I’m pretty annoyed with someone tonight.  And while I do not usually blog about that kind of stuff, I have decided that I’m going to this time.  Maybe I’ll feel better if I do.  This person is practically impossible to get along with and no matter what I try to do it’s never good enough.  It feels like a hopeless situation right now.  Maybe I could have some digital signage made to tell the world what this person is acting like.  Of course, I’m not like that- so I’ll keep it all inside.  Other than this post I’ll never say anything about what is bothering me.  Until one day I am so angry I can’t hold back anymore and I completely flip out on the person.

And by the way- I don’t feel any better having posted about it.

Are you looking for some fun things to do?  Things that the whole family will enjoy?  For us that can often be a difficult task.  It’s hard enough to do things a teenager will enjoy and hard enough to do things a toddler will be enjoy.  But, put those together- and try to have a fun family activity that parents, a teenager and toddler will enjoy?  Nearly impossible.  Well, not really- here are some things that all four us enjoy doing.  Now keep in mind- the teenager is not always very enthusiastic about these ideas, but she ends up having a blast.

1. Go apple/pumpkin picking.  Of course you have to do that at this time of year.  And really- this is not exactly something that sounds exciting to me.  But you know what?  We did it recently and we all had a great time.
2. Go on a train ride.  My husband loves trains and our toddler is pretty thrilled about them too.  But me and the teen?  Not so much.  But guess what- once we actually get there and go on the train ride- this is fabulous.  And fall is a great time to do this because you can go while you are able to enjoy the beautiful colors of the leaves changing.
3. Take a trip to a science museum.  We are fortunate that where we live there is an amazing children’s museum filled with fun science activities.  While it is geared more for the preschool age level and up it is still something our toddler can enjoy with close supervision.  And the rest of us have a great time too.
4. Stay home and bake cookies together.  It’s not always easy getting my husband and teen in on this one, but once the fun starts they are usually happy to join in for the decorating and tasting part.

There’s so many fun, educational and affordable ideas out there.  Things that don’t involve the TV or electronic game systems.  Get off the couch and go have fun together!

Back to school time of year is always filled with fun times and all sorts of expenses.  There are all of the back to school clothes that have to be purchased.  And then there are the back to school supplies have to be bought.  Once school starts there are always additional things that end up needing to be bought.

Then all of the activities start.  If your child plays football, there is all of the football equipment that has to be purchased.  If your child does ballet- there will be tutus and tights to be purchased.  If your child wants to get into martial arts you’ll probably need to get some equipment from Proforce.  Or maybe your child is going to be a cheerleader and you’ll need to purchase clothes for that.  And of course there are various fees to be paid for the activities as well as the equipment you’ll need.

Whatever your child is interested in doing- make sure you encourage those interests.  Children who are busy are less likely to have time to get into trouble.

Wow.  10 posts already about Disney World!  There is just so much fun to be had and so many things to do that this series has ended up a little longer than I thought it would.  Anyhoo, last time I encouraged you to purchase the Disney meal plan to save yourself time and money.  So, assuming that you go with that recommendation- here are some great places to eat while you’re visiting.  Keep in mind that there are tons of places to pick from and these are just a few of my favorites.  I haven’t been to all of the various restaurants.  If you have any places that you would recommend please let me know!

At Magic Kingdom- we love to go to The Crystal Palace where you get to eat with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.  The food is a fabulous buffet full of a variety of American food that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

There are a lot of choices at Epcot from all over the world.  We liked eating at Akershus Royal Banquet so that our little princess could meet all of the Disney princesses.  You can get breakfast, lunch at dinner and have American or Norwegian food.

A fun place to eat when you visit Hollywood Studios is the 50’s Prime Time Cafe.  You get great home cooking at this cafe where you are served by waitresses who act like they are your mother.  Take it from me- you’d better eat your veggies!

When you visit Animal Kingdom you’ll want to check out Donald’s Safari Breakfast where you’ll get to try some yummy American breakfast food- all you can eat- and spend time with your favorite Disney characters.

There are also some fabulous places to eat at the various resorts.  It would be too much to try to cover all of that in this post, so I will save that for another day.

I’ve posted a few times about how I was going to get my fall decorating done.  Turns out to be a bit harder than I had planned on it being.  My toddler was quite insistent that she help with the decorating.  It was actually quite a bit of fun though to do it together.  And so far (I’m sure I’m totally jinxing myself) she hasn’t tried to take the decorations down.  I think it’s because she helped me to set them up.

Anyhoo, before I started my decorating I looked at a lot of home decorating ideas. To me, that is just fun to do.  Rather than do the same old thing year and after year, I like to change things up.  Before you start your decorating check out some ideas to change things around a little bit this year.  It’s fun and it will help to get those creative juices flowing!

So, I haven’t been doing a lot of posts lately about recalls because it had become quite overwhelming trying to keep up with all of the recalls.  It’s really hard to try to pick which recalls are important enough to post about but I think this one definitley is.  It’s a Simplicity Crib Recall and since it is a danger to infants and toddlers it is very important.  We actually had this crib at one point for our daughter.  My in-laws bought it for us and we set it up.  We didn’t think it felt sturdy enough and actually returned the crib.  We ended up buying a crib that didn’t come with a drop side because those felt much sturdier to us.  Since we had this crib at one point it seems really important to me to post this recall:

1. NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2008
Release #08-401

Recall Hotline: See Listing Below
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Simplicity Brand Drop Side Cribs Recalled By Various Retailers Due To Serious Entrapment And Suffocation Hazard To Infants and Toddlers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firms named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Simplicity Brand Drop Side Cribs

Units: About 600,000

Retailers:

AAFES, of Dallas, Texas
Babies”R”Us, of Wayne, N.J.
Burlington Coat Factory/Baby Depot, of Burlington, N.J.
K’s Merchandise (out of business)
Meijer Distribution Inc., of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Nebraska Furniture Mart, of Omaha, Neb.
ShopKo, of Green Bay, Wis.
Target, of Minneapolis, Minn.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc, of Bentonville, Ark.

Importer/Distributor: Simplicity Inc., of Reading, Pa. (this company is no longer in business)

Hazard: Due to sizing problems with the crib’s hardware, the drop side can come off the tracks. When the drop side detaches or partially detaches, it creates a hazardous gap, which can lead to infant entrapment and suffocation.

Incidents/Injuries: SFCA and CPSC are aware of nine incidents in which the drop side detached on cribs that are part of this recall. There have been no injuries.

Description: This recall of Simplicity drop side cribs involves models that used a different style of hardware from those cribs recalled in September 2007. The recalled model numbers include: 8620, 8745, 8748, 8755, 8756, 8778, 8810, and 8994. The recalled drop side cribs have a date code, which can be found on a label on the headboard under the mattress support, which ends in 05DH, 05GB, 06DH, 06GB, 07DH or 07GB (examples: 1806 DH or 0507 GB). The recalled model names include: Aspen and Crib N Changer Combo, Gabrielle, Camille, Providence and Shenandoah. Only the brand name “Simplicity” can be seen on the label on the headboard.

Sold by: Department stores, children’s stores and mass merchandisers nationwide from January 2005 through August 2008 for between $150 and $300.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled cribs and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. Consumers should return the recalled crib to the place of purchase for a refund or store credit. SFCA Inc., of Reading, Pa. is working with retailers to carry out this recall program.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact:

AAFES – (800) 866-3605 – www.AAFES.com
Babies “R” Us – (800) 869-7787 – www.babiesrus.com
Burlington Coat Factory/Baby Depot – www.babydepot.com
Meijer Distribution Inc. – (866) 280-8419 – www.meijer.com
Nebraska Furniture Mart – 800-359-1200 – www.nfm.com
Shopko – (800) 791-7333 – www.shopko.com
Target – (800) 440-0680 – www.target.com
Wal-Mart – (800) 925-6278 – www.walmart.com
SFCA Media Contact: Amanda Lahan, (202) 466-6210, amanda.lahan@pbnco.com

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go to this link.

I want to do something different for Christmas this year.  So often I buy Christmas presents for family members that never get used.  There are certain family members (my in-laws) that I never know what to buy for them.  My mother in law usually asks for something to be used in her kitchen and my father in law always wants new pajamas.  Other than that, I never know what to get.  So, here are a few ideas I have thought of that would be different from the usual.

1. Chocolate- I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate?
2. Home made gifts from the toddler- something cute with her hand-prints to remember her at this age.
3. Home made frames decorated using scrap booking items with pictures of the kids in them.

And that’s about all I have right now.  I’m open to ideas and suggestions if you have any more!

I don’t know about you- but where we live we only have a couple more months before the cold weather sets in and we are stuck inside for most of the time.  Sometimes it gets so cold where we live that they have to close the schools to keep the kids safe.  Anyways- the point of this post is to come up with some ideas of things that could be done this fall with your kids.  The hot summer days are probably over (or will be soon), the temperature is nice and cool and the days are getting shorter.  Here are some fun ideas to get you out of the house:

1. Rake the leaves- more than likely you won’t even have to leave your house to do this.  Or, if you don’t have leaves to rake, then find an elderly neighbor and rake his or her leaves.  Your kids will probably love doing this.
2. Go apple picking.  My picky toddler who doesn’t like to eat much of anything will actually eat apples if she gets to be a part of picking them.
3. It’s probably a little soon right now, but shortly you’ll be able to go pick your pumpkins out for Halloween.
4. Take a walk after dinner with your family and enjoy the changing leaves.

Whatever you do- make sure to take some time to get out of the house!

I haven’t been posting recalls like I used to because there have been so many lately.  It’s been pretty hard to keep up with all of the recalls lately.  But I feel it is necessary to post about this one that I just got notice about.

Sadly, the reason for this recall comes because of the death of a 20 month old toddler.  That hits a little too close to home for me as the mother of a toddler.  I can’t imagine what this poor family is going through.  So, I decided that this recall was too important to skip over.  Here is it:

Regent Sports Recalls Soccer Goal Nets Following Strangulation Death of a Child

NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2008
Release #08-400

Firm’s Recall Hotline: (877) 516-9707
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Regent Sports Recalls Soccer Goal Nets Following Strangulation Death of a Child

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Products: MacGregor Folding Soccer Goals, Mitre Folding Soccer Goals

Units: About 190,000 units

Distributor: Regent Sports Corporation, of Hauppauge, N.Y.

Hazard: The fixed knot flexible openings in the soccer goal net can pose a head and neck entrapment or strangulation hazard to young children.

Incidents/Injuries: Regent Sports and CPSC have received two reports of head entanglement, including the strangulation death of a 20-month-old child who was found with his arm and neck tangled in the soccer goal net.

Description: Both soccer goals have a foldable white frame with a white net that is attached by Velcro strips. When upright, the MacGregor goal measures 6 feet wide by 3 feet high and the Mitre net measures 8 feet wide by 6 feet high. Each has a recalled net with squares measuring 5 inches on each side. The MacGregor soccer goal has model number 97236 printed on the assembly instructions and UPC code number 029807972365 printed on the net’s packaging. The Mitre soccer goal has model number 89186 printed on the assembly instructions and UPC code number 029807891864 printed on the net’s packaging. Nets manufactured after April 2007 with 4 inch by 4 inch square openings are not included in the recall.

Sold at: Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware and sports and toy stores nationwide from May 2002 through May 2008 for $26.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled soccer goal nets immediately and return them to Regent Sports to receive a free replacement net.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Regent Sports at (800) 516-9707 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go here.

Here are a couple of pictures of what the recalled product looks like:

Did you know that there are incredible amounts of information available on the Internet?  Any question that you have- more than likely you can find the answer to your question on the Internet.  If you are not able to figure out your answer and you need to assistance in what you are trying to figure out- you can use the Internet to find someone to help you.  For example, if I needed to convert PSD to HTML I would have no idea how to do that.  So, I would need to used a company like PSD2HTML.  They would be perfect for meeting that need.

So, my tip for today?  Research whatever your needs are on the Internet- you’ll be able to find your answer or find someone who can help you get your answer.