Tag: games

4 apps to keep your brain from melting.

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A lot of my friends and family back in the Northeast are struggling through another snow day right now. My own little monsters sweet angels just went back to school yesterday, so even though I’m happily enjoying the sweet sounds of silence right now, I can vividly recall Jen of Two Days Ago wondering if she’d ever be able to watch grown up television again (you know, like, The Mindy Project or reruns of Australia’s Next Top Model – important stuff) because her kids were monopolizing the television and just generally being there and stuff.

If you need a distraction but don’t want your brain to slide out of your ears by the end of the night, here are 4 apps currently keeping me sane but also a little smart:

Ultimate Cribbage – Keep your Cribbage skills fresh between game nights with the hubby. I went on a weird downloading tangent to find the best cribbage app for Androids and this is it. Good graphics, fun variations and just enough control over game play.

Daily POP Crosswords – I just downloaded this one but already I like the graphics and found the first puzzle just the right level of challenging. Good for people who like Crosswords but can’t handle the Sunday puzzle in the newspaper.

Duolingo – Feel  a sense of accomplishment that you are bettering yourself and not just playing Knittens! for twelve hours straight (you can do that next). My husband and I both use this app to learn new languages or brush up on ones we learned in school. It’s free and confidence boosting and you can set it up to remind you to use it every day.

Backpacker – I’ve mentioned this one before but I’m still playing it literally every day so maybe it bears repeating. This is a fun blend of geography and general trivia with enough goals to accomplish to keep you playing into the wee hours of the night. So approach with caution?

What apps are you loving on your phone right now?

 

 

Watch the Ladies of Downton Abbey Play Cards Against Humanity

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My first thought after watching this video at EW.com was “how did they get such tame cards?” Do you think they just chose carefully to keep the video from being too racy or was it just random luck? Or do my friends and I just have horrible senses of humor? My husband insists that 80% of the deck is this tame and good natured but I remain skeptical.

Still, any chance to hear Mrs. Patmore say bitches is a good day in my book.

Don’t Play This Game

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So like the other day, or months ago or something, my friend Jean mentioned a facebook game called Farkle in a blog post – talking all about the cruel mistress that this game was and how impossibly addictive and simultaneously pointless it was and it should totally have been warning enough to me not to bother playing – and in the immediate present tense of reading the post, it was. I didn’t bother searching it down or anything, it was just like, “Whatev.”

But then Jamie – my old college newspaper advisor who is also on facebook now (seriously, everyone is on Facebook – even Irina Derevko, and I’m pretty sure she’s dead …and fictional…) – he started playing the game and went one step further than Jean did – instead of casually mentioning the game in a blog post, he invited me to play the game. And I thought, “Jean plays this game and she’s awesome – and Jamie plays this game and he’s like a grown up with worthwhile things to do.” If they like it, I would like it, thought I. And forgetting about the cruel mistress bit, I added the application and played a game.

And I did good! Enough. And then I read the RULES. And I did BETTER. And I was hooked. I was like, “Farkle is farkling awesome.” And I kept playing and my score got higher and higher (it’s still not higher than Jamie’s though… hmpffff) and then suddenly the cruel mistress bit was revealed… and I got worse and worse… and then better… and then worse. And suddenly I’m yelling FARKLE at the computer screen every ten minutes and MM is all, “Momma what are you doing? Are you playing a GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME???” And I’m like, “Shhh, mommy’s working.”

Don’t even get me started on Bejeweled.

Weekend Diversions: April 17

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I’ve got four great diversions for you this weekend. We’ve got a game, a blog, a video and a fun way to design your own baby bedding. Let’s start with that last one first.

Carousel Designs has this fun tool which lets you design your very own baby bedding from the ground up. You get to choose the fabric for each part of the bedding ensemble which includes a bumper, crib skirt, sheet and comforter. Each piece has several options. For instance, the bumper can have a separate fabric for the front, back, trim and ties. I think I could spend hours designing cute bedding ensembles for our baby, due in July. I’ve already made two sets that I love – and the best part is, once you’ve designed that great set of bedding you can actually order it to buy. So whether you are window shopping or actually in the market, this is a really nifty little tool.

Ready for something else? Try this fun ball dropping game called BallDroppings (clever, huh?). When you open the page balls will literally start dropping into the screen. Drag your mouse to draw lines and catch them. Set up a sort of obstacle course for the balls to bounce through. Each time the balls hit a line you’ve drawn it makes a fun little sound that starts to become rather melodic and hypnotizing. So you may be getting brainwashed while you play but I’m guessing you’ll be so intrigued by the game play and diverted and whatnot that you probably won’t notice.

If you are a fan of Cake Wrecks and / or grammar then I am thinking The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks will be right up your alley. Basically it’s a collection of pictures taken of signs, products, etc. where quotation marks have been used unnecessarily and the results are typically hilarious. Example?

Alright, last thing for today is the youtube video from Britain’s Got Talent that seems to be taking the web by storm. Proof that you really shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover?


Happy Pi Day!

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Pi (pi) is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

Pi = 3.1415926535…

Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts everywhere on March 14th.

If you (or someone you love) is a fan of Pi, here are some fun ways you can celebrate the Big Day (thanks to piday.org for these ideas):

  1. Bake a Pie with the symbol Pi on it, measure its diameter, calculate its circumference, and eat the Pie.
  2. Use a piece of string to “prove” Pi by measuring other circles’ circumference & diameter.
  3. Recite as many digits of Pi as you can as a team taking turns, or have a memorization contest and the winner gets to eat Pie first.
  4. Send your friends Pi Day eCards to remind them it’s Pi Day.
  5. Give everyone a “High Pi” instead of a high five.
  6. Get creative and write a song about Pi, or listen to music based on Pi.

Are you celebrating Pi Day in another fun way? Tell me about it in the comments section and be sure to mention it to PiDay.org, too!

Stuff And Things And Such

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I woke up this morning to Daniel saying, “Can we go to IHOP for breakfast?” And of course all I heard was, “How about we have pancakes this morning that neither of us have to cook?” Needless to say, he didn’t have to ask me twice. After breakfast we did our  grocery shopping nice and early and during a quick trip to BJs to get diapers for MM we somehow accidentally totally on purpose bought a Wii Fit. Have I mentioned my lack of will power?

Anyway, will power or no, this thing is awesome. I was really impressed with, um everything, the best of it being that I totally kicked Dan’s ass in Wii Yoga, even while pregnant and practically waddling. Nothing beats that. I look forward to being not pregnant so that I can try some of the more aerobic bendy exercises that I made the executive decision to avoid for now. Not to mention when I’m not pregnant I’ll have an adorable little baby to play with. And won’t get to sleep for like half a year… but I swear it’ll still be awesome.

Also awesome is that Dan told me a couple days ago to think about vacations because if this fall comes and we can afford it, he wants to take a weekend trip somewhere. Again with the not having to ask me twice. I’m eying a small trip to Vermont now. Sweet. Even if it doesn’t happen, I’m weird and enjoy planning things like that. But depending on how well we save our money, etc. it is possible. Time will tell?

Tonight is the legendary GAME NIGHT with means homemade pizza, this delicious dessert that I’m planning to whip up and fun times with good friends. Playing Wii Fit now no doubt, nevermind all the other awesome goodies that my bestie is bringing over. Then tomorrow we’re going to church and laying low probably, since we just spent all that money on our new Wii Fit. Oh did I say church? Yeah we do that now. I’ll tell you more about it sometime, but for now I’ll just say it’s a Unitarian Universalist church and we love it. La La La…

I guess that’s all for now. I’m starting to feel kind of huge and awkward (you know because I’m huge and awkward), but mentally I’m feeling better about the pregnancy now than I have since we concieved. It finally feels real and good to me most of the time instead of doomed to fail and terrifiyng. It’s an improvement to say the least. Alright, I’m gonna go get a snack now. Have a great weekend!