Friday, March 30, 2012

I am too stupid to do it myself!

Dear McDonald's
Please make the food choices for me cause I simply don't have the brains to do it myself!  Must be all those hours of Barney frying my thought process.  Thank you very much for you assistance in this matter!  Perhaps next week you can feed me too!


Yours Truely,
Kimberly

~*~*~*~*~

Really?

The latest thing is MD's transition from a small fry in a kids meal to apple slices and a box of fries so small they probably couldn't hold more than 5 fries at any given moment in time. In fact, I would eat my shoe if they held that much.  (I probably would have too cause I would still be way too hungry after eating!!) I cannot tell you how mad I was when that 1st meal came home one day and I saw what was inside.  It isn't like we eat at MDs daily.  It is a treat.  More a grasping moment in time when things becomes to frazzled in schedules and we have to eat fast and go.  But when we do go, I expect it to be a treat. I don't want to haggle over what is inside.  I seriously doubt that a small fry is going to kill any of my kids if they ate it. But it is to help us 'make better choices for our kids'.  Cause I simply can't do that on my own!  If I am pulling into a MDs in the 1st place, I kinda already know that the food is going to be full of fat and salt and sugar.  Otherwise we would be heading to salad works!  I know I am ordering nuggets. I know I am ordering fries.  And, dare I say it, even a soda!!  It is, after all, MY choice isn't it?  Well, it seems to MDs and Michelle Obama, it is not.

"McDonald’s has long offered parents the option of asking for fruit rather than fries, although a study by Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that only 11 percent took advantage of that option"
Well, thank you for doing that cause it would seem that parents everywhere cannot make the choices on their own and needed some help!
The child obesity rate would not have anything to do with the fatty and wasteful school lunches or the hours of xbox and facebook the children apply their time too or the chips the kids eat for a snack or that recess is mostly limited in time now in favor of studying for state testing....oh yes.  It is all stemmed around the fact that we, as parents, could not make the choice of apples vs. fries for our children. Yes.  That must be it!

And while I was upset and ranting to some teenage girl working behind the counter that my Happy Meal came with 5 fries and apples that my kids are allergic too, which shouldn't have even been in my meal, MD's is being criticized for their effort because they still offer soda and a toy.

"While some critics of fast-food and public health officials praised the moves (Mrs. Obama called them “positive steps”), others complained that McDonald’s did not go far enough. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University and an outspoken critic of the food industry, called the changes a “sham,” in part because McDonald’s is not doing more to limit soda with the Happy Meal.
“They’re going to get huge publicity for this — an ounce less of French fries,” Dr. Nestle said. “I’m not impressed.”
Do they think that if they offer 4 fried nuggets, 4 over processed-bad-tasting slices of apples that never make it out of the bag, 5 fries and take away the option of soda that parents will happily order it with a smile on their empty Barney-fried faces, thank them for helping them make the choice that they simply could not and not complain about it?  No.  They will complain.  And they will make other choices.  They will order nuggets and small fries and soda alacarte and put more profit into MD's pocket or they will go elsewhere and end up hurting MD's in the end.  Where Government thinks they are doing what is best for us, is beyond me.  The only they are doing it lighting up the internet with some very upset parents. 

I am all for options. I have no problem with that.  Give me a choice between a salad or fries.  Give me an option of a burger or yogurt.....milk or soda. But allow ME to have the CHOICE.  Don't make it for me.  I make the choices I cook each night. I make the choices when I go grocery shopping.  Don't tell me what I HAVE to do when I eat out.

"The company said it had experimented with eliminating French fries altogether from the boxes, but that generated a lot of customer complaints. Danya Proud, a spokeswoman for the company, said that McDonald’s tests also found that parents wanted soda among the drinks available, too. “That’s what we’ve really felt all along, that ultimately, it’s a parent decision to make about their child’s well-being,” she said."
McDonald's understands that if they piss off the client, they won't buy.  They understand that if they make all the choices for the public, they won't buy.  I wonder when Nazi-bama will come to realize it too?

Instead of worrying on if my child is eating apples I didn't ask for, perhaps MD's can focus better on things like teaching that teenager behind the counter to smile and say "thank you" once in a while, to not put cheese on a burger that clearly is marked NO CHEESE, to put straws in a bag when drinks are ordered, to count change instead of looking at you like you have three heads when you hand them $20 instead of a bank card! 

And let us not go into what the government can be focusing on instead of those apples........That leads to a whole new post!

Friday, March 23, 2012

A little bit of whine with that cheese please!

Today was a lovely and warm spring day.  The kind I wait all winter for and just roll in the glory of the sun!   It was sunny...it was warm....there was a light breeze.....just perfect and I could ask for little more.....except for one daycare child.  My "Whiner".

He is the best whiner I have seen in a long time.  He whines if you look at him.  He whines if you remotely say anything negative and close to a 'no'. He whines when he wants something.  He whines just, well, to whine. To make a long story short, he is that candy child in the grocery store line.  The one who cries and screams and WHINES in the cart until mommy just gives in and gives him the candy he demands to keep him quiet.  He has learned his skills well.  He has had 2 and 1/2 years to perfect them!  They tend to work wonders on Mommy.  He can turn her to his will and wrap her around his finger like a major tornado on a piece of simple steal.  What he has yet to learn is that they do little to impress me.  His whine only irritates me and he gets nothing for his efforts.  But this is an ongoing battle between him and I and that is meant for a whole other post.  What it does have to do with is my rotten cherry to top my otherwise lovely day!

Today he whined because I told him he had to put his shoes on that he insisted he had to remove.  He whined when he wanted a toy.  He whined when I told him he could not have the rocks he stole from someones yard during our walk on this lovely day!!  He whined when he got in trouble because he thought he was cute for putting his lunch on the top of his head.  He whined when he stole cookies he was not allowed to have because he still had to eat the lunch he put on the top of his head!!  After a while I had enough and off he went to an early nap.  Then to top off the day of perfect whine....he wakes, cries this time and then throws up!  At this point in time, I was rather happy he didn't eat the lunch he felt he had to wear on his head!!

I could say that he ruined my lovely and perfect spring day.  But there is little to nothing that can take away the mood this weather puts me in!  Throw up, tantrums, whining, cannot break the glory of the day!!

My good mood even over all the whine and puke might also have something to do with the fact that it is Friday and it will be two days before I have to hear the whine again.  Who could ask for more on such a perfect and lovely spring day??

And a funny:
The other day Delaney got up and I brushed her hair back on the top of her head and left the back down.  When I got done, she did her usual inspection in the bathroom and announced that she was NOT happy with it!  It looked like a 'baby'.  It was 'stupid'.  She in NO way liked it at all.  She was even more disappointed when I told her I could not change it because the bus was on the way and I told her she looked fine.  She did not believe a word I said no matter how many times I told her and went to school a very unhappy (and apparently baby looking) little girl.

The next day she gets up and I ask her how she wants her hair.  She tells me she wants the top pulled back with the back down.  Ok, that gave me pause!  She just had a morning from hell over that the day prior and now she wants me to do it that way again??!  So I had to ask...WHY would she want me to do it that way when she obviously hated it that way?  She tells me that her teacher said she loved it and she looked pretty and she wanted her teacher to like her hair again!! 

Seriously?!

I emailed this story to her teacher.  Then I asked if she wouldn't mind (and because she obviously rated much higher than me) could she please let Delaney know how much she (the teacher) really loved veggies and a very clean bedroom!!!  It would so make my day!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

" 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

.....and Grace will lead me home."

We found out today that Todd's uncle passed away.  A sad time for the family as they all grow older and each of them passes on.

He was the baby of 13 children. Twelve of which were girls. I am sure his upbringing was not easy in a house full of women!  But I am sure he made a good husband.  I would think he learned to put the toilet seat down and to get out of the bathroom fast and to respect women.  On the other hand....I rather envision him as the little devil in the household.  The pesky baby brother who teased them as they sat on the front porch with their dates and took their lipstick to put on the cat.  That sounds more like Jonny!! 

He liked to laugh and tease and get into trouble.  His wife was always keeping him in check with a sternness and a shake of the head.  He was a hard worker who owned his own trucking business.  A pillar of the community and willing to help as needed. 

He had just returned from a cruise with his wife.  He was outside working in the yard and had come inside because he had an appointment with his heart dr that afternoon.  He died of a heart attack while he washed his hands to leave.

He will be greatly missed.

In this time of sorrow, please keep his wife, June and their family in prayer.  Give peace to the remaining sisters and their family as they all deal with his passing.  And may God take Jon in his arms and guide him home.

JON DUPNOCK
March 7th, 2012
May you rest in peace

"Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace."


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Happy Birthday 19 times!

March 8th was a Sunday.  We were doing nothing overly exciting other than having some family over for spaghetti and chatting.  But as I was making dinner, I noticed I was maybe starting labor.  Those unsure, 1st time mom, feelings that you think you might be but then again maybe not. I opted to not let anyone know because I wasn't sure and didn't want to panic anyone. 
We had dinner and visited and everyone left.  It was then I mentioned it to Todd.  My girlfriend, Doreen, came over to play some games and sat with me while we played "guess if Kim is in labor"!!  Finally around 9pm we called the dr.  Her comment to me was to walk around and if the pains took my breath away, it was labor.  Well.....I did it.....and there was no guessing.  This was it!! We packed up and headed to the hospital.  What an exciting time.  What a scary time.  The 1st baby.  So many unknowns.  Before long I was holding the most precious thing I have ever held in my arms.  He was so sweet.  So incredibly beautiful.  Just the most perfect thing ever.  He was my son. 

Ryan Christopher Todd Chapman. 
Born March 8th at 5:55am on his due date. 

And he has had me running since.  A life full of activity.  Of hugs. Of kisses.  Of frustration.  Of laughter. Of fights. Of the most perfect love.

Happy 19th Birthday my sweet baby boy.