EVERYTHING IS MADE IN CHINA!!!! (aka a new years resolution update)

I thought I would update you on my resolutions. I've done pretty good eating my fruits and veggies. I'm holding on to try an ween off gluten til I feel like I have the fruits and veggies thing down (and til I eat the massive amount of couscous I have in my house!) 

The main struggle has been not buying things from China, because usually that is the only option. I have two examples. One of the tumblers I take to work broke, so I wanted to replace it. I looked at Target, Ross, JoAnns and the gift shop at work- all the tumblers sold at each of these stores were from China! I finally found one at World Market that was made in Taiwan, but it didn't have a lid. A little research led me to Bed Bath and Beyond where they sell Tervis (made in America) tumblers. A bit more expensive, but I like knowing the product was made here.

The second item I struggled to find was a day planner. I know I could use my phone but every year for many years I have had a planner, and I love looking through the designs and picking out my favorite. So I went to Barnes and Noble today-there were plenty of cute designs to chose from-at least 50 different styles to chose from, but from those 50+ options, 3 (only THREE!!) were not made in China! Luckily I liked one quite a bit, but still. I had never paid attention to where my products were made before. It is so hard to find items not made in China, let alone made in the USA.

I think everyone should try not to buy products made in China, maybe even just for a month just to see how dependent our economy is on foreign labor. It's unreal! 

I did read this article today though that makes me have hope that I won't be totally ostracized while shopping forever =)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/01/22/265080779/as-overseas-costs-rise-more-u-s-companies-are-reshoring

New year resolutions

I have 4 resolutions this year. One will be fun, therefore easier to keep. We'll see how I do!

1. Learn to sew

I'd like to earn some extra money and it would be nice if it was for something i enjoyed doing. I've wanted to learn to sew for a while and hopefully I can get good enough to make some money on the side by it :)

2. Try to buy more products made in the US and stop buying things that were made in China

This one might be hard! I don't really pay much attention to labels...

3. Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day

I did this one year and felt a lot healthier once I got started. I know it's supposed to be 5 different types of fruits and vegetables a day but I think that might be too difficult so I am shooting for 5 servings from 3 different sources.

4. Only eat one serving of gluten a day

This one will be the hardest because I love bread so much! I actually for a period thought I had a gluten sensitivity and didn't eat it for a few weeks. I was hungry all the time but I felt mentally sharper so I'm going to try to limit the amount of gluten I take in.

Wish me luck!