Ten things to do with all that candy...

Have you seen the size of the  trick-or-treating buckets at Target this year? The thought of that much candy makes my head hurt (and I cringe at the thought of the next trip to the dentist).

But what to do? Closely packed neighborhoods, which practically have a "no tolerance" policy for anyone who would dare give fruit or pencils to candy-seeking kiddos, now throw a sugar extravaganza on this night, with parents frantically stashing away gigantic bags of sugary goodness to make sure they're not  the ones who find egg on their house.

My kids, of course, are already buzzed at just the thought of all that sugar. Yay for me. And yay for you too. And I'm thinking, as I prepare to ration Sweet-Tarts and survive numerous sugar highs and lows for the next few days...what should I do with the rest of it? You know, all the candy the kids don't like or that I just won't feed them?

Well, here's my list, in no particular order..

1. Eat it myself. While at first an enticing idea, the thought of facing the scale over the next two months, even without inhaling excess Halloween candy, seems like a quick ticket to buying new clothes--a size up. So maybe not...

2. Take it to work, or playgroup. Yes, this option seems much more acceptable. Let someone else invest in a new, larger wardrobe. But I will have to contend with all my friends'/colleagues' misery. Hmmm....

3. Give it to the church. Yes, yes! Anything wrapped I'm sure they'll accept. Won't they? Yep, this idea's a possible keeper...

4. Save it. But then find it six months later, break a tooth on something completely stale and not delicious, and throw it in the trash. Scratch that!

5. Find a way to make crafts with it. I can see all sorts of fun ideas from Pinterest sparking a craft inspiration. Of course, the candy is still there, in full sight of the children. But I like this idea as well.

6. Hide it in my parents' suitcase. "What? There was candy when you got home? Well, I bet it was the three-year-old. That crazy kid..."

7. Throw it away. Okay, it's not like this isn't the end result of several of the aforementioned ideas. And if someone says something about starving children, I will tell them that I am sorry, but a bag of Gobstoppers will not solve world hunger. And then, because of the guilt trip, I will go online an donate to someone who can solve it. Everybody wins.

8. Give it out at a race. I've had enough people holding out plates of gummy bears--not wrapped--at races to know giving candy to tired, sweaty runners is not exactly frowned upon. Then again, I've never taken candy from a stranger...

9. Candy bomb my neighbors. Two questions. 1) Is it illegal to put wrapped candy in a mail box? 2) Do candy wrappers show fingerprints?

10. Send it to my brother. Because he's serving his country in the desert. Ding, ding, ding! Yep, that's the winner. In the interest of getting a head start on the season of giving, I'll give my extra candy (and even some of the good stuff) to someone who not only deserves a little extra thought, but will also appreciate it. (And if you'd like to give to a soldier too, check out Adopt a US Soldier.)

There, problem solved.

Don't be Martha, just be awesome - Part III: Decorating Martha's way, or the easier way

I love my house. I really do. It's everything I dreamed about when I was living in a box--ahem, condo--in the Baltimore area just three years ago. And in the past, I liked the decorating aspect of making a house a home.

But I had kids when I got here...and table tops had to be clear (to be filled with Fischer Price Little People), plants and pictures had to be set up high or locked away, and drapes pretty much went the way of the dodo.

But in the autumn, I can't help but get giddy when I walk down the aisles of any craft store, and even though "crafting" just isn't in my DNA, I think how nice it would be to walk into my own house and feel like fall had arrived.

Enter my quest for the month of October--how to be like Martha, without being like Martha. Taking a note from the show Design on a Dime, in which they show you that rooms don't have to be expensive to be beautiful, I will show you my version, called Design with No Time, in which I take Martha's ideas and hunt down ideas that look just as good, but are easier to create.

Let's begin:


Autumn Flowers
Okay, so you can take on Martha's gallery of fall flower arrangements, which includes the ever so lovely (and complex) Autumn Palette, (striped dahlias, Chinese lanterns, and dill flower heads), OR, you can check out the pretty and petite, much less stressed out fall flower arrangement on Our Sweet Life. Both beautiful, but one will leave you with more hair...



Our Sweet Life

Candles
The idea of candlemaking always makes me think I should don some eighteenth century dress and a bonnet. Not going to happen. But I would like to at least contemplate the idea of making my candles look awesome. Martha Stewart's piece on candle molds claims, "You can use any whimsical three-dimensional object found around the house to create a rubber candle mold." Then the site used the word "finial" and I started to drift. So I found this much simpler, maybe-not-as-dazzling-but-cool, autumn design at Ideas for Home Decorating, no bonnet necessary.

Ideas for Home Decorating

Autumn Wreath
And finally, who doesn't love to drive up to a house with a swoon-worthy harvest display on their front porch. Aside from purchasing the requisite scarecrow and pumpkins from your local craft superstore, usually a door wreath of some sort completes the effect. Martha's "Autumnal Wreath" is lovely, of course. But I'm wary of wreath-making, so I think I'll try the kid's version found at The Frugal Homemaker.



The Frugal Homemaker

I just need to find some leaves...