God, it is so hard to not refer to the… thing as "the dirty sanchez." I’m thinking maybe widget? Since I am so in love with Dashboard and always looking for new widgets that are keep-worthy, maybe that would be good. So, I’ll just call it the widget. Anyway.
The widget kicked my ass today. I’ve never had such difficulty eating. I ate breakfast and felt like crap, and made my way to campus, and felt like crap. I knew if I could just go get something to EAT at lunch, that I’d feel better, but I couldn’t fathom the idea of being in the Union surrounded by all those food smells. The Union has a large food court area, that normally I love, because there’s so much choice, but today, even smelling stuff from the bakery was icking me out. That, and the Taco Bell stand, and the italian and the grill and the chinese food, oh god, it was awful. ANd packed. I ended up grabbing a ginger ale and swilling half of it while I waited in the grill line for a grilled cheese, and I got a salad. I choked down the grilled cheese and salad, slowly, finishing neither. My last bite of food was a piece of raw broccoli (which I normally LOVE) and it was all I could do to swallow it. I was so grossed out at that point, by the smells, the look of my food, even the taste of food I normally love — that I probably chewed for 2 full minutes. I would’ve spit it out if I wasn’t in the middle of a packed union, and if I wasn’t worried that the sight of chewed for 2 minutes broccoli might put me over the edge. Fear not, emetephobes, I am still with the tribe and am determined to Not Puke, so there.
When I got home, I took a nap, and then I was hungry but I had to go to the grocery store, but we didn’t even have bread, so I ended up eating ramen noodles. The grocery store sucked, all those smells! All that FOOD! And I only really picked up staples, and then a stockpile of anti-nausea supplies for myself. Ginger ale, for home and office, Luna bars (thanks Mrs K, for that tip!) and little packages of Fig Newtons to keep in my pocket for crisis moments.
As an aside, I never peruse the ‘little packages of things for lunchboxes’ section, because I never buy that stuff. I don’t like all the packaging, and it’s usually crap food, but I thought it would be good to have the Fig Newtons stashed in the car and the office, so I went to that section. I was absolutely HORRIFIED to see that they sell MINIATURE MARSHMALLOWS in little bags, in a big box. So, not like "hey, we’re going to have cocoa tonight, and I want a tiny bag of marshmallows" but "Lil Junior sure does love him some o’ them mini marshmallows in his lunchbox, ayuh!" I mean, EWW. That is so gross. I bet my pseudograndniece has already had them.
I cleared a big, weird mental hurdle today, and I bought something for the dirty san widget. I’m really into the whole sling/babywearing thing, as part of my IP philosophy, and have been trolling thebabywearer.com forum’s FSOT board for a while. In the last few days, one of my choice products came up, a KKAFP, medium, in a neutral cappuccino color. It was a pretty good deal (new, unused, and more than 10 bucks off a new one) so I went for it. It felt So. Weird. I have a pile of things for the widget, from last time and this time, but all THAT stuff came from friends, not from ME. This is the first thing I’ve laid down money for, as if there may be an actual INFANT in my house next spring. WEIRD, huh?
Go to bed, Gretchen! Go to bed. Really. The less sleep I got when pregnant=the more nauseated I was the next day. So, get some sleep and enjoy the Luna bars. Sweet dreams…
on marshmellows….
There’s this domestic community on livejournal that i follow, and one day a woman posted (paraphrased):
Does anyone know where I can buy JUST the marshmellows from (some sort of sugary cereal)? My two year old is a picky eater and I’m tired of throwing away the rest of the cereal after he picks them out.
It was one of the worst flame wars I’ve ever seen. 🙂
You know how I am about what my children eat. . .but in defense of the mallow munching mamas out there. . . .
You may never buy that box of mini-marshmallows.
Mostly becasue you will have your child ask for them, and refuse to buy them because they were something you once wrote about.
You may never buy BUG JUICE, or anything like that. . .
When you are in a hurry someday, trying to get the shopping done, while having a chest cold, your child is in a shitty diaper, your mother will be in town in an hour, your house is a mess, there are dishes in the sink, and you didn’t get a chance to wipe up the syrup you spilled on the floor in the kitchen, the cat puked by her dish, and you aren’t sure if you got it all, your boss wants you to do extra tonight while at home, Dave is working late, he didn’t have time to shovel the steps today, you know that the cloth diapers are backing up, you wonder if Dave remembered to order oil, and you have to stop for gas. . . . Your nose wont stop dripping, and the little one REALLLY WANTS THOSE marshmallows. . . and she is screaming, and you COULD put your foot down, and teach her that mommy will not cave, and she could CONTINUE to scream the whole time you are in there. . . she will eventually learn that Mommy will NOT buy that junk. . . Or, you can pick it up, this once, and know that she is the happiest little thing in the world, with her half eaten third bag of mini-mallows, knowing that her belly is going to ache, but man, you have shit to do tonight. . .and ugh, you’ll probably pay for it later, but. . . She will LOVE you for buying those things. You’ll have guilt, but that’s ok. You’ll know that it’s ok, and that it’s not like its her only food. .
And when you see a mother shoot you a dirty look, who thinks that you are being HORRIBLE for buying them, just know that she too will be where you are. . if not now, then someday.
Life is silly like that.
I would be more worried that your little one knows the value of a good walk, or what meal time is, or a scheduled bedtime / story time, game night, singing in the bath, dancing in your Pj’s. Laughing, and having FUN, and someitmes eating the wrong stuff, but knowing the RIGHT stuff, and kissing every single boo boo, and CALLING it a boo boo, and not a WOUND, to remove PCness from her little life. She will grow up soon enough. . . .
Bring on the marshmallows, mama. . .
Be ok with caving once in a while.
For the record. . . I think tiny packages of marshmallows make sense. If you buy a bag, for whatever reason. (fruit salad, munching, mini smores, snowmen people, putting on toothpicks for projects. . ) Once you open a bag, they are done for. . . .smaller servings make sense.
THE FIG NEWTONS WERE SOLD IN THE SAME ISLE AS MINI MARSHMALLOWS. . . .. go figure! 🙂
Sorry, Gretch, I HAD to!
FIG NEWTONS:
Serving Size 31g
Servings per Container about 15
Amount Per Serving
Calories 110 Calories from Fat 20
Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), FIGS PRESERVED WITH SULFUR DIOXIDE, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEY (FROM MILK), PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, MALIC ACID, SALT, BAKING SODA, CALCIUM LACTATE, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), POTASSIUM SORBATE ADDED TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR.
KRAFT MINI MARSHMALLOWS:
Serving Size 28g
Servings per Container about 11
Amount Per Serving
Calories 100 Calories from Fat
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0 %
Sodium 35mg 1 %
Total Carbohydrate 23g 8 %
Ingredients: CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, WATER, GELATIN, TETRASODIUM PYROPHOSPHATE, ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR (INCLUDES BLUE 1).
Mander lived on ramen during her pregnancy!