When pretzel bites are nutritious, the whole world's ending

I spent the better part of my day at our school's jump rope fundraiser for security improvements(cough cough) watching my children jump rope, learn about heart health and raise money for a cause that has exploded into a major mess. I won't go into it, but you can certainly read about it in papers and see reports on local stations. With staff, parents and children on edge, the atmosphere was lacking the extreme peppiness of previous years. When the school board official who represents our school district walked in, after saying some rather "interesting" things in this morning's paper, the gasp from parents and teachers was noticeable. I didn't mean to say this much about it. so let's talk about the shabby excuse for a lunch my children got today. The boy's class jumped and dined first, so we got to see what they were having. Apparently the cafeteria ran out of chicken nuggets halfway through the third kindergarten class and they started serving these instead:



What are those, you ask? Pretzel bites and cheese sauce. They gave out free dessert. Now, he could have had scalloped potatoes(I think that was what they were)and steamed veggies of a gray variety. I understand their absence. The other option was an Uncrustable PBJ. It saddens me that frozen/processed PBJ is the healthiest option for a lunch right after learning about heart health. We pack lunches some, but I have wanted them, especially the boy, to learn about giving his student number and making good choices and trying new things. How could a good choice be made in this situation? I can't even begin to talk about the cheese sauce that seemed to turn to glue before my eyes. Kids used it once and then played with it for the rest of lunch. One of the boy's classmates stuck his whole hand in it which, with my cheese issues, just about made me hurl at the table. I don't want to blame the cafeteria ladies. I imagine they are cooking what they are sent. Just terribly disheartening and revealing about so many things. G said, "I hardly get milk anymore...just water. The milk's disgusting!". When I asked if it was just not to her taste or if it had turned she said, "Not sure what turned means, but a couple times a week it is chunky." No words. I have a feeling the kids will be packing more than paying.

I did take away some positives today. I am going to start jumping rope outside on the patio. You can stop laughing now. I'm not too bad. I learned that when someone, for whatever reason, drives a purple Lotus luxury sports car past 25 cars in the pickup line, heads turn...camera phones click...Twitter blows up. When you are, like I was today, the first car in line, it is very entertaining to watch people(10 plus a police officer)take pictures of the car. Good stuff.

Now it is bedtime for the kids and relaxation time for the parents. I'm going to try and forget about this day. Except for these things:







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