As summer shifts to fall, the leaves changing color, the air turning cooler, and the nights getting longer, some people find changes happening within themselves.  For those people, this change shows up as the desire to eat and sleep more than normal - commonly called "cabin fever", or also known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).

The shift to fall actually has the opposite effect with me.  Gloomy days make me feel energized.  Longer nights means that the kids go to bed earlier and I am productive, then fall asleep and rest without moving, kind of like a rock.  Fall makes me feel great.  Except that it's also the time that my Disorder appears.

I suffer from SSD (Seasonal Sugar Disorder).  And this is the reason:



I blame the whole thing on a former co-worker, Wendy.  One day as I walked back to my desk, I stopped by to see her to catch up on her life.  On her desk, was The Mixture.  We talked about it:

Me: Hey, what's that? 
Wendy: Don't try it.
Me: Why?  Is there something wrong with it?  Are you trying to poison Engineering?
Wendy: Trust me.  Don't try it.  You'll hate me.
Me: I won't hate you.
Wendy: It's that good.  Oh yes, you'll hate me.

And now I hate her.  Because it IS that good.  This is the seasonal candy you CANNOT pass up.  I can walk past displays of Cadbury eggs without any problems.  Candy canes don't lure me in.  Reese's Peanut Butter cups disguised as Christmas trees or Easter eggs aren't a problem (okay so that last bit isn't totally true, but I can eat just ONE, of each shape of course, so it's not an EPIDEMIC).

I realize that giving you the recipe after all these warnings would be a bit like making you watch a documentary on the impact of drugs then offering you an assortment pack of doom, but it's just CANDY.  So, here's how you do it:
Mix equal parts Candy Corn and peanuts.  Enjoy.  Gain five pounds.  Don't worry, Halloween passes quickly.