Hiatus

Stuff I want to post about:
State Fair
Sale of company
Advertising budget and award
Latest photo shoots
Jon's job hunt
I love fall and Christmas is coming!

Reasons for not posting:
Sale of company => all new branding for our company, which is my job
Baby due in a week

I don't foresee getting much of a breather between now and Baby Day, so I'm going to take a blogging hiatus for a bit. I'm sure I'll keep you updated on baby news on the Newbie blog, but nothing else here. See you on the other side!

Check the pigs for wings!

Well, it's finally happened. Jon has come out of his 6-month blog hiatus! It's common knowledge that getting the two Jo(h)ns of the family together will inevitably lead to a spirited debate. My brother (John) has been working on a paper for class about Darwinianism and its effect on the church. I'd be very interested to read the paper. In the meantime, John posted some questions on his blog to initiate discussion. I left my meager response in his comments, but Jon wrote two posts on his own blog in response. So check it out! And then add your own thoughts!

Hm...not a bad idea....

As I try to finish up my large list of to-dos for work, I'm feeling a bit like this.

(There should be three panels to the comic. If you don't see all three, click on the strip to see the rest. Though, in my opinion, the first two are the funny part.)

And on the sixth...

So, here's the deal:

Open your pictures folder

Go to the SIXTH folder

Go to the SIXTH picture

Publish it to a NEW POST and tell the story of the photo.

Technically, this is the third photo in that folder, but it makes for a great story. This was March 16 of this year, my birthday. We were all at John and Karen's house to celebrate birthdays (their birthdays are right before mine). Jon and I had a little secret (and a big announcement) that day. Holding our then-one-month-old nephew, Ian, Jon's winking because no one knows that we'll be returning the favor of a nephew before the year is out!

And, to satisfy my obligation, here is the sixth photo:
Though it does slightly look like a method of torture, this is how to burp a baby when he can't yet hold his head up. John's cradling Ian's head while patting his back.

The Good and the Bad

I love my cats. I know it'll be different when Caleb comes, but Bonnie & Clyde are my babies. In lots of ways they act like children: They love keys, they pull hair and jewelry, they barge into the bathroom unwanted, they whine at the door when it's closed, and they make me laugh. They really are the best.

Sometimes I wish I were more like Bonnie. She sleeps all the time. Occasionally, I can't resist the urge to pet her while she sleeps. Which of course wakes her up, but she never seems to mind. Unlike my crabby self when awakened, she just stretches a bit, lets out a little purr, and drifts right back to sleep. Sometimes she wakes up as if reminded of the possibilities, and moves to my lap for better petting. She's never upset, but accepts the unasked-for gesture for what it is: a gesture of love. Sometimes she's fast asleep and Clyde pounces on her. She leaves (understandably), and he steals her spot. What a punk Clyde is. But Bonnie just wanders to another favorite spot and goes right back to sleep. Yep, I should be more like my kitty.

1: Bonnie Girl sleeping

2. The Clydester attacks!

3. Now who's got the nice warm spot?

I really think cats are the greatest. As I've listened to the stories of other cats, or of dogs and puppies, I've been a little smug about the fact that I have cats who are so great and adjust to things so well.

All of that came to a screeching halt Friday morning.

Jon was cleaning out the litter box. He moved it from the storage closet where it resides out into the room for better cleaning. Clyde promptly went back into the storage closet and started peeing where the box should be. Not just a little pee. A LOT of pee. I hear yelling from the back room, and Clyde comes flying out. Jon's asking for the old towels, which we'd conveniently put away in the garage when we were organizing. Convenient only when not needed. (Our garage doesn't have a door connecting from the house, so you have to go outside and go through the large door on the front.) So Jon does his best with paper towels, but eventually we have to go get the towels from the garage. As we are moving back and forth around the house, I notice that Clyde is very busily cleaning himself. Poor guy was probably still peeing when Jon shooed him out, and made a mess all over himself (though I didn't find any in the rest of the house).

As Jon was spending this extra bit of time on the floor of the storage closet, he came across a discovery. We had put an open box full of kitchen towels on the bottom shelf of the closet. I don't go through towels that often; I usually just wash the ones I have out and put them back in rotation. So we hadn't accessed this box since Labor Day. What Jon found was towels soaked in ammonia-heavy pee...with piles of poop scattered on top. PILES of poop.

GROSS!! Nasty!! Disgusting!

The whole box went straight into the trash can outside, and all the rest of the towels (all the normal bath towels are on that same shelf) were given a nice long run through the washer! The litter box was moved out into the living area, and the storage closet door firmly shut forever to the cats.

The only thing I think could have happened is that one of the cats got picky about the state of the litter box one day, and decided to try somewhere else. Since we didn't notice it, the scent remained there, and it became a permanent litter box from that point forward.

Moral of the story: rotate dish towels out more often, clean litter box more often, and don't feel smug about other people's pet woes.

Lesson learned!

Clyde was in the dog house for a couple of days. Bonnie probably should have been, too, but Clyde started the incident with the pee on the floor, so he had to take the brunt of the blame. But then, how can we stay mad at such a handsome kitty??

Following

My in-laws just started up a blog! On it, they had an interesting gadget in the sidebar called "Followers." So I looked into it, and added it to mine, as well! If you read this blog a lot, you can add yourself as a follower. Then my blog will appear in your blogger dashboard like an RSS feed, I guess. And your picture shows up on my blog! How fun is that! Anyway, check it out, and become a follower! :)

Creative Suite 4 Announced!

Today, Adobe has announced the latest version of the Creative Suite: CS4. If you're a designer/photographer/illustrator, you'll know what that is. If not, it is the gold standard in creative software, providing InDesign for print, Photoshop for images, Illustrator for graphics, and Dreamweaver for web.

The initial thoughts on the upgrade seem to be pretty good--it's certainly a far cry from the original CS, which is what I have on my home computer--and I hope to upgrade, at least with Photoshop. I have CS3 on my work laptop, and I'm not sure I'll recommend the upgrade there...I usually upgrade every other time, because in reality, I can put out good work with what I have, despite the fact that something new and shiny has come out. However, it's not that expensive to upgrade--a drop in the bucket for my work, if not for myself--so maybe I'll go ahead and suggest it.

If you're interested, check out more information from CreativePro.com. CS4 is scheduled to come out in October!

Blockbuster Queue

I have finally rated enough movies on Blockbuster.com to get good recommendations from them. Usually, Blockbuster recommends things that are way off track, mostly R-rated (which I rarely watch), and things that I would never watch, even if it were just to be social (which is a reason that gets me to do a lot of things). But finally, today, my Blockbuster queue was surprisingly great! Lots of good movies, some of which I had not seen before, and most of which I wouldn't mind watching even if it were just me at home. Hooray!

Do any of you do Blockbuster online? How about movies you've seen recently that you'd recommend?

And the winners are...

Last week I announced a giveaway in celebration of my 300th post. I compiled all the names, and Jon drew from a hat. I had enough magnets to give away six sets!

Here are the winners!!

Carolyn
ChristieLynn
KarenD
Rachel
Mommy the Human Napkin
Teresa

I have everyone's addresses or a way to get them, so don't worry about needing to send me anything. Now you just have to wait patiently for the mail! :)

Thanks for reading, everybody!

There's a trick to it!

Jon and I are fans of natural peanut butter. But, if you've ever had natural peanut butter, you know our problem with it: by the time we've made it about a quarter way through the jar, the rest is a solid block, making it nearly impossible to get out and spread evenly on a piece of bread.

Well, I've figured out the solution! First, toast your bread. This is a yummy trick Jon taught me the first time he made me a PB&J. It tastes good, adds crunch to your sandwich, and, regarding the natural PB dilemma, makes your bread a little firmer.

Next, while you're toasting your bread, hold the PB jar over the toaster! When it's still pretty full, hold it up-side-down so the heat is caught in the jar. If it's almost empty, you can hold it right-side-up over the heat. By the time your bread is toasted, your PB is warmed up enough to be soft, making it easy to spread!



Tada!!

How to Eat Frosted Mini Wheats

Pour your Frosted Mini Wheats (or in our case, generic Frosted Mini Spooners) into a bowl. Add milk.

Turn over all the mini wheats so the sugar-coated side is up, so that the sugar won't get soggy and melt into the milk. (Yes, it's all going to the same place, but I'm just teaching the proper method here.) Then, proceed to eat the mini wheats from least sugary to most.

Yummy!

MamaMia Surprise!

Tuesday night is our official date night. Sometimes we double date with friends, sometimes it's dinner and a movie, and sometimes it's just staying home, because hey, when it's the only night at home in a week, that's pretty special, too! Lately, however, every Tuesday has been staying at home, so I was excited to hear last week that Jon was planning something for our next date night.

By Monday, I hadn't heard anything more about Tuesday's date. I casually asked if Jon had any plans for the next night. He said he did, and it involved only a little bit of cooking. Hm...okay....

Tuesday rolled around, and it was a beautiful rainy day. I shaved my legs and fixed my hair, not knowing what we were doing that afternoon. About 3:00pm, Jon called from work. Of course, I'd left the phone off its base all day, so it immediately started beeping for a low battery. Usually it beeps twice and goes dead, so I said, "Battery'sdyingtalkfast!" So Jon quickly gave me two options: 1) go swimming (at the indoor pool), go eat Mexican, and come back home and make beignets, or 2) go eat downtown and see MamaMia!

Well, I'm usually up for any option that involves downtown, and adding MamaMia into the mix made it a no-brainer! I could go swimming some other time, but Jon had managed to procure a couple seats to the Bass Hall show for that night, and I wouldn't miss that for anything! I quickly said, "MamaMia!!!" and we hung up.

Woohoo! MamaMia! What was I going to wear?? People these days take the theater way too casually, and I like to dress up. Plus, it's date night! After a little rummaging around in my closet, I found a great prego date night outfit, and was quite proud of myself.

The evening came and we headed out to a Mexican restaurant we'd never tried downtown. The chips were excellent! Salsa great, enchiladas great, rice...meh, but who goes for the rice anyway? We headed from there to Marble Slab, where we had a coupon for buy one, get one free sundae. They were HUGE! So we grabbed them and walked the few blocks to the Bass, eating as we went. As we got near (and the showtime got near), we each had to throw away at least half of our sundaes, but oh, well. What we had was yummy, and we really didn't need to eat it all!

Into the Bass Hall we went. I love that place. It's beautiful. We were seated by Jon's source there, and then it began!

At first I was a little put off by the acting. I forget how "overacted" theater has to be in order to convey emotions, etc. to the furthest back row. I'd seen the movie, so I was expecting the subtle nuances of Hollywood. However, soon I got used to the feeling of theater, and everything was just great. The movie stayed very true to the musical! Being theater, the musical had more crude jokes in it, but otherwise, the two were very similar. I'd heard that the play ended differently than the movie, but it didn't. So either that person forgot, or they changed it once the movie came out. I'd kind of doubt that, but I guess it could happen.

When intermission came, I had the sudden realization that I needed to go to the bathroom, and no one wants to wait in a women's bathroom line in intermission. I immediately told Jon, "I'm going to the bathroom, let me out!" I pushed my way past him as he cautioned me who to find when I came back. Since we didn't have official tickets, he was worried I wouldn't be able to get back in. Well, that was not my top priority at that moment, and I booked it to the bathroom. I didn't know where one was, but I followed the determined lady ahead of me, and sure enough, she was headed to the same place. I was fourth into the bathroom!! Woohoo! Small triumph for the prego! In the short time I was in there, the line went from empty to about forty women. I squeezed past them with only a little bit of smugness. Then I realized I had been so focused on getting to the bathroom that I had no idea how to get back. I dimly recalled seeing a pink boa on display, so I wandered around for that, and sure enough, there was Jon's face at the door to the theater. I still had time to spare before the second act!

All in all, it was a great date, and I have a great husband who knew I would love it!

300th Post!! And a Giveaway!

This is my 300th post!! I started blogging in June of 2005, after we'd moved here and half-way through our Summer of No Jobs. I was much more contemplative back then, when I had lots of time and God was humbling me with my inability to secure a job. Then involvement at church came, the job (and the cat!) came, and my busy life turned my blog into small (mostly silly) glimpses of my life. Despite that, my readership has grown from about six readers a day to about twenty-six readers a day, and I've actually made a few friends from blogging!

One of those friends is my sort-of cousin, Lorie. Following her blogaversary tradition, I'm arranging a giveaway! Post a comment here, and in one week (Thursday, Sept. 18th), I'll put all the names of the commenters in a hat and draw out one (or more!) winners. And what will you win, you ask??

Magnets!

Okay, if you're family, you probably already have some, but who couldn't use more magnets?? I happen to have a few left over from a certain entrepreneurial idea that Leanna and I had, so you just might win them! And if you have absolutely no desire for magnets, well, they make good stocking stuffers or gifts for coworkers. So leave a comment and have fun!

Thanks for reading!

Hair Experiment

Why is it that every hair cut is a much-weighed decision? Yesterday, Leanna was asking me what she should do with her hair this next cut, and for once, I stuck with the simple, "I think you should do what you did last time." She and I never do that! We usually start looking at books, going online, discussing face shape and hair color...and yes, pretty much for every cut. It could be because we're dramatic, but I think it's because we like change...at least with our hair.

In early August, I had no idea what to do with my hair. The plan was to let my hair grow out until early November, when I would get it cut short again, so it would feel new and cute when I was 9 mos pregnant. But then I realized that growing out my hair from August to November was not enough time for it to get past the awkward stage, and why go through three months of awkward just to cut it short again? So, then I thought maybe I should just keep growing it out, even after Caleb's born. I've had it short for awhile; it's time for something new. But then I realized (after a conversation with Karen, my source for all things new mom) that I don't want hair that needs to be fixed when I'm a brand new mom and people show up with dinner or just to see the baby. I need hair that I can wet down, run gel through, and it's done. That, my friends, is short hair. (The other low-maintenance option is hair long enough for a pony-tail, but I can't pull that off in three months.)

So, after that debate, I decided I would do short hair, but try to get the shape back to the first short cut I got with Lynn. Lynn was still my regular stylist, but every appointment my hair got shorter and shorter, so I decided to try someone new. Still being cheap, I went to Ogle School of Cosmetology, where I got a 6-buck haircut. Sweet! And the student did a great job, kept the length, but shaped it up very nicely. I really liked the way it turned out.

And then two weeks later, it was frumpy again. Ah...now I see why those short haircuts were so nice. I could go 6-8 weeks between cuts before. I put off the decision for a few more weeks, but yesterday, I was done. To make my hair presentable on Sunday, I had to gel, blowdry, curl, pomade, and spray my hair, and I was not going to do that again. Sure, it's cute, but way too much work! So yesterday I went back to Lynn, and pretty much had my head shaved. Back to its pixie glory. Someday I'll grow it long, but today is not that day.

In the midst of these length concerns, I also had color to worry about. I have been highlighting my hair for awhile now, and had ended up with a little bit of a highlighting mess: more highlights on one side of my head than the other, and roots over an inch long. (Why do I choose to do things that require maintenance when I obviously don't maintain them??) So, the plan was to dye my hair back to its original color, and then put new highlights in. I didn't know if the color would cover up the existing highlights enough, but I thought it was worth a try.

And it worked! The old highlights were mostly covered, with a slight color variation off of the brown I chose, but I like to think of that as added depth. And then the new highlights...well, I'm pretty sure I like them. I did them myself, so at some point I just gave up because my arms were getting tired, but I think I got them all in the right places.

So basically, my hair looks like it did about two months ago, and I like it. :) I especially liked fixing it this morning! Yep, I think it's the cut for me, at least until it's time to grow it out again. But until that time comes, I think I'll just take my own advice to Leanna. I'm gonna stick to the cut I have.

What's been going on

I owe you a post here, for sure! I've been posting on my baby blog, and that seems to be just about life-consuming these days! I asked Jon this morning, "What can I post about that's not baby-related??" Well, I'm not really sure the answer to that question, but I'm going to try anyway. If baby topics come up, oh well! :)

Jon's started back to school. His last semester! It's very exciting, but also very challenging. This is his third and last semester of Hebrew, and I know he will be so glad when it's done. He's also taking a history class covering the Enlightenment, which has TONS of reading which isn't so fun, but he really enjoys the class itself. And then his last class is fairly easy, and they go over stuff like how to baptize, because I guess there's a trick to it! All in all it's a demanding schedule, but with few enough hours that it's doable.

He's also working on his resume and has a couple churches in mind where he'd like to apply. I'm sure he'll have applications all over the place before it's all said and done!

Bonnie & Clyde are our constant entertainment. They charm everyone who comes in the door. If you stay long enough, you'll get in on the game of musical chairs as the two go from lap to lap. Clyde loves to jump. He jumps from the couch to the computer chair, to the top of my monitor, then to the top of Jon's monitor, then to the printer, and then once he's made it he meows at the wall. Bonnie sticks to the ground, mostly, but loves to explore. Inside shelves, boxes, bags, she finds pens, paper clips, and her favorite: the Scrabble stickers from Subway. She's got a radar for those things.

I went to an Arbonne Mercedes event with my mom yesterday. A lady had made it to a certain level in the company where she is given a white Mercedes, and this event was to celebrate that. I admit that I went into it with a slightly jaded perspective. I mean, if you know me, you know I have no desire for a brand new white Mercedes. I wouldn't even have a white car myself, except that it was the best car I could find for $6,000. Buying new doesn't make sense to me, and having a Mercedes really doesn't make sense to me. So, to go to an event all about a Mercedes, with people packed in to ooh and ahh and be inspired by the Mercedes...meh... To top it off, everyone there was dressed professionally, and while I tried, I just felt quite pregnant.

Well, it turned out it wasn't so bad. It was definitely an atmosphere I'm not used to or like very much, but the ladies I spoke with were very genuine. The ladies were not so much there to be inspired by the Mercedes, but by the speakers and the success of other ladies just like them. The speaker, despite her multi-million Arbonne business, still shops at Target, which I can respect. And she also asked for a discount at a hotel (she was just there for a few hours to change, go over her notes, etc.), which I thought was funny. I guess, in a similar situation, I would have changed and gone over my notes at Starbucks or something, but I can grant her an extravagant pit stop since she did ask for a discount. And then, after heading to the event, she promptly forgot the name and location of the hotel where they left all their stuff. Oh, how I can relate! She did a really great speech, and it didn't focus on the white Mercedes at all. Instead, it focused on being able to have an overflow of money to give to others. That's something that's always been important to Jon and I--budget and stay out of debt so that God can use your finances when needed--so I appreciated the speech.

Overall, it was an exciting event, and I can't wait for the day when my mom is handed her own set of keys to a brand new, white Mercedes! Just remember, mom, the lady yesterday took her family to Cancun to celebrate! (wink!) Seriously, I know she can do it, and I know that Arbonne is giving her the financial freedom to do what she does best: gift-giving! Whether it's money to missions, clothes for a family in need, trips to visit family and adopted family, or diapers for her grandbabies, my mom has been given the gift of generosity, and Arbonne is allowing her to reach her full potential in that.

And speaking of gifts, my mom gave me a sea salt bath soak and lotion for attending, which I enjoyed thoroughly when I got home! Even today my skin feels very nice. I was hoping for a miracle, but no, my stretch marks did not disappear. Still, the sea salts are supposed to soothe sore muscles, which I'm sure I'll encounter more of as I make it through this last leg of pregnancy, so I'm thankful to have them!

And with that, I'm done with the post. I didn't go too overboard talking about pregnancy. Turns out there is other stuff going on after all!

Two more photo shoots!

I've gotten the other two photo shoots edited! Here are my favorites from each, and they link to their respective albums.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lusk Photo Shoot

The first of three photo shoots are up! Click on the photo to get to the rest of the photos from the shoot.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/5.6
Speed: 1/200 second
ISO: 400

So busy

Three photo shoots in two days! Whew! I'm beat! But what a fun weekend!

Garage Before and After

The key to a good After pic is a very bad Before pic! One might use this to their advantage and "stage" their first pic, but usually that's not necessary. It certainly wasn't in our case. Here's the before:

As you can see, the garage had become a maze of mess. What you can't see is that our attempt at organization--big plastic boxes stacked on top of each other in the back corners--had put our boxes to the test, and they had failed. One was crumpling completely in on itself from the weight of the others on top of it. Plus, every time we needed to put something in one box, it was inevitably the bottom box, which meant we just dropped the item in the garage "to put in the box later." Later never came. Until today!

Jon constructed three heavy-duty shelves that would house big boxes and paper office boxes alike, as well as allow for some room to stash odd-sized things like my photography backdrops. He also got rid of THREE boxes of books! (And if you know Jon, you know that was quite a sacrifice for him.) On my part, I parted with all my fall and spring decorations (because I only decorate for Christmas. anyway), and all but one of my beloved crafts. I also went through house decorations from my college days. AND (sigh...) the ghetto-fabulous cat tree is seeing its last days. It's going out with the next trash run.... It's in the house now for its last hurrah, though I must say these cats are not nearly as enthralled as Friday had been. Hmph. Spoiled on store-bought toys, I guess.

The one big thing left for me to cull through is fabric. I've collected quite a bit of it, and it's just so dang useful I can't see getting rid of it. I have a trunk full (that would make an excellent toy box for Caleb...), bags full, and even more stashed inside the house. However, several of my friends have picked up the sewing bug lately, so I might just bestow some fabric on them as a way to encourage their efforts. It would make me feel better about parting with it. Some of my fabric, however, I'll probably never part with!

Something else I feel like I'll never part with are my memory boxes. A tradition we started as kids, my parents would give us a box to hold the memories of our year: awards, drawings, stories, and many many many random things. I guess John did it, too, but I would also guess it the idea was for me, the pack rat with way too many memories. (Hey, when you're as forgetful as I am, you need physical things to remind you...and I just happen to want to remember everything.) So, sad to say, I have numerous memory boxes. Big blue bin, two large Rubbermaids...all housing memories from grade school up. It's embarassing, really, but that's one thing I cannot look at objectively.

And there are still some things in the garage that seem like I will never be able to get rid of them--namely, my darkroom photography equipment. I just can't seem to get motivated to put it up on Craig's list, and the sad truth is that I'm afraid most of it will go in the trash. However, I'm ALMOST ready to accept that truth, because I refuse to move it one more time. I have to get it up on Craig's list, and what doesn't sell, I'll leave at the front door of the local camera store in the middle of the night. :)

So, without further ado, the After!

As you can see, the darkroom equipment is in the front left, and that will hopefully be gone soon, which will clear up even more space. What you can also see is the floor! And the lawnmower! Where did that come from?? And almost every box (excepting a couple of book boxes) are accessible on the shelves, with no stacking and piling (and crumpling) to worry about.

What you can't tell is that one of the big blue bins is completely empty (all decorations relegated to the garage sale pile!), ready for stuff from our back storage closet, when my mom comes and helps me organize that area. And maybe she'll help me with my memory boxes?? (Pretty please with sweet smile and puppy dog eyes!)

All in all, I'm so proud of what we accomplished today. We made some organizational advances that will help us wherever we go, and we got a good start on our overall clean-out as we prepare for Caleb.

NOTE: Notice that Jon's accomplishment was to clean out some book boxes. For as much grief as I give him about collecting so many books, I obviously have the hoarding problem in our house! :) Hence, I've labeled this post "personality" because I think it speaks quite clearly to the type of person I am.

All in a word (Tag)

The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word. Then tag three others.

1. Where is your cell phone? TABLE
2. Your significant other? FUNNY
3. Your hair? SHORT
4. Your mother? GO-GETTER
5. Your father? ENCOURAGING
6. Your favorite thing? CUDDLING
7. Your dream last night? WEIRD
8 Your favorite drink? SONIC
9. Your dream/goal? ENTREPRENEUR
10. The room you’re in? BRIGHT
11. Your hobby? PHOTOGRAPHY
12. Your fear? STAGNATION
13. What do you want to be in 6 years? PEACEFUL
14. What you’re not? CONFRONTATIONAL
15. Muffins? BLUEBERRY
16. One of your wish list items? MASSAGE
17. Where you grew up? TEXAS
18. The last thing you did? SHOWER
19. What are you wearing? COMFY-NESS
20. Favorite gadget? CAMERA
21. Your pets? FUZZY
22. Your computer? MAC
23. Your mood? QUESTIONABLE
24. Missing someone? NO
25. Your car? MARSHMALLOW
26. Something you’re not wearing? MAKEUP
27. Favorite store? TARGET
28. Like someone? YEP!
29. Your favorite color? GREEN
30. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
31. Last time you cried? 7/1/08

I tag: KarenD, KarenN, Carolyn (keepin' it in the family!)