Apparently, our kitchen has it in for us. Wednesday night, Mark had a chocolate craving and was out to make some brownies. He turned on the oven to preheat and, in his words, there was a “mini-explosion” around the heating element. I was on the computer working on something and when I finished went upstairs to see what he was doing. His words to me were that the oven was broke.

Now, I about did a little happy dance and I told him I could pretend to be sad if he wanted me to. That’s when he told me he was pretty sure it was just the heating element and he can order that part and fix it. It didn’t even cost close to what a new oven would cost. Oh well. I’m holding out for a new flat top oven/stove…I thought it was going to come sooner than later…but it looks like it won’t. Would it be bad of me to pray that the heating element doesn’t fix it??

Then today, our dishwasher has backed up into the sink and there’s a nice pool of dirty water hanging out up there. Our dishwasher is also on it’s last leg as I broke the door awhile back…I’m wondering if that is part of the cause, but Mark thinks it’s the disposal. We’ll see. We’ve got the money saved to get a new dishwasher but we just haven’t made the purchase as we’re waiting on a holiday to try and get a really good deal. I’m so cheap!

I haven’t forgotten that Ceili Rain’s two month birthday has passed. I was waiting on her check up so I could put out her statistics for all the curious family members. Check up is done, but now I want to get a picture of her in her cute little onesie she has on today before I post the update…so stay tuned…

today, I was nervously counting down the hours until Mark picked me up for my senior prom and our first date! That was a life changing night…complete with tornadoes! We had a wonderful time at the dance and then headed an hour away (as was tradition) to eat with a large group of friends. J. Alexander’s, yum! While we were eating we looked at a television and noticed that the area was under a tornado warning…yikes! We stayed put. I remember Mark going to his car to call his dad on his car phone (not cellphone…a lot has changed in 13 years already).

Not only did we get extra time to hang out with our friends but that night proved life changing in that I realized Mark was the one I was going to marry. I fell head over heels in love with him from that night on.

I also remember annoying my friends as we visited that night after the date…sorry Chrissy and Marla!

Mark thanks for loving me and putting up with me. Thank you for dating me, not just before we were married but all these other years too! I love you more today than I did on our first date. You are a wonderful, amazing blessing to me and our family. I thank God for you every day.

Mark’s grandmother passed away this morning. Please pray for Mark and his family.

If my family is wondering where our snow pictures are…don’t hold your breath. We got no snow. In typical fashion of where we live, it went around us. Sorry!

Freddy the fish has definitely passed on. Mark discovered him this morning when he went to change the water in his tank.

Ace was real upset. He came up to me and said, “Freddy’s really sick! We have to get a new Freddy!” All the while doing a weird little dance with his feet.

He was a good fish and lasted a year…not too bad for our first fish. The trouble with fish is they don’t come up to you and whine if you forget to feed them. They just swim around. We’ll have to work on that with our next fish.

Here is a press release from CPSC concerning the new law to go in effect on February 10th.

I read the entire release and while they are not “requiring” the consingment stores/thrift stores, etc. to comply with testing since they sell products manufactured before February 10th, they are holding them liable if high amounts of lead are found in the items being sold.

I’m wondering if this will still make businesses and non-profits apprehensive about selling children’s clothes and products. We shall see…

Apparently, the Consumer Products and Safety Commission has authored a bill that has gone through congress that will effect a lot of people. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is set to go into effect on February 10th. This Act is requiring lead and pthalates (a chemical found in plastics) testing to be done on all clothes and toys manufactured for children ages 13 and under. The testing is to be done on clothing and toys both made prior to and after FEbruary 10th.

Why do I care?

Well, two fold. As the mom of almost five children, I purchase clothes quite regularly. I also purchase these clothes at consignment sales (children’s seasonal sales) and through thrift stores etc. To purchase these clothes new would cost me a lot of money each season. While I can pass some clothes down from one boy to the other, my oldest, Ace is getting to be a big boy who can wear out clothes pretty quickly.

This new act will effect seasonal consignment sales as well as consignment stores and thrift stores. These sales operators and stores do not possess the funds to purchase the overwhelmingly expensive testing equipment (nor lab work) needed to test every single item.

Therefore, if this act continues as written, I will now have to purchase my children’s clothes new. Now, the big name stores may be able to afford the testing, but the testing is still going to cost. I foresee that children’s clothes (even those at discount department stores) will have to go up in price to pay for all the extra equipment, personnel, and time put into testing. So, not only will our clothing budget (that is already strapped) be stretched once, but twice to make way for the new requirements.

Another concern I have is for all the used clothes out there. I can not resale any of my children’s used clothes, per the new act (this includes not being able to sale it at a garage sale), so we have to throw it away. That means throwing away perfectly decent clothing that could be purchased (or donated) to other people just because my children outgrew it. Doesn’t that negate the whole, “Let’s Be Green,” “Save the Planet,” kick we’ve all gotten on. Not only that but it’s just creating more trash…yuk.

Will I contact my representative’s? Yes, I believe I have to. With the economy already strapped, it seems senseless to put such a strain on families. I will also, probably, be taking some sewing lessons while I’m at it!