A pony ride and Brain Age

Something I've been working on all week, a digital layout of our first pony ride.

She is still smiling about this ride two weeks later. Thank you God for ponies. Thank you for that smile on that little face.

I loved playing and creating this. Loved the pretty paper kit from www.digitalfreebies.com and the flourishes and swirls designs from www.scrapartist.com

We just had a one week mini-vacation, just here at home. Did the beach and some parks for the kids. Been keeping busy with soduko. I know now why its addicting.....It all started out slowly, but then I downloaded a puzzle to my desktop {this was waaaaaaaaaaay more fun than doing it on paper} then I was buying some games for the "kids" and I found a Nintendo DS version. Now I'm hooked. My son says, "mom, you're playing with the DS too much." Hey, isn't that supposed to be my line? The DS version comes on a game cartridge named "Brain Age."

Supposedly, you are to train your brain to keep it healthy and sharp. This is not a new idea, but the game comes with puzzles and quick math problems to solve that actually make it fun. Brain Age comes with a mini science lesson about how the brain works. The puzzles and questions are designed to "activate the prefrontal cortex" of our brains and make them work harder and stay sharp. I was glad to see that reading out loud is actually one of those activities that help with that, I do that all the time. {I figured I was golden.} I mentioned the prefrontal cortex thing to my husband {who hadn't really tried the game yet} and he just gave me a weird look, then made a dirty-boy comment about activating his prefrontal.

The game software is a little humorous too. After a brain age check I did a few days after starting my "training" the computer image of a talking head comes on and types "...your brain is very tired..." then the next day, after I tanked on some math problems {man, I didn't realize remembering my math tables could be so hard?!?!} the talking head says "...your brain is asking for help..." very funny. I keep asking my hubby if he has gotten the same message and he says no. I think he's covering up. Being that a 20 brain age score is the best, you are supposed to keep up the training to get close to that goal. My first attempt about a week and a half ago was a very poor 70. Yikes! And for those of us that tend to get a little competitive with games and scores {ahem, not me, really} it makes you work harder cause it records your "brain age" right there on the screen and then saves your file. Whoa. No way I was going to stay on file with a 70! Naturally, you do the puzzles enough and you start to get the hang of it and your memory improves considerably. By the other day I was up to 54, then 41. The head comes on and says "...you are such a trooper...you are much closer to your actual age...." and then something about an "old brain." Niiiice. I finally reached my personal best at 24 on Friday. Try taking a swipe at me now talking head...I got a "...you are doing well, might almost beat me..." huh? Anyway, a fun game to pass the idle time {not that I have that much} and the soduko is fun.