Happy Friday, RISERS! I hope this week has been good to you. Here we are at All Saints Day and the first weekend of November. Don’t forget about the time change as we “fall back” during the wee hours of Sunday morning. I hope you’ll have the chance to recover from your Halloween excitement before the mad dash to Thanksgiving.
Happy Birthday to all of you who turned a year older this past week, and Happy Anniversary to you and your loved one if you reached another milestone year together this week.
Quote of the Week: “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” –Maya Angelou
Organizational Tip of the Week: Since Halloween was last night, you may have been overloaded with candy. It’s tempting to eat it all in one weekend. I want to recommend dumping out your stash and separating it into even piles. For example, if you bagged 75 pieces, group the candy into fives. Mix the types of candy so you have a variety of gum, chocolate, or sour candy in each bag. Allow yourself a bag every day until it runs out—or spread it out to every other day. That way you won’t be tempted to overeat, and your candy will last longer.
Joke of the Week: What’s the best way to fix a broken pumpkin? A pumpkin patch.
Recipe of the Week: Again, I want to tell you about a recipe I came across on Facebook. I don’t know what’s it’s called, but it will be DELICIOUS!
What you’ll need:
fresh strawberries, sliced longways
bananas, sliced in circles
chocolate almond bark, melted
peanut butter, melted
coarse salt
On a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, create a star by placing five slices of strawberries in a circle with the pointy side down. Place one banana slice in the center. Take the melted chocolate and spoon it in the center, making sure to cover the banana and the edges of the strawberries. Once the chocolate hardens, drizzle the peanut butter across the top, making a zig-zag shape. Sprinkle a pinch of the coarse salt on it, then enjoy!
Holiday Craft Idea of the Week: I’m going to cheat for this first one and send you to hunt for some fun, preassembled crafts. One of the things my family has always done at Thanksgiving is to take time after the meal to sit down together and do a craft. If you go to any craft store such as Michaels, JoAnn, or Hobby Lobby, you can find just about any fall item imaginable, including a variety of turkeys you can put together or leaves you can paint. They come in packs of various quantities. I’ll be sure to give you something concrete for next week.
Shout-Out of the Week: This week, I want to give a shout-out to everyone who works with children. This job is not for the faint-hearted, especially at this time of year. I hope that you are able to get through the day with these lovely, sugared-up children without too much trouble.
Have a great weekend. Remember, you are most awesome, and YOU ROCK!
Marion Rhines is a foster-turned-adoptive parent. She lives in Knoxville, Tenn., with her husband and five children. She has written and published two children’s books as well as two foster-care-themed novels. She has a Facebook blog, Tips from the FLIP Side, and enjoys working with children of all ages.