The time change has always really bothered me, but now that I have a toddler, I have all new reasons to rage against it.  Getting to bed an hour earlier is good but as I sit here on Sunday night eating confiscated Halloween candy and watching CNN, I can only pray that the new 5AM wake up doesn't last long.  But, as long as you are waking up early this week, I have some advice - bring your kids to vote with you on Tuesday and go early.  Polls open at 6AM and word is that the lines are going to be really long this year so get there at 6AM and then head to your local Starbucks for a free coffee.  More on all that plus info on NYC gifted and talented programs, the cheapest local supermarkets, Palin's prank call and more

The trick or treating was more fun than ever this year. It seemed like everyone really went all out to make it great for the kids. By the next morning, however, I sat with a Halloween Hangover staring at those piles of candy with disgust and wondering what the net impact of that much sugar could be. That's when I decided to count all the calories contained in my children's Halloween hauls, piece by piece, prompting my ever-so-helpful husband to tell our children, "See, kids, math can ruin the fun in anything."

So, here's my obsessive compulsive tally of a NYC kids' Halloween Trick or Treat bag, the good, the bad and the gooey.

From Three Eyed Martian and Amelia Earhart

On Halloween , the monsters take over the streets of NYC, but New York is always full of monsters, if you know where to look for them. We've put together some cool ideas for finding monsters in NYC with kids. Perfect for a Halloween weekend outing or monstrously fun any time.

When I was a kid, my fondest memories of Halloween were those I spent trick or treating, where our neighborhood was chock full of kids filling the sidewalks of tree-lined streets that were blocked off from auto-traffic. We’d come home with garbage bags full of candy, open it up and have our parents inspect it, select a few, and put the rest away (my mom told us it was going into the freezer to stay “fresh, and that we could eat a piece of candy a day until next Halloween”- a statement I recently confirmed was a falsehood after years of wondering why we needed more candy in our Easter baskets).

As much as we as parents try to deny it, for kids, Halloween is more about the trick or (more importantly the) treating than about all the other brouhaha that comes along with it. This year, with a 5 and 3 year old, we are just as excited to trick or treat as we are to get dressed up. Luckily, out here on Long Island, we have a great neighborhood to trick or treat in, but in the event you don’t, we’ve compiled a list of great villages and spots across Long Island that are perfect to visit where you’ll find plenty of kids and lots of candy.

The South Street Seaport and American Natural History Museum rinks have closed..

There seems to be an explosion of new ice skating rinks in NYC this year. Last week we reported that the American Museum of Natural History is opening a new ice skating rink in November and now we've heard of two more new rinks opening this winter.

After some pretty bad years for skiing, they say it's going to snow a lot this year. If it's true I'll feel pretty lucky to get a good ski year when my daughter is in fourth grade. Why? Because fourth graders get to ski for free. New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Vermont all have free ski programs for fourth, and sometimes fifth, graders and you can apply to all of them.

Click on the links below for applications and more information, but the basic deal is that you apply for a ski free passport and you will receive a booklet of 3 passes per participating ski resort that allow your child to ski free when accompanied by a paying adult. The applications cost between $10 and $19, or in the case of New Hampshire, they require a little school project about NH skiing history. The passbooks also usually include one free lesson also.

Has the recession come up in conversation with your kids yet or are you too busy talking politics with them these days?  Links this week include tips on how to broach the subject without freaking them out, good news about more gifted & talented public schools to open in the boroughs (cause not all smart kids live in Manhattan) and lots on baby naming including the city's report on the top baby names for 2007.  Plus, the crusader of crazy baby names, Sarah Palin, has one more wacky one up here sleeve...