Organizing

Okay, so all the fun with the new TV has caused a big shake-up in the family room. Said shake-up has involved a vacumn, carpet cleaner, cleanser & much whining and complaining on my part. So basically, spring cleaning has sprung at the Hansen home. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more all the while muttering about the kids. When Jordan came over I said "you pigs are a bunch of kids". Um, it was a slip up but after some thought I decided that the statement was actually correct. Those pigs are doing a pretty good impressonation of kids. And all the cat hair didn't help matters an either. I swear that cat is getting shaved this summer!

This is phase one of "The Great Dejunk and Organize of 2009". Once the cleaning was done, I installed some new shelves.


These are housing the videos. Yes, this is the second set of shelves because the first set ran out. Hi, My name is Karen and I buy too many movies.

This is the storage closet off the family room. This is AFTER the new shelves were installed. You don't even want to know what it looked like BEFORE. Now, there's still some organization that needs to happen and some dejunking, but at least I have shelves to work with. Phase two will likely hit later in the week. You see, I have to fight with the kids to get access to the Family Room now that we have the huge new TV.

Project 365 - January 17th

25 Tips for a Better Life

I got this in my email and thought I'd pass it along. These are some great tips.

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
9. Life isn't fair, but it' s still good.
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
12. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
14. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
18. What other people think of you is none of your business.
19. GOD heals almost everything. . . and He can heal everything if its in His plan. We just need to trust His bigger picture.
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!!!
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
25. Please share this with everyone you care about.

Homemade Pizza

I'm not sure what got into me today, but I decided to make pizza for dinner. I don't mean the typical go to Papa Murphy's a buy pizza that you bring home a cook, I mean MAKE pizza.

See, here's the proof:


I thought they turned out pretty well. The gang must have enjoyed them because I made two pans (one pepperoni, mushrooms and olives and the other canadian bacon and pineapple) and there was nothing left.

I think that next time I'll try putting some spices into the dough and jazz it up a bit.

Project 365 - January 16th

Dinner with Friends

Two of my former co-workers were in town so we met at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner.

Larcy, Rebecca, and I (L to R). (Yes, I'm the one with 10 chins - need to work on reducing that number by one or two this year.)

It was fun getting caught up on their lives and just hanging out. These girls are great fun! Rebecca brought a co-worker, Bridgette, who was in town from Wisconsin attending the same training. She was loads of fun too!

Projcet 365 - January 15th

Installing the New TV

Remember how I said that it would take some time before the TV was installed due to all the work it would take to get things cleaned out? Um, more deviousness by the kids sped up the process a bit. Here she is...

So, here's what happened. The gang is at the house when I get home from work. They're just hanging out chatting. I get home and start cleaning the kitchen and figuring out what to make for dinner. It occurs to me that the kids are hanging in the Living Room not the Family Room as they usually do. The Living Room is kinda formal, not a "hanging out" kinda room.

I pop out to ask them what they're up to, why aren't they downstairs gaming? That was my biggest mistake. Guess what they said. "We want the new TV". They were moping, I tell you, moping. They were in the Living Room staring at the new TV in it's box and pouting. I cracked like an egg. I'm such a sucker. I uttered one word - fine - and they were off like a shot.

Do you know how hard it is to try to wash dishes, cook dinner and supervise the family room as it's being torn apart all at the same time? Trust me, crazy, absolutely crazy. I would give them instructions, run upstairs and do a few things then run back down again. This went on for an hour or so. The books and "stuff" from the bookcases were sorted into keep and donate boxes. Then, the boys had to move the 2 BIG bookcases and the old TV out into the garage.

Once we got most of the space cleared we were able to mount the TV on the wall. The TV only weighs 44 pounds but the mounting bracket, on the other hand, weighs about 100 pounds. Getting the TV out of the box was kinda funny. Did you know they design the boxes so that you "unlock" them and they slide right off? Who knew? Not me until I read it on the box.

I impressed the boys with my laser level and drill skillz. Said skills are mad. (Dad, that mean really good.) The hardest part was trying to figure out what height to mount the TV. I did buy the bracket that tilts so that you can angle it down if you're sitting on the floor.

The kids were so excited that they could not be bothered to vacumn or anything before they got the PS3 hooked up to it.



We love our new TV. I'm not sure that I'm going to get to spend much time with it anytime soon though.

Project 365 - January 14th

Are All Children This Devious?

Sprout has been bugging me about our "crappy TV" in the family room for some time. Honestly, I can't remember how old it is but I kinda think it's older than she is and she'll be 19 in a few days. When Madge and I were playing the Wii over the holidays we noticed that the images weren't very sharp and Sprout once again chimed in on the crappiness of the TV.

So now that we're the foster family to the PS3, the aforementioned crappiness of the TV becomes really apparent. Dang kids! I think this was their evil plan all along. Bring a cool new toy into the house and show mom just how crappy the TV really is. These kids are evil, I tell you, evil.

Have you ever spent 75 minutes at Wally World with three nineteen year-olds shopping for a flat screen tv? It was very entertaining. Thankfully I had done a little research prior to walking through the door so I was armed with information. Said research consisted of asking one of the dudes at work and polling all the dudes on the bus ride home regarding TVs.

They helped answer such questions as 720p or 1080p? LCD or Plasma? Size? Here's what we ended up with.

It's a 42" LCD 1080p. The picture quality on the display model was very good and it was less expensive than others the same size.

Amazingly, it only weighs 44 pounds. Wow! The old 27" weighs at least 2 tons.

As we were driving home with the new TV I made it clear that it would probably take some time to get the room ready before we can install the TV. We have two large bookcases full of books and "stuff". This all needs to be sorted and purged - this can not be rushed.

Project 365 - January 13th

PS3 and "The Boys"

We now have a PS3 in our Family Room. No, I didn't cough out that much cash on a gaming system, we're the foster family. Hunter, Sprout's main squeeze, bought it and is keeping it at our house. Hunters reasoning is that his younger siblings will destroy it if it's a his house.

Sprout and "the boys" (Hunter and Jordan) spend a lot of time in our family room. Now they'll have another option for spending time down there. I guess only being able to play the PS2 & Wii we already own and playing LAN games on their laptops just wasn't enough variety for them.

They're great kids, so I don't mind having them around. Really!

Project 365- January 12th