We celebrated Alexander's birthday today. He told me that this year he wanted to have his birthday at Chuck E Cheese. Well, OK. Chuck E Cheese is kind of like Vegas for kids. I don't really like Vegas, but how often does a kid turn eight. I asked him who he wanted to invite and he named 20 people. Of course, not every kid could come, but several adults could come so we had quite a crowd. The place was packed, of course. Everything went fine, the pizza was fine, the kids won lots of tickets which they traded in for cheap junk. Then they brought me the bill. Holy crap! As we were leaving I was pulling junk out of my pockets looking for something and Alex saw the bill. He asked if it really cost that much and I said yes. His response was, "What a waste of money!" Nice. As a fellow parent explained - this is good news because I have taught him to appreciate the value of a dollar. I think next year I will just work with him on the plans ahead of time.
If you are a parent of a child who attends public school in Washington, and if you have even a vague recollection of the food pyramid , you probably will have noticed that the lunches that are served in school cafeterias are frequently at odds with the rules of good nutrition. The school is not wrong, however. They have just re-defined words and you are not keeping up. Pop quiz: Cheese belongs to what food group? *bzzz* - wrong. You said that cheese was in the diary food group , right? No! Pbth! How boringly accurate of you. Cheese magically transforms into a protein when it is served on pizza or in a bread stick! I know that you may be dubious, but I contacted Wendy Barkley, RD, who is the Acting Supervisor of School Nutrition Programs in the State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and she assured me that it is so. To quote her email to me: " Pizza remains an option for schools for their menus. The cheese on pizza is counted as a protein in t
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