My son (and I, I have to admit) have been fans of Yo Gabba Gabba for more than a year now. We don’t watch a lot of television, but when we do, it’s usually Yo Gabba Gabba. We love the music, the characters and of course the special guests. When we heard they were going on tour, and would be performing at a town near us, I knew we had to go. We had since indoctrinated Mommy, and after a few big events such as a They Might Be Giants kids concert and a major league baseball game, we knew our three year old was ready for the show. I got online to buy tickets as soon as they went on sale, and nabbed seats in the center of the fourth row. Click below to read my review of the show, and don’t forget our chances to win tickets to go see the show yourself! Read the rest of this entry »
It’s an admission, at least, that confessional parenting can be entrepreneurial. Andy Jones, a graphic designer in Gaithersburg, Md., started a website called www.nontoxicreviews.com (motto: “The daddy blog that makes the mommy blogs cringe’’) in part because he liked getting free product samples.
But he also likes the notion of poking fun at those old ideals of fatherhood. Recently, on a night his wife and a friend’s wife were going to book club, they took their toddler sons on a boys’ night out to Hooters. Jones posted a video clip of the event, set to surf music, in the style of the movie “Grindhouse.’’
It was a fun excuse to play with toys, but Jones was hawking a philosophy, too: that good parents are parents who are having fun with their kids, no matter how illicit the activity might seem.
This video uses some crude, immature humor that is not appropriate for the little kids, or uptight mommy blogs
You can also pick through our coverage individually: Read the rest of this entry »
As I mentioned earlier, when you’re alone with the kid, you can’t always run out and grab Buffalo wings for dinner. You need someone who will deliver. I wanted to determine who had the best wings and delivers… the only way to find out was to do a side by side blind taste test. We ordered wings from Pizza Hut (Wing Street), Papa John’s, Dominos, and a local place called Armands’. I invited a handful of friends over and ordered Hot and Medium wings from each place. We placed each delivery on a plate with a table tent. See below to read our findings, and you’ll be as surprised as we were.
The UK Guardian is reporting that Hans Beck, inventor of Playmobil, passed away last week.
I am a bit saddened, due to my love for everything playmobil. Read that article for more in depth history, and I’ll use this space below to tell you my history with playmobil. Read the rest of this entry »
CPSC votes to delay CPSIA for one year – this is great news, perhaps this will give the CPSC some time to figure out the best way to provide safety for our children, without banning them from libaries. Read on.
And according to this article on Consumerist.com, there are groups pleading with Obama for new leadership at CPSC.
I have to agree that this situation has been terrible, and created a lot of undue panic. I want our (collective) children to be safe, but banning all consignment sales is ridiculous.
I don’t like to get preachy on here… so I’m just going to point out this article, and this can help you the next time you come across a parent that refues vaccines for their children.
When you have a baby and the two of you are on your own, your dinner options are limited to begin with –and every now and then you need buffalo wings. It doesn’t help that my wife isn’t a big wing fanatic to begin with, so most of the opportunities to have wings are when I am flying solo. (That was a terrible wing pun) As you know, it’s tough packing the little one in the car to go get food, and then come right back home (much less feeding and tending to a baby when you’re up to your elbows in that sweet, sweet BBQ sauce).
Two of my favorite wing places are Wing Stop and B-dubs, and they don’t deliver. (and don’t get me started about how the DC area is in sore need of their own B-Dubs)
So I started exploring these places that deliver wings. I know what you’re thinking, but there is good news and bad news.
I’ve had some success and some failure, but now I’m on a real mission. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to invite some guys over and order wings from a few places and get a consensus to see who delivers the best. Some may be local, so I’d love to hear from you, which are the best in your neck of the woods (and who to avoid)
This isn’t part of my official trials but here are two findings so far: Armands Chicago Style Pizzeria (with locations in DC-MD-VA and one in DE) has great deep-dish style pizza, but their wings are the best I’ve had delivered so far. The trick is that they arrive hot. Really hot. The first time I ordered their wings, I had to wait a minute or two to dig in. This is not the experience with other places. The wings are also huge… they don’t skimp ya. I’ve ordered their wings a few times now, and other guests of mine have said they were top notch as well.
Wing Street (a division of Pizza Hut) was not too good. To be fair, I ordered their boneless wings, and they were pretty crummy, I should try traditional style wings from each place to see, but these were just like chicken nuggets from McDonalds. On top of that they didn’t include any ranch or bleu cheese or anything. That’s a crime. The ordering process was difficult too… the minimum order for delivery is $10, but 10 wings is $8. (20 wings is $15, but too many wings for one guy) so I ordered some bread sticks. Those were also sub-par.
This is my second lousy experience with Wing Street… the first was when I originally tried to order from them, but because there was a Pizza Hut in closer vicinity to my house, they would not deliver to me. However that Pizza Hut didn’t have the Wing Street menu… so that’s when I went to Armands…
So anyway, let’s be scientific… I’ll order Medium and Hot wings from several locations (I might have to throw in a carry-out from Wing Stop just for control group purposes) but I’ll stick to traditional style bone wings, to be fair.
Then I’ll report on the findings.
But please chime in with your own experiences and local favorites… help another dad out there who’s looking to fulfill a wing fix when his arms are full.
I just received Good News, regarding the future of Thrift Stores, eBay, consignment sales, Salvation Army etc. They’re going to be fine, as long as they don’t sell recalled items…
Click below for The Official Word from CPSC
Washington, D.C. – In February 2009, new requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) take effect. Manufacturers, importers and retailers are expected to comply with the new Congressionally-mandated laws. Beginning February 10, 2009, children’s products cannot be sold if they contain more than 600 parts per million (ppm) total lead. Certain children’s products manufactured on or after February 10, 2009 cannot be sold if they contain more that 0.1% of certain specific phthalates or if they fail to meet new mandatory standards for toys.
Under the new law, children’s products with more than 600 ppm total lead cannot lawfully be sold in the United States on or after February 10, 2009, even if they were manufactured before that date. The total lead limit drops to 300 ppm on August 14, 2009.
The new law requires that domestic manufacturers and importers certify that children’s products made after February 10 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban. Sellers of used children’s products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards. The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties. When the CPSIA was signed into law on August 14, 2008, it became unlawful to sell recalled products. All resellers should check the CPSC Web site (www.cpsc.gov) for information on recalled products before taking into inventory or selling a product. The selling of recalled products also could carry civil and/or criminal penalties.
The agency intends to focus its enforcement efforts on products of greatest risk and largest exposure. While CPSC expects every company to comply fully with the new laws resellers should pay special attention to certain product categories. Among these are recalled children’s products, particularly cribs and play yards; children’s products that may contain lead, such as children’s jewelry and painted wooden or metal toys; flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts; toys that lack the required age warnings; and dolls and stuffed toys that have buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard for young children.
The agency has underway a number of rulemaking proposals intended to provide guidance on the new lead limit requirements. Please visit the CPSC website at www.cpsc.gov for more information.
Thanks to Lyzz, the Fletches, Blum and Andrew for being testers.
Links below go to dedicated reviews with more pics and video and links to buy (when available)
In this gift guide for boys ages 5-12 we cover the: Yada yada yada – the voice changing toy, perfect stocking Stuffer
Playmobil Pirates and Dinosaurs (2 separate dino articles in that link), but click here to read all of our playmobil coverage. Lazer Tag, definitely snatch this one for $40 or $50 on Black Friday (normally $80 or $90) Nerf Vulcan EBF-25… (KMart will have this $40 gun for $25 on Thanksgiving day)
Playskool’s Helmet Heroes, available as Police Officer, Fire Fighter, or Race Car Driver from Amazon
Hot Wheels Speed Racer Sky Jump look for deals on this one on Black Friday and online.
The ATC3K Helmet Action Cam, check out my videos there, but you can get this one online from Oregon Scientific
We also looked at Skeleflex which are available as two-packs at Toys R Us.
No fear, we have a couple more Gift Guides coming your way, we’ll cover toys for girls, infants and toddlers, and I’ll try and gather some super cheap/free gift ideas along the way.
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When you have a baby and the two of you are on your own, your dinner options are limited to begin with –and every now and then you need buffalo wings. It doesn’t help that my wife isn’t a big wing fanatic to begin with, so most of the opportunities to have wings are when I am flying solo. (That was a terrible wing pun) As you know, it’s tough packing the little one in the car to go get food, and then come right back home (much less feeding and tending to a baby when you’re up to your elbows in that sweet, sweet BBQ sauce).
