Fish sticks and corn? The government is telling me what I can pack into my kids lunch? Are we scared yet?

Are you kidding me? Why is it that I seem to be the only one outraged over this story about a "person inspecting Pre_K school lunch boxes"? Some government yodel will come into our pre-k schools and substitute lunches? Add "valuable" foods to the lunches we pack for our children? Some schools are now prohibiting parents from packing their kid's lunches altogether. Are we ok with that?
Have you seen the crap they offer the kids for lunch? One of the children's lunches were replaced with fish sticks, corn, peaches, and a carton of milk? Yeah the nutritional abundance is overwhelming, makes me want to stand up and cheer. I don't feed my kids fish sticks since they are nothing but crap fish and breading and...... fried. Corn and potatoes? Again, corn? Is that even a real vegetable?
The last thing I need is for the government to tell me what I can and can't put in my kids lunch box. Why the hell don't you BALANCE THE BUDGET? Do something useful and stop sticking your noses into things that are best left up to the parent.
Wake up people, I sincerely hope that I am not the only one completely frightened by these incidents of "big brother completely taking over".

Here is why the US Post office really SUCKS!

It is not because their service is slow.
It is not because their prices are high.
It is not because their lines are super long, all the time.

IT IS because they lack simple human compassion.

I was in line, yes of course when are we NOT in line at the post office, and a sweet old lady was in line in front of me. She was sending dolls to Haiti, dolls she had since she was young, but they were beautiful in her eyes and she really wanted the kids in Haiti to have them. She had them in a box, secured with only a string, no address, no return address.
 "You can't send this like it is, you need to tape it." was being barked from across the counter. The little old woman had no idea what that meant, "What do I do?" she asked. The clerk just pointed her to the wall and told her to buy some tape.  "NEXT".
The little lady just stared at the wall of tape. I happened to have packing tape in my car since I just finished boxing up some Valentine's for Kelcey and I offered to tape her box. She was clearly relieved and while I taped her cardboard box, she told me about the dolls, her late husband, her retirement from Rex hospital and how her husband who was in the navy promised her to send her to school for nursing when he came back from his duty as a naval officer. A lifetime of treasures for a few minutes of taping a box.
She returned to the counter and was now ready to mail her box to Haiti, but she was missing a return address. The clerk didn't even have the common decency to write her return address on the box. She kept telling her "Oh my God, you don't  understand, we don't send it without a return address, here is a sharpie, go write it on there." Again the little old lady was confused and had no idea what to do. I grabbed the pen and asked her to give me her name and address and wrote it on the box, holding up everybody in line. I refused to move to the side, I refused to listen to the person, I am calling her that, even though I questioned if she had ANY human DNA at all, telling me to MOVE OVER and let someone else come up to the counter. "It is her turn, she is sending the dolls to Haiti and you will just have to wait until she is ready to give you the damn package" I said.
Nobody moved up, nobody tried to hurry us along, everybody just waited and let us put this little old ladies' return address on her package of precious dolls for the kids in Haiti.

THAT is what the US Post office is lacking, the common decency to help out a little old woman who just wants to mail her package. Please someone tell me if there is a regulation that prevents these clerks from taping a box or writing a return address. Raise my stamps 3 cents and I gladly pay it as long as we bring back some human kindness and understanding to the other side of the postal counter.

Girls playing Boy's hockey - how fair is it?

How fair is it for the girls? Are they doomed to be overlooked for the travel teams? Are they destined to play on a third line or on defense, even though they are excellent forwards?

A study conducted by USA Hockey in 2005 shows a steady increase in girls signing up to play hockey, this trend is still growing. However new registrations for boys are on the decline.

So why do girls get treated differently once they decide they want to play with the boys? Why are they being told that they weren't selected for a travel team simply because the coaches felt they were afraid the girls would be "head hunted", that they would be targeted by the boys, that it stops the team from bonding.
Whatever happened to treating the girl as a player? Period! If she doesn't play well, she doesn't get on the travel team, if she can't skate or stick handle like the others, she misses out on the spot.
In the study girls rated hockey very high across all the age groups, the fun the coach brings to the game declined in later age groups, the older girls also felt more pressures from their parents. The amount of playing time girls felt they got declined as they got older. They also stated that they did not feel as much a part of the team as they advanced in age.

The study concluded that most girls seem to enjoy playing hockey with the girls. However, this was a very slim margin. It seems the girls preferred the girls teams because they were accepted and received equal playing time. A general consensus across the hockey world is still that girls will be better served to play with the boys as long as possible. There is just no comparison, in general, to the level of competition, speed and availability of good programs. So, if that is the USA Hockey point of view, why are we as parents of girls wanting to play with the boys running into huge walls? Does the pony tail really make her less of a player? I agree that once checking becomes part of the game, girls will have to make a tough decision. Most boys are stronger than the girls and lots of girls will recognize that their time on the boys teams might have to come to an end, but it should be their decision, if they can handle the physicality of checking and want to proceed, why wouldn't they be allowed to do so?

So, what does that mean for the Bellas, Rachels and Julias of the sport that choose to play with the boys?
A lot of hard work, support and lots of education of coaches and parents alike. It means that our daughters will have to skate faster, stickhandle better and play more aggressively than the boys. It means that they have to show the people that just want them to go away that they are here to stay.