'going organic' update

It's been quite a while since I just... wrote. 
Here are some random ramblings as to where I am with the whole 'going organic thing'.

• I've never been a super cook, so I feel so out of my element sometimes.  I sometimes feel like all the other shoppers at the grocery store are chefs and I am the bumbling idiot talking to myself in the store trying to figure out what to buy and what to do with it.
• It costs less to make more items from scratch and to spread ingredients out over a few meals for maximum 'buck bang-age'. I NEED to learn to plan menus.  We've had a lot of 'breakfast for dinner' nights and that means I planned poorly.
  
• I clean with vinegar, but still use other multi-surface cleaners for the bathrooms and floors.  I feel guilty for that and I think that is dumb.
  
• Organic spreadable butter doesn't spread very well.
• Organic chicken is hard to find and expensive.  My family actually misses eating chicken 4 nights a week!  I do miss the 1.69 a pound chicken days!
  
• Kids are not given enough credit.  They like more healthy foods than you think.  On the flipside, Grandma pulls out the junk and they go nuts over it...
  
• Kid menu's at restaurants are pretty awful.  We are learning to order from the adult menu and split the food between the two kids (thanks michelle for opening my eyes to that one).
• Just because I eat mostly organic doesn't mean I don't shower and like to frolic barefoot through the tulips.  I am still the same person.  There is enough yuppie in there to balance out the hippie side.
  
• My budget works for my family.  It allows me to create new, fun, healthy dishes and try foods that are a little more pricey.  The days of $150 a month for tons of groceries/household items just ain't gonna happen anymore.  I can't feel like I am competing with my former self.  
• There needs to be more organic coupons out there.
  
• Some days you make a cute lunch... some days you don't!
• Some days your kids want the cute lunch... some days they don't!
  

"you have worms in your ears!!"

I just entered a giveaway. 
I'm not super huge into the giveaway thing - I only enter when it is something I really want or could use.  In this case, I really want to try these things!! 

Angela at The Suburban Jungle just posted a review and giveaway on her site for yummy earth ORGANIC gummy bears and gummy worms.

I've tried locating these in my local 'organic-y' stores and they don't have them yet.  If I don't win this one, I may have to suck it up and order online!

Here's why...
My dad may come across as a grumpy old man type if you don't know him.  But the truth is, he is a great guy who loves being around little kids.  My kids adore him. My son is so much like my father it isn't even funny.

My dad has a....well.. a 'thing'.  He likes pulling gummy worms out of my kids' ears.  He brings gummy worms with him to restaurants when we go out to eat with them and pulls the gummy worms out of my kids' ears when they get restless while waiting for their food (ingenious move, btw).  He 'pulls them out' when the kids go over to Grandma and Grandpa's, and again when they leave. When my son got off of the bus near their house, he had a bag of gummy worms handy and all the neighborhood kids made sure they came over for their ears to be checked!
My kids LOVE it, and I cringe. 
I cringe to think of what they are made out of.  I cringe thinking about the junk, the HFCS, the dyes, the lack of fruit in the fruit flavor.
But alas, In my quest to eat better, I wouldn't dare cut out the gummy worms from Grandpa.  That's his, well.... 'thing'.  He finds great joy in pretending to pull slimy earwax covered worms from my kids' ears!  The kids look forward to it and it will be a great memory for them.

Now, candy is still candy.  I know that.  BUT, if I can healthen (yes, I made that word up) it up at all, why not?!