Save Handmade Toys from CPSIA

Some of you may have already heard of the new upsetting laws passed. If not, the CPSC passed (with good intentions) the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which is requiring costly mandatory testing on ALL handmade children's products. That means in a few months all handmade products (targeted at children 12 and under) will no longer be available. Many people will be effected by this: mom's who made beautiful hair accessories, toys, blankets, etc. Without investing thousands of dollars on tests just to prove that toys that never had a single toxic chemical in them still don't have a toxic chemical. 

Here's what you can do to help:

-Find you congress person and senators and write a letter like the sample here. Particularly if they serve on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, or the House Committee on Small Business. 

-Vote for amending the law on Change.org. With enough votes it will be presented to President Obama in January.

Please help us save our small businesses.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my whole family: mom, dad, and brother. I don't have the biggest family so we never do anything very big for Thanksgiving. This year, I wanted to do something a little different. My mom is not a cook...I think she could be but she is very simple. We have never had a real turkey for Thanksgiving. We usually just buy some sliced turkey and heat it up in the oven at home and call it done. So, I decided to go all out and get a 10 pound turkey for the 5 of us! While I was at Walmart I debated on getting a 23 pound turkey. I know...it was a little too big for just 5 people. Before I left the store I switch it out for a 10 pounder, which ended up being the perfect size. My dad looked up a recipe on the Internet and we started cooking that Sunday morning/afternoon. Everything turned out great! I should have taken a picture of the turkey, oh well. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and feeling too full to move.