Tornadoes & Mom

This evening I put pencil to paper to draft this blog entry. The local news played in the background, displaying a myriad of bright colors to illustrate the dangerous storm front moving into the area. There was the occasional break in by the National Weather Service updating the surrounding counties under the Tornado Watch. For my Virginia neighbors, you know that we have been experiencing far too many of these damaging storms lately (as evidenced by the heavy damage at Page Middle School and loss of life in Glouceter County).

As the sound of thunder rolled in the distance, I figured I'd play it safe and leave the computer turned off. No sense risking a power surge that could possibly damage it. So after scrounging around for some notebook paper, I set about the task of writing this entry, keeping a wary eye on the conditions out the window and an ear open for those NWS bulletins.

I couldn't help but think back to the tornado my family and I survived when I was about age 7. It was a beautiful day--a hot one though (much like today). My sisters and I were playing in the front yard--hopscotch if memory serves me correctly. We noticed the wind pick up by paid it little mind--oblivious to how green the sky was growing. There was a funny smell in the air as I recall. What I remember the most, aside from the sound of a freight train, was standing there motionless watching the cloud descend. The next thing I kenw, I felt an intense pain in the back of my head as my mother jerked me up by my pony tail. I was so mesmerized by the storm I hadn't heard her screaming my name. We ran into the house and were huddled in the hallway in the center of the house. Mom threw a blanket over the three of us, told us to hang on to one another, and that she loved us. The tornado seemed to bounce back and forth across the street and hit every other house. We were one of the lucky ones. Our house was skipped and left relativelyb unscathed by flying debris.

Thinking back, I don't remember my mother telling me that she loved me very often while I was growing up. I'm sure she did so more often than I actually remember. Buty my sisters and I grew up part of a growing statistic--products of divorced parents. So life wasn't always very easy for us. We weren't a family that shared our emotions with each other. So as an adult, I haven't found it very easy to express those feelings to them now.

Mother's Day always presents a challenge--not so much in terms of what to buy for her but what to say to her in a greeting card. Sappy lines of prose don't really fit. Picturesque description of childhood memories don't often apply. However, this year, things are a little different. See, my mother is beginning to have great difficulty with her memory. As the memory loss worsens, she has begun experiencing high anxiety. She now makes a point to tell me she loves me every time we talk.

So now my focus ha shifted--finding the words to use in a greeting card isn't so much about reminiscing about childhood events. It has become more about letting my mother know that I'm here for her, love her, and want to enjoy the time we have together now. I noticed that she has already started having a hard time calling me by my name, often calling me by one of my sisters'. Keeping this in mind, I created a design based on the premise of a family tree--incorporating all three of our names.

I've framed the print in a floating frame and paired it with a matching card. This design has been made available for sale on our Etsy site. It will be personalized with your own names and your choice of colors. It will be shipped out in Priority Mail, but be sure to order soon to make sure it's received in time for Mother's Day on May 8th (although it would also make a good birthday gift as well).

Whatever you give your mother this year, make sure you're focusing on what is more important--letting her knjow you love her.

Oh, and by the way, 5 tornadoes touched down in our area tonight. The damage reports won't be in until morning and we have another storm line heading to the area later tonight. However, my neighborhood didn't experience the brunt of the storm and I'm grateful. I hope you and your family are also safe. Time to shut down the computer for the next round...

Choosing Handmade

A fellow Etsy crafter is quoted as saying: “Choosing handmade is choosing a slower way of life, one rooted in tradition and creative expression. Handmade always involves a story that is as much about the maker as it is about the product.”

In the age of mass produced goods, it’s often hard to find handmade items. While the Industrial Revolution brought about a factory system that allowed for mass production of textiles and other goods, hands-on artisan skills shifted to mechanical production in factories in major cities. This mass production brought about a lower cost for goods and an increase in the number of jobs available.

Such advances in technology and energy led to urbanization, an influx of capital that allowed businesses to grow, and a new social class structure. However, today, a significant portion of American companies have found cheaper alternatives to production outside of our borders and failed trade policies with other countries have decimated the manufacturing base in the United States.

Today, we are hard pressed to find items in our own homes that were not manufactured in Bangladesh, China, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Thailand. The result of the lack of American-made goods available, unfortunately, has led to a drastically altered structure of our economy. Quality of merchandise and artisan skill has fallen to the wayside when compared to the cost benefit of mass produced items.

However, this cost savings has also cost valuable manufacturing job positions in this country. As a result of our floundering economy, focus is being shifted to the purchase of American-made products. A recent study has shown that if each American spent 1% more each day (just 18¢) on domestic goods, it could produce 200,000 new jobs.

That’s where websites like Etsy come into play. Etsy was formed in 2005 to showcase handmade or vintage items as well as arts and crafts supplies. It has grown significantly to tens of thousands of sellers and five times that amount in buyers. In 2007, Etsy celebrated its one-millionth sale. The site follows in the tradition of open-air craft fairs and allows sellers to have a personal online storefront from which to list their handmade goods for sale. Another rich feature of the online community is the “Buy Local” feature that allows you to search for artisans in your local community. So not only are your purchases helping American-based artisans, but they can also support local craft businesses that in turn help the economy by paying sales taxes.

Etsy has a permanent lab located in DUMBO, Brooklyn (New York), which they call “Etsy Labs”. They are also one of the main members of the Handmade Consortium—a 2007 effort to encourage buying handmade holiday gifts. Etsy keeps their pricing structure simple, charging sellers 20¢ for each item listing plus 3.5% of each sale. It doesn’t cost anything to create a buyer account and get started purchasing handmade goods, vintage items, and supplies.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the site, click here: www.etsy.com. If you’d like take a look at the handmade items Busy Lil’ Bees Designs has to offer on Etsy, check out our online storefront at www.busylilbees.etsy.com. REMEMBER: Shop local and buy homemade.