‘Encouragement’ Cards for Tough Times
David M & Co., a Tarzana-based alternative greeting card firm, has a new line of “Encouragement” cards with sentiments geared toward substance-abuse patients, people with AIDS or the terminally ill.
“Encouragement reflects the sensitivity that our generation has grown up with, which was absent in the marketplace before now,” says company president Gary Raskin. The 13 new cards in the line ($1.25 each), he says, respond to society’s immediate needs.
One card says on the cover, “Be gentle with yourself,” while inside it observes: “Change takes time.” Another cover: “Life Is a Dance If You Take the Steps”; inside, “One Step and Then Another.” A third, with flowers on the cover, reads “In the Middle of This,” then inside, “Remember You Are Loved.”
The cards are available at many shops nationwide. In the Los Angeles area, they’re sold at all Nordstroms, the Aahs! shops, The Card Factory in the Beverly Center and the Westside Pavilion, Port O Call in Pasadena, Parchment in Westlake Village and Newport Stationery in Newport Beach. If you can’t find them in your area, contact David M & Co., 6029 Etiwanda, Tarzana, Calif. 91356; in California, phone, (818) 705-0941; outside California, (800) 832-8436.
Babysitting Kit for Parents, Care Givers
Just out is the Babysitting Kit, which includes tips for parents and sitters, a note pad and a four-page booklet for emergency phone numbers, and a children’s storybook about Robespierre A. Bear and his little sister bear, Anna Miranda.
The kit comes in a zippered pouch, so your sitter can keep the pieces together. Among the kit’s tips for parents: how to evaluate sitters, how to prepare your child for a new sitter, what instructions to give a sitter.
Another booklet advises sitters to tour the home with parents to learn where first aid kits, lights, water and gas turn-off valves are; it cautions them that if they answer the phone, they should not tell a caller that the parents aren’t home. The booklet also offers activity ideas, categorized by the child’s age.
The kit, from D. Best Press Inc. in San Anselmo, Calif., retails for $9.95. It is available in Southern California at Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, Matador Shop Bookstore in Northridge and Vromans in Pasadena. If you can’t find it in your area, write D. Best Press Inc., P.O. Box 184, San Anselmo, Calif. 94960.
Need a Hand Applying the Suntan Lotion?
New for summer is Tan Hand, a back-scratcher-type device that helps you put suntan lotion or sun block on hard-to-reach areas.
The plastic tool, which gives 13 inches of added reach, has a sponge applicator at its tip. Tan Hand comes in yellow or orange with two sponges and a plastic pouch to keep the tool clean when not in use.
Tan Hand, developed by Shark Products Inc., of Upland, Pa., retails for about $5.99. In Southern California it is available at Sav-On Drugs and Target stores. If you can’t find Tan Hand in your area, contact Shark Products Inc., 600 Upland Ave., Upland, Pa. 19015; phone (215) 499-7427. You can also buy replacement sponge applicators--four to a set--for $3.50 from Shark.
Lynn Simross welcomes readers’ comments and suggestions for columns. But because of their volume, she regrets that she cannot respond individually to calls and letters. Write to Lynn Simross, Consumer Column, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.