What's your favorite pain-relief remedy or ritual?

Depends on the kind of pain.... I don't mess around with headaches - left alone they blossom into migraines - so it's 2 ibuprofen & a huge glass of water at the first hint. If I'm going to bed, I slather Grr or Pain on my hands, too.

I've had deep leg aches since I was wee, and my DH has the most fabulous treatment. I lie on my back on the bed, and he takes the feather duvet & mummifies me He wraps each leg up nice & tight, & wedges the rest of the duvet tight around my hips & torso. Within 2 minutes, the heat build-up is amazing, like a good dry sauna. I stay like that for about 20 minutes, and the pain just melts away. DH, he is the genius

Do sounds make you happy? What ambient noises make you smile? I am reminded of Amelie's friend who likes the sound of her cat's bowl on the tile floor...

I adore sounds, and briefly used my mP3 player to record snippets of ambient sounds when I lived in Chicago. My favorites: the rain on the roof outside my bedroom window, the slap of Swiss buttercream coming together in the mixer, my bench scraper scraping across my butcher block counter, the blurp of a good sponge fermenting, the tiny chip-chips of the baby cardinals, the raspy rattle of the wrens, the wind in the huge maple tree next door, the bass thump of ocean waves...

When you receive your SW packages...do you like receiving things that are individually wrapped inside? or unwrapped? or both?

In general, I like prolonging the excitement, so individual wrapping is awesome That said, there's something to be said for minimizing packaging - I think ideally, a few wrapped things & just some reusable fabric/tissue tucked around the rest...

Of course, we're all going to be grateful no matter what our witches give us, but for the record, what is your anti-present? Tell us something that you think your future witch might give you that you absolutely, unequivocally DO. NOT. WANT.

A big, showy, gaudy, glue-gunned, totally impractical thing that in no way takes into account the likes & dislikes I've so carefully documented here For me, personally, there are few things worse than getting a gift that looks like it was meant for someone else. I received so many of these as an adolescent, when friends & family were obviously trying to nudge me back into the realm of conventional young-woman-hood. I would happily go without a gift completely rather than relive that heartache.

Oh Witchy, I sound like such a bitch.

What BPAL scent have you never tried but always wanted to? What scent have you tried and LOVED, and haven't been able to get more of and why?

Actually, I've been really, really lucky in terms of BPAL rares. The few I've tried & fallen in love with have been reasonably easy to come by or have been lavishly gifted to me by some truly amazing forumites The only one I'm really wibbling for more of is Hermes Trimegistus. I've been wanting to try Sagittarius '07 for ages, and it keeps evading me... a sniffie would do it, really! Found it!

I know we're all scent sensitive here. What are your favorite non-perfume smells? Day in the life stuff?

The cool morning air this time of year, fresh-cut grass, wet sidewalks, the top of my son's head (it smells like hay in the sunshine - how does he DO that?!), baking bread, coffee brewing, clean cotton sheets, my wool jumpers that I keep packed in a cabinet scented with Templum Victoriae, the ocean...

Coffee drinkers, what types of beans to you like? Kona, Sumatra, Kenya..etc. How do you like them roasted? Do you like flavors, such as hazelnut, vanilla, etc. in your coffee?

Nonononono flavored beans, please! I'm partial to medium-dark roasts - deep but the beans should still be oily brown, not burned black. Recent favorites: Kenya, Ethiopia, SE Asia blends... We get Peace Coffee at the farmer's market every week (usually Yeti Cold Press or Blue Ox, but the Mexican Bird Mountain was surprisingly good), and treat ourselves to a Metropolis order once or twice a year (their Kenya is incredible, even for a light roast, and we stalk the site for Samba & Dulce blends...). I've always wanted to try roasting our own, Ethiopian style, so good green beans would be welcome, too!

There has been a lot of talk about chocolate, but none about Candy! What is your favorite Candy? What candy do you hate?

Caramels & toffee top the list - any kind, anywhere, esp Goetze's bulls eyes!