Shopping

Admitted, I'm a bargain shopper as much as the next person. You see the word "sale" and it's like a compulsion.

HOWEVER, I've been thinking more and more about this mini revolution to return to handmade. It all started when DH lost his job and replaced it with a temporary low-paying-with-smoke-screens-and-dreamy-empty-promises to go on full time/full rate. How on Earth was I going to fund Christmas?? I wasn't. BUT, I *could* make stuff!! I ended up having a really fun time with one of my best girlies and we sewed and sewed and sewed and sewed.... Everyone got new pjs, with the exception of she and I, which I know I haven't even picked up my already cut pair of bottoms and I'll bet she hasn't even cut hers. Lovely how us Moms rate ourselves.. ~sigh~ But I digress..

Then there is the BOOM of Whoremart. All the other chains close down so we're left with NO choices (Bradlee's, Caldor's, Ames, etc etc) and never mind the small shops! What small shops....? And I'll be honest. I was afraid to go in them. Handmade is EXPENSIVE. Or so I thought. Before I continue on that I wanted to post this quote taken from another blog that supports the "Handmade" cause.

Regarding Walmart~

"Take Wal-Mart, the most famously offensive, town-destroying, junk-purveying, labor-abusing, sweatshop-supporting, American-job-killing, soul-numbing, hope-curdling retailer in the known universe, moving upward of $300 billion in cheap mass-produced slurm every year via more than 5,000 landscape-mauling eyesore stores stretching all the way from Texas to China and Argentina and South Korea and Mexico and your backyard. "
--Mark Morford, San Francisco

This really hits the nail on the head. Think about it, people. Think about this recession we seem to be sliding into. All the jobs lost to China over the years. NOW look what's happened! All that has caught up to us and now China is shipping toys laden with lead over here. It should just be a cruel joke but it's true!

So now is the time, All. Regarding my comment before about expensive- I've been to Etsy. I'm *on* Etsy. It's *not* that expensive. Many times, it's completely reasonable! And here I am, going to advertise others' work but I'm in support of this movement and you should be too. Here's a gift that I'd scoop up for a friend in a second! How fun does this look? Or this? Wouldn't some of the other wooden puzzle brands be around this price? The love and care it took to make these items is not going to be found in Whoremart.

Just some food for thought...