Getting Smarter by the Night

Those who know and love me know that I had decided that organic, USA made cotton sheets where the way to go.  Of course, I never bought them as they can be a bit pricey…the amount of organic cotton is relatively small and of course, sewing labor in the USA is rather high.

 Thanks to some very wonderful people, I am now the proud owner of some wonderful organic, USA made cotton sheets. :)  I love them.  I love the fact that they were made after the order was placed, I love the fact that the tags are labeled my hand-no pre-printed labels on my sheets!

And I am sure that my brain now has the ability to work double time.  No more of those nasty pesticides that drench the average everyday cotton of the day.  My pores rest happily in chemical free sheets.

Ever Wonder What Type of Person is Crazy Enough to go to a Midnight Sale?

That is one of those questions that haunted me for years, along with things like-Who is crazy enough to do that?  How many people would actually show up at one of those?  Would it me worth it? 

Well, now I know the answer…

My sister Krista convinced me to go the the Black Friday sales at the Gilroy outlets this year, and yes, they start at midnight.  Krista can talk me into just about anything.  I mean, if my needs-12 hrs-of-sleep sister could do this, so could I.  And what if I didn’t go and I truly missed out on something wonderful?  Some Ann Taylor blowout sale could be happening that I would miss just because I wanted sleep.

So I went.

Along with the thousands, yes thousands, of other crazy people.  There was no parking, there were lines in front of most stores (they were limiting the number of people in a store at one time), I hear the traffic on the freeway was horrible and there were people all over the place.  Never would I have imagined that so many people would want to go to Gilroy at midnight!

Was it worth it?  Yeah, one time.  Ann Taylor was packed and I stood in line there for at least 45 minutes, but I got the cashmere sweater I have been hoping to buy.  I also had plenty of time to chat with the two girls behind me-they had plenty of entertaining stories about their day and their life.  I got to see a couple of would-be line hoppers get caught by the people around them. 

But after a couple of hours of this craziness, I was totally exhausted and my body started to shut down, and I felt sick, and I just wanted to be in bed…

It was an experience!

Will you buy fewer products made in China?

We all know about the:

-bad pet food

-poisoned toothpaste

-millions of toys with lead

-lead tainted baby bibs…

But have you started to worry about what is in all that fabric that comes from China?

Apparently if we hope to voice any real concern about the business practices in China, lowering our purchases of food and toys won’t make that much of a dent.  (Now it might keep you much healthier, so I am still all for it.)  We will need to cut down on our textile purchases from China if we want it to make any difference.

This is hard, very hard.  When you start looking at where clothing is made, you can get a bit overwhelmed with the amount from China (and then throw in a few other Asian countries that might still have iffy manufacturing practices…)

I needed new sheets.  I bought some from Target.  I took them back.

I still need new sheets, but finding some that I am now comfortable buying is a little tougher.  And then I started reading about the processes cotton goes through and if I had $200-300 to spend on sheets I would get organic USA grown cotton sheets.  But I am poor, so I am just going to find some sheets that I think have a lesser chance of being poisoned.