Night and Day

I came home from Italy last night and was... buh-dum-bum... floored.

Living Room Before (empty) - and After (moved back in):



(The snow is adding some crazy light from outside, hence the lightness of shade in the after photo... wall color is still the same.)

Kitchen Before (almost empty) and After (moved back in):


Just a sampling of the contrast our new and restored floors have made in the whole house. Seriously. Every room looks so different... the colors pop... the molding comes alive. No more hair, bubbles, nicks, and scratches. It's just perfect!
LOVE THEM!!!!

TILE IS DONE

Yessir. Been done for a week. We've been sort of relishing in the completion.

We still haven't put the sink back in. And to think, there was no ceiling light OR flooring of any kind in here.

Then we decided to commit sanity suicide by deciding Monday that we are definitely going to be laying hardwood in the kitchen and refinishing the rest of our hardwood floors beginning two weeks from today - which to be honest, two weeks from today I will be standing in Rome with my best friend (as she so kindly reminded me by text just now.)

Errrrrrrr. Mixed emotions for both of us on the refinishing - mainly regarding the removal of EVERYTHING that's not in Tileland (in Oldardwoodfloorland and Linoleumland) into Tileland. And we mean everything. Clothes in the closet, furniture, you name it, we're moving it. It's like moving out, almost. And then moving back in.

BUT. No more bubbles or random hairs polyurethaned in the floor, a darker more modern stain, and finally flooring in our kitchen that doesn't make you wonder who decided tealish blackish greyish spotted linoleum was a good choice.

After this it's ALL DECOR, ALL THE TIME. No fudging.

And by February, we'll have some spaces we're excited to people into, again.

But until then, don't expect an invite over anytime soon :)

When Life Hands You Dying Trees

You just (plan to) make wood chips.

Yep. Thanks to the electric company topping out our trees at the expense of their powerlines a year ago when we first moved in, we are now experiencing fast-moving tree death. We had a local tree guy come by and assess the damage and found that some of these were rotten up to 40% of the way through the trunk. Not cool, not cool.

And so, because trees aren't supposed to be topped out when pruned for power purposes, MTE will be taking care of the expense of cutting them down, grinding out the stumps, and planting four new trees where there once stood three silver maples and a magnolia. You can bet the new trees won't get that kind of height.

I hate losing these, but in the end, this is the best way they could go... that's for sure.

At this old guy (our personal favorite) is alive and kicking, as are the other two silver maples in the back yard (well, one's health is debatable but we're holding out hope.)

Oh boy, oh boy!

I've finished (for now) my design board for the master bedroom (next stop on the Decor Snowball!) This time I went a little less collagey, and a little more - modely? Took way longer, but I'm so pleased with the results, I can't help but think it was worth it.



You know, I know I could pay someone to do this for me. I do.

But then, I wouldn't enjoy this half as much I don't think - or lose nearly enough sleep. (I designed this entirely from scratch on Photoshop, thankyouverymuch.)

Where would my badge of "Oh! I'm so tired!" be without that?

It's interesting to think how much this will change and adapt as we work on the space. And considering all we have really now for the space that we want later is the space itself (and the wall color!) we've got a ways to go... and I know it'll change so I'm less apt to talk about the details now as I will later when it's pulling together. It's a bit more contemporary than the brown guest room, but still has enough rustic (we're looking to get black distressed furniture) and comfy and vintage to keep me happy. I love the play of the contrast and punches of color... A THOUSAND POINTS to anyone who knows where the inspiration for the color themes in our room came from (hint: above the bed).

Speaking of beds, a new mattress, after sleeping in a bed for three years that we inherited from Cliff's sister and brother-in-law that they got as a gift when they got married (I WON'T tell you how long ago THAT was) will be heaven... pure, pure heaven.

Guest Room Progress

It's coming together, slowly but surely. I've done more in the last week to pull some pieces together than I have in the more-than-six-months since I posted this. It's funny how design evolves over time, but I like it. And I know it will only continue to do so...



The accent chair? Picked this (it's a dining chair!) up from Trees and Trends this past weekend. After debating for months on the function and shape and style of accent chairs available, I ended up with this upholstered tweed version and I just love it. At a third of the cost of a similar armchair, this anchors the room and still provides a comfy place to rest. A lumbar pillow is soon to join this cozy corner, but you'll just have to wait to see that.

The photo frames? A collection of Goodwill finds (at about $1 a piece) that I spray-painted with a beautiful metallic color I found. The prints are an assortment of landscapes and abstracts I've taken in places that we love in the world; I edited them to bring in the warm vintage-y tones of the rest of the room. I really like how the monochromatic scheme of the frames and images balances out the non-symmetrical layout of the frames.



The end table? An old wooden produce box Cliff has had around for ever. Turned on it's side with the open-side away, it is the perfect height and even provides a place for magazine storage (yet to be stored).

The candlestick holders? These were AWFUL when I found them at Goodwill. Ceramic, painted with mauve paisleys... and now? Thanks to a bargain can of spray paint I found in a color I was looking to accent the room with, they're just perfect!

The vase? Same can be said of this little guy. He looked like a giant peppermint stick - probably some Christmas vase. Using the same metallic paint on the frames, I prepped this vase for the bunch of forsythia stems I picked up on the same trip to get the bargain spray paint. I can't wait for next spring when the forsythia will come from our very own bushes (it's what inspired the incorporation of these lovely branches) - but for now, I think these work great!



The lemons? Totally fake, and that's totally okay. For the time being, they're home is courtesy of one of our larger soup bowls but will eventually have a more permanent place to rest.

The mason jars? A find on my accent chair hunt this past weekend. I made a detour at the antique mall and found these pair. Immediate doesn't even begin to describe my desire for these. The color, the age, the size. Can't wait to decide what to fill them with!







The shams? Well first, I stumbled upon the lovely euro shams on a clearance sale Pottery Barn was having online. I just love love loved them, and thanks to a gift card we still have lying around from our wedding, made them ours ours ours. The crocheted standards? Handmade by my step-grandmother and passed down to me on a whim the last time we were home visiting my dad. Without really having planned to incorporate this color at the time, I gladly took them from my stepmom. In time, they made the perfect edition to my evolving color scheme.

Tiny House, Grand View

To answer your question, P-Dub:

I'd take the tiny house with the grand view any day of the rest of my life. Absolutely.

One Trip Down

And two more major ones, at least that we know of, to go. (If you haven't seen our Colorado photos, you can check them out here.)

The "at least that we know of" part is operative, considering our tendency to pack up and get the heck out of dodge randomly, every now and again. Having a home has made the equation a little different, and as much as I enjoy traveling, I rather like being at home as well. Even now, as we start laying the plans and groundwork for as something as simple as landscaping and planting next year... and as big as hopefully starting a family... I just have this feeling we'll be close to home a whole lot more this time next year (or maybe a little later...).

And home is a good place to be.

Dream A Little

As the landscapers currently do their thing, I couldn't help but do my own.

That is, dream.

In the middle of an album design, I decided to take my own design break and pull together some of the inspiration I've been culling for our first guest bedroom design. We've decided this is going to be the first room likely to be finished in what we're calling the Decor Snowball. (You've gotta figure we'd pull out some Dave Ramsey-ite phrase in this, right?)

Seeing as it's the room closest to being complete, it'll be the first we actually do finish. And with that under our belts, each project will likely seem more feasible.

At least, that's our thinking.

So here's the guest bedroom to date:



(forgive the botchy merge job by Photoshop. my wide-angle lens isn't exactly wide-enough to get it all in one frame.)

And here's the design board I created for the room:



It'll be awhile, I'm sure, before it gets to where we want it to be but I'm really enjoying the direction it's headed. Beautiful neutrals with a pop of color, a real antique bed with soft, neutral linens, slight rustic meets vintage meets antique meets warm and cozy.

Can you see it? What do you think?

p.s. if you don't subscribe to Real Simple and haven't taken the Decorating Personality quiz, you can take it online. And maybe you've got it figured out, but this was a life-saver for us. We're predominantly Cozy Casual with a touch of Vintage Eclectic thrown in!

I Love Our Imperfect

Bet you thought I was piled under a rubble of old ductwork by now.

Well, I've lived to tell the tale of our first adventures in having contract work done on the home. And not just any old work, but the dirty, ugly labors of cleaning and refitting the underbelly (and a little bit of the outerbelly, I guess) of a ranch home built in 1967.

But I have to admit, it's not much of a tale of how it was done, really. Because while I have learned more than I ever thought possible about foundation piers, hydraulic lifts, masonry, ducts, and mold removal... I couldn't tell you the first thing about actually doing it. I just watched a variety of skilled men come in and out of my home and loitering around it doing just that. Well that, and making a lot of noise and requiring the shutdown of our HVAC system on a not-so-warm week in March.

I fought this whole process much like I initially fought the idea of going to marriage counseling last fall. Things aren't falling apart, everything looks good, so why do we have to work on it now? So what if things are a little messy in just a few places? We can just avoid those areas anyways, and be just fine, right? Right?

Naah. Not so much.

And counseling - well - if you haven't heard from us about it in person... I'll just say we glow when we talk about it. Really. It wasn't a magic 8-ball or a fast fix or really anything life-changing except to open up our marriage to an expert who helped us tidy up some areas that were in particular need of it for a season. We loved it. We miss it. And we know we'll go back the second we sense the need. Because we will always have a need for tidying because we are imperfect. And I love our imperfect marriage because it's what makes the journey... well... an actual journey.

The same way I love our imperfect home. The one we opened up to some experts to come in and do some work (which isn't exactly finished yet, but doggonit, the bulk is and I'm going to CELEBRATE!) on. Because while the money spent on working on these things could have gone to prettying and decorating and who-knows-whating, it went towards stabilizing and grounding and making room for healthy... for safe... and for longer-lasting. And sure, I'm probably romanticizing common work done on our home but it's been a huge lesson for me.

And believe me, I was front row for the lesson so I might as well take something from it. Working from home and still not having a car put me in prime location to take the whole of it in.

And as I sat there in our living room this morning, in complete and serene quiet (compared to last Monday) and looked out over our front yard (which is part of the next project, which is the grading/drainage work soon to begin tomorrow) and reflected on the progress that had been made in a week - I am just overwhelmed with a deep love for this place.

We'll never have all of the right dressings or furniture or trees. There will surely be weeds and scuffs on the walls and nicks on the floors. There will always be something I want to change or that Cliff will want to fix. You don't arrive at perfect in a home or in a marriage, and I love it not solely but in part because of that.

It will always be a day by day process of getting closer to where you want to be, and as maddening as that can be sometimes, it makes us better people.

Please Excuse The Mess

Just when we thought that was it...

In walks the foundation expert.

And sure enough, the front right side of the house (when you're facing it) - underneath the room lovingly referred to as "the baby room" - is going to get a little lifterooski. Yes, they are going to jack that side of our house up because, apparently, it needs it... and if it doesn't, the crack could get worse when the expense is larger.

I think we'll take the first option please.

And in that case, call me crazy - because I am officially out of my mind.


Okay, okay, not quite. Just... flummoxed?



If you happen to come over for a visit sometime in the next three weeks, I only have two requests...

1. please excuse the mess
2. please bring wine


That is all.

A Lesson in What Matters

Life feels a bit like...
What do we not have going on right now?

But it's not like that, I know.

Had it not been for my brief stint in Vegas, it would have seemed like a normal progression of... things. What things?

Well, of course there's the car.
....and the crawl space.
.......and the yard grading.
...........and the duct work.

And a business that's working to take giant strides instead of babysteps.

But it all comes back to the babysteps.
Even with the car... the crawl space... the yard grading... and the duct work.

So let's recap:

The Car
I hit a deer. I got a rental car. My car was totaled. We got money from the insurance company. We're looking for a new (to us, not to the world) car. We both do mounds of research and go test-driving (just this Saturday). We've got the list down from six potentials to three. And now? The hunt kicks into fourth...

The Crawl Space
When we did the inspection on the house, we ran into a tiny little bit of what we thought "might be mold, could be fungus" in the crawl space. We asked for some money for remediation in the closing and got that. And now it's close to Spring and in his quest to do the manly things around the house, Cliff started looking into our remediation process while I was in Vegas. That processed unearthed a whole can of... well... life, which we're now working to take care of. And so enters...

The Duct Work & The Lawn Grading
Apparently in the visit by the remediation company, it was suggested we look into our duct work which apparently met some of its demise at the hand - er - nibbler of something... as well into how the drainage around our home works because he noticed many of the yards with pooling. And that part, at least, was no news to us. Every single house in our neighborhood has some tiny pond somewhere on the premises after a good hard rain. We jokingly call the one in our backyard the pool. And so then came the HVAC guy... and the landscaping guy... and we have ourselves a whole series of projects which, truth be told, aren't at all exciting to me.

• Re-mediating our entire crawl space with a cleaning and a full moisture-barrier seal.
• Replacing our ductwork and moving our HVAC unit from behind the house to the side.
• Grading our lawn, both front and back, to level it out, prevent pooling, and thus manage drainage.
  
• Installing piping and drainage to move water away from the house (and the foundation).

But I'll tell you what is exciting. Knowing that I can trust my husband to do his research and to get the job done. As much as I hate that spending on these projects means a delay in a few other areas (namely purchasing new furniture, adopting a pet, and getting a wii), the fact that my husband would choose the integrity of the foundation and inner-workings of our home over the appearance of "the good life" is such an amazing lesson for me. And that he would work so hard and lead us so well for us to have the means to make that choice.

Because doggonit, I'd choose the new bedroom suite, the home-office shelving system, the curtains and the kitten (or puppy) over it all if I didn't have someone like him to help me remember some of the most basic and important aspects of not just home-ownership - but plain old L I F E.

It doesn't matter if it looks good.
It matters if it is good.

If These Walls Could Talk

They would tell you about the sometimes serious but always funny antics of a young man and woman in their earliest stages of marriage. From the first night there, marked by undesired change and familial interference, to the last night spent lying in bed sort of reflecting but mostly laughing about our favorite memories. There was so much life there in that 814 square foot apartment – love, laughter, passion, emotion, anger, friends, family – I’m emotional even now just thinking of it all.

I keep reliving a scene from last night where I stood for a moment and tried to let everything I could remember from our time there flood my mind. Nothing, save a leftover shower caddy and a few marks on the wall, was left to show me anything of the parts of our story that stemmed from this setting. I don’t even have pictures to remind me. And so for just a minute, I captured everything I could, switched off the light, and locked the door for the very last time.

But I didn’t leave it and it didn’t leave me. The sound of that light switch going off continued to echo in my mind and heart as I drove to our new home, turning away from that entirely empty and utterly spotless apartment. An apartment no longer inhabited by the two people who had spent their last two years in it, probably not loving it nearly as much as they should have though they loved it as fully as they could.

Our routine will probably be off for just a little while, but with that will be discovery and joy walking right alongside. We noticed last night, lying in our old bed in our new home without window dressings, that we could see the stars in the pitch black outside our home. Already we’re looking forward to the next rain that makes sort of twinkling noise on our roof and the vent above our stove. Even the sun slowly rising this morning all around us glowed in a way I don’t ever remember it doing before. And the roses are in full bloom just outside, adding to my 10 foot walk to the car a beautifully fragrant romance.

And so we have begun seeing this part of our story written in a new setting. But setting is not just a place, it is a character too, adding value and humor and challenge and foundation to the life of people in it. I am thankful even now for what this place has and will mean for us in the future, meanwhile knowing our story just wouldn’t be what it is without 1505. Because walls do talk, even if only in our memories, in the same way the oldest stories of men were carved into the rocks of the world.

First Night in the New House

We sat on the floor of the living room of our brand new to us house. The dim track-lighting set off a glow around the tawny brown room that made it feel so warm, so cozy. Blankets, camp chairs, an empty pizza box and mini-champagne bottles kept us company as we celebrated a wonderful moment in our lives together by playing a game riddled with milestones.

Having twins and winning Nobel peace prizes, graduating from college all over again and choosing careers. We bought houses and got in car accidents, won the lottery and climbed Mt. Everest. Everything had these traces of a newfound joy in taking steps. Not that buying a house is moving forward, by any means, because there's so much more to life. It's just a move. It's a change of pace and a new adventure.

An adventure in learning what way to drive home everyday or who to hire to pick up your trash or discovering what rain sounds like on the roof and windows in a new place. An adventure in fixing things that break and taking care of something that belongs to you.

And an adventure most suitable to us to celebrate by piling up a bunch of blankets, sleeping bags and pads, pillows, pizza, and champagne and camping out in our new home. Knowing we'd have more than a week and a half left of work in the house before finally settling in, this was the best decision we could have made.

And so every day that I now spend sanding down imperfections in the walls, filling holes, and priming walls I try to hold onto that. I try to hold onto the idea that this is all what we are making of it. It's how we are choosing to paint the walls of not just our home but our story as well. The story of two kids who, as cliche as it sounds, are finding there way in the world, together.

Thankfully we're not alone in the celebrations, either. There are people all around us who are finding their way to help us find the joy in this new season, as well. It's quite a blessing.

Mochas At Home

I love that Dave, in the Financial Peace University curriculum, calls buying a home a forced savings plan. Because really, in so many ways it is true. But even more than a forced savings plan, its like this giant magnifying glass that really calls into question, at least for us, the heart behind the money. The reason we spend and on what and for whom.

I mean sure, we've been pretty diligent to do the right things. We made sure we continued to give. We got on a budget. We started an emergency fund. We cut up our credit cards. We paid off my grad school loans. We finished our emergency fund. We opened up HSAs and IRAs and 401Ks. We started on a steady track of significant savings for our first home.

But as much as in life, with money, your actions can be right while your heart and mind are all over the map. You can feel like because you're doing the right things in every other area, you can kind of fudge around in the places no one really keeps track of. That it's okay to sort of "live it up" because we deserve it for working so hard.

I hate that spending money a little recklessly is a reward for living by the book most of the time. And I'll admit, I don't want to live in either world entirely. I don't want to be so bound up in formulas and systems that I lose sight of the fact that ultimately, none of this matters, we're only doing what we can with what we have and one day all of it will be gone. On the other hand, I don't want the other type of bondage that comes with not taking responsibility and living far beyond your means.

So where does that leave us?


Well, I'm trying to figure it out.

I'm trying to figure out how to change a pattern that has sort of sneaked into my life and spoken untruths to me. Has told me that "purchasing things is more valuable than making them", "getting something quickly is more rewarding than making it", and "so what if you spend all your blow money on yourself, it's yours isn't it?"

Well yes, but how can even the money that is dispensable become something that matters - something that can always be used for something more important than funding my self-satisfaction.

One small, and maybe silly way has been making my most favorite coffee drinks at home. Sure, I've done it plenty of times since we were fortunate enough to receive a double espresso/coffee maker as a shower gift. But almost sort of as a novelty, like "oh, isn't this fun, I can make a latte if I really want to!" meanwhile preferring the convenience of a quick pull-in at Starbucks or a run-over to Bongo on my way into work for my coveted once-a-week espresso kick (the rest of the week it's office coffee).

And I mean, what's so wrong with that? I'm only making (usually) one stop at Starbucks or Bongo in one week spending $4 on a really great Grande Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiato or a Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte when there are people who spend the majority of their weekly income on it. Aren't I so good?

But even that has been called into question. Because the issue is at the heart of my deeming my behavior good and others' bad, meanwhile denying myself the opportunity to do what I love to do which is to create. To spend all of the five (or 8, if I'm steaming milk) minutes it takes to grind the coffee beans, brew the espresso, and make the final product, meanwhile freeing up money to have a meal with friends or purchase a card for my boss or leave a better tip for someone not expecting it.

I'm not making a values judgment on anyone but myself here, so please hear me clearly.

I want our money to go further than the boundaries of our own pleasure and comfort and this whole house process has been the catalyst for this feeling.

And it seems, these days, my iced mochas at home are a start.

Our Next Big Adventure

I'm probably stating the obvious when I say that we love adventure. We like the thrill of discovering new places, being challenged, finding beauty, and being with each other. It's the reason we own rock climbing gear, kayaks, backpacking goods, and mountain bikes. It's the cause for our monthly savings plan for vacations and marriage getaways - the removal of ourselves from the common into the not so common.

It's the reason we've been to California twice, on an across-the-country roadtrip to Wyoming with friends, all over Washington, to dusty Texas, on a ski trip to Utah, down to the shimmering gulf coast of Florida, up to bustling New York, crusing through the Caribbean with stops in Grand Cayman, Belize, Honduras, and Mexico, and honeymooning in St. Lucia. It's the reason we got engaged on the top of Big Frog Mountain, camp with friends in the Smokies, have hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail in three different states, kayak the waters of the Harpeth, the Hiwassee, the Gulf, and the Puget Sound, have rafted the Ocoee, and so much more.

Not a month goes by that we're not planning some sort of adventure. These days it's been planning a see-the-leaves day-trip on our weekend visit to Massachusetts in mid-October for my cousin's wedding. And talks of what a visit to Mt. Hood or a Columbia River winery while in Portland in late-October.

And now, we face a new -slightly unexpected- and entirely uncharted adventure of a different sort. One that has a lot of the same elements yet requires a stationery sort of discovery, challenge, and wonder. One that will be incredibly beautiful and difficult in a variety of ways, but so very rewarding and a blessing beyond many we may have ever experienced.

We are buying a home.

A beautiful ranch-style brick home on an unbelievable lot in a great part of Franklin with lush trees, a fenced-in backyard with two quaint storage barn-sheds and a patio, three darling bedrooms, a great kitchen, and bonus room I can't wait to turn into our office/reading room.

Our-First-Home adventure. I think I can handle that...

Kind of a Stay-Cation

Thanks, Hthr, for the term.

A couple of weeks ago, we'd been trying like crazy to plan a getaway for this weekend. We were on pins and needles everyday, waiting to get a Ding and hoping that maybe, just maybe, luck would have it that some extra cash we've got saved up (and the need to book a flight or two to get my free Southwest ticket) could be used on a trip to somewhere. Somewhere we could go that would be warm (or at least warmer than here), near a National Park, and easily camp-able. We had high hopes of packing up our gear, having Cliff take Monday off, and high-tailing it out of here.

Well luck (or just life) would have it that we ended up here for the weekend. Here with little to no plans (before Thursday afternoon) for the first time in a very, very long time. Here in our home, waking up incredibly late, watching movies, wandering bookstores, doing some chores, reading, and just being together. Not to mention, getting to spend time with some people we care about a ton but haven't seen in the longest. Oh and being around for church two weekends in a row for the first time in forever (months?!).

It's funny that sometimes we forget how nice it is, how relaxing it is, how enjoyable it is to just be here, to be home, and to just be. And so what if we're not spending a long weekend (well, Cliff didn't take Monday off so I guess it's just my long weekend) at Biscayne or Carlsbad Caverns (our two biggest targets for the weekend)?

There's always time for those things later and frankly, we could use the lesson in learning to be content and at rest where we are.

Franklin, Oh, Franklin

Well, we better keep getting comfortable because this will be our home for at least the next year and a half (plus). After some (rather short) deliberations we decided the new lease being offered to us was more than we could pass up (who doesn't want to save a couple of hundred bucks in the long run, right?) and we'll be signing a new lease that will keep us in good ol' 1505 until the end of April, 2010. Crazy, huh? It feels like a huge commitment but we feel an equal amount of peace about it and are looking forward to settling in even more.

With the decision made, Cliff's now talking about painting the walls, buying new patio furniture, and boxing up all of the picture frames and odds and ends we have stacked in corners of our home (after they were graciously unpacked for us while on our honeymoon) and storing them in Cleveland. I have to admit, I like the sounds of it all and it would add even more to the "homey" feel most people say our apartment already has. I think patio furniture will be our first move because I spend a lot of my time there during the week, especially as the days cool off a bit, and the two of us love to wax theological/poetical/philosophical over our dinner until the the sun sets and the mosquitoes start tearing up legs. (That's when all the poetry flies out the window.)

One of our favorite things to do on the patio is read, and between the two of us, we're getting a lot of that done lately. Cliff's averaged about one book a month since the beginning of the year, which is a huge accomplishment for him as he's a thoughtful (not "slow") reader and busy, at that. I myself have read seventeen books since the beginning of May (I can't even recall what I did in the spring amidst comprehensive exams, finishing school, and the like... though I am certain I did some pleasure reading). That means I'm averaging close to one book a week, which isn't so bad I don't think.

And reading has been a great way for me to unwind from two years of predominately academic thinking. Not saying that's not good, because I am incredibly grateful for the sly gift that grad school was to me. But I also know that it sucked a lot of the creativity and free-thinking I once had out of me. So, I've been in a spell of "reservoir filling" - as I've come to think of it. Fiction has done me good along with it's alternation with some good solid non-fiction and now I'm trying to dig a little deeper theologically, coming back around the marrying of my faith to considerate, academic thinking. So, I'm a jumble of thoughts as usual and happily so. And this is my new home for sorting those kinds of things out, for the time being.