McDonald's Healthy Choice Hoax

Fast food eating is something that is a part of our American culture.  We try very hard to stay away from most fast food chains, but once in a while it's a fun treat for the kids to go to their favorite one...McDonalds. Sometimes we can convince them to go to our favorite, Culvers, but we do give in from time to time.  But when you go to a fast food restaurant, how many of you look at the receipt (or even get a receipt)?

Yesterday was a crazy busy day.  I finished three major assignments for my summer classes.  I am taking a full load this summer and it's really intense because I'm packing 3 months worth of full time class curriculum into 5 weeks.  I got finished early and we decided to take the kids swimming.  After swimming, it was very close to lunch time, so we decided to let them have a treat and we hit the McDonald's drive thru on the way home.  We ordered 2 Happy Meals with milk for the little ones and a Mighty Kids meal with chocolate milk for Sweet Pea as a super special "First Day of Summer Vacation" treat.  We usually don't let her indulge in the unbelievably sugar filled chocolate milk that they pre-package.  As I pulled ahead to pay, I noticed on our receipt an "upcharge" for the milks.  The regular milk was $.30 and the chocolate milk was $.20!  When I asked the cashier what this "upcharge" was, he said, "Milk is more expensive, so they charge extra for it.  The Happy Meals have a small soda in their price.  Anything else changes it."  I told him that it wasn't listed on their menu that milk is an additional charge and that it was strange that chocolate was cheaper than regular milk.  He looked at my receipt and said, "No they're the same.  You got two white milks at $.60 and one chocolate milk at $.20."  I knew then, that I should probably bring my concern to a higher authority in the company.

So, I emailed McDonalds.  I got on their website, went through the maze of options until I finally found a form.  I emailed the situation to them and my concerns that they are upcharging for the healthier option.  I explained that they don't mention on their signs that milk is not factored into the price of a Happy Meal and that there is no warning before hand that milk would be extra.

Now, don't you thing that a company that has been slammed for creating unhealthy choices for food and are working so hard to bring back their reputation would support the healthier option?  I think it's ridiculous that they don't automatically factor the charge of milk into their price, but instead support children drinking sugar filled carbonated soda drinks.

Here was the response that I got back from McDonalds.

Yeah...So, this didn't really answer my question.  I didn't choose to make my drink larger or "upsize", I chose a milk.  It just made me feel like they weren't listening.  And of course, I couldn't reply to this email, so I called them.  The representative that I talked to on the phone basically gave me the same spiel that the cashier tried to give me....that milk is extra and that small soda is the drink that is factored into the price.  I raised the same question with her.  "Why does a company that has had so much bad publicity about promoting unhealthy food to children support the unhealthy choice by factoring soda into the price of the meals instead of the healthy option of milk?"  I mean, I know that parents are the ones that get to choose for their kids and some DO choose soda for them.  But at the same time, hasn't McDonalds been working to provide kids with the healthy choices?  Hence putting both fries and apples in the meals.  The conversation ended with me getting very quiet because I realized that this was just how it was.  The representative said that she was very sorry for my displeasure and that she would pass on my idea about promoting milk over soda to the appropriate department.

I personally will not be taking my kids back to McDonalds until they change their policy of either including milk in their meals instead of soda or specifying on their menus that milk is an additional charge.

Packing Cloth Diapers

So, I am a huge fan of cloth diapers.  My long term readers know that I have been a big advocate and have spent the better part of the last 3 years reviewing different brands and styles, and I have gone through many transitions with all of my kids and how I diaper them.  We have been traveling this week for a loss that we had and during these trips, I have gone through every single bag that I own and used them all.  What I found was that I can get pretty creative when it comes to packing diapers.  I am going to show you all how I pack a Ju-ju-be Quick for diaper changes while on the road.  These have turned out to be my favorite for every style.

This is one of my many Ju-ju-be Quicks.

Quick #1 top view

Open

Inside was an Alva double pocket wetbag,
4 Charlie Banana Organic Cotton Wipes,
2 old style Bumgenious Elemental AIO diapers,
1 GroVia AIO diaper and 1 GroVia copy diaper. 

Quick #2

Open

Inside is an Alva 2 pocket wetbag,
2 WAHM fitteds with a double layer insert,
2 Blueberry Coverall covers,
and 4 Charlie Banana organic cotton wipes.

Inside picture of the WAHM fitteds.
They are toddler sized fitteds and fit 20-40 lbs.

This is Quick #3

Outside

Open

Inside is 3 Thirsties Fab Fitted diapers Size 2
with Thirsties Hemp inserts inside,
2 Blueberry Coverall Covers,
a Go Green dual pocket wetbag, and
4 Charlie Banana organic cotton wipes.

This is Quick #4

Open

Inside is a GoGreen dual pocket wetbag,
3 Rumparooz Pocket diapers with
both 6R soaker inserts, and
4 Charlie Banana organic cotton wipes.

Next time, I will show you my everyday quicks that I keep packed for the two youngest kids.  These quicks I keep ready to go so that I can just grab one and put it in the bag on my way out the door for errands or outings.

Packing the PackaBe For School

My favorite Ju-Ju-Be bag style is the PackaBe.  To me, it's the most versatile bag.  I love that in a matter of seconds, I can go from having it on one shoulder to having it slung onto my back as I chase after Little Man and Peanut.  I use the PackaBe as my main diaper bag.  I also love to use it for school.  The PackaBe can be awkward to use at first because it is a "vertical" bag.  It can feel like things would get lost in the bottom.  My fix for this is to pack with Ju-Ju-Be Quicks.

This is my beloved Sienna Swirl PackaBe

This is everything that I pack in it for school:
A 3 inch ring binder, 1/2 inch notebook binder, Small notebook
3 regular size textbooks (about 900 pages each)
3 smaller size textbooks (about 600 pages each)
A quicklet for my pens, pencils, markers, etc.
Ju-Ju-Be Major wallet

This is what I pack in my custom made Quicklet
(isn't it cute?!  I LOVE the penguin!)

I put my BeMajor in the bottom outer pocket.

I put the quicklet, my phone, and some hand sanitizer
in the top outer pocket.

I put my tallest textbook in the back outer pocket
(without the change pad.)

I put my small textbook inside my 1/2 inch binder
then I put that inside my 3 inch binder

I tuck the binders under the backside of the bag.
I put the 2 remaining large textbooks on their sides
in the bottom of the bag in front of the binders.

I put my 3 smaller textbooks on top of those books.
Zip and I'm ready to go!

Now, I don't have to tote all of these books at the same time, but I do keep them packed up when I'm home because I don't have an office area to work in at our apartment.  Sometimes I need to tote them from one room to another....or go to a coffee shop...to get my work done during the week.  It's easier to just keep them packed so that the kids don't get into my school stuff too.

Shopping cart safety

The babies are toddlers, Spring is in the air, and we have been venturing out of the house more often.  I have noticed a huge increase of parents with their infants in the infant carrier car seats out and about too.  It pains me to say, but I have also seen at least 2-3 people in every store we visit that are putting their precious babies at risk.  They are setting the infant car seat carriers on top of the shopping cart.  They either bridge it sideways across the basket area or they perch it on top of the toddler seating area.  I know how difficult it can be to go shopping with an infant....I have had three!  It is even more difficult to go out with an infant and an 18 month old toddler.  So, I can understand wanting to make the most of the space that you have and to quickly and efficiently get your errands done before having to rush back home again.  But there are somethings that we just shouldn't do as parents.

Now, I have written about this subject before.  But I can't stress enough about how important it is to not ignore this warning.  Just because you hear a "click" or you can't "pick up" the carrier when it's on the cart, doesn't mean that it's secure if the cart were to tip over.  Plus, carts are more likely to tip over if infant car seat carriers are attached because it changes the center of balance on the cart making it top heavy.  Now, most people think that their baby is safer when they are closer to their face and they can see them and touch them, but that's just not true.  Even if you keep two hands on the cart all the time, there is no way to  keep the cart from tipping slightly if you accidentally run over something in an aisle or if someone bumps into the cart.  If the cart tips slightly, your infant car seat carrier can easily slide off the cart and possibly injure your baby.

This is my thought.  I think that we should petition all of our local stores to enact a security policy in their stores.  They should post at all cart storage areas information stating that car seat carriers are not allowed on top of their carts.  They should teach employees to kindly ask people who ignore those signs to please remove their infant car seat carriers from the top of their carts whenever they see it happening.  If the stores stop permitting this behavior, then there is a bigger chance that a baby won't be needlessly injured.  So please, next time you are at your favorite store, take a moment to talk to a manager about this.  Little by little we can make our world a safer place.

How to Make: Ju-ju-be PackaBe Grab Handle

One of my favorite diaper bags is my Ju-ju-be Sienna Swirl PackaBe.  The sienna swirl print just calls to me with the red tones and the swirls.  It was my first large Ju-ju-be bag.  The only thing that was missing from it was a way to just pick it up when I needed to get it out of the car or set it down after taking it off my back.  When I used the main strap to do these simple tasks, it would clatter down about a foot and felt awkward to me.  All I needed was a little handle.

On my quest to figure out if I needed a different style of bag or just needed to fix mine, I found information from another Pink Lady on how to braid a long strap to make a handle.  I bought a long strap and I tried it out.  I found that it was just too short to fit across my PackaBe across the top.  I could put it on the back hooks, but then the bag would be off center when I pick it up.  So, I decided to braid it in the middle to allow extra slack to bridge across the stroller hook rings.  It turns out that my idea worked perfectly!

So, here is how you braid a long strap for a PackaBe:

Step 1:  Start with a long strap with 2 clips.
(Usually from a Major or Set.)

Step 2:  Fold the strap in two pieces at 11 inches
from the base of the clip.

Step 3:  Fold the long side over the top of the short side
at 4 inches from the base of the clip.

Step 4:  Fold the long side around and under the short side,
in between them, and above the long side.

Step 5:  Fold the long side around and under the long side,
in between them, and above the short side.

Continue with Steps 4 and 5.

Step 6:  You should have a little space at the end
to thread the long strap and clip through.

And you are finished.
The strap will lay flat when connected to the bag.

Connect to the stroller hook rings.

It leaves plenty of room to access
the zipper for the main pouch.

PackaBe Love

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Joint adventure

The RacDad and I decided that it would be a lot of fun to start a blog together.  We are constantly cooking together, coming up with new flavors to put together and new ways to prepare food.  We also love the experience of dining.  In fact, most of our conversations revolve around food.

Our blog is going to focus on our local area restaurants, tips for cooking, fun recipes, and other interesting tidbits.  We each will contribute to it as we are able to.  It's a hobby blog, so there will be little consistency to start. We don't have a lot of time right now, between the kids, work, school and such.  We do, however, have a lot to talk about in this area...so I imagine that it will take off pretty soon.

Stop on by anytime and check it out.   Soo Foodies

The Next Big Obsession

I have been "stash happy" with our cloth diaper stash.  We have some awesome all cotton AIOs, great fitteds and covers, and plenty of bamboo trainers for both kids.  I ditched our pockets a while ago because Peanut has a sensitivity to microfiber.  My next obsession came just in time.....or not, if you ask The RacDad.

Now, I have never been a shoe/purse/bag kind of person.  I have been using the same purse that my Mom handed down to me in High School.  It got so battered and worn, that my Mom gave me a "Prairie Bag" that she made.  It's fun and perky, but there's something about using a purse that has never felt natural to me.  I always used an old book bag as a diaper bag and I had an old black "Gerber" bag from Sweet Pea that I pulled out of the depths of the closet to use with Little Man.  When Peanut was 3 months old, The RacDad gave me a brown diaper bag that matched her carrier seat and the double stroller.  That was when I first felt the twinge of fun from having a functional bag that could coordinate with other things that I used.  (And I don't mean to imply that this new obsession stems from The RacDad....but, well, you never know.)

So, now here I am.  I am unbelievably, undeniably, unequivocally addicted to Ju-Ju-Be bags.  This obsession is even worse than my cloth diaper obsession!  In just three months time, I have bought new, bought used, traded and bartered for these bags.  I started with one simple bag that I saw on Woot for a great price and I picked it up with the intentions of using it to carry my books for my new class that I was about to start.  All I needed was a book bag to use for school.  After I got it, I saw the tags that said that it was 'teflon coated' and 'antimicrobial lined'.  Of course, being a Mom to three kids (two of which are toddlers), this really piqued my interest.  Then I saw it....the icing on the cake, the creme de la resistance... they are machine washable!!  Could this be true?!  There's someone out there making amazing bags that have functional designs, cute prints (and even leather), that are durable, and can be washed in my washing machine?!  And I tell you what, they really have thought of everything!  Memory foam in the change pads, "Mommy pockets" with places to organize those things we need in an instant, and memory foam in the pads for the shoulder straps so they are comfortable.

So, you are going to hear a lot from me about different kinds of Ju-Ju-Be ideas and stories.  I promise to not go overboard with information unless you all ask for it.  By the way....I'm still waiting for someone to reach out and ask a question for my Friday segment that I want to start.