I have a tendency to beat myself up over things. Right now, as I type this, a little voice is berating me because every time I check a published post, I find a typo but by the time I log into WordPress, I can no longer remember where it was.

Halloween 2012 was great fun but after an excruciating few weeks where little C never managed to earn a piece of Halloween candy after dinner, leaving her sister sweet P to work her way through both bountiful stashes of candy booty, I decided to jump on the candy fairy wagon for 2013.

It’s actually genius. You get the kids to pick out 10 (or whatever you deem reasonable) pieces of candy and the rest gets packed up to be collected by the candy fairy for less fortunate kids. In exchange, the fairy leaves a gift for the kids. For our inaugural year, I chose a small box of lego. I was so impressed with how willing they were to let go of the booty, I even stuck two lollipops on the box and a little fairy dust –aka sparkles that never actually make it into anything crafty.

The extra candy was hidden away to be disposed of when the kids were out. So of course, six weeks later, it’s sitting exactly where I left it. Every time I look at this one shelf of books, the candy bag says:

tsk tsk tsk, here I am still waiting to be given away. What’s wrong with you? You need only walk to the security gate and hand me over. Surely that’s not too difficult? Even for you?!

I could go on. Luckily, Thai Halloween candy is so unbelievably lame, I wasn’t tempted to consume it myself. Had there been decent candy, well I don’t even want to go there.

Chocolate Flavored Skim Milk Tablets. Yum.

Before I know it, it’s November 31st, and I haven’t bought anything to put in the advent calendar! Crikey, what sort of SAHM am I? And then I remember the Halloween stash. Saved by my incompetence. Determined not to stuff them with sweets, I pick out a lone pack of candy for day one and vow to buy stickers and things for the next 23 days.

Day two rolls around and I have to distract the kids, while briefing Jefe where the candy is and tell him to put some treats the next box.

Later that day, I run off and buy a collection of erasers and small safari animals. I was rather pleased with myself, until I realized only the gorilla and brown bear fit in the boxes. Oh and strangely the camels. Every other creature will have to be a stocking stuffer.

This time I take it as a sign that the rest should be filled with the Halloween candy, reducing the pressure on my budget and my conscience as the voice from the book shelf is much softer now, with only half a bag left waiting for a home.