Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Say No to CPSIA!


Check out Design Mom for more details on what you can do and how!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Can the world please slow DOWN!

Lauren is hoping that tomorrow will be a snow day. We have been so busy with the holiday's and my sister's wedding that we have not had a chance to slow down. We need some time off from the insanity of life.

The kids have been sick, I have been sick, Lauren is great. It has been tough to get back into the swing of things. Life needs to slow down for a few weeks.

Does someone have a Pause Button.

w.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Catching Up on Christmas

I know that it's mid-January and I'm just now getting to our Christmas recap. Sorry.

Christmas Eve


Christmas morning


The day after Christmas

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A sidenote

In a past life, I did Congressional fundraising. At any given moment I could pick up the phone and reasonably expect to speak with a congressional chief-of-staff.

As I have been looking into the CPSIA and trying to voice my opinion, all I'm getting are the interns. You know, the ones that don't get paid to answer the phone.

CPSIA Update

Heidi added a link in her comments about the resale of used clothing and toys. The CPSC clarification states, "Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards."

BUT, they are still liable if they sell something that doesn't fall under the new limits.



How will CPSIA effect you?

You may have noticed the "Save the Handmade" tag on the side of my blog. This law has me worried and I don't think most people realize how it will effect them. I try not to get political, but after contacting my elected representatives... The word needs to get out about how this will effect families in middle America.

On February 10th the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will go into effect. The basics are that it requires VERY expensive testing for lead and other chemicals on clothing and toys for children 12 and under.

How does this effect us? Not only will it be impossible for small businesses to afford the testing and provide quality products for our kids, it will make it illegal for places such as Goodwill, DI and Salvation Army to sell anything for children. We will no longer be able to buy clothes for our kids at thrift stores, garage sales, ebay... anything "slightly" used will be out of the question. I know that this will hurt us and I can't even imagine how this will effect families who rely on used clothing and toys for their children. On top of it all, why in the world would you make it more difficult for families to provide when our economy is in recession. I read a blog this morning that had done an economic impact study of the CPSIA. I can't tell you how accurate these numbers are or their sources. (Feel free to check it out!) But this is what they had to say:
"The cut to the chase summary shows over 70 million dollars worth of inventory must be destroyed on February 10, 2009 (National Bankruptcy Day) and of those enterprises that expect to survive the fall-out (61% will not), over 40 million dollars in lost product sales are anticipated."
I have already contacted both my Congressman and my Senator. Please take a minute to do the same. I've included links below to information on contacting your legislature. And please pass this on to other families who would be effected by the CPSIA.

Contact your Congressmen!

Contact your Senator(s)!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Upside

I'm sure you've read about my past "quest for the skinny pants", the ups and the downs. Or you have seen the sidebar, responded and never heard back from me about reaching those goals. Mostly because it hasn't happened.

Just before Thanksgiving I made a new goal...lowered the bar, so to speak. That goal was to not gain anything over the holidays. If I could just maintain through the holidays, then it would be a success and I could start fresh. And thanks be to food poisoning! I did it! I got on the scale this morning for my Healthy Living Group and was at the same place I was before the dreaded holiday and vacation snacking. The best part is that it helped me to be more excited about getting back on track. Now that we are home and getting settled back in, I've been thinking about my goals for the year and what's realistic for me to accomplish. But that will be another post. Until then, I'm off to figure out a healthy lunch and dinner! (and maybe this post needs one more exclamation point!)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

OOOhh-No!

I was so excited to come home and catch up. That is until fate derailed my plans. Fate in this case is also known as a monster case of food poisoning. As we were waiting in the airport for our flight home from Dallas, we were contemplating dinner options. Realizing we were going to be on the plane during that crucial hour, we wanted to be well prepared. So off I went in search of a quick, easy maybe even healthy meal. I found an Uno To Go and thought I had hit the jackpot... a sandwich, pizza, salad, and banana for Bug. Unfortunately around lunchtime yesterday we were faced with the following: Little Man cried hard when asked to eat his hot dogs for lunch and then ASKED to take a nap. He woke up about an hour later, crying that his belly hurt. This was repeated for the next four hours until we moved to the couch, where he promptly threw up. I was up with him on and off most of the night and thank goodness he seemed to be fine this morning. Now it's my turn. I wish I could get it over with so I could get rid of this nasty nauseous dizzy feeling creeping through my body.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Will I ever catch up?

Quite often I use this blog as my memory. It's the only way I can document what's going on... the highs and lows of holidays and the day to day. But things have been SO SO crazy for the last few weeks that even contemplating all the stuff I need to blog about is overwhelming and I can't remember it all. We are still in Texas and we'll be back in Maryland on Monday. Hopefully then I'll be able to sit down and remember the fun things we've done.

In the meantime, while in the car yesterday we asked Little Man where we were going. He responded, " to the temple... to get me MARRIED!!!" Wil, Aunt Robyn and I laughed so hard that I think it scared him a little, he wouldn't talk to us again for a while.