From Kitchen Kitsch to Birth Preparation

Looking for something kitschy or just for the kitchen? In either case, you can find it without going into the city or to a mall. has some great gifts for that person on your list that has everything. Or perhaps for the hostess with the mostess. Between now and Christmas we'll publish fun items you can find shopping locally this season. And don't Hannukkah sneak up on you; it's early this year (starts Dec. 1).

Check out the 1940s-style Gangster Grater (the car door is riddled with holes for grating cheese. Or some little kitchen-themed Christmas tree ornaments (my personal favorite is the rice bowl and chopsticks) but there are also pots and pans, a rolling pin, whisk and others. What if you could make your ice shaped like Easter Island stone heads? The onion goggles might keep you from crying in the kitchen. Ben Salmon has filled his store with items that are sure to please the cook in your life, as well as non-cooks who can enjoy a clever utensil. Despite my gravitation toward the unusual, the useful wins out in popularity. "My biggest seller this season is definitely the seltzer makers," he said. There's even one shaped like a penguin.

Labor & Delivery Yoga Workshop

South Orange doula and childbirth educator Kim Collins and yoga teacher Ires Wilbanks will conduct a labor and delivery workshop at  on Saturday.

The 3-hour workshop is designed to give pregnant women and their partners tools with for approaching birth physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Collins will lead couples through positions, breath work, comfort measures and vocalizations aimed at providing a more efficient birth. The workshop will also focus on using movement, touch and vocalization to relieve pain.

As an experienced doula who tends to the mother before, during and just after birth whether at home or in a hospital, Collins will give couples an idea of what to expect in a typical hospital birth and some of the ways to avoid unnecessary interventions.

 As a friend and neighbor of Collins, I can say she's known for her nurturing, calm and relaxed manner – all things that have come in handy for the mother of three who has attended hundreds of births over the last nine years, ever since she left the legal world to be a midwife assistant and a doula.

Wilbanks  teaches prenatal and yoga for labor and delivery at Shatki. According to Shatki, Wilbanks' teaching is guided by her own childbirth experiences and she believes practicing prenatal yoga can help women achieve a healthy pregnancy and delivery.The workshop is from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday. The cost is $75 per couple. To register go to http://www.shaktinj.com/shaktima.htm.

Knitters Unite!

A reminder to knitters in the area: Those rebellious yarnstormbers are uniting on Sunday by tagging 1,000 stop signs in South Orange and Maplewood with orange yarn and an anti-bullying message attached. And they need your help.

Because of the great number of stop signs, is seeking help from the knitting community at large – or from anyone in the area who wants to send a message to stop bullying. Place an orange swatch of yarn, whether knitted or chocheted or just tied around a stop sign.

Letter of intent

Conor Krauss, a 17-year-old athlete from Randolph, N.J., signed a letter of intent this week to play baseball next year for Seton Hall University, which boasts a top-notch baseball program. Krauss also played football and made the honor roll at Randolph High School. Krauss' parents, Keith Krauss and Tracie Nielsen attended the signing ceremony, where Conor donned his first Seton Hall baseball cap as a player.