"But how?" You ask, and I excuse you your confusion because we both know that "cool" in not a word that has ever been remotely about me, my activities, or my interests.
I've been doing bento box lunches ever since I've had kids who need to eat lunch regularly (pesky creatures), because - after all - "bento" is just Japanese for "sad little odds and ends from the fridge and pantry disguised as a complete meal by making it into shapes or drawing faces on it".
Aren't you glad you know someone who is fluent in Japanese and can explain these things to you?
Yeah. Me too.
Back to lunch. You see, today I am the mother of a school girl who needs to bring her lunch with her to kindergarten, and it's kind of a big deal, because now I'll have to think about her lunch whole hours in advance instead of just seconds.
The approach, however, will remain the same.
Because our school district, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to pursue what they call the "Balanced Day", Norah will have two "Nutrition Breaks" during her short school day. Read: "pack two lunches, stupid mother who is only feeding her kids one lunch at home and therefore handicapping their learning ability forever, noooooooooo!".
One of the mothers I ran into at Wal-Mart (not, you'll notice, a representative from the school or anyone remotely in charge of informing parents how to prepare for school) told me that Norah will have to have one of these enormous contraptions that has two sides, helpfully labeled "One" and "Two", so that she doesn't accidentally eat the food meant for Nutritional Break Two at Nutritional Break One - the horror!
I say Pshaw! To that. (You heard me: Pshaw!)
Instead, she helped me pack this:
 | |
| Nothing says "I love you" or "Have a great first day of kindergarten" like a rubber band holding your lunch box together. I win at life. |
 |
| But the peppers are cut into heart shapes, so I measure up to Pinterest, right? |
And lest you think that this is about to become one of those "look what I packed my child for lunch today because I only feed them nutritious food that has faces drawn on it" blogs, think again:
I'm just not that put together, and neither is Norah's lunch.
