Paper plate parenting

Last night I saw a commercial for paper plates; I can't remember which company (Dixie? Chinet?). I've seen it a few times and it always cracks me up because it seems to me so passive-aggressive, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a passive-aggressive commercial before. Anyway, it reminded me of this post over at All & Sundry yesterday, which I thought was pretty funny. Have you guys seen it? The commercial, I mean. A mother is feeding her kids dinner on (OH MY GOSH, HOW UN-GREEN OF HER) paper plates and says something like, "I'm PROUD to feed my kids on [insert brand name here] paper plates, since it saves time that I can spend with my kids." As if, "I DARE you over-the-top green people to attack me for my paper plate usage, because doing so would also be attacking me for being a good mother, and HA HA, THAT'S a no-no!" It makes me laugh every time.

I should point out, in the interest of full disclosure, that I use paper plates. A lot of them. And not a name brand, just the store brand, which means that when we have something greasy like take-out pizza, we have to double them up. Please don't be horrified. After all, I recycle (except peanut butter jars, they're too much trouble to clean first) and I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. There were even a couple of years that I had a vegetable garden. Also, while I do spend A LOT of time with my kids (how could I not, since I'm ALWAYS here?), I also have been known to lock myself in the bathroom for 10 minutes or so to get away from them. Most importantly though, I don't give a flying rat's ass what you choose to do or not do in your environmental efforts (if any) or your parenting methods (assuming you're not abusive, of course). Or anything else where there may be opposing sides. I'm full-on the "whatever works" bandwagon. And what's working for me this morning is chocolate chip Eggo waffles. I will make up for it this afternoon by baking dark chocolate M&M and Heath bits cookies with Jo and Beth while Meg is at marching band camp and Amy is napping. Wait... not sure how that makes up for it, but just go along with me on that.