Gummy Bunnies Are Real

You make the call: Exciting, or disgusting? As spotted at Target.

Enough With the Holiday Mash-Ups

Trick-or-treating is not enough? Bobbing for apples? Haunted houses? Spooky music? All too played out?

Halloween has plenty of traditions already, which is why I just don't get the need to import traditions from other holidays. Egg hunts (above) and gingerbread houses (below)? C'mon, Target, they'll get their turn. Save it.

In the Gutter with Tom LaBonge

Los Angeles City Council member Tom LaBonge is known for taking his love of L.A. to extreme measures. And we saw first hand on Easter Sunday how far he'll go.

As we were walking up the steps to Los Feliz's St. Casimir Catholic Church, one of the church's top volunteers yelled, "Hey! It's Tom LaBonge."

We turned and saw a man with a large trash bag, picking up garbage from the gutter in front of the church. He looked up and seemed genuinely embarrassed at being caught.

Yep, there was Councilman LaBonge, in sweats, randomly picking up trash in the neighborhood.

"I'm doing this for the church!" he told the St. Casimir volunteer before loading the trash bag in his trunk.

I asked LaBonge if he had any pumpkin bread in his trunk -- as he's well-know for passing out the treat, as baked and sold by the nuns inside Hollywood's Monastery of the Angeles.

He smiled, said yes, pointed to his car, and then drove off. Wait, where's my bread?

Happy Easter!

As I post this, Evan and I actually are watching the entire "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" special on DVD (or, as I mentioned the other day, "the Easter Bagel").

The Easter Bunny hit our home last night and left the BT a small toy plane and some Easter eggs filled with jellybeans. He also left a note.

One of the things that always left me suspicious as a child regarding Santa and the Easter Bunny: Their notes were always written in the EXACT same handwriting as my parents. I still remember how much that bugged me. So last night, I made sure to scrawl the Easter bunny's note with my right hand. Sure, it looks like the scrawlings of a 4 year-old, but no one said the Easter Bunny had good penmanship. (He has no opposable thumbs, after all.)

P.S.: My big problem with "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" are the scenes with Marcie and Peppermint Patty. As we know from years of comics, Marcie is supposed to be the smarter one. Sure, Peppermint Patty has street smarts, but Marcie's no dummy. So why is it Marcie who can't figure out that eggs are meant to be boiled?

It's the Easter Bagel, Blogger Toddler

Ever since we visited the Charles Schulz/Peanuts museum in Santa Rosa last fall, Evan has been a Charlie Brown and Snoopy fan. Having recently watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," the BT has been asking to watch it again. But then, again, he's been asking to see the "Easter Bagel," so he may have something entirely different in mind.