A few of you out there are still looking for ways to use up so-called “leftover” candy. I don’t really get that concept. It’s not chicken, people. It’s not gonna go bad that fast. Eat it and enjoy at your leisure.

But heck, if you really want to bake it into something, make a pookie! This lovely cookie dough is filled with all your Halloween candy favorites and baked into a pie shell. With Thanksgiving looming, we should be getting our pie thing going anyway. Let’s do a hybrid holiday treat!

To be honest, I’m relieved to be in November. October is just a terrifying month, and not just because of people banging on your door demanding candy. Grades are due in my school system on November first, and so are college recommendations. I’m just happy that these weights are lifting from my shoulders.

Now I can focus on lifting real weights, which I do faithfully. Still, there’s this area under my arm. I hesitate to use the word “flaps” because it’s not empowering. But with all the triceps work I do and all those painful push-ups with my hands shaped like a diamond, why don’t I have arms like Madonna? Probably the pie.

There have been times that I get frustrated at the parts of my body that don’t tone as easily as others. But lately, I’ve also been trying to focus on the good stuff. My abs are really responsive to training, and that means I need to stop complaining. Why are we so inclined to focus on the stuff that isn’t as great and not spend time enjoying what we love about ourselves?

That said, if I ever became rich, I would hire the following in a heartbeat: a personal trainer, a personal chef (just on retainer for those days I don’t wanna cook), and a hairdresser, not on retainer. Because I need hair help every single day. I wouldn’t even think about redoing the house or anything until these three people were part of my daily routine. And you know, it would be cool to have an assistant too, just to keep track of my appointments and all.

Anyone out there willing to make my dream come true? I will totally bake for you every day if you make me rich. I do that anyway. No matter how rich I got, I would bake. It just makes me so darn happy.

Like this pookie here. Who can turn away from this? Not me, I can tell ya. The trick is to make sure you don’t bake this guy for too long, or the whole thing goes from slightly gooey and joyously chewy to dry and hard. Watch that oven timer!

Listen, I don’t need recipes for leftover candy. In my house, it’s called eating it. But I understand if you do, and I hear where you’re coming from. So go ahead and eat your candy in a pookie! It’s almost as nice as being rich and having your own personal staff.

You know, the ones that don’t have eyeballs or gummi worms all over them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I saw a spiderweb chocolate tart a week or two ago that was so gorgeous it made my mouth drop open.

These truffles are easy and a perfect Halloween party treat. They’re simply marzipan dipped in chocolate with some orange flair! Orange is the new black and all. At least, this time of year.

The onslaught of holidays between October and January makes the descending temperatures more bearable. I mean, we’re distracted, making cute crafty things and getting our inner Martha Stewarts on. It’s fun. But what happens January 2nd? Ever thought about that?

Pure freezing sadness, people. Seriously. It’s cold and bleak, and the winter stretches on through the next two and half to three months. Maybe Valentine’s Day helps a bit, but there’s just no way to love February.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, except to tell you to get your holiday on while you can. Because after that, it’s all about those sad trees with no leaves. That’s why the yellow, orange and red-leafed trees give me pause. Beautiful, yes. The beginning of the end, also yes.

Okay, now that I’ve depressed you, I’ll lift your spirits with these truffles. I dipped them, but my kids helped with the piping. Can you tell? I decided to sacrifice straight lines for happy children. Besides, they look more Halloween-like this way anyway, with all the twisted lines. Right?

These could not be easier to put together. Buy marzipan at the store, check. Dye it orange with food gel, check. Roll into balls and dip into melting chocolate, check. The orange candy melt flair is optional. Just use a chocolate melting candy you like. Ghirardelli is my favorite, since the quality of their melting chocolate is pretty great.

The best thing about dipping marzipan is that it doesn’t want to fall apart in the chocolate melts. It goes in and out like a charm. No worries, mates!

When all’s said and done, you have yet another Halloween treat, and this one is cute and snazzy. It would be a welcome addition to any grown-up costume party, so if you’re lucky enough to have plans, take these along! If not, join me. I’ll be cowering behind my front door, avoiding trick-or-treaters and thinking about summer. Because those cold months, they’re a-coming!

I’m totally down with spiders. For one thing, they eat mosquitoes. That makes them awesome. And I took care of a tarantula named Pinky back in high school, and he was a real sweetheart. So I have very positive associations and all.

This is my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe all dressed up for Halloween. Is it me, or are creepy treats mainly just adorable? Must be the candy eyes.

In the midst of all this creepiness, I have to admit that Halloween scares me. It really does. I do not like opening the door to people dressed in costumes that are intended to be terrifying. I don’t care how old they are. It’s just not cool.

One year, instead of candy, my mom gave out crayons. I will never forget the humiliation. I was 100% sure that some unruly trick-or-treaters would bust into the house and steal all our food. I mean, I’d be pretty mad if I got crayons instead of candy. The only thing worse would be toothbrushes.

Let’s face it: Halloween is a scary time of year. The sky is often eerily cloudy, and with people moving around at night like ghosts, it’s not exactly reassuring.

Plus, I teach high school, which means that kids come in costume on the closest day to Halloween and we have to figure out which costumes are crossing the line. I really have no desire to see students dressed in short, tight costumes, or in a worst-case scenario from a couple of years back, like a giant condom. It’s so tacky.

The opposite of tacky is cute Halloween treats. And these little guys just make me happy.

This cookie recipe is so good that my oldest son loves it. That might not mean much to you, but the boy eats about two things in life, and I’m not really exaggerating. The fact that he begged me to bake these again after the first time I made them means a lot. Just believe me on that one.

Once the cookie is baked, you press a frozen Reese’s miniature peanut butter cup into the center. Wait for it to harden, and then pipe on legs using chocolate melts. I also used those melts to stick the candy eyes to the spider’s body, i.e., the peanut butter cup. It’s cute, right? Not gross?

I might not like Halloween, but I do love the treats and all the fun you can have with making scary into cute. Spiders might not be as happy an association for you as they are for me, but how about giving them a try? Just this once!

But if you use Halloween as an excuse, up the ante with some fabulous bark. It’s easy to make, not to mention easier to eat. And it’s full of Halloween candy!

Yep, you’ve got that right. Candy pumpkins, check. Kit Kats, check. Reese’s PB cups, check. Hershey bars, check. Whoppers, check. Oh, and let’s not forget about the lovely sprinkles. Or the milk and white chocolate swirly base. Now do I have your attention?

My attention has been wandering of late. It’s kind of hard to stay focused on any one thing. I read an article a few years back that tried to prove that while men like to focus on one thing at a time, women are more cognitively apt to try and do many things at the same time. In other words, women are natural multitaskers. Which means that as I’m writing this, I have a pie in the oven, a pile of laundry next to me that I fold between sentences, and a child asking me questions in my right ear that I may or may not be answering.

Any number of experts will inform us that when we try to do several things at the same time, none of them get done well. Those experts can kiss my a$$. Ask them how daily to-do lists can get accomplished by doing one thing at a time, and see what they say. Unless your daily list has about three items on it, I don’t see how that can work.

Before we had children (i.e., B.C.), Kenny and I would talk around 11:30 each workday morning. Our phone conversations would go like this:

Kenny: How’s your day going?

Mir: It’s cool. I’m getting a ton done. I’m so tired.

Kenny: Really? It’s only 11:30!

Mir: It’s my lunchtime. I’ve already taught for four straight hours, paid the bills and made a doc appointment. What are you up to?

Kenny: Um…I took a shower.

Yep, those were the days. But Kenny, in all his manly glory, never felt bad about easing into his day and not getting each item duly checked off the to-do list that, admittedly, I created for him. And he still doesn’t really mind. I’m pretty jealous.

One thing I wonder about is whether doing so many things at one time is bad for the attention span. I do know that I’m very guilty of only half-listening to anything a child of mine is asking at any given time. Which is why these conversations happen:

Boy, Age Seven: Mommy, can I take the bag of lollipops upstairs to my room?

Mir: (absently) Sure, honey. (a minute passes) Wait, what?!

See? Not paying full attention is dangerous. Or if you’re my kid, it’s pretty great. The Boy had a whole bag of Dum-Dums up in his room (and was partway into his second) before I realized I’d been checked out.

Whenever I eat dessert, though, I try to make mindfulness a priority. I really focus on whatever is going into my mouth, and then it’s an even better experience. To be completely clear, I had no trouble whatsoever focusing on this Halloween candy bark. How could I think about anything else?

The base of this bark is milk chocolate (my personal favorite, so my apologies to you foodies who love the 90% dark), swirled with some white chocolate. On top, I piled all of my favorite chocolate bar goodness, plus those cute little candy pumpkins. I can never resist adorable.

Bark is a really great solution to the question, “I’ve got five minutes and fifty things to do, and I need to produce a treat for my kid’s class/my office party/my own sanity. What can I bake?”

In other words, this stuff comes together fast. Chill time is another matter, but 30 minutes in the fridge and you’re good to go.

My older daughter just walked up to me and asked me for tape. I have no idea why she wanted tape, but I was distracted, so I gave it to her. Why do I feel like my divided attention is going to result in my getting very upset in just a few minutes’ time? But that’s the price of multitasking!

At least I can focus on dessert. That’s really the important thing, anyway. Everything else can get done with little bits of my focus. It’s all about priorities!