Getting Into the Halloween Spirit

Pumpkin Teeth!

That's right - some nice fangs that will easily add a bit of fright to your Jack O'Lantern. It's pretty difficult to carve spiky teeth in the pumpkin - the sharper and thinner the teeth, the more likely they are to break.

To use Pumpkin Teeth all you have to do is carve a wide smile into the pumpkin and insert the plastic "teeth," which are white and glow in the dark. They come in three sizes and can be re-used year after year. Best of all, a pack will only run you $2.50. What's not to love?

If fangs aren't your thing, you can opt for the buckteeth - in my opinion, those buckteeth are screaming for braces.

I discovered these yesterday and have already placed my order. It's the easiest way I can think of to add some fun to Halloween this year.

With the Rising Cost of Groceries, It's Cheaper to Eat Fast Food

I could save money if I fed my family nothing but fast food. How pathetic is that?

Over the past two or three months, it seems that the price of just about everything at the grocery store has risen. Things that have been the same price for years - scallions, for example - now cost more. Even the little bunches of flowers that I sometimes splurge on are pricier. And don't even get me started on the rest of the produce and dairy and meat products.

I'm not a buy-the-kit-and-make-it kind of cook. Experts say that to have a healthier diet you should shop the perimeter of the store for produce, meat and dairy, and skip the salt-laden, sugary, preservative-filled packaged food items in the center aisles. On average our family of three spends about $140 - $160 per week at the grocery store. Our groceries aren't organic or free-range, either. But when you can buy a value meal for less than $4 at times, fast food looks pretty affordable. If pressed to eat fast food, I'll often go for a kid's meal, which is even cheaper.

So, eating fast food looks good from an economic perspective, but it's terribly unhealthy. Morgan Spurlock discovered first-hand in his 2004 documentary Supersize Me, which chronicled his fast food-only diet for one month, that the impact on your health can be devastating. After 30 days - or 90 consecutive meals - of McDonald's food, here's what happened:

* Spurlock gained nearly 25 pounds (it took him more than a year to lose the weight)

* his cholesterol rose 65 points

* significantly increased his risk of heart disease

* experienced negative effects on his liver, blood pressure and libido

I suppose it's only cheaper to eat fast food if you have excellent, generous medical insurance because in the long run, you'll be paying doctors and hospitals that treat the myriad medical conditions caused by eating such lousy food.

We'll stick to buying and eating more healthily. By purchasing produce that's in season, bulk purchases of staples and meat, and searching for budget-conscious recipes, I can save money. I do it now, but I can do more - and it will keep me out of the drive-thrus.

Photo by André Menegatti