What Ana Does

The grocery rule of thumb is: if you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it. Or, put simply, stop eating over-processed, chemical-laden foods. For Pete's sake! But in reality, that's not totally possible. Especially with the kiddos. Their reliance on fruit bars and cheese crackers (albeit organic and mostly all-natural) is a convenience I can't deny. Working Moms don't have oodles of time to bake granola mini-muffins, weekly sandwich bread and stumble upon veggies picky kids will actually eat. (This mom did it and is now making a living off helping others do it ... 100 Days of Real Food .) Hey, I'm trying! So this weekend I decided to find a granola bar recipe the girls would like -- one less unprocessed snack food for them. Of course, I went right to the cereal bar recipe from Alana's The Homemade Pantry -- mostly because I'm in the middle of a passionate love affair with that cookbook. And her two daughters eat them. That's kid test...

So the cleaning service came again yesterday. An event I was very much anticipating. When we arrived home, we were, as usual, elated to walk around the house and enjoy that clean, just-washed-my-hair feeling. Then, hold up! On the counter, I found a bunch of cleaning products and a receipt (from evil Walmart, no less). The Walmart was a blow in itself (which is post for another day) but the products were all harsh non-organic products. Lysol, Comet, Pledge (orange-scented!) and the like. Here's where I get all conflicted. I've mentioned in the past about my preference for organic cleaning products. I have kids. They eat stuff off the table and floor. I would like to minimize the family's exposure to bleach and the cancer-causing toxins found in these products. On the other hand, the cleaning service are professionals, right? They know what works. What gets the best results. What they want to work with. If they want to use this toxic stuff, I should just acquiesce,...