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Merry Halloween — What To Do With Left Over Candy

Oct 22 2013

Halloween is terrifying. I’m not talking ghosts or ghouls or gore — I’m referring to the other G-Word — gluttony. Specifically mine. If there’s a Kit Kat or Coffee Crisp bar within a 500 foot radius, I will find it and I will put it in my mouth. So what are we “willpower challenged” to do at Halloween? Of course I buy treats that hold as little appeal to me as possible in case of left-overs. But then there’s the problem of the kids’ treats they bring home. Away at school all day, me at home…their candy calls to me seductively like a mythological siren. So in an attempt to limit my junk intake (because let’s get real… I AM going to steal their treats) here are five ways to re-purpose candy for the next big holiday…Christmas! If you think that keeping your paws of the candy for fifty-five days is a tad unrealistic (which for me, it probably is) then you might try one of these alternatives. 1. Host a “Build Your Own Sundae” party and set the candy out in bowls to use as toppings. 2. Add a little to trailmix or[…]

Jul 21 2013

You’ve likely been up to your water wings in summer fun; swimming, tubing, star gazing, firefly catching, marshmallow toasting, hopscotching, bubble blowing, Geocaching, slipping and sliding and just exploring the great outdoors. But have you tried snipe hunting? Before you imagine the Thornbury clan decked out in coveralls with a deer strapped to the roof of the mini-van, let me explain. The boys trying their hand at paintball this summer. FYI, paintball pellets pack a sting, but boy did they have fun! The origin of the term the ‘Snipe Hunt‘ is based on a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe along with preposterous methods of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises. Real snipe (a family of shorebirds) are difficult to catch, so much so that the word “sniper”is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one. Source Last summer our son went out east to New Brunswick to help his uncle and family set up the cottage they bought on a shimmering lake. My husband went too. It was an ideal boys’ get away. They swam, they[…]

Jan 31 2013

We finally did it. We decided. We’re going to Disney World!! We booked it! The most fun was deciding how to spring the news to our kids! Step-by-step Disney for Newbies planning post here. A scavenger hunt with the final clue as the big reveal would be our tactic. Twenty clues hidden around the house with various props and off we went. The video of how it went is next, but before you watch, let me say… “Wow, that sure didn’t go the way I had imagined.“ Our nine year old was not thrilled about me taping the scavenger hunt. He told me afterwards that he felt self-conscious which is painfully evident when you see his reaction.You’d think we’d told we were going on a trip to the dry cleaners. * yawn * He said he knew I’d show the video to “the world” {Um kid, I think you’re grossly overestimating your mother’s blog reach} so he didn’t want to over-act and chose to play it cool. Oh dear, it looks like we’ve reached “that stage” where his life is now his and not his mother’s to parade around on the internet. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Plus, I[…]

Jan 29 2013

No matter how hard I try to keep them out, the little buggers always find their way in. I’m talking about germs, not my family. Though I can’t say I haven’t fantasized about locking them out in the yard, just for a few minutes. And so there’s no confusion, I changed “dirty” husband to “messy” husband. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking I married some kind of perv. He’s sweet, even though he leaves his stinky germy sports stuff all over the house. This flu season I implemented a few anti-germ rules that seem to be helping the battle—from what I can tell anyway. I don’t examine my home with one of those forensic blue lights. If I did I surely vomit on the spot. And then run the blue light over that, like a Control Group kind of thing for the sake of science. Our Anti-Germ House Rules: 1. No shoes past the front entrance hall. Do you know how many disgusting germs travel by shoe? 2. Upon entering the house, all must head to the bathroom for a thorough hand washing. 3. No school bags directly on the kitchen counter or table. Backpacks are covered in billions of microscopic[…]

Jun 12 2012

Gator skin, flakey fingernails that won’t grow beyond the boundaries of their nail beds, hair resembling a wheat field at harvest time… I’m in the midst of a dry spell. What could be missing from my daily routine that could be responsible for this desperately dry situation? I drink at least one glass of water a day so…. oh wait. Mystery solved. Our bodies are 70% water so I’m guessing it’s a tad important. I like water (especially with a little squeeze of lemon) so I’m at a loss as to why I’ve been avoiding it. I have decided to end this drought and made a plan to liquify my assets so-to-speak and came up with a Mandate to Hydrate. I vow to drink water all day, every day for a week, and then *graph my results. The first day I may have overdone it. When my teeth started floating, I knew I had H2Overdosed. Day Two, I sipped water sensibly throughout the day (not madly gulping tumblers-full like a college freshmen at a Kegger like Day one). By lights out I had consumed about nine glasses of water. I felt good; maybe a little bloated, but in a[…]

Category - how-to

Merry Halloween — What To Do With Left Over Candy

Summer Snipe Hunt

Disney Surprise Scavenger Hunt (video and clues)

Germ Warfare

My Mandate To Hydrate