Eating Dirt is Good for You!

I came across this article yesterday. Kids need to eat dirt, roll around on the floor with their pets and let their immune system get programmed to deal with a dirty world. I think learning is the same process, but I haven't thought it all the way through yet.

We had a great holiday season - our customers were upbeat, we had almost no annoying "hot toy" phone calls, and new customers (and old ones too) loved our great selection! This customer had just about as much as she could take and decided to rest up while we wrapped presents for her mom. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas - we are blessed to have such a fun way to make a living in a town that supports a store like ours!

We Had a Party!

Last Thursday night we had our open house party. I like to hold this event on the 4th of December, Independent's Day - a day for celebrating independent businesses. In my mind, it's a huge movement with parties at book stores, toy stores, hardware stores and every other small local retailer in every town in America. I'm still waiting for the network news to get in touch with me, but anyway, we celebrated. Andy Z did his show, we packed the under six set in like a nightclub on Saturday night and rocked the house to Frosty the Snowman. Cat in the Hat made an appearance, our friends from Zoob and Blue Orange showed off their wares and we had a great evening.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just to prove that I do use the products we sell - here are my Thanksgiving left-overs that I brought to work today in my Laptop Lunchbox. I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. We're having fun here at the Golden Apple on this "big" shopping day! We are happy to see those few smart people who skipped the malls and the madness and took time to visit our little oasis of calm!

Stick Inducted into Toy Hall of Fame

Obviously someone has a sense of humor at the Toy Hall of Fame CNN reports.

Stick"s selection was attributed to its creative play factor "It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price -- there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections.

One critic did note that "You could put your eye out with that!". No word on safety warnings yet.

The Best Thing You Missed...

One of the great things about owning a store is finding amazing things, and showing them to customers, who think they are amazing things too! Hooray for business! The other side of the coin is, finding amazing things, and then watching them sit, unloved and unnoticed. This is especially true for books. Toys can jump off the shelf and grab your attention better than books. I love books, and so I occasionally order what I think are really creative, clever books, and they gather dust. So I'm starting a blog feature! A book or toy you missed in our store. Maybe not you, but people kind of like you.
This week KNUCKLEHEAD
Jon Scieszka published his first book with illustrator Lane Smith, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!. Scieszka and Smith have collaborated on seven other books, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, a Caldecott Honor Book, and their most recent title, Cowboy and Octopus. Jon is also the author of the Time Warp Trio series for middle grade readers.
Obviously he is an authority on 9 year-old boy humor. Knucklehead is his tale of youth, and will have kids rolling on the floor. This book is so exhaustive in its detail that it includes an index:
P
Pee, We do not say that.
See urinate;swords, crossed;
sword fight!
Polish
counting to five in, 69
*note scieszka means "path" in Polish
poop, dog, 20-21
picking up, 20-22
puke
cat, 93; see also yak, cat
group, 93
You can see what crowd this book is aiming for.
Scieszka has also set up a blog for Knucklehead here.
Now you know.

Getting Ready!

This is just a quick post, as there has been a pretty good gap since my last post. Between the election, the last minute ordering and the checking in boxes and boxes of toys, we have been very busy! I'm posting a picture of a very cute display that the Wednesday morning crew set up, first because it is cute, and second, because it won't last a minute past the first little boy that sees it! Lots more posting should be coming now, as we are sitting in the calm before the storm!