This week in the school cafeteria the kids learned that it's good to try new things and that a little green won't kill you.

I learned:

It's possible to run out of asparagus. Seriously? I never would have guessed those kids would not only be open to trying asparagus but that some would actually be excited about it.

Refried beans did not meet with the same enthusiasm. Sadly the refried beans I served with nacho dippers this week were not nearly as popular. It's all about appearence with K-3 kids and if it looks like baby poop well then... Honestly, they weren't that bad.

Say my name, say my name. I'm happy to report that I now know about 95% of the names of the new students in our building who actually eat lunch. The others remain a mystery....

If you're waiting for the milk man... Wait, what did you think I was gonna say? I had only 12 milk in the house for breakfast as I had significantly high breakfast countd. Milkdude is supposed to arrive BEFORE breakfast. Not at the start of breakfast. Oh well... Everything worked out.

Guard your va jay jay. I mean who would have thought that by simply bringing dishes into the dish room you could be plowed in the crotch by a random dish rack. My coworker didn't see me. I need to make A LOT more noise.

What did you learn this week?

PS. I'm going to attempt to feature photos from our actual lunches. This week's photo features our Tuesday Chef Salads. They tasted just as great as the looked.

I have trouble letting things go.  I have trouble moving on.  I let little things annoy me.  A lot.  I'm working on it. I learned today that only 10 percent of our happiness can be predicted by our outside circumstances.  The rest of it, well, that's all in our head.

My dad used to have a sign in his office that said something like, "Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it."

What it all comes down to is making up your mind to be happy. A lot of random crap happened this month and for a while all I could focus on was the negative. 

It felt overwhelming and it made me loose sight of all the things in my life that I need to be grateful for.  Everything is not always going to run smoothly and I need to learn how to be OK with that.

Let the reprogramming begin.  Let's take sometime to blog about what we're grateful for.  Let's take some time to share some intentional acts of kindness.  Let's be happy in the present.

 

• Peanut Butter Popsicle:  It's important to get the frozen uncrustables out of the freezer as soon as you come in.  If you don't, you will realize at lunch time that you have no alternate and will have to change to yogurt munchables.  Turns out some kids like yogurt, cheese and goldfish crackers more than pizza.  BONUS.
• There is no macaroni on my tray, said a little kindergartner who took the wrong lunch by mistake. It truly is disappointing when you sit down and realize everyone's lunch looks better than yours.
• Who's your teacher?  I asked a first grader in the lunch line this week who her teacher was.  Her response, "I have no idea but it's that lady right over there."  Seriously?  It's almost been a month?
• Celery kicked Green Beans Ass:  In an unprecedented match up, Celery came from behind to literally kick the crap out of green beans in a head to head.  I guess even after four years I can still be surprised.
• Is that a spy camera?  I was being interviewed about the recent changes to school lunch and the videographer had a microphone near the lunch line.  A couple of kids thought it was a spy camera.  I think they've been reading a little too much LUNCHLADY.  I so need some of those fish stick nunchuks.

Dear Michelle,

I was hoping we could chat about the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2012.

First, I just wanna say that I think your heart was in the right place. I imagine you were thinking let's get some healthy foods into these kids and I also image that you were thinking how hard can that be.

The answer is pretty darn hard.

I mean have you read this document? It's like 11dy billion pages?

Here's a snippet:

Offer fruits and vegetables as two separate meal components;
• Offer fruit daily at breakfast and lunch;
• Offer vegetables daily at lunch, including specific vegetable subgroups weekly (dark green, orange, legumes, and other as defined in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines) and a limited quantity of starchy vegetables throughout the week;
• Offer whole grains: half of the grains would be whole grain-rich upon implementation of the rule and all grains would be whole-grain rich two years post implementation;
• Offer a daily meat/meat alternate at breakfast;
• Offer fluid milk that is fat-free (unflavored and flavored) and low-fat (unflavored only);
• Offer meals that meet specific calorie ranges for each age/grade group;
• Reduce the sodium content of meals gradually over a 10-year period through two intermediate sodium targets at two and four years post implementation;
• Prepare meals using food products or ingredients that contain zero grams of trans fat per serving;
• Require students to select a fruit or a vegetable as part of the reimbursable meal;

Most of the above is self explanatory and in a perfect world would also be implemented at home. But can we get real here for a minute?

Requiring a student to take a veggie and or a fruit will not get them to eat it. Creating healthy garbage cans really isn't the goal, is it? Lowering the serving size on meat/meat alternates will not make kids eat black beans. Confusing food service personel with random vegetable serving requirements based on the color of the vegetable is just asinine. That whole leafy greens only count as half the serving size is really mind boggling? How big of a salad does a first grader need? Can't we just serve things in half cup servings and allow our kiddos to take up to two? Who eats 6 ounces of green beans? Does Sasha? I doubt she did when she was five.

Besides did you know green beans are a fruit!

For what it's worth here's what I know. If given the opportunity to have one starchy vegetable a month, kids will pick the starchy over just about anything else. The only benefit of offering asparagus is that I get to hear little kids ask me what spear guts are. This may come as a shock to you, but there are plenty of kids that can't tell the difference between peaches and carrots. If you cut the rind of of the watermelon they have no idea what it is. Some kiddos don't even know that bananas need peeled!

Having pudding once or twice a week will not make you fat. Not moving. Living in front of theTV. Spending more time online than IRL will make you fat. Consuming soda, chips and microwave burritos will make you fat. Having overweight parents will increase your chances of becoming overweight.

Eating all five offered components of your school lunch will not make you fat.

More than 32 million kids participate in the free or reduced lunch program and I think it's important that we not only provide them something healthy to eat we also provide them something they like IN REASONABLE PORTION SIZES.

School lunch doesn't make kids fat, it never has and it never will.

Sincerely,

A lunch lady in PA

What have I been working on?

Sadly nothing.

I'm having crafting withdrawl.

I stop by all your blogs and see all your fantastic creations and I think, "What have I been doing with all my time?"

And then I remember...

I started working full time.

I decided to continue to be the PTO president (a blog post in and of itself).

I'm still the yearbook chair of the elementary.

I am still, for now, covering three school districts and one township for the newspaper.  Starting next month I'm going to have to cut some of these.

My kid is playing soccer every weekend and therefore has to practice twice a week.

My son is in boy scouts and is selling popcorn and getting ready for his big Halloween parade.

My kids are taking musical instrument lessons.

I'm hosting book club this month.

Maybe I'll get some crafting done next week....