Aug 28th, 4 days and 5 nights later, my back surgery and hospital stay are over.  But what of the pain?  Well I found a few new medication discoveries which have been keeping me "comfortably numb" nearly every two hours.  As I'm preparing for the 'All-Clear' from the doc to go home, I can't sit but wonder how in the heck will we (or just I), ever get back into the mode of making and selling this crazy stuff.  Just to keep everyone posted, there may be no candy this year at all.  Kathryn is healed from her broken elbow, but just like I couldn't prepare candy without her elbow, she can't sell candy without my back.  So all we can say is - We Miss You All! Keep watching to see if we revived enough to prepare for this holiday season. 

Aug. 22nd,  Wow - has it been that long??  Here's the latest.  Kathryn has fully recovered from her elbow surgery around mid April or so.  Soon thereafter, I (Howard) started to feel pain in my back more so than usual.  After a summer of doctors and finally the MRI, it had been determined that my spine collapsed and is in need of fusing with a titanium rod.  Well surgery is scheduled for Monday Aug. 23rd at 7am.  It will take 8 hours to perform.  If all goes well, I should be up and about in about 6 or so weeks.  Full recovery is about 3 months.  It looks like candy may be postponed this year unless we pull it together by mid October.  Stay tuned...

Jan. 10th.  We hope all of you are bringing in the New Year happy and healthy!  Kathryn is doing great and is now undergoing Physical Therapy 3 days a week.  She has accomplished bending her arm more than 90 degrees :).  She's already getting cabin fever and is talking about getting started with candy again.  There's no set date yet, but it looks like perhaps by spring. Keep watching.  On another note, we are getting many requests for candy.  I'm asking everyone to simply email us with your request as I'm keeping a list.  When we get up and running again, we'll touch base with you to finalize your request.

Also, I am in the process of revamping our entire website.  So far I'm getting great feedback from those I'm letting see it and I'm told "Bravo for ease of use".  I'm hoping to release it on or about the same time we start up the stoves again. 

We hope everyone is doing well and we look forward to seeing you all soon.



Dec 23rd.  We did it!! Got all the orders out and actually had candy leftover.  Right now the Healthy Home Market is carrying a lot of this stuff especially the South Boulevard store.

Update on Kathryn: It looks like no Christmas for Kathryn this year.  Going to all these doctors for her elbow totally blew away her immune system and now is out of commission with a terrible viral infection.  Luckily they ruled out MRSA and H1N1. She was coming along nicely for the past week or so, while going through physical therapy.  It now looks like she'll be delaying treatment for a speedy recovery.  She is still very positive however, and in fact is planning next Christmas season - go figure... more later.

Dec 5th Howard will be at the Charlotte Farmers Market with all orders that were scheduled.  Amazingly, our elves, Jennifer and Brandy pulled us through this crisis by preparing and finishing all the orders and also making plenty of candy for anyone needing anything tomorrow.  We plan on having plenty for the 12th and 19th as well. Kathryn is recovering slowly but surely.  The follow up doctor visits have shown good progress and we're hopeful Kathryn will be ready to stir those pots again sometime late next year.  After December 19th, our kitchen will close for about 9 months or so taking time to enjoy everything possible outside of the candy factory :).

UPDATE:  Kathryn had surgery the day before Thanksgiving for an elbow implant.  Unfortunately, the pain was such that we were back in emergency all day Thanksgiving.  Due to all the chaos involved, I (Howard) will not be able to make it to The Charlotte Farmers Market Saturday Nov 28th.  Anyone expecting their order can pick it up next week on Dec 5th or I can deliver it to them (or ship depending on the commitment I made).

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Kathryn and we're sure to pull through this over the next few weeks.



I want you all to know that Saturday Nov. 14th, Kathryn fell at the farmers market.  Unfortunately, (after 12 hours of doctors), it turns out Kathryn had not only dislocated her right elbow, but she also broke the bone that holds the ball of the bone in place.  She is currently in a cast and will have to see most likely quite a few doctors this coming week.  She has to get surgery scheduled and we won’t know when this may take place, although we do know it has to happen quickly.