I’m not a huge fan of fast food. There is nothing I want to eat at most of those places, but I have a weakness for Burger King. However, they are quickly moving themselves onto my do not eat there list. (And before you email me telling me the 100s of reasons I shouldn’t eat there, don’t bother, I already know.) Why?

Well, first they changed their kids’ meals from applesauce to apple “fries”. Apple “fries” are apples sliced like french fries with enough preservatives in them to keep them from turning brown. They come with a caramel packet (like a ketchup packet) only stickier. What a mess. And my kids, especially the youngest, liked applesauce. So, add to that the fact that there is an upcharge for these stupid apple “fries”, and I am an unhappy camper.

On Friday, I learned of another change. It used to be when you ordered one of their value meals, they were sized as medium, large and king size. They’ve changed them. Now they are small, medium and large. Not that they have actually changed anything, except that if you go in there and order a medium and think you are getting (and paying for) the smallest size, you actually aren’t. I’m annoyed. Does the average consumer get a warm fuzzy thinking they are eating less because they will now order a large instead of king size when they will still shell out the same amount of money for the same amount of food? Or is this just a ploy so that in another month BK can roll out “King Size” again and offer 4 sizes, with an obscenely large king size and a price point to go with it? What the heck is going on here?

Last night I wrapped two of the gifts for the kids from the angel tree at my daughter’s preschool. My oldest son was sitting in the kitchen and asked whom the gifts were for. I told him and said I had one more gift to buy since I had picked out another tag. Since we had three kids it seemed right to buy for three kids. He turned this around in his brain a bit and then said that if there were any names still left when I went in, I should get one and he would buy the gift.

Now, this is the same kid that typically spends his allowance as soon as he can get to a store. However, his birthday was two weeks ago and when he saw his grandparents, they gave him birthday money. He was planning to use that to buy a video game. Buying a gift for someone in need would use half that money, which would take 4 weeks of allowance to replace.

Can I just say that I’m really proud of him? I know he’s only 13 and we have a million miles to walk with him, but he’s a good kid. And his heart’s in the right place.