Take the candy out of your mouth…..

And put it away.

If you are anything like moi, and apparently 90% of us do this, we eat our kids Halloween candy. Who are the 10% who claim they don’t do this? They annoy me. And are probably lying.

On top of eating our kids candy, odds are many of you have a kid who can’t handle the sugar rush. I  know I do. I DREAD Halloween and the candy overload. I still haven’t purchased any Halloween candy because I cannot control myself. I will tell myself it’s just for the kids. And I’ll hide it so my husband can’t pig out. But then I hear it, the candy calls to me, its voice grows louder and louder the longer it sits behind a closed closet door, hidden under some other mess, mocking me, reminding me of its contents and how good it tastes going down.  Some of the candy shouts louder than others, beckoning me to just try a small taste. And god forbid I have the slightest will power. Because I don’t.

“I’ll just take one to satiate my chocolate craving,” I tell myself. “I deserve it after the (insert anything here) these kids have done to me today,” I reason. Doesn’t that sound so convincing?

I am a liar. Who do I think I am kidding when I say I will stop after one. And if you do that, just stop reading my blog. We don’t have anything in common…

After 5 or 6 I wonder if I have a problem. I particularly love a good Almond Joy. That mix of chocolate and coconut. Mmmm….mmm……

The year I was 36 weeks pregnant with our second, I bought only pretzels and play-doh to avoid the unnecessary calories on the body that already tipped too high of a number of the scales and my husband said “Our house is going to get egged for this.”

I wondered if he was right.

So this year I will wait until this weekend to purchase my candy but in anticipation of what a huge pig I am, I will buy way more than we need. Let’s be honest, on All Hallows Eve, after the cherubs are nestled into their beds, I will ransack their goodie bags for my A list candy. When that pig fest is over, I will feel bad about myself and again wonder why I can’t just stop after one. But this year it WILL be different. I will take back the night because on November 1st, you know where all our candy is going? It’s going to Treats 4 Our Troops.

They need the treats way more than any of us!

Have you heard of this wonderful organization, founded by local Arlington mom of 4, Yael Israel Roggen? I was lucky enough to interview Yael earlier this week and learn more about T4OT, the non-profit she founded four years ago based on her own great idea. Yael had a friend who was deployed and used to send him care packages every month. Four years ago she decided to send him her extra Halloween candy. The year after that, more troops asked her for candy and she started volunteering with the Yellow Ribbon Fund at Walter Reed. She decided to put an email out to her preschool listserv and ended up with 300 pounds of candy to send to the troops. Clearly a brilliant idea was born. Yael said that she realized there as a need to fill here, donating candy to T4OT is a chance for members of a community to take what they already have – there is no reason to buy more – and send it to our troops.  In 2009, she collected 3,000 pounds of candy and last year, 5,000 pounds. It has spread to a nationwide effort and now takes her an entire year to have all the candy sent overseas to our troops.  Her non-profit has grown so much that Girl Scout Troops participate in packing efforts, schools in San Diego have hosted a packing effort, and locally the Corporate Executive Board has become the organization’s “Guardian Angel,” not only packaging candy but also paying for its shipment.

It’s shipping the candy overseas that is easy to forget, once we donate it to her; it still has to get to the troops and she is asking us not to open our pocket books to purchase candy, but if you want to open your wallets, to donate  money for shipment.

On top of this being a great teaching moment for our kids, Yael is encouraging people to get involved on Veteran’s Day, send letters to the troops, or

This pic says it all!

 participate in a packing event. The best place for information on how to get involved is on the T4oT Facebook page. Yael said that not only are many local schools, businesses and organizations getting involved, but so too are military families participating in collecting candy and writing letters to the troops. She noted that it’s really wonderful to see it coming full circle. I know I couldn’t agree more.

No matter if you live in DC, VA or MD, you can save your calories and donate to the troops very easily. Yael emailed this list of locations accepting candy donations for T4OT:

Patriot Harley Davidson Fairfax
Yellow Ribbon Fund Bethesda
Corporate Executive Board Rosslyn
Westover Market Arlington
Covet Arlington
The Habitat for Humanity ReStore Chantilly
Falls Church Properties Falls Church
ReMax Results Frederick
Tradition Homes McLean

There you have it – a fabulous way to give to our troops and keep your svelte figure at the same time. Yael is encouraging people to keep up with her Facebook page for new information because she has more time to update that than her web site -which is completely understandable. I hope you’ll join me in donating or contact Yael to set up a donation location as well. The more the merrier in this great cause..so please…spread the word…your super sexy body thanks you, and more importantly, so do the troops.

For more tips on keeping your figure svelte, or really just anything else I feel like blabbing about, be sure to “Like” the Wired Momma Facebook page….we have fun there…not just here…