AND SO IT BEGINS…AGAIN!

Halloween begins my downhill spiral into my eating frenzy.  For the next 2 months, I will have to use every ounce of will power I have not to constantly be shoving candy and cookies and pie and potatoes into my mouth at every given opportunity. 

As I sit here, writing this blog post in my office, I can hear the “fun size” candy having a party downstairs, calling my name to come join them, inviting me to eat them.  Taunting me.  Laughing at me.  Yes, daring me!

But, of course Halloween is just the beginning.  Then comes the carb-fest of Thanksgiving.  Really, the turkey is only the centerpiece of the meal.  The decoration.  The main dishes are the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the sweet potato pie.  And of course the desserts.  Oh, the pies and the cakes and the cookies! (Oops, I think I just drooled on myself!)

Then, the ultimate…Christmas!  Only, it’s not just the Christmas Day meal.  Oh, no.  It’s all the baking and the parties leading up to that lovely dinner.  (Not to mention we probably will still have leftover Halloween candy and desserts from Thanksgiving for a while!) So it’s an entire month of eating, or trying not to eat, all those unhealthy choices.

So what’s a gal to do?  Deep breath, repeat millions of times over the next 2 months: “I will be strong, I will be strong…!”

Karen

THE AFTERMATH OF HALLOWEEN

So Halloween is over, the decorations are put away, the costumes are put in the “dress-up” trunk, and all that’s left is about 25 pounds of candy, beckoning to your children, and worse, to you! What to do, what to do? You already gave your kids a free pass on Saturday night, and maybe even Sunday, to eat as much as they wanted (as long as it didn’t result in throwing it back up), but still, there’s 24.9 pounds left.

So should you let them have 1 or 2 pieces each day, making this haul last until Easter, when the next batch will take over? Or should you be the “good mom” and eat it for them, so they don’t get all that sugar in their bodies and in their teeth. (Because, after all, your body and teeth are already used to candy and sugar!) Or maybe it just slowly disappears into the trash can until it’s all gone, at which time, when the children ask you where all their candy is, you tell them that an After-Halloween Goblin must have come into your home and taken it all.

Fear not, for I have a couple of great suggestions on how to make everyone happy! We are going to divide all our candy into three piles:

1. Icky candy that the kids don’t like and will never eat.
   
2. So-so candy that they don’t love, but would eat if there wasn’t anything left that they really like.
   
3. Yummy candy, and if you touch it, they will come after you.
   

Pile number 1 is going to school, where a wonderful family is collecting candy to send overseas to our troops. Isn’t that a fabulous idea? I’m a little ashamed that I didn’t think of it first!

Pile number 3 will be eaten, of course!

Pile number 2 will be sold. To me. For $ .10 each. Crazy, right? I know, but hopefully crazy enough to work. I’m banking (no pun intended) on the fact that they will want money more than they want the candy. They seem VERY excited about this, but we haven’t actually done the deed yet. So what will I do with this candy? I don’t know. I’ll either send it to work with DH or send it to school for the troops. It doesn’t matter. What really matters is that my kids won’t be eating it, but they won’t mind. In fact, they’ll (hopefully) be happy to get rid of it, and to gain a few bucks.

So that’s my plan. What’s yours?

Karen