Rise and Shine --- Get Buggy With It

Good Morning and here's another day we don't have to water the flowers!!!

So, there we were, sitting around Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful day outside. The grass was done. Lunch was done. Brownies were baked.
The last thing I wanted to do was sit around inside with the television on (which was the direct opposite of the others with me).
So, we made a trek downtown to check out the Natural History Museum's Bugfest.
Now, this is a big deal every year at the museum. You get to see all kinds of bugs (most of which if I ever saw in the house would be worse than if it was haunted).
The big draw, though, was the cookies. We've heard about the chocolate 'chirp' cookies that are served every year.
It's a chocolate-chip cookie with crickets baked inside. OK, it doesn't sound very appetizing. In fact, two of my sidekicks refused to even look at them.
Yet, if you got past the crickets sticking out of the side, they weren't that bad. Sort of like Chips Ahoy.
Now, that can be crossed off the list.

Rise and Shine --- Don't eat there

Good Morning and what a nice one it is today!

So, a big story earlier this week was about a Pittsburgh restaurant that banned children.
From some corners of the world, the owner garnered all kinds of praise. "Way to go!" they said. "We don't want to be bothered looking at children while we eat."
To me, this smells like nothing more than a publicity stunt. In this economy, restaurants are getting hurt worse than any other business. You have to differentiate yourself from the competition.
It's really no different than that wahoo down in Philadelphia who demands his customers speak perfect English. He needed a boost and, boom, got national publicity.
Look, if the site and sounds of children in a restaurant bother you so much, than stay away from the Friday's, Applebees and the like. There are plenty of places people just don't take their children to eat. Choose one of them.
Oh, wait, it's easier to just complain. I forgot about that.

Rise and Shine --- I'm hungry

Good Morning oh great and loyal readers!

The pleading comes in early and often: I'm hungry.
Sometimes, I hear it moments after the breakfast dishes have been put into the sink.
I'm hungry.
OK, I'll say, how about a banana?
No.
Let's see, I'll continue, here's an apple?
No.
HMM, I'll let through the lips, there are some pretty good oranges here.
No. No. No. I want a treat.
Ahhh, so all you really want is something sweet and sugary. You aren't really hungry.
The problem is we are inundated by images of chocolate, fast food and cookies. Turn on any television aimed at children. If there's not a toy commercial, it's for some kind of sugar or salt covered food.
There aren't images of orange groves or apple trees.
So, we can talk about getting children to eat healthy all we want, but pulling it off is another battle.

Rise and Shine --- Tax freebies

Good Morning and welcome to the calm after the storm!

OK, you have to file taxes, one of the sure things in life. You may have done it in weeks ago or you may be waiting until today to get it all done.
Either way, there are plenty of chances to take advantage of some free stuff as businesses try to be your friend.
Cinnabon: From 6-8 p.m. today, you can get two free Cinnabon Bites. You can also enter to win a $100 Cinnebon gift card in a Twitter contest. Just Tweet how Cinnabon put frosting on a crazy or stressful day you've had after you follow @CinnabonInc. Hey, I guess anything is possible.
Chili’s Grill & Bar: Print out this coupon to get a free appetizer or dessert with an entree purchase.
P.F. Chang’s: Get 15% off your order. The closest P.F. Chang's is in Glen Mills.
Hooters: They are offering what's being called an instant rebate. If you buy 10 wings, you get 10 free. Quick aside, while driving past the Hooters in Concord the other week, an 8-year old I know asked what was Hooters. I told him it was a bar and restaurant. His reaction: 'Oh. I thought it was a doughnut store."
Tony Roni's Pizza: Need a slice after hitting the mailbox? The Drexel Hill pizza chain has a sign out front that says you can get plain slices for $1.
Maggie Moo's Ice Cream: Got the app at Chilies and now need dessert? You can get something called a mini crumb cake fundae from Maggie today from 3-6 p.m.
Let us know if you find more freebies, because there's nothing like free stuff.

Rise and Shine --- What's that ... Ouch!

Good Morning and welcome to the chill!

So, out of California this morning (well, doesn't everything come out of California?) comes the story of a county trying to ban those crappy little toys McDonald's puts in their Happy Meals.
Here's the story, if interested.
The stated reason for banning those pieces plastic is because it encourages children to eat Happy Meals (or, as your heart likes to say, Unhappy Meals), which is a leading cause of childhood obesity. I have a theory, based in no other fact than the voice in my head, that those 'Apple Fries' McDonalds and other fast-food places (can't call them restaurants) try to pass off as a healthy alternative are never really eaten and parents are forced to buy an extra french fry.
Yes, yes, yes, stop giving your children Happy Meals. Stop going to McDonald's. It's only going to chop off years from your life anyway.
Still, a better argument for getting rid of those 'toys' isn't to slow the flow of childhood obesity, it's to help keep parents from limping around.
Those toys inevitably end up on the floor. Who hasn't tried to walk through a room only to step on the latest SpongeBob incarnation?
Then they dig into the bottom of feet like nails. There's yelling. There might be blood. Podiatrists are happy.
The toys are just as quickly thrown into the trash, so let's just eliminate the middle man (or foot) and trash them now.

Rise and Shine --- Lunch

Good Morning and welcome to another beautiful day!

I remember going to school (OK, the memories are sketchy at best, but I know I attended because I have plenty of photos).
Once a month during elementary school we were treated with a hot dog day. Everybody left the lunch boxes at home and were able to get a couple of hot dogs for some small amount. It was fun. There was ketchup on the table and then we went outside and ran around.
Over the years, the school lunch has grown to include everything, much of which isn't the healthiest thing around (not like hot dogs were, but that was just once a month).
Back when parents packed lunches every day, we got a peanut butter sandwich, maybe some chips and an apple.
Now, children are given pizza, candy, whatever. It's all mass-cooked (mostly off-site) and filled with nothing but white flour and hollow calories.
A group today is even saying school lunches are a threat to national security Apparently they believe today's school lunches are making children obese and not able to handle military training.
While I don't really care if they can handle military training or not, there is a major problem here. I still make the children take a home-packed lunch every day. They get fruit, nuts, pretzels and either a sandwich or maybe some hummus.
I know, that makes me a communist, but so be it. I've been called worse (plenty worse).
Parents need to take back the school lunch. We have no say, really, on what tests the teachers are pushing onto the students, but we do have control on lunch.
At least I think we do.

Rise and Shine --- Cupcakes

Good Morning and welcome to the middle of the week!

Have you ever noticed just how perfect is a cupcake?
It's compact, so you can carry it out the door in the morning. It's small enough to satisfy and you don't feel bad about having a second (or third). Most of all, it's fun.
Who doesn't think of smiling and laughing while eating a cupcake?
I've lucked out having an expert baker in the house who likes to experiment with different things. We've had peanut-butter cookies, oatmeal-peanut butter cookies, chocolate cakes, vanilla cakes, german chocolate cakes, peppermint cakes, name it, we've eaten it (and eaten it and eaten it).
Now, it's on to cupcakes. Just this week, we've been treated to vanilla with buttercream frosting and lidsor tort with jelly in the middle and chocolate ganache on top.
Needless to say, they didn't last a day. Now there is a promise of new ones tonight.
It can't get here fast enough.

Rise and Shine --- Dumb dogs

Good Morning and welcome to a new week!

A couple of years ago, I was talked into getting two pugs from the Pug Rescue.
For the most part, they've been fine. The children like them. They lick mom's leg. They lie around most of the time despite being jumped on, kicked and pulled.
There have been a couple of emergency trips to the vet (expensive) and the normal upkeep of a pet. It's annoying when they leave 'gifts' at various times, but it's forgotten after being cleaned.
When we picked up the pugs, they were huge. The normal weight for a pug is about 13-18 pounds. These two, Sky and Nabisco, were pushing 35 pounds each. They were obviously being fed a lot by former owners and didn't get much exercise.
Well, a couple of years later they are back to 'normal' weight. That, though, brings a big problem.
Now they can jump up on chairs then on tables, which means any bit of food left on said table will disappear quickly.
That brings us to Saturday. After bringing home about seven bagels to use for breakfast the next few days, they were left on the table.
Now, I thought the chairs were pushed in enough the pugs couldn't get up there. I was wrong.
A few hours later, I found a chewed-through bag and no bagels on the floor.
Uh, Oh.
The pugs were moving slow, after all, imagine if you ate seven bagels in about 10 minutes. Getting off the couch would be a chore.
So, that night, they left plenty of 'gifts' in the boys' room. ALL over the boys' room. Then all over the living room. Then all over the dining room.
Nothing like waking up to a lazy, rainy Sunday to a major cleanup job.
What I've come to learn is dogs have no conscious when it comes to food. They just eat and eat until there is nothing left.
Now, we have to hide not only the cookies, but absolutely everything else.
Whoopeee!

Rise and Shine --- Sugar is the root of all evil

Good Morning and welcome back to the Internet!

So, there's a report out this morning that we in America eat too much sugar.
Now, this smacks as one of those studies like the one where the sun comes up every day. No kidding. Anybody who doesn't think we eat too much sugar also believes government death panels are coming down the pike.
Uh, never mind.
Anyway, I can tell you right now there is a big sugar conspiracy out there. It's a death panel of another sort.
We are inundated with sugar. It is put into everything (or so it seems). Soda (the leader of the sugar dump), french fries, bread, juice (although all that natural sugar should be enough) and butter.
Let's not even get into high fructose corn syrup, that's a death panel of another kind.
Anyway, last year we went sugar-free for a couple of months.
The withdraw from the stuff by one 7-year old boy was probably akin to heroin withdrawal. There were mood swings. Yelling. Throwing. Fighting.
By the end of two months, though, it wasn't even missed.
Of course, asking somebody to give up sugar would be like asking them to keep an open mind about health care reform.
'This is America, dammit, and I'll keep piling it on if I want. Besides, I'm getting a diet coke with my Big Mac."
All right, maybe we can't eliminate it, but we can limit the stuff. Right?