My Buy American Christmas Shopping Journey

I try to buy stuff that was made in America for all my Christmas shopping. I've been doing it for a decade and was surprised to realize it has gotten easier.

The easiest place to go is etsy.com, where you can find unique hand crafted gifts made by artisans around the world. You can narrow your search to the US.

This year, I did an internet search for "made in america gifts". In the past, this has yielded overalls and socks or lists of expensive baubles. This time, I was happy to find more diversity with a bit more reasonable pricetag. Here and here.

Another good option is food. Who doesn't like a basket of brownies or fudge? I had a favorite auntie who used to send chocolate dipped apricots. It was so decadent. I hope these will aid my attempt at favorite auntie status.

Happy Holidays to all. Please comment below with any suggestions you have. I still have one gift to find!

Nanowrimo 2022

I have been doing Nanowrimo for more than ten years. I don't do it every year and I always participate as a "rebel", meaning I don't follow the rules and stick to strict word counts. I use it to motivate myself to try to write every day.

This year, I got a young lab and a lot of energy has gone into her training. She can do sit, down, come, leave it, give it. She goes to her spot when my boyfriend comes home from work and greets him politely, no jumping. She's crate trained and has settled down around company.

Needless to say, my writing went to the back burner. I have no idea how people with children get anything done.

So I have been working on the same project for three Nanowrimo's. This year, I was able to add 3,000 words. If I can do that again this month, I'll finally be finished!