Pass It On SCORE!

I can't begin to imagine what a difficult decision it was to give this away, but I want to assure the  person who was risking something by selling this at a children's consignment sale to know that Elvis has found a very happy home...second only to Graceland.


Thank you. Thank you very much.
 
The Pass It On Sale continues until this Saturday, with half price sales starting tomorrow.

Where's Waldo?

Waldo: The Original Hipster (and I am apparently not the first to think so).

I just ordered one of these guys to help spice up our family photos.

I originally got the idea here when I found him hanging out on the roof across the street from San Francisco's MOMA.

Wahoo! I can't wait. Our vacation photos will never be the same.

Yankee Candle Flagship Store

Candles...yet so much more.

While visiting some friends in Holyoke, MA, they decided to take us to the Yankee Candle Store in Deerfield. I wasn't quite sure what the big deal was, afterall, we have a Yankee Candle at Crossgates (you can smell it from the parking lot). But, boy oh boy my friends, this was not your average candle shop.  It is one of the flagship stores and it's Fuccillo HUGE!  As soon as you walk in they give you a map to the place, and you can still get lost.

I'm not really a fan of the candles.  I find them to be overpowering and overpriced, but I guess I get their appeal and am sometimes pretty impressed that they can emulate some of the smells that they do.  I mean if you have a candle called Storm Watch and it actually smells like what I'm assuming thunder smells like, that's pretty impressive.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that you don't have to like the candles to like the place,  and the kids will LOVE it.  Here are some of the highlights:

Elevated model train track that winds its way around the store.

Year round Christmas Village, for those of you who feel the need to buy ornaments in the middle of July. (Plus they have a snow machine, so every 4 minutes there is a snowstorm inside) A real live Santa IS included (of course since Christmas is not for another bajillion days, Santa was chilling in some jeans and suspenders and making paper crafts with the kids)

Make your own candles.  Kids can make candles in the shape of their hands or mix and match wax beads to make a custom jar. If  I made a candle it would be called ''Meltdown". Get it?  Candles melt... my kids have meltdowns. That's perfect. It would smell like a cross between crayon wax and frustration.

Candy store(s) and Toy Stores.  Kids love that kind of stuff.

-Big food court and live entertainment.  The live music was a little annoying, but the kids were invited to perform on stage with the singers, so at least someone got a kick out of it.

Candles - Yes, they have every kind of Yankee Candle flavor you could ever want... even 'New Releases'. (I'm sure there are people that get into that...just like the latest Beanie Baby.) Their website reports over 400,000 candles in over 200 scents.  That's anything but SCENTS-less (badum-cha!)

And guess what? If you aren't sold on the place by now,  Trader Joe's is only minutes away.

Open every day 10 am- 6pm
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 10 am-5 pm
Closed Thanksgiving & Christmas

Check out their schedule of events here.

Get directions from Albany here. Sure, it's a little bit of a drive, but you can make a fun daytrip out of it.

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.

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.

Indoor Yard Sale

Ok, with weather like this, yard sale season seems ice ages away.  But never fear, you can get still get your rummaging fix this coming weekend.

CBA is hosting an Indoor Yard Sale this Saturday.  From their description:

 Come join the fun and get great deals on thousands of items, all donated by CBA families. Everything for your home, appliances, furniture, clothing for your entire family, office products, books, toys, and more! Food & drinks on site. Proceeds to benefit CBA Lacrosse. Snow date on Feb. 28th.

When: Sat, Feb 27, 2010 | 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Where: 12 Airline Drive, Colonie New York

Cost: Free Admission 

For More Information Call: 452-9809 

Thanks, Leanne!

Ready and Able

Able Bakers has finally opened at 540 Delaware Avenue (next to the Yoga Loft) and the whole neighborhood is abuzz about it.

I stopped in this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised at the large selection in this cozy little shop. Plenty of yummy treats for Valentine's Day and beyond, fresh breads, cakes, pastries, cookies etc. I bought multi-grain ciabatta, Valentine's cupcakes (for the kids), chocolate chip cannoli, and some cookies.

The kids loved the rotating refrigerated pastry shelf chock full of treats.

Stop in when you have the chance and indulge your sweet tooth.

PS. If you mention their website you get 10% off your purchase... I totally forgot to do that.

Where can I buy glitter in bulk?

Look no further.

Here is a cool site that has nothing to do with Albany, but everything to do with online shopping... and kids. Thought I'd pass it on.

Discount School Supply

Thanks to Laura D. for the tip!

My Nerd Crush on They Might Be Giants

Here's another musical suggestion for all you parents out there on the lookout for some cool tunes for the family. They Might Be Giants have a bunch of albums specifically for kids, all of them educational, quirky, and oh so nerd chic. I love these guys...it's like Revenge of the Nerds: The Musical.

When you write a song about The Egg, you've gotta be good. No corners for you.


Here's an AOA interview about the song and their family concert at the Egg last year.

These guys have a gajillion albums, but here are the ones specifically for kids:

Here Come the ABC's - Alphabet themed CD/DVD. Catchy songs. When my daughter told me that 'C is for Conifers' I was won over.

Here Come the 123's - The won a Grammy for this one. Cool songs and videos making math cool again.

No! Yes! This album has songs about robot parades and talking brooms. Need I say more?

Bed, Bed, Bed A book and CD featuring the whimsical artwork of Marcel Dzama (he did the artwork for Beck's Guero, among others). Great songs for bedtime, what else?

... and word on the street says they are coming out with a 'Here Comes Science' album sometime in the not so distant future.

Check them out from the library, buy them, download them, whatever... just listen.
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TMBG is sponsoring 10 Little League Teams. So if you know a team that could use some cool uniforms (No! T-shirts) you can find out more info here.

We went to see their family show last year and had so much fun. They even threw in some old stuff for the parents as well. (Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Birdhouse in Your Soul, etc...) They aim to please. Here are some upcoming shows. Unfortunately they are not coming around here any time soon, but if you are in the following areas, I really suggest you check them out.

June 2009

12 - Portland ME - Port City Music Hall (21+)

13 - Boston MA - Family Show - Berklee College of Music

13 - Boston MA - Flood Show! Berklee College of Music

14 - New Haven CT - FREE SHOW! International Festival of Arts and Ideas

Pick Up Sticks

When I first bought these chopsticks for my kids it was more because I liked the idea of them eating ramen like the pros, not so much believing they would actually be able to do so (plus, I'm a sucker for cool design). Oh ye, of little faith! These babies worked like a charm. As soon as they were out of the package the kids were eating dinner with them. And trust me, there is nothing sweeter than chubby kid hands using chopsticks. (see picture)

Basically they are chopstick training wheels that even the most uncoordinated adult could use. I also found that the kids are apt to be more adventurous in the eating department when they are using these. I bought mine for around $6/each at Borders (in the stationery dept.) You can find them here: Chopstick Kids

Chubby kid hands demonstrating chopstick use.

They come in two varieties... the red boy and the pink girl. They are both smiling too, and therefore very encouraging.