oh my aching conscience

The Fisher Price recall this week was pretty shocking. I don't necessarily dig the aesthetic of their toys or all the battery-operated stuff, but I never questioned the safety or quality. We have quite a bit of Diego and Dora gear around here, including the dollhouse. Apparently the recall is limited to things bought between May and July of this year so we should, I hope, have nothing to worry about. It makes me uneasy just the same. Especially the bald patch on Mami's head. Where did that paint go?

I've been doing a lot of hit-and-run posting lately. It's summer and I want to be outside, so I'm not feeling particularly business-minded or focused these days. I think if I had a bricks and mortar store I would probably hang a *gone fishing* shingle on the door and close up shop for the summer. But if I don't want to find myself out of business I need to to fill the shop's nearly-empty shelves with some new stuff. So, yes, there are a few new things heading this way soon. I'm still looking for more. It's more challenging than you'd imagine, as I've observed before. As my manifesto becomes clearer, it becomes more difficult to find things I feel good about selling. Original + Useful + Beautiful is always the starting point.

I've blogged many times about my love for vintage, thrifted, and yard sale finds. Sure it's partly because we are a family on a budget, but it's also because I want to teach my children another way, an alternative to a TV-rich, mass-produced, consumer culture. I would like them to know something about good design and craftsmanship and not buy, buy, buy without thinking or appreciating. And since there is no one to tell me any different, which is both the beauty and the folly of self-employment, it is also how I choose to run my business. It may seem like an odd philosophy coming from a seller of children's things, and it's quite a contradiction for me personally because I watched a lot of TV growing up. Our house was Barbie obsessed. My sister and I had marathon sessions with marriages, divorces, star-crossed relationships and scandals played out amid the Barbie camper van, the hair salon, the Olympic stadium and the swimming pool. Good times. I've flirted with
the idea of stocking these beautiful play kitchens and dollhouses. I like the idea that they're not so girly, and not so garish as the plasticky stuff that's out there, but they're incredibly expensive. If Henry broke the door off like he did with Dora's adobe abode I might cry, so how is that fun for anyone? Besides when it comes to imaginative play I don't think it matters if kids have a $300 birch-and-plexi loft or a homemade cardboard box duplex. Oh, what to do what to do. I think I have buyer's block.