Elf Sternberg

This is true. (grin) I can't say much, there are several 'TV dinners' I actually like. And you're right, microwaving them turns them to cardboard.

And I also agree about the price. Yes, 'handmade' is expensive, but if the quality is good, the cost/benefit ratio is much better than *most* mass produced items...and for the same quality, the price is similar. I can buy a desk at K-mart...or I can go to the local Amish Oak and pay a great deal more. OR I could call my SIL, who makes custom furniture. The $100 I might spend at K-mart for said desk is definately cheaper that the $800 I'd pay at Amish Oak for a simple desk...and my SIL can make something of equal quality for around the same price. And that 'handmade' desk will last a very long time.

As far as clothing...sorry, when I look at a 'quality' piece of clothing (say a blouse) with a price tag of $80 or $90 bucks...and I *know* I can make it for under $15 or can buy a cheaply made version at K-mart for $20.00...guess which one of the three I'm going to pick? Fifty bucks for a skirt I could make for ten? Quality clothing costs far less to make than the astronomical price tags they stick on it, and even the 'quality' stuff has problems in the fit department. Not to mention the fact that with the quality stuff...you are paying big bucks for a 'label', and not necessarily the clothing itself. Buyer beware.

This bothers me for a couple reasons. Our society is becoming more and more a 'disposable' culture. Things are designed to last a minimum amount of time, work minimally well, and be disposed of rather than fixed. And it all has to go somewhere, espically that non-degradable plastic. We're more and more becoming a society of waste.

The other reason? People don't expect things to be well made anymore...and they don't value it when it is. They expect trash. What do the teachers always say about people living up to your expectations of them? If we expect trash...that's what we'll get.