New Toys

For me:

A new washer.

I did 4 loads of laundry.

Instead of the 12 I would have had in the other machine!

(And yes.  I do know that it is the same overall amount of clothes to wash and put away.  It just seems like less when it is in 4 loads instead of 12.)

For Hubby:

From the gun show.

Top: Kel-Tec Sub 2000

Bottom: Kel-Tec P3AT (navy and chrome)

For Clementine(the kitty):

I opened the furnace closet to vacuum the mounds of dog hair that accumulates in there. And look what I found!  A plethora of plastic rings (purple ones are from gallons of milk, clear are from gallons of Ozarka spring water) and one yellow pony tail.

What?  You don't give your kitties plastic rings and pony tails to play with?  Poor kitties!

It's! The! Weekend!

And it's a long holiday weekend.  

And I just got paid.

And it is an "extra" check because there are 3 Fridays this month.

And I'm NOT being laid off in 2 weeks.

And there is a washing machine with my name on it at Lowe's.

And Hubby has money from selling the Buick. 

And there is a gun show this weekend.

Absence of Pain

The pain from the steroid shot went away sometime in the night.  It still hurt when I went to bed, but when I woke up, it felt pretty great.  I slept like a rock for the first time in I don't know how long.  I did not wake up one single time to have to pick my arm up with my right hand, and move it and reposition the 3 extra pillows I have been using.

First thing I did was start stretching and exercising it.  I got some really good ones to do from my mother in law, who had the same thing before.

And if you have never heard of or seen these before:

You need to get some.  40 patches in a box for under $5 at Walgreens.  They work great.  I can't take ibuprofen due to my Lap Band.  So my mother in law recommended these.  I liked them so much I bought extra for our First Aid Kit and for our hiking First Aid Kit.

I start Physical Therapy next Wednesday.

My sister offered her services for therapeutic messages every night this weekend.  She has great hands, very strong fingers.

I think between that and doing my stretches at varies times throughout the day at work, I will be good to go before too long.

Hopefully before October 13 anyway, when I go back to the Orthopedic Surgeon for a follow up.  So he won't want to give me another steroid shot.  Worth it but OUCH.

We've been adopted

This is Jimmy Hoffa. 

 She lives in the house that is caddy-corner from us.  

At least she is supposed to.  

 She tries to come in our house.  

I think she now spends more time over here than over there. 

Good News Every Where

First - work-

No involuntary lay-offs will be necessary from my department.  They had enough volunteers, and will do a little reorganizing to move around some job functions.

Second - doctor visit-

No torn rotator cuff, only frozen (adhesive capsulation). So a steroid shot in the shoulder joint, which did hurt as bad as it sounds like it would, and physical therapy.  No surgery.

A two-fer!

MRI

I had my MRI done yesterday.  I had never had one before, but I have gone with my mom before when she had one, so I knew, generally, what to expect.

 

Mine needed to be a contrast MRI.  The contrast dye would be injected into my shoulder joint.

 

I don’t like needles.  I am basically a big, wimpy, scaredy cat when it comes to PAIN, and I am even worse when it involves needles.  I blame this entirely on Dr. Krupp, who removed a plantar wart about 4 years ago.  I thought I had been in pain before, that I knew pain and could handle it fairly well, until Dr. Krupp gave me a shot in the bottom of my foot.  That incident gave me a new definition of PAIN.  And now I don’t like needles.

 

I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking – don’t you have a Lap Band?  Isn’t that adjusted by having saline injected through a port?  Using a needle?  And yes, you would be correct. The very fact that, even with my aversion to needles, I chose to have this surgery, should be some indication of how necessary I thought it was for me to have that surgery.  

 

Anyway, my MRI.  Thankfully, my wonderfully caring Hubby took the afternoon off to go with me. 

 

The nurse asked me if I was claustrophobic.  I am a little, depending on the circumstances.  Like, I don’t think I could go in a submarine, and I know I would not be able to go caving (sorry Hubby) without some major distress.  But elevators don’t really bother me (and not just because I am afraid of escalators), closets don’t bother me.  But small rooms with lots of people give me mild anxiety.  I knew with the MRI that I would be slightly enclosed, but still in the middle of really big room.  I thought I would be ok, but I wasn’t sure.

 

So the nurse asks if I want to go to the MRI and try it out to see if I would go through with it, before I had the dye injected.  I didn’t say anything right away and I must have looked puzzled because Hubby laughed and said that wasn’t necessary, because even if I didn’t like it, I was going to do it anyway because I had to know about my shoulder.

 

Yep.  I didn’t care if I laid in there crying the whole time, I was doing it.  I want to know what I need to do to stop the hurting so I can get a decent nights sleep again.

 

Hubby held my hand while they stuck a giant needle in my shoulder.  Ok, I don’t really know if it was giant because I wouldn’t look at it.  But it felt giant.  And I only cried a little.

 

Then off to the MRI room.  I got positioned and a sandbag on my hand to help hold it still and strapped down to the table.  Plus, earphones with my choice of radio station.

 

They moved the table into the tube.  Since it is my shoulder being imaged my head was right in the middle of the tube.  My legs were sticking out from about my knees down.  I was squished against the one side of the tube and I felt like I was in a coffin.  I hollered and asked to be pulled out for a minute, which the very nice attendant did.  Hubby helped reposition me a bit so I could pull my right arm in across my body and they slid me back in.  This time I wasn’t touching the side and I was able to stand it a lot better.  The air was blowing across my face, and I kept my eyes closed and listened to the music.  But the thing that helped the most was that Hubby stood by my legs and kept patting and petting me.  I knew I wasn’t alone.

 

It was the longest 45 minutes ever.  And what naturally happens when you are trying to be still and not move?  My nose started itching, I had a tickle in my throat that wanted to turn into a cough.  I realized I was completely tensed up from nerves, but then I was afraid to relax, I was afraid to breath too much, I didn’t want it to look like I was moving, because I didn’t want to have to do it again.

 

 I survived it, and they said the images were good.  They pulled me out and wanted me put my hand behind my head and put me back in for 5 more minutes.  HA! My hand doesn’t go behind my head right now, and after being held down for almost an hour without moving it, I could barely lift it to shoulder height.  So I was declared done, and I see the doctor Wednesday afternoon to find out the results.

 

I feel for anyone having to have that done who actually does have claustrophobia.  And if I was still 100 lbs heavier, I don’t think I could have stood being squished in there.  Even with Hubby petting my leg.

 

Falling Apart

I'm falling apart in my old age.  

My left shoulder/arm has been bothering me for a few months now.  And no, I don't know what I did.  I noticed one night getting in the bathtub that oh, boy, it really hurt when I did that.  So I quit doing that.  Problem solved.

Okay, maybe not.  Problem put off is more like it.  

Eventually, it started aching off and on.  Then most of the time.  And now, all the time.  And the ache is now usually more of a throbbing pain, with occasional bouts of sharp shooting pains.  Throw in some random swelling here and there, loss of strength, loss of range of motion and having to have help getting dressed, because my arm won't go there and I can't do that. And there you have it.  Falling apart.

I finally got around to asking my general doc about it.  He took an x-ray, put me through a bunch of "can you move your arm like this" kind of tests, said it was probably my rotator cuff, and gave me some non-steroid, anti-inflammatory meds and sent me on my way.

They didn't help.

So I turned to Dr. Google, and my sister, who is a Physical Therapy Assistant and got their opinions and some information about rotator cuff injuries.  I started doing some of the exercises to try and increase my range of motion.  After a few more weeks, and no noticeable improvement I went back to the doctor. I wanted an MRI.  I didn't see the point of torturing my self with painful exercises, because if it is torn and needs surgery, painful exercises won't help one little bit.

On my next visit he again put me through the "can you do this" tests, looking perplexed the whole time, which can I just say, did not instill huge amounts of confidence in him.  Then he gave me some steroids, and tried to send me on my way.

I didn't want steroids.  I took steroids twice last year for sciatica pain (I told you, falling apart) and it majorly stalled out my weight loss.  I think I ended up losing MAYBE 15lbs for the whole freaking year.  I am NOT doing that again, unless there is absolutely no other option.

So I asked about the other options.  He basically said the best course to follow was the first meds we had tried, then this new one, then try a couple of cortisone shots in the shoulder joint (OUCH!), and then if I was still having trouble, an MRI to see if it was torn, because then I would need surgery. I asked if we could start with the MRI, then we would know if it needed surgery and I could skip the steroids.  He basically said NO, this is the treatment path I think you should follow.

Fine. I took my Rx and left.  I went home, threw out the Rx and looked up Orthopedic Surgeons in my insurance book.  I checked to make sure I could self refer to one, and I could.  The next day I called and scheduled an appointment.

This doctor put me through the same kind of "can you do this" tests.  But he did not look the least bit perplexed.  He said it was probably my rotator cuff.  It was either torn, which would require surgery to fix, or inflamed and frozen, which would require shots in the joint and physical therapy.

But mainly he said "First, you need to have an MRI so we know what we are dealing with and then we can decide how to treat it."

Thank you!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

My father in law won tickets to the baseball game Saturday.  He generously invited us to attend along with his boy scout troop.

This is the new $1 billion Cowboys Stadium being built.  When it is done, it will hold 80,000-100,000.

The seats were awesome!  We had a skybox suite on the first base side.

Each suite had 3 t.v.'s for game/player stats.

And we could hang out inside, in the air conditioning. 

There was a rain delay of over an hour.  But everyone stayed and it was quite the exciting game.

Batter Up!

There were several double plays, strike outs, walks, pitching changes, home runs, and a GRAND SLAM.  Sadly, the grand slam was by the other team.  But still, it makes it much more fun to watch when it isn't just inning after inning of 3 up and 3 down.

Not everyone watched.  

But a great time was had by all.  Well.  Except for the Rangers.  Cleveland won 8-7.

Hobbies

I love hobbies.  I love having the options of doing things I think of as FUN.

The best thing about hobbies though, is the STUFF.  Most hobbies require stuff.  Equipment, clothes, manuals, tools.....STUFF!!

I am afraid though, that my darling Hubby and I, may have a condition.  A disease.  A sickness.

HOBBY AD/HD

Our favorite thing is finding a new hobby that we enjoy, that requires lots and lots and lots of STUFF.  We'll go whole hog on a new hobby.  We'll enthusiastically equip ourselves for maximum enjoyment.  We will participate to the exclusion of all other things.

At least for a little while.  

Then we tend to move on to something else.

In the spirit of hobby-ness we have spent money on the following:  bike riding, paint ball, bowling, camping, hiking/backpacking, canoeing, fishing, shooting.

Some of these have been longer lasting than others (backpacking and shooting), but of course those seem to be the more expensive ones.  The ones where there is always new and better STUFF coming out.

So this morning when we drove past a GOLF COURSE and Hubby started talking about how fun GOLF is, and how we should play GOLF, I seriously considered throwing him out the car window.

Um....okay

Do other peoples husbands bring home odd stuff?  Or is it just mine?

Project List Progress

If you will look to the right(at the lists) ---------->

Several items have been moved from Unfinished to Finished!

Like, what is missing from this picture?

I will give you a hint.  It is a giant black car that looked like this:

Hubby sold his project car!

And for the past few weekends it was just too hot -107! - to work on the outside of the house.  So some inside stuff got done.

Before:

And because no project we undertake can be simple....

During:

The floor finished.

All that because I wanted to put the washer and new dryer on the other wall.  The plug had to be moved in the wall.

After:  

But only temporarily finished.  Doesn't moving them on that wall give it so much more room?  It's great.  If I don't get laid off, we will dip into the "LayOff Fund" and by the new washer.  Then eventually the room will get painted (we are thinking Lime and Lilac Mist) and new shelves will be put up.

Then the kitchen sink.  It ran.  Not dripped.  RAN.

So we got a new faucet.  The first step: clean out under the sink.

Which I have never done since we moved in here, 5 years ago.  Yes, I know, I suck at the house keeping.

Something had leaked and ate a yellow rubber glove and melted through the tiles.  So those were pulled up and replaced and then covered with contact paper.  Then Hubby started working on replacing the faucet.  The old one must have been quite content to sit there and run forever because it just did not want to come out.  So in the tradition of nothing ever being a simple project, bolts were cut through and sawed off and the angle grinder was used to cut away the stubborn faucet.

And part of the copper piping had to be replaced.  Haylie helped out with this part.

Then under cabinet organizers were installed and viola.

And on the continuing theme of nothing ever going easy......

During the washer move and sink repair, the water had to be turned off.  And we discovered this:

That is our water meter.  Full of water.  We had a leak about a year or so ago that we discovered because the gutter in front of the meter hole, was always full of water.  This one did not get discovered because it has been so dry.  The water was all being evaporated and soaked into the ground.  If we hadn't been fixing things and needed the water shut off, it would not have been discovered until next months water bill.  I had attributed this month's high bill to the running sink and the extra watering. 

So we scooped out all the water and disconnected the pipe. 

 And off to Lowe's, for about the 10th time that weekend, to look for a washer.  Not a washing machine washer, but you know, a round rubber ring, washer.  Which of course they had none the right size.  But I found a package of the rubber material where you could make your own.  So we bought some of that.  And then we made the mistake of looking around.  And we found some shelves for the spare room (that used to be Lazy Teenager's room) so we bought some of them.

And now the "clean the spare room" is moved from the Finished list back to the Unfinished.

It just never ends.

I used to wear these

Hates Shopping????

Surly Teenager is just not normal.  She hates shopping.  I practically have to DRAG her to the stores when it is back to school time.  She will get hold of something she likes and is not the least bit interested in getting something new.  She would wear only what she already has until it was mere rags, held together by safety pins, duct tape and E6000, if I let her get a way with it.

It is not as much as a whipping now that she is older.  She doesn't out grow everything so fast, thank goodness.  When she was little and growing, oh brother.  I dreaded having to take her shopping.  It always deteriorated into a hysterical crying fit.  Especially shoe shopping. 

And socks!  Holy cow, the fights we have had over socks.  She has a long, skinny foot.  So the socks never fit right.  The heels would not be in the right place on her.  And that thick line across the toe?  God help us all if she could feel that line.

I have no idea where she gets it from.  It surely isn't from me.  I love to shop.  Poor Hubby, he just has no idea.  He has mentioned once or twice that he is glad I am not the type that spends all their time and money at the mall.

I tried to warn him.  I told him that it isn't as fun to shop when you are fat and nothing fits.  But I am getting down to the "normal" sizes now.  I warned him when I am done losing and have had plastic surgery to tighten everything back up, shopping will be even more fun.

He seemed doubtful.

I am thinking of making the spare room into my closet.

Registration

Today was registration for Surly Teenager.  She is a Sophomore.

Oy.  The standing in line.  When will they ever get to the point of if you went to the school last year, you can register on line, or something?  I'll tell you when, the year after she graduates!

And of course there was a problem with her schedule.  They didn't put her in gymnastics like she requested.  Instead they gave her Spanish 1, because she didn't pass it last year.  But only 2 years is required, so she wanted to put it off until Junior and Senior year.  And I found out American Sign Language can be taken as a foreign language.  Anyway, they also had her down for 1 semester of Algebra 1, instead of her Pre-AP Art 2-Drawing.

So we went to see the counselor.  

Last year she did fail the first semester of Algebra 1.  But since she did not fail due to an attendance issue, she was given the opportunity to make up the credit by taking a 7:00 AM computerized, self paced Algebra 1.  So she did.  But it did not make it onto her transcript.

I have an email from the teacher saying she passed, which I will be sending to the counselor.

 

She had to have her ID picture taken about 7 times.  She kept blinking when the flash went off, and the picture would come out with her eyes closed.  They finally had her look up, and they got the picture.  She hates it.  She thinks she looks stupid.

I think they captured her true teenager spirit. It looks exactly like she is rolling her eyes, saying WHATEVER.

Coming Soon.....

Updated Project Lists, complete with Before/After pics!

Shame on Catherine's

I don’t clothes shop much right now.  I will buy only a few things since I don’t stay in a size for too long.  I try to always make sure that I only get things on sale, or from the thrift store.

 

So when my sister called and told me Catherine’s (a fairly expensive, plus sized store) had 75% off the Clearance price, I was there in no time at all.

 

I did not find very much that would fit me.  It was all too big (yah!).  But I did try on  a couple of things.

 

And here is what I consider unethical.  The mirrors in their fitting rooms.  They make you look thinner than you really are.  I even walked out of the dressing room and looked in the 3 way mirror.  Same thing.

 

Now I can see how they would think this would work.  Fat woman don’t look at themselves in the mirror too much.  And especially not in a full length, or 3 way mirror.  So in the dressing room they see themselves, and think, Hey-this outfit makes me look thin-I’m buying it.

 

I could tell right away though.  I DO look at myself all the time in my full length, non-optical illusion mirror.  I know what I look like.  And what I saw at Catherine’s in the dressing room, that’s not what I really look like.  I even checked as soon as I got home to be sure.

 

I think they should be ashamed of themselves.

Happy Feet

Every family has their own little language.  With certain words and phrases that work their way into your everyday vocabulary.  You know what it means, because you know the story behind it.

 

One of those phrases in our family is “happy feet”.  And here is the story behind happy feet.

 

Hubby is very smart. He reads and he remembers.   He knows all kinds of things about just about everything, just a wealth of knowledge (it's why his head is so big).   Combine that with his talkativeness, and you get someone who LOVES to explain things.  And explain things.  And explain things.

 

So.  Surly Teenager had a cat that had kittens.  While watching them nurse, she asked about why they knead their feet like that.  Off goes Hubby on this lengthy explanation about milk treading.  Surly Teenager’s eyes started to glaze over.  She does not have a long attention span.  She looks helplessly at me.  I interrupt Hubby, look at Surly Teenager and say “they have happy feet”.  And she was perfectly happy with that answer.

 

So now when she asks a question we’ll say “do you want the happy feet answer”.  Meaning short and sweet or more detailed.  Occasionally, she will really want a full blown Hubby type answer. 

 

Another one is “tire hair”.

 

We are out looking at new tires.  Surly Teenager asks about the fine, little rubber bits sticking up off the tires.  She decides she wants a full Hubby answer.  He obliges and starts talking about tire molds and the temperature of the rubber and the air holes.  It doesn’t take too long before she looks at me and says “ I changed my mind.  I want the happy feet answer”.  Hubby pauses trying to think of the best short answer, and I spoke up with “It’s tire hair”. 

 

That satisfied her.

 

The only problem is, sometimes you get so used to using these words and phrases that you don’t realize when you have said them to someone outside of the family.  You have to remember that there are some people who are not familiar with the back story, and who will look at you strangely.

 

Like  the IT guy at your office, who is patiently trying to explain about why the “market” field in the new software application you are learning needs to be populated, and you say “can you give me the happy feet answer”. 

Old Lady Shoes

What is it with shiny, silver and gold shoes and old ladies?

 We went out to eat lunch one Sunday.  The place was just filled with little old ladies in their church clothes and shiny silver or gold shoes.

Maybe they think it matches their hair.

Lay Off Update

The voluntary options to leave expired at the end of July.  They added an extended leave of absence option that will be available until the 15th.

From our Department, which is comprised of several different work areas, 15 people will need to be cut.  They received 12 volunteers. 

Which sounds pretty good.  Except that they will now analyze the work areas and work load from the areas those 12 people are from, to see if, operationally, it can be supported for them to leave their positions.  If not, they will be denied and the number of involuntary cuts will go up.

They announced today that 3 upper management  positions are becoming available, and those positions and any others that come open from voluntary leavings, that HAVE to be filled, will be filled ONLY with people from within our Department.

I guess that slightly improves my odds.

First Date - Miniature Golf and Kidnapping -The End Part

Part 1

Part 2

That first dinner wasn’t really a date, it was a meeting.  The next time out, the coming weekend, THAT was a date.  All 9 hours of it.

I had gone shopping and splurged and bought a new blouse to wear on our first “real” date.  I didn’t know we were going to play miniature golf when I bought it.  Not that it would have occurred to me that it was a problem.

So we play miniature golf at Mountasia.  That’s the one with one of the holes going through a mountain with a waterfall.  At one point, I’m bending over the club to line up the shot from the “tee”.  I look down the course towards the hole, and then I look down at the ball.  As I look down at the ball sitting there, I suddenly realize that each time I am bending over my blouse hangs open a bit.  I stand up and look at my future hubby who is standing directly in front of me.  He smiles at me and doesn’t say anything.  I bend back over to line up my putt again.  And I suddenly realize - he’s looking down my blouse every time I putt.  I straighten up again and he smiles again.  Then he says “what”?  I just blinked at him a minute, silently debating with myself if I should say something.  I mentally shrugged to myself and bent over again thinking “oh well” and played on.

We eventually get to the hole that goes through the mountain with the waterfall. 

Now I assumed that this was the whole reason he suggested coming here.  To get me in there so he could make a move.

Nope.  Nothing.  Didn’t come anywhere near me.  And after all that blouse peaking too, go figure.

At that point I was pretty confused because I was pretty sure he liked me.  And he didn’t seem the least bit shy.  So naturally I doubted myself, and figured I had it wrong and he wasn’t really interested and was just being polite.

But then we spent another 2 or 3 hours together and knew I was just going to have to take matters into my own hands.  Which is how we ended up having drinks (my idea; liquid courage), after which I kidnapped him to the duck pond. 

He finally got a clue.

And they lived happily ever after.

I Think It Is Time...

For a new dryer.  

It has been months.  For a while the drum quit turning and there was no hot air.  Hubby managed to get that semi fixed.  No large loads or the drum wouldn't turn.  Which worked out fine since then the washer quit draining the water if I selected a water level over small. 

So I have been making do.  Other things seemed to take precedent and I just didn't want to spend the money.

Now for the last couple of months, the dryer has been doing this:

See those black marks?  It has been catching stuff along the edge of the drum by the door.  And by stuff I mean MY stuff.  I think every pair of panties I own now look like that.  And don't get me started about what it is doing to the hooks on my bras.

Well the other day it escalated.  It wasn't just black marks any longer.

Now it is holes.  It is chewing holes in my stuff.  Again MY stuff.  I was ranting to hubby that the dryer hated me, it was only doing this to MY stuff.  It wasn't fair.  

The next morning hubby told me I am no longer allowed to complain about the dryer only ruining MY stuff.

That would be HIS shirt. Covered front and back.

A Requested Story - Part 2

Part One is HERE.

Much to my surprise, he replied back.  We emailed back and forth for about a week, exchanging pictures sometime in there. 

His picture:  Cute!  Overweight, but not F A T.  Moustache/goatee hair encircling the mouth thing.  GAH.  I hate those.  It looks like you were eating something and didn’t wipe your mouth off.  Maybe he would be willing to go full beard.  I like beards.  What in the world is that shirt he is wearing?  Are those cockatiels all over that shirt?  The faded from washing (ok, bonus points – he knows how to do laundry), icky green, rolled collar, shirt.  Covered in cockatiels.  Oh my.

My picture: Boobies!  (I did not own a digital camera.  I had to go to my sister’s house and have her husband take my picture with their very cheap web cam.  He took the picture sitting down, while I was standing up.  Being shot from below made my already prominent chest, look even bigger.  And the room was very dark.  But it was all I could do.  Oh well.)

Imagine my amazement when he actually wanted to meet in person.  I talked it over with my friend from work and another friend and decided to accept.  I was worried because of the horror stories you hear about meeting someone from the internet and getting chopped up into little pieces.  I finally figured that it isn’t really much different than meeting someone out in a bar or something and then going out with them.  You don’t know them any better by having first met in person.  

Plus he specifically stated in his ad that he was “NOT a psychopath or a serial killer or anything like that”.  So ok.

I called my friend and told her where we were going to meet at, and what time, and to call me in one hour to check in, and that I would call her when I left the restaurant.

We met for dinner.  I wore jeans and a t-shirt, with my hair in a pony tail and no make-up.  Which is my usual look.  I briefly considered dressing up and doing my hair and make-up, but I am not a girly girl and don’t wear make-up on any kind of regular basis.  I figured I might as well start with the real me.

I don’t remember hardly anything about dinner.  I was too nervous.  He did almost all of the talking.  When he gets nervous he talks even more than he normally does (which is quite a bit) and when I get nervous I don’t talk.  So it kind of evened out.

As we were walking across the parking lot to our cars, he asked me out again for the coming weekend. 

That next date lasted about 9 hours.  It included dinner, miniature golf, drinks, and a “kidnapping” that ended with some necking at the duck pond and the police.

Perv Proofing the Bathroom Window

This is the bathroom window The Perv looked through.  

From the outside it's about 6 1/2 feet off the ground.

You can not see in without standing on something.

  

We got this stuff at Lowe's for under $20.

You just peel and stick and smooth and trim.

A couple of minor boo-boos.

Outside with bathroom and hallway light on.

Outside with only bathroom light on and door shut.

I am, obviously, right up against the window.

Light on, door shut and I am standing by the sink.

Looks pretty good!