Calorie Content and Flip Flop Tan Lines...

As a growing addiction to Starbucks takes over my very soul, I naturally check out starbucks.com to scare myself out of it with the nutrition info. My grande nonfat cafe latte has 160 calories and (!?!) 16 grams of protein. My grande caramel Frappuccino Light has, drum roll please, only 180 calories? Can this be true? I am like a small child at Christmastime! All rejoice! I think I stared at this information for nearly 5 minutes, then went back to the main menu to be sure I had indeed selected the correct beverage. It's really just too damn tasty to be so low on the calorie scale, so of course now I'm all suspicious and am thinking 'hmmm... maybe they tricked me and really gave me a REGULAR grande caramel frappa?'. Because if they did, I'd have consumed 280 calories sans whip, and that's just too damn much for a drink. Right? Right. I have my eye on all you baristas.

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Does everyone get those awful flip flop tan lines, or is it just me? Why doesn't anyone ever talk about it? Are you people applying sunscreen to the tops of your feet? Because I am not. Meh.

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I was walking with Ethan today and I saw this little kid, maybe 7 or 8 years old, out in front of his house with a skateboard. I probably see at least 5 kids with skateboards every day, but the difference between them and this kid was that he was decked out from head to toe in protective gear. The kid in me laughed and the parent in me nodded with approval. He looked so damn akward in his plastic armor. He could barely bend his knees to step up on to the board, and his arms stuck straight out at his sides like a scarecrow. It made me wonder: Will I be that kind of mom? Is there a middle ground? Will I buy Ethan a cool new bike or skateboard or whatever, get him all excited about it, and then wrap him in bubble packing and send him on his way? Part of me says yes, OH YES and the other half says ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Perhaps I will keep an eye on that boy down the street, see how he turns out. Then make my decision.