lead in toys/Made in China...beware of Happy Meal toys

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The LeapFrog Tag thingy. I saw them at Wal-Mart and it looks like certain books work with it. I saw the advertisement and thought it was neat until that crazy man in the lizard costume or whatever it is insinuated that books are boring unless they can be used by that talking pen. I cannot figure out how that thing helps kids learn to read as it says it does. It looks to me like that pen reads for them. My 6-year-old is in first grade and they are trying to teach her to read by phonics. So when she and I read together whenever she stumbles across a word I have her try to look at it and sound it out before I will give her an answer and most of the time she can. I think I am just frustrated by that whole industry now anyway because I have had salespeople come to my door basically telling me that my kid is going to be a dumbazz if I don't buy their expensive junk....all the other kids have it and mine will be left out in the cold. I guess I am not giving those electronics a chance. I cannot see what they can do for my child that I cannot.

With mine, the store-bought toys usually get ignored, while she instead plays happily with the box the toy came in. Strings are pretty much the Numero Uno toys for her. And bags. She spent this morning smugly sitting inside a clear plastic bag that had been a 12-pack of toilet paper, thinking I couldn't see her.

Lately she's developed an huge liking for grocery twist-ties. So recently I began making her "spiders" out of a couple twist-ties twisted together in the middle to form a body, and the ends of the ties are legs. She goes NUTS with these, especially in the kitchen, since they scoot and skitter in a very lifelike manner when she bats them across the linoleum. She also likes to grab the spider and zoom all over the house with it.

Eventually she hides them, and I have to make her another. I'm sure that someday if I ever move, I'll probably discover old twist-tie "spiders" in all sorts of unlikely places.

I came across this blog today on Craigslist: http://www.thechaistory.blogspot.com/

And if you have a dog, it's a must-see. It details what happened to a dog that was severely injured by a dog toy called a "Pimple Ball" made by Four Paws, Inc. The dog ended up losing his tongue, and the pain he had to endure was excruciating.

The dog's owner relates that the Four Paws Co. hasn't owned up to the fact that its toy is dangerous, and he's calling for a international boycott of Four Paws, Inc. After watching his video links of his poor dog's suffering, even though I have cats, I plan to be sure I don't purchase ANYTHING from this company, andhopefully you won't either.

If it is something solid like that, the Drano can't break it up. In our case, it was the toilet when our kids were small with a Petey toy from McDonalds. We tried plungers and eels, and finally took the toilet up, and there it was stuck in the curve of the drain.

First, try a plunger and see if you can get it to break loose. Yes it will kind of make a mess, and I recommend the 2.00 trip to Walmart to use a sanitary new plunger! If that will not do it, try taking the trap off (the u-shaped piece of pipe). Most pipes these days are plastic PVC so it should be pretty easy to loosen the fittings. VERY, VERY IMPORTANT! Shut both the hot and cold water valves off under the sink before doing anything!! Yes again speaking from experience! If the water lines come loose during this process, it makes a HUGE mess. Whatever is plugging your sink up is probably trapped in there. Yes it is kind of gross what sticks in your sink, but it is much cheaper (2.00 for the plunger) than calling the plumber. If that still does not work, then call the plumber. The problem may be underground roots from trees near the home or who knows what. Hope this helps.

Millions of toys recalled; contain 'date rape' drug

Two U.S. children went into comas after swallowing Chinese-made Aqua Dots found to contain a chemical that converts into 'date rape' drug when ingested.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested. Two children in the United States and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

With only seven weeks until Christmas, the recall is yet another blow to the toy industry - already bruised by a slew of recalls this past summer.

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Child deaths have prompted FDA hearings on the safety of cold and cough medicines. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports

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In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy distributed by Toronto-based Spin Master Toys. They are called Bindeez in Australia, where they were named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.

It could not immediately be learned whether Aqua Dots beads are made in the same factories as the Bindeez product. Both are sold by Australia-based Moose Enterprises.

The toy beads are sold in general merchandise stores and over the Internet for use in arts and crafts projects. They can be arranged into designs and fused together when sprayed with water.

Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

Naren Gunja from Australia's Poisons Information Center said the drug's effect on children was "quite serious ... and potentially life-threatening."

The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday several hours after published reports about the recall in Australia.

Fisher-Price recalls 155,000 toys for choking risk

The two U.S. children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into nonresponsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said Wednesday afternoon.

In Australia, the toys were ordered off store shelves on Tuesday when officials learned that a 2-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. A 19-month-old toddler also was being treated.

The news jolted the toy industry because Aqua Dots has been one of the few bright stars of the toy selling season, which, along with overall retailing, has gotten off to a sluggish start. The item, which had been heavily advertised, had appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys, and toy sellers are now in the midst of canceling advertising and scrambling to figure out how to replace it.

Chris Byrne, a New York-based toy consultant, noted that the incidents could have been isolated, and Spin Master may be erring on the side of caution.

"This is something that they could not have foreseen. This is an extremely hot toy. ... It's a little scary," Byrne said.

In a statement, Toys "R" Us Inc., said that it issued on Tuesday a "stop sale" on the entire Spin Master Aqua Dots product line in its North American stores and on its Web site after it learned of the news. "We understand that Spin Master and U.S. regulatory authorities are investigating this product and we have asked Spin Master to fully explain what it believes happened," said the toy seller in a statement.

Meanwhile, a separate recall was announced for 405,000 children's products made in China, most of them toy cars, because of dangerous levels of lead.

The recall includes about 380,000 Pull-Back Action Toy Cars imported by Dollar General Merchandising Inc. of Goodlettsville, Tenn., and 7,500 Dragster and Funny Car toys imported by International Sourcing Ltd. of Springfield, Mo.

Four of the recalled products were imported by Schylling Associates Inc. of Rowley, Mass., including the items Duck Family Collectable Wind-Up Toy, Dizzy Ducks Music Box, "Robot 2000" collectable tin robot and Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top. The company recalled another 66,000 spinning tops Aug. 22.

Representatives from Schylling Associates Inc. were not immediately available for comment.

Wednesday's recalls include about 7,200 "Big Red" Wagons imported by Northern Tool & Equipment Co. of Burnsville, Minn. Totaling about 405,700, the recalled children's products all had excessive levels of lead in their surface paint.

Although no illnesses connected to the toy car recall have been reported, lead is toxic if ingested by young children. Children's products found to have more than 0.06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

More toys recalled on lead paint hazard

Panel to push for greater U.S. recall power

Last night our 1st-5th grade choir (20 students) presented their Christmas program at church. This is my first year of working with this group of kids as we've been members at this church only a year now. I've never been one to assign parts by "popularity" vote and try to make sure that every child that wants a speaking and/or solo gets it if at all possible, and for those that don't speak up to get one I ask them personally if they want a special role in the program.

In last night's production I asked a boy who is severely ADHD if he would take one of the main roles as I'm very aware that kids like this need that channel for their energy and it boosts their self esteem. He was very excited to do this and did a great job... even with it being hard for him to learn his lines.

The best part though was we have a girl in the show who is learning disabled and has a severe speech impediment. I gave her a speaking part and a solo, and she worked hard with her mom to learn it. She did very well and most people could understand what she said or sang. After the show her mom told me that it was her favorite Christmas program of all of her life because I asked Madison to have that role instead of the other kids, and how much it meant to both of them that I didn't overlook her.

The pastor told me that he was very impressed that I especially gave roles to these 2 kids that over the prior years have been overlooked because of the way they are, and that I reworked the play to give every child involved at least one set of speaking lines so everyone had that special moment in the show.

Doing things like this is what kids need regardless of their artistic ability. The 1st & 2nd graders worked as hard as the 5th graders did on learning the music & drama and some of them even out-sang the older kids! I've been in churches before where the music director picked the favorites/most popular and it certainly happens in the schools, so I always want the kids and parents to know that I will not abide by the popularity vote and show my love for these kids & God by giving everyone a chance in the spotlight.

I have tried twice to tell this story but deleted it both times because the story is just too long so I will be as short as I can.

I have a bunch of ROTTEN TO THE CORE sisters. My sisters are just about the worst people I have ever met in my whole 43 years on this planet. There is one who is especially bad and I just told my other sister that if she ever dies, to please not call me as I won't come to any wake or funeral for her because I HATE her guts. I come from a very large family with 5 sisters and 1 brother with my brother being the oldest. He is not involved. He sort of "left" the family years ago because he couldn't take the bulls**t of my sisters anymore. They did terrible things to him after his divorce. We rarely see him now. I am considered a scumbag and a loser because my husband and I don't make a lot of money. We don't own a home. We don't have gorgeous cars. We can't give our 3 children everything they want and we can only give them small amounts of what they actually need, but we do try. We love our children with everything in our souls. They have made fun of me and my husband and insulted us to our faces. My husband and I have a difficult marriage as he is tough to get along with so they hate my husband's guts. My sisters have all gone out to dinner without inviting me. I have found out because of someone's slip of the tongue. They have made threats and sent rumors flying throughout the family, without me knowing, about calling DCYF on me. I heard that one too from a slip of the tongue. I cried for 2 hours in the shower that day. They talk about everyone and I mean everyone badly. They have a well known reputation in a couple of our towns here for being mean horrible girls. They are about as fake and phony as a person can get. Sweet and all smiles to your face and when you turn around, they stick that knife in as far as they can get it in. They have what they have in their lives because of what someone has given them. My sister had her property given to her by her in-laws. It is worth about $1,000,000. My other sister had land given to her by her husband's family so they could build their house and then his parents used to come over with BIG fat checks "to lessen their mortage burden" so now they owe almost nothing on their $500,000 house. They think they are fabulous people. They think they are the cat's meow. In the past years when we were all talking and I would be invited to a holiday, I was not spoken to at all the whole time I was there. I am a venter and I always have been so if my husband and I are fighting, I will always go to my older sister (one up from me) and vent and vent until I can't talk anymore because I just get so angry. She gets on the phone the second I leave and tells every person in my family what is going on. They in turn judge me and my husband, make their threats, and so on. This is also happening to my oldest sister and her partner (she is in a gay relationship but was always dating a man and was married twice) and my sister's daughter and her family. The three of us, me, my sister and her partner, and my sister's daughter and her family, talk. We get along well. We are happy with each other. We don't judge each other. Whatever happens in each other lives, we just accept it and don't judge each other because we realize that each other has their own life and they will deal with whatever comes on their own with their own family in their own way. I now attend holidays at my sister's daughter's home. I don't leave her house after a holiday feeling lonely or sad or angry because no one would speak to me. I don't feel judged. The sisters (I like to call them the Witches of Eastwick) all attend holidays with each other up at my sister's husband's family's cabin in the mountains. The three of us are not invited. My older sister has a son. Several yeas ago, my sister and her partner had a terrible fight with him. He went to the witches and told them a bunch of lies and now they have pretty much shunned her and her daughter and me too because we still talk to her. I have a sister, who is involved in all of this, that I speak to on a regular basis. She is close to my kids or at least my oldest son. She pretty much ignores my other two children and they tell me, It's alright mommy, we know Aunty Becky hates us." She is the one who has spread rumors about me in the family trying to get everyone to call DCYF on me. I heard this too by a slip of the tongue from another sister a few years back. I tend to be a forgiving person so I quietly forgave her for this without her ever knowing that I knew what she was trying to do. Now that they are all inviited to the holidays up to my sister's cabin up north, this rotten sister of mine (the one closest to my son) has 3 cats that are fed twice a day. They are extremely fat just like her. These holiday trips up north are usually kept quiet and I only know about it the day before they are leaving to go, which is when she inevitably asks me to come feed her f******g cats. This is how I know that a big party is going on up at the cabin and once again only the chosen selected few are going. This is usually for 3 or 4 days and they get fed twice a day so I have to go to her house twice a day. Sometimes I have to give them medication and the last time she asked me, I even had to soak her sick cat's feet in medicine. She lives about 20 minutes away from me. This girl would NEVER, NEVER, EVER do this for me. My husband and I took our children on a cruise 3 years ago and we have a cat and I never asked her to do this for me as I know she would have laughed in my face. I have been feeding her cats for years now when she goes away. Keep in mind though that she was in the select chosen few to be invited up to the cabin. I was not as I am considered trash in the family. I am SICK AND TIRED of feeding this girl's cats so SHE can go up north to have fun with the family on the holidays. My sister who invites everyone to go is a mean, horrible, sadistic, vicious, backstabbing wretched b***h. No one will say anything to her like, "Gee Pat, where is everyone else? Didn't you invite this one, and this one, and this one?" They could care less. All they know is that THEY were invited.

Anyway, I am sorry this is so long. I can't take my sisters anymore. I have been thinking of this all day all weekend long. I am really to the point where I just don't want to see them ever again. I am going to tell my fat a** b***h sister to fnd another way to get her cats fed because I'm not doing it anymore!! She is just using me and believe me when I tell you, she enjoys it. She is very diabolical. She loves it that I am not invited and she and her husband are. She even questions me and counts the cat food cans to make sure that I came on all of the days they were gone. These people have balls of brass and I have had ENOUGH. I am just sitting and waiting patiently for the next time she says, "Oh, we're going up north for a few days. Can you come and feed the cats?" I just can't wait to see the look on her face when I simply say, "No. I can't. I will never feed your cats again! Find some other sucker to do it!"

I believe that they are severely narcissistic people and this is nothing to take lightly. These types of people are very destructive. Do any of you have family members like this and what do you do about them? How do you stop them from making you feel sad, lonely, excluded and less than you are or deserve? I think it is time for me to cut all ties with them. I just can't take their crap anymore and I do think I would be much, much happier and calmer.

while I was scooping the back so thought I'd try to get a couple of pics for DH, who is gone for the next 10 days for work. He's a labradoodle that we got last summer at 4 months old and before anyone jumps in here and says they're overpriced mutts (which they are

) we got him from a shelter in another city. All of the dogs I have had have been from shelters and would never pay hundreds or thousands when there are so many dogs that need homes. We saw a brown one last summer that DH fell in love with, so I did some searching and this shelter had several. The others had been picked up as strays, a couple of older dogs and several puppies, which I guess all but a couple died from parvo. Jake was turned in by a family who thought he was too energetic for their 2-year-old. He had kennel cough, we discovered, when we got him home and was sick for a few weeks, but not too bad a case, had some snotty nose and coughing, was really worried about pneumonia, but the vet said to go ahead and give him the vaccine and sometimes that helps them get over it a little easier. He's got a nice combination of lab and poodle coat, needs to be raked once a week or so, but he doesn't shed. He's a little pill for sure but I think is going to be a great dog with a little more work. He's still pretty ~boisterous~ you might say on walks. I'm a Dog Whisperer fan, just love that show and Cesar Millan, so we ordered the collar that he uses on that show, and it really is making a huge difference. Also, I was really impressed when we got it. How many things do you find these days that are made in the US? His packaging on the collar had ~~we proudly support our country, made in the USA~~!! Even more of a fan now!

I have been checking out boxer rescues and if we can afford a home of our own, hopefully next year sometime, I'd like to get a pal for him. I'm actually a big boxer fan from way back, have a pic mom took of me as a baby in diapers sitting in the middle of a litter of boxer puppies with them crawling all over me! a wonder any of us grew up, huh

, with all the things we came in contact with like that, she'd probalby get hauled away for child abuse these days. Dad found the mamma boxer wandering the country roads one hot summer day when he was hail adjusting. She was struggling, pregnant, really hot and thirsty, so he brought her home, no one ever claimed her, so Duchess became a part of our family. I had a boxer some years ago that I adopted from a puppy mill raid, where I helped take care of some of the dogs that were rescued, 200 and some of all varieties and ages, mostly all sick, filthy, malnourished, etc. in the the middle of January, below zero, snow, and a lot of them kept outside with no shelter, was a horrible mess, but people in that town really stepped up to the plate, donated all kinds of food, leashes, collars, bedding, vets donated their services, and all but a few of the dogs (too sick and had to be put down) were adopted. Duke was a very sick pup at first and didn't know if he'd make it, but he was a wonderful dog with my kids when they were young!

Anyway, just sitting here browsing the board and rambling on...By the way Hayseed, I visited your website the other day because I wanted to see your web cam (really cool!) and saw you had an RIP pic for Arf, sorry for your loss. I remember you said awhile back you thought it wouldn't be long but must have missed when he passed and crossed the bridge.

hard to get a guy dishes and after 20 years who wants more china unless you really entertain the rich and famous.