Yesterday I made slime. It was fun. What does that say about me. It's really quite easy, only four ingredients.
I suppose that I can still have fun even if it is in the favorite class of my 12 year-old daughter and my 10 year-old son. We attended science Saturday at Weber State University. We learned about electricity, cells, we made a hovercraft too.
Recently I smashed my baby's left thumb in our screen door. This was not only highly traumatic to her but to her brother Joseph. He and I were the only ones home. He had to sit by her on the way to the ER. They were both howling. She more than he. It turned out that the tip was fractured.
She wore a bandage for about 4 days. Yes. I did change it over that period of time.
All parents feel horrible when they cause an accident that harms one of their children.
My Mom closed the VW bug car door on my hand in 1963. I was younger than my daughter at the time of my accident.
She sympathizes with me. All moms can with their daughters.
We all share so much. What have you done this past week that you can share with your mom or daughter or sister.
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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
My Eight Triumph Week
This week has been one of those challenging ones. With a few little triumphs showing up to help me and my family make it through.
I'll list some of the triumphs first.
1. A reaffirmation that homeschooling my 10-year-old son is going the be a great choice.
2. Our family outing with my parents and on of my sisters and her family to see a movie in Salt Lake City about Joseph Smith.
3. Shopping with my kids at Kohls and saving 50% on everything. I even got a new bra.
4. I just heard last night that my nephew and his wife had a baby girl. That makes my sister who is 2 years younger than me a grandma and her husband a grandpa.
5. My husband is hospitalized again to treat his illness, Bi-polar depression. How is this a triumph? Read on.
6. Our furnace is working and not malfunctioning to the point of us not waking up one morning in another place.
7.Last night my bathtub drain was only plugged momentarily with a baby wash cloth.
8. Friends and family who are there for us in every crisis, the big mostly not the plugged drain ones.
Now to give a little detail.
1. Joseph is a meticulous folder of his baby sisters clothes. Mommy, "Joseph whose personal butler are you going to be?" Joseph, "this is the way all clothes should be folded". Referring to the folds he was making like the ones you only find on new, just out-of-the-package clothes. Mommy, "Why don't you fold your clothes like that, or even at all?" Joseph, "These are MEGAN'S clothes." Meaning, I love her and will do anything for her.
What a wonderful, sweet brother you have Megan. If I would have known about this desire to serve Megan earlier to such a degree, I would have taken him out of public school long ago. Really though, his personality is changing for the better, and our relationship is becoming stronger.
2. The movie was great!!! But getting my family to the car took an hour. My kids took a different elevator with Grandma Gwen. This took them to a different parking garage entirely. Even with cell phones, it took an hour to find them. Cell phones don't have reception in the garage, so if we wanted to communicate we had to enter the building every time. Are we the 16 stooges?
3. My general rule is to never, ever, take all of my kids clothes shopping together. It was Josephs turn to get a couple of things. I had $20 in Kohl's cash plus a 15% off coupon. Selena needed a pair of pants she tried on when we were shopping for dresses for the Valentines dance a week before; but put them back on the shelf. I would expect her to try and sneak them into the shopping cart not back onto the store shelf. I have great kids. I never have to worry about extra items when I check out that I didn't know about. Maranda came along for the ride. Secretly hoping she would score something. It was no secret to the "Mommy of Light".
She knows and sees all when it comes to her kids. Maranda did score 2 shirts for $7.00 each minus the discounts. Selena and Joseph had only one(five) pushing, slapping, interaction. He was benched by the ref,I being the referee, literally. They have benches on the way out of the store. He didn't like sitting half-way-in and half-way-out of the store, alone. But it worked. Thanks Kohls, for the time-out benches. You must have known a lot of moms with kids would be in your store every day.
Oh, yes and I have a new bra. If you a well endowed middle-age mom, then you know how difficult it is to find a good supportive, yet comfortable bra that fits. It usually takes me three tries of buying and wearing to find one I like. Just when I do my body changes, or they stop making the bra I like. Saggy, deflated boobs are difficult to make look like the opposite, like what I had when I was 20. I want to look like that again. Hey my mom does! Not like me but like herself when she was 30 years younger. Not fair!! I inherited my Grandma Mathisen's sagginess, and my Aunt Shirley's and Great- Grandma Kinslows size. When I was growing up I didn't want to be like my mom esp. when I was a teenager. Now I do want to be just like her
especially when it comes to breast form.
4. This isn't my triumph, but it is always a happy event when a baby is born. My nephew Wyatt and his wife, Prudence had a baby girl this week. My triumph may be that my younger sister is a Grandma before me. However that may be a triumph for her that she is a Grandma first.
5. It will be a triumph for the whole family if this time he gets the treatment he needs and can be healed. My husband John. But I project that it will not happen sooner but later, the healing. I hope he chooses to follow his doctors and counselors advice to the letter.
6. Two nights ago our carbon monoxide detector started beeping. The beeps it would make when its time to change the batteries. I called my husband. He's the one that installed it. I change the batteries as instructed. But I was going to do that anyway. It didn't beep until the next morning. It began as a faraway whine, then became full blast in 30 seconds. No one felt tired, sick or any other symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning.
So I removed one battery. We left the house for most of the day. When we returned in evening, I called the fire department. It turns out that with the brand of detector we have the batteries have to be installed in a certain order. Our carbon monoxide level is 0 pmp. A triumph. We are all alive and we don't need to repair our furnace today.
7. Those baby washcloths can be dangerous. Especially if they go down my 100 year-old tub, to plug my house pipes. I looked for a wire hanger. We have one especially for emergencies such as this. I never use it, my husband does. Where could he have put that? He's not hard to figure out when it comes to things like this.
It took me 30 seconds to find it in our furnace room of all places. Of course I didn't need him to tell me where it was when he was telling me by phone how to disassemble the pipes in the basement. I chose not to take apart the pipes. I didn't even need the wire hanger. It seems that those dangerous baby washcloths are small enough to go all the way to the city sewer system.
8. This week I have had help whenever I have needed it. My friends and neighbors have taken my kids when I needed to have iron infusions, one very dear friend, Aleesha drove me to and from the hospital, where I spent4 hours getting my iron. I have a medication that they give me that makes me drowsy, so I can't drive home afterward. I canned beef stew at the local cannery, visited my husband in the hospital. They have all been there for me. Melissa, who has been inviting me to her house for a Mary Kay facial for the past couple of weeks, made my Friday with one this week. My family has been too. I even had lunch with a cousin of mine. She is my age. We haven't seen each other for years. It turns out we have a lot in common. She is seriously funny. I follow her blog and am reading her latest book. So thanks, Mom and Dad, Karen, Melissa, Aleesha and Terri, who have helped this weeks tragedies become become eight triumphs. Thanks to my husband John for the troubleshooting on the tub and carbon monoxide detector crisis from the hospital.
I'll list some of the triumphs first.
1. A reaffirmation that homeschooling my 10-year-old son is going the be a great choice.
2. Our family outing with my parents and on of my sisters and her family to see a movie in Salt Lake City about Joseph Smith.
3. Shopping with my kids at Kohls and saving 50% on everything. I even got a new bra.
4. I just heard last night that my nephew and his wife had a baby girl. That makes my sister who is 2 years younger than me a grandma and her husband a grandpa.
5. My husband is hospitalized again to treat his illness, Bi-polar depression. How is this a triumph? Read on.
6. Our furnace is working and not malfunctioning to the point of us not waking up one morning in another place.
7.Last night my bathtub drain was only plugged momentarily with a baby wash cloth.
8. Friends and family who are there for us in every crisis, the big mostly not the plugged drain ones.
Now to give a little detail.
1. Joseph is a meticulous folder of his baby sisters clothes. Mommy, "Joseph whose personal butler are you going to be?" Joseph, "this is the way all clothes should be folded". Referring to the folds he was making like the ones you only find on new, just out-of-the-package clothes. Mommy, "Why don't you fold your clothes like that, or even at all?" Joseph, "These are MEGAN'S clothes." Meaning, I love her and will do anything for her.
What a wonderful, sweet brother you have Megan. If I would have known about this desire to serve Megan earlier to such a degree, I would have taken him out of public school long ago. Really though, his personality is changing for the better, and our relationship is becoming stronger.
2. The movie was great!!! But getting my family to the car took an hour. My kids took a different elevator with Grandma Gwen. This took them to a different parking garage entirely. Even with cell phones, it took an hour to find them. Cell phones don't have reception in the garage, so if we wanted to communicate we had to enter the building every time. Are we the 16 stooges?
3. My general rule is to never, ever, take all of my kids clothes shopping together. It was Josephs turn to get a couple of things. I had $20 in Kohl's cash plus a 15% off coupon. Selena needed a pair of pants she tried on when we were shopping for dresses for the Valentines dance a week before; but put them back on the shelf. I would expect her to try and sneak them into the shopping cart not back onto the store shelf. I have great kids. I never have to worry about extra items when I check out that I didn't know about. Maranda came along for the ride. Secretly hoping she would score something. It was no secret to the "Mommy of Light".
She knows and sees all when it comes to her kids. Maranda did score 2 shirts for $7.00 each minus the discounts. Selena and Joseph had only one(five) pushing, slapping, interaction. He was benched by the ref,I being the referee, literally. They have benches on the way out of the store. He didn't like sitting half-way-in and half-way-out of the store, alone. But it worked. Thanks Kohls, for the time-out benches. You must have known a lot of moms with kids would be in your store every day.
Oh, yes and I have a new bra. If you a well endowed middle-age mom, then you know how difficult it is to find a good supportive, yet comfortable bra that fits. It usually takes me three tries of buying and wearing to find one I like. Just when I do my body changes, or they stop making the bra I like. Saggy, deflated boobs are difficult to make look like the opposite, like what I had when I was 20. I want to look like that again. Hey my mom does! Not like me but like herself when she was 30 years younger. Not fair!! I inherited my Grandma Mathisen's sagginess, and my Aunt Shirley's and Great- Grandma Kinslows size. When I was growing up I didn't want to be like my mom esp. when I was a teenager. Now I do want to be just like her
especially when it comes to breast form.
4. This isn't my triumph, but it is always a happy event when a baby is born. My nephew Wyatt and his wife, Prudence had a baby girl this week. My triumph may be that my younger sister is a Grandma before me. However that may be a triumph for her that she is a Grandma first.
5. It will be a triumph for the whole family if this time he gets the treatment he needs and can be healed. My husband John. But I project that it will not happen sooner but later, the healing. I hope he chooses to follow his doctors and counselors advice to the letter.
6. Two nights ago our carbon monoxide detector started beeping. The beeps it would make when its time to change the batteries. I called my husband. He's the one that installed it. I change the batteries as instructed. But I was going to do that anyway. It didn't beep until the next morning. It began as a faraway whine, then became full blast in 30 seconds. No one felt tired, sick or any other symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning.
So I removed one battery. We left the house for most of the day. When we returned in evening, I called the fire department. It turns out that with the brand of detector we have the batteries have to be installed in a certain order. Our carbon monoxide level is 0 pmp. A triumph. We are all alive and we don't need to repair our furnace today.
7. Those baby washcloths can be dangerous. Especially if they go down my 100 year-old tub, to plug my house pipes. I looked for a wire hanger. We have one especially for emergencies such as this. I never use it, my husband does. Where could he have put that? He's not hard to figure out when it comes to things like this.
It took me 30 seconds to find it in our furnace room of all places. Of course I didn't need him to tell me where it was when he was telling me by phone how to disassemble the pipes in the basement. I chose not to take apart the pipes. I didn't even need the wire hanger. It seems that those dangerous baby washcloths are small enough to go all the way to the city sewer system.
8. This week I have had help whenever I have needed it. My friends and neighbors have taken my kids when I needed to have iron infusions, one very dear friend, Aleesha drove me to and from the hospital, where I spent4 hours getting my iron. I have a medication that they give me that makes me drowsy, so I can't drive home afterward. I canned beef stew at the local cannery, visited my husband in the hospital. They have all been there for me. Melissa, who has been inviting me to her house for a Mary Kay facial for the past couple of weeks, made my Friday with one this week. My family has been too. I even had lunch with a cousin of mine. She is my age. We haven't seen each other for years. It turns out we have a lot in common. She is seriously funny. I follow her blog and am reading her latest book. So thanks, Mom and Dad, Karen, Melissa, Aleesha and Terri, who have helped this weeks tragedies become become eight triumphs. Thanks to my husband John for the troubleshooting on the tub and carbon monoxide detector crisis from the hospital.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wedding Anniversaries
We just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on February 13th. That doesn't sound so momentous.
Except to us. These first 2 years have had every conceivable big life event you can think of.
The birth of our daughter, a flair-up of my disease from the post-birth, near death experience I had. It took me a year + to recover and I still receive IV iron transfusions. A business loss. Blending of two families. A crisis with my husbands depressive disorder. We have accomplished much and are now richly blessed with healthy children, stable income, enough to meet our needs and more. A new, used car that fits everyone. My husband is back in college all paid for courtesy of the Veterans Administration.
We have had other marriages prior to ours. So we began our marriage with some experience.
We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I had a delightful, peaceful meal. I enjoyed watching Megan
try hot and sour soup from Dad, eat rice, mostly with her hands. I even remembered my camera for some candid video. Thanks honey for doing all the work with Megan, so that I could rest, relax and enjoy my time
with you and Megan.
Except to us. These first 2 years have had every conceivable big life event you can think of.
The birth of our daughter, a flair-up of my disease from the post-birth, near death experience I had. It took me a year + to recover and I still receive IV iron transfusions. A business loss. Blending of two families. A crisis with my husbands depressive disorder. We have accomplished much and are now richly blessed with healthy children, stable income, enough to meet our needs and more. A new, used car that fits everyone. My husband is back in college all paid for courtesy of the Veterans Administration.
We have had other marriages prior to ours. So we began our marriage with some experience.
We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. I had a delightful, peaceful meal. I enjoyed watching Megan
try hot and sour soup from Dad, eat rice, mostly with her hands. I even remembered my camera for some candid video. Thanks honey for doing all the work with Megan, so that I could rest, relax and enjoy my time
with you and Megan.
Mindful Women
My husband and I decided that I should have money set aside in our family budget for a massage, for me.
This month is the beginning of the monthly massage.
A little background note here; I am married to a former massage therapist. The important word here is former.
For several reasons, that I won't share he will not give anyone, even his wife a therapeutic massage. If I am lucky I can get a 2-3 minute mini-one. And let me tell you it is a mini one. If he does begin a massage his hands never reach my legs.
I have fibromyalgia/cfc . So for me a massage isn't just a luxury. It has become a necessity.
Last week I had my one hour of time for my body and me. I have chosen a spa called Mindful Women.
While I was enjoying the blissfulness, a thought came to my mind. Are we mindful women? I concluded that
I view myself as mindful of many, many things. They include: my family, my husband and children, my extended family, my neighbors, the people I interact with at my local supermarket, my relationship with my God, my home,my country and even the world. I know many women whom I consider mindful women.
I believe that it is the women that rule the world. We do so quietly, through our influence on our children, our
husbands, our co-workers, our community and so on. Now through the medium of the internet so many of us that wouldn't have been heard in the past, can be heard all around the world, influencing others we may never know. So much is said today about our "carbon footprint". More importantly, what is our person-to-person footprint. Are we mindful of our daily interactions with each person we come in contact with? I know I am trying to be. I also know I can do better.
Here is a challenge. Take the next week and be aware of how you treat everyone you have some sort of interaction with. Even customer service people on the phone. Make a note of some of your interactions,
whether they are positive or negative and see what kind of person-to-person footprint you are leaving.
Most importantly; remember your family, they are the most important people you will ever know!!
This month is the beginning of the monthly massage.
A little background note here; I am married to a former massage therapist. The important word here is former.
For several reasons, that I won't share he will not give anyone, even his wife a therapeutic massage. If I am lucky I can get a 2-3 minute mini-one. And let me tell you it is a mini one. If he does begin a massage his hands never reach my legs.
I have fibromyalgia/cfc . So for me a massage isn't just a luxury. It has become a necessity.
Last week I had my one hour of time for my body and me. I have chosen a spa called Mindful Women.
While I was enjoying the blissfulness, a thought came to my mind. Are we mindful women? I concluded that
I view myself as mindful of many, many things. They include: my family, my husband and children, my extended family, my neighbors, the people I interact with at my local supermarket, my relationship with my God, my home,my country and even the world. I know many women whom I consider mindful women.
I believe that it is the women that rule the world. We do so quietly, through our influence on our children, our
husbands, our co-workers, our community and so on. Now through the medium of the internet so many of us that wouldn't have been heard in the past, can be heard all around the world, influencing others we may never know. So much is said today about our "carbon footprint". More importantly, what is our person-to-person footprint. Are we mindful of our daily interactions with each person we come in contact with? I know I am trying to be. I also know I can do better.
Here is a challenge. Take the next week and be aware of how you treat everyone you have some sort of interaction with. Even customer service people on the phone. Make a note of some of your interactions,
whether they are positive or negative and see what kind of person-to-person footprint you are leaving.
Most importantly; remember your family, they are the most important people you will ever know!!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Unexpected Surprise of the Day
This is what I found myself doing while waiting to see a doctor for about
two hours this afternoon.
Joseph was with me, he is 10. We were using the latex exam gloves as sling shots of sorts.
He sat across the exam room from me about 5 feet. We shot the gloves at each other. We would aim and try to launch our gloves at the same time, but I just couldn't quite do it on the count of 3. I was always a half a second to soon or to late, and mine sometimes wouldn't fly at all, it just dropped at my feet. We had exhausted all the other entertaining things a person can do while waiting, me sitting on an exam table, half dressed, in a patient gown. Which are, see how tall we are, weigh ourselves, smell the garbage can inside and declare it to smell good. Because it smells like alcohol. That was Joseph. Not me. We had
already sat and sat and sat in the waiting room. I reading my book about leadership education. He having walked up and down the length of the clinic building floor twice. It is very long. It is a huge tower attached to a hospital in Salt Lake City.By the time I was called back to the exam room, he was very tired, thirsty and bored. He had also played a game on my cell phone and visited the restroom, got 2 drinks from the water dispenser thingy, ate some crackers, he earlier, said he didn't like, chewed a piece of bubblegum, and asked, when is it your turn, when is it your turn, a few times.
The exam glove game was a lot of fun. I even found myself ducking for cover, and laughing, just because Joseph as a contagious kind of, Woody-the-Woodpecker, laugh.
So I know next time I have any kind of medical appointment or procedure or anything like this; the person to
take with me is Joseph.
two hours this afternoon.
Joseph was with me, he is 10. We were using the latex exam gloves as sling shots of sorts.
He sat across the exam room from me about 5 feet. We shot the gloves at each other. We would aim and try to launch our gloves at the same time, but I just couldn't quite do it on the count of 3. I was always a half a second to soon or to late, and mine sometimes wouldn't fly at all, it just dropped at my feet. We had exhausted all the other entertaining things a person can do while waiting, me sitting on an exam table, half dressed, in a patient gown. Which are, see how tall we are, weigh ourselves, smell the garbage can inside and declare it to smell good. Because it smells like alcohol. That was Joseph. Not me. We had
already sat and sat and sat in the waiting room. I reading my book about leadership education. He having walked up and down the length of the clinic building floor twice. It is very long. It is a huge tower attached to a hospital in Salt Lake City.By the time I was called back to the exam room, he was very tired, thirsty and bored. He had also played a game on my cell phone and visited the restroom, got 2 drinks from the water dispenser thingy, ate some crackers, he earlier, said he didn't like, chewed a piece of bubblegum, and asked, when is it your turn, when is it your turn, a few times.
The exam glove game was a lot of fun. I even found myself ducking for cover, and laughing, just because Joseph as a contagious kind of, Woody-the-Woodpecker, laugh.
So I know next time I have any kind of medical appointment or procedure or anything like this; the person to
take with me is Joseph.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Today Is What It Is Part II
I just started homeschooling my 10 year-old son, Joseph. We began on Wednesday. It went well, considering, I had spent the past evening in the ER at the University Hospital. They couldn't find the reason for my PAIN!
The pain med. was great. My room in the hall was not. There was a curtain that I could pull around my gurney but there were windows looking into a room with a patient in it. A wall of windows. Hmm. I think I should be billed the non-room or only a hall fee. When they offered to have me stay overnight for observation; I said, "no thanks," I prefer my bed-'room'. I can observe myself. After all I was a nurse for more that two decades.I canned pork chunks at my church wet-pack cannery on Friday. I was there promptly at 8AM, after getting up at 6AM, taking my first child Maranda to an early morning religion class, then getting dressed. Oh, I am sort of dressed when I drive her to her class but not in clothes I would be seen in public wearing. Then I took my second child, Selena to school. Maranda walks from her religion class to school. I think, I combed my hair. Sometimes I forget to do that. I know I brushed my teeth, because I had some make-up on.
What does a person do when they can raw meat? I got to don a wrap-around apron, hair cover, then a long
plastic, disposable, apron. I had two pairs of gloves, one pair of cloth, and one disposable. The meat is cold!
My assignment was to put raw pork in the cans on a continuous turntable. I did this for two hours. This is so I can get a discount on the product for long-term storage. It was also the day to pick-up my hamburger I canned last month. They were also selling berries, in thirty pound boxes. I got strawberries for $26.40.
I was so blessed to see a familiar face in the pick-up line. Someone from my congregation was there to get his food. I had an appointment that I wouldn't make if I stayed, because the pick-up line was sooo long. He agreed to get my order for me. If I came back later I might have lost my berries. I still would have received my canned hamburger.
I am glad I got the berries. My family has gone crazy over them. They are the best frozen strawberries I've tasted!! Saturday we had strawberry waffles, with strawberry sauce. Yum.
We have canceled TV in our home as of this past week. We also canceled our land line. We now have cell phones & to replace the land line. Magic-jack. It is working so far. Our cell phones were free with Sprint.
My husband & I have phones that normally sell for $500. My two girls have $50 phones. This is how we got our phones and activation for free. The store had mail-in rebates. I don't do mail-in rebates. They didn't have enough of the fifty-dollar phones in stock for the four of us. So they offered us one $500 phone. When my husband had returned to the store they found another $500 phone. We also received 15% off on our contract. My girls think it is great to have their own phones. It is free to call or text from cell-to-cell. We have 1500 minutes per month on our family plan.
Today Is What It Is
Today was going to be a good day if not a great day. However, I woke-up with the flu. Blah.
My three older children were with their dad. My husband, John and my 15 month old daughter, Megan and I
were going to have as quiet a Sunday as you can expect. We attend church each Sunday, but we have
a lot of young children in our congregation. That is what I mean about quiet as you can expect.
Megan is teething. She has been for a month. All of her top teeth are coming in at once, including one molar.
She makes a lot of whining sounds. So no quiet at home today.
My husband took the baby for a drive this morning, while I napped. It is rare that I get a nap.
What mom gets a nap? Not anyone I know. Today I did for a whole hour!!
I planned to fix a nice lunch today. It was going to be beef stroganoff and fresh asparagas.
If it is still fresh, after five days in the fridge. I forget what food I buy. How can I remember?
I could make a list and post it on my fridge. I could have one of my kids do that for me.
The problem is remembering to make the list. At least I make it to the store to buy the food. But I
loose my list on the way from the house to my mini-van or from my mini-van to the store. Maybe if I
walked to the grocery store. It's only a block away, I may not loose my list. I may improve my fitness
level and see my neighborhood differently.
I think I'll put this on my to-do list tomorrow.
My three older children were with their dad. My husband, John and my 15 month old daughter, Megan and I
were going to have as quiet a Sunday as you can expect. We attend church each Sunday, but we have
a lot of young children in our congregation. That is what I mean about quiet as you can expect.
Megan is teething. She has been for a month. All of her top teeth are coming in at once, including one molar.
She makes a lot of whining sounds. So no quiet at home today.
My husband took the baby for a drive this morning, while I napped. It is rare that I get a nap.
What mom gets a nap? Not anyone I know. Today I did for a whole hour!!
I planned to fix a nice lunch today. It was going to be beef stroganoff and fresh asparagas.
If it is still fresh, after five days in the fridge. I forget what food I buy. How can I remember?
I could make a list and post it on my fridge. I could have one of my kids do that for me.
The problem is remembering to make the list. At least I make it to the store to buy the food. But I
loose my list on the way from the house to my mini-van or from my mini-van to the store. Maybe if I
walked to the grocery store. It's only a block away, I may not loose my list. I may improve my fitness
level and see my neighborhood differently.
I think I'll put this on my to-do list tomorrow.
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