Happy Halloween!

Halloween history, from the History Channel:

Ancient Origins
Halloween Comes to America
Today's Traditions

Lead in face paint... and some personal news!

I just threw out a package of Alex brand face paint crayons after reading this report by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics!

Pretty Scary: A Report on Heavy Metals in Face Paints

We've been told for years to avoid putting masks on children at Halloween because most don't have eye holes big enough to allow for good vision on dark, busy Halloween streets - paint was the way to go. But with the scary results of this report (lead was found in all 10 products tested; nickel, cobalt and chromium in some), I won't be painting C's face until I can find a face paint that doesn't have any lead or nasty chemicals - does anyone have any good homemade face paint recipes? Luckily her costume this year doesn't involve face paint. She's going to be Little Red Riding Hood! I made her cape, and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I'll post a picture after Halloween.

And as for the personal news... Hubby and I are expecting another baby! I'm 3 months along, and I'm feeling pretty good, besides a bit of queasiness. I was extremely tired for a while, but that's starting to subside - which is good, because I've been traveling the country for work! I've been banking a bunch of hours (I'm only supposed to work 2 days a week), so I plan to take some time off in December or January, when things at work slow down. I think we're going to keep the sex of the baby a surprise, and C is pretty excited to be a big sister someday.

That's it from my neck of the woods! have fun with your Halloween prep, and pray that it doesn't rain (or snow, depending on where you live)!

Graphics problem fixed!

It looks like I've been without a blog header for a few days - my image hosting site went kaput, but I've uploaded it to Flickr, so it's all fixed now - yay!