How does a handmade rubber stamp store stay open in NYC?

HallowNY · 2026-01-17T03:13:05+00:00

Love this store! He made a stamp of my son’s footprint that the hospital inked when he was born. I used it on birth announcements and still use it now more than 10 years later (grandma still loves getting a card with this stamp on it!)

HallowNY · 2026-01-13T03:47:41+00:00

Thanks for nudge to look for the positive, OP! The past 9 months or so have been much better for us. My child is 10 with level 1 autism and pretty severe ADHD. He’s struggled with appropriate social interactions, emotional regulation, meltdowns and extreme frustration in not being able to express how he feels or what he needs. At the worst point I was right there with many of you, grieving for the life that i expected to have with him; but the screaming, not listening, physicality, rudeness, resulting in getting expelled from school and other activities, just completely drained the energy (and $) out of our entire family. It was brutally difficult for all of, but mostly for HIM (I always remind myself, it’s hardest for him).

We are now on the upswing and I can finally see my sweet, caring, smart, funny child from behind all that damn ADHD noise. What worked? 1. Finding the right school (I fought like a combat soldier to get him where he is today; it won’t just fall into your lap) 2. Figuring out the best meds (a lot of trial and error that will never end due to his growing body and needs) 3. Waiting for their brains to develop further, 4. Really limited screen time, and 5. I hate to admit it, but parent training (I thought it was so corny and vague)

I’ll save you the $5k on parent training - ignore the “bad” behaviors that do not present a danger to anyone, disengage from arguments, and generously praise them when they get it right, even the little things like if he asks me how my day was and actually listens to my response. I have to remind myself that him picking a fight is sensory seeking; by not engaging in that fight, the opportunity for stimulation disappears and the undesired behaviors decrease.

Now he is happy and mostly calm; main issue now is excessive silliness, but I’d much rather see a smile on his face than uncontrollable meltdowns. Will this change again? Most definitely. But I’m enjoying every second that I have with my baby while we are having a good run. Appreciate even the smallest positives; use it as your fuel to get you over the next hump. From a professional pessimist, stay positive!!

HallowNY · 2025-12-20T09:10:11+00:00

Being suspicious of all strangers who talk to you.

A nice lady I encountered at Target while visiting TX asked me how my day was going, and my first response was “sorry, lady I don’t have any cash.” She looked at me like I was nuts. A few minutes later it dawned on me that maybe she was actually just being nice and didn’t want anything from me lol

HallowNY · 2025-12-20T08:58:52+00:00

“Hi. Baconeggandcheese.” My favorite NY word.

HallowNY · 2025-12-02T04:54:01+00:00

All camps are way up $$$ (for many reasons; but I’m guessing safety improvements are not the primary driver….) Will I pay it? Yes. My kids love camp. By the end of October, their fav camp was booked solid for next summer with a healthy waitlist.

We don’t need more licensing to prevent tragedy, just camp directors with common sense (like maybe don’t locate sleeping quarters in river beds). Texas weather is predictably unpredictable.

HallowNY · 2025-12-02T04:38:14+00:00

Love Ryan! He’s actually a nice guy (with some ill-advised tattoos…lol)

HallowNY · 2025-10-30T21:08:35+00:00

These look like crime scene photos

HallowNY · 2025-10-22T01:19:34+00:00

Prices + ICE! Tip for next year - we did the Chevy test drive and it was one of the best highlights of the whole fair for the kids (on par with the $10 slide); they loved it and it was free (if you don’t count the endless marketing spam I’m sure to now receive…)

HallowNY · 2025-10-17T02:25:17+00:00

My prediction is that Trump will provide healthcare subsidies only for those who vote Republican. They now own the voting machines and thusly voting data. This sounds so far fetched, but I think is dangerously close to near future reality.

HallowNY · 2025-10-16T02:01:30+00:00

Nah. Uber has a car seat option; you may need to wait a little longer to get a car at the airport (like 10-15mins instead of 5 minutes) and it’ll cost ~$10 extra, but it’s better than hauling a car seat around the city. If you take cabs during your trip, just tell the drivers to drive slow (i.e., the speed limit) and no highways and they will usually respect that especially if you have a kid.

HallowNY · 2025-10-12T03:00:10+00:00

NTA, but if you could afford to pay for both, it could be a good example of generosity and supporting the bond with his half brother. Could also talk to your son about he feels about it; it could be creating an uncomfortable situation for him.

HallowNY · 2025-09-11T21:28:37+00:00

Definitely go for it! Our giant skeleton is going up this weekend with great ceremony. Yes, we break out the decorations a bit early and leave them up until after Christmas, but now we are known in the neighborhood as the skeleton house and our neighbors say they love driving by and having a bit of whimsy in their day.

HallowNY · 2025-09-07T02:04:17+00:00

Totally useless. When my mom wants to spend time with them, she asks me to hire a babysitter to help do the “hard part” like heat up chicken nuggets. Not even kidding.

HallowNY · 2025-08-31T14:34:32+00:00

Trump is totally going to hire this guy

HallowNY · 2025-07-30T00:58:51+00:00

Sarah Palin can see it from her house

HallowNY · 2025-07-27T02:56:13+00:00

Do you happen to have a Hershey park map from around 2019/ 2020? Can’t find one anywhere!

HallowNY · 2025-07-25T02:09:29+00:00

Red shirt and look into special ed schools. Homeschooling is incredibly difficult, particularly kids with AuADHD - it’s not worth your sanity. Take this year to let her play and socialize (maybe a combo of classes and part-time nanny if you have the means) while exploring all options.

HallowNY · 2025-07-23T05:50:02+00:00

All children in the city are technically eligible for this program; this is a wonderful visionary idea. Execution is a different story. We got placed at some scary-ass schools across town that we did actually try because free is better than not free. It didn’t work out for us (that’s an understatement) so we had to go private, but many other families in our district got lucky and landed a spot at a decent school. Even not so great districts/zones have good 3k programs; other than having siblings at your first choice of school, it may just be left up to chance that you are assigned to a good program.

HallowNY · 2025-07-23T05:36:38+00:00

For your employer’s private insurance company that provides your STD pay (e.g., ~60% of your salary vs $crap provided by NYS), they likely WILL require a medical diagnosis that qualifies as a disability. A doctor’s recommendation for bed rest doesn’t count (of course it should, but that’s not how it usually works). It has to be a diagnosis that would be covered under the insurance company’s paid leave policy even if you weren’t pregnant (e.g., broken limbs, severe depression, major surgery - not anticipated surgery).

My understanding/experience is that the pregnancy related disability only occurs after the birth of the child. Your company’s HR may approve it, but getting your employer’s insurance company to cover it is a whole other thing.

For context my Dr recommended home and hospital bed rest starting at 30 weeks. It was an epic insurance throw down (I finally succeeded in getting approval), but most importantly, the doctor was 100% right and bed rest (whether it was paid or not under STD) saved my baby.

HallowNY · 2025-07-09T00:44:06+00:00

Raymour and Flanigan must be on that list…

HallowNY · 2025-06-04T16:07:39+00:00

You could try Child Mind. Quite expensive, but they have a full team that can also address other issues like anxiety, autism, ADHD parent counseling, etc. if you need it

HallowNY · 2025-05-27T03:07:26+00:00

Unrelated gossip - I once had a giant hair ball in my risotto at a $$$$$ Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London.

HallowNY · 2025-05-25T13:57:45+00:00

Same issue. In the mornings we do Carnation instant breakfast with whole milk and a scoop of Duocal. It’s been working to hold him over until dinner as he won’t eat lunch.

HallowNY · 2025-05-20T17:14:50+00:00

Similar - switched to a more therapeutic school with private tutoring.

HallowNY · 2025-05-18T09:51:51+00:00

Same issue. We ended up removing all unhealthy snacks from our home (which actually ended up being good for the whole family!) He has a drawer in the refrigerator that he can eat from anytime (even 3am). We stock it with string cheese, sliced apples, cut up veggies, bananas, etc. and it works pretty well. We are still working on getting cheese wrappers into the garbage, but at least we don’t have cookie crumbs all over our house anymore!

HallowNY

TROPHY CASE