A few thoughts...

• Chocolate. We try our best to send sensible foods to school with the kids for their lunches and snacks. The only chocolate I can recall would be in granola bars, and that's not very often. And we feel it's all well and good for the school to teach kids to eat healthy foods, but I think it went over the top last night. Otterboy told us that he couldn't take a Snickers bar in his lunch because the school doesn't allow it. After a brief discussion in which we were informed that we can't send chocolate, but the teachers can give it as rewards in class, he decided he could take it and eat it at some point, so we just let it go at that. Today I call the school and ask about it and they don't even have a policy about any specific foods--not even chocolate. Now, I know that Otterboy is a bit anal-retentive (just like his evil step-mom), but Hubby and I found it interesting, maybe to the point of alarming, that he got such a notion into his head.

• NZ news. The news reporting in New Zealand is a strange creature. I am trying to understand how they figure out what is important enough to report and what's not, but, with little success. I mean, the NZ government owns 2 of the 4 free-to-air channels, some Australian company owns the third and somebody in Canada owns the fourth . I do wonder what it means that there have been 60 deaths of Swine Flu in Mexico but none of the deaths merited reporting until NZ students returned from Mexico with flu symptoms.

• Coleus. When I was in my 20's (yes, I know that was long time ago, but it's till relevant) in northern Indiana and Northeast Georgia, I used to grow coleus with great ease. It was one of the few plants that didn't need much care but grew wondrously for me. I have tried to grow it recently and my results just suck. I choose to believe that it is a different strain of plant down here that doesn't bush out or do much of anything except make seeds and just stare at me .
  

• Kiwis. Hubby and I went grocery shopping today and ended up at the checkout of a lady we hadn't seen before. She very chattily bantered with us the whole time she was checking our stuff and we just enjoyed it immensely (I have blogged about 'rude kiwis' before, click here. And here, too). Such a nice change from the oriental lady who spent 20 minutes cleaning off the conveyor before acknowledging our presence or the others who think a quick 'hello' without eye contact is all we deserve for paying their wages. Funny that the store manager kept hovering about, though. I think she was worried that Michelle was going to insult us or something, so we made sure we were loud when we informed her that she was a refreshing change. Michelle considers herself 'cheeky' but we enjoyed her company!
  

• Roads. Hubby complains about how bad the roads are any time there are roadworks going on here. I just smile to myself and wonder what he'd think about driving down Highway 41 outside of Whiting, IN . I can't imagine they have done much to it, since there was absolutely no room to work on it back in the 60's and 70's. Would be interesting to see it now, though.
  

• Bad tv ads. There are two ads on tv that annoy me and make me wonder how responsible the advertisers think they are. One is for KFC that shows a dad trying to 'get away' with 2 extra pieces of chicken, even though the kids try to show him that it's part of the special. The other is for McDonald's and gives the impression that it's just fine to screw your friends out of money. Just what is this world coming to?? 
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• Mayo vs butter. I don't know if it's solely a NZ thing or a hold-over from English ways, but the only condiment you get for a sandwich anywhere (except fast-food chains) is butter. I have since, brought mustard and ketchup and mayonnaise into the lives of my NZ family. The bad news is, I haven't had much luck with Otterboy and Hubby, but the good news I have converted Missy to mayo for her sandwiches. So many NZers, so little time .