Triangle TRACKS Marketplace NOW Open for Business!

As editor of Triangle TRACKS, I'm excited to announce the launch of Triangle TRACKS Marketplace, a new online shop featuring a small, exclusive collection of products created by members of our online community.

Items being sold in the shop include Cary Heise's "Stay at Home Rock Star" T-shirt, available in black and gray, and three products created by Heather Figueroa, owner of Lily Bloom: Tooth Fairy Pillows, Flower Cupcake Sets, Reversible Double Bubble Skirts and Kidkins cloth napkin sets. All Lily Bloom products are made to order. As the holidays approach, a line of Laura Kelly Designs products will also be sold on the Triangle TRACKS Marketplace website.

If you have unique, handmade product you would like to sell on the Triangle TRACKS Marketplace website, please email me about it. I look forward to adding more unique products in the future!

How Losing a Library Book Forced Me to Grow Up - a Little

Not every 10-year-old experiences stress, debt and employment all at once. I was one of the lucky few.

It happened the day I lost a library book. My mother walked into my spotless, organized half of the bedroom I shared with my sister, put her hands on her hips and stated, quite calmly, "If you can't find it, you'll just have to pay for it."

This sort of thing did not happen to me.

I turned the entire bedroom inside-out looking for that stupid book. I searched the car. Nothing. My desk at school. No luck. My grandparents' house. Nada. The book had simply vanished, and with it went my methodical, orderly world.

Stress at age 10 is enough to transform the most practical child - and I was - into a psych patient. But debt, too? My allowance consisted of $2 a week, so at that rate, it would take me 8 weeks to save up enough money to pay the $15 I now owed the Athens Regional Public Library. I knew my mother would keep her word about paying for the book. She didn't change her mind about stuff like that.

But, she must have sensed my anxiety because she promptly picked up the phone to call my uncles, who operated a landscaping nursery in town, and asked if they had any work for a debt-laden 10-year-old. They kindly offered me a job: to plant ivy in 11-by-21-inch propagation flats. At $.75 per flat, how could I refuse? I earned the money back in one weekend - and learned a good lesson while I was at it.

This memory sticks with me as the years go by because I lost a little of my childhood that day - even though the very next week I returned to my carefree life of playing kickball after school and catching fireflies at night. That's just the way it was - back then.

But today? Stress doesn't fade as quickly. Our kids face routine activity-packed weeknights and academic pressures we never encountered. There are Internet safety concerns to consider as well. More and more children live with divorced parents, blended families, two working parents and the absence of nearby extended family (which contributes to stressed out, overworked parents, as well).

To be fair, I grew up with divorced parents, as many in my generation did. But my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins lived in the same town. I enjoyed larger than life Christmas mornings with 20 stockings hung across the mantle, and family dinners at least once a week. My kids have married parents, but no extended family in town, no larger than life Christmas mornings and maybe a big family dinner once a year, if we're lucky. I realize that no matter how hard I try, I'll never be able to replicate my childhood for my children. I should probably stop trying.

But reducing the amount of stress my kids experience is something I'll never stop trying to do. While we may look back at one or two stressful childhood scenarios that "forced" us to grow up a little, our kids may recall four or five.

Stress will continue to arrive in many colors, shapes and sizes - often without warning. So, we must raise confident, considerate and adjustable children who can weather whatever storm breaks. And while we're at it, we must enjoy each moment we have with them by creating a fun, peaceful and secure environment. The memories we make with them and self-esteem we instill in them now will someday shape the way they raise their children.

In the meantime, old-fashioned remedies still work. When your organized, methodical 10-year-old accidentally deletes an e-book off your iPad, tell her what my mother told me. "You'll just have to pay for it." The lessons she'll learn will make her stronger, more accountable and more adjustable to the future stresses that will surely come her way.

What are some of the stresses your children deal with and how do you manage or overcome these concerns?

PHOTOS:

1st photo: Me, my cousin and my sister with my dad right around the time of the lost-library-book incident.

2nd photo: This photo shows me doing what I did best - instructing my sister on exactly which present she should open first during my 9th and her 7th birthday party (we both have September birthdays and celebrated together for many years). Add "bossy" to my "organized, methodical" personality description.

And the Laura Kelly Designs Sharpie 'Doodle It Up' Winners Are ...

The Laura Kelly Designs Sharpie "Doodle It Up" contest, which took place May 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Common Grounds Coffee Shop in Downtown Apex, was a huge success and loads of fun!

Triangle TRACKS is announcing the winners for Laura here, and we'll also post the winners' names on Laura's Facebook page and the Triangle TRACKS Facebook page. It's important to note that Triangle TRACKS did not have any input on the winners. Ultimately, neither did Laura. She selected the top 10 drawings in both categories and asked a panel of judges to choose the first, second and third place prize winners in each category. We've included jpgs of the prize-winning images below.

The winners are ...

KIDS
1st – Sam Canney
2nd – Ben Shugg
3rd – Mackenzie Wolf

ADULTS

1st – Nicole Dozier
2nd – Beth Mullenburg
3rd – Karyn Wolf

1st Place - Kids
Sam Canney

1st Place Adults
Nicole Dozier

2nd Place Kids

Ben Shugg

2nd Place Adults
Beth Mullenburg

3rd Place Kids
Mackenzie Wolf

3rd Place Adults
Karyn Wolf

CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners! Your prizes will be available for pickup at The Rusty Bucket in downtown Apex anytime after June 9. If you have any questions, email Laura.

Triangle TRACKS Featured on NBC 17's "My Carolina Today"

I nervously sat down with "My Carolina Today" co-host Page Crawford last week to discuss the best way for parents new to Triangle TRACKS to use the site. I also talked about how I came up with the idea for it and the process of creating the site. If you're interested, you can view the interview here.

HALO Passes Now Open to the General Public - Only 8 Passes Remain!

Beginning Monday, March 8, Triangle TRACKS extended its HALOs for Haiti's Littlest Angels fundraiser to the general public by offering non-members/non-newsletter subscribers access to the remaining HALO passes. (At the time this post was written there were only 8 passes left - 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and 3 Bronzes.)

If you are interested in purchasing a HALO pass in support of God's Littlest Angels orphanage in Haiti, please click here to read a description of what is on each pass, then email Triangle TRACKS with your name and the pass you would like to purchase. Upon receiving your email, we will list your name and the time we received your email in the comment field under that pass. If no one else has claimed that pass prior to the time we received your email, it's all yours!

Learn more about HALOs for Haiti's Littlest Angels here.

Triangle TRACKS and 14 Local Businesses Sponsor Fundraiser for Haitian Orphanage

Triangle TRACKS, a social network for Triangle parents, is sponsoring a fundraiser for God's Littlest Angels (GLA) orphanage southeast of Port Au Prince, Haiti. This orphanage is located southeast of Port Au Prince in the mountains above Pétion-Vill near the village of Fermath, and serves children as young as newborns up to around 7 years of age. Since the orphanage is not located directly at the earthquake’s epicenter, its primary damages were financial, because it has stretched its resources thin to care for its orphans on a day-to-day basis, and to assist the surrounding community with clothing, medical needs, toiletries and other necessities incurred as a result of the earthquake’s damage. There are even more orphans now, as a result of the earthquake, and many of the staff members also need help paying for home repairs and funeral expenses.

Triangle TRACKS created the HALOs for Haiti's Littlest Angels project to "Help Accommodate and Love an Orphan." Fourteen local businesses have agreed to help raise funds for GLA by kindly donating services and/or fun stuff for kids to do that we have divided into 25 HALO Passes. These passes are categorized into four levels and price ranges: Platinum ($150), Gold ($115), Silver ($75) and Bronze ($27). Each pass is priced at 50 percent of its total value and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to GLA. Click on the links below to see a description of each pass.

Platinum HALO Passes
Gold HALO Passes
Silver HALO Passes
Bronze HALO Passes

* We just received a donation from the Carolina Hurricanes: a team-signed stick and 2 signed pucks and autographs. We will create a special pass for the team stick and apply the pucks and photos to some of the existing passes.

Participating businesses include:

The Durham Bulls

The Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Ballet
North Carolina Theatre
Marbles Kids Museum
Classy Kids Cook
Triangle Rock Club
BounceU of Apex
Pump It Up of Raleigh
Laura Kelly Designs & Licensing
Wee-Create (Creative Art for Kids)
Sitter Connection
Erica Anne Design + Photography
Social Butterflies

Here's how it will work. Beginning March 1, Triangle TRACKS will offer its members first rights to purchase the passes. Any remaining passes will be offered for sale to the general public March 8. Due to the low prices and number of items on each pass, we anticipate they will sell quickly. Stay tuned for more details later this week!

Triangle TRACKS would like to thank Social Butterflies for assisting in the promotion of this fundraiser. Subscribe to Social Butterflies’ monthly e-newsletter at www.socialbutterfliesnc.com for information on upcoming children's activities and family events.

Learn more here.

Announcing Our 'Tweet, Post or Join for Tickets' Contest!

Triangle TRACKS and the Durham Performing Arts Center have joined forces to give away 30 sets of 4 tickets to Princess Katie and Racer Steve’s “Revved Up & Ready to Rock” Feb. 6 shows at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. That’s right, we’re talking FREE tickets! This contest is only open to MEMBERS of the Triangle TRACKS social network.

The contest also features an exciting bonus! One of the 30 winners will be randomly selected to win two tickets to Carolina Ballet’s 8 p.m. Feb. 20 performance of “Cinderella.”

To automatically win a set of 4 tickets for your crew to see Princess Katie and Racer Steve, and to be included in the drawing for the “Cinderella” tickets, be one of the first 30 people to TWEET, POST or JOIN between Jan. 25 and Feb. 3. Here’s what that means:

TWEET: Do you have a Twitter account? Be one of the first 30 people participating in this contest to “tweet” the following information between Jan. 25 Feb. 3 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., and you’ll qualify for 4 tickets to the show:
@TriangleTRACKS Order reserved seats to Princess Katie & Racer Steve’s Feb. 6 DPAC show for $10-$15/ticket. http://bit.ly/7wpFia.

POST: If you have a Facebook account and are one of the first 30 people participating in this contest to post this statement as your Facebook status between Jan. 25 and Feb. 3 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., you’ll automatically win 4 tickets to the show:
Triangle TRACKS has announced that reserved seats to Princess Katie & Racer Steve’s “Revved Up & Ready to Rock” show at DPAC are now available for $10-$15/ticket. Details here: http://www.dpacnc.com/default.asp?dpac=19&objId=208. Become a fan of Triangle TRACKS' Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Triangle-TRACKS/61147979949?ref=ts
If you don't allow your status posts to be viewed publicly, please email us a screen shot of the post so we can verify that you posted it, as well as the date and time it was posted.

JOIN: If you have yet to join Triangle TRACKS and are one of the first 30 people participating in this contest to join the social network between Jan. 25 and Feb. 3 – and your membership is approved by Triangle TRACKS – you’ll automatically win 4 tickets to the show. New members who join Triangle TRACKS during this contest may also “tweet” or “post” the above statement, but they can only win one set of tickets.

Winners will be able to pick up their tickets at DPAC’s Will Call booth before the show.
Time-stamping of Twitter tweets, Facebook posts and Triangle TRACKS membership registrations will help us determine the 30 winners. Each winner will be assigned a number of 1 through 30 so an online Random Number Generator can be used to determine the winning number of the Carolina Ballet tickets. We'll announce all winners Feb. 4 at noon. Good luck, and please email us if you have any questions!