Snapshot Sunday

A bit embarrassing that I haven't posted all week. Oh well.

Snapshot Sunday

My sister Sarah started this.

You simply post pics from around your house. Sometimes captioned sometimes not.

Only four today - I'm new at this.

I have to say and HUGE Thank You! to everyone who posted a comment on my last post. I really appreciated hearing from you. I posted a follow-up comment as well.

Also I must emphasize the Tuan did not forget Valentines Day. I just happened to think that it was a hilarious picture. Thanks for your conserns though! :o)

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/02/11/funny-pictures-hed-forgotten-this-time/

fail

I'm am having a virtual pity party.

You have been warned.

fail. Fail. FAIL!

Disgusting, magnificently awful fail.

I read a blog post about a mother who had the best time making play dough with her kids. Then they happily played with it for hours! Hey! I haven't made play dough in ages! I bet the kids would love that!

Hmmm - lets do a flour mix (buckwheat, starch and xanthan gum) and the cheap sea salt. That will probably work best.

Um - not so much. Way too sticky even if the color works through well.

A bit discouraged.

Weeeeeeell - lets try just buckwheat. No starch or xanthan gum.

Nope. It takes color a bit better but it's still way too sticky and rubbery.

A lot bit discouraged and now starting to get mad.

Look up a recipe for gluten-free play dough.

Almost exactly what I first tried, just without the xanthan gum. Might as well try it.

No. Just . . . no. Not as sticky but as you can see, the color would not work through at all. Is it like play dough? No. Not even close. Try to stretch it out and it just snaps back into shape. Texture: rubber, clammy, sticky.

Un-moldable play dough also meant that my prematurely anticipated 'me' time was not going to happen.

What a waste. What a complete waste.



Well - perhaps not a complete waste. You see it had been so long that neither kid knew what I was trying to create and just enjoyed what happened. I think I could take a few notes from their book.



So since I was sad, mad and depressed I decided we needed a treat. So I bundled the kids up and we drove across town to buy special gluten-free pretzels because chocolate dipped (ok, smothered) pretzels sounded like just the thing. And wouldn't you know - the store didn't have any more and wouldn't for a week. Perfect. So I told Emma that we could get something that was the same price. What did she choose? A block of uber-processed soy fake mozzarella cheese. Yep - that cost the same as a bag of pretzels. Oh yeah - it's meh. Just ok. It isn't cheese.

So what was a girl to do?





Thank goodness there were some leftover from last night.


*sigh*
Sometimes I forget that I can't make everything gluten-free.

Join the blog-in!

Yes - more about the CPSIA.

Just in case you think that it is all a big exaggeration, check out this article written by the author of The Rule of Lawyers and other books, Walter Olsen.

If someone you know volunteers at a thrift store or crochets baby hats for the crafts site Etsy or favors handmade wooden toys as a baby shower gift, you've probably been hearing the alarms about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).

(oh wait, that's me!)

Congress passed CPSIA in a frenzy of self-congratulation following last year's overblown panic over Chinese toys with lead paint. Washington's consumer and environmentalist lobbies used the occasion to tack on some other long-sought legislative goals, including a ban on phthalates used to soften plastic.

The first thing to note is that we're not just talking about toys here. With few exceptions, the law covers all products intended primarily for children under 12. That includes clothing, fabric and textile goods of all kinds: hats, shoes, diapers, hair bands, sports pennants, Scouting patches, local school-logo gear and so on.

And paper goods: books, flash cards, board games, baseball cards, kits for home schoolers, party supplies and the like. And sporting equipment, outdoor gear, bikes, backpacks and telescopes. And furnishings for kids' rooms

And even worse: Since the law does not exempt books, children's' sections at libraries and bookstores will, at minimum, face price hikes on newly acquired titles and, at worse, may have to rethink older holdings.

"Either they take all the children's books off the shelves," Associate Executive Director Emily Sheketoff of the American Library Association told the Boston Phoenix, "or they ban children from the library."

Believe it or not I used to be someone who thought - but our government would never let that happen! I mean - they work for us, right? But in the last 4 years especially I have come to realize that our government might just put their own interests ahead of ours. If we just sit back and do nothing because "surely something like this just couldn't happen", well then, it will! Please - write your legislators today!

Or get used to seeing this:
CPSIA Personalized Birthday Diaper Cover Bloomers and Bib 2 piece Set Custom

$4,268! But hey, shipping is free!


These are pics of Emma helping me stuff and stamp our letters to our legislators.




Two other participants in the blog-in:
http://crunchytown.blogspot.com/index.html
http://brightonwoman.blogspot.com/

It's never what you think

So I spent hours and hours on those paper dolls. Emma likes them and plays with them. Cool.

So my sister tells me about these doorway puppet theaters. So I decide that I have found the perfect use for a retired queensize fitted sheet.

I knocked this thing out in the 1 1/2 hrs that Daniel napped yesterday. No, it isn't professional. No, it isn't even very great looking. You can thank Emma for insisting that I add the lace trim. But you know what? They have played with it nearly non-stop since I set it up! No kidding! Most of their play does consist of standing on my lap (while I sit on a stool) and moving the "puppets" around while I provide the singing/narration/dialogue etc.


It is so much fun! It is the first outlet Emma has really embraced for pretend play.

So make one! Use an old sheet. Or some new cute fabric. Or buy one from one of these awesome Etsy shops! Your kids will love it! And I'm not telling you any measurments because I just measured the doorway I was putting it in and cut. It is just a bottom rectangle, a top rectangle and two skinny rectanles. I sewed the skinny ones to the top so that I only needed two rods. Do what you want.

Post note: I didn't spend a thing to make this. The sheet and thread we already had. The spring rods we already had for downstairs curtains (that's another post entirely! lol). And the lace and ties were in a big box of craft stuff I snagged from freecycle. (does your town have a yahoo freecycle group? you must check!) So this project was even a Tuan pleaser! heh, heh.

Tagged!

I got tagged by my friend Trish

7 Things I can Do Well

1-Procrastinate

2- Read

3- Talk

4- Love my husband and children

5- bake gluten-free

6- crochet

7- play the viola


7 Things I Can't Do

1- Stay caught up with laundry

2- hold my temper

3- See family & friends enough

4- Remember what I'm doing

5- Make meal plans

6- Draw

7- Go to sleep when I'm tired


7 Things that attracted me to my husband

1- he was my best friend

2- intelligence

3- looks

4- patience

5- spirituality

6- grounding influence on flighty me

7- we share the same interests and foods



7 Things I always say

1- hey

2- love you

3- confound it!

4- just a moment

5- fuel (instead of gas - thank Tuan for that one)

6- oh dear

7- I've got the munchies.


7 Things I love to eat

1- brownes


2- sushi!

3- my chocolate peanut butter popcorn

4- crockpot roasted peppers with pork chops (and onions and carrots and whatever veggie I happen to have!)

5- homemade mayo spread on flatbread w/ sliced tomatoes and basil


6- fried rice with fish sauce

7- glutenous goodies I will never eat again - flour tortillas (from our local mexican bakery), Papa Johns Pizza and cinnamon (or any) rolles

Welcome to an Evening of Music and Dancing

It was evening so it's a bit dark. Just make sure your screen isn't set on dim. As a musician this clip just makes my day. Take the minuite and 21 seconds to watch. I promis you won't be bored. It's so stinkin' cute! 'k, enough gushing.

Paper dolls!

It all started last Sunday. We sat behind a family with two adorable girls. They were playing with a set of magnetic dolls. They each came in a tin with a scene on the top and magnetic dresses, flowers, birds, shoes, hats etc. Emma was entranced and very excited when I told her that we had some sticky backed magnet sheets at home and we could make our own!

So I went searching for some paper doll patterns because I figured they would be perfect. I found a helpful page that has lots of links to free patterns. Most of them are eh - so, so. http://www.craftfreebies.com/paperdolls.html But these looked perfect! http://www.pattyreeddesigns.com/Pages/Dolls.html They do have a few quirks so let me know if you want to print them out and I'll share what I learned and spare you the aggrivation. lol

Here they are!


I laid out several colors and Emma put the doll on the color she wanted. Then improvised a stand and set to glueing them onto the cardboard.


Emma held out for quite a while waiting for me to get them finished after Daniel and Tuan went to bed but finally she fell asleep.


So I put on Stardust (haven't seen it? you must!) and got to cutting and pasting. I decided to set them all up and dress them so that when she got up in the morning she would see that they were finished. It is obvious that I dressed them because while the robes and pants are darling, she only dresses them in dresses! lol


The next day she chose a symbol for each doll and we color/shape coded the outfits. This is one of my tips! It is very frustrating for your child if they have no help figuring out which outfit fits which doll.


And now you are wondering - what about the magnetic dolls? Weeeeeell. . . . I used my magnet sheets to make Daniel a set of Berenstain Bears magnet dolls. And ran out of magnets before I finished so I am ordering some more magnet sheets. Best price I have found: Oriental Trading Co

What did you do today?

Today I made it a priority to involve my kids in an historic event.

So we made chocolate cupcakes (please don't read anything into that - this momma just happens to love chocolate) and red, white and blue frosting. Then we decorated them while watching Pres. Obama's inauguration address. Don't look to closely at the time stamp. Yes we watched it at 1pm. Yes, that was 3 hours after it actually happened. Don't tell my kids - they think they watched it live. lol I wasn't about to wake them up though when I knew I could catch a replay.

Lots of pics - sorry, I just couldn't cut any out.

Kids say the darndest things!

We were all sitting on the couch when D climbed on my lap and asked to nurse. So we got situated while Em looked on. I nearly choked on the chip I was eating when Emma said this.

"Careful not to drink all the milk Danyer, save some milk for me!"

Snow!!

Time for bundling up.

Time for making snow angels.

and Snowballerinas.

You can guess whos idea that was. lol

and sledding.

She would wipe out just so that she could lay there giggling, I kid you not.

And warming up with some hot chocolate after a day of snowy fun.

Paper hats

I first watched an Expert Village youtube vidio on hilling potatoes. For some reason I never made the jump from potato tips to party hats. Apparently they compile how to clips on just about everything!

I'm not sure why I was looking up how to make a hat out of newspaper, but this is what came up. Emma and I spent the next 20 minutes watching all of her videos. Wow! Super fun!

Check out Jenny on ExpertVillage -


Sarah - this one is for Hannah!

Christmas!

One month late.

A Christmas tradition in our home is that everyone gets to open a gift at midnight on Christmas Eve. It's always a new pair of jammy pants. Although as the kids get older it will probably change to be whichever of their gifts they choose.

Emma and Daniel each took a pic of us in our pants but I can't find them right now. You'll see them in the pictures that follow.

Anyhoodle!

From Grandpa S.

This came with a hammer. That is the most important piece! The recipient now walks around calling out "haammuh! haammuh!"


A whole set of wooden cutting foods. I was worried that this would be continuously fought over but am happy to be wrong. It is actually the source of hours of fun!


Aunt Cindy made Em and D each an apron and a craft smock! They love them both and immediately set to cooking with their aprons.


Emma went to the store with me and chose the fabric and pattern for her Christmas dress. I love what she chose! (Unfortunately this is the best pic I could get of her. She was a bit tired of pics after all the snaping away Christmas morning).


You know me - I took on too much and got swamped before Christmas. This dress was made the day before Christmas Eve after she went to bed. I was having unusual zipper problems and by 2 am was so sick of it all I just safety pinned the lining down and wrapped it up in her pillowcase from Grandma S. She liked it so much that she wouldn't let me take it off of her to sew down the lining! So she patiently sat and watched a movie on her new "dvdv" player while I sewed it down.


Very excited about the magnifying glass! In the background you see the shoes that she found in the store while looking for a phone. "mommy, mommy! I want these!" But I thought you wanted a phone. "I changed my mind. I want these shoes!" So she knew she was getting them for Christmas. I tried to wrap them in such a way that she didn't know which gift it was.



New slings! (I have decided to put myself of the list. I get a new sling now!)


Papa and Christina sent a whole boxful of stuffed animals. Daniel definately loves the fish the most!

What and who to write

Here are 2 links to help you quickly find the contact information for your congresspeople.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Letter:

Honorable Congressperson,

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts, and chemicals that made kids sick.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requires manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational companies to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each item have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their systems to include batch labels. Small businesses however, will likely be driven out of business by the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of as much as $4,000 or more per item. And the few larger manufacturers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills.

It is important for the CPSC to recognize that the majority of the materials used to manufacture apparel and other textile products are inherently lead-free. While trace elements may be found in some dyes, those amounts are well below the regulatory limits. Even if trace materials existed in the materials used to produce the textiles, very little would remain on finished fabrics because of the low application levels and the washing that occurs during processing.

There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Without prudent regulation from the CPSC, the CPSIA will result in unintended and devastating consequences to manufacturers of children’s products that pose little to no risk of lead exposure to children.


As your constituent I urge you to bring this to the nation's attention so that February 10th will not become "National Bankruptcy Day. The CPSIA must be ammended so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

Yours respectfully,
You!

Ballet

As an aswer to a question in my comments section I thought I would create a new post.

Emma is indeed enamored with ballet. She loves dancing and striking poses. To be completely honest about this picture (new header) - Emma just got new pink and red striped socks. She wanted to take a picture of them to send to her daddy at work. So she struck a pose to show them off. But since she was in front of the curtains all I got was a silluette. I liked the picture regardless and messed around in a great program my dad sent me (ACDSee) and came up with this.


Here is the original picture.


And this is what her socks looked like. If you look closely you can see Daniel showing off his Mike Wosowski socks as well. lol