What's for Dinner?

 

            Last week my husband was working late so the boys and I ran some errands and went out to dinner after day camp. I tried to talk them into going to an actual restaurant with menus and waitresses, but they had their hearts set on fast food. We picked Wendy’s since I’m trying to shed a few pounds and they have some decent options for the health conscious.

            The boys have outgrown fast food kids meals. They realize now that the toys are disappointing. I’m pretty ecstatic about that myself. No more little plastic toys to clutter up my car and no tears to soothe when the toys get “lost”* or broken. The main reason though? The typical fast food kid’s meal isn’t filling enough to sustain them. There are enough calories, to be sure. But they’re still hungry after they’ve eaten. So we’re on to regular menu items these days.

We ate our dinner and headed off to Trader Joe’s. I adore Trader Joe’s, but the closest one is about 40 minutes away. So I shop there the way most people shop at Costco or BJ’s. The cashiers always comment on the amount of peanut butter I buy. I have three insulated bags for the frozen stuff I bring home and those are usually jammed full. I pretty much stop shopping when my cart is about to tip over.

            As I was contemplating how many bags of Mandarin Orange Chicken I should buy, James asked, “What are we having for dinner.” We had only left Wendy’s about fifteen minutes beforehand. Dinner? What was the fifteen bucks I dropped at Wendy’s for? A snack? I looked at James, a little short for his age and so skinny I can count his ribs. He had just consumed about 800 calories at Wendy’s and was ready for “dinner”. Two things popped into my head:

            1.) I’m going to have to work overtime to feed these kids and

            2.) where can I get a metabolism like that? 

* By “lost” I mean thrown away by their mother.