Today I learned that one of my favourite boutiques in town is going out of business, which is a damned shame; its funky and elegant and the prices are reasonable and everything is more or less luxury fair trade.  Apparently she has to close because she is tired, and I can understand that, but I am really going to miss her store.  Almost everything there is moderately priced luxury fair trade that I would love to fill my closet with, but cannot afford on social services.  She is closing because she is tired, which I can understand.  Shame though.  She is running a sale on knits and leggings until the end of January apparently.

Speaking of leggings.  Today I read the most shamefully disgusting example of American Quiltabanism I have ever seen Quiltaban Body Shames 17-Year-old in Leggings.

Since I recently learned that in conflict zones where a lot of cell phone material comes from in the Congo, whether or not a little girl is wearing panties can dictate whether or not she is kidnapped, raped, or murdered — panties being evidence that she has a man looking after her apparently —  I can’t begin to explain how disturbed I am that American culture thinks behaviour like this is acceptable while bombing the very places they’ve built their empire on.

Anyways.  I swung by One Man’s Treasure, which is..  my mom works at the bottle depot, and she used to dream of owning a boutique full of stuff made by kids like me with a coffee shop.  One Man’s Treasure is basically her old work place transformed into a candy store for shoppers like me — antiques and funky things, all fair trade, with several vendors using the real estate to network with buyers, and bought some fair trade chocolate that was so rich it made me ill, and I had been thinking about and writing about for about two weeks.

I started looking for work in the paper today; there are a few things that look interesting actually, including sewage software consultant.  Given my research into the oil divestment thing this is pretty much a dream; but since I have given myself three concussions in three months, I’m not really sure that I’m up to holding a full time or even part time job, especially since I got sick on the way home from town.

Stopped by the lingerie shoppe too, Bayberries Intimates, and spoke to the owner about some of the sites that I have been window shopping at, like Buttress and Snatch, which I think is just the cutest name, and showed her the collection called Queen of the Clover, which I am particularly fond of.  They are getting ready for their official grand opening, and I received an invitation for it on Saturday, January 30.

Tried contacting the bookkeeper about getting my taxes sorted so I can start to deduct my purchases and living expenses as a securities and commodities fair trade blogger and promotional model from my taxes.  Still waiting on that one.

Ran into a Korean war veteran who asked me if I really needed my cane; I rarely ever carry it to lean on but actually at about shoulder height or hip height, but I do have the physical injuries to require it and a job that demands some form of self protection.  He suggested that I speak to community services about teaching self defense to elderly people or disabled with canes.  Not necessarily a bad idea really.  Maybe I could arrange something through the Legion.

It was a good day.