It Was a Dark and Lead-Filled Hand-Me Down Box

It was a dark and stormy night ...

Yeah.

Not much going on here today.

I would like to take a few seconds and thank those of you that have been commenting, especially those of you who think my kid mooning the camera was amusing. I am deeply comforted to know that I did not fall down onto a church pew is spasms for something that was humorous only in my head, or that I posted my offspring's posterier for no good reason. (Whew! Sometimes we need that reassurance.)

You may (not) be interested to know that the trousers in said mooning picture are now safely in the box to be sent on to some other little boy in the family. Now when Toddler's trousers are too big around the waist, at least they will be long enough to reach the tops of his shoes before they fall down. Even if they have adjustable waists. Not that we've had that happen again. Or anything. And certainly not in the grocery store while waiting for someone to get us the little green shopping cart. Nope. Nothing like that.

Now, about that box of clothing we are handing down to younger cousins. I believe it is still technically illegal to distribute any item to or for children that has not been certified lead free by the owner pursuant to that extremely well-thought out child protection statute. Admittedly, the last time I checked, the application of said law was suspended until next February. And, so sayeth Congress, "second hand" transfers are allegedly not the target despite the wording of the law. But, unless I've missed an amendment or two to that bill, I think it is still illegal to hand this box of clothing over to another mom for use on her kids even though no one will come and arrest me until March. Of course, this law is what drove my craft business out of business, and brought me to you, blogging in my free time, so maybe it wasn't all that bad. (Or maybe it's worse?)

Of course, being a lawyer (former lawyer? once a lawyer, always a lawyer?) I have some reservations about doing something I understand to be illegal even if there is no penalty just yet. I mean, I have to uphold the dignity of the profession, set an example, respect my obligations as an officer of the court .... one of those, I'm sure applies. I could do some legal research to find out exactly what is still illegal and what is now permitted, but since it wasn't readily apparent to me on a 2 minute Google search, and since no one pays me for legal research anymore, I've decided on another solution.

I've decided to let my sister have my son's old clothes and toys, and if for some amazing quirk of fate her child comes down with lead poisoning from my son's old t-shirts, I will rely on my family ties to prevent said sister from reporting me to the police or from suing me for damages. Why? Because I love my sister and trust her completely? Well, sometimes yes, but that isn't the reason. The reason is ... she gave me the toys and clothes first. If I'm responsible, then she is too. (Ain't blaming sisters great?) Even better, if she does sue me, the gravy train is off, and I won't be sending her anymore clothes for her kid. (Of course, she won't be sending me any more either...)

I think I'm safe in assuming that we won't be suing each other.

Now, my cousin, on the other hand, did not give me any hand me down stuff for my son before I gave her used clothes and toys for her son. I don't have the same kind of leverage or bilateral trading agreement. The best I can do on that end is tell her that if she sues me I won't be bringing any more Chesapeake Bay hardshell crabs to the Christmas Eve potluck. Then again, I heard we aren't having the potluck this year ... so maybe I'm out of luck altogether.

Now for a total non sequiter ... I just noticed a spider crawling on the wall next to me. This is a little one, so I'm still calmly typing, but I need to step away to find a cat.

Until tomorrow ....