More Halloween shopping

I gave up on Halloween stores for purchasing my wig. I went to the California Merchandise Company in Santa Ana and found a beautiful wig labeled "50% made in USA, 50% made in Japan".

I also went to BigLots recently to finish putting together an earthquake kit. One of the items on my list was rope. There was no rope there not made in China - thick, thin, nylon, cotton, bungee cord - all made in China. The search goes on.

Halloween

I went shopping for a Halloween party I'm having. I LOVE Halloween. It is the only "holiday" for which I purchase home decor. Basically every piece of decor is made in China. From the cool door knocker that makes scary sounds to glow in the dark skulls to fake gargoyles. I didn't buy any new decorations. That made me sad. The only thing I absolutely needed was spider webs. I looked in Big Lots and Target - made in China. At the Party Store they had some, both white, black AND glow-in-the-dark, made in the USA!! I also need a wig for my Sarah Palin costume. So far, no costume wigs to be found that aren't made in China. I'm running out of time and getting nervous.

reduce REUSE recycle

The reusing part of the Reduce Reuse Recycle mantra seems to be similarly forgotten. While riding my bicycle through Newport Beach I noticed a lot of furniture in the trash waiting to be picked up. A small bench, a stool, a coffee table. All in good shape, too. These things could have been donated to Goodwill or a similar entity or sold in a garage sale! A few years ago I found a large round coffee table sitting next to the trash bin outside of an apartment complex near where I lived in Philadelphia. It was in perfect condition but didn't fit my eclectic style. But I dragged it home and covered its surface with a mosaic of tiles, including 4 ceramic coasters I bought at a garage sale. The results were stunning. So now this piece of art sits in my front yard where we enjoy sitting around it drinking a beer or glass of wine.

Reusing items also keeps them out of the waste stream, where they need to be picked up from the trash and hauled to a landfill, which costs energy, money and space. Reusing also prevents the need to expend energy and money on the recycling process. It also prevents the need for a similar product to be manufactured (in a place such as China).



What happens to the stuff we toss out? Amazingly, a lot of it ends up in the ocean. Marine researchers Charles Moore and Marcus Eriksen were on their boat about 700 miles north of Hawaii in January and found trash everywhere. They found a vortex of trash bigger than Australia, covering 10 million square miles. This plastic, which includes billions of very tiny scraps that float on the water's surface, can be mistaken for food by fish and birds and can kill them. ``No matter where we go, we find plastic,'' said Moore, 60. ``The ocean is now this plastic soup, and we just don't know what that's doing.'' They frequently find larger items such as potato chip bags, lighters and toothbrushes.



This is a site where kids can learn to make crafts with used items, such as an old toothbrush!
http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/earth-day/reusing-materials-make-new-crafts.html

Websites that encourage innovative reuse solutions:
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Tips/Reusing_Everyday_Materials/index.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/mar/12/practicaladvice
http://www.swaptree.com/WebFrmLandingPage.aspx?promotioncode=GOOG_FreeCyX&gclid=CL60komXp5YCFQJNagodLBS7xg
http://homeparents.about.com/od/recycle/Recycling_and_Reusing_Tips.htm

Let's keep this from happening:

REDUCE reuse recycle

I have not written in a while partly because I have been reducing the amount of products that I buy. A recent purchase I made was calendars for my business to give to patients and business associates at Christmas. I emailed National Pen company and they quickly responded that the calendars I ordered were indeed made in the USA. I also bought some thank you notes at the airport - made in the USA. In general, however, I simply am not going to Target to meander down the aisles and find bargains. I am buying only what I need. That is a very important part of the Reduce Reuse Recycle mantra. We are all about recycling and many cities force us to recycle but the harder thing to do is to decrease the amount of goods we purchase. Shopping for many of us is an addiction, whether we realize it or not. Try NOT shopping for 2 weeks and see how you feel. It probably won't feel good, I can tell you. If you've ever been on a diet or tried to quit smoking, you'll recognize the feeling of having to give up something you crave.

Over the past 35 years, the amount of trash has increased per person from 2.7 pounds/day to 4.4 pounds/day. Buying less things means less packaging for those things and less paper or plastic bags they are put into. Also less natural resources (trees, oil, etc.) are used that go into making the products. If you must buy something, then purchase products that are durable and long lasting, unlike many things made in China. Buy whole foods that do not come in packages, like fresh fruits, vegetables and bulk grains. Buy in bulk. Or don't buy at all.



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Fire and Light

I was told by the fire inspector that I needed a new fire extinguisher for our medical office. Went to Lowes and they had only one brand, Kidde. I was nervous. Made in Mexico. Whew! Then I went to lightbulbs to get a little 40 watt bulb for a lamp. I picked up a two pack of CFLs, happy they came in 40 watt with that tiny base. As I strode to the register, I flipped over the package - arg - made in China. None of the 40 watt CFLs were made outside of China. GE Reveal and Sylvania double life bulbs, also made in China. Sylvania did have a non CFL globe-shaped bulb that will fortunately fit my lamp and was made in Thailand. I only spent an extra 3 or 4 minutes looking for a lightbulb, which was good, as I was coming home late from a McCain Rally and was tired. Go McCain/Palen! (Sorry - I'm still jazzed from Palens speech the other day!)

If you like dogs at all, join the boycott.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here's 7000 words.









"Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity." (Shaw)

My favorite clothing store

A couple years ago I found a store, Coldwater Creek, that makes clothes that fit me perfectly. The clothes are stylish but conservative, perfect for my job as a physician. I can order online and know how everything will fit. I checked some of my clothes at home that I ordered from them in the past - made in China. I called them today and asked if any of their products are not made in China. The customer service agent, in a somber voice befitting a funeral home director, said that she was sorry, all of their products are made in China. OK, so it will be harder now to have to go out to actual physical stores to look at labels and try on clothes before I buy them. I'll probably save a lot of money because it won't just take a credit card a click of a button to buy new clothes!

As for some good news... May Wah Healthy Vegetarian Foods at www.vegieworld.com is a place where I can order all kinds of wonderful faux meat products - roast duck, ribs, kung pao chicken, chicken wings, tuna, prawns - most of which are excellent. Almost everything on the label is written in Chinese, which had me gravely concerned that I was going to lose my favorite place for buying fake meat. I looked at several packages that were in my freezer - yippee, made in Taiwan!