Halloween is right around the corner, and for most kids, that means: candy, candy and more candy! If you wear braces, this holiday can create some "sticky" situations. Some candies have the potential to damage your braces and prolong your treatment time. Don't let poor candy choices lead to a "frightful" Halloween and an emergency trip to the orthodontist! It's important to avoid certain treats and take care of your braces to ensure the success of your orthodontic treatment. Let's look at a few types of candy orthodontists, like the staff at Barbieri Orthodontics, recommend skipping this Halloween season:

Chewy Candies​

Chewing gum, caramel, taffy, and other chewy treats are a bad idea if you're wearing braces. These sticky, chewy candies can pull your orthodontic devices off your teeth. Mishaps like this can send you back to the orthodontist to have your appliance repaired, and can slow down your treatment time. It's best to avoid this type of candy, not just during Halloween, but during the entire course of your orthodontic treatment.

Hard Candies

Certain candies can be dangerous to bite into while wearing braces. Hard candy, lollipops, and candies that contain hard nuts can break your brackets or wires when you bite into them. It's smarter to play it safe and stick to softer candies while you're wearing braces. It's not just candy that can be too hard on Halloween.
Candy-dipped apples are probably one of the worst Halloween offenders, being both hard and sticky at the same time. Even popcorn, commonly found at Halloween parties, can pose a problem: the small hulls can get lodged behind your brackets and irritate your gums.

 
Revealed
A House of Night #11
By P.C.Cast & Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub. Date: October 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0312594435
Pages: 320

Review:

#1 New York Times bestselling vampyre series may be coming to a close next year, but you can grab a hold of the 11th installment of the series today with the release of Revealed: A House of Night Novel.

Despite falling to her death, Neferet has barely survived and is battling her own demons, Queen of Tsi Sgili, but she finds a way take back her mind and body, resulting in the death of a human - Tulsa's mayor!

After the murder, the residents of Tulsa blame the House of Nights for the mayor's death, which was clearly a vampyre attack. Our heroine, Zoey Redbird, and her pals knows that someone from the House of Nights is responsible. Things get worse when the police begin investigating and the entire area wants the House of Nights to pay for the crime.

Then, of course, the red fledgling Dallas is out to destroy Zoey and anyone associated with her, including Stevie Rae and Shaunee.

Even more trouble as Zoey is not feeling herself, she is more stressed and she's just feeling weird. If it isn't her constant boyfriend issues, then maybe it has something to do with Neferet being on the loose again.

The Heat
Director: Paul Feif
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Day: October 15, 2013
ASIN: B00E8RK5OC
Running Time: 117 minutes
Rating: R

Review:

This summer's box-office hit "The Heat" starring Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock and Oscar Nominee Melissa McCarthy was released to Blu-Ray & DVD today, including the unrated cut version exclusively to Blu-ray with over 2 hours of funny extras - Mullins Family Fun; Von Bloopers; Deleted, Alternated & Extended Scenes; Acting Master Class; and 5 commentaries including director Paul Feig and Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The director of "Bridesmaids" brings us the only summer film with women as the leading roles. The Heat stars Sandra Bullock as an uptight FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn; despite being a skilled investigator, her arrogant attitude keeps getting in her way. She takes an assignment in Boston to track down a ruthless kingpin known as Larkin in the hope of being promoted.

Ashburn teams up with a foulmouthed Boston detective Shannon Mullins (played by Melissa McCarthy), which the two don't exactly hit it off, as Ashburn is more by-the-book, while Mullins is more about action. As they investigate, they realize Mullin's own recently-released-from-prison brother, Jason, is connected to Larkin.

Ashburn and Mullins must work out their differences, if they plan on capturing Larkin.

Let’s face the facts; a writer/blogger's life can be extremely stressful during the holiday season. The gift shopping, grocery shopping, decorating and planning can take a toll on anyone, let alone a writer or blogger who have deadlines. Most writers/bloggers also a have a daytime job, so thanks to many cups of coffee, we spend our time writing at night, which is typically when I do most of my writing, though writing late at night or in the early morning hours can lead to unwanted typos.  I use Grammarly for proofreading because the sleeping fairy has been complaining about my coffee intake at night. Plus, it saves me time by not having to go over an article or review minutes before it has to be posted.


For me, the holidays started early in the fall when I was planning the 31 Days of Halloween and the Holiday Gift Guide events. My plan was to have everything written/posted and scheduled ahead of time, that way stress wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I've been basically getting things ready the day before, plus a few guest spots are a no show, forcing me to come up with last minute posts. The Holiday Gift Guide is coming together a little bit better, though I haven't written the reviews/posts yet, but I plan on having them written way before Nov. 29th. 

Holiday meals and Christmas shopping (I already have a little bit done.) starts on Thanksgiving, and yes I'll probably attend the Black Friday sales (or should it be called the Thanksgiving Night Sales), so I can get a few bargains.

Into the Snow We Go!
Bubble Guppies/ Team Umizoomi
Studio: Nickelodeon
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Retail: $14.99
Running Time: 69 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review:

Christmas is getting closer and closer everyday and Nickelodeon is already getting ready for the holidays by releasing the DVD Into The Snow We Go! featuring a Christmas episode from Bubble Guppies and two episodes from Team Umizoomi, both series are extremely popular with the preschoolers.

Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish! finds the Bubble Guppies getting ready for the great holiday party, but there is only one problem, Mr. Grumpfish doesn't want to attend as he doesn't like parties. It is up to the Guppies to come up with a gingerbread plan to get Mr. Grumpfish in the holiday spirit.

A Sledding Day has young Casey wanting to sled down a big hill, but he doesn't have a sled. It is up to Team Umizoomi to save the day by making their way across the snowy Umi City and delivering the UmiSled to Casey.

If you have your own company and want your employees to look professional and uniform, then you might want to purchase some men’s embroidered shirts for all of your employees. This type of polo shirt, with your company’s logo printed on it, can make your office and workers look professional. If anyone wears the office shirt outside of the office, they are now a walking advertisement for your business.

Polo shirts with logos in the corner are very popular on the golf course. Most golf courses require their players to have a collared shirt on if they plan on playing a round of golf. Golfers prefer the feel and flexibility of tee-shirt material over a collared dress shirt. The polo shirt has become very popular in the golf circuit. The majority of the players in the professional golf circuit are wearing embroidered polo shirts when they compete. Along with everything else they are wearing, these shirts are embroidered with a sponsoring company logo for everyone to see.

These shirts are a walking advertisement for different golf endorsers. Companies are taking advantage of the growing popularity of the casual feeling of polo shirts that still look professional. You do not just see golfers wearing these shirts on the golf course and polo jockeys wearing them on the polo field. These shirts are now found everywhere and men, women, and children are wearing them.

It may be only the middle of October, but Nickelodeon is getting ready for the holiday season with re-releasing four of their most popular DVD titles in Holiday Gift sets featuring a 16-page coloring book, crayons, stickers and a poster in each set at the retail of value of $19.99 each.

The DVD titles are:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rise of the Turtles - The single-disc set features the double-length premiere episode "Rise of the Turtles" along with four additional episodes - Turtle Temper; New Friend, Old Friend; I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman; and Metalhead. Special features include six "Making of Animatics" and the Theme Song Karaoke Music Video.

Here is a snippet of my review earlier this year:

Rise of the Turtles is packed with six action-packed episodes that fans of all ages will enjoy watching.

 

• Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure -Dora the Explorer's 2009's two-part episode is the perfect present for the holidays. Swiper gets on Santa's naughty list when he tries to steal the Christmas Star from Dora's Nochebuena Party. To help Swiper learn from his mistake, Dora must help him travel to the past, the present and the future to learn what the true meaning of Christmas is about.

Special Features include "Jingle Bells" Music Video, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" Music Video, and the Young People's Chorus Behind-the-Scenes Featurette.

Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure is a cute spin on the timeless Charles Dickens' tale.