my sister took the picture...all the way over there in North Wales.... and I processed it using a Nature's beauty texture from Kim Klassen and PW warmer action.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
a do over...
I pulled this picture out of a few that I took a couple of years ago for our Christmas cards..
and I gave it a makeover in PS Elements using an action from Pioneer Woman... soft and faded.
I love this action, it's definitely one of my fav's!!!!
If you're interested in taking your own pictures of your kids in this kind of way just let me
point out a couple of tips... firstly, don't take them in the bright afternoon like I did, see
how the sky is blown out. Also pay close attention to posing, I didn't realize this at the time
but her left arm looks like it's been chopped off!!! You can see a tiny bit of it but the
puffy sleeve really makes it awkward.
Hope you like it despite the tiny details that bug me.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thankful Thursday on Friday...
I forgot to do Thankful Thursday yesterday... too busy.. dealing with other people's bullshit if you must know.....
Anyhoodles... without further ado (and yes people it's ado... not adieu... that's something completely different!)
I am thankful for....
My emerging mature side.... (I said emerging!!)
A little girls voice on the phone saying "love you Mama"...
Ibuprofen
Amazon.com.... I may have added that in a previous week but I truly thank God for Amazon every day!!
my sisters... who know me extremely well and love me anyway...
delicious fresh cherries perfectly ripe and ready to eat... yum.
That's it from me... I actually am using this post as therapy today... feeling a little crazy so instead of letting lose with a torrent of passive aggressive rants I figured I would head to my happy place and find things I'm thankful for and it worked. I may now go on with my day in peace..... sigh.
Anyhoodles... without further ado (and yes people it's ado... not adieu... that's something completely different!)
I am thankful for....
My emerging mature side.... (I said emerging!!)
A little girls voice on the phone saying "love you Mama"...
Ibuprofen
Amazon.com.... I may have added that in a previous week but I truly thank God for Amazon every day!!
my sisters... who know me extremely well and love me anyway...
delicious fresh cherries perfectly ripe and ready to eat... yum.
That's it from me... I actually am using this post as therapy today... feeling a little crazy so instead of letting lose with a torrent of passive aggressive rants I figured I would head to my happy place and find things I'm thankful for and it worked. I may now go on with my day in peace..... sigh.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday Morning...
So today is Monday, nice huh? the start of a brand new sparkly week, a day full of possibilities, there'll be an opportunity to learn something today. These are the positive things I'm saying over and over in order to drag myself out of this self imposed slump I seem to be in. There's nothing I can put my finger on, just a blah feeling that gets on my last nerve, I can't stand to be like this. So what can I do to shake myself out of this self-pity shitfest I seem to have let myself become entangled in???? Suggestions please, really... I mean it. Comment only if you have some sound advice to get me out of this mood.
In other news, I found a freakin' flea on my arm at work this morning... yes a flea... on my arm. Where the eff did that come from? it jumped off my arm onto my desk and disappeared for a few minutes. That in itself is enough to send me into a frenzy, I can't stand fleas, and I can't stand that there was ONE ON ME, and then I couldn't see the damn thing. So I obsess, yes really obsess over it for about twenty minutes until the damn thing shows up again and taking the advice of a good friend I squash it with my finger nail, apparently the only way to kill it. So it's gone but I'm still obsessing over where it came from and how it got on me and where are it's friends and family?, there's never just one flea, impossible, there have to be more. Are they in my carpet at work? Did it just hop on my this morning from one of the dogs? was it in my closet and in my clothes? Did it come from the upholstery in the car, I drove husband's car this morning so if it was from the car then it's his problem and note to self, don't borrow his car until it's been bombed. Did it just happen to be a freak lone flea waiting for me at the door of the office this morning? Arrrgghhhh!!!! See I told you I'm obsessing, probably due to my funkadelic mood, at least if I'm obsessing over a flea I'm not obsessing over my miserable, boring old life. That flea has (well, had) more excitement in the final minutes of his life than I've had in a long time. Summer is almost over for the girls and I feel like I let them down, we only went to the beach once (for about three hours, pathetic) we didn't do any theme parks, no zoos, no fishing, hardly any swim time and not one barbecue all summer long!!!!!!
OK, I'm off to smash my Super Mom mug against the wall and will hopefully be back tomorrow with a fun packed agenda for the rest of the summer, lets see if I can fit everything into the next three weeks!! Adios Amigos.... Sorry for the downer post, it's been a while since I let myself do this.
In other news, I found a freakin' flea on my arm at work this morning... yes a flea... on my arm. Where the eff did that come from? it jumped off my arm onto my desk and disappeared for a few minutes. That in itself is enough to send me into a frenzy, I can't stand fleas, and I can't stand that there was ONE ON ME, and then I couldn't see the damn thing. So I obsess, yes really obsess over it for about twenty minutes until the damn thing shows up again and taking the advice of a good friend I squash it with my finger nail, apparently the only way to kill it. So it's gone but I'm still obsessing over where it came from and how it got on me and where are it's friends and family?, there's never just one flea, impossible, there have to be more. Are they in my carpet at work? Did it just hop on my this morning from one of the dogs? was it in my closet and in my clothes? Did it come from the upholstery in the car, I drove husband's car this morning so if it was from the car then it's his problem and note to self, don't borrow his car until it's been bombed. Did it just happen to be a freak lone flea waiting for me at the door of the office this morning? Arrrgghhhh!!!! See I told you I'm obsessing, probably due to my funkadelic mood, at least if I'm obsessing over a flea I'm not obsessing over my miserable, boring old life. That flea has (well, had) more excitement in the final minutes of his life than I've had in a long time. Summer is almost over for the girls and I feel like I let them down, we only went to the beach once (for about three hours, pathetic) we didn't do any theme parks, no zoos, no fishing, hardly any swim time and not one barbecue all summer long!!!!!!
OK, I'm off to smash my Super Mom mug against the wall and will hopefully be back tomorrow with a fun packed agenda for the rest of the summer, lets see if I can fit everything into the next three weeks!! Adios Amigos.... Sorry for the downer post, it's been a while since I let myself do this.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Trinkets.... i love trinkets!
If you like the bracelet, it's from Premier Jewelry and I won it at a party I went to a long time ago .... not a Kelly Moore bag I grant you but it's pretty and I love wearing it.
The other thing I messed with today was the party bouncer.... no not a big burly guy checking names at the door.... just a little business card folded around the pop up flash on my camera to diffuse the light. A trick to remember in a pinch when you want to take impromtu pics of friends and family in bad light. I'm actually super pleased with this trick because I often avoid using the big girl camera when we're inside or on occasions like Christmas etc because they look so "snapshotty" with a full flash, this way the bouncer will diffuse the light (pretty) evenly and create a better ambient light and give you something to work with.
This was taken in a very low light room with no lights on and the blinds closed and no editing.....
et voila....not a fabulous example but you get the picture.. do try this at home!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
In which there was no toilet paper....
So, here's another little anecdote from the annals of my parenting experiences... this one won't be soon forgotten.. but just in case I'm recording it for prosperity in this here blog.
I'm not completely sure when this happened to be honest, sometime not so long ago on one of our many excursions as a family unit. We were having lunch at a restaurant and as is common when you're the mother of two girls you frequently have to visit the bathroom with one or both of them in tow. Will I ever again be able to tend to personal bodily functions without a posse? Anyway, on this particular visit it was Ash who came with me to the restroom, and there were two stalls so we each went into one. I was halfway through relieving myself when I noticed there was no paper in my bathroom... urgh... annoying.. more annoying that I didn't notice before I started because I ALWAYS check first. There's a sequence to my public bathroom visits that rarely varies, it's a tried and tested method of checkpoints; clean stall, check, no lurking doo doos, check, no drips on the seat, check, lock is in good working order, check, paper in good supply, check and somewhere to hang my purse so it's not on the floor, check. When my checklist is complete, and only then, I can proceed with my personal doings.
So back to the restaurant, I quietly called to Ash and asked if she had paper in there and she replied in the affirmative. I then requested that she get some and pass it under the stall to me as I didn't have any, there was a pause, I heard someone else come into the bathroom and as we were already occupying the only toilets in there, this person had to wait.
Ashley still hadn't passed the paper, so I said "Ash.. pass Mommy some paper please!" a little angst in my voice as I was growing impatient. She replied "well Mama, did you do a number one or a number two?"...and there was a giggle from outside the stall.... "Ashley, just pass me some paper!!!" this time through gritted teeth in that I"m about to ground you kinda voice. Ashley then proceeded "I need to know how much to give you; number one or number twoooo???" at this the person waiting didn't even try to hide it.. she was laughing so hard she was probably on the verge of peeing her own pants!!! So by now I was really ticked (but cracking up on the inside) and yelled "Number one now gimme the damn paper!!!"....at which a little hand appeared holding a wad of the sacred stuff.
All done, I tried to walk out of the stall with some dignity but it was too late, Ash came out giggling, the lady waiting was hysterical and I was rolling my eyes at them both. This one is going down in the book of things to tell future boyfriends..... bwwaaahahahahaha!!!
I'm not completely sure when this happened to be honest, sometime not so long ago on one of our many excursions as a family unit. We were having lunch at a restaurant and as is common when you're the mother of two girls you frequently have to visit the bathroom with one or both of them in tow. Will I ever again be able to tend to personal bodily functions without a posse? Anyway, on this particular visit it was Ash who came with me to the restroom, and there were two stalls so we each went into one. I was halfway through relieving myself when I noticed there was no paper in my bathroom... urgh... annoying.. more annoying that I didn't notice before I started because I ALWAYS check first. There's a sequence to my public bathroom visits that rarely varies, it's a tried and tested method of checkpoints; clean stall, check, no lurking doo doos, check, no drips on the seat, check, lock is in good working order, check, paper in good supply, check and somewhere to hang my purse so it's not on the floor, check. When my checklist is complete, and only then, I can proceed with my personal doings.
So back to the restaurant, I quietly called to Ash and asked if she had paper in there and she replied in the affirmative. I then requested that she get some and pass it under the stall to me as I didn't have any, there was a pause, I heard someone else come into the bathroom and as we were already occupying the only toilets in there, this person had to wait.
Ashley still hadn't passed the paper, so I said "Ash.. pass Mommy some paper please!" a little angst in my voice as I was growing impatient. She replied "well Mama, did you do a number one or a number two?"...and there was a giggle from outside the stall.... "Ashley, just pass me some paper!!!" this time through gritted teeth in that I"m about to ground you kinda voice. Ashley then proceeded "I need to know how much to give you; number one or number twoooo???" at this the person waiting didn't even try to hide it.. she was laughing so hard she was probably on the verge of peeing her own pants!!! So by now I was really ticked (but cracking up on the inside) and yelled "Number one now gimme the damn paper!!!"....at which a little hand appeared holding a wad of the sacred stuff.
All done, I tried to walk out of the stall with some dignity but it was too late, Ash came out giggling, the lady waiting was hysterical and I was rolling my eyes at them both. This one is going down in the book of things to tell future boyfriends..... bwwaaahahahahaha!!!
Monday, July 11, 2011
What the HECK???? Canadian????
Just a short one for Monday.... Syd walked out of her room tonight with a wool hat on her head, the hair all tucked up into it and her ears sticking out...quite hilarious. For a ten year old she looked really little and her ears cracked me up, she told me she had her thinking cap on and proceeded to make funny faces. She was really making me laugh by hamming it up, trying it this way and that, then she pulled it down over her ears and I said "oh, that looks better" to which she replied "what?? I look like a Canadian!".
No I couldn't figure it out either... all I can gather is the random gene has found her... and I love it!!!!
Happy rest of the week Bloggers!!!!
No I couldn't figure it out either... all I can gather is the random gene has found her... and I love it!!!!
Happy rest of the week Bloggers!!!!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Before n After... bits n bobs...
We had a massive thunder storm yesterday, but as luck would have it the
spouse and I had completed our scheduled morning of working in the yard and
trying to salvage what we have out there.
I know we both hate yard work because we bitch at each other the whole
time we're out there. It's a given, day out in the hot sun working the land and
you'd think we were mortal enemies battling it out for plot domination.
We never work real well together to be honest, now playing that's another
thing, we really enjoy doing fun things together.
Maybe we should split up the chores and do them separately, teamwork is
for the Angry Birds when it comes to this blessed Union.
Ash was frightened by the storm when she was out there trying to film the storm
for Sydney (which was a moot point anyway because Syd was only a mile away experiencing
the same storm at a friends house) you can see the hilarious video on
my FB page. Yes have you liked me yet? Go on....
I am going to send it to AFV... if I can ever get that upload thing to work! Urgh!
Anyway, in between yard work and storms and power outages I managed to find
time to create an ad on FB for my photography site, now worried about the cost
of this as they make it kinda hokey. Still, I did get nine more likes by this morning!
I also discovered a new awesome website for Photoshop addicts and enthusiastic
dabblers like moi.... Paint the Moon...check it out. I did this one this morning
in about five seconds flat... yay!!
So lovely peeps... go have fun in the real world and I'll be talking atchya later.
Time to head to the mall with my fashionistas.. wish me luck.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Learn something new every day...
That is Martha Stewart's tag line and look where it got her... yes my friends... a personal fortune, fame and glory (we won't talk about the jail time but I'm sure she learned from that too) so there may be something in this learning something new everyday stuff.
I feel it's becoming my mantra, I've been researching all kinds of things on the web about photography, writing, web-hosting, Photoshop and running a small business, as well as gaining useless knowledge along the way such as apparently William Shakespeare invented the word 'hurry', thanks RedHead Riter. Hmmmm. I'm a mine of information, I feel like John Travolta in Phenomenon (if you haven't seen it, do so, now!). If you don't know the answer to something, then do your homework, track down the people who do have the answer, try to figure it out and don't stop until it clicks. You will find that a lot of smart people want to share what they know, so called experts can't wait to tell you the little tricks of the trade that they have discovered. They know that it's so fulfilling to pass on the knowledge to someone else, there's a joy that comes from seeing a person's reaction... when the light bulb goes off and they feel enlightened. (did you like how I did that?).
Yesterday I was struggling with something in Photoshop and who did I contact? Kim Klassen of course, you HAVE to check out her website, she came back to me lickity split with the answer and voila... I created a new banner for myself. Some of you may be saying well duh, there are plenty of how to posts and videos out there, and you'd be right, but for some reason I hadn't found one that worked for me. I'm more of a hands on figure it out for myself kinda gal and when Kim answered that one question it opened up a world of possibilities for me! Whoop, whoop.... I do all the blog tweaking myself, and I do my photography website myself too. Can't be spending money on expensive designers when I can learn as I go and put together a halfway decent site, IMO.
So my friends, whatchya learn today? What was it that made you open your eyes wider and say.. "aahhh, I never knew that!"???? Do tell.
This pic really has nothing to do with the post, it's just me and a bunch of fantastic bloggers I hung out with in Reno and I'm glad I have this pic to make me smile!!
I feel it's becoming my mantra, I've been researching all kinds of things on the web about photography, writing, web-hosting, Photoshop and running a small business, as well as gaining useless knowledge along the way such as apparently William Shakespeare invented the word 'hurry', thanks RedHead Riter. Hmmmm. I'm a mine of information, I feel like John Travolta in Phenomenon (if you haven't seen it, do so, now!). If you don't know the answer to something, then do your homework, track down the people who do have the answer, try to figure it out and don't stop until it clicks. You will find that a lot of smart people want to share what they know, so called experts can't wait to tell you the little tricks of the trade that they have discovered. They know that it's so fulfilling to pass on the knowledge to someone else, there's a joy that comes from seeing a person's reaction... when the light bulb goes off and they feel enlightened. (did you like how I did that?).
Yesterday I was struggling with something in Photoshop and who did I contact? Kim Klassen of course, you HAVE to check out her website, she came back to me lickity split with the answer and voila... I created a new banner for myself. Some of you may be saying well duh, there are plenty of how to posts and videos out there, and you'd be right, but for some reason I hadn't found one that worked for me. I'm more of a hands on figure it out for myself kinda gal and when Kim answered that one question it opened up a world of possibilities for me! Whoop, whoop.... I do all the blog tweaking myself, and I do my photography website myself too. Can't be spending money on expensive designers when I can learn as I go and put together a halfway decent site, IMO.
So my friends, whatchya learn today? What was it that made you open your eyes wider and say.. "aahhh, I never knew that!"???? Do tell.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Thankful Thursday and on this day in history....
So, I'm linking up to Miss Buckle today and expressing my gratitude for some of the fantastic things in my life....
*fresh home grown tomatoes all sweet and delicious
*the opportunity to run my own business and take pictures of fun people
*a friend who likes to call and talk to me for hours at a time
*Amazon.com.... I love Amazon.com
*the amazing things one can learn every day from listening to others
*red, white and blue balloons
ignore the cheesy cns on them!!!! LOL.
And... on this day in history....
July 7th 2010... I lost my job, one I loved. But here we are a year later and all is well. I'm enjoying a new opportunity with new people and a promising future. I also backed into the neighbor's mini van on the same day, I should have known then it was going to be a bad day.
July 7th(ish) 2009.... we came home from a weekend trip to find our house flooded by a faulty water heater, 200 thousand gallons of water later and we were forced into a tiny apartment for six weeks while the house was restored to better than it's former glory... aaahhhh the awsomeness of homeowners insurance.
That's as far back as I can go.... you wanna know why??? because I didn't have a blog before March of 2009 therefore I probably didn't exist! See, the benefits of a blog, it soooo helps out an old woman like me who can't remember what she did three years ago!!!
Leave a comment... tell me what you're thankful for and what you did on this day in history....thanks!
*fresh home grown tomatoes all sweet and delicious
*the opportunity to run my own business and take pictures of fun people
*a friend who likes to call and talk to me for hours at a time
*Amazon.com.... I love Amazon.com
*the amazing things one can learn every day from listening to others
*red, white and blue balloons
And... on this day in history....
July 7th 2010... I lost my job, one I loved. But here we are a year later and all is well. I'm enjoying a new opportunity with new people and a promising future. I also backed into the neighbor's mini van on the same day, I should have known then it was going to be a bad day.
July 7th(ish) 2009.... we came home from a weekend trip to find our house flooded by a faulty water heater, 200 thousand gallons of water later and we were forced into a tiny apartment for six weeks while the house was restored to better than it's former glory... aaahhhh the awsomeness of homeowners insurance.
That's as far back as I can go.... you wanna know why??? because I didn't have a blog before March of 2009 therefore I probably didn't exist! See, the benefits of a blog, it soooo helps out an old woman like me who can't remember what she did three years ago!!!
Leave a comment... tell me what you're thankful for and what you did on this day in history....thanks!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Pausing for thought....
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Gasp!!!!!!!!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Randomonium Friday...
Once again I have left a huge gap between this and the previous Randomonium Post... no reason other than that's just the point ... totally Random!! Lets get started shall we????
July 4th is upon us, already? yes I know, this year is careering on by at breakneck speed.... what do you have planned? We are left kind of at a loose end after original plans with the out-laws were cancelled... much to my youngest's chagrin. Poor baby is terribly upset so in true modern parenting style I am left guilt ridden trying to find a way to make it up to her, I know I should just tell her to hitch up her britches and get on with it but I just can't. I'm a bad mother what can I say!!!!
Can you believe I used the word "chagrin"... no me neither, it always sounds so pretentious to me but it seemed to fit that last piece... y'all know I'm not a fancy nancy word user really; although I LOVE words.
Irrational fear of the week, there's a place across the street from my office that cleans cars, it's an old gas station and looks pretty dicey to put it mildly. Someone once told me it's a cover for drug pushers... maybe that's where this irrational fear comes in. I desperately need my car to be cleaned inside and out, it would be so convenient to take it over there but I think they're gonna A) steal my car B) steal some of the useless shit that's in my car C) kill me and stuff me into the back of the car and leave me in an ally to be discovered by a skinny abandoned dog.
Would you like to know what the most useful gadget I have discovered this week is??? "Why yes, yes please" I hear you all cry... it's called PDANet, an app that you can download for your Droid (don't know it it's avail for iPhones, and since I don't have an iPhone I don't care) it enables you to tether your laptop to the internet using your phone, without the pesky fees from the phone company. Why would I need this you ask since my laptop is already equipped with WiFi??? well not everywhere I am has a WiFi hot spot available when I want it. So ... coolio ... I can now connect EVERYWHERE on the planet. Whoopity Whoop Whoop. That is HUGE if you live in the Boondocks of South GA...take it from a gal who knows. It's working very well too, only it scared me because when someone texts you it pops up on your laptop screen and I thought someone was messing with my mind the first time it happened.
I have spent some time this week trying to organize myself in respect to visiting my blog peeps, it's hard to keep up. There are so many GREAT bloggers out there and for some reason my Reader and the list on Blogger are not correlated or something, I feel like I'm only actually seeing a feed from a fraction of the blogs that I really follow. So it's hit and miss but I'm trying... I can also see from my stats on blogger that only a wee fraction of my visitors are commenting. Why? am I not comment worthy? are my visitors all spammers? whatev, please yourselves and if you feel you would like some banter back and forth I welcome it... :) does that make me sound needy??? I am a little needy at times..... just a tad.
Here's something I would like to share.... created by the daughter #2... so lovely.. complete with magnet on the back to stick to the fridge... nice huh????
She sees hearts in just about everything, lets hope that never changes.
and finally...
I urge those of you who loved and remember Char at Rambins to head over to Beth's blog Be Yourself Everyone Else is Taken and see what she's made to honor Char's memory. Beautiful badges for us to add to our blogs in order that others may also share in the loveliness that was our good friend. Thank you Beth, you're a sweet, kind person and I'm glad to know you.....
July 4th is upon us, already? yes I know, this year is careering on by at breakneck speed.... what do you have planned? We are left kind of at a loose end after original plans with the out-laws were cancelled... much to my youngest's chagrin. Poor baby is terribly upset so in true modern parenting style I am left guilt ridden trying to find a way to make it up to her, I know I should just tell her to hitch up her britches and get on with it but I just can't. I'm a bad mother what can I say!!!!
Can you believe I used the word "chagrin"... no me neither, it always sounds so pretentious to me but it seemed to fit that last piece... y'all know I'm not a fancy nancy word user really; although I LOVE words.
Irrational fear of the week, there's a place across the street from my office that cleans cars, it's an old gas station and looks pretty dicey to put it mildly. Someone once told me it's a cover for drug pushers... maybe that's where this irrational fear comes in. I desperately need my car to be cleaned inside and out, it would be so convenient to take it over there but I think they're gonna A) steal my car B) steal some of the useless shit that's in my car C) kill me and stuff me into the back of the car and leave me in an ally to be discovered by a skinny abandoned dog.
Would you like to know what the most useful gadget I have discovered this week is??? "Why yes, yes please" I hear you all cry... it's called PDANet, an app that you can download for your Droid (don't know it it's avail for iPhones, and since I don't have an iPhone I don't care) it enables you to tether your laptop to the internet using your phone, without the pesky fees from the phone company. Why would I need this you ask since my laptop is already equipped with WiFi??? well not everywhere I am has a WiFi hot spot available when I want it. So ... coolio ... I can now connect EVERYWHERE on the planet. Whoopity Whoop Whoop. That is HUGE if you live in the Boondocks of South GA...take it from a gal who knows. It's working very well too, only it scared me because when someone texts you it pops up on your laptop screen and I thought someone was messing with my mind the first time it happened.
I have spent some time this week trying to organize myself in respect to visiting my blog peeps, it's hard to keep up. There are so many GREAT bloggers out there and for some reason my Reader and the list on Blogger are not correlated or something, I feel like I'm only actually seeing a feed from a fraction of the blogs that I really follow. So it's hit and miss but I'm trying... I can also see from my stats on blogger that only a wee fraction of my visitors are commenting. Why? am I not comment worthy? are my visitors all spammers? whatev, please yourselves and if you feel you would like some banter back and forth I welcome it... :) does that make me sound needy??? I am a little needy at times..... just a tad.
Here's something I would like to share.... created by the daughter #2... so lovely.. complete with magnet on the back to stick to the fridge... nice huh????
She sees hearts in just about everything, lets hope that never changes.
and finally...
I urge those of you who loved and remember Char at Rambins to head over to Beth's blog Be Yourself Everyone Else is Taken and see what she's made to honor Char's memory. Beautiful badges for us to add to our blogs in order that others may also share in the loveliness that was our good friend. Thank you Beth, you're a sweet, kind person and I'm glad to know you.....
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