Rant - Woodland Park Zoo

Today Baby Girl and I went to Woodland Park Zoo to get some fresh air and see some animals. It was kind of an overcast day so I didn't think there would be many people there, boy was I wrong. Parking was almost full but we found a spot and made our way in. Oh and someone had a dog locked in their red Hummer in the parking lot.

Anyway, we were making our way around the exhibits but other moms/dads/nannys/caregivers with their strollers and wagons full of kids would get in the way. I'm not talking about going slow I'm talking about blocking the paths so you have to come to a complete halt. It actually started to get quite annoying.

Last time Hubby, Baby Girl and I went to the Zoo we didn't see the elephants. Elephants are my favorite animal and I have a hard time seeing them confined. But this time we made our way and it was sad. They were in their barn and it just looked too small. The zoo must have complaints cause I saw a number of signs showing just how much room the elephants have for their exhibit. The problem is it's not all that much room. I've already blogged about this, but I just had to mention it again.

We were there for about an hour and a half and I think Baby Girl enjoyed herself. I was a little depressed about the animals but I know zoos do good things, so I'll leave it at that.

Monkey

This post is neither a Rant or a Rave. Today I had to say goodbye to my cat of 17 years. It was the hardest decision I have had to make to date and as soon as it was over I was second guessing myself.


She was the best cat, never sick, never had any litter box accidents. She loved car rides and especially watching semi trucks. When we would rearrange the furniture she would get all frisky. She knew the sound of my husbands car and when she heard it she would wait for him to come through the door. She truly was unlike any cat I'd ever known.

Rave - Seattle Sewers Rejoice!!

Yesterday I was in Ballard for a Meetup at Golden Gardens. As I was heading home I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned the car around to see if what I saw was true. And it was! A new quilt store, with much excitement I parked the car and proceeded in with Baby Girl in tow.

The store is called The Quilting Loft and their fabrics and displays are yummy. They have fabrics from:
Alexander Henry
Amy Butler
Andover
Bali Batiks
Benartex
Clothworks
Free Spirit
Hoffman
In the Beginning
Kaffe
Michael Miller
Moda
Northcott
Red Rooster
Robert Kaufman
South Sea Imports
Timeless Treasures
Windham
Asian, floral, retro, geometric, flannel, batiks, novelty, Halloween & Christmas are just some of what I saw.

They also offer Long Arm Machine Quilting, Classes, Club, Kits, Books and Patterns. There were a number of Amy Butler patterns which is a favorite of mine. They opened in March of this year and are slowly growing with customer sales. Back in March I Ranted about our lack of Fabric Stores in Washington (mainly Seattle). I wished someone would open a Fabric Store because with the closing of In The Beginning all we had left was Pacific Fabrics, Undercover Quilts in Pike Place, which is not easy to get to, and JoAnn in Shoreline.

After going through the store twice I purchased some flannel to make a blanket to keep in the car for emergencies and as a picnic blanket. Baby Girl seemed to like my selection.

Please visit this store as good quality and unique Fabric Stores are slowly disappearing. Now if only someone would open a store with Swiss Batiste, Lawns, tatting, baby cord, smocking supplies.......

Rave & Rant - Woodland Park Zoo

My husband took today off so we could go on a family outing to Woodland Park Zoo. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot.

We loaded up the car with everything we thought we would need, change of clothes for the baby, food, sunscreen, hats, water and blanket. We decided to buy a Membership since we will probably be visiting the zoo frequently with a child now. So we made our way up to the booth and told the gal we wanted to join. She asked us to go to the Membership booth since there was a family behind us and it would take a while to complete the membership. We did as she asked and the woman at the membership booth was non too happy. How dare we interrupted while she was sitting in the MEMBERSHIP BOOTH. Upon leaving we realized she didn't even hand us a map. Oh well I'm guessing she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Now my husband HATES zoos. He hates seeing animals stuck in cages. And I have to admit I don't like it either but I know zoos are trying to help survival of certain species. And most zoos are upgrading their animal exhibits with actual habitats unlike the concrete and bar cages I remember as a child. Like poor Ivan who lived at the B and I in Tacoma but now lives at Zoo Atlanta.

We started off with the Penguin Pool. The water was a bizarre shade of green but I think baby girl liked watching them. Then we made our way to the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit. The Colobus Monkey and Gorillas were of interest to baby girl also. There is a new female Jaguar who is there on a breeding program. She was pacing around and part of me was feeling very sad for her.

Next was the Temperate Forest with all the different birds and after that was the Family Farm with pigs, goats, sheep, bunnies, miniature donkey's, horses and cows. They even have a contact area where you can pet some of them. I took baby girl and she petted their bunny. I wish I knew what kind of bunny it was cause it was very soft.
Continuing on was the African Savannah, my favorite exhibit. They have zebras, ostriches, giraffes and gazelles all in one exhibit roaming just like they would in the wild. I think the hippos are in that exhibit also.

We noticed baby girl was getting fussy, her nap time is usually around 1:30 and it was now after 3. So we decided to call it a day and see the rest of the animals another day.

Rant - Mattel did it again

So here we go a third recall of Mattel toys. This time it is Barbie and accessories, It's a Big Big World and GeoTrax toys. The Chairman and CEO of Mattel even has a video on their site saying how they are stepping up testing of their products and that the safety of our children is important to them. I think it's more along the lines of them wanting to keep the money coming in and not the other toy companies who don't use China Manufactures and have not had any recalls of their toys do to safety issues. Which is one reason why they are in China right, money?
Now like I said before I know not all Chinese people are to blame here. There are a few within these companies who are making decisions behind Mattel's back. But I am so tired of American Companies going outside of the US to have products made.
I for one have completely changed how I buy items for my family, have you?

Rave & Rant - Vets and Cats

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?!?

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.

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!

Rant - Should bicycles really be on the road??

So today Hubby, baby and I were driving back from dinner at Zaks in Ballard and there was quite a lot of traffic on 15th/Holman Road. As we came upon a bicyclist we had to slow way down because we could not go around him without getting into the lane next to us, which was packed. So we along with other cars had to slow down and wait to pass him.
This got us talking about how there is not enough room to pass a bicyclist on the roads safely. But if we were to come to a stop light or sign the bicyclist usually always pass the cars and go right beside the car first at the stop light/sign. Which makes it hard to pass them, and I'm sorry but the car will be faster than the bicycle. They should have to stop where ever the last car is.

I'm sure you have all seen the signs on mountain roads that say slow vehicles with so many cars behind them must use the turnout to let them pass. Could we not apply this to our city roads also???

Continuing on our way our light was red as we came to the intersection of Holman & Greenwood Ave. In front of us was another bicyclist, who decided not to obey the light and proceeded to go through it. This is something that is very common among bicyclist I see while driving around town. Seriously I wonder why there aren't MORE accidents between cars and bicycles. I myself have almost hit 2. Neither one would have been my fault but that is small consolation knowing how much damage the bicyclist would have received.

So I ask the question:
So how safe really is it to have bicycles on our roadways which were designed for motor vehicles?

This is a two-fer Rant.
As we were making are way east through the light on Holman across Greenwood a Police Car with it's lights on was traveling west. Due to the cars and lights he decided to drive west on the outside east bound lane. Which is fine for them to do. But as he passed us we noticed he was holding the steering wheel with his left hand while his right arm was across the back of the seat. Is this really the safe driving position especially when you are driving in the oncoming lane at a high speed????

Rant - Angry cops

Today Hubby and I were driving around Seattle. We came to a stop light where workers were working on the road and a worker was holding a SLOW sign and a cop was helping direct traffic. As we approached the sign said STOP which we did. As the worker changed the sign to SLOW we proceeded slowly. Well the cop was waving his arms all in a huff because we weren't moving fast enough. Mind you the sign says SLOW, and we had to move out of our lane into the oncoming lane. As we reached the T intersection the cop said, "do you know what a turn signal is'. No mind you my hubby did turn on his turn signal so maybe our light is not working outside but I couldn't believe he was getting annoyed because we didn't floor it and speed through the intersection. Go figure!

Rave - Zaks a burger joint

Hubby took the day off so we could get ready for our daughter's first birthday next weekend. While we were out and about we decided to have lunch out. Since we were in Ballard we strolled around till something caught our eye. And then we came upon Zaks. There was a little area where we could eat outside in the shade of an umbrella so we sat down.
Hubby ordered a Cheeseburger, fries and an Arnold Palmer. I ordered a Hamburger, onion rings and an Arnold Palmer. An Arnold Palmer is half lemonade and half ice tea. When our order arrived the meals looked great, but would they taste good too? I have to say it was the best burger I think I have EVER had anywhere!! Hubby ranks Fat Burger a 10 and Zaks a 9, but I would rank it a 10.
I've had many burgers in Seattle, Dicks, Burger Master, Kidd Valley, Red Mill (also listed in the order of best to worst) but his is one place I plan on going back to again and again.

Rant - What the hell is wrong with everyone

Reading this story literally made me sick. Judge Reduces Sentence For Man Who Beat Child To Death
Why on earth would this man even have the slightest chance of getting out of prison? Again I ask you what is wrong with our society!?! 16 hours of beatings 16 HOURS and he has the chance to walk around free one day?

On to another sick crime, so it seems Terapon Dang Adhahn will not be put to death for killing Zina Linnik. Our 'fabulous' Pierce County Prosecutor Gerald Horne made a deal with the killer, that if he showed them where Zina was he would not be killed for this crime. I would have said well yes you showed us where she was but she is not alive so the deal is over. I don't want to support this worthless excuse for a human till he dies of old age. Yes he had a rough childhood but that is NOT an excuse. There are plenty of people who had horrible childhoods or had bad things happen to them and they don't go around killing people.

Let's hope Adre'anna Jackson gets her justice.

So if you are as angry as I am let your voice be heard. Here are addresses for our local elected officials. They are suppose to represent us. Are they??? Is this what we want? Child torturers and murders to live and one day walk free? It's not what I want. Check out how the people we elected are representing us. Check out their voting records.

Rave - Seattle Rain is back!!

So over the weekend we had some wonderful rain showers. It was very nice to get back to our regular rainy weather. Some people don't realize that it can get warm here in Seattle at times. The only thing that was bad was our very high humidity. I'm not sure how high it was at our house but it felt like I was back in Savannah, Georgia.

Rant - Hansa the baby elephant dies

Ok where have I been hiding that I missed this piece of information!!! I LOVE elephants, they are my favorite animal above all others. And one thing I hate seeing is elephants in zoos. Elephants are just too big to have in confined spaces, and I could probably be easily convinced that bears and polar bears to name a few should NOT be in zoos.

I know that zoos are doing good things in preserving the animal species but anyone could see that the elephant are at Woodland Park Zoo is just too small for one elephant let alone 3 and a baby!

I would rather see these elephants be sent to live somewhere where they actually have room to roam and be elephants. One of these places here in the States is The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. These people truly love and respect elephants and I ask that you visit and donate to this worthy cause.

The second is The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick is one of my heroes on this planet. She has saved, reared and released over 60 orphan elephants back into the wild to live life again. I have been the foster mother to two of these miracles, Mary and Tomboi.

I know it is a fantasy to think that zoos will no longer cram big animals into their small boundaries....but a girl can dream.

Rant - Another child killed by a sex offender.

So how many more children have to be raped, tortured and murdered before we keep these sex offenders in jail where they belong! And if there are not here legally kick their sorry asses out! I'm so sick of people protesting that criminals have rights to be treated as citizens. What about the children and families that these CRIMINALS distroy!! Where are their rights. Level 1, 2 or 3 it is a bunch of crap, they are all the same and can never change. This non-human was a level 1 and look where we are now. Investigating him in connection with other child kidnapping/killings. I say you take a life you have forefitted your chance to stay alive on this planet. Why do we wait for them to take two more innocent lives?? And is anyone really surprised that he failed to register? Come on when are we going to learn, bad excuses for human beings are never going to follow the law. That is why you can find guns and drugs in jails/prisions. DID ALL YOU LIBERAL WACKOS HEAR ME!!! ROSIE I'M TALKING TO YOU TOO!!!

So when are you going to get angry enough to demand a change? Write your local officials, bombard them, tell them we are NOT going to stand for this anymore! I want someone in this state to take a stand like the Sheriff in Arizona, Joe Arpaio. I want inmates to have a horrible time in jail, it should not be a place where they pass time with more extras than lower class citizens who have not committed crimes have!

Zina, I'm sorry that your rights to live a happy childhood were taken away. Shame on all of you who allowed this to happen, and shame on all of you who don't act on this and try to make it better for the rest of our children!

Rant - KING TV Fireworks coverage

So every year I watch the 4th of July fireworks on KING 5 and every year I am thoroughly upset with the coverage. Why oh why do you need to zoom in on fireworks!!! Every time you do we miss some big firework cause you are trying to get all artistic on us. They are fireworks, they are the artistic element NOT your camera direction!!!

So next year I will probably be watching and pissing and moaning about the camera coverage again.....