Red, White, and Blue Update

It's been one month. And, wow, what a humbling month it's been.

I'm very proud of the fact that I bought a jogging stroller off Craigslist instead of ordering a new one like I reeeeeally wanted to do. It was cheap and it carries tired kids home from the park at the bottom of the steep hill.

However, we left our vacuum in Kansas so my sweet mother-in-law could tidy our house up now and then. And so I needed to buy one for the house we are renting here, as half of it is carpet. Do they make vacuums (even remotely in my price range) in the USA? That'd be a big, fat, no.

More recently, I spent the last 2 days sewing a skirt from some very gorgeous material I bought last spring for a dollar a yard (marked down from $15!). The pattern, which I bought 3 years ago, is pretty complicated and involved hemming 8 half-circle flounces. Which took 8 hours. The skirt was destined to be worn for my brother's wedding next month.

Did you notice I wrote was? Mmm-hmm- was. 2 hours ago I went to sew the gores together and... realized I had cut half the gores out backwards. Any way to fix such a blunder? No. Any leftover fabric to re-cut 4 gores? No. Is there a fabric store in Los Alamos where I can saunter in and just buy some different fabric? No.

No. No. No.

Just 48 hours of my life wasted. And 1 Japanese Weekend nursing dress purchased on ebay. I almost contacted the seller to ask where it was made, then decided to cut myself some slack. I've got a nursing toddler who will most likely be latched on during the whole ceremony.

In other words, this is an emergency situation.

Ya, I'm a little cranky over the whole thing.

On the bright side, I've found multiple good, cheap USA-made toothbrushes.

I've made 1 bookshelf, with 2 more in the garage ready to be assembled, even though I was sorely tempted to drive (40 minutes) to Wal-$%*& and buy some el-cheapo pressboard ones just to set up my homeschooling materials. It's so easy to make bookshelves, I'm not sure why I was even tempted. Except maybe I'm a perfectionist when it comes to making things, and I get extremely upset when I screw things up.

It's been a bit of a downer to realize that one can't, actually, buy only made-in-the-USA things because so many things just aren't made here anymore. But being more conscious of checking and making good choices is very helpful, in my opinion. And our kids have been very interested in the whole thing and they are definitely learning from it. So as imperfect a month of self-challenge as it's been, I'm going to keep trying.


"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
~Adlai Stevenson