now you must know i am not actually calling any of you dumb. you know that right? i know all of you are the epitome of intelligence. take for instance that you are reading this phenomenal blog. but you seriously have to see my point here. i mean, i have been a full-time, stay-at-home mom for nearly 10 years, and there have been days where i think my head is the morning bowl of oatmeal. maybe it's just me? maybe not. however at some point, and i believe our fabulous friend martha stewart pointed it out to me (via tv ladies, i am soo not that cool) i realized that i was not learning anything new. in fact, i was in a mommy rut. i hate routines, and yet they are my personal sanity, and they allow for auto-pilot sometimes which we all need occasionally. still, the same-old routine got me into a horrible state, and after waking with lavender scented smelling salts i started doing a few things:*seek out new places. try a new local bakery, or small restaurant and revel in the new ambiance
*seek out new faces. i am a nice person (i'm pretty sure it has been mentioned before), but it KILLS me to make new friends. i feel like i am in middle school (or high school, whichever one was worse for you), with all of the judging and asking of questions. so, for me trying out more than just a "hi" is a good brain step
*get thee there differently. my husband loves to go new ways to regular places. his goal: which one is faster. but, this exercise is a really fantastic way of finding a new park, or a beautiful bike path, or a great place to change that newly flattened tire
*change something about you. i tried to read a louis l'amour book, and well that wasn't my best idea, but getting a new lip gloss or actually doing your hair is another happy step in the right direction
*seek out new faces. i am a nice person (i'm pretty sure it has been mentioned before), but it KILLS me to make new friends. i feel like i am in middle school (or high school, whichever one was worse for you), with all of the judging and asking of questions. so, for me trying out more than just a "hi" is a good brain step
*get thee there differently. my husband loves to go new ways to regular places. his goal: which one is faster. but, this exercise is a really fantastic way of finding a new park, or a beautiful bike path, or a great place to change that newly flattened tire
*change something about you. i tried to read a louis l'amour book, and well that wasn't my best idea, but getting a new lip gloss or actually doing your hair is another happy step in the right direction
essentially it boils down to use it or lose it sisters! and i mean your brain. i have actually picked up the dictionary and read a few columns, and i felt smarter (until jeopardy came on). there are seriously zillions of ways to work it baby! and i have left out many so you can fill in the blanks!
4 comments:
One other thing I do is get a "For Dummies" book and read it. It is almost like a college class but for $30. Then it gets me up to date on somethings I've been wanting to learn about anyways. I just did the Java programming. It was interesting.
We have some CD's that teach Spanish. I've been using them to help me refresh my Spanish while I'm driving in the car. The other great thing about listening to the CD's in the car is my kids are getting exposure to Spanish. You can check out what language CD's they have at your local library. They have some really good ones. We are using the "Pimsleur" CD's. They only teach conversational Spanish. There is no reading or writing involved. This works well with kids...although they do learn how to order a beer.
One final thing I do to help my brain is check out child non-fiction books from the library on subjects my child is interested in. Lately, I've checked out a lot of backhoe, bulldozer, train, etc. books which I'm not particularly fond of, but I've learned some mechanical things from the books and my boy loves all the pictures.
READ READ READ.
such a cheap & easy way to keep learning something new! and a book club is a great way to read stuff you normally wouldn't pick up on your own.
I like to read the paper because it helps me know what's going on in the universe.
I am glad that I am not the only one who feels liek she has watered down intelligence since becoming a mom!
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