Money Games

I don’t know anyone who isn’t looking forward to retirement.  Countdown to Retirement was fun even if there weren’t as many options as I would have liked. If retirement is too far away and is depressing to think about, what about a Road Trip?  I am not so good at games that require hand eye coordination but it stimulating in that I had to focus focus focus.

Money games are always fun and at least make you think about how you are spending your money.  These games would be great as a treat for kids after finishing an assignment if you have a classroom computer, or for kids at home who want to play on the computer.  They are free and they are non violent.  They even have some educational value.  That makes them worth checking out.

Did you like these games?  Will you use them for yourself, your children, or your students?  Do you know of any other online games that are free and at least a little educational?  If not educational how about free games that achieve mental stimulation?

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Time for some more puzzle fun, this time with a math puzzle!  Have fun with it and I’ll post the answers tomorrow

Try to fill in the missing numbers.

Use the numbers 1 through 9 to complete the equations.

Each number is only used once.
Each row is a math equation. Each column is a math equation.
Remember that multiplication and division are performed before addition and subtraction.

How are you enjoying my puzzle week?  I didn’t realize I was going for a them till I became obsessed!  Do you like the puzzles?  Want more puzzles?  Hate the puzzles?  After I play with it this week I think I might scale back to once a week.  Let me know what you think!

I created this Famous Poets word search with the help of Discovery Education’s puzzle maker.  I adore this tool and most of the tools at Discovery.  It is a great way to wrap up a lesson on just about any topic as the puzzles are customized.  I hope you have some enjoyable mental stimulation finding the answers in this famous poets word search.

H R R H B O O K O W R Q T T Y Y B J P S
R Y V L J G Z W O Q A A H E Z Z E F S G
M I O I L X T L G L V O J G N D F D C K
K I S J N L L H E U R S L Z R N J V Z J
J Y V W H E W F A E E Q P B X E Y Y F Z
T E Z Q F D H E A S J H H G Z A L S B A
U V Z G Q G I U R W P M U L P T J S O Z
K N N G T P T Y T I H D I C K I N S O N
S O L V S L M Z H W E R V O B F W Y Z P
L T Q B O O A J V B C K F Q J U X N B Y
T G A H R H N Y J F T V S F X G Z E A Z
U N J E F K K L R N I A A N I D O O R Z
E V T G Y D T S O Y K R U Y O P F T V X
O T R Z Q P G H U N S G Y W H B I N I G
X U X S K S Z C Q H Q D U F W P G T B D
L T M T E G F B Y Z C H T H F E Z H G E
S F P D L L O R R A C Z B F Z R O B R K
G O O S W Q V L Z P K Q X N T I V X I U
G K Y A N W S K W X W P K C E Z O F L T
T Z D Z J O O J P D B J F R O W Y A H T

CARROLL

DICKINSON

FROST

LONGFELLOW

POE

TENNYSON

THOREAU

WHITMAN

YEATS

Did you enjoy today’s famous poets word search?  Would you like more games like this?

I was looking for something fun to do and found this brain teaser and thought I’d share.

I’m not going to give away the ending but I will tell you that I was in the 2% that didn’t give the standard answer.  Tell me what you answered in the comment section and I’ll tell you what my answer was :o)  How did you like this little brain teaser?

I found a great article on how stress is effecting the health of people across the nation on Gather today.  It is written by one of the doctors from the Harvard Medical School, if you would like to look at the full report you can find it here.

On of the things mentioned is:

"People are now feeling stress because of the difficult economic picture in this country. Home foreclosures and unemployment, higher gasoline and food prices, and disappearing job security can all make us feel stressed."

I have definitely felt the stress associated with higher gas and food prices.  I recently stopped teaching full time to stay at home with our new baby and the reduced income along with the rising costs can lead to a lot of stress.  I’ve been coping by finding work from home but the article has a few other ideas on how to reduce stress, some of which I’ve heard before.  I figure you can never get good advice often enough so I’ll share some of my favorites from the article.

"Find time to exercise regularly.

Eat a balanced, healthy diet. Avoid reaching for sugary snacks or fatty fast food.

Limit your alcohol use, and don’t take illicit drugs. Drugs and alcohol can prevent you from dealing with stressful problems directly.

Get a good night’s sleep.

Consider learning some relaxation techniques. There are many of these, and most are easy to learn. Take breaks when you are at work.

Seek professional help if you feel overwhelmed by the stresses in your life. Stress-management counseling is often very helpful."

Exercising regularly is a great idea and I was doing pretty well with it till everything got hectic again.  Guess that’s when I need it most but am getting it least. Probably about the same for everyone out there.  Eating well…not so much.  Another thing for me to stress about!  Yay! one I actually manage to accomplish.  I don’t drink or do drugs so that isn’t making my stress worse.  I’m sure I will feel less stressed when the baby is sleeping through the night instead of through the day ;)  Relaxation techniques I’ve been trying to do.  I’ve started putting in a weekly meditation inspiring video and using it throughout the week.  Must say, those nature sounds and rainstorms do relax me.  Professional help.  This is actually something I’ve done before and it is very effective.  Unfortunately, I don’t really have the time to go anymore.

Writing this post has made me realize that I must start to make myself a priority.  All of the things that are good for reducing stress I say I don’t have time for which leads to more stress.  My motto for this blog is "relax so you can focus" by relaxing I partially meant reducing daily stress.  Looks like I need to take my own advice! 

How do you reduce your daily stress to help you lead a more enjoyable and productive life?

Rainbow Photo Credit:  Nicholas T. from Flickr, Creative Commons License

One of my favorite things to do when I need to zone out to think over a problem is to color a mandala.  If you aren’t sure what a mandala is….let’s just say it’s a repetitive pattern that you can color.  Historically there are all kinds of meanings associated with them but for my purpose it is just something that helps me to relax and focus. As such I’ve decided I should share it with you!  The picture I’ve added is an example of a mandala that I thought was pretty.   

Usually I color the mandalas with colored pencils, pens, or crayons but I got to thinking…wouldn’t it be nice if I could color one online?  Then I thought…well if I want to do it I probably can find a site somewhere that will let me!  Wouldn’t you know it, I was right :)  

Here is a link to a mandala you can color online.  I hope you enjoy!

Mandala Photo Credit:  Peter Kaminski from Flickr, Creative Commons License

I have a bit of an addiction when it comes to all forms of illusions, magic tricks and the like.  One of the best ways to get your daily dose of mental stimulation is to try to figure out how some of those magicians or illusionist create their illusion. 

So is it an illusion or is it reality?  It certainly looked real to me, but then I wonder, how could it be real?  What do you think?  If you think it is an illusion, please, give me your ideas on how he pulled it off!

Geography Trivia Answers

Welcome to this edition of Mental Stimulation Trivia. Today I will give you the answers to the Geography Trivia questions I asked last week. If you have questions about any of the answers or if you would like to submit a topic for the next edition of Mental Stimulation Trivia please let me know in the comments section. I would also love to hear if you are enjoying the trivia questions and answers.

The Earth Photo Credit: Woodleywonderworks from Flickr, Creative Commons License

I was reading the news today when I found out that researchers have finally affirmed what I have always believed: Too many choices deplete mental acuity.  I have always had trouble staying focused when I have to make too many decisions and since I usually have to make lots of decisions like when to wake up, what to eat, what clothes to put on, what to write, I now know why I almost always have trouble focusing.  I say this only partly in jest.  I do know that when I was teaching it was much easier for me to stay on task and not get distracted if I had planned everything out the day before.  Making all of those everyday decisions early made it much easier for me to handle anything unexpected without totally losing my focus. 

I find that is also the case in my home life.  When I have too much going on at work I have trouble remember what it is I’m supposed to do when I get home.  Wash clothes?  Sure I know that needs to be done, but if I’ve had an eventful (read decision making) day then I get home and zone out and completely forget what it was that I needed to do….what was it again?  Oh, right.  Laundry.

The scientists who completed the study duplicated it in different settings including a shopping mall after shoppers had made decisions about what to buy.  The moral there?  Even if it is happy decisions it can still affect your mental acuity.  This is where I come up with too much mental stimulation being a bad thing, if that mental stimulation is in the form of decision making.  If you know you are going to need to focus on a specific day try to make all decisions for that day the previous day.  Big presentation?  The night before lay out your clothes and accessories.  Get your breakfast and lunch items together or else decide what you are going to do for breakfast and lunch.  Make sure kids/husband/wife have all of their items picked out for the next day.  Do absolutely everything you can early so that all of your focus will be on your important task. 

Have you noticed you have trouble focusing if you’ve had to make too many decisions?  Do you find planning out each day the night before makes your day run more smoothly? Does it increase your ability to focus?

Photo Credit:   Timothy Lloyd from Flickr, Creative Commons License

I am math challenged but I found this mental math tricks to be pretty darn entertaining and definitely stimulating.  I hope you enjoy these Math Tricks!

What did you think?  Do math problems stimulate your mind or make you zone out and make you wish you were doing anything other than math?  What types of problems do you like to work out to wake you up?

Calculator Photo Credit:   Afroswede from Flickr, Creative Commons License