Made in the U.S.A.

Here I go on the soap box again... sorry if I bore you, but sometimes I get a little bit passionate about things.

We had to buy the kids shoes today. That in itself was an adventure - but not the point. Josh caught my interest when he looked into the shoes we were buying and blurted out, "Made in China... hmph... figures." I immediately thought/said, "well, let's buy shoes made in America..." - yeah, pretty much impossible. THEY ARE ALL MADE IN CHINA!!!

The sad part is that I just did some very brief and quick research on the internet and found that there are maybe like a dozen or so shoe brands that claim to be Made in the USA. Of those brands, NEW BALANCE seemed to be the only shoe that I was familiar with and that we have bought in the past. I have a couple pairs for running.

I recently got an email from a good friend that talked about how lately everyone is wanting to read labels, buy organic, "go green", but yet no one is really paying much attention to where things are made. ***I mean, I guess I've always been aware that most shoes were made in China, but I've never taken it upon myself to KNOW which shoes are made in America!!*** My friend's email went on to ask (whoever read it) to start checking out the "made in" labels of off-brand products because many of them are proving to actually be made in the USA. Next time I grocery shop I'm gonna give it a shot to see what I can find out. I usually look over labels for ingredients if I am buying a new product, how hard can it be to see where it's made and to pick up the off-brand to compare.

With the supposed (and I'm not saying we are, or we are not - I just watch the news) economic crisis that we are in as a Nation - wouldn't it make sense to STOP giving our jobs and money to other countries and START (or continue) to support our own hard working Americans by purchasing those products that they make? And for that matter, why doesn't Walmart hire baggers to correctly bag my items??? Wouldn't that provide for better customer satisfaction which would encourage more spending and also provide more jobs? AND if things were properly bagged, wouldn't there be less plastic bag waste for the environment??? Customer service is in the toilet, the economy is is the toilet, - somebody PLEASE STOP THE INSANITY!!

Just imagine Uncle Sam pointing at you saying, "We need YOU to buy American!"

Can you feel the pride?! C'mon (like Anna says) "I can try Mommy!"
Here's a quick reference website I just found: Americans Working Homepage. You can pick out items by catagory and get a quick look at what brands are Made in the USA.

Oh, and Josh wanted me to let you all know that today we bought "yours truly" and vest, boots, and shirt - all camoflage - to gear me up for turkey hunting!! This is going to be a sight to see. No, I'm not actually going to hunt, I don't have the time to practice aiming a gun again, nor do I really feel the urge to shoot a turkey - I think I would probably freeze up or something. BUT, the goal is for me to video Josh on his first turkey hunt later this month - - - Stay tuned...

***I highly doubt that any of our hunting gear is made in the USA either - I'll have to check that out as well***