10 BRAIN TEASERS to TEST UR MENTAL CLARITY

ok...NO CHEATING......How is your MENTAL CLARITY today?

1. Johnny’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name? 2. A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh? 3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world? 4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet? 5. What word in the English language is always spelled incorrectly? 6. Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible? 7. In British Columbia you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not? 8. If you were running a race and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now? 9. Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?” 10. A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field? ============================================================================================== Answers 1. Johnny. 2. Meat. 3. Mt. Everest. It just wasn’t discovered yet. 4. There is no dirt in a hole. 5. Incorrectly (except when it is spelled incorrecktly). 6. Billie lives in the southern hemisphere. 7. You can’t take a picture with a wooden leg. You need a camera (or iPad or cell phone) to take a picture. 8. You would be in 2nd place. You passed the person in second place, not first. 9. Neither. Egg yolks are yellow. 10. One. If he combines all his haystacks, they all become one big stack. Okay, some of these are a bit corny. But they all illustrate several brain idiosyncrasies that affect how we make decisions in the world. Thanks to the way our brain works, we have a very strong tendency to see what we want to see and what we expect to see. This has huge implications when studying our customers, markets, competitors, and other data that influences key business decisions. When we only see what we want or expect to see, we miss competitive threats because our brain tells us a threat couldn’t possibly come from that direction. We miss opportunities because we only see what has worked in the past rather than what could be. And we miss major market shifts and changes in customer needs that seem obvious in hindsight but are easily overlooked when focusing on what we already know. Our brain doesn’t like information gaps, so we tend to jump at the first answer/solution that looks good rather than take the time to examine all the data. This is especially true in a world where we receive more information every day than we have time to assimilate. Finally, our brains love to see patterns and make connections. This trait serves us well in many ways as we move through the world. But the brain doesn’t always get it right. For example, how did you answer question #1 (be honest)? For most people, the first word that pops into their head is “June,” because the brain quickly spots the April/May/June pattern. Upon re-reading the question and analyzing the data, the answer “Johnny” becomes obvious. And what about the man with the wooden leg? Your answer depends on how you interpret “with.” Does it refer to the man with the wooden leg or to the camera? A bit of a trick question, but it clearly illustrates how the language we use shapes the way we look at the world. Perhaps the best example of how we miss things is the egg yolk question. Everybody knows egg yolks are yellow. But the question’s phrasing puts our attention on selecting the correct verb, so we overlook an obvious piece of data and an even more obvious answer. We can’t change how the brain works – at least not yet. Give science another 50 years and who knows what our brains will be doing! For now, we can become more aware of how our brain works, then pause from time to time to consider what we’re missing. This includes the data we’re unconsciously screening out as well as different sources of data to counterbalance what we expect to see. Get in the habit of teasing your brain. You’ll be amazed at what you end up seeing that you didn’t see before. Retweet this blog to find out how clever your friends and business associates are.

My sharing is caring.......yours?

do you like to Pineterest? I am soooo addicted!!! lol....but have used and shared so many neat & great ideas here.....makes me wonder at times how I ever lived without it! Just go in and check out my pins......grab some ideas or post some of your own...SHARING IS CARING........HOPE YOU WILL!!! HUGS OUT THERE TO YOU ALL THIS WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY... http://pinterest.com/kentuckyangel/ Vicki

CAMPING & EGG MUFFINS! lol

We are heading out to go home and do some much needed R & R this Memorial Day w/end at the lake!!! Also..getting to take our favorite grandson...so fishing sounds like something we will be teaching him too.... just want to share one thing I am making to take. First time ever, but omg...they are sooooo good....even if I do say so. Easy...and last a week in frig!!! (I BOUGHT THESE SMALL 1/2 MOON SILICONE THINGS AT DOLLAR TREE. NEAT!!! EGG MUFFINS

15 eggs (for silicone muffin pans, use 12 eggs for metal muffin tins or individual silicone cups. You can use less egg yolks and more egg white if you prefer.) 1-2 tsp. Spike Seasoning 1-2 cups grated low fat cheese (I like sharp cheddar or a blend of cheddar/Jack cheese, use less cheese if using meat) Optional, but highly recommended, 3 green onions diced small. Optional: chopped veggies such as blanched broccoli, red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, etc. (Using veggies will reduce the fat content) Optional: diced Canadian bacon, lean ham, or crumbled cooked turkey sausage Preheat oven to 375 F. Use regular or silicone muffin pan, 12 muffin size. If using silicone pan, spray with nonstick spray. If using regular muffin pan, put two paper liners into each slot, then spray liner with nonstick spray. In the bottom of the muffin cups layer diced meat, if using, vegetables, if using, cheese and green onions. You want the muffin cups to be about 2/3 full, with just enough room to pour a little egg around the other ingredients. Break eggs into large measuring bowl with pour spout, add Spike, and beat well. (I used to add a bit of half and half or milk, but lately I like the way they turn out without it.) Pour egg into each muffin cup until it is 3/4 full. I like to stir slightly with a fork. Bake 25-35 minutes until muffins have risen and are slightly browned and set. Muffins will keep more than a week in the refrigerator. Egg muffins can be frozen and reheated, but I like them best when they are just refrigerated. For best results, thaw in refrigerator before reheating. Microwave on high about 2 minutes to reheat.

WHAT?? A GREEN HOUSE OUT OF A TRAMPOLINE???

per: HEATHER! Today I’m excited to tell you about the most creative DIY gardening project I have seen. I think it’s so neat when people think of ways to turn something old into something new, and I was amazed when I heard about my mother-in-law’s plan to turn their trampoline into a greenhouse! She told me that they were planning to get rid of their (aging) trampoline but she just kept feeling like there must be a way that she could use the galvanized steel frame for something. She was right- check this out! So, today I’m going to tell you how my in-laws created a greenhouse out of a trampoline for about $100! Here’s what they used: - Trampoline Frame - Piping ($2/tube, they bought 10) - Wood ($20) - Thermometers ($2) - Red Tape ($11 for the roll) - Plastic ($60) - Screws ($5) (That’s a grand total of $98!) In the photo below you can see how they screwed the pipes/tubing onto the trampoline frame with an electric drill. They bought central vacuum tubing (it was cheaper than plumbing pipes). They were probably about 2″ screws.

In the photo below, you can see how they used half of the frame for each side/end of the greenhouse. No cutting of the steel required- just pull the frame pieces apart so that you’ve got 2 halves of the frame, and you’re good to go! Turn them so that the “legs” of the trampoline point toward the inside of the greenhouse, and that gives you something to screw the tubing to!

My father-in-law built the frame for the door out of wood and screwed it to the frame of the greenhouse: (There is also a small window on the opposite side of the greenhouse.)

They attached the plastic (which you can get at Home Depot and is technically called 6mm Poly Film) to the outside of the frame with red tape called “Sheath” or “Sheathing Tape”:

Note: My mother-in-law suggests repurposing the mat from the trampoline, using it as a floor for your greenhouse. Unfortunately theirs got thrown out, so they’re going floorless for now. They tried using some caulking that was supposed to work for metal & plastic to secure the plastic to some other parts of the frame, but it didn’t work. They did find a good use for the caulking gun though- it’s great for propping the window open for air flow! After having the greenhouse assembled, we had a really windy couple of nights. Windy enough that they woke up one morning to find that the greenhouse had been relocated- right over their little pond! To prevent that from happening again, they bent some rebar, and anchored the bottom of the frame to the ground like this:

Now for the inside of the greenhouse! This is the first summer of the greenhouse, so everything is still experimental. This is what the contents of the greenhouse look like at this point: That little table that they’re using to keep their plants on? They repurposed the frame of an old futon to make that! And they’ve got some pieces of lattice that they’re planning to use to make another one:

Did you notice the black jugs on the ground a couple of photos up? Those are bleach jugs that have been spray painted black. They’ve got water in them. During the day the water heats up, and during the night, they create extra warmth inside of the greenhouse!

This “press ‘n seal” plastic wrap works as a way to seal in moisture for some of the plants:

And these indoor/outdoor thermometers (that were 99 cents each) show the difference in temperature on the inside compared to the outside of the greenhouse. Here’s what the temperatures were when I was over there:

I’m totally impressed with their creation and excited to see how this first Summer goes! They’re still learning things as they go (for example, they’re thinking they may need to add another window for more airflow). The finished creation is about 8 feet by 12 feet. The trampoline they used was a 15 foot trampoline, so it was 7.5 feet high, but they sort of squished it to get a bit more height.

Have you ever repurposed something old into something really cool & new? What’s the most creative gardening project you’ve tried or seen? I hope this post got some of your creative juices flowing and gets you excited to think about more gardening ideas! LET US HEAR FROM YOU AND YOUR IDEAS!!! VICKI

The Clothesline

This past weekend, a child in our neighborhood saw me hanging our clothes on the line. “Why are you doing that?” she asked, “Don’t you have a dryer?” I stifled a laugh and replied, “Yes, but this saves money and the environment.” But her question made me think. Why did I chose to hang clothes out on the line? 1. To save money. During the summer months, when I can hang out our laundry to dry almost every day, I knock off $50 from out electric bill. 2. To make my clothes last longer. You know that wad of lint you pull from your dryer vent? That’s your clothes wearing out faster. Your tossing some of your clothes and money into the garbage when you empty the lint drawer. 3. Relaxation. Yes, you read that right. Something about pinning clothes out on the line relaxes me. I think it has to do with the fresh air and the beautiful earth God created for us. 4. Prayer time. When I hang up an article of clothes, I pray for the person they belong to. It may only be fleeting, but each of my family is covered in prayer when I dry clothes on the line. 5. The scent. No bottle of scented laundry softener can measure up to the sun and wind dried scent of clothes on the line. Here’s a few tips when hanging clothes on the line. I hang all pants and shirts from the hem. This leaves no clothes pin marks on the shoulders and collars. The weight of the waist keeps pants from looking wrinkled and allows the thicker waistband to dry completely. If you can’t abide the feeling of stiff towels, then pop in the dryer for just five minutes. They’ll fluff up without padding your electric bill. I use an old wide mouth Mason jar to hold my clothes pins. It’s both decorative and functional. What’s your favorite thing about laundry? Do you have any tips for me? What chore do you enjoy doing?