All Things Hold Together

Happy Halloween

We will be staying in to watch a movie and eat these awesome cupcakes.

I made the cupcakes from scratch using the chocolate cake recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It was well worth the extra effort.

The election is almost over. With all this political blogging coming so very close to destroying my soul, I decided that I need to focus on what makes life worth living - crafts, cooking, baking, and loving my children. And of course blogging about it!

I just signed up for NaBloPoMo, the blog world’s answer to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which I entered last year, but didn’t finish (NaNoWriMo, that is).

NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month. I will post every single day in the month of November.

You know you want to squeal!

November promises to be a month full of good things here on All Things Hold Together. I hope you can join me.

Speaking of joining, head on over to the NaBloPoMo site, if you want to join up. There’s prizes!

is which candidate looks better crocheted.

Okay, so really there is so much more at stake here, but I thought you might like these little guys. I nicknamed the Obama one cro-bama. He,he.

So once again I did not post the things I wanted to. Here it is already Wednesday and I still have not posted about the October Challenge (which is posted on Mondays).

This weekend, when I planned to catch up on blogging, we ended up rearranging the apartment. Who knew we had so much stuff in our room!  We decided to get rid of stuff we didn’t need, since we were moving things around.  I am still not finished!  I still have some things that are not yet put away.

We moved all of the media (TV and computer) into our bedroom because it is too distracting during the school days. The D has been struggling with his moods lately and I need to limit his TV and computer use. Every day he gets up and mopes around and says all he wants to do is watch TV or a show on the computer. It is getting harder and harder to get him motivated.

This morning, the D stomped for 20 minutes straight before finally deciding to do some math. Big E had already started, so that helped a little.

The only reason that I am even able to post this is that Little E is hurt, so the boys took a short break to sit with him for a bit. Then, I will have to deal with the struggle to get the D back to work.

I want to talk more about my experiences dealing with ADHD, but I can’t seem to find time for that either. The little bit of time I snag for computer use is usually spent blogging about the election. I can’t seem to balance my time lately.

I know this is only temporary, but it is so hard. My time for myself and the things I like to do is where the sacrifice has been made and it is beginning to take a toll on me.

This evening, I am going out with my mother and sister for a little bit, so that will be nice.

Now if only I could kick this cold and start waking up early again to blog in the morning.

I just wanted to say “hi” to my blog-friends. I just cannot seem to make the time to write a post here.

We have been sick, so I have been sleeping in and missing my morning computer time. That sets my whole schedule off.

Plus, as some of you know, I have a political blog. Since we have an election coming up, I have been focusing on that. Plus, I am starting to earn a fair amount of money from that blog, so I kind of have to give it priority, especially during an election.

On the bright side, holiday time is when I give this blog priority. Yea! I like Christmas recipes and crafts much more than politics. It’s happy, instead of maddening!

I am still doing Amber’s October Challenge, but I didn’t do a post this week. I decided that I would work on it over the weekend and just post it on Monday.

I have more to say, but I hear the boys starting to argue. They are playing a game they made up, but it sounds like that is falling apart.

I am taking some time this weekend to do some posts here. If nothing else, I need to take a break from blogging about the election.

Have a great weekend!

My kids do not like Halloween. Sure, they like candy, and Little E likes costumes, but they absolutely do not like the scary decorations. They just don’t. Every time we drive by a house or go into a store with Halloween decorations, they grumble about how much they hate Halloween.

Now, I am not going to get up on my soapbox and talk about my opinion of Halloween. Let’s just say, we don’t celebrate it anymore. We haven’t for a few years now.

But Halloween is the kick off of the tri-holiday baking season, and a few scary decorations will not keep me from that!

So, I rounded up a few October recipes that have nothing spook-tacular about them. Just good baking — and eating — fun.

CrockPot Caramel Apples - A Year of CrockPotting

Frightfully Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes - VeryBestBaking.com

Deluxe Halloween Mud Bars - VeryBestBaking.com

Sweet Scarecrows - Family Fun

Enjoy! Please feel free to share your own in the comments.

Is it Thursday already?? I meant to post this on Monday, but we have all been sick around here this week, so I am way behind on things.

I don’t have too much to report on the October Weight Loss Challenge.

I decided that I would not weigh myself until the end because the scale is too self-defeating, so I have no numbers to report. I previously posted about my scale abandonment in, The Scale Is Not My Friend.

I did not start reading Thin Within right at the beginning of the challenge, as I had planned, but I am reading it now. Interestingly, the book also encourages “putting the scale in its proper place,” meaning, away where it cannot control me.

As for exercise, I did not start that right away, either, but I am doing it now.

I am, by nature, a procrastinator. Not such a good idea when my goal is to lose 10 pounds this month, though.

Oh well, I am on the right track now, and that is all that matters.

I hope to have a more inspiring post next week, when I am (hopefully) feeling better.

Well, not really, but I have started making Christmas soaps. I want them to be perfect, so I am practicing the techniques now, trying things out, and deciding what designs I am going to use.

Here are the ones I made the other day.

This one is scented with peppermint essential oil. Little E was so amazed that it “looks like a starlight mint and smells like one, too!”

The tree soaps are scented with “Hollyberry” fragrance, which smells like Christmas in a bottle. I added some green mica, along with the green liquid colorant, to give the soaps some sparkle.

The other night, I realized the amount of weight that I have gained since Bob and I started dating is roughly equal to the weight of Little E.

If I carried around Little E, who is just over 50 pounds, all day long, I would be tired. I would ache. I would not be very happy.

No wonder I feel like that!

Can you imagine carrying around 50 pounds of whatever for an entire day? No wonder I have bad knees, a sore back, achy feet, and over all exhaustion.

I have always been overweight, so this additional weight is really talking a huge toll on my body.

Just as I was thinking about this, Amber, from Bringing Good Home, posted about her October weight loss challenge. Wow! What timing.

Back in July (July!) I announced that I was doing a 30-day weight loss program and I was going to post wellness tips on Wednesdays, etc, etc. Then I stopped as soon as I started.

Regular readers of this blog know I had a very difficult summer, and I am not beating myself up about getting off track, but now is time to get back on that horse.

The good news is I have not gained a singe pound in the past three months, so I am starting right where I left off.

Okay, so what are my goals for this challenge?

I am starting my 30-day program over from day 1, and this time I am sticking with it. It is a faith-based weight loss program called Thin Within. It focuses on only eating when you are truly hungry and stopping when you are comfortably full (not stuffed). More importantly, it focuses on the faith aspect of being overweight. For me, there is an obvious faith component to my problem of reaching for comforting foods when I am stressed out and overeating.

I also want to start walking daily. I have tried numerous exercise activities in my life and walking has always been my favorite, by far, and the only one that gave me good results. (Gee, I wonder if there is any correlation there!)

As far as weight loss, I would like to lose 10 pounds this month. I think that is doable, at my size. But more importantly, I would like to be able to fit back into my jeans comfortably. It is getting cold out!

Most importantly, I want to break the stronghold that overeating has had in my life and feel good about myself.

Amber is going to have challenge check-ins every Monday, so I will post my updates then, too, instead of on Wednesday, like I did before.

Head on over to Bringing Good Home if you want to join in.