Today was a very sad day for me. I had to take my 17 year old cat, Monkey, to the vet because she wouldn't eat dinner and just didn't look like herself. Because of the holiday weekend the vet's office was booked but they told me to bring her in and they would look at her between patients.
After dropping her off I ran a few errands and was at home when the Vet called. He basically told me there wasn't anything he could do for her. He believes she has stomach cancer. My Vet is GREAT! He doesn't pull you along and suggest a string of procedures. We have one Veterinary Clinic in our area that always wants to do a multitude of tests that my Vet says is not necessary.
So now my days are spent giving my beloved cat as much petting and attention as I can with a 13 month old. And if anyone is looking for a GREAT Vet check out, Cat Clinic of Northeast Seattle.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Rave - Izilla Toys
So a few posts ago I blogged about this great toy store we found called Izilla Toys. While we were there I signed up my daughter for the Birthday Club, since it was after her birthday I was not expecting anything from them till next year. So I was totally surprised when Well in the mail today was a post card to my daughter saying Happy Birthday and that it is worth 5 dollars at Izilla Toys.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Rave - Cakes
I need to take a break from the whole China thing, it is exhausting trying to find things NOT made in China.
Sunday was my mothers birthday and we surprised her with a visit and a Birthday Cake. We have one of the best Bakery's here in Seattle, Borracchini's Bakery. And I have eaten many, many cakes and can tell you from experience they are FANTASTIC! There are 8 cake flavors, 15 cake fillings and 9 icings. I have tried a few different combinations but the favorite in our family is a white cake, with raspberry filling and the white Bavarian Creme frosting. The frosting is not sugary and it is so smooth. Why anyone would want one of those grocery store sugary cakes is beyond me. One of the best parts is being able to watch the decorators decorating the cakes.
Borracchini's also has a large variety of breads that are bakes fresh daily. Italians, Rye's, Foccacia's, Pumpernickel and many more. They also have a Deli section and Pastries. Go check them out!
Sunday was my mothers birthday and we surprised her with a visit and a Birthday Cake. We have one of the best Bakery's here in Seattle, Borracchini's Bakery. And I have eaten many, many cakes and can tell you from experience they are FANTASTIC! There are 8 cake flavors, 15 cake fillings and 9 icings. I have tried a few different combinations but the favorite in our family is a white cake, with raspberry filling and the white Bavarian Creme frosting. The frosting is not sugary and it is so smooth. Why anyone would want one of those grocery store sugary cakes is beyond me. One of the best parts is being able to watch the decorators decorating the cakes.
Borracchini's also has a large variety of breads that are bakes fresh daily. Italians, Rye's, Foccacia's, Pumpernickel and many more. They also have a Deli section and Pastries. Go check them out!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Rave - Another great toy store
Today husband, baby girl and I visited another great Seattle Toy Store, Izilla Toys. We found these great vehicle toys from a line called Viking Toys. They are plastic with rubber wheels, if you have hardwood floors this is a MUST toy. It rolls like a dream. I don't remember where they were made exactly, Sweden maybe, but I know it was not China. Google them and buy them up!
Baby girl was having fun crawling around and looking at everything. I know future birthday and Christmas presents will be found there.
Dinner was at our favorite sushi restaurant Hana on Capitol Hill. Their California Rolls are the BEST!!! I ate 3 all by myself.
And we stopped at Top Ten so Hubby could see. Baby girl was again excited to see Rody Pony, she seems to love him. We picked up some wood blocks, made in USA and a toy boat made in Austria.
Baby girl was having fun crawling around and looking at everything. I know future birthday and Christmas presents will be found there.
Dinner was at our favorite sushi restaurant Hana on Capitol Hill. Their California Rolls are the BEST!!! I ate 3 all by myself.
And we stopped at Top Ten so Hubby could see. Baby girl was again excited to see Rody Pony, she seems to love him. We picked up some wood blocks, made in USA and a toy boat made in Austria.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Rant - I live in the United States of AMERICA
In my mail today was an envelope from Target with some foreign language on it. When I opened it inside were coupons all printed in what I assume is Spanish.
When did I move to Mexico? Last I checked my address was Seattle, Washington which is in the United States of America where we speak english! I am not against people moving here but you must learn our language. My grandparents came from Poland and guess what....they learned to speak English. My husbands parents came from Latvia and guess what....learned to speak English. And just because my last name sounds Spanish why are you assuming I can't speak English?!?
When did I move to Mexico? Last I checked my address was Seattle, Washington which is in the United States of America where we speak english! I am not against people moving here but you must learn our language. My grandparents came from Poland and guess what....they learned to speak English. My husbands parents came from Latvia and guess what....learned to speak English. And just because my last name sounds Spanish why are you assuming I can't speak English?!?
Rave - Alternative to Toys-R-Us
I've discovered a great toy store here in Seattle, Top Ten Toys. It was great seeing different toys made out of wood, not that junky cheep plastic stuff that will fill up our land fills someday. There still were a lot of toys made in China, but if you looked you could find things made in Germany, Italy & Austria to name a few.
I received a response from Haba toys regarding where their toys are made.
Thank you for contacting HABA USA where we as parents ourselves really do care about the products our company produces for our children.
In order for any company to provide as many product offerings as HABA currently does it would be nearly impossible to manufacture every single item within our own factories. We tried to for many years; however we had to expand our product selection in order to continue to provide our consumers what with new diversified products.
Nearly all of our wooden products are still made at our own factories in Germany. We use the natural beech and birch woods that are native to the area. In fact even if an item is final assembled in China, the wooden parts/pieces still come from our factories in Germany and are sent over to CHINA for final assembly. We don’t paint our products, we stain them.
The stains we use on our wooden products are all water based, non-toxic stains (also made in Germany). They are continually tested by an independent, third party laboratory to meet and/or exceed all of the European EN 71, CE and American ASTM safety standards. You can be assured that our stains used on our wooden products are safe. The stains are in fact edible; if your child is teething and he/she bites through the wood this poses no health risk whatsoever.
HABA is committed to healthy working environments and quality products for children, regardless if they are made at our own factories in Bad Rodach, Germany or at subcontracted factories in other countries, including CHINA. We are proud to be one of the few manufacturers using only the best producers in CHINA that are independently inspected and do not endorse unfair labor practices. The easiest way to share with you where our products are made is to provide you with the attached PDF file that is basically my wholesale pricelist (without the prices of course) but with the Country of Origin on each item. I hope this helps!
And a response from Hape Toys
I can understand your concern. Working so close to children and the many children in my life I take the safety of children extremely important. With all of the news as of late we are having a PR piece created about the safety and procedures of HaPe. I will also have a letter emailed to you to confirm the safety of our products signed by the owner himself. I hope this email will suffice in the meantime of waiting for the letter. The products we distribute here in North America they all used the German paint and passed all the rigorous safety tests and is lead free.
I feel a little safer purchasing toys from both of these companies but will probably still test them at home just to make sure.
I received a response from Haba toys regarding where their toys are made.
Thank you for contacting HABA USA where we as parents ourselves really do care about the products our company produces for our children.
In order for any company to provide as many product offerings as HABA currently does it would be nearly impossible to manufacture every single item within our own factories. We tried to for many years; however we had to expand our product selection in order to continue to provide our consumers what with new diversified products.
Nearly all of our wooden products are still made at our own factories in Germany. We use the natural beech and birch woods that are native to the area. In fact even if an item is final assembled in China, the wooden parts/pieces still come from our factories in Germany and are sent over to CHINA for final assembly. We don’t paint our products, we stain them.
The stains we use on our wooden products are all water based, non-toxic stains (also made in Germany). They are continually tested by an independent, third party laboratory to meet and/or exceed all of the European EN 71, CE and American ASTM safety standards. You can be assured that our stains used on our wooden products are safe. The stains are in fact edible; if your child is teething and he/she bites through the wood this poses no health risk whatsoever.
HABA is committed to healthy working environments and quality products for children, regardless if they are made at our own factories in Bad Rodach, Germany or at subcontracted factories in other countries, including CHINA. We are proud to be one of the few manufacturers using only the best producers in CHINA that are independently inspected and do not endorse unfair labor practices. The easiest way to share with you where our products are made is to provide you with the attached PDF file that is basically my wholesale pricelist (without the prices of course) but with the Country of Origin on each item. I hope this helps!
And a response from Hape Toys
I can understand your concern. Working so close to children and the many children in my life I take the safety of children extremely important. With all of the news as of late we are having a PR piece created about the safety and procedures of HaPe. I will also have a letter emailed to you to confirm the safety of our products signed by the owner himself. I hope this email will suffice in the meantime of waiting for the letter. The products we distribute here in North America they all used the German paint and passed all the rigorous safety tests and is lead free.
I feel a little safer purchasing toys from both of these companies but will probably still test them at home just to make sure.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Rant - Made in China
So another toy recall from Mattel, are we surprised? I'm not, and let me tell you that I am changing the way I buy my child's toys from now on. Sure most of us can now afford to buy our children the latest Elmo toy but at what cost? My child's health is not for sale to the lowest bidder. So tomorrow I am taking back her Fisher Price Elmo Giggles Remote that she got for her birthday and her Busy Zoo by Parents. Both made in China.
I was talking to a friend who has 2 children older than mine. She told me about Melissa and Doug & Ryan's Room and that they make good quality wood toys. I knew at home our daughter had received a Melissa and Doug toy as a gift. I was anxious to get home to take a closer look at it but when I did disappointment set it. On the bottom MADE IN CHINA.
In doing research I saw a blog mention an email from Doug (of Melissa and Doug I assume) saying that “It’s quite possible to make great quality children’s items in China, which meet all safety regulations, but the key point is that you have to test and inspect very frequently to be sure that your factories are always following your instructions explicitly. I assure you that’s exactly what we do.
From our experience, the key to doing this correctly is not simply to insist that your factories follow your instructions, but then to go one step further and to AUDIT, INSPECT, AND TEST very frequently. That is the most important part of the process, and it’s something our company has always taken VERY seriously.”
I don't know about you but this statement does not put me at ease. It says to me that they have experienced problems and are trying to catch any others. But they can't test EVERY toy, right? The factory heads know this, who's to say someone doesn't slip in lower quality products to save themselves a few what ever their currency is. And that is the one that our dear friends bought, wrapped in the beautiful wrapping paper and given to my daughter on her first birthday.
In searching around for toys not made in China I came across these sites:
North Star Toys. Handmade by a husband and wife team in New Mexico.
Green Toys
Haba German Toys Some are made in China, check each item. You can download a PDF from Oompa Toys (see below) showing where each Haba toy is made.
Oompa Toys
Oompa Toys has also addressed parents fears over toxic toys by showing the toy brand name, where it was designed and where the toy is made
And if you want to test the toys (or anything else) you already have you can get lead test kits here.
If you know of other NOT made in China toy brands please let me know!
I was talking to a friend who has 2 children older than mine. She told me about Melissa and Doug & Ryan's Room and that they make good quality wood toys. I knew at home our daughter had received a Melissa and Doug toy as a gift. I was anxious to get home to take a closer look at it but when I did disappointment set it. On the bottom MADE IN CHINA.
In doing research I saw a blog mention an email from Doug (of Melissa and Doug I assume) saying that “It’s quite possible to make great quality children’s items in China, which meet all safety regulations, but the key point is that you have to test and inspect very frequently to be sure that your factories are always following your instructions explicitly. I assure you that’s exactly what we do.
From our experience, the key to doing this correctly is not simply to insist that your factories follow your instructions, but then to go one step further and to AUDIT, INSPECT, AND TEST very frequently. That is the most important part of the process, and it’s something our company has always taken VERY seriously.”
I don't know about you but this statement does not put me at ease. It says to me that they have experienced problems and are trying to catch any others. But they can't test EVERY toy, right? The factory heads know this, who's to say someone doesn't slip in lower quality products to save themselves a few what ever their currency is. And that is the one that our dear friends bought, wrapped in the beautiful wrapping paper and given to my daughter on her first birthday.
In searching around for toys not made in China I came across these sites:
North Star Toys. Handmade by a husband and wife team in New Mexico.
Green Toys
Haba German Toys Some are made in China, check each item. You can download a PDF from Oompa Toys (see below) showing where each Haba toy is made.
Oompa Toys
Oompa Toys has also addressed parents fears over toxic toys by showing the toy brand name, where it was designed and where the toy is made
And if you want to test the toys (or anything else) you already have you can get lead test kits here.
If you know of other NOT made in China toy brands please let me know!
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