Yet another consignment sale

Katrina Trask Nursery School Consignment Sale
Friday, April 16th (3-8pm)
Half-price sale on Saturday, April 17th (9am-1pm)
The American Legion (34 West Ave., Saratoga Springs).

For more information click HERE

From their site:

Everything you need for children: furniture, toys, books, videos, baby gear, maternity and nursing clothes, and children's clothes for infants to children's size 10/12. The sale offers a tremendous selection of excellent-quality items. In addition to raising money to help run our cooperative nursery school, we reach out to families and charities in need within the community and supply them with free clothing and gear by donating unsold items following the sale.

Let Them Eat Cake

Just took a detour through Delmar and saw that Make Me a Cake Next Door is now open.  The owners of Perfect Blend have expanded next door and according to their website will be offering 'a wide variety of cupcakes as well as cakes for all occassions, specialty/custom cakes, wedding cakes and much more.'

Here is some more info from the Times Union.

Mmm, art you can eat.


Make Me A Cake Next Door
378 Delaware Avenue
Delmar, NY 12054

Too Big for My Britches

I am nearing the five month mark in my pregnancy, and it's official... I need to switch over to maternity clothes. Blurgh.  The Belly Band (a pregnant woman's miracle) I bought at Target has been working until now, allowing me to wear my normal jeans, however, this baby is growing... so it's time to pull out the heavy artillery.

It's been about three years since my last baby, and while many of the maternity clothes styles have improved, the locations where you can buy them have dwindled.  Wal-Mart and Old Navy have pulled maternity wear out of their stores and moved everything online, and even Bon-Ton (usualy a last resort) has decided to leave pregnant ladies in the lurch.

While online shopping is convenient, maternity clothes, I find, are often ill-fitting and need a good trying-on before buying. I hate paying for shipping (I usually look for free coupon codes) and REALLY hate paying for shipping returns.  Some stores offer in-store returns, however, a salesperson at Old Navy said they don't accept maternity clothes any longer.

In my desperation, I have traveled the Capital Region looking for places for a 'woman with child' to get some duds.

Target:  Liz Lange has had a line there for a while, but this time around the selection is pretty sparse.  I remember the selection being more varied, but there are some basic t-shirts, leggings, etc. you can start with.


H&M (Crossgates Mall):  Nice selection, very trendy, and reasonably priced. Keep checking back and you can find some good sales.

JC Penney:  They had a pretty decent selection, more for the working mom than the sweatpants/jeans mom I am.  There were some good sales, but overall, not really my style.  I have a weird thing with jeans.. if they are not the EXACT wash I like, I won't wear them.  Even if they are mega discounted for 14.99. I tried explaining that to my husband, but it's lost on him.

Destination Maternity (Colonie Center):  Finally, a whole store dedicated the process of populating. The front of the store boasts their boutique line (Pea in a Pod) where everything is pretty, but EXTREMELY overpriced (the sale prices made we weep).  The back of the store has the Motherhood Maternity section, which was more in my price range.  The salesperson was very helpful and friendly and the big bonus here is that there is a big gated off area in the middle of the store complete with a TV, lego table, and other diversions for the kids.  I actually got to try some stuff on knowing my kids were comatose in front of Nick Jr.

*Motherhood Matenity apparently also rents out spaces in Sears, Boscov's, Macy's (all in Colonie Center) as well as Babies R Us, so you can find similar items in all of these places, however they do not offer the in-store discounts that Destination Maternity has.

The Gap (Crossgates only):  So, of course you can look super cute and put together with anything the Gap sells in their maternity section, but if I'm going to pay full price for a pair of jeans... you are darn tootin' that I'm going to be able to wear them for more than three months. That being said, I always check out their sale section.  I am so over being that shopper that pretends to browse the front of the store mulling over a $68 t-shirt, only to casually make my way to the sale rack. I only ever buy 'on sale' at the Gap and always make a bee-line to the back of the store.

I have yet to check out any consignment shops and would take any suggestions. I'm pretty sure PolkaDots on Western Ave. has some stuff, so I'm going to check that out tomorrow, but I usually save consignment shopping for when I don't have the kids... there's something about that combination that kinda leaves me frazzled. And to find other used clothing, there is always eBay, Craigslist, and eMommie.

Farm and Fiber Tour

Looks like an interesting day for the family:

Washington County Farm and Fiber Tour
April 24th and 25th
Free!

From their website:

-Drive from farm to farm through scenic Washington County in eastern NYS. Shop for handspun and dyed yarns, unique woven and knitted items, high quality fleeces, cuts of lamb, and more. 

-Watch spinning, knitting, weaving, and felting demonstrations. Try your hand at many fiber arts. Learn about raising the livestock and pets that we cherish.

-Visit alpacas, bunnies, sheep and lambs, llamas, and more - on the farm; and meet the farmers and their families. 

And for your viewing pleasure:   The Llama Song

Thomas on the Big Screen

If you haven't caught this already, you still have one more chance!
 
THOMAS & FRIENDS: Hero of the Rails Movie

10 AM at Movieland in Schenectady
$5 for all seats. (What a steal!)
Saturday, March 27th

If your kids are into the crazy hijinks of this train and his friend-gines, then check out this description:

The British children's series Thomas & Friends follows the animated adventures of a helpful locomotive named Thomas the Tank Engine as he and his train buddies work the rail lines and teach kids about the spirit of teamwork. This cartoon movie breaks new ground in the series by providing voices for each individual character (previously, the tales were narrated by a single storyteller) and introducing three new friends: a train named Hiro, a steam engine named Victor, and a crane named Kevin.

The trains talk?!!  New characters?!!  This is groundbreaking stuff, guys.

Hudson Children's Book Festival

Still more than a month away, but definitely worth marking down on the calendar.

Here's a link to the extensive list of authors who are slated to be there as well as the schedule.

The Old People's Mall

Four score and seven years ago, when I was a high school student, I balanced a couple of jobs at what in my hometown of Whitehall, PA (holla!) was known as the 'old people's mall'. (To prove how long ago this was, one of my jobs was at Waldenbooks (remember those?), and the other was at the Dollar Movie Theatre, and at the time that I quit they were playing Jurassic Park).

This was not the cool mall that all the high school kids hung out at on a Friday night, but the quiet mall that smelled like stale pretzels and dirty fountain water. And of course, it was filled with old people.  Well... never really filled... I guess that's why they liked it.

Anyway, today I found the equivalent of that at the Rotterdam Square Mall.  I think that any mall with K-Mart as an anchor store automatically qualifies.  This mall was one of the more depressing places I have been in a while.  Empty storefronts, empty food court, and more "Cash for Gold" kiosks per square footage than I've seen anywhere else.

It does have all your key mall stores... FYE, Hot Topic, Victoria's Secret, and a bunch of those places that sell wolf t-shirts and woven hats from Guatemala.  It also has a Gap Outlet, which is a bonus (for me anyway), but it's certainly not enough to take away from the dreariness of the whole place. Even the Easter Bunny looked like he was crying beneath his costume. (Sidenote:  the guy taking the pictures of the bunny looked EXACTLY like the comic book guy in the Simpsons).

My kids,on the other hand, noticed none of this bleakness. Why, you ask?  Because it has one of the most impressive collection of pay kiddie rides in all the land.  I was just at Crossgates last week and noticed they took theirs away, and the one at Colonie Center pales in comparison.  This place has everything a little kid could want.  The ice cream truck, the fire engine, a race car, and little merry go round, I could go on.  Of course, being the stingy mom that I am, I conveniently have 'run out of quarters' at this point of the trip, so the kids have to busy themselves with the rides without all the jerking back and forth, but they are happy enough to play.

The highlight for me was the magic tree named "Molly" (complete with British accent), who rhymes in couplets and has a change machine in her trunk.  That particular attraction is free and the kids must have pressed the button fifteen times to hear her sing 'Zipadee-doo-da'.

So, if you happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods, check it out.  By no means am I implying that you should make a special trip... if you did you would just be disappointed.  However, if you need to sell some gold and are over there anyway, make a little pit stop. Your kids will thank you for it, and it just might be the highlight of your visit. No, it definitely will be.

Spring has Sprung

For Bahai's, the first days of spring is also the beginning of our New Year, or Naw Ruz.

For the last few weeks, to help usher springtime into our home, we cut some long branches from our forsythia bush and put them in water.  The kids have enjoyed the day by day unfolding of the buds, until the blooms finally made their appearance...just in time for all the sunshiney warmth we have been enjoying!

Happy Spring, Albany!  It's like a whole new city out there.

Maple Sugar Tour - Five Rivers

The sun is shining... birds are singing.... perfect day for a field trip!

My friend got bunch of pre-K friends and parents together for the Maple Syrup Tour at Fiver Rivers Environmental Educational Center. The tour was about a half an hour long and winds through one of their short trails through the woods.  Led by a cheerful guide, the children were encouraged to take in the natural wonders around them, (namely trees), and experience first hand where maple syrup comes from and how it is made.

The kids got to drill into a tree, taste the freshly tapped sap, and then got to taste the real deal after it had been boiled down in the 'sugar shack'. (Move over Mrs. Butterworth).

The rest of the morning was spent running around, playing with sticks and rocks, and lunching in the sun.  A perfect start to the spring.

To experience your own Maple Syrup adventure you can head over to Five Rivers.  Here is a description from their website.  You can also check out their calendar for other upcoming family friendly events.

Maple Sugar Open Houses Saturdays and Sundays, March 20, 21, 27, 28, April 3
1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
At our Maple Sugar Open Houses, watch sap drip from the tapped trees, and smell the syrup boiling in the evaporator. You'll learn to twirl a drill and pound a spile, and you'll use your taste buds to sample maple syrup. The Maple Sugar Open Houses are open to the public. Scout and other youth groups are welcome; call the Center to register a group.

Next generation of tree huggers.

Thanks, Laura!! We had fun!

Balloon on a Spoon

For my son's 3rd birthday (last January) we bought him a bunch of mylar balloons from the Dollar Store.  The store had run out of all the birthday ones we were choosing, so we ended up getting him a motley collection of Valentine's balloons. Since V-day was still a month away at that point, they had those in spades.

Anyway, fast forward two months and some of these balloons are still hanging around. (Talk about stretching your dollar). I tied a spoon to one of my son's favorites so it would prevent me from having to jump up and get it everytime it hit the ceiling.  Ingenious, some might say, however, this thing is starting to freak me out.  With the spoon attached it is about the exact height of a small person. It floats around the house doing its own thing and it has those weird eyes and goofy grin...and I I'm never expecting it to be there, so I keep scaring the bejeezus out of myself whenever I bump into it.

I'll get up to go to the bathroom at night and jump because I think there is someone in the hall. I'll start talking to it because out of the corner of my eye I'll think its one of my kids. This morning I actually shut my bedroom door because I felt like someone was watching me, and when I looked up, there he was staring me down.

Tomorrow, I think I am going to introduce our little friend to a pair of safety scissors . This has gone on for far too long and this little love monkey has overstayed his welcome.

Home Gym for Kids

Is it just me or does this toy strike anyone as odd?

How about if you add this?

Guesses on how long it takes before it becomes a clothes rack..... just like mommy and daddy's.

Opera-to-go

Here's a chance to introduce your little ones to the refined world of opera. No, not the Three Tenors...the Three Little Pigs.

Lake George Opera To Go presents :
"The Three Little Pigs"  
Sunday, March 14, 2010 :  
2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M.   
at the NYS Museum


(from their website)

Description:   Lake George Opera at Saratoga brings a fully staged opera, complete with sets, costumes, and a cast of professional singers tot he State Museum.  In this retelling of "The Three Little Pigs," the beloved fairy tale by John Davies is set to music from the operas of Amadeus Mozart.  Join us on a musical adventure and find out how the three little pigs outsmart the big bad wolf by taking their questions 'to the Library!"  Please arrive early. Visitors will not be admitted once the performance begins!  Performance will be held in the Huxley Theater.  This is a FREE program and pre-registration is not required

 And remember, it aint' over till the fat piggie sings.

Triops

Today the kids and I were listening to one of our favorite kid-friendly, parentally tolerable kids albums, They Might Be Giants - Here Come the 123's and something piqued my interest enough for me to engage in some Google-based research.

The fifth track of the album, entitled 'Triops Has Three Eyes', regales us with a diddy of what I  previously had thought was a mythical creature (or at least long expired). Hereunto, the only three-eyed creatures I have been aware of are are that alien from Toy Story and Blinky, the toxic fish from The Simpsons.  However, my extensive research (typing 'triops' into the search box) has shown that not only are these babies real, but you can also breed them at home.

Check this out:  Triops Deluxe Kit.














 

And if you have not yet familiarized yourself with all the useless junk in the Think Geek catalog, may I suggest that you do so.

Move over Sea Monkeys, there's a new (well, technically not new) creepy aquarium creature in town.

Free Cone Day

It's that time of year again Ben and Jerry's fans.   
Click here for the double scoop.

March 23rd with a cherry on top.

Family Jam with Heldeberg Music Together

Families, come make music with your kids! Musicians, come jam with friends, and help pass on the music you love to the next generation!
This event will combine group jamming and singing with some short performances by local musicians. (If you're a musician interested in participating, let Deb know!)
We'll be celebrating SING WITH YOUR CHILD Month, and raising funds for Heldeberg Music Together’s Scholarship Fund. Suggested donation is $10-25 per family, or pay-as-you-can. Everyone is welcome! Bring an instrument, if you have one.

HELDEBERG MUSIC TOGETHER is a research-based, early childhood music program for babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, kindergarteners and the adults who love them, taught in Albany by Deb Cavanaugh.
http://www.heldebergmusic.com

Date:	Sunday, March 21, 2010
Time:	11:30am - 2:30pm
Location:	Crowne Plaza Hotel
Street:	State and Lodge Streets
City/Town:	Albany, NY

Consignment Cheat Sheet

My (way more organized than me) friend Joyce put together this list of upcoming consignment sales.  Currently, the last three on the list are still open for consignors. Happy bargain hunting!

1) The Pass It On Sale (www.passitonsale,com) at the Albany Academies Fieldhouse

public dates:

Wed Mar 17th, 9am-8pm

Th     Mar 18th, 9am-5pm

Fri     Mar 18th, 9am-5pm  HALF PRICE SALE

Sat    Mar 19th 8am-12pm HALF PRICE SALE

 

 

2) Baby Revolution Sale (www.babyrevolutionsale.com) at the Beltrone Living Center off of Wolf Rd

public dates:

Sat Mar 27th 12noon-4pm

Sun Mar 28th 9am-11am HALF PRICE SALE

 

 

3) O! Baby Consignment Sale (www.obabysale.com) at the Chatham Fairgrounds

public dates:

Th   Apr 22nd 9am-7pm

Fri   Apr 23rd  9am-5pm

Sat Apri 24th 9am-5pm HALF PRICE SALE

 

 

4) Encore Kids Consignment Sale (www.encorekidssale.com) at the 4H Bldg of the Ballston Spa Fairgrounds

public dates:

Th  May 13th 9am-7pm

Fri   May 14th 9am-3pm

Sat May 15th 9am-2pm HALF PRICE SALE

 

Thanks, Joyce!