Find the Lead
The Chicago Tribune conducted some lead testing in toys. I’m not sure how these things sneak into the country, obviously the testing agency are idiots or maybe someone isn’t telling the truth when reporting the lead contained in each toy.
If you are really concerned, Consumer Reports has a list of some home lead-testing kits that you can purchase and how well they work.
Also, the DailyGreen has a list of 250 lead-free toys. I can’t believe you actually need a list!
Thinking you should ban Made in China toys from your house? Well, Palm Bay, Florida is trying to ban all made in china products from the entire town. I doubt it will succeed but it will be interesting to see how far this goes.
This Year’s Toys, Next Year’s Trash
Before you go out and buy the latest and greatest toys for your kids, head on over to WiseBread and read why this year’s hot toys are next year’s trash.
The tech toys are the worst, you probably will need plenty of batteries and accessories. Plus, by this time next year they will be in the bottom of the toy box or even broken. Save yourself the hassle and try and get timeless toys that aren’t one dimensional.
Dressing Children like Children
Check out this article in the New York Sun about how skimpy clothes with names that would make our grandparents blush are being marketed to a younger and younger crowd.
We headed for our favorite department store, ready to take that leap into the world of 7–16. Bye-bye, 4–6X, I thought to myself with a tug of sadness. My baby was growing up.
And apparently into a prostitute.
Read on for more hilarity as one mother ponders just what is going on with her daughter’s clothes.
Are You a Bad Parent?
On Balance has a great article about how it is do difficult to be a parent these days.
It seems every other day a study comes out that changes the standard way of thinking that we got from a previous study! Baby Einstein is good, Baby Einstein is bad. Day care makes bad kids, day care doesn’t change your kids.
How do you keep your sanity as a parent?
Garden Ideas, Part 2
Another summer garden crop that we have had much success with is tomatoes. I usually spend all spring thinking about fresh tomatoes. And I usually end up planting too many tomato plants. (We also get fresh tomatoes all summer from our local CSA farm.) We get the tomato seedlings free at the local university open house in the spring, so we don’t even pay for the seeds/seedlings! And I forget, every year, just how big the vines can get! They usually end up overshadowing whatever I have planted close to them.
Cherry tomatoes are a huge hit with The Boy. I will often find him out in the garden, eating juicy, red cherry tomatoes right off the vine. Of course, by the end of the summer, I am giving away bags of them to everyone in the neighborhood.
The regular tomatoes, though, I am a little more frugal with. What we don’t eat fresh (on pizza, sandwiches and just plain!), I like to freeze. I freeze tomatoes whole, without cooking them. I don’t know if this is the ‘right’ way to do it, but it works for me. I cut off the tops, put several in a freezer ziploc bag and ’suck’ as much air out as I can before sealing it. I label the bag and pop it in the freezer. Freezer tomatoes are great to use in sauces and such later on. Take a bag out of the freezer and allow it to thaw a bit in the refrigerator. Empty the tomatoes into a microwave-safe bowl and finish thawing. The skins slip off quite easily and the tomatoes can go right into the pot or the pan.
Another way to save your excess tomatoes is to make spaghetti sauce and freeze that. If you live in an area that will support the growth of tomatoes all summer, try growing some yourself and save some $$ on fresh tomatoes all summer and sauces throughout the winter!
Garden Ideas, Part 1
We are lucky enough to live in a very moderate climate and can have a garden growing all year round. Here are some of our success stories. They might be crops for you to try if you too live in a moderate climate. I have found the internet to be the best resource for figuring out what to plant and when.
We have a variety of herbs growing, especially during the summer months. Parsley, chives, rosemary, thyme, and basil are wonderful to have on hand and fresh. I hate to buy an entire bunch of fresh herbs at the store when a recipe only calls for one teaspoon or some very small amount. This feels very wasteful to me and I haven’t had success with freezing or drying the leftovers yet. I love to just grab my scissors and step outside to clip what I need right off the plant! Herbs can easily be grown in pots and planters too, if space or temperature is an issue for you.
We have had huge success with basil and rosemary especially. The Man has to hack back the rosemary every fall and we still get a huge bush by the next summer. Basil thrives in our region during the summer months. We love to use it fresh in salads, on pizzas and in sandwiches. But my favorite thing about basil is pesto. Pesto is so easy to make and freezes really well. Throw some fresh basil in a food processor with some olive oil, pine nuts and garlic. Process until smooth. Use it fresh with pasta or in eggs or as a sandwich spread. Or freeze it to use throughout the winter months. I freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop it out and store it in a freezer ziploc bag. At the end of the basil growing season, I make a huge batch and freeze it to use throughout the cooler months.
Cheap, Easy and Fun Toy
The Boy loves to pretend to cook and serve us food. At Grandma’s house, he has a whole collection of empty containers that he uses. However, we don’t really have a good place to store all kinds of empties at our own house. So, I’ve recently started cutting the pictures of food off of cardboard containers. They all fit quite nicely into a ziploc bag. He can use our regular (non-breakable) dishes to play with the ‘food.’
I found this cheap, easy toy idea at Instructables.
Thomas the Tank Engine Website
The Boy is a big fan of Thomas and Friends. We have found some fun coloring pages and computer games at the Thomas and Friends website. He still needs a grown-up to help him with the games.
A save the environment and save some money hint is to print the pictures back to back, or print on recycled paper that still has one side blank.
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