Food - talking about it yet again!

I am failing this month......failing at meal planning......and it makes me feel awful. The annoying 'what are we having for dinner?', 'do I have anything I can defrost?', 'do I have all the ingredients?' thoughts roll through my brain constantly and I hate it. Yet, I haven't sat down and done it. I WILL do one for December, NO MATTER WHAT!

But, meal planning, hasn't been the only food matter boggling my mind lately. I have heard/read about two stories recently that have my mind boggled: 1) a Canadian preschool sent a letter home saying that sack lunches were no longer acceptable unless there was a doctor's note for medical necessity and 2) a preschool (Canadian too?) fined a mother, who provided a perfectly acceptable lunch, for not providing a grain/ they provided garbage Ritz crackers and sent her the bill.

My reaction: ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING, ME?????? SERIOUSLY?????

I know the overall idea is schools provide meals to kids because sometimes it is the child's only 'healthy' meal. Let's all feel good about that. However, I am here to tell say what they provide overall is GARBAGE. Gone are the days of hot food cafeterias with funny lunch ladies in silly hair nets; gone is the fresh prepared food; gone are the trays with silverware and the clanking of the dishwasher. After working at the elementary level for three years, I saw what Irvine (a good district) provided for hot meals........prepackaged, plastic wrapped need-to-be-reheated entrees that were along the lines of chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers, bagel pizzas, taco sticks, and occasionally fried chicken and mashed potatoes; vegetables that were rarely taken (or just tossed in the trash), sometimes fresh fruit but mostly prepackaged fruit cups, and milk or juice. If you are vegetarian, you are stuck with a random mac-n-cheese or plastic wrapped quesadilla with little to no nutritional value.

So, I ask WHY and HOW it is acceptable for the school to tell ME what I can and cannot do with my childrens' lunches. How dare they? So many thoughts run through my mind:
1) What if my child needed a special diet - nut free/ gluten free/ dairy free/ egg free/ vegetarian/ paleo/ low-carb or whatever-the-hell the new rage is.....they should not have to have a note about it. What about kids with texture issues? It is what they eat, period. I have packed it; let them eat in peace.
2) Why is it the school's business what I give my kids to eat? I promise that as skinny as Ian is, he isn't malnutritioned. You have NO RIGHT to tell me what or what not to feed my kids. Even if I asked for lunch assistance, you are feeding my kids mostly crap. Don't deny it. If I am doing well, my kids will get veggies and fruit along with the sandwich on whole wheat bread, string cheese, potato chips, and granola bar. If I am having a bad morning, need groceries, simply not being motivated, or JUST BECAUSE, they will come with peanut butter and jelly (maybe even on white bread, the horror!), a few wheat thins, perhaps some cereal in a bag, and an applesauce. You got that???? Some parents send their kids with lunchables everyday but who am I to judge? I won't give my kids that, but why is it ok for the schools to decide what my kids have. I have seen some multicultural lunches in Irvine; I promise the homemade sushi rolls a lot of those kids get are way better than anything the school is serving.
3) How do schools have time or energy to micromanage lunches? I have worked at preschools too. At the preschool, we were supervising and helping open containers/packages, but we let the kids choose what they ate, when they ate it, and how much was consumed. I was more concerned about keeping them in one place and preventing choking than about Johnny eating his sandwich first. If Mom sends in chocolate pudding, etc. it is not my place to tell them to eat the sandwich first. That is Mom's battle to fight at home, but I promise if you send a 3yr old. with cookies or pudding they are eating it first. (Heck, my favorite saying is Eat Desserts First!)
4) Lastly, it is not about providing nutrition. It is about more control. It is not about preventing childhood obesity. If it were, then why are they providing processed garbage and cutting PE time.

Things like this really bring out the Momma Bear in me. I will continue to provide my kids with packed lunches that include homemade chicken noodle soup, chili, or gumbo; whole grain crackers; homemade chicken salad; leftover pot roast; hard-boiled eggs; sandwiches (nothing better than pb&j on Sunbeam bread!); pudding cups; Little Debbie cakes; granola bars; and whatever the heck I want.
Maybe adding nutrition to curriculums and not cutting PE time (or art/music programs that foster brain development) might be a better investment of time and energy.

And while they are busy staying out of my kids lunches and focusing on the important stuff, maybe they will realize that Common Core isn't all that great either. But that's another rant for another day.

Thursday thoughts

Just some random thinking for a Thursday:
1) Band season is in full swing. We experienced our first Friday Night Lights late week when we attended the Homecoming game. Band was great; football was awful. Hoping it was just a bad week for the team.

2) Sean made the 'A' team for 8th grade football. He is pretty excited about it. We are proud of him and all his hardwork. Rolling out of bed at 6am for early morning practice is gnarly but at least it isn't in the blazing TX heat. His first game is Monday and we can't wait!

3) Yesterday was 9/11.....I really need to stop watching all the dedications and such. I had no idea 12 years ago how sad the entire history making episode would still be. I have never been to NY; didn't know anyone in the towers; cannot even grasp the enormity of it all (still!). And it still makes me cry. We will never forget.

4) And as 9/11 passes, it means Amanda's birthday is approaching. I remember being a month away from my due date. How is she almost 12?

5) And that means Christmas shopping is upon us. (It's been Christmas season at Costco and Hobby Lobby for a month!) I will admit I have one small gift and three stocking stuffers so far. But that hardly makes a dent in reality. Sean is easy - he just wants Beats headphones and a pool table, um what????

6) On Sunday, Fritz was SICK. Poor little thing could hardly walk and barfed projectile vomited on the carpet. He didn't move for hours and could barely lift his head to his bowl for water. Then after about 6 hours he started emerging back to life. So weird; wonder if he ate one of the baby (one-inch long) lizards we keep finding in the house. Side note: vinegar and water works wonder on carpet!

7) Currently we are going through about three loaves of bread a week. GAH! That's 25 sandwiches for lunches (Sean has two) + any I might eat and random toast for breakfast. Good heavens.

8) I added on another merchandising job. So currently I'm up to sunglasses for two stores and jewelry at one, all Targets. With other small projects added on here and there I am making about 65% of what I did in CA; not bad on 15hrs. or less a week. I worked about 28/week in Irvine.

9) Ian got his cast off yesterday. Woot! He is in a boot for a short bit though. Based on what was under his cast (leaves, grass, etc.), the doc thought we should give him a reminder that he is nursing an injury and that he can't go crazy again just yet.

10) And one final note, it's not hump day, but the commercial still makes me laugh everyone single time!

Hoping your Thursday is filled with something that makes you laugh too!

Just grand...........Maggie's swab results came back positive for H1N1. Her fever has been gone since Friday night; she has a lingering cough.

.....fingers crossed, spraying more Lysol.......

Craziness! This is my life.

It's overall good insanity but I am just tired all the time. (that is probably b/c of the random 'iron-deficiency anemia' that I have now [happy 39th b-day] @@ I have never had low iron, even when I was pregnant - ugh!) I have tons of pictures to share from Amanda's birthday, apple picking, Halloween and such but no time to get it all uploaded and organized. For the record, the kids were a farm-girl (sorta); a skeleton; Supergirl; and a Linja. That's not a typo-- Ian insisted he was a linja although he looked like a ninja.

In sports news, Sean's team finished 8-0 so they have a bye for the 1st round of playoffs this weekend. WOOT! He also is starting basketball in a couple of weeks. He has never played before, but is really excited to play. At this point, he doesn't want to play baseball. (I'm tellin' ya -- being screwed all summer during All Star ball ruined it for him)

I'm terribly behind on my TV watching so no real editorials from me other than I'm glad to see that Ace is gone. I can't seem to stay awake long enough to get through one TV show.

And, last but not least, Tuesday cannot come quick enough for me. I'm not a huge fan of politics to start with but this election has driven me over the edge. My phone won't stop ringing with random recorded messages; my mailbox is FULL of retoric daily; and there are even people out on street corners rallying around issues and candidates. The messages and mail are par for the course, but I don't ever remember all the other madness surrounding elections. Maybe my head was buried in the sand before.

As a small business owner 'family' we are very anxious about what is to come in the very near future. Although at the moment my immediate future involves going to straighten up the Halloween chaos (and stealing some chocolate, of course) before I fall into bed.

Here is where I complain about the cost of food. I've been stewing on this over the last few months and have finally decided 'enough is enough'. $3.49 for a loaf of Sarah Lee whole wheat bread; $6.79 for a gallon of organic milk; .79/lb. for bananas; even $1.99/lb. for apples seems crazy when just a couple of months ago they were $1.49 or cheaper/lb. (even CRAPPY school lunches are $3.25 this year, I'm not even kidding. Thus the reason my kids are only buying on 'pizza' days)

For years I've done the grocery game (and if you don't do it, you should be!). I've always clipped coupons but this just made using them more efficient. I also am not name-brand loyal so if Wishbone Ranch is on coupon & sale then that is what I get; sorry Hidden Valley, I've got kids to feed. They even know -- if ain't on sale AND I don't have a coupon, don't even ask.

I do use Costco for some things ---example: I usually get ground meat there, but last week Ralph's had ground sirloin for $1.99 so that was even better. I always buy butter, milk, and eggs at Costco but I don't make a special trip just for those items; I also do Costco to stock-up on juice packs for lunches/ gatorade for sports/ cheese/ trash bags/ laundry detergent/ assorted meds.&vitamins. Things like toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, and 'lady supplies' are grocery game items that Costco can't touch the price on. I DO buy organic milk and thank goodness we aren't using four gallons a week anymore. I'll hit Trader Joe's when I need to grab just a few items, but overall I shop at Ralph's.

I don't spend my time or precious gas money driving around town store hopping with the assorted ads. I DO save money ($87 this week specifically) but I'm curious about what else I could be doing. Feeding 6 people (Sean could almost be counted twice sometimes) is HARD when I'm trying to be creative, healthy, and thrifty. When I see whole wheat bread on sale, I grab two --one to use, one for the freezer. Same goes for bnls/skls. chicken breast, etc.

Here is my question -- HOW do you do it? What can I improve upon? Tonight dinner was white beans with rice/ cornbread&greens casserole thing (so good! and I didn't lie when they asked me if it was spinach - it wasn't) and fresh mango with raspberries. Example: I had gotten one HUGE mango and cut that for the kids and then the pack of raspberries got divided by six (poof-it's gone!). I have leftover casserole & beans that I will eat for lunch this week or as a quick catch-can dinner. Tomorrow is marinated london broil; homemade pasta salad; steamed green beans; whole wheat hawaiian rolls. [It looks like a lot but when you know that the meat is starting out at 1-1/4lbs. before grilling for six, that is a smallish portion of meat]

Come out of lurkdom and toss me some suggestions......sorry, with all due respect, vegetarian isn't an option.

Seriously. Some things in life just make me shake my head and say 'what are you thinking? Dumb ass.' It's not really a nice thing to think or say, but GAH!!!!!!

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/fugitive-teacher-arrested-in-mexico/20071101175909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

And a huge EEEEEWWWWW!