Meet-ups for Moms

For anyone looking for a way to meet other moms in the city, I highly recommend the New and Expecting Toronto City Moms Meetup Group -- you can find them at http://newparents.meetup.com/265/.

Here's their description:
A forum for new and expecting Toronto moms to exchange information, recommendations and chat about being a new mom in the heart of the city. With lots of events in various locations, our group hopes to provide a bit of fun and support to Toronto moms and moms-to-be to make the transition to motherhood a bit more enjoyable.

They get together throughout the week, so join the group and join in the fun!

Vote Now for Davisville Moms to be Canada’s top Mompreneur

For Immediate Release

Vote Now for Davisville Moms to be Canada’s top Mompreneur^TM!

Davisville Moms is entered to win $18,000 Grand Prize and we need your votes to help us win.

(Toronto, Ontario – July 13 2007) – Davisville Moms has put our name into the ring to win The SavvyMom Mompreneur of the Year Award, a readers’ choice contest designed to find Canada’s top Mompreneur. The winner will be announced in the fall, and will be rewarded with an $18,000 prize package of cash, business services and office equipment that was designed to help take that business to the next level.

Kimberly Silk is a Davisville Mom to her son, Thomas, who was born in the summer of 2005. Accustomed to the fast-paced adrenaline rush that comes with being self-employed, Kim found being home with a new baby isolating and challenging in ways she never could have imagined. Frustrated with feeling alone, she decided to do something about it. Through word-of-mouth, Kim brought together a modest group of five moms and their new babies to meet for conversation at the local café, and over the next two years, the group grew to a membership of over 200 moms.

In mid-2007, Davisville Moms evolved to become an online resource to support the parenting community it had built. The DavisvilleMoms.com web site is a central resource for neighbourhood happenings, from family-friendly events and retailer news to child care centre listings, mom-and-baby play dates and community updates. Kim is thrilled to be nominated for the Mompreneur of the Year Award; Davisville Moms has provided her with many rewarding friendships in the community, and is thrilled to have the group recognized by a wider audience.

“DavisvilleMoms.com was inspired by the moms in the Davisville area of Toronto who are looking for local, pragmatic information about their community. While other online newsletter success stories in Canada such as Wee Welcome and SavvyMom focus on family living at the city level, DavisvilleMoms.com focuses on the neighbourhood, with a view of delivering relevant, local information that promotes a strong sense of community within the context of living in a large city.” Says Kimberly Silk, Founder of DavisvilleMoms.com, “If we are honoured with the title of Mompreneur of the Year, we plan to use the award money to help us build DavisvilleMoms.com to offer more information, offer monthly events for local parents, and increase our subscriber base.”

Throughout the contest period, Savvymom.ca will be hosting a ‘Mompreneurs Gallery’ at www.mompreneuraward.com. DavisvilleMoms.com can be viewed by clicking on this URL.

Voters are also eligible to win prizes provided by Robeez (www.robeez.com) and other partners in the voter sweepstakes that accompanies this promotion.

DavisvilleMoms.com is an online resource for the modern urban family living in the Davisville neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. DavisvilleMoms.com serves a vibrant group of intelligent parents who have embraced the small town feel of their local community, while loving everything the city has to offer. Additional company information can be found at www.davisvillemoms.com.

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Kimberly Silk

kim@brightsail.com

416-721-8955

^TM Mompreneur is the trademark of The Mompreneur Networking Group Inc. in Canada

Fisher-Price recalls almost 1 million toys

As reported by CBC news:

Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling nearly 1 million toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 83 types of plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. A total of 967,000 toys are affected.

It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.

The recall is the largest for Fisher-Price and parent company Mattel Inc. since 1998, when Fisher-Price had to yank about 10 million Power Wheels from toy stores.

David Allmark, general manager of Fisher-Price, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the problem was detected by an internal probe and reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which works with companies to issue recalls.

Fisher-Price and the commission issued statements saying parents should keep suspect toys away from children and contact the company.

Under current U.S. regulations, children's products found to have more than .06 per cent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

Allmark said the recall was "fast-tracked," which allowed the company to quarantine two-thirds of the toys before they made it to store shelves.

Long-standing relationship with Chinese vendor

Allmark said the recall was troubling because Fisher-Price has had a long-standing relationship with the Chinese vendor, which had applied decorative paint to the toys. Allmark said the company would use this recall as an opportunity to put even better systems in place to monitor vendors whose conduct does not meet Mattel's standards.

"We are still concluding the investigation, how it happened," he said. "But there will be a dramatic investigation on how this happened. We will learn from this."

The recall follows another high-profile move from toy maker RC2 Corp., which in June voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line.

RC2 Corp. said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contain lead, affecting 26 components.

Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industries Association, praised Mattel's quick response to the problem, and suggested Mattel will use this setback as a lesson for not only the company but for the entire industry.

However, he expressed concern about how the recall and other toy recalls will play out in consumers' minds in advance of the holiday season.

"We are worried about the public feeling," said Keithley. "We have thought all along that (consumers) can be confident in the products, but if companies like Mattel have this, then you have to ask how did this happen?"

Owners of recalled toys can exchange them for a voucher for another product of the same value.

For more information call 1-800-916-4498.

GO GREEN: Dufferin Grove Farmers' Market

Dufferin Grove Organic Farmers' Market
Thursdays from 3pm to 7pm, year round

Located at the rink house at Dufferin Grove park, on Dufferin south of Bloor (across from Dufferin Mall)
Street Address: 875 Dufferin

For information, call 416-392-0913 or visit the Friends of Dufferin Grove web site.

SHOP! Top Banana Clearance Sale Ends July 29th

Top Banana toy store pioneer Nancy Green has recently retired from the toy business. Mastermind Toys will be taking over the Top Banana space, opening on August 1st.

Visit Top Banana to take advantage of their clearance sale - everything is 50% off until the sale ends on Sunday Juy 29th.

Top Banana
639 Mt. Pleasant Road
416-440-0111

SHOP! End of Season Clearance Sale at Simon Says

Simon Says is having their End of Season Clearance Sale from now to August 6th:

Up to 70% off!

UMI shoes are now $29.95, no PST!

SALE ENDS MONDAY AUGUST 6th.

For more info, call Tina at the store at 416-482-8013

Keeping an Eye on our Kids

This past week there was a report (and much-forwarded email thread) that there was a near-abduction of a 2-year old child in a local Mastermind store on Yonge, north of Lawrence. It's the kind of story that scares the heck out of every parent, and makes us all a little more suspicious of the world in general.

I'm happy to report that the near-abduction was over-exaggerated. Thanks to Carole and Amanda for bringing the following Globe and Mail article to my attention:
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"E-mail exaggerated toy store 'attempted abduction,' police say"

By the time the e-mail went out, the incident had ballooned into an ''attempted abduction,'' orchestrated by a possible member of a ring of pedophiles.On Tuesday, a group of parents received an e-mail from a friend, warning them about an incident that took place last week at a Mastermind toy store in the Yonge-Lawrence neighbourhood. According to the sender, an older man had attempted to snatch a two-year-old at the store.

The rest of the article is here.
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I apologize for unwittingly sending out false news; thank goodness that the report was overblown, and I'm relieved no child was in real danger. But I still learned an important lesson: Keep an eye on your kids.

- Kim

EVENT: Brick Works Farmers' Market every Saturday

Every Saturday: Brick Works Farmers' Market
8am to 2pm, May to October

Local Produce | Baked Goods | Native Plant Sales | Crafts | Entertainment | Workshops

FREE shuttle from Broadview Station on the 1/2 hour.

For more info, call 416-596-1495

REVIEW: Finding Bliss at Madison Nails

Like most Moms, I always WANT to take time to do nice things for myself, but somehow it always falls to the bottom of the list. Yesterday I decided to take the plunge and go for a pedicure.

The newest nail bar in the Davisville neighbourhood is Madison Nails. Located on Mt. Pleasant just north of Belsize, it's very close to the home office. The salon is bright and airy inside; calming music floats through the room and you can smell whiffs of lemon verbena nearby.

The service was fantastic; I was left to happily read my trashy magazine while my feet were being pampered. Everything at Madison is brand new and very clean, an important factor when it comes to personal services. What makes Madison unique to any other nail bar I've visited is the option to purchase your very own personal nail kit: the kit is your's and it's used just by you at each visit. In addition, the prices are fantastic: I had the SoHo scrub (feet and hands) for under $50 - what a deal!

Madison's owner, Ellen Hastings, wants to let all Davisville Moms know that Madison is a great place for pedi-parties. Just book 5 or more people, and the place is your's!

If you've tried Madison, let us know! Feel free to post your comments below.

Davisville Moms are Naturally Savvy

In early June, a few of our members volunteered their time to participate in a video shoot for a BrightSail client. The video discussed the benefits of organic and natural sunscreens vs. traditional sunscreens.

The video turned out really well -- to see it for yourself, visit the NaturallySavvy.com web site.

Thank you to Nomi, Maya, Lana, Mya, Thomas, Meredith and Lily for a great shoot!