STARTING OUT THE NEW YEAR RIGHT

RINGING IN THE NEW

OUR HOME HOLIDAYS IN THE UNITED STATES - LESS EFFORT - MORE TIME

This holiday season we have decided to cut back on not so much because of finances but because we find ourselves with not enough time. 

This year our outdoor lights are just around our front door. 

We have two very small trees indoors with ornaments; we've left most of our decorations unpacked.

We are sending Christmas cards today, in paper envelope with stamps.  We won't be e-mailing or electronically transferring greetings. We are not participating in any business oriented holiday gifting.  There is plenty of time throughout the year to remember people, especially on their birthdays, and to do networking and promotions.  We're not afraid we will loose anyone.  We figure they are just as tired and in need of down time as we are. 

We've decided not to deal with Fridays or Mondays or Purchasing on Line for bargains.  We decided that we can and should buy any and all food, drink, and gifts for this season within walking distance to our home.  We get the dog, walk to the store, walk back with what we can carry.

We went to the library and brought home some wonderful holiday music on CD's.  Some classical music, a jazz Christmas album, and one by Josh Groban.  We have these playing  We love the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Charlie Brown Christmas television shows but we aren't going to bring home rentals or library films with Christmas themes.

Our simple gifts are not stockings but REAL SOCKS.  We're buying nice ones that will last (finding ones made in the USA and local hasn't been easy) and filling them with the Old Fashioned and Simple things like fresh oranges, rolls of Life Saver candy, Real Money, but not gift certificates or cards.

Some time between Christmas eve and Christmas night we will call a few long distance relatives to touch base.

We are not depressed just stressed and cutting back on our participation in what has become a materialistic rather than spiritual time of year.

If you're reading this, it is our hope that we can all look forward to something so sadly rare in today's world; PEACE and with that, QUIET!

ECOSMART ANT and ROACH KILLER - SAFE but does it really work as advertised?

ECOSMART.COM  Manufactured in Rosewell, Georgia, USA
Active ingredients are peppermint oil, rosemary oil, and 97% other such as water, 2 propanol, wintergreen oil, white mineral oil, etc....

 

We bought a can of this stuff.  We wanted to kill the insects and not sicken and die ourselves.  We didn't want our dog to get sick either.  

 

Unfortunately the "INSTANTLY" part about how it kills ants and roaches is NOT TRUE.  We targeted them and sprayed and watched them flip over and try to live.  Some of them managed to keep running and disappear.  We did spray around the underside of the sinks but have no reason to believe this was a deterrent since a spray can later, we still have the problem.  The INSTANTLY mattered to us.  We wanted the least suffering.  We didn't really want to kill anything but damn, TALKING to the tiny critters about how they had to live OUTSIDE didn't seem to work.

 

When you spray all this OILY stuff out, it smells good if you like intense minty smells.  It also slightly coats your finger from the button.  You can feel the tingle and YOU MUST WASH YOUR HANDS RIGHT AWAY - thoroughly - or you will possibly touch your face, your mouth, your eyes, just as human's do, unthinking.  So we would walk into the kitchen or bathroom at night, grab the bottle, spray, and then wash our hands.  We thought, OK it's only temporary.  But other than the smell, we think this product is a pain in the butt and doesn't really deal with the problem.

 

By the way, before we tried this, we tried the cheap $1 for two boxes of glue attractant, and watched as the insects went into shock that they were so stupid to be stuck and tried to pull their limbs out.  Looking in there, all dead or dying is awful.  Some actually got away amputated... that's how much they wanted to live.  We also mixed up simple boric acid with powdered sugar, but it soon lost it's powder due to humidity.  So what we have now are those "hotels" that say that the insects go in, eat, and take it back to the nest. 

 

We shall see!

We're actually hoping that all the SPIDERS who moved in this summer will eat the other bugs for us, or at least scare them.

 

Review by PATRIOTIC PURCHASE BLOGSPOT

All Rights Reserved

OUR PILE OF CHEAP BROKEN CHINESE CRAP - IN THE LANDFILL FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS

We're tempted to start piling up all the cheap broken Chinese crap we've bought, take a photo of it, and then set it on fire. 

But we won't.

Sufficient to say, we too, though we try NOT to, have bought cheap things that are made in China, even from American based companies and other European countries that import manufactured goods from China.  Sometimes you have to look at the packaging real hard to find out that some or all of the product was made in China.  For instance we've found notations that something was made in China of American made parts.  Or something was made in the United States from China-made parts.  Or something was made in the United States but one part of it - say the lids of a pot - were imported from China.

But whatever it is, the Chinese-made part or the Chinese-made whole, it breaks or falls apart quickly.
And belongs on our pile, for photographing, and setting on fire.

We won't set the stuff on fire.  We won't even make a pile.  WHY NOT?

Because we DO CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT which means that we put everything we can in the proper recycling bins.  We take batteries to a drop off at the library.  We wait for special events to turn in light bulbs, nail polish, small electronics, etc.  So no smoking toxic fires for us or our neighbors to breath.  And no clutter waiting in the basement.

BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING THAT LASTS ONE USE OF A FEW WEEKS and you throw it into the recycling bin?  At best it gets segregated out and is possibly sold to those who can use some or all of it's parts or remake the plastics and metals.  (In our neighborhood old TV sets are often broken into and smashed before the garbage pick up comes.)  

THE REST GOES INTO LANDFILLS where it can take hundreds of years for the buried items to turn into something resembling dust.  This is true of newspapers.  This is true of hot dogs.  This is particularly true of PLASTICS.   So when you buy crap, it also costs us all in garbage related fees.

SOME THINGS WE BOUGHT, made in CHINA, that broke fast.

A plunger.  It had a sturdy wood turned handle and we couldn't imagine that the rubbery head of it would break after the second use.  (We're trying to find a garden use for the handle.)

Hair clips - the kind with a spring and teeth - to keep hair back when swimming.  The set of 12 broke the teeth easily.  We got about 2 uses for each clip before it broke.  So badly made actually using them broke them.

Umbrellas.   We lost our $40 at purchase, heavy duty old fashioned American made umbrella.  So after having a few break after one good wind or rain that we had purchased for under $5, we bought $1 ones that did the same.   We're trying to figure out a way to reuse the fabric.

C 2015  Patriotic Purchase BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

IS IT TRUMP VERSUS SANDERS? : RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT FAR AHEAD OF THE ELECTION

We wouldn't be patriotic citizens of the United States of America if we had no interest in the election of our President, if we had no idea who are elected officials are, or if we didn't bother to reach out to them once in a while.

Over the last few months we reached out to a local representative of our City Council over a myriad of problems from street services to graffiti, to the ecology of local parks, and other matters more personal.  This is a City Council member who we elected, someone who we have heard speak at patriotic holiday events and a police picnic in a park.  He's a likeable fellow but his staff must be overwrought.  After we typed out a list of our concerns and personally presented them to a staff member who appeared to be interested in going over the list, making some phone calls that we could not, and a promise of getting back with us in a couple months to go over it, we were stunned when our next visit went so badly.

We had feared that our own business had delayed us in getting back with her and we hoped that all that extra time would mean a better report, but instead IT BECAME CLEAR THAT NOTHING MUCH AT ALL HAD HAPPENED.  She told us to become a member of a local neighborhood watch type web site - a social networking deal - where, apparently, neighbors complain and comment (but don't roll up their sleeves), and claimed (though we have a photocopy showing it right there) that she didn't even have our e-mail address.  First of all referring people out to a social networking community web site EXCLUDES ALL THE PEOPLE - particularly seniors - who do not have typing or computer skills (or whose arthritis prevents them from typing) - cannot afforded or do not have access to computers - and people who simply do not have the time to do so.  Further, she told us to call 311.  We've called 311 and gotten referrals that turned out to be incorrect - real time wasters.

So we are totally turned off.

But we did call back with this one question:  "WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A CITY COUNCIL OFFICE and STAFF.  WHY WOULD WE CALL YOU?"

When we originally asked to speak to this elected official in person we were told his office was downtown and he only met with people one day a week.  We feel as if his office staff is not following through and keeping us from him.

SO NO MORE EVENTS WHERE HE WILL APPEAR FOR US... and... we'll see who is running, but we may not vote for him again.

So we note the state of our next Presidential Election here in the United States of America.   We've read hundreds of news reports off our cell phone news aps and in the newspapers and magazines to be as well rounded in our reading as we can be.  It sometimes seems as if the vote will be for Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.  We're not socialists, but we do think this Capitalist Country, if it really were being run on "Christian" principals, would take care of the entire population including those poorer than us. Is it really going to be CAPITALISM versus SOCIALISM?

We were cheered to see some CITIZEN ACTIVISTS holding signs "Honk if you're for Bernie" on a busy intersection.  We were glad SOMEONE WAS OUT THERE.  But we didn't hear much honking.

Along with DONALD TRUMP it seems that POLITICAL CORRECTNESS is coming into question.  The ultra-rich Trump seems to be unconcerned with what saying something unpopular or in an unpopular way is doing to his reputation.  He's theme seems to be "You can't argue with Success."



C 2015  Patriotic Purchase BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights.

OKABASHI SANDLES HAS MOTHERS DAY SPECIAL - MADE IN THE USA

OKABASHI SANDLES  MADE IN THE USA
as the ads say, they have arch supports and are recyclable.   They also have garden clogs.

We buy ours at our local stores, preferring not to buy on line.  Why?  Because we like to preserve retail worker jobs, we like to try things on rather than wait for boxes to arrive and maybe have to ship things back.

Image from the OKABASHI WEBSITE and owned by them.

 

We bought a couple pairs locally.

REMEMBER CHECK THOSE LABELS - AND THE FINE PRINT - for MADE IN THE USA!

We have found products that at first glance appear to be Made in the USA because they have an American Flag, and American Sounding name, or some other logo or seal that appears Patriotic, but when we read the fine print we find out that the item is actually made in China or another country, or we find that it is only being IMPORTED by a company that is headquartered in the United States - which can be a post office box address.

WE WANT MADE IN THE USA!

FOUR STATES PUZZLE

MILK BONE DOG BISCUITS - TRADITIONAL and MADE IN THE USA (CHECK BOX!)

MILKBONE.COM

Our dog just got a new box of the Milk Bone Flavor Snacks, which keeps her interested in what treat she's going to get today.  Sometimes if she isn't ready to eat it already, we find she has hidden it for later under her bed or in the folds of her blanket.  Our local stores don't carry the fancier options you'll see on the website.

MADE IN THE USA

(Image from Google Images)

Our dog likes variety so this is the box we bought.

DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA - BUG INFESTATION EXPERIENCE

Spring has come weeks earlier than usual here in Southern California, and some of our Native California plant seeds have sprouted which we are very excited about after last years failed attempt to use Native Seeds to create a butterfly garden and habitat. 

We have also experienced our first bug infestation indoors, which we have been valiantly if not aggressively trying to combat with the least poisonous means.  We believe that the bugs are coming indoors in record numbers in search of water.  We found mosquito hawks hanging out on the walls of our bathroom waiting for mosquitos and what seemed to attract them was that we had socks presoaking in a small tub.  We also found fruit flies, roaches, water bugs, and other unidentifiable little insects, possibly babies.  These bugs quickly made it into our refrigerator where they seem to have frozen to death, into our stove, though we keep cleaning it, and into our microwave.  Although we know that West Nile Virus has been detected in the area, like anyone what we are most concerned about is the roaches. 

We have a dog who is very curious and loves to taste things.  We felt that, by making our own traps with boric acid powder and powdered sugar and putting them in places that would be difficult for the dog to get into, we would succeed.  It has been about a month now and our entire kitchen is closed off.  We think we are beginning to win but we do not want our dog to eat a dead roach full of poison.

Admitting to roaches is kind of embarrassing.  Reading about them, we know that they will eat anything, including the paste that keeps your wallpaper stuck to the walls and soap.   They are not an indication that you're a slob or have a filthy house.

But they don't have to eat much or that often and what they really do need is water.

What this means is that we cannot ever have any dishes drying, any water laying, any spills not cleaned up, including spills beneath the cooking surface of our gas stove. 

To be dramatic, one day I spilled some water, and before I could mop it up four bugs came running and were drinking at the edges of it as if it were a pond!

So when we change our dog's water, we started  taking her water bowl outdoors and throwing that water into the weeds rather than into the sink, in hopes that some of the bugs will stay out there!  As is, we already try to reuse very mildly soapy water, such as water from the third rinse of handwashables, to water our lemon tree.

If you're having the same problem with bugs...

The potion of boric acid powder, a poison, mixed with powdered sugar was suggested to us by an apartment building manager down the street.  She said that was what the Building Inspectors suggested.  Online there are a number of recipes and the suggestion that plain old baking soda can work too without the poison.  The idea is that it should be spread finely such as with an old toothbrush, in areas where the bugs are going to walk.  The idea is that some of them will eat other dead bugs or take it back to a "nest" where it will then kill  others.  Eventually the bugs get a heavy hint, give up, and take a hike?

But to where when they want water?

A MADE IN THE USA HOLIDAY SEASON - HOMELESS CHILDREN

Reading the news about how many hundreds of thousands of Children in the United States are homeless this Christmas, we wondered how we might be able to help while keeping to our own budget.

The first thing you should know is that the term "Homeless" doesn't just mean the people - often mentally ill and filthy - who are actually on the pavement sleeping in doorways at night. 

Homeless means that a person does not have a stable legal residence. 

It includes families that live in motel or hotel rooms, who sometimes have to leave for a few days and then come back each month.  It includes people who are living with or near family, sleeping on floors, in sheds, in unheated garages, and those who go from sofa to sofa belonging to friends and other people one knows.  Often those who are renting are carefully monitored by building owners and management so that they do not move people in without putting them on a lease and so they have to sneak or come and go, careful not to spend more than a week at a time. 

Many of the homeless children's paretns work for money, if not a living, but cannot make enough to save for deposits into apartments.  Others rely on U.S. government for benefits that buy them food and shelter.

There are homeless kids in families who are camping outdoor all year long, sometimes unable to stay in the same school district. 

There are homeless kids with one parent in shelters.  Some,  but few, of these shelters can guarantee that a stay with them will result in housing.

So let's say you are like us and you really cannot open your wallet too wide when it comes to charitable giving.  What can you do?

The first thing you can do is volunteer.  It's true that free labor has become part of big business.  Our local library refuses volunteer help unless a person commits to at least 6 months.  (This is probably why they are always hunting for volunteers.  In our opinion that is ridiculous!)  Generally we are opposed to the free labor of volunteerism because we think it's bad business.  We don't like the way so many school districts and even colleges expect it. 

But you would be surprised at how many places welcome volunteers for the half a day and even at short notice.  They have broken down the tasks they need done for that time into small, doable activities, like serving food or sorting through donated clothing.

The next thing you can do isn't specific to the holidays.  You may be able to give art and craft making supplies - fabric and yarn scraps,  plastic microwaveable containers that are good for pouring glue on and holding glitter, for instance.  (You'll be recycling.)  If you think you can read aloud or teach a specific craft, offer to do so for an hour a week or for an afternoon.

Consider dropping of good used clothing that your own children no longer wear to a family shelter or orphanage.

If you'd like to bake a cake or cookies to give away or make a hundred peanut butter sandwiches, call ahead to be sure they can accept them.

AMERICAN FLAGS AND OTHER JUNK MADE IN CHINA IS NOT A PATRIOTIC PURCHASE

We needed to be reminded ourselves.  When you buy party supplies like paper plates and napkins that are DESIGNED with American Flags and so on and it's stamped Made in China, that is NOT a Patriotic Purchase.  Not to pick on China, but so much is imported from that country.  IF IT DOESN'T SAY MADE IN THE USA it's not a Patriotic Purchase no matter how it looks.  And Beware!  We have found things with big American Flags on the back so you don't read the "made in China" fine print!

CALIFORNIA PLASTIC BAG BAN : OPINION BY PATRIOTIC PURCHASE BLOGSPOT

California has now banned plastic shopping bags at stores within the whole state.  (Stores we've purchased at are allowing you to provide your own, or will sell you a paper bag for a dime and sometimes give away heavy promotional plastic bags or sell heavy plastic bags, destined, they hope, for reuse.  Though there have been local votes in some places, such as Los Angeles City, any further localization of this ecology driven law is pointless.

On the basis that so many plastic bags are imported from China and other countries rather made in the USA, we have for the last few years tried to find and use bags made in the USA, with little success except for cloth bags bought at Trader Joe's.

WE HAVE FOUND SHOPPING MORE CUMBERSOME THAN EVER.  We really want a bag from the store we just purchased in to carry our purchase out and around.  We try to carry some folded, previously used bags around, jammed in a purse or the backseat of a car, but despite our best efforts we still find ourselves out shopping and needing more bags.

We have been stopped when our own bags, bulging with purchases from more than one store, appeared suspicious to sales clerks or a buzzer went off at a store front through no fault of our own.  GREAT!  Recently we were carrying both Farmer's Market Produce and clothing bought on sale in one bag when we entered a third store on a shopping avenue and the buzzers went off.  Then again, we were once accidently charged for a library book at a cash register when we set the book down to get the wallet out.

MANY OF THE BAGS STORES ARE CHARGING A DOLLAR TO FIVE DOLLARS FOR  HEAVIER BAGS THAT STILL FALL APART RAPIDLY.  Often it's the handles that detach or we see a hole in the bottom after a couple uses.  Don't know how many uses you're getting from them, but we did try to machine wash a couple of them (in cold water) that looked a little stained or stinky and that did them in.  These heftier bags are often also made in China or other countries, and they are badly sewn and falling apart so rapidly, and then must be thrown out.  From the looks of them, they will take a very long time to degrade naturally, especially in that PLASTIC is one of the materials used for these bags, such as the ones that are plastic over woven straw. 

WE THINK THE IMPACT IS ON WATERWAYS and THE OCEAN WILL EVENTUALLY BE POSITIVE, but banning plastic bags is not enough...  Also what should be banned is fast food drink containers and lids and straws because this isn't so much about the bags but the LITTER BUGS WHO DON'T THROW THINGS AWAY PROPERLY...   Maybe PLASTIC IN GENERAL SHOULD NO LONGER BE USED... (Can you image, no more plastic shower curtain?  Picnic table cloth? ) Really that SEA OF PLASTIC IN THE PACIFIC THAT'S THE SIZE OF TEXAS is VERY TELLING...  However, SINCE PLASTIC BAGS ARE NECESSARY TO THROW TRASH OUT IN and the bags themselves go to the LANDFILLS we are not sure really how the plastic shopping bag ban will improve the ecological impact ON LAND!

WE JUST THINK THE COST OF THE BAGS WENT TO THE CONSUMER INSTEAD OF THE STORE.

Another phenomena is that BRING YOUR OWN BAGS seems to mean BAG YOUR OWN BAGS!  That is also saving stores money they should be paying employees.

PHONE ADS 1940'S - BEFORE THERE WERE CELL PHONES

OBAMA CARE - IN THE WORKS - DON'T PANIC YET!

We've started researching our choices for the new Obama Care Medical Plan.  We got through a toll free number and were referred elsewhere and there are glitches on the computer systems, so we got off to a false start. 

We know that people are feeling really challenged with this.

Some say only the uninsured are happy about Obamacare. 

A friend of ours who is familiar with the Canadian system, what he calls socialism in medicine, and he said, if it turns out to be that bad people will regret it.  He sites long waits for surgeries in particular.

We can't panic yet.

Panic only leads to iffy decisions.

You don't have to sign up for another four or five months...

TRADER JOES CLOTH CARRY BAGS MADE IN THE USA

Lowell Massachusetts has historically been the scene of the textile industry in the United States.  For less than $5.00 we bought a cloth Trader Joes bag, well designed in beiges and power blues and browns, with a proud MADE IN THE USA label, noting Lowell.  WE WERE SO HAPPY TO SEE THIS.

In the past we have bought at least a dozen bags for about a dollar a piece to carry our groceries out of stores.  Almost all of them were made in China.  Of all the bags we bough that were not cloth, the Trader Joe's bags are the ones that lasted.

We don't see the end of plastic bags, just the end of free plastic bags.  We still need them for picking up doggie do do, and many other things.

We do our best to recycle and reuse things, to pick up our garbage and take it home with us when we go to the beach or visit the mountains, because we don't want to contribute to the Sea of Plastic, or allow our streets to be filled with litter.

THE NEW $100 BILL BEGINS CIRCULATION TODAY : INSPECT THE NEW FEATURES HERE!

NEW MONEY GOV - THE NEW $100 BILL   Bell in the Inkwell.  New 3d thread...  Here's the new Benjamin ... It is the policy of the United States that no matter when currency was manufactured it remains legal currency.

Little story...  A man walking his dog down our street several months ago thought he was rich when he found a roll of $20 bills laying on the ground.  He showed the money to another dog walker, someone with a business, who quickly ID'd the  money as counterfeit.  It was handed over to the local police.  Our government is always trying to be one step ahead of those who circulate fake bills.  Purchases made with fake bills equals theft, stolen merchandise, though it's sure not funny when you're the dupe a fake bill was passed to and the one who gets caught trying to use it!

LABOR DAY : WE SUPPORT AMERICAN LABOR

On this Labor Day, we encourage you to browse through our archives - previous posts - where you will find links to the U.S. Department of Labor, and so much else. WE SUPPORT AMERICAN LABOR. We're all for MADE IN THE USA! We are consumer advocates. We believe that American Made products are among the BEST IN THE WORLD. We want everyone who is able bodied working. We even want disabled people to be able to support themselves as much as they are able!

AFTER DINNER SPECIAL AD