Organizing Your Favorite Board Games

With four children, ages 3-18 we have amassed a large number of board games. Over the years, our list has grown to over 30 board games. I used to be very vigilant about taping the corners of the boxes. That seemed to help reinforce the consolidate college loans - for a little while! But over time, they always ended up looking terrible. When my children were younger, as soon as they cracked the edge of the box on Christmas morning, there was mama with a Ziplock bag just waiting for all the tiny pieces. That bag was placed into the box and the children were very good about putting all the piece away. But we still had to struggle with that yucky box.

Last year, we went on vacation in the Carolinas and I made the best discovery! The guest house where we were staying had a huge number of board games. However, to my surprise, there were no boxes! They simply stacked the boards together on one shelf and had all the small pieces and instructions in labeled storage bags. This took so little space, that they had about 40 games in less space than 5 or 6 games left in traditional boxes! They looked so neat and orderly too!

When I got home, I immediately set about getting rid of most of the board game boxes and using this same method. I LOVE having all our games fitting on one small shelf, rather than taking up an entire closet!

I shared with my readers awhile back that at Christmas time, we limit the children to three gifts, plus one to share, using the following formula:

Something to Read, Something to Wear, Something to Play, Something to Share, I had lots of folks write and ask about what I meant about "Something to Share."

Well, we try to come up with one gift the entire family can share and enjoy. This may be a "classic" video, an "experience" gift, like zoo passes for the year or museum membership. But in our home, it is generally a board game. Here are our favorite board games that we have found the children (and we!) go back to over and over. Most can be found on Amazon ( tinyurl.com/6qnovvhttp://tinyurl.com/6qnovv) for simple Christmas shopping.

- Monopoly
- Mega Monopoly
- Boggle
- Clue
- Clue Jr.
- Risk
- Scrabble
- Super Scrabble
- Phase 10
- Wizard Card Game
- Uno
- Life
- Chutes and Ladders
- Candyland
- Apples to Apples - Bible Edition
- Guess Who? Board Game
- Sorry!
- Chess
- Memory

Malia Russell is the owner and director of www.homemaking911.comhttp://www.homemaking911.com - The number one word homemakers use to describe themselves is overwhelmed. Women have a yearning to create a home, a place of beauty, order, comfort and peace. However the compulsion to do it right often collides with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and frustration.

www.homemaking911.comhttp://www.homemaking911.com is meant to encourage you. There you will find resources to help in many aspects of home management and home education, being a godly wife and mother, and becoming the type of woman God is calling you to be.

The Mental Game Traps of the Comfort Zone

Many athletes I work with on a daily basis hold themselves back with a comfort zone. A comfort zone is a mental barrier that limits what data recovery think you are capable of accomplishing and is really hard to shake.

A comfort zone is a problem whenever an athlete is playing better than expected or is in uncharted territory when competing. One of my tasks as a mental coach is to teach athletes how to break free of comfort zones, so they can peak perform more often.

A comfort zone starts in your own mind based on preconceived notions or expectations about what is and what is not possible to achieve. It is formulated from prior experiences in your sport.

The common example is a golfer who wants to break through a scoring barrier (predetermined or expected scoring range). She has an idea that she will shoot between 82 and 86 on most days, for example, and this forms her *comfort zone.*

If she is performing better than her own expectations and has a chance to break 80, for example, this can cause her to feel anxious, protect her score, or focus too much on results and outcomes.

My experience is that an athlete, when playing with a tentative mindset, worries too much about making mistakes and blowing a good performance in the making.

But comfort zones apply to most other sports too, and to our lives in general! When a team feels they are playing *over their heads* such as winning a game they expected to lose, they tend to become anxious and play with a defensive or protective mindset.

The bottom line with comfort zones - athletes lose their composure! Whether you are performing better or worse than you expected, the result is a feeling of discomfort (anxious or frustrated), hence the term comfort zone.

So what are the keys to performing without the mental handcuffs of a comfort zone?

The first step is to recognize the signs that a comfort zone might sabotage your mental game. My biggest concern is that a comfort zone might limit you when you are on a run or performing at your peak because it causes you put on the mental breaks.

The top 3 signs of a comfort zone in action are:

-You get nervous, anxious, or afraid when playing better than expected.

-You *sit on your lead* and play defensively or afraid to risk.

-You are in *protect mode* and do not want to blow your lead.

The next step is to learn mental strategies for overcoming your comfort zone so you can perform with composure and confidence.

Want to learn simple, proven mental toughness skills that you can apply to competition? Grab my free online mental training newsletter, Sports Insights Magazine - for athletes, coaches, and sports parents:
www.peaksports.com/free_newsletter.phphttp://www.peaksports.com/free_newsletter.php
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Dr. Patrick Cohn is a master mental game coach who work with professional and amateur athletes, sports parents, and teams of all levels. Visit www.peaksports.comhttp://www.peaksports.com for more information.

Video File Converter to FLV - Convert Videos to Flash!

Video File Converter to FLV is an excellent solution for those who haven't got a clue about how to embed video(s) onto their Site. Using blocks of plain text on your Site(s) just isn't enough to drive visitors to action; you need another 'push' and Webvideos can easily help you on that. Learn more about innovative ideas that will easily enable you to promote your Website by using digital movies.

Quick overview

The concept behind this technology is quite simple - Video File Converter to FLV adjusts your videos so they can be displayed on the Web by converting them to Adobe Flash-Video or .FLV format. In the next (and last) step you only need to add a simple and short code to your html page and deliver the files onto your Web's hosting server. What you actually create in this process are streaming webvideos - they are transmitted to your viewers continuously as they arrive with no need to download them first onto the hard disk.

Why do Webmasters need it?

By now we clearly notice how this solution brings several important benefits:

* No need for any programming skills.

* Enables you to consolidate student debt visitors to your newsletter registration page.

* This Web-marketing solution is a fraction of the cost of TV commercials.

* Enables you to create complete Web-Videos with a player and controls.

* An excellent opportunity for you to display 'live' customers' testimonials.

If we search a little more, we could easily find other great advantages provided by this important web-marketing tool simply because it enables you to easily manage this highly effective multimedia technology on your own without being dependent on others.

Quick summary

The reason it is highly effective for home users, SOHOs, and Small Business users is the fact that Video File Converter to FLV requires minimal effort, administration, and resources. At this point the best advice would be to try this technology so you could quickly benefit from the various opportunities that it provides.

Learn how an advanced www.videotoyoursite.com?id=A137Video File Converter to FLV easily enables you to convert, upload, and display streaming videos that generate more traffic and increase your conversions.

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Download PS2 Games - How to Download PS2 Games Online

What would you say if I told you, you can now download direct student loan consolidation games online? Not only has the newly arrived PS3 been out for quite a while now...but the previous systems games (the PS2) are still costing almost as much as they did when released. These days it now a lot more convenient and practical to be able to download PS2 games online and transfer to DVD through the power of the internet.

When downloading any software program or game from the internet it is always good to know the risks and issues involved. There has been much publicity in recent times on people using illegal peer-to-peer applications to enable free downloads. This is where you really benefit from using one of the paid services online for peace of mind when do download PS2 games. For a one time fee, not only do you get peace of mind any files downloaded are legal, safe and virus free, but also many of the better download sites will offer a comprehensive library of PS2 games.

Having the service archive a list of games and provide both the games, software and licensing required is generally well worth what is typically a once off nominal fee.
So, Are these sites user friendly and easy to use? Well, from the investigation I have done most seem to be. Of the 3 sites tested the process generally involves logging onto the website, performing a search for the games title, then clicking the 'download PS2 game' button. The game will generally take around 2 hours to download, (although this may change depending upon the speed of your internet connection).

Upon downloading the games will need to be transferred to DVD before they can be played on your PS2. Thankfully each of the services I subscribed to had their own DVD burning software, and as I have a DVD burner in my laptop is was no issue transferring the games onto disk.

Which are the best sites to use? There are quite a few sites available; many may be specific to a certain platform of console. Generally speaking the services that offer a large collection of games and downloads (think 10,000+) are reliable platforms that will offer both a good service and solid support and tools for the user should you encounter any problems.

I am an avid PS2 gaming Fan and crazy about console gaming in general. Check out my full PS2 Download review on www.maximumgamedownloads.comhow to download PS2 games