was at the neighbor's house, so she was spending some rare time with the football games to herself. As far as I can tell, she's quite happy. She got to see my little nephew do "Trick or Treat" at Cape May's Washington Street Mall last week.

Oh, and Philly sports fans can rejoice tonight. The Eagles came out of their week off with flags flying and walloped the Atlanta Falcons 27-14, and at press time, the Philadelphia Phillies are winning game 4 of the World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2.

(And sorry Mom, but the Giants did beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-14.)

Oh, and I dug around in my bag of costume odds and ends and decided what I'm going to be for Halloween this year. I shall be a "flower fairy" in my white angel wings and wand from two years ago and a bunch of flowered headbands and armbands leftover from a hula dancer costume I did quite a while ago. I debated being an angel again, but I couldn't find the halo anywhere. I must have gotten rid of it. I'll wear my good white shoes and white Swiss lace shirt and may dig out the peach skirt I bought last summer. I'll wear a turtleneck under the shirt if I'm cold. Uncle Ken and Samantha invited me to Oaklyn's Halloween Parade on Thursday night. It sounds like a lot of fun! That's my only day off this week, so I'll definitely try to make it.

Weather Only Fit for Ducks and Baseball Fans

I woke up late and barely made it to work on time, ignoring a light rain that barely dampened my pants. Work was busy today, not really crazy but steady. I got in and out with no problems and my relief was on time. After I got in, I went right back out again to run to CVS to get eggs. Though the rain was still only light as I rode home, it picked up when I went out, and was on-and-off for the rest of the evening.

I stopped briefly at Uncle Ken's and got to chat with his girlfriend Dolores. Uncle Ken is going in for treatments for a bump on his neck (I forget what she said it is), so this weekend will be his last football party for a while. Alas, I won't be there. Unless the game's bumped, the Eagles-Falcons game is at 1PM tomorrow and I work noon to 4.

Speaking of Philly sports, the only people crazy enough to be out there tonight were fowls and people catching foul balls. It continued to rain on-and-off, sometimes heavily, until about an hour ago. It's been insanely windy, too. The weather did delay the World Series, but it went on and the Phillies are winning 1-0 at press time.

Oh, and I'm going to be posting a whole bunch of short stories Lauren and I have written in the past few weeks at our Monkees role-play site as soon as I finish here, including several Halloween stories and a few pertinent to the main spring stories. I hope you enjoy them. This will be the last batch for a while. Lauren and I start our extra-long NaNoWrite story soon, and it's likely there won't be anything else posted until around Thanksgiving.

The Chic Chickadee

Spent most of the morning in bed! I was up late last night and didn't get up until quarter after 10. By the time I'd written in my journal, gotten dressed, and had breakfast, it was almost noon. I headed over to the Acme to pick up my paycheck. Went to Wal-Mart. Wanted to get a bra but didn't see any my size that I liked. (Do they all have to be padded? It's not like I need the padding!) They didn't have any halos for angel costumes, either, just scary stuff. I'd do a scary costume, but I don't want to do elaborate face make-up...and my round face and figure just weren't meant to frighten people. My teddy bears are scarier than I am. Besides, I still have those white wings leftover from my fairy costume two years ago. I just ended up with brushes for between the teeth and the Rankin-Bass movie Mad Monster Party?. I made a quick stop at FYE to see if they had the black cat (nope), then went to the Acme to do my grocery shopping and headed home.

After I put everything away and had a quick cereal lunch, I went back out again. Since I had to go to the bank anyway, I kept going and headed for Willie the Woodsman's, the small gift shop in Audubon that carries WebKinz. They also didn't have the Black Cat, but they did have another WebKinz I was looking for, the Chickadee. I got my first Lil'Kinz flying pet and a Pumpkin outfit for my bat Boo. I don't normally buy the clothes for the real stuffed animals. It's one thing to do it for onscreen animals you're playing with, but it seems silly and pointless for the real ones. Boo's supposed to be a decoration, though, and I thought it would look festive.

I stopped by Abbie Road and said "hi" to Bob on the way back. He works a second job at the Acme in Runnemede, but it doesn't sound like he will for much longer. The night crew apparently lost so many hours, most are quitting. I did finally buy a used Fleetwood Mac CD that has my favorite of their songs on it, "Seven Wonders." I also picked up some pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies at Desserts By Design.

I watched Mad Monster Party? after I got home. Boy, what a weird trip THAT was. It was almost as mind-blowing as Vertigo yesterday, but in a totally different way. That was artsy. This was just plain bizarre. Baron Von Frankenstein (voice - and the likeness - of Boris Karloff) wants to retire and intends to leave all his secrets, including his newest one, to his nephew Felix. Trouble is, Felix is not only a mega-nerd, but a human one as well, which doesn't sit well with his hot assistant Francesca or any of the other monsters gathered for a convention. Francesca and the monsters try their best to get Felix off the island and the Baron to change his mind.

When Phyllis Diller (as the Bride of Frankenstein) is the least strange thing on the screen, you KNOW a movie's weird. Apparently, the movie was one of three Rankin-Bass features released in the mid-60s after the success of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. None of them ever really made it past kiddie matinees and fell out of sight all together before they were finally released on video a few years ago. As the only even remotely Halloween-tinged Rankin-Bass project, this one's a lot of fun. Karloff is a wonderful warm and yet creepy Baron, and singer Gale Bennett is fine as the scheming Francesca. You can tell this was intended for the big screen - the sets, choreography, and animation is more elaborate than the holiday specials, there's more special effects, and the color's eye-popping. The horror icons who turn up are a lot of fun too, ranging from the browbeaten Frankenstein's monster to the odd Peter Lorre-like zombie. Weird, but recommended for people who prefer their Halloween scares more comic and less gruesome or for those of you who want to explore the less cutesy side of Rankin-Bass.

Oh, and meet Chicka, my chic little chickadee! I built two rooms with the money she came with, an airy room for her (complete with the POTM cloud machine), and a small bathroom with the last of the Halloween items. I also got to buy Chicka a cute little blouse with a butterfly on it from the KinzStyle bag.

The Last Time I Felt Like This

Began the morning by getting my finances in order, such as they are. I don't have much money in the bank right now. After I did that and put out my bills, I was able to get to the library after skipping it last week. The kids' storybook hour had just finished and everyone was busy, so I just did the children's DVDs and helped kids find titles. I eventually took out two October issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories, the newest Backyardigans DVD, and the new Maisie Dobbs novel.

It was a lovely day again, sunny and chilly but this time windless. I took the long way home across Newton River Park, going straight home this time. I didn't have the money to stop anywhere. When I got home, I put my books upstairs and went back downstairs to take my recycling out. I took advantage of the lack of wind to rake the side path leading to my apartment and sweep my porch, both of which were heavily laden with golden and copper-colored leaves. I wanted to do the side path last Thursday, but I ran out of time before work. I'd had enough of tripping over those three little stumps near the side of the house.

I spent the rest of the afternoon working on a loaf of English Wholemeal Bread from my English baking cookbook, doing stuff online, and watching DVDs. I ran The Backyardigans while working on the bread and making Lemon Chicken with Curried Rice for dinner. That show is just so unbelievably creative. I can't believe the stuff they come up with. One episode had Tyrone and Pablo as a weatherman and an athlete in ancient Greece who go up to Mt. Olympus to ask God Austin and Goddesses Uniqua and Austin to stop raining on their basketball game, to the tune of samba music. Another has intergalactic travelers Zuniqua and Zablo working on Cowgirl Tasha's ranch to earn the fuel for their ship - blueberry pancakes! The cutest was their underwater take on National Velvet. Uniqua wants to race Tyrone on her little wild dolphin, but Tyrone doesn't think she has what it takes to beat a champion. Will her new friend's fear of clams upset their chances?

I enjoyed Vertigo during and after dinner. Whew, was that a mind-blower or what? Alfred Hitchcock was the master of messing with the mind, and I thought this would be a better (and less messy) place for me to start than Psycho or The Birds. Besides, who doesn't love James Stewart? I figured out something of what was going on about half-way through, but the ending was still amazing. Great imagery, too, especially Stewart's nutty animated/effects dream.

And...ergh. My tooth hurts again. I'm going to take some aspirin and swish with salt water after I get off here, but I wish it would stop doing this occasionally, so I could actually chew on my right side? :p

World Series

Today begins the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies, the first time the Phils have made it to the championship since 1993. The Acme held a small party in the back room in the Phillies' honor. There was a pizza-pan-sized chocolate cookie with fudge icing, two pans of brownies (I didn't finish the one I had - it was burnt and hard around the edges), Patrice the Stock Manager's sponge cake with cherry Jello swirl and Cool Whip icing, and a huge bowl of "pretzel chips," thin, crispy, twice-baked pretzels donated by the deli. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time chatting with my fellow employees. Probably helped that the store was steady-to-dead today, with no major customer problems and no problems coming in or getting out. (In stark contrast to yesterday, my relief was early.)

It was a nice day, still very windy but not too cold, about what it should be this time of year. I dropped my lunch bag in the kitchen when I got home and went right back out again for a walk down the White Horse Pike. I stopped at the Oaklyn Library on the way home and rented two Winnie the Pooh Halloween specials and the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo. (Actually, one is a prime-time Pooh special, Boo To You Too!. The other is three spooky-oriented episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh collected under the title of the first one, Frankenpooh.)

I watched the Pooh special and a Disney movie I picked up from a yard sale, An Extremely Goofy Movie, during dinner. A direct-to-video follow up to the Disney Afternoon cartoon Goof Troop and it's theatrical spin-off A Goofy Movie, this is the surprisingly sweet tale of Goofy's attempt to stick with his son Max after he goes to college. Goofy apparently hasn't been on a college campus since the seventies, which leads to some hilarious moments (check out Goofy with that mile-high afro!) and a disco-heavy soundtrack. (Loved the cute version of "Right Back To Where We Started From" over the end credits.)

A Rather Blustery Day

The wind, which had subsided yesterday, returned with a vengeance today. It rained a little as I worked on editing a few role-play stories this morning, but by the time I decided to go to Veteran's Park next-door for a walk, it was merely cloudy. I had a really nice walk, though. The sun peeked through the clouds long enough for me to take a couple of great pictures of the park. I walked around to the edge of the cliffside, then back around to Miss Ellie's house, picking my way over to her yard. I put my camera back at the house, then completed my walk with a quick jaunt down to West Clinton Avenue and back around to Manor. I had lunch, then threw together a snack and headed to work.

Work was quiet earlier on, but the rush hour crowd was a pain. We had one woman who wanted the 12 for $5 canned vegetable sale that ended yesterday. She had found one little sign left in the back...so of course, after much fuss, we had to give it to her. And then, it turned out that she'd bought the wrong damn vegetables to begin with!

I don't know why anyone would want to eat canned vegetables anyway, especially the peas that were one of the three options for that sale! I can understand corn and green beans a little. Both are fine if you use them in soups or casseroles. But canned peas are tasteless green mush. And don't get me started on canned carrots! That's why the only canned vegetable I'll eat is tomatoes. Canned diced tomatoes are great in chili and makes excellent marinade with oil, but most canned vegetables are just gross.