Lead

We have seen or read the news a few times this week, and in case you have been living in a cave, here's a summary of what must be the most important news item every single day: there are lots of children's toys that contain lead, and that's bad. Pretty much every toy containing any paint is on the banned list, we think. It's a miracle we all turned out OK considering there was probably lead in almost every single toy we owned in the '70s and '80s.

All this talk of lead paint inspired Erin to actually find and use the face mask we have in the garage while sanding the door frames and floorboards in our living room. Granted, this is the final room in the house to be painted and she has thus far sanded paint off of door frames and floorboards in the remainder of the house while simply trying not to breath too much. Our house was built in 1960, so it's possible there could be at least one layer of lead paint on the wood. With all the bad news about lead paint, Erin started wondering what might happen to her if she did ingest lead paint dust from, say, sanding five rooms in our house. Cancer? Brain damage? Hallucinations? John helpfully pointed out last night that we did indeed actually sign a waiver when we bought this house stating that we are aware that our house contains lead paint and will not sue the old lady who used to live here should anyone die from lead paint poisoning.

As it turns out, lead generally affects children, causing such things as ADD and learning disabilities, so we're in the clear. And now that we've sanded away and repainted all the other lead paint in the house, you can feel safe to bring your children here as well.

All this worry and time spent researching lead paint could have been avoided if we just didn't watch the news. Lessons learned: ignorance is bliss, and just buy your kids video games for Christmas...it's better for them.