Homemade Fingerpaint

Today, besides baking up a storm, (I will post that tomorrow) I made homemade fingerpaint, which is part of Mr K and The Princess's gifts to their friends this year. It seemed to turn out really well, and what I loved is that we can give it to all their friends, even the young ones who eat everything, in fact, its perfect for kids just learning how not to eat their craft supplies! Completely non-toxic, I don't even think it would upset the stomach. Can't taste that great tho....

One batch fills 4 baby food jars, so I made 4 batches in all. Very easy, there's some yellow left for the kids are we are going to use it tomorrow, but I tried the blue myself tonight and it worked like it should lol.

The jars and the snowflake flannel are from the reuse center here, which was also a godsend for all my baking tins (I think I took about 15 and there were STILL tons left) . Very excellent place for crafters, and we took note of everything they accepted as well so we can get rid of what we don't use. I attached little cards with the ingredients listed on them, and one of them has the recipe for the older girl on our list, but if anyone else wants it, it follows below this picture.

Original Fingerpaint

Ingredients

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You're ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

Speaking of Ingesting Things: Mincemeat Tarts

Yes, time for my annual treat for Mike, his mincemeat tarts. Pretty easy. Thank the gods for pre-made no-name tart shells (I was impressed, all hydrogenated free this year!) and President's Choice 5 fruit mincemeat.

The only hard part is defrosting about 12 tart shells, rolling them all together, then taking a baby food jar and cutting out the circles for the top. So the direction are: put mincemeat filling into frozen shells (always frozen for any tarts), cut out tops, put on tops, bake at 350 till brown. Then let Mike proceed to eat them till he's sick, forget about them until next December. Repeat.

Now There's Even More Ways For Your Child to Ingest Lead!

Kids Jewelry

Description: This recall involves the Codeena Princess children’s jewelry. Only jewelry with item numbers KS1367SS and KS1369SCP are included in the recall. The item number is printed on the back of the packaging. The children’s jewelry sets were sold in a variety of sets including pink or white pearl-like necklace, bracelet and earring or ring combinations. Some sets have studded charms dangling on the bracelet and the necklace.

Sold at: Discount stores nationwide from September 2005 through August 2007 for about $5.

Lion Teether
Hazard: The plastic nose can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children.

Incidents/Injuries: Infantino® has received eight reports of the nose detaching, including one report of a child gagging on the bitten off nose.

Description: This recall involves Infantino® lion teethers. The yellow and orange plastic teethers have date codes 6116, 6129, 6158, 6137, 0606, 0806, 0906, and 1006. The date codes are located on the back of the lion’s head, above the Infantino® logo. Lion teethers with other date codes are not included in this recall.

Sold at: Babies “R” Us, Pottery Barn Kids and other specialty stores nationwide from June 2006 through December 2007 for about $5.

Dollar Store Toys...

Hazard: The recalled toys contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The Baby Bead & Wire Toys are colored wires and colored beads that can slide on a natural wood platform. These bead toys have item number 903419 and date code 71 printed on the back of the packaging. The Speed Racer Pull Back & Go Action! Cars are yellow with black stripes and white with red stripes. Item number 873820 and date code 77 is printed on the back of the packaging.

Sold at: Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1 and Deal$ stores nationwide from March 2007 through October 2007 (Baby Bead & Wire Toys) and from September 2007 through November 2007 (Speed Racer Cars) for $1.

From US Consumer Product Comission

I know my titles are sarcastic, but really, at this point I am not shocked. I just hope that nobody has these toys... and you can subscribe by email to the above site as well. Nothing like your recalls with your morning cup o' coffee to start your day!

Have Patience....

For some reason, for each post I put up, I have to specifically chose to "allow" comments, not sure why I have to click that option EVERY TIME I post now, but I am trying to change it. So for those who wondered where my comments are, its just that I forgot to enable them on that specific post. I went back and re-did the last three that I forgot... PITA.

Simply Scrumptious Shortbread

Since I am not making it for everyone in their baking this year, Mr K and I made some shortbread spur of the moment tonight. And we had a fantastic time screwing around and experimenting with it. I usually do a cookie press, but saw on Jane's blog that she used an icing bag and tip to make swirly round ones. A lightbulb went off above my head when I saw that and my brain went "oh..ooooohh...oh MY! The fun I am going to have with THAT!!" I had all the materials needed from my cake decorating supplies.

And boy did we ever!

Snowmen, letters, candy canes......

A truck! A Train! A Reindeer or two!
Ok, I can't draw a train most days, not sure how I managed this masterpiece, our shortbread train! Mr K thought I was Supermom for this one. Indeed, I am rather proud.
Most of the cookies didn't break, but the reindeer's antlers were too fragile and any that were too thin were delicate as well. The secret is to make them thick and they won't break as easily....oh. but it was just so much fun doing it! Like drawing, but with cookies!

Sunday Night Non-Aggravating Craft #2

I'll post this, because some of the other stuff just doesn't count as non-aggravating :) Cleaning out baby food jars and getting the glue off them IS annoying!!

Homemade gift tags/cards. I chopped some of my olds cards that had just the beautiful square on the front, then cut out a matching back from the inside. Nicely enough, they say "Blessed Christmas" on the top inside, just happened to work out that I could reuse some of the print as well. Hole punch them in two spots, run ribbon thru and tie with a bow. I used metallic pens to write my messages inside. And they look a million times prettier now than just the plain card.

Hallelujah!

Why am I posting a pic of dragon toys? Well, lads and ladies, I went to the Goodwill this afternoon to find some jeans (double freakin' hallelujah, I found 2 pairs!) and of course Mr K has to look through the toys. Actually, scratch the double, its a triple Hallelujah, he found a recycle truck that is always the boy's favorites while playing in the sand, so there's another to squibble over ;)

I digress. Can I introduce to you one of The Princess's presents, good ol' TupperToys. Made in the US of freakin' A!

Dance of joy....dance of joy.....I don't know if they are STILL made in the US tho, they say 1992 on them. Not only are they awesome fun and adorable (I remember those old elephants etc) but they aren't made in China.

Ahhh I have something other than socks for her!

BTW of course you have already guessed I will email Tupperware and ask where the products are made now..

Some info: (come on, do I still have to cite my source??)

Tupperware was known, at a time when women came back from working during World War II only to be told to "go back to the kitchen", as a method of empowering women, and giving them a toehold in the post-war business world. The tradition of Tupperware's "Jubilee" style events continues to this day, with rallies being held in major cities to recognize and reward top-selling demonstrators, managers and distributorships.

On May 9, 2007 Tupperware announced Brooke Shields as the celebrity spokesperson for Tupperware’s "Chain of Confidence" campaign in the USA. The campaign invites women to celebrate the strong bonds of female friendships and the self-confidence derived from those relationships.ChainOfConfidence.com serves as an online community where women can share their confidence stories with one another and join an online discussion about the importance of female friendships and confidence.As part of Chain of Confidence, Tupperware is donating over one million dollars to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to sponsor SMART Girls—a program dedicated to promoting confidence in young girls ages 8-17.

I was beginning to get beyond frustrated this weekend. I literally spent a half an hour in the doll aisle reading boxes. Mike had to take his tire in to get fixed so I can time to spare LOL! I think the Walmart worker thought I was a crackpot. Both sides, every doll. Not ONE that wasn't made in China. In another aisle I found some Crayola markers made in the US, and some sparkle glue made in Taiwan. Deee-pressing.

What really made me sad is there were some horses (oh, she loves her horses) that kids can literally sit on (up to 80 lbs) and pretend to ride. So the Princess is sitting on one and just looooving it. She kept trying to take it back off the shelf, and its bigger than her. Soo cute. She's trying to tuck this damn 3 foot horse under her arm and take it home. Sigh. You know, you just can't win. Damned because you buy your children possibly toxic toys or damned because you can't get them what they really want to play with.

Where did my angora goat run off to.....

More Lead....

I have too much time on my hands lately. All The Princess wants to do is nurse Alllllll freaking day, so here I sit.

Anyhow this article depressed me, here's part of it:

The red blood pressure cuff is part of the Fisher-Price Medical Kit, a classic toy that has been sold for several years. We found high lead levels embedded in the red plastic arm band as well as on the surface of the arm band, which we determined could easily rub off on the hands of a child playing with the toy. Based on the levels of accessible surface lead we measured, we estimated that a child could potentially receive a dose of more than 15 micrograms of lead per day through foreseeable hand-to-mouth contact while playing with the toy. That amount could potentially increase a child's risk of accumulating a blood lead level that exceeds 10 micrograms per deciliter—the threshold established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that generally triggers some form of intervention by doctors or public health officials.

Although we discussed our test results with Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), neither took immediate action. Fisher-Price contends that the toy "is fully compliant" with all federal regulations, which CPSC confirms. But the federal regulation for lead in toys places limits on only paint and surface coatings. There are no federal limits on lead in plastics such as PVC. That’s a huge gap in the regulations that can leave children at risk for lead exposure. Congress is currently working on federal legislation that will close the gap and, if passed, will regulate lead in all children's products. Consumers Union has been supporting this effort, (ok, you gotta click on the words "supporting this effort" and go laugh at their video!) which promises to reduce children's risk of lead exposure.

Rest of Article

So some of my children's plastic toys, (besides whatever freaking Bisphenol A (BPA), might be in them, don't get me started on that), now have unregulated lead levels. Are you kidding me? Please tell me that we have better standards in Canada, actually, don't bother, cause all these toys are coming here anyways.

This site is interesting Public Interest Research Group .

I need to get The Princess watching TV or something, I am THIS close to retreating to my own commune with angora goats and sheep for clothes, a couple packets of organic seeds, dig a well and build a big effing compound fence.

I will not read anymore today...I will not look anymore today.....I am going to watch Dora in her lead-paint empire of splendor.

What Was That You Lead? I Mean Said???

Yah, another lead recall. Which we have in the house and used with Mr K to potty train him. I take some consolation in the fact that he hated it LOL and we used it as a step stool with the lead part hidden. Still. I mean, its a POTTY. I can't even have a potty without lead in it?

I'll send away for my stupid permanent clear protective cover and see what it is. I am curious what *CHEAP* measure they have come up with. A cover to cover it and not a recall of the whole item....let's see how that pans out.....

Recall info here



Edited to add: Alright so I ordered my plastic piece. Shipping time is 8-10 weeks. EIGHT TO TEN WEEKS!! Do they even comprehend what that is to a potty training mom? That's not the usual 4-6 mailing weeks, thats almost DOUBLE! How many moms are going to have to go and buy another potty, because odds are that if you are serious about that plastic piece (not me, I just wanna get a look at this shitty plastic solution so I can be even more disgusted at the company) you are in the middle of USING the damn thing!! Right....cause ANY mom who is in the middle of successful training is just going to stop dead and wait 10 weeks.

Paper Globe Ornaments

I saw a picture of these on someone's blog, but not a tutorial. I have searched, found that OF COURSE they are a Martha craft, but they aren't in her archives, they are from December of last year darn it. So, I attempted them anyways, and I am hoping that once Amanda looks at these, there is a tutorial in her book, because they just didn't work out exactly how I wanted.

You can tell how its put together from this pic. I used scrapbook paper and brats left over from all the wonderful stuff Cori gave me last year. (LAST year Cori ,sheesh!!)

But they don't hang like I want them too, too oval.
Then we made another one, and Miss I decided to grab it and squish it, during which I shrieked, then SHE shrieked:

"Mommmy! Its a beeee-ooo-tiful bucket!!"

And so it is my girl....they make very nice, adorable baskets as well!



I think I need to try stock paper, more firm, colored on both sides and I might get the right sphere shape out of them....but here's the concept anyways, great concept, just need to fine tune it! Hopefully someone has a tutorial somewhere!!

If Your Ovaries Aren't Tingling, You're Lying

Auntie just had to steal a picture of her girls from their blog....


I'd nag Mom about not updating more,but I think I will cut her some slack LOL. Which, by the way, leads me to my congrats to Kandice for breastfeeding TWINS for the last 9 weeks and still plugging away. I know how much damn hard work this has been for you, and you have had persistance that amazes me, the patience of a saint, a thankfully amazingly supportive husband and I am SO proud of you and what you have accomplished. You're my hero!

(insert Wind Beneath My Wings Music)

Oh crap there go those tears welling up again. I think I cry all of December....its a yearly thing. Mike reminded me yesterday that I cry when I hear my favorite Christmas songs. Emotional basketcase.

Hahahaah I added the blurb about Wind Beneath my Wings and now I am laughing again.

Kids Stress Too

While watching our trash tv (America's Next Top Model) we saw this ad for the first time. The little blonde girl at the end brought tears to my eyes. Everything is bringing tears to my eyes. I need some freakin' sleep before I cry myself dry. (this is where you say, Karlynn, STOP BLOGGING and go to BED!) and I shall.



An exerpt from the Youtube explanation:

As one of their major assignments, each of three groups of students selected a target age group and a relevant health topic for that group. The students then translated the latest research on that health topic into an appropriate visual medium for their audience.One group selected children and stress. They realized that they needed to target parents and decided that a public service television announcement would be the best medium for disseminating information about stress among kids. Working with KidshaveStressToo.org, a program of the Psychology Foundation of Canada, a local filmmaker and child actors, the group produced a 30 second public service announcement that is currently airing on City TV Edmonton and Calgary."There are so many pressures on kids that we thought it would be good just to raise awareness of it," said Emily Handford who, along with Karen Ross and StephanieYan, produced the dramatic commercial that puts children in adult situations, to communicate the fact that children suffer from stress as much as adults do. "It already had a well-developed website around it so we decided to make a commercial around it, to hopefully send people to the website and raise awareness about it."With a budget of $500 and the help of local filmmakers Tyler MacIntyre and Ian Ketehu, the threesome went about begging and borrowing their way to a television commercial."Karen had the idea of having kids dressed up in actual office attire," said Handford, whose team borrowed kids from their own families and a local theatre group. "The idea was these are some things that cause stress in adults, and although that doesn't cause stress in kids it kind of grabs people's attention." The group consulted with U of A sociology professor Lisa Strohschein, who conducts research into the effects of divorce and different stressors on children, to help develop the commercial's theme, and then put it into script form on the advice of Silvana Babchishin, a television commercial writing instructor. From there it was a day of lights, camera, action.

Website here

Silver Bells....

Another Pagan tradition that has shifted over to the commerce of Christmas, the bell.

Originally, bells were rung loud and clear in the hope of chasing away the dark and evil spirits that roamed the long winter nights. Bells were also thought to chase away darkness itself, so when one awoke, you would ring bells to hasten the return of longer days.

Not only that, bells were used in ancient dances to "ring out the old, and ring in the new" Gee, why does that sound so familiar? Solstice isn't the "beginning of the new year" in fact. The whole year is a circle with no start, but funny how this tradition was adopted to New Years.

I have no bell craft to make, dammit. Oh well, off to make more snowflakes LOL. My house looks like a winter wonderland....

For All You Star Wars Fans.....

Oh god, well, Mike and I are having a blast going through the Robot Chicken clips on Youtube. This one made my stomach hurt from laughing and I literally was crying..

What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon!!!???

For My Mac Girl Brandy

Tho I am sure she's watched it, perhaps many of you haven't...and Mike and I just laughed our asses off.

Growing Food Security For Alberta

I found this link on the Edmonton Foodbank website and thought it very interesting.... What is Food Security?

Food security is widely described as the condition in which all people at all times can acquire safe, nutritionally adequate, and personally acceptable foods in a manner that maintains human dignity. Food Security is everyone's business. Food Security includes the circle of: Planting Growing Harvesting Transporting Shopping Preparing Eating, and Preserving our environment. Food Security means Equity and Choice at every point. Growing Food Security in Alberta (GFSA) has come to understand food security as the satisfaction of five elements: Availability - sufficient supplies of food for all people at all times Accessibility - physical and economic access to food for all at all times Acceptability - culturally acceptable and appropriate food and distribution systems Adequacy - nutritional quality, safety, sustainability of available sources/methods of food supply Action - ensuring the social and economic infrastructures are in place to enable action that will ensure the previous four elements of food security. You can visit the site here .

Monday Morning Coffee and Cry

Nothing like a good cry to start your week. I found this blog thru Parentdish, about a girl who in memory of her grandfather, is making the world a better place, one day at a time, for the next 25 days.

http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com/about/

Yeeesh I am going to go dry my eyes after that. She is making a "button" that you can place on your site to show that you are participating, if anyone wants to add it.

The Sunday Night Non-Aggravating Craft

Contrary to what I usually spout, I DO like being crafty. However (in my ripe old age) I don't have the inclination for big projects (unless its curtains or something to beautify the house, then I plug away) and its definitely not something I enjoy taking up my evenings. Given the choice between a great book and a craft, the book wins every time.

I do enjoy, a quick, fun craft, and this 3D snowflake is exactly that. I whipped up 2 tonight, one by myself, then one with K. Very fun and absolutely beautiful when you're done! Its hard to believe it's made with paper.

Tutorial below:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

I would like to find some silver paper next and try it, the possibilties are endless! We will be making quite a few more to hang from the ceiling in the house, I just love' em. Mr K helped out, but this is a great one for an older child to attempt by themselves.

EXACTLY How I Feel When I Drink My New Mint Bailey's

Laugh for the Day

Mr K and I were having lunch today and he piped up all excited :


"Mom, I can hear the ocean when I put my hotdog in my ear!!"


At least I got the ketchup out of his hair before preschool.....