chocolate fried pickles - taste just like PB&J

Sometimes I get the feeling that my little girl is tuning me out. This morning she answered everything I said with, "uh-huh." So I asked her, "do you eat chocolate fried pickles with your toes?"  She answered the same, "uh-huh," even nodding her head. I looked at her pointedly and repeated, "Do you eat CHOCOLATE FRIED PICKELS... with your toes?" 
"Uh-huh."
"What do they taste like?" 
"Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" She grinned. 
Sometimes I get the feeling that my daughter is really the Cheshire Cat.

Let's Get Out Our Toning Bands -or- How I Enjoyed My Breakfast Even More

This morning I was watching the Today Show on NBC. Since I hadn't had breakfast yet and it is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, I fixed something easy to eat during a commercial break. WELL. I should have gotten out my toning bands because as I ate my giant double chocolate chip Costco muffin which I had just heated and melted REAL BUTTER on top, the Today Show aired a segment about back fat. Al even cracked a joke about eating to much fat back (bacon). I didn't realize I needed to be so concerned about back fat. Apparently it is the sneaky thing that causes all health problems, along with bras and t-shirts not to fit. If you do the magic exercises twice a day for two to three weeks the fat will magically melt away. HMMMM. I know I'm a bit over weight, but I've only recently been uncomfortable with it - in an achy physical way, not the OMG SHE IS FAT social pressure way. Our society is so concerned with being thin and with the economy and yet keeping up with the proverbial Jones' - I'm thinking these all are symptoms of the really disease: asophrosyne - the lack of self control. (I got a B in Ancient Greek, however, it really seems we are missing sophrosyne... I decided that adding the "a" for lacking was the best way to go about this. I feel in better shape and more educated now that I wrote that and all thanks to a segment about back fat). Here we are, over weight, in debt up to our eyeballs watching television about what we need to buy to have the best picnic/social standing/success in life. I wonder if that is how my double chocolate ginormous muffin became so especially delicious. :)

Pocky

Pocky - it's a delicious Japanese treat that I found at a local asian food market. My son, who is just a year and half old, loves this treat as much as I. In fact, he's recently added "pocky" to his little vocabulary... next thing you know he'll be saying OREO :)

Eeehhhh, lets back up a bit here... it's not that I feed my small children a diet consisting primarily of chocolaty items. It's this strange genetic trait that my children have inherited from me - I can hear/smell/sense high calorie, fatty, delicious edibles being opened or being brought in my vicinity. While my kids are still honing their skills (sometimes my daughter comes running up saying, "Can I have some?!" when she hears me opening the mail) I can usually tell what's being opened or if its milk or dark chocolate. Meanwhile, all attempts to ignor said edibles creates a craving for the item.

Imagine working in a large room the size of a grocery store filled with cubicles and people on the phone. Now, think about how many of those people are snacking on something completely naughty when you consider the USDA food pyramid. You willingly submit yourself to employment there for eight plus hours a day trying not to think about the slightly overdone popcorn two rows over, the vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting ten cubes behind you and three rows over, and just over the cube wall, someone is eating mini chocolate donuts. HOW COULD YOU NOT GAIN FORTY POUNDS?! I've since escaped to a world where I'm the one bringing in the Oreos, frozen chocolate fudgesicles, pinto beans, spinach and Pocky.