That sounds all dark and mysterious, doesn’t it?  It’s like I’m going to tell you that we didn’t really go to Disney World.  Rest assured, we really did spend a week in December doing this…

What I couldn’t really share until now, however, is what we did for the rest of December.  (Not because I have become a secret agent, mind you.  But, I just don’t like to post about our travels until we’re safely back home.)

At the end of November, just days after having done a 12 hour round trip drive to see family for Thanksgiving, I packed up my van with six big totes, four backpacks, pillows, blankets, a variety of other items, myself, and my three kids.  We drove and drove and drove.  In fact, we had a 16 hour drive that spanned three days.

I must add, however, that the hardest part of the trip came about 15 minutes into it when we got to the intersection where we could normally turn to go to Eric’s place of work (which was exactly where he was at that moment), and we turned the other way instead.  As we got close to that intersection, I started crying.  It was hard to imagine that we wouldn’t see him again for three weeks.  And, even worse – the knowledge that we were leaving him alone, something he was sad about.

Mere hours after we left, we got a text message from Eric with pictures of snow that had waited just long enough for us to be gone.  By December first, snow was definitely not what we were seeing.  This is what the kids and I spent all of December seeing…

Crazy, huh?  I felt almost embarrassed as I would tell friends that we were going to be spending December in Florida.  Some would say things like, “Oh, you’re taking a trip to Florida during December?”  Um, no — we’re spending the entire month there.

Before you think we’re all flush with cash, we paid the difference in the price of my parents’ condo so that they got a larger one and we stayed with them.  It was really nice.

Then, it was when we were already in Florida that we drove to do our week in Disney World.  Florida is crazy big though, and we still had to drive seven hours to get to Disney!  Whew!

After five days at Disney World, we anxiously hung out at Downtown Disney while a taxi was whisking Eric from the airport to meet us.  I would love to say that we threw our arms around each other after more time apart than we’ve ever had in the entire 20 years we’ve known each other.  But, we didn’t.  It was actually a little strained.  As you can well imagine, this even intensified some less than loving feelings.  It was actually kind of bizarre and not at all what either of us expected.

I am happy to share, however, that after some good sleep (for both of us) and getting used to be together again (which sounds so weird, since we’ve been together forever), things were totally back to normally about a day later.

We were then pleased to take Eric back to the condo with us and he was able to enjoy the last half of December with us.  In fact, today (the 3rd) was his first day back to work!

This December was such an amazing experience!  We have all agreed that three weeks apart is just too long (if we have any control over it), but I wouldn’t go back and change having taken the trip.  I think it was a great time, and a really unique experience for each of us.

Oh, and I’m really glad to be able to tell you all about our time away now!  It was really crazy for me to have to be so guarded about what we were doing.  There were many times when I wanted to share something that I just couldn’t.  So, I’m also happy to be back into the world of the honest and open.

The One Where I Tell You What I Really Did in December is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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Molly has a few friends who have play make up sets.  She covets those things.  I see her stare longingly at that type of thing in the store before she turns to me and says, “Daddy wouldn’t like me having that.”

“Yes, I know,” as we move on.

I had been aware for quite some time that Molly thought this was unreasonable.  But, today, I got a whole new perspective as to exactly how much she thinks it is unreasonable.

Molly got to be with my Mom today while she was getting ready and putting on make up.  (I don’t personally wear make up, so she doesn’t get to see such fun things like that.)  My Mom told me about how impressed Molly was with her make up, declaring something along the lines of never having seen so much make up.

Molly told my Mom (I found out later) all about not being able to wear make up until she’s in seventh grade.  She, with all the gusto of a first grader scorned, shared with my Mom that she definitely thought she was ready for make up now.  And, if not now, then at least by next year.  (Yes, I did burst out laughing when my Mom told me this later.)

Then, my Mom cinched the praises that she received all day long — she put some lipstick on Molly.  After this p0int, Molly had to tell me (and apparently my Mom as well, as she shared later) about how lucky she is to have Grandma, what a wonderful Grandma she is, and how special Grandma is.

Finally, in a move that makes me already feel gray hair talking about coming in when she is a teenager, one of the first people she wanted to show this lip stick to was…

Oh, yes, of course you know who it was.  It was Daddy.  Daddy, who with raised eyebrows, said something along the lines of, “Humph.”  Okay, but he also did compliment her on her sparkly lips, at least begrudgingly.  Her excitement was pretty palpable, so it was hard for him not to do so.

Even though this will definitely not be a regular occurrence, she was definitely thrilled that her very special Grandma shared such a special thing with her.  In the end, there is definitely something to be said for that special Grandma time, that’s for sure.

photo by emma.buckley

The One Where Molly Thinks Eric is Far Too Strict is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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This past weekend, I packed up my computer, as well as a van full of things, and set off for two days of camping.  Now, I do realize that some people would consider what we did to not be camping, since we stayed in a cabin.  However, on Friday night when we were freezing and our main goal was staying warm, I didn’t really feel like we were cheating.  (And, quite frankly, we’re just not a tent camping kind of family.)

It was an amazing weekend that we can’t wait to do again.  Oh, and that computer that I packed up so that I could work offline?  I never even thought about opening it.  I did check my email a bit on my phone, but it was pretty much an unplugged weekend.  What a delight!

Here are ten highlights of our weekend:

Spent Friday night trying to keep warm.  The cabin was freezing.  Literally — it was almost freezing in there!  It would be Saturday late morning before…

We would figure out how to properly use the wood stove to keep the cabin warm.  Thanks to the DNR guy who stopped by our cabin to give us some tips, after we called the main office to find out what we might be doing wrong.

We went on a hike and learned about beavers.  We also got to see a beaver lodge and a beaver dam (pictured here).  Between our hike and the walk to and from the hike, we probably walked about three miles.  I was impressed that Molly was able to do it with those little legs.

Went to a nature learning center and found so many treasures!  (Skunk skull!)

Helped to spread milkweed seeds in a large open field, as the park is trying to establish a field of milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies.  This was so fun!

Had a point where the kids had to comment about how tiny they felt in a great big world.  I think it’s a great lesson to be reminded of from time to time.

Watched as a few leaves we dropped into the water floated away.

The first paddle boat ride for all of the kids.  Everyone got nervous when we first got in, but then they loved it.  As a matter of fact, this made everyone’s list of favorite things we did (even mine and Eric’s).  You’ll have to forgive that I took this picture backwards while worrying about dropping my camera.

Noah spent lots and lots of time reading.  This was one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  (It wouldn’t have been too long ago at all when I would have been shocked to see Noah reading of his own free will.  Now, he’s reading all the time.)

We just spent time enjoying the beautiful miracle of a world that God has made, and the wonderful blessing of family that we have.

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday and Works for Me Wednesday.

10 Highlights From Camping (aka Turn Off the Computer and Explore) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

Really?  This is volume 100? That’s like having done seven quick takes every week for two years, although I know that I’ve missed some weeks, so I have obviously done it for more than two years.

Crazy!

Here’s to two more years of seven quick takes!

~ 2 ~

photo by dfulmer

At least once a week, I think about how much I would love to have an old library card catalog cabinet. Who knows where I would put it or what I would put in it, but I can’t help it.  There is something so classic and retro about them.

Do you know why it is that I have to think about it once a week?  It’s because there is one in the background of Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment on the Big Bang Theory.  Every time I see it, I think, “Hey — I could find something to put in that!”

~ 3 ~

Do you know how you know you have been traveling in the car too long?

One time that we often think about is many, many years ago (before we had children) when Eric climbed from the passenger seat, into the back seat, and then into the trunk of our old Subaru Legacy after 17 hours of an 18 hour trip.  (I know – it was bad.  This is definitely a don’t try this at home kind of thing.)

We now have another one, though probably not quite so dramatic.  While we traveled this weekend, we found ourselves on a two lane highway where one lane was closed.  When I was sure that we would probably be sitting for at least a few more minutes, I announced that I was going to jump out of the minivan and run up and tag the vehicle in front of us.  (Of course, I only did this because it was my parents in front of us.)  The kids went crazy, and the whole event certainly livened up things in our vehicle.

While my parents didn’t even notice that the whole thing happened, I do kind of wonder what the people behind us were thinking.

~ 4 ~

Every time I look out at my porch since our slithering friend incident, I keep being sure that I’m going to see a snake.  Why is it that I have lived here for eight years and never seen a snake.  But, I see one once, and now I’m sure I’m going to see it every time.

Crazy Angie.

~ 5 ~

Tagging my parents vehicle wasn’t our only activity for our six hour drive.  One of the things that Eric and I worked on was coming up with a daily schedule for me.  I had originally had in mind something like Jessica had done on Life as Mom, but in the end, we just assigned times to some things and not for others.

I’m really excited to try out my new schedule, and have been trying to add it to my days some over the last couple of days.  I’ll post more about it as I keep working at it.

Do you know what my favorite part of it was though? It was that, after a while of asking Eric for his help with putting something together (since this kind of thing is up his alley, but I know he has been so busy) was that he brought it up on our trip home.  He had put some thought into it and had very constructive things to say.  Plus, then he followed it up by telling me that he wanted us to keep talking about it as time went on, but in particular, he wanted us to have a discussion about how things were going and what needed to be tweaked when we take our next road trip (which is already planned).

It’s funny how, as life goes on, romance looks very different. Because, darn it — that was about some of the most romantic things he said to me all weekend.

~ 6 ~

Do you know what is a time suck though?  Planning a Disney World Vacation!

Now, don’t get me wrong though.  This is not a woe is me kind of thing.  I know – we are so blessed that we’re going to be taking a trip like that.  So, no complaints.  But, I have to admit that I just had no idea how much time would be taken up with planning this thing.

Of course, it doesn’t help that we made reservations to stay on site, then switched to an off site hotel (per my Mom’s request), and then last week, we switched back to on site (per my Mom’s request again).  I am now pleased, because I wanted to stay on site all along.  And, even better – we’ve scored a free dining plan!

A free dining plan, however, meant even more time planning as we had to make restaurant reservations.  This was much more involved than I thought it would be.  It seems like every part of the planning takes forever.  But, at least every time I’ve had to call I’ve been helped by some pretty nice people.

~ 7 ~

How can I possibly be so clueless about meals?  I just don’t get it.  As I have to say from time to time, “I have a masters degree, for goodness sakes!”  But, I have found that having grown up on casseroles and meat & potato kinds of meals makes me feel a little clueless about other things to make.

My weekend plan (I hope!) is to put together a binder of some healthier (or just not too bad) recipes.  Wish me luck!  (And, if you have any recipe source suggestions, please feel free to pass them along.)

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: October 14, 2011 (Vol. 100) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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Yesterday, as Molly was getting ready to go to the backyard, she stopped at the door to our screened in porch.

“Uh….Mom.”

“Yes?” I answered, while doing dishes.

“What’s that slithering thing on the porch?”

Let me tell you that while my next step was to casually say, “I’ll be there in a second,” as I dried off my hands, in my head, it was more like this, “ONLY ONE THING I KNOW SLITHERS!”  This was followed in my head by, “There is no way there is a snake in my porch.  There just isn’t.  It’s not a snake, and there is no reason to get worked up.”

“Ummm….Mom,” Molly continued, “Do you think you can come here quicker?”

“Okay, I’m on my way,” I mused in my best June Cleaver-esque voice.  Again, though, in my head, I was saying something along the lines of, “Holy snot!  There’s going to be a snake in my porch, isn’t there?  No.  There isn’t going to be a snake.  C’mon — a snake?”

Now, this is where I must preempt to say that I realize some of you reading probably see snakes often where you live.  I do not live in that kind of place.  In fact, I have only ever seen snakes in zoos and as a couple of people’s pets.  I have never seen a snake just out in the world doing it’s slithery snake business.

Well, you know, until I got to the porch door, that is.

Molly looked up at me.  Instead of screaming like I expected I might, I was just amazed.  “It’s a snake,” I said, confirming what I knew she had already known.

We watched as it slithered on by.  Then, when it was farther away, we went onto the porch, and watched it slithering and looking all around, until it found somewhere to escape.  Though, in all honesty, this may mean that he found himself trapped inside the walls of my porch.  But, I’m fairly confident that he would find a spot to get back out into the world.

We then had to gleefully call Eric to tell him of our new “almost pet,” before telling him all about our snake adventure.  In fact, we had to tell everyone we saw for about 24 hours.

Not only was the whole experience kind of interesting, but I love now that instead of us all freaking out (like I would have expected), we used it as a cool learning experience instead.

A Slithering Visitor in Our Porch is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

As I already mentioned, Molly had a birthday this week! How did it happen that I’m now the mother of kids ages 7 – 12?

Molly decided to forgo receiving an actual gift from us, and instead opted for going out for a manicure (it was a first for both of us!) and then to get her ears pierced.

She has been so excited for months to get her ears pierced, so it was pretty heart breaking when she sat in the chair shaking with sweaty hands and a quivering chin.  I told her she didn’t have to do it, but she finally decided that she really wanted to do it and would feel sad to tell one of her best girlfriends (who just got her ears pierced) that she had decided not to.

She was quite a trooper, and was very glad that she went through with it.

~ 2 ~

During the ear piercing, Molly sat on my Mom’s lap (while she also held my hands).  One of my favorite things about it was that afterwards, she looked lovingly at my Mom and said, “I couldn’t have done it without you, Grandma.”

~ 3 ~

Last week, I broke down and bought a steam cleaner that I had on my Amazon wishlist for a while.  I hadn’t had my carpets cleaned in several years, and just had a strong urge to have them cleaned in a way that vacuuming just doesn’t do.  So, I got a Hoover SteamVac and made plans to clean the carpet over the weekend.

I can’t believe that I’m going to show you the worst area of my carpet, but just for this, I will.  But, I must first say that: (1) This is actually behind a place that the kids sometime sit, so it is not readily visible to people who come to our house; (2) I have no idea what made these marks; (3) They’ve been there a while.  I think it’s from juice cups that fell over years ago.  Okay, so here it is:

Blech, right?

While I would love to say that all of the spots came up, you have to keep in mind that this was a really bad area and the spots have been there for years now.  Here it was after the steam cleaner:

Awesome, huh?  I was pretty psyched!  And, my carpet looks and feels great.  Yeah!

Want to see another gross thing?  Here’s some of the dirty water (and there was a bunch of sludge looking stuff at the bottom):

~ 4 ~

Have you visited the post about Personal Hygiene for Tweens and Teens that I wrote over at The Homeschool Classroom?  Go check it out, and enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card plus a prize pack!

~ 5 ~

I have noticed that I’ve had a really difficult time staying focused on tasks lately. Do you ever get like this?  What things do you do when you just can’t seem to stay focused?

~ 6 ~

Although we’re PC users around our house, we are pretty die hard Apple fans – owning a variety of iPods, an iPad, and iPhones.  But, you know what?  Even if we weren’t, we’d still be sad about the news of Steve Jobs’ passing.

I still remember my very first iPod.  It was one of the 30 gb video ones many years ago.  I put off getting an iPod for a long time, though I love music.  I bought some cheap MP3 player and filled it with my own CDs and Napster (when Napster was a paid service – I’m not into stealing music).  That MP3 player was such a pain, but I kept using it.

This is going to sound overly dramatic, but then I got that iPod for Christmas, and it was life changing.  I’m such a music junkie.  I knew I would never go back to cheap MP3 players again.  I was an iPod girl.

Check it out — I even have a blog category devoted just to iPods, iPads, iPhones, and Apps.

~ 7 ~

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

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7 Quick Takes: October 7, 2011 (Vol. 99) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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3. 7 Quick Takes: September 23, 2011 (Vol. 97) ~ 1 ~ We went apple picking this week.  We...

~ 1 ~

After several years of a closed photography business, I actually did a session (well, a two-in-one session) this past weekend.  While it was weird to be doing it again, it was for a very special reason.  I got to take senior pictures of one of my nieces and one of my nephews.  I had been dreading all of the work that would be involved, but instead – we had a wonderful time.  It was a hoot!

Doesn't everyone's senior picture session include some time out for planking?

It was fun to watch them interacting with each other.  Though they are first cousins, they barely know each other.  It didn’t take long before they were just chatting away, however, and asking to be in some pictures together.  And, almost no time passed before they were Facebook friends and chatting.

~ 2 ~

Among the general hilarity of our trip around town taking portraits, they suddenly got this idea that they wanted to have one of their pictures taken together, along with someone they didn’t know.  It became their quest.

While the area that we were in didn’t have tons of people, they found a group of four college-aged adults that were happy to oblige their odd request.  I thought it was even funnier that my niece got everyone to make a funny or crazy face in the last of the four pictures they took with them.  What good sports, and what a fun memory for us all to have.

~ 3 ~

Hello, number three.  I’m actually writing you while my students for my creative writing class are working on writing a story using “spicy” verbs.  They have changed words like said to moaned, words like walked to slithered.  Fun stuff.

(Factoid: This creative writing class is the smallest class I have ever taught at our co-op.  I have taught preschool classes that have had as many as 18 kids in them.  This class is for 6th grade and up and has just four kids in it.  They are a hoot.)

~ 4 ~

photo by John-Morgan

Have you seen my lenses on Squidoo?

I wrote up one about activities to do with young children.  (One was with blocks and one was with balls.)  If you’re read my ebook, then you’ve seen the material before.  But, if you haven’t go check them out!

Activities to Do with Young Children with Blocks

Toddler and Preschool Activities with Balls

~ 5 ~

We have been bad about getting out to the farmers market this year, having only gone twice the whole summer!  One time was when we got our henna tattoos (which I totally want to do again)…

And, then we finally got back to the market again:

~ 6 ~

In less than a week, my youngest child will be turning seven years old.  I find it hard to believe.  How is it even possible that in less than a week, we’ll be saying that our kids range in age from 7 – 12.  I still think of them as babies, but that makes them sound so darn old.

The seven year old-to-be is excitedly awaiting skipping a party and instead having a special meal with Mom and Grandma then getting her ears pierced.

~ 7 ~

Source: imgfave.com via Angie on Pinterest

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

7 Quick Takes: September 29, 2011 (Vol. 98) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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One particularly busy night last month, I proclaimed with an exhausted sigh, “We should just have popcorn and ice cream for dinner.”  It should come as no shock that the children thought this sounded like a wildly amazing idea.  My next statement didn’t come across as exciting, however.

“I was joking.  We don’t even have ice cream anyway.”  Then, I looked at their disappointed faces.  Not like they were crushed for life, just like they thought we’d actually have popcorn and ice cream.

“Well, so I don’t have ice cream.  But, I do have popcorn and soft pretzels and fruit.”

That’s when the song began.  Molly started belting out the tune, “Best dinner…EV-ER.”  She continued to sing it throughout the evening, both during dinner prep, throughout the meal, and then afterwards as well.

Presenting, the ingredients for the heavily carb filled “Best Dinner Ever”:

(Did you have one of these air poppers when you were a kid?  We had one and I remembered it with such wonderful memories that I bought one a few years ago.  We all love it, and so great to skip out on the chemicals of microwave popcorn.)

And, here is the yummy dinner being enjoyed:

While it might not have been the healthiest dinner, it’s not the worst we’ve eaten either (definitely!).  Plus, even a month later, they are sometimes still mentioning our “best dinner ever.”

What are some of the favorite meals around your house – whether they are well balanced or something more along the lines of an ice cream sundae?

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I began to write this post, and, in fact, wrote several paragraphs.  They were sad paragraphs.  A genuine, but truly heart wrenching, sharing about my dear friends (a married couple) who have now had to say goodbye to both of their mothers (both in their very early sixties) in the past two months, the most recent having been this weekend and was the mother of one of my longest held friendships.

I deleted it all.

Instead, I thought I should probably say the kinds of things that her Mother, Judy, would have wanted to hear, instead of a sad story.

Judy,

Thank you for letting me spend so much time with your family as I grew up, as well as to loan your daughter to my family so often.  When I look back at those years of my life, so many happy memories were spent in your home.  You put up with lots of giggly sleep overs, took me on my first (and only to this day) tent camping trip, didn’t hate us for laughing at your Patrick Swayze large cardboard cut out, typed up our science fair project while we just hung out in your office, took turns driving us everywhere, and always made me feel like I was welcome in your home and with your family.

And, while I write this now with tears, please know that I promise I’ll always think of you with smiles.

Love,

Angie

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For Judy is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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~ 1 ~

We went apple picking this week.  We ended up taking home around 13 pounds of apples.  When you consider that our only real goal is to eat the apples, that’s probably a lot of apples to have.  I think that I might make an apple crisp this weekend, but other than that – it’s just going to be lots of apples, apples, apples.

We so much fun going out picking, and the kids love it!  As an added bonus, my Mom came with us.  It was her first apple picking trip.

~2 ~

Our trip apple picking does make me think about our last strawberry picking trip.  I have to lament about why it is that the kids fuss about picking strawberries, when I want to take home as many strawberries as possible.  However, when I don’t really want too many apples, they want to pick everything they see and I keep having to tell them to only pick the very best ones.

Jack had to say, “But, picking apples is so much easier.”  In fact, he had to wax poetic on the subject of why it’s unfair that I ask them to pick more strawberries but then don’t want them to pick as many apples as possible.

I guess it’s just all in your perspective, huh?

~ 3 ~

I have been really thinking that I need to come up with a general schedule for my days. Not a breakdown of what I’ll be doing at each time of day, but just a general concept of “1 hour doing this,” “30 minutes doing that,” and so on.

I somehow suspect it is a bad sign that I have yet to find time to sit down and figure it out.  I have asked Eric several times to sit down with me and help me work through it, but, again — we just haven’t done it.

~ 4 ~

If I don’t make a schedule soon, I’m afraid I might collapse.  That, or maybe lose my mind.  Or, you know, it just might be both.

~ 5 ~

photo by Moyan Brenn

Somebody is having more fun with scheduling than I am, I suspect.  I was recently living vicariously through someone who purchased the following items through my Amazon affiliate links:

2011 Map of France

French Phrase Book and Dictionary

A Pocket Guide to Paris

Zut alors!  Ce n’est pas moi!

~ 6 ~

I’d love some help –

We’re having ten kids (ages 10 – 14, six girls and four boys) over for pizza, as well as a six year old (Molly), and three adults.  How much pizza would you buy for that group?

~ 7 ~

Anyone planning on a February trip to the Blissdom Conference?

I hadn’t read about next year’s event until yesterday, and it has me saying, “Hmmm…that kind of sounds good.”  (Although, it did make me think of two years ago when I went and couldn’t line up a roommate.  But, at least one of my friends was willing to come along and split the room costs while she just hung out for a few days.)

(And, you know, if you have a company and want to sponsor me for a trip there, I sure would love it.)

——–

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.

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7 Quick Takes: September 23, 2011 (Vol. 97) is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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