Rock Star

Okay, I need to give you a little backstory before you'll understand the photos. When one of my coworkers helps me fix/figure out something I like to say, "You Rock" or "You're a Rock Star" as a way of saying thanks. A couple of weeks ago Lana helped fix something and I told her that she was a Rock Star. Several days later I assisted her with a problem and she said, "You Rock. I'd tell you that you were a Rock Star, but we can't have two of those. You can be a Polka Star

So, I got a bright idea. I had some inflatable guitars and microphones left over from a ward activity last year. So I brought them to work. After Lana had left for the day I got to work.

No, I'm not pretending to be Pinocchio while telling a lie. I'm actually inflating a rockin' pink Guitar. It's an air guitar. Get it???

Blowing these up was hysterical. The microphone was so small that it only took three breaths but the valve was having issues. Then my boss started making comments about the "unusual noise" coming from my cube. That got me to laughing and just exasperated the whole problem.

I made a sign to go on Lana's cube entrance. I wanted it to look like a sign that would be on the dressing room door of a "star". I think it worked.


Her guitar and microphone are waiting on her chair for her arrival tomorrow morning. She gets in around 6:20am. I wish I could see her face, but not bad enough to get to work that early.

Project 365 - January 28th

Coming Out of the Closet

No, I'm not making any confessions about my sexual orientation. But I am making a confession about the state of my coat closet. If one picture says 1,000 words then two pictures will leave you speechless.

I needed to find something in the closest. And. Well. Um. Lets just say the search was very unproductive. This closet is next on the project parade -- out of COMPLETE necessity.

Project 365 - January 27th

Aprons, part 2

Believe it or not the other two aprons are done. I finished them Sunday but I couldn't get a photo until I made special arrangements for you.

They have some real careers ahead of them...

Left to right: Hunter (Sprout's main squeeze) sporting Sprout's apron; Jordan and Jeff (aka The Boys or The Nerd Herd)

Here the are showing their true "posing" talent...


Project 365 - January 25th

I've been to Mecca

My sister and I made a pilgramage to the storage and organization center of the universe. Ikea. Madge called last week and said she needed a new bookcase and that she picked one out at the Ikea website. She needed help hauling and building so I was her gal. So, off we went on Saturday morning. Amazingly enough, when we got there at about 10:15am it was pretty quiet and parking was a snap. Can't say that was still true when we left two hours later.

If this hippo wasn't so expensive I might have bought one 'cause it reminded me of one of my favorite Christmas songs -- I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

We hit the top floor first. I needed some bars from the kitchen section (kinda like towel bars). I'm going to organize my punches. Then, we wanted to look at the bookcase that Madge had picked out. We then had to stop at the cafeteria. Problem was it was 10:45am and they weren't serving lunch yet and we were hungry. So, we ate dessert.


I'm not sure what this is called but it was yummy!


See? I told you it was yummy.

We then headed down to the main floor and did a little wandering, but not a ton. Although, we did get turned around as we were trying to take some of the shortcuts to skip some of the sections. Can you say maze? (When we first got there, Madge did ask the greeter if they rent out GPS systems. Honestly, I think people would pay for them. Ikea is missing the boat.)

We found her bookcase on display in the "pick up" area. She changed her mind on the color. That's the nice thing about seeing them in person. It took some hefting to get the boxes on the cart. Not lightweight furniture, which is a good thing.

Then back to the house. The heavy box attacked Madge as we were trying to get it down the stairs into the basement. She said to let it slide down the stairs 'cause it was heavy and I warned her I couldn't hold on any more. She's slow. I believe she'll have marks on her shins for a week or two. Ooops!

And then the fun began!


I've built other particalboard furniture in the past, but I must say Ikea's rocks! The instructions were clear (even without words). It was simple to assemble. It didn't feel like it was going to fall apart or tip over the minute you stood it up. Sweet! The only tool we needed, that wasn't included, was a hammer. Well, and a heavy book, so that we wouldn't damage the furniture as we were hammering the side and bottom in in the end.


Done in about 70 minutes. Woo hooo!! (Madge is trying to show some love to the bookcase, but it kinda looks like she's trying to dance with it. Hee hee)

Project 365 - January 24th

Socks!?!

Why, if there are only two people living in this house, are they so many socks? Two people, two feet each, 4 socks per day. Seven days in a week makes 28 socks per week. If you go to the gym you need an extra 2 socks per day cause you can't wear dress socks in your tennies, not good. So lets just say 40 socks per week. Since we're girls we can't just buy 20 pairs of identical socks, that would make life so much easier. No, we have to have all kinds of socks to go with every outfit.

I'm making no actual confessions here, but some of these socks haven't seen their mates in quite some time. If Sprout would actually clean her room and find some more socks it might help me with my OCDedness toward socks. I just can't part with them if it's possible the missing one is buried in her room somewhere.

Speaking of dirty rooms I have a funny story. My BFF, Kathy, and I have referred to our messy homes as Pig Styes for many years. (I'm just warning you before you get here that the house is a Pig Stye. No problem, we'll feel right at home 'cause ours is one too.) When her youngest was about 3 she told her mom she needed help because her room looked like a Pig Died. Haa haaa. We adopted the term immediately. My craft room looks like a pig died, really.

Am I alone in this? Is my home the only one around that looks like a pig died?

Just a note: These are not ALL mis-matched socks. I got all the laundry done and these are all the socks that need to be sorted. But, I bet I only find matches for half of them. :-(

Project 365 - January 23rd

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you ever get a craving for something and no matter how hard you try to deny it you just can't? Well, that's what happened to me. Cookies, I needed cookies. So, I tried to compromise and go for something a little more on the healthy side. Bonus that the recipe only has three ingredients!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box Spice cake mix
1 large can Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 package chocolate chips

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together until well blended. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

See the Silpat in the bottom of the baking sheet? If you like baking cookies but hate them sticking to the pan, get one of these babies. DE-LITE-FUL!!! I got mine at a local restaurant supply store, Orson Gygi's. I love that place. Reminds me, I haven't been there in eons, maybe it's time for another visit. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe Saturday???

Project 365 - January 22nd

The Tale of the Leg Lamp

Okay, a couple of my crazy work besties have been taunting one another for weeks about leg lamps. You know, the one that's in the movie "A Christmas Story". You remember, Ralphie, pink bunnie suit, frozen tongue on the flag pole. Yeah, that movie.

Well, this past holiday season Rite Aid was selling them in two sizes. One that would fit on a bed side table and a night light version as well. Any who, Martha won the night light version from a blog contest and Melissa was immediately jealous because she really wanted that lamp.

You can get the scoop on all the shenanigans by reading the following posts:
Martha's 1st Post
Melissa's Version

They even sucked me into the insanity just because I was laying on the floor taking a photo with my phone to send to Sprout

Then, Martha had to Taunt Melissa some more

Melissa turned up the Heat
Martha's Version

So, now that you're up to speed. I walked into the office today to this...

The note reads: Karen, you may stroke me, Venus, only if you are soft, loving and gentle... XOXOXO

So, here's the proof that I did take the opportunity to enjoy Venus' company.



Her real fishnet stockings are delightful!

Working with such silly besties makes going to work fun, entertaining and totally unpredictable. Gotta love it!

Project 365 - January 21st

Homemade Split Pea Soup

Doesn't this look yummy? And it IS!!! I just realized that I took this photo after I took the ham bone out but before I had removed the ham from it and put the ham back in the soup. It's easy to make, it just has to cook a while. Sprout and the boys chowed down, they liked it too!

Split Pea Soup
1 pound dried split peas
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 or 2 smoked ham hock (about 1/2 pound each)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt


Cover peas with water (make sure the water is about 2 inches or so over the peas as they will swell as they soak up the liquid) and soak overnight. The next day, saute celery, onion, carrot, and garlic in butter until tender. Drain beans and reserve liquid. Add enough water to reserved soaking liquid to make 10 cups. Put in a pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Heat to boiling and then reduce to low heat. Cover and simmer for 3 hours. Remove meat from ham hock and return meat to soup.


Note: I used a ham bone I had leftover from Christmas (Don't worry, it had been in the freezer). I also cooked mine for 5 hours.




Project 365 - January 20th

Makin' Aprons

Several weeks ago my BFF, Kathy, suggested that we get together on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and make some fun aprons. In case you don't know, fun aprons are all the rage. They sell them for crazy amounts at many stores around town and on the internet.

So, for the past few weeks I've been looking around for a fun pattern. JoAnn's had just had a big sale and of course we're completely out. See, I told you fun aprons were all the rage. Did you know that patterns cost $15. Yikes! I remember when they were $5 - $6 and I thought that was kinda pricey.

Well, last week I browsed through Wally World and low and behold they had a couple patterns that I liked AND they were on sale. Yipee! So I picked up the patterns and some fabric. Because I'm an over achiever I bought fabric to make 3 of them. They're fully lined and fun.

Here's Kathy working on cutting out her apron. She really liked the fabric I picked out for Nicole so bought some of the same for hers.

Now, you may be wondering why there are canned goods sitting on the fabric. Um, 'cause I'm lazy? See the mat on the counter? That's a cutting mat. You use a rotary (rolling) cutter (it's in Kathy's left hand) to cut out fabric. Generally you use this setup with a ruler and cut straight pieces for quilting. Well, being the inventive and lazy person that I am, I figured out how to cut clothing patterns. I lay out the fabric and place the pattern pieces where I want them. Then, I place canned good along the corners and edges. Then, I just cut out the pattern pieces. I believe they now have pattern weights for this process but hey, free works for me.

Here's Sprout in action working on her her apron. Just for the record, she sewed it all herself. It's been a while since she's done any sewing so I coached her, but she did do it all herself.

Here she is modeling her sexy new apron. Don't you think that if she's wearing that it won't matter if she can cook?

I haven't finished mine yet. You see, the three of us were sharing one sewing machine. I'll post mine later when they're finished, promise.

Project 365 - January 19th

Are You Actually Supposed to Be Able to SEE the Air?

This is the view off my back deck. My deck typically has a nice view of Mount Olympus in the distance. You can even see it in my blog header up above, I took that photo around Christmas-time.
I can handle the cold temperatures that winter in Utah brings, but the icky air is nasty. Just to clarify, this is not fog this is dirty, icky smog. When will the icky end? The weatherman says probably not until Sunday. Eewwww!

The upside? I understand the Salt Lake Valley had even worse air back in the day when everyone burned coal in their furances in the winter. Just sayin'.

Project 365 - January 18th

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

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

Project 365 - January 11th

Farewell to the Christmas Tree

Yes, it's January 11th and my tree is still up. I've been too busy blogging and Project 365ing to deal with it. Got it? Good. It's time to put it to bed for another 11 months but I wanted to show it off a little first...




And this is my favorite set of ornaments.



I collect Nativity sets. Maybe in December I'll take some photos to share. Now, to take the tree down...

Project 365 - January 10th

Look what I got in the mail today?Okay, let me back up a few days, because there's a story to go along with the "Courtesy Bail Notice".

On Christmas night we had a pretty decent snow storm. It came down so hard and fast that Sprouts boyfriend ended up spending the night. Sprouts car was parked on the street in front of the house. By 10am on the 26th we had almost 12 inches of snow. We shoveled off the driveway and sidewalk and didn't worry about Sprouts car. A neighbor came by with his snow blower to clean out the end of the driveway that the snowplow blocked. We had friends come in and hang with us and had a great time. Since Sprout didn't really need her car we left it buried.

Apparently, on Saturday the 27th a Salt Lake County Sheriff came by to enforce a new "no overnight parking on the street if there's at least 1 of snow present" ordinance. The "warning" was skewered to the antenna stating that we had 24 hours to move the car or it would be towed or a citation issued. When we noticed it several hours later we diligently dug the car out. I had to teach Sprout the appropriate "rocking" technique for getting a car out in slick conditions as I pushed on the front end. Mission accomplished. Disaster averted because the car was moved into the driveway before the 24 hour period passed.

Fast forward to January 10th.

I get the mail and notice an envelope from the Salt Lake County Courts. Hmmm, what can that be? A Courtesy Bail Notice? What? I swear it was a warning. This then caused me to go out to the recycle bin and pull the most recent bag of recycling back out. I gingerly dug through the bag transferring the contents into a new bag. Low and behold I located this.



See, I told you it was a warning. And take a look at the back.



Does that not clearly state that the car will be towed or cited if not moved within 24 hours? Am I just dreaming?

I of course get on the phone. The gal was very nice but said that a citation was issued on the 27th. Um, but it said a warning. She said she didn't know why they used the warning "tag" but that it was a full blown citation. I said there were five other cars parked overnight on my street. Her response? Do you know how many hundreds of tickets were issued that day? Personally, I think this is how the county is planning on covering their budget shortfall due to the economy.

Thankfully the fine is only $25. The moral of this story? If you live in Salt Lake County, and there's 1" or more of snow on the ground, don't park your car overnight in front of your house. Oh, there's also a lesson to learn. If you buy a car for your teenager and register it in your name, you're the one that gets the parking citations.

Lesson learned.

Project 365 - January 9th

I'm addicted to TV (thanks to the help of my DVR) and the internet. When I'm on-call for work my electronics go into overload. I have two laptops, two cell phones (all charging in this photo), a pager and the DVR/TV Controller. Oh how would I survive without technology?

Project 365 - January 8th

This is the four-legged, uber hairy member of the family. She LOVES to hang out under the Christmas tree. It's very difficult to get a photo of her under there, she's quite camera shy. Actually, she's very skittish and doesn't like being disturbed during her naps. And, yes, the Christmas tree is still up. I'm using the excuse the Jeff needed to have a Christmas tree upon his return home from China. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.