So this week we had our obligatory Valentines Day party at school. I really don't like this "holiday" on so many levels, and no it's not because I'm single. No it's just another artificially induced way to help us part with hard earned cash in ways that we wouldn't do the rest of the year, save for Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and any other "holiday" by which there is a sale attached to it, oh wait that's all of them. And G-d forbid if you're a guy in a relationship, and attempt the above logic on the female of the species whom you are seeing. You're screwed and not in a good way. Anyway Valentines is like the others mentioned, who's real saving grace makes me appreciate Thanksgiving so much more. Btw way did you know that Valentines is a derivative of a Roman (the guys that killed St. Valentine btw), holiday called Lupercallia. One of the traditions of said holiday was that attractive Roman women, scantilly clothed, would run up streets trying to avoid being whipped by some freak show dressed as a wolf. Not kidding, however if we did that, then Thanksgiving might become my second favorite holiday. Alright anti holiday rant off.
Valentines at the elementary level is kind of like Halloween, except no cool costumes, but a definite elevated drama level if you don't get that special Valentine from that special someone. I know we're talking 5th grade here. I had one boy make this giant Valentine for one of our girls he liked. She cleaned up because he gave her a box of candy and a teddy bear. He got a thank you and a Spongebob Squarepants Valentine from her. True story and a slight disparity if you ask me, however our young man will hopefully learn not to gift girls this way, unless the feelings are mutual. So this is one of the whammies of this "holiday."
Alright I know some of you didn't want to sift through all of that just for this. We have the kids bring in food. All of it is CRAP! Chips, dip, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and sugary "fruit" drinks. And people wonder why there is a rise in childhood diabetes, or there is an obesity epidemic with children. The reason is because we as adults don't put a restraint on this. I tried in that I made some of the "chip" choices be Sun Chips, and pretzels. What I would like to see for next year is that we collect a dollar from each student. Half would be spent on our Christmas Party, and half on Valentines. The food choices would be fruit plates, pretzels, baked potato chips, perhaps cheese, and real orange juice, with maybe ONE mini holiday cupcake for each child. I just think this is a whole lot more responsible, than assigning each child to bring an item of questionable health value.
So how does this tie in to my loss of a 1/4 inch. Well as a teacher sometimes students give you awesome gifts. One of mine gave me a giant Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Heart. It was 720 calories of pure peanut buttery chocolate goodness. Another student gave me a Ghiradelli chocolate bar with crushed almond, that had a hint of sea salt. Absolutely delicious! Oh and my girl scout cookies came in, and I ate quite a few peanut butter Do Si Dos, my favorites. So after eating this great wall of junk I still lost 1/4 inch around my waist. Now I did eat healthy for most of my other meals, and I did much more dedicated cardio, the majority of it being swimming. I only lifted once, and that was on Friday night, after having left school at 7:30. Perhaps St. Valentine bestowed to me a Valentines miracle in the loss of that 1/4 inch, for having showed extraordinary dedication by going to the gym on Friday night. Huh jokes on him, as I really didn't have anything better to do, but thanks, cuz I'll take a loss however I can get it.
St. Valentine ROCKS!
Best regards.
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