Monday Morning Mix-Up 10/31/2011

Happy Halloween readers!  Isn't it a bummer when Halloween falls on a Monday?  This means that tonight will be like a big fire drill:  “Hurry and eat dinner!  Hurry and get your costumes on!  Can someone get the door?!, Hurry let's go trick or treating to get some junk food that will make you ornery and sick!, Oh we're out of time and can't get more candy now?  Stop throwing a sugar fit, you have to get some sleep tonight, you have school tomorrow!”  And on it will go.  I actually shouldn't complain too much, because it does go a little easier these days now that I'm not doing day care anymore, so I can feed the kids right after school and cut the craziness down some.  I really don't know how you work-outside-the-home parents do it!  We're also looking forward to some good friends coming to trick or treat with us, so even though I made it sound all nutty, we'll have fun.  I hope you will, too!  🙂

• One thing to share with you about Halloween that has drastically changed over the years is that I no longer crave any of that candy, not even a little.  Has that happened to any of you?  I don't know if my palate has changed or what, but the last time I cracked open a Reeses (two years ago?), it didn't even taste good.  If I want chocolate and peanut butter together, I'll mix up my own, thank you, with lots of real butter and some fairly decent chocolates.  I haven't even done that in a long time (a year or so?), but wow, it just tastes so much better than the ‘fake-sweet' taste of the candy from the store.

• Thanks to my friend Megan who told me about some awesome organic suckers that I'm giving out this year for treats.  No HFCS or artificial anything!  I just can't give that toxic junk out anymore.  It was a little more expensive, but not bad.

• A couple Halloween posts for you:  Is your Halloween candy safe?  Another one:  Your one-stop Halloween post for recipes and more – hopefully it's not too late to utilize some of these ideas, and don't miss the good stuff in the comments.  One more you might want to look over so you're ready after Halloween:  Counteracting the effects of junk food.  I just found one more:  4 Reasons to let your kids eat junk this Halloween.

• On a much more important topic, have you guys been following Michael Schmidt and his hunger strike?  Keep up with everything and see all his amazing support on this Facebook page, and read more in this Toronto Star article.  Here's a message from him last week: 
• Check out this Timeline of FDA raids against farmers, health clinics and dietary supplement providers.

• And don't forget about the Raw milk freedom riders who will rally tomorrow!

• I was lamenting on Facebook last week about all the PINK you see everywhere this month and it got the comments fired back up at this post:  Politically incorrect thoughts on breast cancer.  Also, thanks to Carla who sent me this article about the Susan B. Komen Foundation's recent denial that BPA increases the risk of breast cancer, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.  In the article this question is raised, “BPA is found in all manner of consumer goods, from plastic water jugs to receipts to the liners of food cans. Critics have pointed out that Komen receives generous donations from private industries who use those same chemicals in their products, and who also downplay health concerns. Is that what's driving Komen's position on BPA?”  Of course they deny that, but it makes you wonder.