A couple weeks ago, we bundled up in our winter gear, piled into our car, and headed up for a day in the Big Apple to see what’s new on the puzzles, games, and plush horizons.

The New York Toy Fair is always exciting, and this year was no different!
 
TF11 treated us to amazing Lego sculptures:

Mega Blocks creations:

giant flexible balance beams:

TV-screen backpacks:

life-like bobblehead dolls:

and the "world’s largest puzzle":

a 32,000 piece jigsaw!

We’re happy to have discovered several awesome games and new jigsaw puzzle lines which we’re anxious to add to our websites in the coming weeks and months. Make sure to check back often, we’ll be featuring our newest items on the front page of SeriousPuzzles.com!

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

~Native American Proverb

We’re all trying to be more kind to the earth – and for good reason: when we leave this earth to our children, we want our earth to be as beautiful – or even more beautiful – than when we were children.  To this end, many companies are taking a greener approach to their manufacturing processes than ever before.  We at SeriousPuzzles.com are happy to announce that even your favorite pastime – puzzling – can be more earth-friendly!  We proudly carry several brands of eco-friendly puzzles:

1) ImagiPLAY

Naturally Safe…
Thoughtfully Produced…
Thoroughly Fun…
Toys With Integrity

 ImagiPLAY wooden puzzles are earth friendly and child safe. Made from plantation-grown, sustainably harvested, chemical-free rubberwood, these unique wooden puzzles are hand-painted with safety-tested paints & stains. Each puzzle is heirloom quality, and makes a beautiful, distinctive, and earth-friendly gift.

2) TDC Games

TDC’s Green Pieces collection is a series of four 500 piece photomosaic jigsaw puzzles that are embedded with actual wildflower seeds! When you are finished with your puzzle, instead of throwing it away, you can actually PLANT the puzzle pieces to offset your carbon footprint!  TDC’s jigsaw puzzles’ board and packaging is made from 100% recycled paper, printed with 100% soy-based inks, and does not come wrapped in plastic. These awesome earth-friendly puzzles are made right here in the United States!

"Eco-Friendly" Collection by TDC

TDC’s 1000 piece Eco-Friendly puzzle collection features 8 poster-sized puzzles with original artwork from artists like Dale Klee and Linda Picken. Each jigsaw puzzle is made from recycled, renewable, biodegradable materials, and soy-based inks, and are printed and manufactured in the USA!

3) Serendipity Puzzle Company 

ALL of Serendipity Puzzle Company’s jigsaw puzzles are made from 100% recycled material with 80-93% post-consumer content. Serendipity uses Forest Stewardship Council certified paper, ensuring it comes from professionally managed forests. In the printing process, water-based coatings and soy-based ink are used. In addition, Serendipity has reduced its packaging by 33%, their puzzles are easily recyclable, and are made in the U.S.A.

Frog Business - 1000pc Shaped Jigsaw Puzzle by Serendipity Puzzle Company

Each jigsaw puzzle made by Buffalo Games uses 100% recycled paperboard with 90% post-consumer content for both the box and the jigsaw puzzle itself. BGI puzzles are recycleable, and are made in the U.S.A.

The Living Seas: Turtle Play - 1000pc Jigsaw Puzzle by Buffalo Games

We’re excited to announce that we have created a paper Serious Puzzles catalog!

Just in time for the holidays, it features a selection of our most favorite brain teasers, jigsaw puzzles, 3D puzzles, puzzle boxes, and more! 

You can view the catalog online (though ALL of our puzzles are always available for browsing & purchase right at SeriousPuzzles.com).

Or, if you’d prefer to receive your very own glossy copy, just shoot us an email at info@seriousshops.com

Make sure to include your mailing address!  :)

Back in the beginning of March I posted about the very first signs of Spring in our perennial gardens – the snow melting and flower sprouts bravely pushing up through the mulch.   Fast forward just two months – see how much exciting growth has happened in our gardens - - -  Thank you Mother Nature!

The kiss of the sun, for pardon. The song of the birds, for mirth.

One is nearer God’s heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth.

~ Dorothy Frances Gurney

 (Thank you to @OnBradstreet for sharing with me this perfect poem)


Clematis (my favorite climber)

 
Columbine (with Foamflower behind)

Coreopsis (with Hosta)

Poppy (our newest addition this year)

Salvia (with Liatris & Daisies behind - not yet in bloom)

Iris (so beautiful, yet so fleeting - they last only a week)

Wild Strawberries (Mother Nature's surprise for us, it grew in this year in place of grass!)

7 tbs butter, softened

½ cup agave nectar

1 large egg

1 tbs vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp sea salt

1 cup of chocolate chips

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 325degrees F.

Beat the agave nectar and butter until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.  

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine with the butter mixture.  Fold chocolate chips and walnuts into the batter. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto your cookie sheet (I recommend using parchment paper for ease).

Bake for 12 – 14 minutes until lightly browned – be careful not to overcook.

Enjoy!!  

 
Notes:

1) I recommend using organic ingredients whenever possible – better for you and the environment.

2) I adapted this recipe from Ania Catalano’s Baking With Agave Nectar cookbook; the original recipe calls for ¼ cup more agave nectar, barley & oat flours instead of whole wheat, pecans instead of walnuts, and the addition of cinnamon.

3) This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.  The photo I took only includes 4… because that’s all that was left by the time I got this recipe blogged.  :)

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the Vernal Equinox occurs this year on March 20^th at 1:32 pm. It marks the day of the year when the amount of sun and the amount of darkness are exactly equal. Though, more importantly, the Vernal Equinox signals the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring in our hemisphere!

Here in New Jersey, 16 days out from glorious Spring, we’re already starting to see the first signs that it’s on its way.

Firstly, it nearly hit 50 degrees!

Now, though the thermometer reads like Spring, we still have snow in our back yard and through the woods. But, out in the front yard, which is Western exposure, we only have one tiny patch remaining:

Our first robin made her appearance a few weeks ago, just as the snow was starting to melt.  I don’t know where they go for the winter, but they surely are the first harbinger of Spring. And just today we lovingly observed the Canada Geese pairing off. 

As for our gardens, the narcissus are well up and heading towards budding. Although, to be fair, they’ve been up since an unseasonably warm day in January, because in New Jersey weather is just weird sometimes (can anyone say snowpocalypse 2010?), and a few days in January felt more like October.

Our tulips are pushing up through the old mulch in a couple of places, and even our daffodils in the back yard (in the shade), are coming up!

 
Our favorite garden store is open for the season, and yes, we did drive by already, though they don’t have anything much out yet besides mulch.  Wait a week though, and that will change, for sure.  I can’t wait to fill our poor winter bare wine barrel planter with some color!

Once the snow is completely gone, we’ll be out with rakes to get rid of the old leaves & sticks that have built up on the beds, trim back any branches that didn’t make it through the snow, and put down mulch. Sadly, we lost a rhododendron at the end of the season last year, after nursing it through the summer, so I’ll be replacing that first. I’d like to put in a stone path this year through the front bed, and figure out some low-light, low-growing, green ground cover for the “lawn” part of our tiny back yard.  We'll be installing a new bird (squirrel) feeder in the back, and, trading out our snowman garden flag for one that has spring flowers on it. 

We just can’t wait for the warmer days of Spring: the return of song birds, the sweet smell of lilacs, the rainbow colors of tulips, and many glorious afternoons spent in the garden!

Adam, Dan, and I headed up the NJ Turnpike for an exciting trip to New York City to visit the New York Toy Fair being held in the Javits Center in Manhattan. This was Serious Shops' third year (and best yet!) visiting NYTF.

NYTF is a fantastic place to meet up with some of our current vendors, find new products and toymakers, and even catch an early glimpse of the next big thing in the toy world. Of course bringing home toy samples for the kids (and ourselves, of course) is a major plus!

The highlight this year had to be getting my photo taken with Robert Pattinson - you know, Edward Cullen from Twilight? 

Okay, it was just a cardboard cutout, but cool, nonetheless, right?!

We visited the amazing Lego display:

Best item of the show had to be the prototype of the soon-to-be released Rubik’s Slide puzzle on which we’ve spent the last few days mastering the easy level. 

I’m sure it will be a big hit this holiday season! Great brain teaser!

We collected catalogs, tested out puzzles, watched a skateboard demo, shook plenty of hands, walked what felt like miles of aisles, ate super-expensive mediocre food, saw some really unique toys, puzzles, & games, and overall had a really fun, productive time!

Next up: choosing which products to add to our line-up this year.  Stay tuned for new additions like Heye and EuroGraphics jigsaw puzzles!  I’m already looking forward to next year.  

We have many houseplants – I don’t think you can ever have enough!

Houseplants are proven air cleaners. They add oxygen, regulate humidity, filter out toxins, and beautify your space.  I believe they add positive life energy to a home, and help children learn about caring for living things.

NASA did a study on houseplants and indoor air pollution.  Certain plants are able to remove dangerous chemicals from the air like trichloroethylene, benzene, & and formaldehyde!

Read NASA’s findings on interior landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement.

Based on that study, here are my recommendations for best air cleaners: 

Top chemical removers:

Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)

Marginata (Dracaena marginata)

Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum “Mauna Loa”)*

Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)

Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea seifritzii)

Mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)*

Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)*

Other great air cleaners:

English Ivy (Hedera helix)**

Golden Pothos (Scindapsus aureus)*

Chinese Evergreen (Aglonema modestum)

Green Spider Plant (Cholorphytum elatum)

Heart leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)*

Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia)*

*NOTE: I find it interesting that many of the aforementioned plants are considered toxic– particularly when ingested. I wonder if this is partially because they are so good at absorbing (and thus, perhaps harboring) chemicals? I have marked the toxic plants with a star * in the event that you have small children or pets. Those with two stars ** are particularly toxic, and I definitely do not recommend for households with small children or pets who could consume the leaves.

For a list of toxic & non-toxic plants for pets, please see the ASPCA’s page.

For a list of toxic & non-toxic plants for children, please see the National Poison Control center’s page

That being said, all plants have the ability to clean air.  If you are uncomfortable with keeping any plants in your house known to have some toxicity, I’ve compiled a list of  common non-toxic houseplants (not listed above). Now, while these specific plants may not have been studied to show the ability to drastically reduce toxic chemicals, they will still do their job cleaning your air & beautifying your environment while being safer to have around children & pets:

African Violet (Episcia reptans)

Begonia (Begonia sp.)

Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exalta)
Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus truncatus)

Hoya (Hoya sp.)

Jade Plant (Crassula argentes)

Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe sp.)

Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus lobbianus) – this is a favorite!

Peperomia (Peperomia sp.)

Ponytail Palm (Beaucarenia recurvata)
Rubber Tree (Ficus elastica)
Wandering Jew (Tradescantia albiflora)

For a list of hundreds of houseplants with description, photo, and care instructions, check out this site.

Which houseplants are your favorites?  Please let me know!

We’re in the midst of our busiest season & so excited to be here!

Our extended hours are en force, holiday decorations are up, and everyone is in good spirits. The warehouse crew is super busy packing & shipping… just a few short weeks left until Christmas! 

We took some photos on Monday of this week - enjoy!

SeriousShops.com front office:

Monday's outgoing packages:

Monday's afternoon warehouse crew (nice job guys!):



SeriousShops.com holiday season outgoing packages in 2003!
(Why yes, that was our garage, and yes, we have grown!):

When the Plasma Car arrived here at Serious Shops, we felt the need to actively test it out before offering it for sale.

This was of course, solely to be certain our customers would be happy with their purchase.  Okay, who am I kidding? We couldn’t resist racing a futuristic looking muscle-powered scootmobile around the warehouse!  We don’t think you’ll be able to resist either… one ride on the Plasma Car, and you’ll be hooked!

We all gave it a good number of tries out in the warehouse – from the smallest weighing in around 40 lbs to the biggest weighing in around 180 lbs. Adam currently holds the record for fastest trip around the warehouse at 26.2 seconds!

The best part of the Plasma Car is the adaptability to different riders.  Little to big can ride; no matter how short (or long!) your legs are – with no adjustment required.  The Plasma Car holds up to 200 lbs; so Mom, Dad, and kids can enjoy – you just need to be able to turn the wheel! The ride is smooth and super-easy to control – just lean to turn & put your feet down to stop!  Exercise has never been this fun!

It’s cooler than a big wheel, safer than a scooter, and more fun than both combined! We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do!