So I love to share my food and what I make. Great pride is taken in what my family eats as far as food and if you want to know or catch a glimpse of your diet snap photos. If you are ashamed to show the final result, chances are you should be ashamed to put that into your body. The other night I shared my version of P. Allen Smith’s Radish Top Pasta. Who you might ask is P. Allen Smith? Well spend a Saturday morning perusing public television and you might have the gifted opportunity to watch from Garden to Table where Mr. Smith shares some real delicacies from his garden for meals. My family was in heaven when we saw this dish so I knew I had to make it. Continue reading “P Allen Smiths Radish Top Pasta Recipe”
Whos guffawing over the detachment parent
Maintaining the wild giggle to myself of the faded memory of the TIME magazine cover I too shake my head in misunderstanding of the critical judgment passed by parents and non-parents alike. I wonder why we “freak out” to see that a parent so chooses a path to nurture and bond with their child that may be socially out of norm, albeit unacceptable to a vast majority. Yet the parent that lets their child run the streets, is unaware of any retardation they may experience that puts them at a huge disadvantage among other children, and lacks the parental attachment necessary to provide basic loving care is ignored. Not even a huff, snort, or pissy remark given to this form of action and behavior.
I am talking about a parent that has no nurturing qualities whatsoever. I am speaking to a parent that lets their child leave the house and is unaware of their disappearance and is not in the least bit concerned to their childs whereabouts. I am speaking to a parent who has fully admitted the only reason the child is in their life is to save their marriage.
And we thought breastfeeding a kindergartner was preposterous.
What I find most appalling is the fact that this parent ADOPTED their child. They CHOSE this child. They CHOSE to bring a special needs child into their home. They CHOSE this life. Call me callous, but this is like adopting a dog. Now when faced with the challenges that childhood brings with this child and the struggles of social growth and cognitive skills they seem to think that this behavior is the norm and ignore the fact their child has greater needs that some parents do not have the capacity to work with, through, or have any experience in the matter. They seem to brush the kid under the rug like he or she is the everyday norm, run of the mill standard kid with no special needs.
I struggle with this parent daily due to our close proximity. I have struggled to not write on this subject because of the damning effect. I struggle as I watch this parent spend more quality time with the family dogs on her daily constitutional than she does quality time with her child. I fight the urge to tell her to fuck off when her child randomly leaves their home and she is unaware of his disappearance, or maybe she is aware and does not exude concern, and the child shows up at my house, unannounced, unwanted, as the child stands at my doorstep entitled to come in and spend time with our family. I find pity and concern and anger with this situation that the child finds solace and acceptance in my home despite my hidden anger, concern, and lastly my pity.
This child acts as an ape in my home, climbing on counters, standing on counters and other household items that are not meant for this type of behavior. Pulling my window coverings from their bases in the walls leaving gaping wounds in my drywall needing to be repaired due to his feral behavior. I had patience and understanding in the beginning, knowing his situation. At first I made excuses that the child needed to know the boundaries in our home, to understand our rules and so we discussed healthy boundaries and rules.
Out the window….like their coverings.
I tried to reason and explain to the parents what his behavior entailed so as not to have a repeat offense.
Ignored.
Now, as the child visits my home on an almost every weekend basis I am faced with a rage I can no longer bridle from this parent who lacks any form of attachment, love, or concern for her CHOSEN child. The child is very special needs and quite frankly I am not equipped to deal with this sort of child that is not mine. I do not have the skills to entertain him on the days that are MINE to spend with my flesh and blood. To relax and enjoy my children because I am too spun and wound tighter than a drum because THIS child invades my home. Call me selfish, I can. Not my kid. You are probably thinking: “Don’t let him in,” “Send the child home,” all warranted responses to which I say, I am not the one letting him enter our home.
Often times the child shows up and is let in by my husband, sometimes my kids. If left to me I would leave him at the door at which he compulsively rang the door bell where I would want to rip the notification device from the wall to prevent further use. I then begin to question the motives of the mother who once sent him over stating, “It’s my weekend to relax and I want my time.” I nearly cam unglued and my rage almost got the better of me as I began to hoof my angry, selfish, self-righteous ass over to her house to demand she explain who the hell she was to make such claims and assume the weekends were not my family’s either. TWAT!
I digress.
So I then question her motives again. My only assumption is her daft obliviousness to the fact that we have goings on in our lives, that we do not just sit around waiting for her to send her child off to our home to give her reprieve, she must just think that since we have three children…in the grand scheme what is one more. Again I curse TWAT and how dare she. But then I thought, why not play her game. One day the child came to the door and we sent our THREE children in tow with this child back to his home for a full on play date at their house.
The silence lasted about week. It was bliss.
Until the weekend this child came to the door on a Sunday, of all weekends, that we all decided to sleep in. By sleep in, I mean we all slept until roughly nine in the morning. The morning was glorious until I was ripped from my peaceful morning arousal by the door bell, a knock at the door, dogs barking fervently. FUCK!
Running to the door I answered and politely sent the boy away as he attempted to pout and I bit my adult lip to not rip his head off. Meandering back to my room to lay quietly again in my comfy bed to get my wits about me I hear another knock. Short of losing my shit altogether I advise my eldest son that is awake to ignore the door and the child coming to it every fifteen minutes. For an hour the child paces in front of our house after being sent away and finally I cannot take it and so I text the mother to see if she understands the gravity of the situation. Advising her I sent the boy home at nine…by now it is fifteen after 10 in the morning.
She doesn’t catch my drift.
Then the child is trying his hand at jimmying open my son’s bedroom window. At this point my husband is awake, because my sleeping lion has now come full rage and is about to pull the kid home by his ears. By no means am I a violent person, but the events that have taken place have pushed me to corporal actions. My husband calms me for a moment, steps outside and takes the boy aside, speaks to him and sends him on his way. While I pace furiously through my kitchen eyeing the events to the front of my house through my dining room window, I cannot take anymore shenanigans. I text the mother to explain that their child was sent away an hour ago because we wanted to sleep in without their child coming over for once, I explain him pacing in front of our house for the hour, I explain the attempted break in.
Crickets.
No apology.
No admission of guilt.
Not even giving a fuck.
Then I am speechless. At a complete loss to the lack of concern on behalf of this parent. Their child was away from their home with no known whereabouts for more than a hour. They had assumptions I am sure. Let me further caveat all this that the child is EIGHT years old with special needs. Born of a mother who abused alcohol and drugs. A child who has spent his entire life in some form of therapy classes for social, cognitive, and other basic skills born unto children who are not born of the deficiencies he faces. But clearly he is of sound mind and body to walk around a neighborhood block, on a very heavy traffic neighborhood street, to come play with my children, without supervision on his jaunt, without concern of his whereabouts.
Maybe I am blowing the whole situation out of proportion. Maybe I just care to the whereabouts of my children. Maybe I care to their concern and to that of others. Maybe I enjoy to just spend time with my children on the weekends after I work all week. I am selfish in that I do not want to watch another parents child who sends them off so they can have peace and quiet. Maybe I find that there is a happy medium between the attachment and detached parenting ideals. I like that my children are their own person and being, sleep on their own, completed breastfeeding at one year, but still have me tuck them in at night, I have them still hold my hand across the street and through parking lots, I find that more of being a concerned, loving parent, than fitting into any mold of parenting principles.
When has the detached parenting gone too far? Or in this case was their any “parenting” involved at all?
The Stay at Home Dad – Manny or Daddy
Our current economic atmosphere has evolved a new breed of a stay at home parent. Formerly mothers were the primary care givers in the home and the most likely proponent to attend PTO meetings, running the kids to sports activities, and doing the household upkeep. Homes used to be comprised of a working father and stay at home mother, very a-typical, very “Cleaver-esque,” very reminiscent of our grandparents, possibly our parents of the baby-boomer era. The idolization of the American dream of a stay at home parent to raise our children and the other parent in the workforce, “bringing home the bacon.” However, as aforementioned, the weather has shifted and as a society, more and more dads are in the home world heading up the household at her core. Now mom is the one who is bringing home, and sometimes, frying up the bacon too.
Yet how much credit is afforded to these men who collide head on with the “stay at home” job? Men are men, and they do not have the same nurturing and caring as women do who often take to the stay at home career much more gracefully. Not to say fathers and men cannot be as effective, I am only indicating that the vagina is an upper-hand in the soft touch of caring for a home and family. But again, who is to say that a man cannot keep his hardened parenting style as the brute force in parenting, and carry on a softness and tenderness that emanates greatness in our children.
My husband is one of these men. He is my hero. He was formerly a manny. A slapstick reference to his job by calling himself a male nanny (manny) where he was and is much more than that. Gifted with a layoff leaving him unemployed, we thought to only be temporary, has become a full-time opportunity that has afforded him time with our children that fathers are not often privileged to experience. He wakes with them in the morning, they ask for him at bed for good-night story time, and they are all different people, The Chad included, because of the power of daddy. Many men “claim” to be a stay at home dad, where mom works in the home and dad happens to stay at home and claim to be a care taker, but really he is a glorified babysitter, not a true parent, not a true parental caregiver, nurturer. I say that very cavalier because these men are aware they lack the nurturing gift of fatherhood, a gift and art learned only through precious time spent with their children. Face it, most dads fumble with the kids only because mom comes in and takes over, rules the roost, puts out any fires and calms all the storms. Moms have only learned this by experience, gifted again with precious time with the children, the nurturing that begins from womb to breast as we hold our babes tightly. Men have a different experience and much different than the woman’s, so some detachment can be expected, they do not have 40 weeks of bonding prior to delivery.
I say that men fumble because they do, at no fault of their own. I commend any dad who will spend alone time with his children sans mom. Sans a woman of any sorts to jump in with maternal instinct to care and nurture and fix the errors dads should be afforded to make when adventuring through parenthood, fatherhood. Ladies how many times have you bitched, moaned, groaned or carried on because dad served up peanut butter and jelly for dinner and didn’t prepare the three course meal topped with sparkling water in a clear glass tumbler? I have a few small words for you if they have done this – FUCK YOU and of course GET OVER IT. Admittedly you know you have had moments of weakness where a full meal was not served, you have half assed the house keeping, or best yet, you ponied up to hire a housekeeper because “you don’t have the time” or “the energy” or flat out you cannot handle the way your husband handles the housekeeping for you because its not “your way.” I pity you for your coarse and selfish behavior. I pity you for not appreciating a man who is willing to be that bigger man and take on a traditional feminine role for the greater good of the family unit. Given any amount of time men glide through the home calming any household storm, simmering a sibling bickering bout, and giving to his wife with the truest love and affection money cannot buy.
I could not be more blessed and more honored for my husband and all his struggles to take on his role as a true daddy in our house. We will be able to look back on these years and be thankful that each of us was afforded time to be home with our kids and watch them grow in different phases of their lives; no one ever knows how rewarding being a stay at home dad or a stay at home mom job really is until they have done it. We will never regret any sacrifices and or struggles during this time because we gave of ourselves to our children, selflessly and with the utmost love.
Childrens Privacy Online – Public Parenthood
Going about dinner with my family tonight, I realized how much I have been able to enjoy my children outside of my blog. For the years leading up to this moment I shared almost the two full years of my children’s lives, the first two years of which were for my twins and before were the months leading up to their birth. The fodder of their lives and daily isms is what has driven this blog, making this mostly about parenthood, parenting, being a mother, their antics. All roles and life experiences to revel in, but I am realizing more and more how much I have enjoyed the privacy of my children growing up in front of me, my memories, my moments; our moments.
My little blog will now be evolving and growing as my children have. Visually recognizing that our relationship is truly about parenthood and parenting, mother and child, our values as parents withstanding the test of time, societal pressures, growing pains, individuality, fitting inside the box. Am I fulfilling my children’s lives with cultural enrichment, worldly values and acceptances, and ensuring blinding and bigoted boundaries are eliminated from their being? Call their experience enlightenment or a sense of ascension but I want my children to be just that, children.
Children of their own pace and world away from PR influence, marketing, and main stream of the best and greatest toy, gadget, gizmo, and whatchamajig. Full of wonder and imagination. Encouraged. Loved. Cherished. Appreciated. Supported. I think with a “mommy” or parent blog we are too busy touting our “look at me and look at my kid” that we forget to teach, encourage, cherish, educate. A blog is too much of a public parenthood platform that we are too busy sharing that awesome moment that we forget to live in that moment. Fantastic to put that moment forever into electronic history, but what about just living in the moment. Living with our children. Seeing what we can learn as parents, teaching our children the power of responsibility, ownership, love, respect, values, regret, and the lessons to be learned from these moments.
I watched the other day as a parent went on a tirade about soda served to her young child. While I do not like my children to have soda or other processed drinks including bottled fruit juices (grape, apple, etc), I also know that I can educate them at a young age the affects of these beverages can wreak on their overall health from teeth to how it affects their overall being, thwarting any outside influence to peer pressure them into the sea of wasted humanity. But with watching this parent’s tirade I watched her never take ownership to share or educate her child about soda, any soda, nor did she educate others about her beliefs for her children and that they are her own and to be respected regardless of general society and despite what others believed to be socially okay. In part, her parenthood was so public she forgot to parent her own child and self. We all fuck up, we make mistakes, but evermore, a part of making those mistakes is owning them and teaching our children that we make mistakes, own them, learn from these errors, grow!
Now that my twins have reached the exact age of their oldest sibling when this blog was erected, my eldest son was just about four when I started this blog, I am seeing another turning point to talk about what I do to be a responsible parent. How my children will interact in the unknown future world and hope that my small influence on them  to be righteous, fierce, honest, modest, and simplistic will be contagious. My hope is that this contagion to spread among the masses that being a parent and a public parent means to be held accountable and not inflict some executive order of power that we lack education toward our children in values, decision making and critical thinking. That we value our privacy and publicity as parents and these are in sync with one another.These characteristics should not be left to the institutionalized educators, the education should begin with parenthood. Basic parenting, basic adulthood, and simple humanity.
I only hope that my children know that each human puts their pants on the same each day, and by no means will they ever think themselves more superior, and that my most basic love and adoration for them will be enough to fill their hearts as they have filled mine for dozens of lifetimes.
The Family Road Trip Sweepstakes
Summer is here, and so are the groans of boredom, heat, and nothing to do at all. As parents we look to beat the heat, boredom, and provide a family friendly form of entertainment and education with our kids so we often have done what our parents have done. Road trip! The open road has been the ultimate adventure for children and adults of all ages. But let’s face it with the rising cost of fuel who can afford to take a road trip. Well now you can with Purolator and the BreatheEasy Family Road Trip Sweepstakes.
Purolator is the maker of the Breathe Easy cabin filter. So you too can breathe easy on a road trip where all the fixings are supplied for a fun filled family road trip anywhere you want to go!
Enter this sweepstakes and FIVE (5) winners will have the opportunity ti win $200 gas card, $25 gift card for snacks and $75 worth of books and toys from Scholastic! You have to hurry! Time is limited as the sweepstakes ends June 30th!
Double the Cheerios Club Pack
Now that summer has arrived and the kids are home, FULL TIME, have you noticed your grocery bill start to climb? Well you don’t have to feel the pain of the rise in groceries if you are a club member to such stores as Sam’s Club or Costco, to name a few. Being a club member offers perks and benefits to help you save money on your monthly grocery costs.
What’s even better? That buying in bulk helps to save more as well since club stores carry most of the major brands we see and shop for in our standard grocers.
What’s so exciting?
New 2 box Cheerios contains two individual boxes, making them easier to store and easier to pour!
Not to mention…
By reducing the amount of air in each individual bag, these enhanced containers fit 10% more cereal than before and use less packaging. While each box contains more cereal, packaging material has been reduced by over 200,000 lbs, saving 1,000 trees and taking 130 Cheerios trucks of the road, decreasing CO2 emissions
You don’t have to take our word for it, check out all the benefits of new 2 box Cheerios packaging! http://bit.ly/CheeriosNew2Box
New and improved 2 box Cheerios are now available on the shelves of Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s nationwide. (MyBlogSpark.com, 2012)
Now you too can share in the Cheerio’s awesomeness and enter to win (2) Cheerio’s Two Box packs, for a total of (4), yes FOUR boxes of Cheerio’s. What’s even doubly better, is that TWO winners will be chosen to receive:
- (2) new 2 box Cheerios packaging (four boxes)
So here is how you enter to win:
- Tell me if you shop at a club store, why or why not? (You must do this before all other entries)
- Subscribe to my reader
- Follow me on Twitter
- Tweet this giveaway daily with @KariewithaK #MyBlogSpark
- Like The Fish on Facebook
- Share the giveaway on Facebook (Worth 2 entries, every day you share)
- Blog this giveaway (Worth 5 entries)
- Comment on a non-giveaway post
Contest ends June 16th @ 2:59am EST.
As always: No Purchase Necessary, available to US residents. One entry per household. US postcard entries also acceptable if you do not have access to the above entry options, no limit to postcard entries as long as all are received before the close of the contest, email contests@thefivefish.com for your postcard entry details or to use email as your postcard entrance as these entries will be logged by the administrator of the blog. Winners will be chosen by “And the Winner is†Failure to adhere to the aforementioned rules set forth by this contest will result in forfeiture of your entry with no notice. Facebook does not promote, endorse, nor sponsor this review and giveaway and will be held harmless. As always, good luck and enjoy. My opinions herein are my own and are no way influenced by the receipt of a free product, they are an honest reflection of myself and my review of the integrity of the product.
“Disclosure: “Disclosure: Cheerios® cereal, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.â€Â I was provided with a 2 box pack of Cheerios at no cost in order to promote the product and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”
Beyond Coastal Sunscreen Products
Living in Arizona brings a very harsh and dry climate. We have over 300 days of pure, unadulterated sunshine each year. So for an active family like ours, we are constantly in use of a sun protecting product to prevent sun damaged skin and thwart the idea of skin cancer. Furthermore we own a pool, so the majority of our summer experience is spent beside or in that pool or at the local lakes. Our family also enjoys camping and other outdoor sports and activities which puts us in the glow of our warming star. Sun protectant is HUGE Â and vital in our home and we go through a lot of it.
But as an Eco-conscious mom and one that looks for overall protection, benefits, and a small carbon footprint I also want to make sure I am using something that will be safe on my children. Additionally I don’t want to pretend I am snowed over on a product, especially one that was provided for a review free of charge. Shall we dig into the details.
I recently signed up for a campaign with Global Influence to review a sunscreen line, Beyond Coastal.
I have never heard of the product. never seen them, their brand has never been brought to my attention. So the product is a perfect platform to review as it is not a brand I normally purchase or something I would seek out; often seen amongst most review bloggers. Ahem.
Mind you I will be full disclosure, I have nothing to hide and I have no shame. All participants of the review were advised that they were to post the week of April 30th. As you can see that time has clearly passed. We all waited and were notified that the products were “on their way and additional time would be provided.” Because my time is extremely valuable and priceless because I work outside the home and am the sole provider for my household, this dilly dally attitude was not befitting to me for their demands of a timeline. I sent a few emails, of which went unanswered until push come to shove, as I asked for the new timeline, an ETA for arrival, some answers; like I said, being a bitch gets you an answer. Normally when you create and setup a project with a deadline you provide levels of communication, of which were lacking. Not to mention the company that was providing the product was delayed in shipping the product. Duly noted.
Arriving nicely packed in a bubble wrap envelope, I tore in to see what was entailed to review:
Citrus Grove Lip Balm SPF 15 – .15oz- Active Face Stick Sunscreen SPF 30 – .50oz
- Natural Clear Sunscreen SPF 30 (Clean and Clear) – 1oz
- Active Sunscreen SPF 30 (Water Resistant) – 1oz
- Natural Sunscreen Kids 30+ (Kid Safe) – 2.5oz
Now I am an avid and active runner and run at all times of the day. So I was drawn to the Active Face Stick, something I could pocket and take on my run that I could reapply if I were to be out more than 30 minutes at a time. I applied, exactly as the directions intended, liberally. However, I confess that while I was liberal, I felt like I just caked on a load of Vaseline on my face after I began to perspire into my run, yet it smelled like a fresh lemon, rather nice I suppose. But then the sunscreen was running into my eyes, burning them, causing me to turn right around and bag my run. Fail. Not a selling point on this product. Later I read on the website how it boasts that it, Â “Acts as a wind-chap to keep your face protected during skiing and snow sports” (Beyond Coastal – Active Face Stick, 2012). So I suppose running isn’t the active genre they were engaging, more the ski and snow sports, like snowball fights in a bunny suit. Oh I digress.
Moving on to the kids sunscreen. I began to investigate the ingredients. I did this after I read three of the already published reviews where mom’s never addressed the actual product, but that sunscreen is vital to their children and they want a “safe product.” Fantastic, could not agree more. However I begged the question on why the hell, and I quote this from the product site, a kids sunscreen needs a skin cell builder. I even looked at my husband and begged the same question. I even left the issue open ended,
“When you hear ‘skin cell builder’ what comes to mind?”
Anti-aging.
Right….for kids?
Last I checked my kids are not in fear of needing botox injections or face lifts, so why an added filler for the sunscreen. I think this might be a bunch of hooey in the product if you ask me.
| Comfrey Plant Extract | Skin Cell Builder, Protects and Soothes |
 (Beyond Coastal Kids Natural Sunscreen, 2012)
Research and investigation in the products showed me that the majority have some level of alcohol which causes drying and my favorite ingredient that was boasted about being a skin conditioner. Can I tell you what this magical ingredient is that other reviewers didn’t share, “Castor Isostearate Succinate.” Can you pronounce it? Probably not and the likelihood of knowing what is really in this is probably just as likely, so I will share with you, the Castor is a type of vegan bean that makes an oil which is rather moisturizing if used properly. I make soap and I use Castor as well as other vegan products that can be pronounced, like Olive Oil. Sigh, let me get back to my point, the “Castor Isostearate Succinate” is a polymeric mixture of esters. In plain English, it is a concoction of synthetics. AWESOME (with a hallelujah ring to this word). But the product is “all natural.” Okay…if your food comes pre-wrapped and is beige I can get on board with that, but mine has color and I know where it came from, someone’s yard, aka a farm. Sheesh I digress again.
I really could not bring myself to review much else of the products offered other than the lip balm, which I left to my darling and ever so accommodating husband. Who was so gracious to tell me that the lip balm is, “soothing on my chapped lips without being waxy or feeling like a buildup.” Well said dear, thank you for this redeeming statement.
But if you like free loot and you would like to try the product please feel free to enter this awesome giveaway that Beyond Coastal and Resourceful Mommy Media – Global Influence have provided for your enjoyment. Leave me a little comment telling me what are your uses for sunscreen?
Extra entries include:
- Subscribing to my facetious feed
- Like The Fish
- Promote this on Facebook by sharing from The Five Fish
- Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post….there are quite a few 😉
- Enter one of my other giveaways
Contest ends June 9th at 12:01am AZ time.
As always: No Purchase Necessary, available to US residents. One entry per household. US postcard entries also acceptable if you do not have access to the above entry options, no limit to postcard entries as long as all are received before the close of the contest, email contests@thefivefish.com for your postcard entry details or to use email as your postcard entrance as these entries will be logged by the administrator of the blog. Winners will be chosen by “And the Winner is†Failure to adhere to the aforementioned rules set forth by this contest will result in forfeiture of your entry with no notice. Facebook does not promote, endorse, nor sponsor this review and giveaway and will be held harmless. As always, good luck and enjoy. My opinions herein are my own and are no way influenced by the receipt of a free product, they are an honest reflection of myself and my review of the integrity of the product.
“Disclosure: I was provided with a Natural Family Pack travel case of Beyond Coastal sun products at no cost in order to promote the product and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.â€
You think soda and candy causes childhood obesity what about school lunch
My small readership of only the half dozen of you lovely humans know that I tout and rant and rave about a healthy diet and clean food. Organic is tantamount for consumption in my house, if I cannot buy ALL organic I seriously have a small amount of guilt that runs through my obsessive compulsive mind that wishes to negate the effects of unclean food on my children. Yes, I am a bit extreme. My husband will be so happy that I am making such strides publicly about my OCD. Oh I digress early.
So the other day I took the opportunity to have lunch with my son. I do not do this often due to my work schedule and lately his behavior has become worrisome to me. I attributed some of this to poor eating habits (high sugar or carb foods and lower protein intake), and I know I can control what he puts in his body, or at least I can influence him in an educated and informed fashion where he will listen so I used the lunch date as my opportunity to have the food talk. While I know some of his behavior is in part to only having two weeks remaining in school, I have seen a trend prior to this onset of summer fever.
Knowing full well that the school lunch menu has been upgraded with the recent flyer’s we have seen and the boasting of a “salad bar” I took the opportunity to dine with my son and his fellow classmates. When in Rome right?
Shuffling into the school cafeteria it was like a cattle call with ropes and subdivisions for eating, ordering, and keeping the herd of children in line for the assembly of a meal. My son called his name so that his account could be debited and I then ordered the full lunch; soup, salad bar, juice and the meal for the day. I had an option between a mystery meat BBQ sandwich of sorts, “Burger Buddies” which were prepackaged and resembled White Castle sliders, and chicken strips. I opted for the item that looked semi-discernible and partially edible, chicken strips. Next I was offered “cheesy mash potatoes” by the lunch staff.
I stopped in my tracks in awe of the slop of shit being offered as food and a food product not only to my child but other children. The resemblance of orange, yellowish tinged drywall mud is what I thought these tasty bites looked to be, laying lukewarm in a stainless steel commercial serving pan. Politely I declined the “carbs” for my meal and moved along in the line. Choosing the 1% milk that I was pleasantly surprised to see offered. Progressing further into the line of food offerings I come across the “soup” offering which is not published near the warming unit in order to determine what exactly is being served for the day and upon inspection, I again declined to add to my menu of items to eat. Finally I end at the salad bar. I. am. breathless.
The only items of food I could clearly identify as edible, clean, and in pristine condition and something I would serve to my children and eat in mass quantities myself. Chopped romaine, iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, broccoli florets, slices of celery, slices of oranges, sliced heirloom tomatoes, all gleaming and shiny, brightly colored, but not wilty, and all screaming EAT ME. I then did what any right minded human would do is load up on this in mass quantities, untainted by salad dressing. I could not damage these beauties in their natural state and was as I said, breathless, and beside myself that this is the only food items that could be identified without question.
Sadly, there was plenty to go around and my fear was that this food was going to be thrown out, while the mystery meat food items would be saved to serve at a later date, even more worrisome. What was even more pathetic was the lack of the education staff eating these same foods being served to the children. I watched closely as they all retreated to the “lounge” to circle amongst their kin or retreat to eat something other than what was being served to the very children they educate each and every week day. Adding injury to insult were those who were the overseers in the cafeteria sipping on their Starbucks branded lattes and what not.
I continued to eat and enjoyed what I thought to be a safe choice for a school lunch option and I watched my son dig into his “burger buddies” and then we had a conversation about how it tastes good but the food was not really good for him. A prepackaged burger “meal” which after some research I found were HUGE in the 80s as a Burger King spin-off product in public schools, still being offered today.
DEPLORABLE.
My son’s lunch mate and loosed lipped little girl who had rather quite a bit to say for saying nothing at all tapped my shoulder and said, “LOOK! See all that grease…” As she squeezed her mystery meat BBQ sandwich that oozed levels of grease and oil that could lube any anal tract before a good colonoscopy. I wanted to vomit, giggle like this little girl at the sight of the filth permeating from the mystery meat, and scream and throw a tantrum and ask everyone what the fuck they were thinking that the food these children were eating was acceptable. Moreover I could not fathom that any EDUCATOR and those fit to oversee the education and mental growth and capacity of my children did not have enough where with all and knowledge to know that the “food” these children were consuming was basically a candy coated version of fast food.
But we all know that soda machines and lack of physical education is the reason for obesity right?
Let me further add this to the mix. Lunch begins at 11:50 for my second grader, of which they do not always arrive right at 11:50 to eat, thus he is shorted time to eat. At about 8 minutes after 12 the lights went dark in the cafeteria and the aids put up two fingers as if to signal the kids. I leaned over to my son and asked what this was about and he said, “We have to be quiet and finish our lunch and go outside to recess so we have to hurry.”
WHAT!?
Since when did the elementary school lunch system become similar to the military where these kids were commanded to shovel their food before running drills. I mean seriously, I wasn’t even done eating and by the looks of my plate I really did not have much on my plate, but yet had to shovel. Not to mention I didn’t even drink much of my milk, so I chugged that and moved along with the second grade cattle. But not before catching a glimpse at the other children who were forced to hurry themselves with their beverage and rather than being afforded the opportunity to drink it they had to pour their remaining milk box into a giant bucket. Again I said WHAT THE FUCK. Gallons upon gallons of milk in this bucket, only to be wasted by being washed down a sewer trap or drain. The silver lining here…..they recycle the milk cartons.
Are you angry yet? Shaking your head? Needless to say, I am typing this post to share my disdain. To share in the fact that we need to make a difference with our schools and our educators and those who make decisions on behalf of our children’s futures because this does not just include the classroom but the entire educational experience. I for one will be making sure to pack his lunches to not only save extra money each month but to also control what my child eats and that I know he is getting a nutritional lunch based on common sense standards and not some bogus food pyramid where supporting fast food is accepted and widely hidden to the parents the true details of what is really in our kids school lunch program. How about some transparency Mesa Schools? How about some real change in spite of cut backs, let’s cut the butterfly releases, growing meal worms, and bullshit education and institute health education at it’s finest starting with basic foods and not over-processed, grease injected byproducts passed off as a protein source.
What are your kids eating for school lunch?
Clorox2 The Stain Fighter
Recently I ran a post about monster stains in laundry. Having three kids I can attest to LOTS of monster stains. Two toddlers, boy and girl, and an eight year old boy are royalty of mess making. Clothing is made to be an extension of a napkin by all means; swipes of the mouth end up on sleeves, hands are stroked against pant legs or right across the chest of a great shirt, usually their hands are a carrier of some “sauce”. Needless to say stains are not uncommon in our laundry chores.
Shortly after my Monster of a Stain post, my demonic, beautiful and adorable daughter was treated to an organic fruit pop of sorts for dessert. It was strawberry or berry of some sort or it was just a mess of melted fruit pop because it was bright red and pink on her cute zebra print dress. The stain was striking against the black and white print. Her brand new dress I was worried would be stained permanently. Or so I thought.
I read the back of the Clorox2 bottle to see how to pretreat the stain so that I could have some chance to salvage her new dress that her grandmother had recently bought for her. Quite frankly it was adorable too so I was going to be as devastated as she if we could not eliminate the staining beast from the dress.
If you look at the dress it truly seemed as if there was no possible way any pretreatment, soaking, or bleaching could save this cute little dress from the rag bin. But I had faith and hoped for the best with her dress since she absolutely loves her fashion.
So I treated the stain and tossed it in for a wash with like colors. Tossed it in the dryer without inspecting whether the stain had come clean or not, again trying everything not to jinx myself.
The end result is pretty impressive and in no way what I expected by any stretch of the imagination. I pictured a dress with a stain outlined or faded lightly that was now maybe a light shade of orange splashed along the front. Instead I was presented with a dress that was free from color fading which can be experienced in pretreatment and a dress that has no resemblance of it’s former stained glory. No faded outlines of a stain, no remnants at all of a stain, I was ecstatic. My daughter was excited, to see her dress stain free and I was the laundry hero. If only she knew, without the help of Clorox2 and cold water I would have never been able to save the dress from her supping a fruit pop. What are your laundry products for fighting monster stains? Do you trust products like Clorox2? Do you use natural remedies like lemon juice or seltzer?
DISCLAIMER:Â THIS IS A SPONSORED POST ON BEHALF OF CLOROX2, Â I WAS COMPENSATED FOR MY TIME BY POSTING THIS INFORMATION AND IN NO WAY WERE MY PERSONAL VIEWS COMPROMISED OR ALTERED.
Curvy Straws in Big G Cereals – Drink Your Cereal
Parents want to make sure that their children start their mornings off right, nutritionally and mentally. One way to get their day going is with breakfast; and with breakfast being THE MOST important meal of the day why not give them a bit of fun and tastiness.
The fun part of breakfast can now be found with select boxes of Big G cereals containing Big G Curvy Straws that are a fun way to slurp down your morning milk or the leftover goodness of the milk from their cereal! Some of our favorite Big G cereals range from Cheerios, Chex, Kix, and in our prize pack that we received Lucky Charms. Big G cereals can be found on the General Mills site where you can seek out all the various, tasty offerings of Big G cereals. Participating Big G cereals with Curvy Straws include Cinnamon Toast Crunch® (17 oz.), Lucky Charms®(16 oz.), Reese’s® Puffs (18 oz.), Honey Nut Cheerios® (17 oz.), Trix®(14.8 oz) and Cocoa Puffs® (16.5 oz)
Our family loves Big G cereals for the fact that they are made with whole grain as well. So as a parent I know that even though my kids are having a sweet treat with their breakfast they are getting in some whole grain goodness. You can read all about the Whole Grain Nation and how they are playing a role in your children’s cereal and breakfast, or just snag your Big G cereal box while eating and read all about it right on the box like my kids do and they tell me the nutritional values and content.
But rather than me ramble on about the awesomeness of Big G cereals to you, why not enter to win your own Big G cereal prize pack with Curvy Straws, the perfect cereal bowl and more!
In order to enter to win all you need to do is tell me your kids favorite breakfast meal, whether it be cereal, oatmeal, or a full king or queens breakfast.
Earn extra entries by doing the following:
- Subscribe to my feed
- Follow me on Twitter
- Tweet daily for an entry: Win a Big G cereal prize pack from @Kariewithak & The Five Fish http://bit.ly/I328Ry
- Fan The Five Fish, and for each fan you refer you get (2) extra entries
Contest ends May 4th @ 11:59pm Arizona Time (2:59am EST)
The Giveaway, information and Prize pack provided on behalf by General Mills through MyBlogSpark results in the following items, all of which do not influence my opinion:
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1 box of a participating Big G cereal
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1 Curvy Straw
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1 ‘spilt’ milk bowl
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2 glow cups
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2 tangle toys