My mother-in-law got us each a page-a-day calendar as a stocking stuffer.

My husband received this:

And for me?

My first thoughts were that these were kind of unusual choices. I kind of like puzzles sometimes, but it’s not a hobby or anything beyond the occasional crossword or Sudoku. Mad Libs is just a weird choice for a 34-year-old.

And then we started reading into it.

Does my mother-in-law think I’m smarter than her only child — giving me the puzzles and him something that doesn’t require quite as much thought?

Or does his mother think he might like Mad Libs since he’s an editor? And I’m actually an idiot and need these puzzles to make me smarter?

Actually, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by either of these choices. But we sure were amusing ourselves trying to figure out her thought process!

On January 1, I read the first puzzle. A riddle.

A woman watched her husband plunge head first down a deep ravine. She returned home to find him in the kitchen, chopping onions.

How is this possible?

I thought of a few scenarios and then looked at the back. And declared this calendar to be stupid.

The answer?

Her husband was a stuntman and she had been watching him at work.

Well, obviously!

Nothing else has been that dumb, yet. So far they have thrown in a couple word problems, but really seem to favor the trick question.

Yesterday’s made me laugh.

To refresh his senses after a wild party, a man goes out for a walk across a wet and windswept moor. There is low cloud cover and not a single star can be seen in the sky. The man is relatively new to the area, and doesn’t know the geography of the moor. He has no torch or compass and there is no moonlight to guide his path.
How does he avoid getting lost?

You don’t have to be a genius to solve this one.

Anybody that’s ever been to a really good party knows the answer!

The man had stayed at the party all night. It was morning and therefore daylight when he decided to go for a walk, hence he would have no problem seeing his way.

Duh.

I’m going to keep playing. I will surely be a genius by the end of 2009!