what a remarkable country

we live in, to be able to honor our former Presidents' by frolicking and playing all the live long day

sledding, ice cream, and madagascar 2 at the dollar theater... pretty much an ideal day, especially after 4 days of dayquil and minimal sleep. things are on the up and up. despite this momentary break from scholastic endeavors, i learned something significant about myself today; i have a serious love/hate relationship with McDonald's.

i love them for the crazy salty fries that somehow fill a craving when i didn't even know i had one (even if it does bug me that years ago they marketed their fries as vegetarian despite the fact that they added "meat flavoring" to them. it's a conflicted love thing.)

i hate them for the fact that said small fries pack in a whopping 230 beyond empty calories (they are claiming there is calcium in there, but for the love of pete, where????)

i love them for the play place, which entertains and elicits squeals of joy anytime it is visited

i hate them for the fact that there is no way on earth that place is anywhere near sanitary - especially when kids run barefoot from the playplace to the restrooms right through the middle of the restaurant. i'm not sure, but i'm betting there's an OSHA violation there.

i love them for the $1 hot fudge sundaes

i hate them for the $1 cones which are no better than, yet double the price of, our local grocery store

i love that there is one on every corner in case i get into that inevitable once-every-blue-moon situation where without fast food my child would certainly starve

i hate them because there is one on every-freakin-corner and it gets really really old

i love them for ronald mcdonald house charities.

i hate the colors. red and yellow? i suppose it's supposed to be like ketchup and mustard or something clever like that. as it is, i don't really like ketchup or mustard so it just gives me a bit of a queasy belly when i see it

i like the fact that when i order only the non-meat junk food i feel "healthier"???!?!!?? (seeing as said non-meat items are usually shakes and fries i'm not sure this is really a positive)

i hate big macs. the first one i tried pretty much did me in on the place. ick. double ick. and yes, i know that makes me very unpopular.

most of the times the dislikes outweigh the likes, but today i confess the sundaes and playplace beat out my better judgement. you know what? aeryn laughed so hard and had so much fun it was totally worth it.