lead paint

does anyone else think the Wal-Marts of America play a huge roll in the rise of lead paint incidents? Not to mention being influential in other economic woes??

I saw a news report on tv a few weeks back about one of the lead paint toy recalls. The news reporter was in the parking lot of a store asking a customer what she thought of this most recent recall. She went on to say how concerned she was for her children and how higher quality standards should be in place, especially for children's' toys made over seas. She was of course standing in a Wal Mart parking lot loading huge bags of extremely low priced toys into her SUV.

I thought to myself...maybe if you didn't support and shop at stores like Wal Mart...there would not be extreme pressure on the Chinese manufacturing companies to keep costs low. Cutting corners, not providing overtime pay, no maternity leave, unstable working environment, and in turn lowering quality and inspection standards. Wouldn't you think it is a direct correlation.????

Now i understand why a lot of people shop at wal-mart....low prices....everyone wants a lot for a little, it's the american way.
The mentality seems to be of the general public, is if it doesn't affect me directly (i.e. global warming) then I need not do anything about it or make any effort to change. But this latest development of lead paint recalls is a direct result of wal-mart existing...and it IS affecting their customers...the same ones who are whining about having to pay extra careful attention to the toys they buy because of hazards now. Well people...it is now affecting you directly....care to do something about it? If you have the opportunity to shop else where....why don't you? But I have a feeling it is not seen that way. It is of course china's fault and we need to fix them.

but anyway.... HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

random acts of kindness

Whenever I go out alone with the boys the one thing that drives me nuts is how completely rude and self involved this world has become. (oh my god have I become kevin? LOL) Seriously though and I know Lauren can back me up on this one. It drives me insane when I am pushing a double stroller into a store and no one offers to hold a door open for me & the stroller. Now let's get one thing straight I can definitely hold the door open and push my monstrosity of a stroller through. I have perfected how to do this (that's a whole other blog entry). It drives me nuts when people see me coming & start to google at the boys "oh look it's twins" ...or they start talking to me "oh how old are they" .. "oh they are so cute"...all this while I'm holding the door myself & pushing the stroller through with NO OFFER of holding the door. One woman actually huffed behind me as I was walking into the bookstore and I was apparently taking longer than expected. WELL HOLD THE DOOR FOR ME DIPPY! It happens everywhere and I think it bothers me because even before I had kids if I saw a woman with a stroller coming I would hold the door for her. I just don't understand how some people can be so self involved and not hold the door and just keep on walking. I don't know maybe it's just me but hopefully you are getting my point.

Now with all that said, I take the boys out to lunch by myself once a week. It's fun for the three of us. We usually sit outside because I like sitting outside with the boys and hey the weather is gorgeous so why not. Today we were in Calabasas...I had to return something at BRU (that's mommy talk for Babies R Us) and there is a strip mall filled with restaurants and shops for me to choose where to eat. Well, I wasn't really that hungry at noon (maybe I was full from my 3 breakfasts & peanut butter & boysenberry tortilla?) so I decided to go to Coffee Bean, get a green tea ice blended, and sit outside and feed the boys their lunch. As I'm walking & getting closer to the door of Coffee Bean something absolutely amazing happened. SOMEONE HELD THE DOOR OPEN FOR ME! I was very thankful. I bought my green tea ice blended and on the way out SOMEONE HELD THE DOOR OPEN FOR ME AGAIN!!! Again I was very thankful. And then you really won't believe what happened... as I was sitting outside getting out the boys their lunch and bibbing them up, all the while my green tea ice blended was sitting on the table with no straw in it yet...the straw was in my bag...anyway, a woman walking by noticed the boys (who can't notice them they're cute!) and smiled at them and then at me, she must've seen my green tea ice blended and said to me " can i get you anything inside? do you need a straw for your ice blended?" I said no but that I had one & thank you for asking. She asked "are you sure? I can get you a muffin or something." I again said no but thank you very much. Me and the boys then went on to enjoy the afternoon...me drinking my green tea ice blended and the boys enjoying their peas with rice.

So the next time any of you see a mother pushing a stroller...be it single or double stroller....be nice and hold the door open...it will probably make her day or at the least make her smile. It did for me.