If you live somewhere warm, do you yearn to freeze your ass off?

I finally put together a list of common items that I would consider buying organic, rather than “normal” and I wanted to see how much extra I’d be spending. The results were somewhat surprising.

For the produce, I used this list of produce most likely to retain pesticide residue. These are items that I’d prefer to purchase organic. There are some things where the organic price simply isn’t worth it. Bananas, for instance, don’t need to be purchased organic. Apples and grapes, on the other hand, should be organic where possible.

365 is the Whole Food (WF) store brand. Schnucks is abbreviated as Sch. Org = Organic

All purpose flour: 5 lb bag
Pillsbury — $2.99
King Arthur — $4.79 at Sch, $3.99 at WF
365 — $2.99

White sugar
C&H — $2.69 (4 lb) at Sch, $3.99 (5lb) at WF
365 — $5.69 (4lb org), $3.99 (4lb, Vegan/Fair Trade)

Brown sugar
C&H — $1.77 (2lb)
WF — $2.99 (1.5lb)

Black Beans
Bush’s — $1.09
Ranch — $.99
Progresso — $1.00
Sch — $.73
Sch Org — $1.09
Libby’s Org — $1.29
365 — $.99
365 Org — $1.19

Petite Diced Tomatoes
Hunts Natural — $1.33
Sch — $.89
Sch Org — $1.19
365 — $1.19
365 Org — $1.39

Ground Chuck
Sch — $2.99 (on sale, couldn’t find regular price)
Sch Natural — $4.09 ground round (hormone free)
WF — $3.99 (vegetarian fed, hormone free)

Whole Chicken
Sch Natural — $1.49 (hormone free)
WF — $2.29

Apples
Gala
Sch — $1.79
Sch org — $5.99 (3lb bag)
WF — $2.49
Braeburn
Sch — $1.79
Sch org — n/a
WF –$1.69

Grapes: Black Seedless
Sch — $1.99
WF — $3.99

Bell Peppers
Sch — $1.50 each
WF — $4.99/lb

Spinach
Name brand (Dole, maybe?) — $3.69/6 oz bag
Earthgirl org — $5.99/10oz
WF — $1.99/5oz bag, $2.49 bunch

Potatoes: Yukon Gold
Sch — $2.99/5lb bag (on sale, couldn’t find regular price)
WF — $1.49/lb

So there you go. Whole Foods isn’t necessarily Whole Paycheck. You just have to be smart about it!

Where the price is higher, though, especially in produce, you do have to make a decision about whether it’s worth it to you to spend that extra money. Sometimes, you just can’t do it and stay in budget. At those times, you can at least be content that you’re feeding your family fresh fruits and vegetables.

You just do the best you can with what you have.

I just read a blurb from one of my publisher’s newest releases.

It’s awful. The writing is bad. Not just stilted and amateurish, but verging on this side of grammatically incorrect.

I’m trying to make myself feel better by thinking that my writing is at least better than that, but I have to say, it makes me question some of what they publish.

There are other authors there that I love. Who are truly extraordinary writers. They put the time and the love into their work and it really shines. But this….this was awful.

And since I have no gift for kissing ass, I just won’t say anything at all.

For instance, I neglected to write “Make lunches for kids, rather than having them buy school dinners.” I mean, that’s almost $100 a month just for lunch!

And I didn’t mention anything really about the fact that we’re trying to move this summer. I need to have my house cleaned, packed out, and ready to go by probably July. That means that basement cleaning out and reorganizing needs to be a big priority.

I also didn’t write any fun resolutions. For instance, last year I wrote, “Drink more coffee!” Well, I did and it’s been great! I love coffee! But I think I’m at my caffeine-intake limit, so I can’t really make that resolution again. Instead, I think it should be “Eat better chocolate!” Think about it. It’s not necessarily more chocolate, it’s upgrading what I already consume.

In fact, I’m not a big chocolate eater. I don’t need a piece (or 6) every day. But I think it might be nice to move up to a better class of chocolate. Become a more discerning connoisseur of the cocoa bean.

So I’m still modifying the list. And I’ll get to my gender post another time.

Home:
Grocery shopping
Laundry
Clean kitchen

Family:
Work on writing assignments with DD
Call mom and aunt

Work:
Write client letter
Re-do 3-5 ETAs

Writing:
1000 words

Financial:
Pay a couple of bills

Dinner:
Thanksgiving Chili

Nothing time intensive and I’ve made everything before except for the chili recipe, which I got from a friend of mine.

She had her opinion, but not the wisdom to understand that pointing at people and shrieking “SINNER” is the least effective method of affecting change on another person.

Self-righteous doesn’t begin to describe her rantings. And given that she was condescending to a group of married women about marriage — and some have been married almost as long as she’s been alive — it was almost painfully amusing. Rather in the way that watching Mary Katherine Gallagher practically kill herself for a laugh is reluctantly, sadly funny.

I read several pages of her blog, just to see if maybe she was having a bad week, but I’ve come to the conclusion that she is genuinely convinced of her status as Arbiter of All That is Wrong With This World, despite frequent statements to the contrary. I’m not self-righteous! You’re an evil, sinning, bleeding heart, hell-bound, liberal, apostate WHORE, but I’m not self-righteous.

Okey dokey, then.

According to her blog (no, I’m not linking there. No feeding the quasi-trolls.) she’s 32 years old, which is really old enough to know better, don’t you think? At this point, one wonders when or if she’ll ever learn to quit screaming and start listening.