Cotton-Pickin’ Days

Like many pregnant women, I’ve been having some very vivid dreams of late. The other night, I dreamt that a flood was headed for our house (strangely, Marv and I were living with my parents and we had no kids). We were frantically stuffing jewelry into our bags and painting some kind of sealant on the window frames.

According to the Dream Dictionary at Dreamota, flooding symbolizes:

The release of emotions from the unconscious; intense emotions that may seem overwhelming. Pregnant women, women on the verge of starting their menstrual periods, and people with lung problems often dream of floods flooding.

What a boring prosaic dream that turned out to be.

6 Comments »

This month’s O, The Oprah Magazine has tips on how to retain what we’ve learned.

1. Space Out - Break up learning into separate sessions rather than cram at the last minute. Learning spread over the long term works better than intense, infrequent study.

   This is definitely a habit I want to teach Stephen. We break up his weekly school homework assignment over three days so it doesn’t seem as overwhelming and we do an additional 30 minutes of mommy-assigned work four days out of the week.

   My personal experience has also been that keeping on top of the work is far more effective come exam time than trying to cram the night or even the weekend before. This generally applies to all things in life, including housework!
   

2. Sleep On It - Sleep after studying helps your brain “solidify memory” by allowing it to fire in a certain sequence without interruption. This apparently works even after a nap.

   I know so many people who pull overnighters with just 2- 3 hours of sleep before exams. They were also typically below the grading curve yet never seemed to learn that their study strategy wasn’t working. I always got close to a full night’s sleep before exams even if I wasn’t 100% ready. I figured that my brain would be able to retrieve material far better if it were actually awake!
   

3. Don’t Overlearn - “Study a lot of material for a little bit of time in one session, rather than a little bit of material for a lot of time.”

   Glad to get this confirmation! I have tried my best to resist drilling Stephen on his weekly spelling even after it’s clear that he knows it. Now I know that I shouldn’t even talk about the spelling the morning of the test. Not only does it put too much pressure on him, but it obviously doesn’t improve long-term retention.
   

4. Keep Your Brain Fit - Regular exercise to maintain cardiovascular fitness, mentally challenging activities like reading, social engagement, education, and perhaps blogging all help to maintain brain plasticity. (More from Time.)

What have you been doing to keep your brain fit?

3 Comments »

The easiest way to quiet a drunk is to whisper to him.

Wonder if this would work on a recalcitrant five-year-old?

via Rules of Thumb

9 Comments »

I know I’m not the only one who loves Carrie Underwood . Here she is performing So Small at the Country Music Association where she won Female Vocalist of the Year for the second year in a row.

via Just Jared

2 Comments »

Wow! William Lehman is so talented. He created this masterpiece for me using the Graffiti application on Facebook. (Click the painting to see a larger image.)

Stephen was impressed too and said, “It’s an artist.”

I would say so!

10 Comments »

The TouchGraph Google Browser created this pretty map of related websites that are connected to Cottontimer.com. Unfortunately, it doesn’t even come close to representing those who I genuinely feel a connection with (see blogroll in middle column). Goes to show that Google really can’t see into our hearts and minds.

via TechCrunch

4 Comments »

Don’t trust your Sat Nav

One ambulance driver with a faulty satnav drove hundreds of miles in the wrong direction while transferring a patient from one hospital in Ilford east of London to another just eight miles (13 km) away.

I don’t trust the Sat Nav 100% either. If we go anywhere, I’ll usually print out directions from Google Maps just in case. We got our first GPS in the car when we were in Japan where they call it a “navi.” On day one, Marv set it with our home phone number, left the office, and it promptly led him down the wrong street to a dead end.

A few months ago, Stephen and I went to the Royal Air Force Museum with one of his classmates and his mom. She used her TomTom portable GPS and it led us to the middle of a highway and said we’d reached our destination! We ended up using a road atlas and about 20 minutes later, we finally found the museum. But not before we’d missed the last turn because the street sign had gotten flipped around and was pointing the wrong way. @#!

Have any crazy GPS sat nav stories to share?

7 Comments »

Created using Street Sign Generator

6 Comments »

The Economist released a special issue this week to celebrate Marv’s birthday and our 13th wedding anniversary! At the very top, you can see mention of the special report on air travel that’s just for Marv (if you didn’t know, he’s worked in the airline industry for over 10 years). And the cover story is about molecular biology, which is obviously for moi. And look how kind they were to symbolize our love with two outstretched hands connected by a single strand of RNA! Definitely the best gift we’ve ever received.

16 Comments »

Lunchtime at The Bulls Head pub. Two elderly gentlemen enter the dining room and head over to the cushioned bench seat. One says to the other, “I’ll sit on this side. The left is gone.”*

~~~~~
After dinner, Stephen is sitting next to Marv and reading The Scrap Rocket.

Stephen: The space rocket.

Marv: It’s scrap rocket.

Stephen: SPACE rocket!

Marv: No, no. Scrap! Scraaaap.

Stephen (turns and looks at me on the other sofa): Is that right?

~~~~~
*His hearing aid battery wasn’t working.

No Comments »