The 5 best toys of all time

The vast majority of the time I do the toy reviews on this site.  I really enjoy reviewing toys, and Li'l Girlie enjoys playing with them, so that works out well for us.  This time, though, I've gotta hand it to Geek Dad on Wired.  He's written a wonderful compilation of the 5 best toys of all time;  I couldn't have done it better.

Not many toys can come close to the amount of imagination these toys can inspire, and most are readily available in wide areas of the world.  Whatever culture or economic group you are in, it's highly likely that your kid will play with one of these toys whenever the opportunity arises.  (Right now, my daughter is really into toy #1 and toy #5)  That's her in the bike helmet -- it's like her security blanket, except it's a helmet. 

As an added bonus, each of the top 5 is relatively inexpensive and/or can be obtained for free.  That's my favorite price. 

Which of the top 5 toys does your child play with?  Were there any surprises about which ones made the cut?

Finding Rainy Day Fun in Unusual Places

What to do on a rainy, gloomy day?  I love just staying home and playing, doing crafts, messing around with playdoh, etc., but there are just times where you need to break out of the cabin fever and just get out with your kids. 

We didn't discover this newest place to explore under the most delightful of circumstances -- my husband is in the ER with a bad fever and chest pain.  But while they took him to have a CAT scan, my daughter and I checked out the children's section of the hospital and found a Disney-themed play area, a welcome diversion while we waited. 

I wouldn't have thought of a hospital as somewhere to look for rainy day activities, but it sure did fit the bill.  If you've got a good sized hospital in your area (especially a children's hospital) and you're looking for a new place for fun on a rainy or cold day, check to see if they have a lobby with stuff for kids.

Have you found a great place to have fun indoors when the weather's not great for being outdoors?  Please share!

Cash back for shopping online

photo © 2006 Rob Lee | more info (via: Wylio)
Ok, so I wouldn't buy a shirt that looks like a dollar bill, but I'm certainly up for having my online clothing purchases (and all other online purchases for that matter) turning into free money.  I've found a super-simple and very legitimate way to earn a couple extra bucks. 

If you do any online shopping, one of the easiest ways to basically get paid for the purchases that you'd make anyway is to use a cash back website.  They're super-easy to use.  All you do is go to the cash-back site, then

1. Sign up.
2. Choose a store that you want to shop at (most sites have hundreds to thousands of choices)
3. Shop as you normally would, and get cash back on your purchase. 

Just got the latest notification of a rebate check on its way to me.  Yippee!  This year I earned over $18 cash back on my regular Christmas shopping, and I now make sure that any purchase I make, whenever possible, goes through a cash-back/rebate site so that I don't have to pay full-price.

My personal favorite cash-back site is Ebates.  It's the granddaddy of all rebate sites, and is ridiculously easy to use.  When you search for the store you want, it tells you how much cash back they offer, and there are often double cash-back deals around major holidays like Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc.  They have thousands of stores to choose from, including names like Land's End, Gap, Babies R Us, Target, Shoes.com, Bath and Body Works, Sephora and the Apple Store. 

I can always find a use for a little extra cash.  Plus, It's not much effort for a busy mom to use something like Ebates.  Just a few seconds of effort... so easy even a (fill in the blank) can do it.