All for show – In a move that is (in my not so humble opinion) designed to provide some cover for companies like Mattel in the wake of massive recalls this year, a pact between the US and China was signed this week that bans lead paint in toys exported to the U.S. Now first of all, Mattel, which is importing the toys for sale here knows damn well that lead based paints are banned, when they set up their specifications, this should have already been spelled out. But obviously wasn’t. It is another case of turning a blind eye in the name of profits. Only problem. They got caught. So what does this “pact” actually supposed to do except perhaps give consumers a false sense of security.

From the land of “DUH”! – The CEO from Mattel admits it could have done a better job. But following closely on the heels of that (with much less fanfare) is a report that in order for these toy companies like Mattel to do what the should have been doing all along, that the price of toys will likely increase about 10% to absorb the cost of testing.

You can’t make stuff like this up – Today is the birthday of Russi Taylor. Russi has been the voice of Minnie Mouse since 1985. She is married to Wayne Allwine, who is the voice of Mickey!

High Expectations? – LatteGirl’s soccer season starts tomorrow.  Her first practice is tonight.  Upon finding out about this exclaims, “How can they expect me to be a goal scoring machine with only one practice to tune up my scoring foot!”   And to think last year, I was afraid that TheWife was pushing her too hard to go play soccer.