Category: Wednesday W’s (Page 12 of 12)

What’s top of my mind: Should I take a tutoring job?

Argh!!! I was so prepared to do tutoring last year but then all of those lockdowns happened so nothing eventuated. Now I’m all fat and happy at home, a friend from a different school has asked if I’d be interested in some work.

Anyone who’s read my About page would know that it’s so difficult for me to knock back money. For many years since I left the boys’ father, I’ve been chasing it just to keep our heads above water. It’s difficult to get away from that mindset.

Plus, I could put that money towards Antarctica. Or Easter Island. It might be nice to spend some time with some kids and not have to mark 28 essays all on the same novel.

But then again… my glorious freeeeedom! And I don’t particularly enjoy tutoring. Though maybe I might like it better when I’m not doing it on top of a full teaching load.

It’d help some kids who really need it.

I’ve asked her to send me some information. I’m genuinely in 2 minds about it. I’ll keep you posted.

Where I’ve been: in the veggie garden.

I said to Ryan27 this morning as I came in from the backyard, “I’m glad we only have two people living here. If I was trying to feed five of us on what this garden’s producing this year, I wouldn’t be happy.”

We have millions of green beans and lots of silverbeet. We can produce enough squash/zucchini to make a zucchini slice each week. Capsicums are starting to form and we have heaps of cucumbers.

But the crops I REALLY want to have heaps of are tomatoes and pumpkins. They’re not doing at all well this year. Damn.

Where I’m going: Dromana, to buy lots of champagne.

Why? See below.

What I’m watching: Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

I’ve decided that I’m going to pull out all the stops and, when Australian Survivor isn’t on, I’m going to watch the rest of the Ru Paul series. I’m up to season 12 so I only have number 13 to go and then I’ll be up to date and can go back to watching just 1 episode a week of the new season as a normal person does.

What I’m reading: The Psychology of Money.

I know I’m coming late to the party here, but I finally picked up this book. I’m really enjoying it. So many books about investing are written about HOW to do it – this one is about WHY people make the decisions that they do. It has nice short chapters full of anecdotes, which is a smart thing to do because everyone loves a story. It educates in a gentle, easy-to-digest way. Morgan Hausel is an author that I’ll keep an eye out for. I wish I’d read The Psychology of Money earlier so that I could’ve given it to my sons and nieces. Maybe I’ll compromise and just add it to the list of books I’ve given them.

What I’m listening to: Ryan27 talk about his job.

When Ryan18 left school, he enrolled in 3 uni courses one, after the other. None were a good fit. Then, with a little nudge from me, he decided to try Remedial Massage at RMIT. I thought he might like it because he’s the most chill person I know. Turns out that, as a gamer, he loves the problem-solving aspect of it. When someone comes in feeling pain, he has to work out what’s the root cause of it before he can treat it.

After he finished that course, he decided to stick around for another year and learn about myotherapy, (dry needling.) Now that he’s finally out in the workforce and earning a wage, he’s so happy. He’s already got return clients and the numbers of bookings he’s getting each day are steadily increasing.

It’s lovely to see someone who seemed to be spinning their wheels for years finally getting traction in their career. He’s loving the work and I’m loving hearing about it.

What I’m eating: Mashed potato.

Do you know how good mashed potato tastes when the potatoes are grown in your own garden?

They taste even better when they’re potatoes that have sprung up from a crop I first planted 4 years ago. Free food – my favourite flavour.

Who needs a good slap: Ryan27.

The dishwasher is empty. EMPTY. I emptied it first thing today before I fed the dogs. So why are there dirty dishes in the sink?

What I’m planning: an engagement party.

Finally, 6 months after David28 popped the question, he and Izzy are holding their engagement party. I was on the phone last Sunday with Izzy’s Mum. The party will be at her place and their family is huge. My Mum was an only child so our family gatherings are a lot smaller, so this one will be a huge Italian party with a few Skips wandering around. LOL.

As a joke, I said I’d cater for the Skips by bringing fairy bread. I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth. Izzy’s Mum and brother got so excited that I now, as well as providing a dozen bottles of bubbly and a Costco tray of wraps, I also have to go and buy that awful white bread and hundreds and thousands, just to bring a plate.

(For those wild and crazy Americans who apparently don’t know what fairy bread is – look at the picture at the top of this post.)

The trouble is, I haven’t had fairy bread for a decade, at least. I know that once I start making it, I won’t be able to resist that sweet, delicious crunch.

What has made me smile: Yoga.

I completed the free 30-day program called ‘Move’ that Yoga With Adrienne offered at the start of the year. Didn’t miss a day.

I’ve continued on with last year’s program, called ‘Breathe’, which is located on her website. It would’ve been pretty easy to let it slide, but I’m liking the routine I established during January. It’s nice to think that by the time I have breakfast each morning, I’ve already completed a yoga class.

Dad joke of the day:

I wasn’t sure how comfortable the new couch would be. But sofa, so good.

What’s top of my mind: How natural the retired lifestyle seems.

Teachers went back to work last Friday and now all of the kids are back. Of course, I can’t help imagining what my days would look like if I was still working, but do I miss the job?

Noooooo.

Usually, when in previous years I’d be parking my car in Hall st and walking into work, I’m unfolding my yoga mat and lifting the Little Woofs into my bed to keep them out of the way. Whereas last year it felt a bit illicit and naughty to be lounging around in my pjs when the 8:50 AM period 1 bell would be ringing, now in my second year it feels natural to be in a whole new routine.

I can – and do – picture what the days would be like, because I know the rhythms of the school day so well. But my current routines and rhythms are so carefree and relaxed; there’s no way I’d want to go back.

Where I’ve been: Morning tea at my sister’s.

Well, I also sneaked in January’s Little Adventure on the last day, but yesterday my sister asked if I’d like to drive down and see Mum and Dad at hers. It’s been a routine for them that every Tuesday they drive down to the peninsula to have some time with Kate. The time of day varies, depending on what suits them all.

Kate says that instead of ‘Tuesdays with Morrie‘, it’s Tuesdays with Mummy.

I haven’t had much of a taste of this aspect of retired life, as most of last year we were in lockdown after lockdown. It was nice to drive down, listening to a podcast, and then spend a couple of easy hours with the family.

Where I’m going: Evan25 and Jenna’s new digs.

My baby and his beloved have taken the next step – moving out into a place ON THEIR OWN. No longer part of a larger household group; now they are the household. They’ve found a flat above a pizza shop, sadly in the west, which is miles away. Ryan27 and I are going over there on Friday to help them move.

What I’m watching: Australian Survivor.

I’ve been watching ‘Survivor’ since the very first episode of the very first season. I’ve watched Jeff Probst, the host, get older over the years and along the way we named our Jeffrey after him. In a nice surprise, Australian Survivor makes the US show look like they’re a bunch of babies. It’s far longer in duration and the conditions are harder. Jonathan LaPaglia does a really good job of hosting, so I’m happily settling into a new season. I’m watching it with a friend from work, so Alice and I text our thoughts while we’re watching. It’s fun.

What I’m reading: Go Tell The bees that I am Gone.

I wrote about this a few days ago. This is a long book with small font – I’ve been reading it for 5 days and I’m still only 628 pages in. I’m loving it though – I’ll be sad when I finish.

What I’m listening to: Shandee’s Story.

This podcast is from the same team that brought us ‘Teacher’s Pet‘ a couple of years ago. ‘Teacher’s Pet’ resulted in the re-opening of a cold case and the arrest of the missing woman’s husband for murder. Obviously, they’re hoping for a similar outcome with this cold case investigation. It’s interesting, though poor Shandee’s murder was pretty gruesome. I hope someone who knows something comes forward.

By the way, if anyone is struggling with how awful Apple’s podcast site is now, a few months ago I switched my podcast listening to Overcast. It’s free and it works beautifully. Hope this helps someone else. 🙂

What I’m eating: Pasta with home-grown ingredients.

Ryan27 is having a friend over for lunch so I decided to make a simple vegetarian pasta. It’s so deeply satisfying to have so many ingredients from the garden available to include – even frozen zucchini from last year! The only thing not pictured in the photo at the start of this post was a healthy few leaves of silverbeet. We’ll be able to feel this dish doing us good when we eat it – most of the ingredients were alive less than an hour ago, after all.

It’s cooking now and it smells so good.

Who needs a good slap: No one.

Apart from anti-vaxxers and incompetent pollies, of course!

What I’m planning: A new quilt. For me, this time.

I’ve made over 40 quilts in my time and I’ve kept only 5 of them. When I look at quilting blogs, I’m amazed by how many quilts people have made and then stuffed into cupboards, rarely to see the light of day. Seems like a waste to me.

If I put umpteen hours of my time and energy into making something, I want it to be used. Plus, I really enjoy the process of making a quilt for someone else. As I’m sewing, I think about them a lot and it becomes a deeply personal gift.

Let’s just say that I’ll never make a quilt for someone I don’t like!

At the moment I’m in the middle of making a quilt for a friend who lost her Mum, but when that’s over I’ll be learning how to build a design wall and then putting it to use with a quilt for my lounge room. I’ve seen a design and it’s amazing, so I’m looking forward to tackling it. It’ll seem strange to make something that’ll stay with me. The last time I did that was in March 2011 with The Reading Quilt.

What has made me smile: Talking to Evan25 and Jenna.

They picked up the keys last night and moved into their new space. So far they have a mattress on the floor and are surrounded by boxes. They gave me a ring around 5 PM and we talked for ages. They’re just so very happy, so much in love and are very excited to be starting this new chapter.

When you have kids, you’re aware that they’ll be moving out into the world without you and they have to make their own path. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see Evan25, (and David28, for that matter), so very happy.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Dad joke of the day:

I just swallowed a tin of paint.

The doctor says I’m okay, but I feel like I’ve dyed a little inside. 

What’s top of my mind: Looking at the stock market dipping.

It’s interesting. This is the first time I’ve been a retiree watching my portfolio values dip. All other times I’ve been in the accumulation phase of investing, where a sharemarket dive is a cue to buy more shares on sale, if you had some money set aside to take advantage of it.

Now I’m at the stage of pulling money from my investments to live from, it’s more a rolling of the eyes and a “Really? Another down day? Where’s the fun in that?” I’m still too young to draw from my superannuation – and I don’t intend to do that until I’m 60 when it’ll be tax-free anyway – so I’m very glad that if the dip we’re seeing now continues, I have a few years’ worth of expenses stashed away for just this eventuality.

I worked too hard to earn the money for those shares – I’d hate to simply give them away for a low, bargain price! I’ll push them to one side and let them burble away, doing their thing in the market, and be all’ Che será, será ‘ about it all.

Where I’ve been: Officeworks.

I haven’t been to Officeworks for years, but Ryan27 needed to pick up a few things before he starts work in a week or so. I’ve often said that teachers don’t choose our profession because we like the kids… oh dear me no! We get into it for the stationery.

All of those pure, pristine, empty notebooks full of possibilities.

The pens, just waiting to fill those pages with words.

The sticky note packages. The uniball pens, so crisp and clean.

This is a shop that can cause major damage to my credit card if I don’t watch out. Seventeen dollars later, I left. Considering all that was in there, waiting to be bought, I escaped pretty lightly!

Where I’m going: A Wedding Venue.

Later today I’ll be driving to Burwood to meet up with Izzy, Izzy’s Mum and David28 to have a look at the venue they’re pretty sure they’ll book for their wedding next year. A few weeks ago I asked Izzy if I could be included in some of the girly wedding plans, because I’m never going to get to do this with a daughter of my own! I’m glad she thought to ask if I wanted to come.

What I’m watching: Station Eleven.

A couple of years ago a friend from work gave me a novel called Station Eleven, about what happens after a virus kills off 99% of the world’s population. Yeah, crazy… who could ever believe that something like that could happen, ammiright???

It was the author’s debut novel, and it was so well written that it has kept a place on my bookshelves. So far I’m only a couple of episodes into the tv series, but they seem to be doing a great job in re-telling the story.

What I’m reading: Warlight

This was also given to me by my friend. It’s been sitting by my bed for t least 2 years. I’m really enjoying it. The writing is excellent – great attention to detail. For example, a name dropped in casual conversation at the beginning of the novel turns out to be a person of great significance later on. When this person came onto the scene, I thought, ‘Hang on. I’m sure someone said this name a while ago.’ I had to go searching back to find it, if only to prove to myself that I wasn’t imagining it! I’m up to the last section now – today I go to the library to pick up a couple of books on hold that I’ve been waiting for.

What I’m listening to: Nothing.

That’s right. Absolutely nothing.

After 17 years of working at a school with 200+ teachers and nearly 2,500 students, I’m basking in silence. Sometimes I’ll put on music or listen to an audiobook or podcast, but usually I’m living to the sounds of birdsong, dogs’ claws clicking on the hardwood floors and the distant sound of traffic.

Schools are very noisy places. I had no idea that, a year later, I’d still be enjoying the subtle sounds of peace and quiet.

What I’m eating: Carrot Cake.

We had quite a few carrots that were starting to look sad, so to use them up I made my very first carrot cake. OMG, so very good! What have I been waiting for all those years? I just googled ‘Thermomix carrot cake’ and I picked the one with walnuts because that sounded good.

Ryan27 will be taking lots of slices of this when he starts work next week. 🙂

Who needs a good slap:

My next-door neighbour. He plays JJJ Radio very loudly most days. That in itself isn’t too bad – it’s not thrash metal, after all. But he started forgetting that it was on outside and I’d go to bed and hear it playing.

I cracked it a couple of nights ago and sent a text to him at 10 PM… “Hey Dave, you’ve left the radio on outside. :)”

A couple of minutes later my phone bleeps ; “Thanks.” Music was turned off. Hopefully that’ll be an end to it. Otherwise there’ll be more slappery ahead!

What I’m planning: My Little Adventure for January.

I’m rapidly running out of month! (Hmmm,,, would the wedding venue count??? Guess not. Pity though; I like killing two birds with one stone.)

What has made me smile: the neighbourhood chook.

Some mornings, like today, as I’m sitting here on the couch with the little woofs asleep beside me, I can hear a chook a block or two away, protesting about laying an egg. It always makes me smile and remember when we had chooks, back in the old house. There was always one or two that would complain about having to lay those darned eggs!

Dad joke of the day:

I got into a fight with 1,3,5,7 and 9.

The odds were against me.

What’s top of my mind: The disappearance of this blog.

I’ve had the most stressful day since my retirement. A few weeks ago I migrated this blog across to what I was told was a far cheaper hosting company than the one I’ve been using. All well and good, though no one mentioned shifting the domain name as well. This morning I opened the laptop to write this post and my blog was gone. Vanished.

omg

There was an email from my old hosting company (Siteground) saying I had a week to pay them or the blog would be permanently deleted.

Lots of you are bloggers. Can you imagine the trauma? I’ve been blogging at the Frogblog since 2007, so even though this blog is only a baby by comparison, to think of all of this work vanishing in the aether was horrifying.

Fortunately, the good folk at Panthur were able to show me how to retrieve something called an EPP and I was able to transfer the domain name across to them. In the process, I saved myself $330 A YEAR.

omg

I’ll send a huge Thank You to Captain FI, Michelle and Sarah and Laura who told me about Panthur when we had a blog meet in Adelaide last year.

Where I’ve been: At the sewing machine.

I’m making a quilt for my cousin. She lost her Mum a while ago and I had the perfect idea for a quilt to celebrate my aunt, who was an artist, a keen golfer and she loved colour. Unfortunately, I had all of those Christmas present quilts I was making, so I had to put it on the back burner. I’ll blog about it soon, though. It’s a fantastic frugal project and I’m loving it.

Where I’m going: To get a wine.

Honestly, today with the blog disappearing was incredibly stressful. I think I need a cheeky shiraz to show myself that all’s right with the world.

What I’m watching: My lilies explode.

Just before Christmas Ryan27 and I drove over to his friend’s house and we dug up some calla lilies. You know, the ones you see at funerals all the time. I chopped off all of the leaves and planted the bulbs in the ground in the lower part of the backyard, under the roof. I think the outdoor room will look lovely with lilies running along the side.

Well, they seem to like it here! I’m not kidding when I say that every morning they’ve grown at least 2 cms. You can almost SEE them getting bigger.

Ryan27 told his friend and she laughed and said, “Welcome to the weeds!”

What I’m reading: Murderous Robots and ex-husbands.

Helen from the comments a couple of weeks ago mentioned the Murderbot series, so I grabbed the first one from the library. It’s called ‘All Systems Red‘ and it’s a rollicking good sci-fi read. It’s a novella, so it was a quick read as well. I have the next 3 to get through – just waiting on someone to finish reading #2 before I get to #3 and #4.

In contrast, I also finished ‘Oh William!” by Elizabeth Strout. She’s such a beautiful writer – she’s the woman who wrote ‘Olive Kitteridge’. Her novels never disappoint.

What I’m listening to: The Other Half podcast.

There’s a podcaster I really enjoy. His name is James Boulton and he specialises in history podcasts about women. His first series was The Queens of England, which I absolutely ADORED. He started from before the Norman invasion n 1066 and then kept going. Then, once he ran out of queens, he began a podcast called “The Other Half.’

“Women make up half of the world’s population, and yet history books often consign them to the sidelines. They are dismissed as merely the wives of powerful men; babymakers and nothing more. Yet women have been the driving force behind history for millennia, from female Pharoahs, warrior princesses and pirates, to the revolutionaries who sought to topple the male-dominated political systems of their day. From the host of the popular ‘Queens of England Podcast’, The Other Half tells the forgotten and ignored stories of the most powerful and influential women in history.”

It’s fabulous. And he’s just lovely. If you’re interested in history, then I highly recommend.

What I’m eating: Homemade pizza.

I told Ryan27 that he’s cooking tonight, so we’re having homemade pizza. It’s his go-to when he’s told to put the chef’s hat on. We have a rule in this house that you always have to have green leaves from the garden on our pizzas, as well as the pesto that I made last year and froze in icecube trays. Soon, with a bit of luck, there’ll be homegrown capsicums as well.

And yes, sometimes we put pineapple on it. Who wouldn’t?

Who needs a good slap: Novak Djokavic.

What an absolute tool. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

What I’m planning: When I can get everyone together for when Tom29 turns into Tom 30.

Tomorrow is the day when I become the mother of a 30-year-old. Yikes! (I must have been a mere child when I had him… I’m too youthful and dewy to have a child that old, surely???)

We were going to have the family over on Sunday for lunch, but covid is really ripping through Victoria at the moment. When the state’s hospitals get put into a ‘Code Brown’, it’s clear that now is not the time to be gathering people together. Hopefully, in a couple of months things will settle down a bit and we can celebrate then.

David27 and Izzy have their engagement party planned for next month. Who knows if it’ll go ahead? (The party, I mean, not the engagement!)

What has made me smile: Evan25 when he realised he ghosted me for days.

Last week he was earning himself a slap – this week it’s a smile. It took him 5 days to get back to me last week. I decided I was going to wait the full week and then call Jenna to complain, but he beat me to it – thank goodness. It seems like he’s learned his lesson – I just got a text that says: ‘Can calllll tonight.’

He and Jenna have been looking for a place to rent on their own. Fingers crossed they’ve found something.

Dad joke of the day:

When I found my toaster wasn’t waterproof, I was shocked.

I’m stealing this ‘Wednesday W’s” idea from a very dear blog-friend of mine. Spo lives in Phoenix and we’ve been reading each other’s blogs for over a decade. Over this last year of retirement and joyful, happy days, my blog posts have become a bit sporadic, so this may help to get me back into the groove.

What’s top of my mind: When will my accountant get around to doing my tax return?

Arghhhh. I know it’s not a biggie, but for the whole of my working life, whenever I’ve given an accountant my facts and figures, my tax return has been done lickety-split. For the last few years I’ve been using the same accountant as the Barefoot Investor and it’s been great. We live near each other, so we’d meet in a café for coffee and I’d pass over any bits of paper he needed and it was all good.

Now, he’s passed that part of the business onto another guy and I’ve been waiting for just under 2 months for this new guy to get his shit act together. I sent a gentle nudge of an email a month ago, yet here we are: still waiting.

I know that legally it’s not an issue, but I’m really curious to see what will happen with my taxes seeing I only worked half the financial year. Will I get a healthy refund?? Who knows – certainly not me at the moment…

Where I’ve been: on my yoga mat.

I knew that when I retired I should take up doing yoga. I’m not terribly bendy and if I want to climb in and out of the inflatable boats at Antarctica I really have to get fitter. Plus health, yadda yadda.

Two years ago I bought a yoga mat at Aldi and last week I unwrapped it. Someone on Twitter posted a link to a free month of introductory yoga lessons from Yoga With Adrienne so I thought that this was the perfect chance to get started.

I’m running a few days behind, but that’s ok. So far (Day 6) I haven’t missed a day and I’m finding that I can do more than I thought. Though I wish someone had warned me not to do yoga just after eating breakfast – the downward facing dog made me a bit queasy that first day!!

I’m doing each practice first thing in the morning, after I’ve had a coffee and fed the dogs. They’re learning that they have to stay up on my bed while I’m on the yoga mat – Poppy still optimistically jumps down and walks over for a pat, but she’ll get the hang of it.

It’s good to start the day being productive!

Where I’m going: out to the veggie garden.

This is the time of the year when things are starting to ripen. This year I planted an over-abundance of green beans. They’re called ‘Lazy Housewife’, which for some reason calls to me…

I’m picking the big ones, chopping them into tiny bite-sized chunks and freezing, to use in soups and stews over winter. If you’ve never grown beans, you have no idea how quickly they grow. If I don’t pick beans every day, they’ll grow huge and inedible. The plants then stop producing beans because they think they’ve produced the seeds for next year.

Not on my watch, baby! Fortunately, Ryan27 and I love beans, so we’re eating them nearly every day. Between the fresh beans and the frozen, we’ll be set for the year. I’m also growing a garden bed full of Berlotti beans, to dry. Come what may, Ryan27 and I will get our protein!

What I’m watching: Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Money Heist.

Evan25 put me onto Drag Race and I love it. I don’t usually have the tv on during the day – too many other things to pass the time with – but if I’m in the mood for froth and bubble, then Drag Race it is. I’ve seen all of the All Stars, so now I’m working my way through all of the seasons. I’m up to season 9… and I’ve just seen that they’re bringing out a brand-new season in a few days. Oh, the dilemma! Do I stay the course or do I jump forward to keep hip, happening, and up-to-date?

When I want something that needs more concentration, I flick over to Netflix and watch Money Heist. When I started it, it said it had 5 parts. I call shenanigans on that! It has 5 parts… divided up into about 10 episodes each!!! By the time I realised, I was too deep in.

It’s a Spanish show, but I have it on the dubbed-into-English version. I just have to avoid looking at their mouths when they talk.

What I’m Reading: The Colour of Money by Walter Tevis.

I discovered Walter Tevis’ writing when Tom29 gave me ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ for Christmas last year. SUCH a beautiful writer! Since then I’ve been tracking down his novels. This one, the sequel to ‘The Hustler’ was his last one.

It took a while for it to grab me. But about 1/3 of the way in, I was hooked.

What I’m listening to: Welcome To Nightvale.

The aforementioned Spo put me onto Nightvale about 5 years ago. This podcast has been running for YEARS and it’s truly wonderful. It’s the community radio station of a strange little town out in the desert, where things aren’t quite the same as in the rest of the world. I’ve deliberately fallen a bit behind, because I like to binge-listen. I’ve just heard about Khoshekh in the bathroom. OH MY GOD!

What I’m eating: fresh green beans.

See above.

Who needs a good slap: Evan25.

I’m running an experiment at the moment to see how long it’ll take before Evan25 picks up his phone and calls me. I know that he’s a very busy and important man, but hey. I gave him life.

So far, it’s been 4 days since I sent a text asking if he was free to chat, and he replied with “I’ll call you after work.”

Last night I sent a text with ” …? “

So far, still nothing. Curious to see how long it’ll take before he realises that he’s ghosted his own mother!

(On a scale from 1 – 5… he gets a gentle wrist slap. Can’t hurt the baby, after all.)

What I’m planning: January’s “Little Adventure.”

Hmmmm… where should I go when I don’t want to be around covid-riddled people? They’re everywhere at the moment.

What has made me smile: Scout dobbing Poppy in.

I was out of the house and Ryan27 left the pantry door open. He was back in his room when Scout came in and started grumbling and moaning, as she does when she wants to tell us that something isn’t right.

“What’s the matter, little one?” said Ryan27, as Scout ran to the door.

He followed her down to the pantry, where Poppy was jumping up, trying to get the dog biscuits.

How amazing is that? (Though a friend of mine said, Scout’s a dachshund – a Garman breed. She’s a rule-follower!)

Dad joke of the day:

I used to have a fear of hurdles… but I got over it.