Artisan Lifestyle, Astrology, MRX, Buy American Made, Bruce Springsteen , sears sucks, BOYCOTT

I almost hesitate to write this blog cuz Mercury is retrograde and everything I do is like slogging through mud up to my knees. But it was requested that I do so... so here I am. I expect typos and I will read and reread this before posting to check my facts. Mercury is all about communication and all that entails... travel,computers,phones,feet,neighbors, friends, tv's, conveyances etc. this one happened in Libra (relationships) and moved backwards in Virgo (mudane and health, especially the stomach and when retro.. the throat,mouth and so forth.) If you are having a rough time the last couple of weeks its probably been related to one of these issues. (personally... my computer keeps crashing and I seem to have a permanent belly ache). That all said, Saturday night/Sunday morning was the Mercury RX conjunct Sun. The peak point if you will. I'm getting lots of reports of high weirdness, general dysfunction, small accidental injuries, stomach flu symptoms and miscommunication. All I can really say here is just.... clean up the mess,take a nap and be patient until the 29th when it is over. Around the 30th or so things will start to look brighter.... or at least less murky. I expect the 29th or 30th will bring evidence that the summer is gone and fall is truly upon us.
On a very personal note this retrograde has brought to the forefront what I believe is going to be a new obsession. "Buying American Made" I realised that with 50% of the people I know out of work right now I cant, in all good conscience, buy crap made in china. To that end I need new boots, a couple of sweaters, some new jeans and socks. So I went to sears yesterday to search for the above mentioned items. Sears is an American tradition right? Well not anymore. I checked every single tag on every sweater,pair of jeans,shoes, socks and even wife beaters for Jimmy. I was prepared to put 2 or 3 hundred dollars on my Sears card! I was even ok with the idea that when I was done I would look like something off a 1980's Bruce Springsteen album cover. Not so.... I found some Hanes socks for men that were made in the US. So a big 'ole thank you to Hanes for keeping my neighbors working.!
The Ladies and Misses department was NOTHING but poorly made acrylic sweaters and stretch jeans all made in china and Indochina. Even the Levis were made in Bangladesh. So, no joy there. So... I thought to myself I'll just go butch and headed to the mens department... Lee jeans- oversees, and of all horrors... even the carharts I looked at were produced overseas. The flannels.... oversees, work shirts, oversees. I tried to commit each garment and its 'country of origin' to memory and realised after about an hour that I couldnt keep up. I gave up and went to the shoe department where every single ladies boot in stock was made in china or the Philippines and ALL of them were made of some kind of plastic/petroleum product.
By the time I reached the shoe department the sears employees were starting to follow me around watching me suspiciously. So, I took my American Made Hanes socks to the register where a smiling Clerk asked "Did you find everything OK?". I almost strangled on my purposely unintelligible answer.
As I walked to my car clutching my socks.... I understood fundamentally what I had to do next. I already make it a point to do my grocery shopping from local farmers and dairies.. Now I will begin the search for American Made clothing and products. I will do without rather than buy one more item made in a foreign country. I'm only one tiny insignificant woman in an ocean of shoppers who dont give a damn. ........ But I say to myself ... a lone voice in the cacophony of the city.... LET THE BOYCOTT BEGIN!!!!