Friday Funnies

Happy Friday!!

Maxine always has a...uh..."positive" outlook on things.


They say careers in the health care field are secure:


And lastly, this gave me a big laugh:



-images from my pinterest board

Hurry! Armadillo Dreams' giveaway ends today!

I just love this toy maker!  The wooden toys are hand crafted right here in the United States.  My little guy has the deer family and has had lots of fun with them!


Armadillo Dreams is hosting a giveaway to celebrate their new website.  Hurry and go enter!  You could win a 3 Month Toy Subscription (a toy sent to your child each month for three months).

Plus you can take advantage of their 25% off sale!  These make great gifts for the children in your life!

What I'm Reading ("When Helping Hurts")

Ahhhhh a good book.  I remember devouring the Babysitter's Club series when I was a kid.  Fiction was what the genre of choice for me then.  

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Now as an adult, I still love fiction but non-fiction is attractive as well.
And, it is what I'm reading right now.

The description from amazon says in part "Churches and individual Christians typically have faulty assumptions about the causes of poverty, resulting in the use of strategies that do considerable harm to poor people and themselves. Don't let this happen to you, your ministry or ministries you help fund!"

I'm halfway through the book right now and it is quite good.  I'm thinking differently about how I can help people most effectively without hurting or insulting them.

I bought my copy from a local Christian bookstore, you can see if your store carries it and if not, there is always amazon!

Friday Funny

Happy Friday!  

This made me giggle.

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Easter Basket Edibles (that aren't candy!)

Looking for something edible, besides candy, to put in your child's Easter basket this year?

Originally posted last year, here are 13 20 ideas for you!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-candy.  I'm not a super crunchy mom who is only putting organic oats and fair trade yarn in her childrens' Easter baskets.

• I love candy.  
• Our kids love candy.  
• I do not love being in my house after the kids have consumed an entire Easter Basket/Halloween Bucket/Christmas Stocking full of candy.  

So while they get a little bit, I try to limit it.  If, like me, you don't want to spend Easter weekend scraping young children off the walls, here are some ideas of treats you can put in their baskets!  Choose one or choose several for their baskets.  Whatever floats your boat.  :-)

1. Juice boxes
2. Granola bars (doesn't have to be the whole box!  Buy one box and stick a couple in each kid's basket)
3. Bag of microwave popcorn
4. Little cartons or baggies of Goldfish crackers
5. Mini boxes of cereal
6. Graham cracker sticks
7. Animal crackers
8. Pretzel sticks
9. Puffs (for the toddler age group)
10. Fruit cups
11. Jello cups
12. Baggy of Cheez-It crackers
13. Teddy Grahams

14. Mini bags of chips

15. Honey roasted peanuts (the 50 cent kind from the checkout stand)

16. Chewing gum

17. A sleeve of Poptarts

18. Bag of beef jerky

19. Veggie straws

20. Drink mix (hot chocolate, flavored water like Mio or Propel, etc)

Homemade Play Doh and the SECRET Clean Up Tip

This great playdoh recipe came from somewhere on the web.  Of course now I can't find the original blog I saw it on, but you can find almost the same recipe but with more pics over here.  

One day I made it with my toddler and two of his friends. They each got to pick what color to make it (food coloring), and I stood at the stove and cooked it up.  The kids had fun with the homemade play dough and getting to choose their own colors!  Store in an airtight container and it will last for a long time!

It looks like colored dog poo here but in real life it looks and feels
just like real play doh!

Afterwards the pan seemed tough to clean...thick, semi-hard dough stuck to the sides and bottom.  But, aha!, there's a trick to this..

Here's the secret: put a couple tablespoons of OIL in the pan with some water and let it soak.  The oil softens the dough and when you go back to clean it, it will come right off!  

Cutesy House Rules vs. REAL rules

Things like this are cluttering up my pinterest feed:

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Aww now isn't that sweet?  I should make one for our house!  Oh wait.  I live in the real world with a bunch of boys and a sweet but mischievous dog.

Here's what I'd have to cut out of vinyl letters with a Cricut and plaster onto some wood for our house:

In this house...

We do not stand right by someone's face and fart.

We do not flap our pants right by someone's face after farting.

We will be in trouble if Mom finds we pooped and didn't flush.

We do not stand and poop on the carpet (DOG!)

We do not write our phone number on our arm with sharpie.

We do not try to ride the dog, no matter how much she enjoys our attempts.

We do not blow the airhorn to wake someone up.

Tell me I'm not the only one with REAL rules in the house..things you never thought you'd have to turn into a rule.  What are some of your zany ones?

--sharing the realness at Serenity Now