Traditions

Lately, I have been asked what my family's tradition is for Christmas... it is hard to explain my family's tradition at Christmas... it has always fluctuated depending on whether or not my dad was at the fire station and which day he was at the station!

As a younger child, I remember going to my mom's parents house to open gifts on Christmas Eve, then FINALLY getting to open our gifts on Christmas morning before going to MaAlan's for breakfast and more gift opening and eventually dinner... as I got older, dad gave in to our pleas and started allowing us to open our gifts at their house on Christmas Eve before going to church with MaAlan... this allowed us the time to be together as a family with my brother and his children. Then on Christmas day we still did breakfast and gifts with MaAlan... but throw in the random year when dad had to work on Christmas... then we went to the station for dinner... craziness!!!

Some traditions that we have in our family, which even though my beloved grandmother is gone we are trying to keep alive include:
- the girls getting an ornament every year (except this year cause we didn't find any we liked)
- taking Christmas pictures all dressed up on the stairs, in front of the tree and in front of the fireplace...
- SCOTCHEROOS!!!!
- family breakfast before opening gifts (regardless of the day we open the gifts)
- for my nieces they have been able to go with my parents to pick out the tree just about every year that we have been in the new house
- I have been blessed to be part of the Marfechuk holiday traditions with decorating the tree, the advent calendar with Ana, the family (me, Blake and Ana) picture in front of the tree after we are finished, putting the angel on top of the tree (and having a picture taken as we do this) and putting Ana's first ornament on the tree. I have also participated in exchanging gifts with Blake and Ana on Christmas for several years now!

I can only hope that these traditions will continue into the future and that some day (sooner than later) I can have my own family participating in these traditions too!!!! !

One thing that I had as a child that I am wanting to be able to give to my nieces and eventually my own children is a beautifully decorated stocking... my MaAlan made stockings for me and my brother when I was little, and eventually she made stockings for my three younger cousins. I want to make stockings for my nieces that are similar to the stockings that granmda made for us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas is here again...

I can't believe that it is already time to celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus!!! It seems like just yesterday I was iced in at my friend Brian's house (see blog from Jan 07) over MLK Jr weekend!!! Alas, it is that time of the year again and we have, in usual family fashion, started the holiday process...

Last weekend I actually got to decorate the tree WITH my family, not a weekend AFTER them... Kenzie was very happy to have me there with them!!! She enjoyed seeing all of the ornaments that were hers and mine and her sissy's...

Here she is hugging her Clifford ornament... this is the ornament that she got her 2nd Christmas. She even picked him out herself!!!

Just like her Aunt Tracey, Kenzie is carrying on the Barnes tradition of taking pictures of EVERYTHING at all family get togethers... although, I would hope that I am a little more methodical about HOW I take the photos and WHAT I take photos of... thank heavens for digital cameras!!!!

Last weekend I got to decorate the tree with Blake and Ana, another tradition that was started way back when Blake was little... in all of Blake's 20 years on this planet I may have only missed a handful of years decorating the tree with him and his parents! Ana and I have a tradition of putting her first ornament on the tree together. We have a picture of me and her when she was only a few months old looking at the ornament... here (above) we are putting it on the tree in her room.

Blake just came home from working at a TU basketball game... and yes we all had on Santa hats...
Another tradition... the Blake, Ana, Tracey picture in front of the tree... this year Blake had the honor of being Santa, I am an elf and Ana is one of the reindeer...

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season despite being iced in and powerless for the past week!

Adventures of Gilligan's Island

Growing up, I can remember the intrigue and mystery of the boat that was floating off of Hwy 169 in Tulsa... what was that boat doing there off of the highway??? How did it get there???? Why would someone want a boat in the middle of a golf course??? Well, for me, the mystery was solved the first time that I went to All Star Sports Complex to play miniature golf with some of my friends... now it is my turn to be the one to help solve the mystery of the boat to my nieces. Only difference is that in 2007 you can't walk through the boat anymore because it is sinking slowly into the pond in the middle of the course like you could, say back in 1992...




Kenzie and Syrina had a blast playing mini-golf, even if Kenz didn't quite get the right idea as to how to hold the putter... or if my mom never realized that she didn't need to hit the ball hard enough to send it soaring down the freeway into the greens like at the PGA... Kenzie actually had a hole in ONE and Papa had two hole in ONEs!!! Uncle Davie had to come out to help Kenzie near the end of the course when the obstacles were more difficult, but he didn't mind being rudely woken (awaken??) by Kenzie screaming in his voicemail!!!!



All in all, a good time was had by everyone! The girls still don't quite understand how when I was their ages we could walk through the boat and even golf on it... or how the boat even played a part of the course, but they still liked the boat!!!

Birthday Fun

For Ana's 7th birthday we went to Bounce U for a Bouncing good time!!! Here are some pictures of Ana and her cousins in the Spiderweb trampoline thingy...

Here is Hallie Marie poking her head through one layer of the web... yes I was in the web with the girls...



Here is Luke looking down at me daring me to try to catch him.



Here Ellie and I are on the top layer of the web... success was ours!!!



Cousins are the best!



Even with a broken arm Ana managed to have a good time!! Here Ana was stuck in the web!!!
Below this is Ana poking her head through my level of the web!




Cousins are great... they will stick by you through thick or thin!!!! Kami is one of the bestest big sisters ever! I think she learned from the best on how to be a big sister... just look at her mom and her Aunt Kiki! All the kids are great siblings... Kami to Ellie and Luke, Ellie to Luke and Kami, Hallie to Lauren and Maggie, Lauren to Maggie and Hallie... and great to each other!!!



Ana, Hallie and Ellie... the almost triplets... October, January, and September babies!!!



Luke and Lauren... almost twins... born 6 weeks apart!!!!



I am glad that I got to experience the joys of seeing all of my kids grow and play at the party! It has been too long since I had seen Kami, Ellie, and Luke... let alone all together!!!! Fun was had by all, including the adults... Aunt Knit, Kimbo (AKA Aunt Kiki) and I joined in the fun with the kids on the obstacle courses... there are pictures of all of us... just don't have them!!!

365 days later

365 days ago my world crashed down around me... the world as I knew it ceased to exist anymore. My best friend, my mentor, my rock, my center of support, my grandmother passed away very unexpectantly.

365 later, I look back at how my life has changed. How much I have had to learn to be independent of someone I had been so dependent on for 26 years. I still feel like there is a very wide gorge in my heart that will never be filled in and that I will never be completely whole again. But in this past year, I have learned how to turn to my parents for support and to believe in myself.

365 days have past, and yet it feels so new to me, it is as if I am hearing the news for the first time. I woke up in tears just a week ago from a dream that I was at my grandma's funeral... A day doesn't go by that I want to call my grandma, a day doesn't go by that I don't want to stop at her house to chat and sit on the porch swing. A day doesn't go by that I don't wish I could just have one more day with her to tell her how much I really did love her and how much she really meant to me. A day doesn't go by that I don't wish that she had actually sat down and took the time to write how what she wanted us to do with her belongings... so that my dad and uncle wouldn't be in the middle of a battle field when it comes to the sentimental items that we cherished the most.

Alberta Mae Perkins Barnes, born July 10, 1930 and left us to be with her heavenly family Oct. 6, 2006. She was a well respected woman loved by all that met her. I was so blessed to have her in my life for the 26 and a half years that she was here. I consider myself lucky to have had a close relationship with my grandmother. I had something that most children don't have with their parents, let alone their grandparents. I know that my grandma is looking down on me from heaven and that she is happy. I know that she wouldn't want me to be sitting here on my bed crying. She would be sitting with me on my bed holding me and telling me that it would be all right that I would see her when I get to heaven.

Here is what I wrote about my grandmother when I wrote her life story for her funeral.

Alberta was born Alberta Mae Perkins on July 10, 1930 to Edwin Fritz and Velma Perkins in Hartsburg, Missouri. After the passing of her mother, she was raised by her grandma Perkins. She spent her summers with her father, step-mother, and two brothers, Virgil and Bob. In high school, she enjoyed spending time with her friends, going dancing, listening to big band music, going to the local store to get a soda. When needed, Alberta chose to get a job to help her family instead of finishing school; she did receive her diploma through a correspondence program. Later, Alberta moved to St. Louis, MO where she worked in a sewing factory. In 1952, she met and married her husband, Aurben Cordell (A.C). They were married August 3, 1953 in Kansas City. They moved to Tulsa after their marriage where they started their family with the addition of Alan in 1955 and the next addition of James in 1957.

When the boys were growing up, Alberta was active in every part of their lives. She participated in PTA at Kendall Elementary, was a den mother while the boys were in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and was the neighborhood mom. She managed to raise Alan and James to adulthood despite their best efforts to not reach adolescence. The boy’s friends knew that they were welcome at the Barnes home at any time. At one point, Alberta received the nickname of “the Beast” from some of the boys that hung out at the house. Not only did she raise her own children, she contributed to the upbringing of many other children in the neighborhood and in the homes of the people for whom she worked.

In 1978, Alberta officially became a grandmother when Duane joined the family. Then in 1980, she was blessed with her first granddaughter, Tracey Lynn.


Duane and Tracey were her pride and joys until Jamie, Sister, and Joseph came along to share the spotlight.
She made many of the dresses that Tracey wore as a child, as well as other clothes for her and Duane. She also made extravagant costumes for all of the grandkids for various performances. The grandkids had a variety of ways of getting Alberta’s attention, she would respond to Grandma Alan, MaAlan, Grandma Barnes, great Grammy, and even Bertie. Her passion for classic movies rubbed off on the grandkids, as well as her love for big band, barber shop quartets, and 40’s music. She was always very supportive of her grandchildren, and would drop what she was doing to attend a school play, sporting event, recital, church service or to take them to an event. She made sure that the grandchildren were exposed to many different cultures and other life experiences. Tracey remembers going to the Tulsa Little Theater for every production for several years, then latergoing to the PAC and TU theater productions. Going to a theater production was a special outing and a reason to get dressed up.

Later, Alberta enjoyed the blessing of seeing her great grandchildren grow and mature. Misti, Syrina, and McKenzie loved going to great grandma Alan’s house while spending time with their Grammy and Papa. It was a treat for the girls to come to Grandma Alan’s house to play and to sew. Alberta loved all of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In Tulsa, Alberta attended Harvard Avenue United Methodist Church, where she was active in just about every aspect in the running of the church. If there was something that needed to be organized, run, or finished at the church, Alberta was the go-to gal. She has coordinated the Sunday School program, Vacation Bible School, United Methodist Woman programs, Mother-Daughter Banquets, and even coordinated costumes for the annual Christmas programs at various times. Alberta was very active in the church, if the doors were open; she was there regardless of how she felt.

In her spare time, between church functions and her family, Alberta enjoyed reading books, working on her cross stitch projects, making quilts, sewing and making alterations, ironing, playing cards, and watching her soap operas. She always had several books going at once and could keep each story separate. At any given time, one could find Alberta working on one craft project or another; she made both of her sons Christmas stockings as well as all five of her grandchildren. She also cross stitched birth announcements for many special children in her life. Another of Alberta’s specialties was making alterations to formal dresses and every day clothes for her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

As a child of the Great Depression and growing of age during the Second World War, her penchant for attention to details and finishing what she started was firmly rooted in her personality. These qualities played in all of her actions through out her life. Her cooking skills were also honed during this time. Her agricultural background allowed her to be able to take the simplest ingredients and make them seem as sufficient a meal as the Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. She was known especially for her much requested angel food cake, green beans, fried chicken, and her notorious scotcheroos.

Alberta will be remembered by all as being supportive, a listening ear to hear the good and the bad stories, easy going, helpful of others, all-knowing, dedicated, loyal, faithful, dependable, patient, loving, a leader, and always being right. She has been credited with the teaching of others to complete household tasks such as ironing, dusting, cooking, sewing, amongst other life skills. She had a knack for keeping in contact with her family near and far, as well as her friends from her childhood. The boys remember that Alberta never learned to ride a motorcycle despite the numerous lessons from them and A.C. In recent years, Alberta received her driver’s license and started driving after many years of being a passenger.

She has gone on to heaven to meet her Lord and Savior as well as to enjoy being with her family and friends that have preceded her in death.

I know I can't live in the past that I have to live for today and for the future... I have to keep the memory of my grandmother alive by doing the things for my nieces that she did for me... to remind my nieces of what their great grandma Alan was all about. It is alright to remember my grandma and to smile and even shed a tear - but I can't live in the past and live with regrets...

Here's to 365 more days of my life and my future and remembering my grandma.

Prayers for Military

Family and Friends~

I wanted to take a moment to ask you a grand favor... two of my close friends are deploying this week for Iraq... If you could please add Todd Frantom and Jeremy Crombie to your prayer list I would be appreciative.

My best friend Jeremy was over in Saudi in 2003 when the war first started and Todd was in the Arabian Sea at the same time. They both returned home safely that time and I am confident that they will return home safely again.

I know that Todd is a little apprehensive of this mission since he is going to be a combat journalist with the Navy SEALS. I don't know what part of Iraq he will be, but if he has reason to be concerned then I am sure the concern is warranted.

Thanks for this favor. I pray for all the military that are currently serving our country, providing us with the freedom that we all love and take for granted.

I HEART CLAREMORE!!

I just wanted to briefly let everyone know that I am doing great back in Tulsa! I have started working at Claremont Elementary as half of the speech therapy team... my partner in crime (or the rest of Trouble as we have become known) is a recent grad from TU. She is totally awesome! We have the BEST principal in the whole wide world in our building! She is so upbeat, easy going, approachable, and fun! We can ask her anything and if it is a request she gets right on it and let's us know what is going to happen regarding said request. So far I have 49 children that I am going to be serving and from those 49 there are a few (probably about 10) that will be dismissed soon...

I miss my babies in Ft Worth, but the stress level here is NOTHING!!! It is nice to leave work at the end of the day witha smile on my face, and that smile isn't because I am leaving!

I will post pictures of my apartment as soon as I take them! I haven't gotten around to that...

Moving, Work, Unpacking... OH MY!

Well I have diligently been working on getting some of the clutter out of my apartment every night when I get home from work, but so far I haven't noticed much of a change!

I think that I am going to enjoy my job in Claremore, once I get over these new terms such as RED meetings and MEETS meetings and CARGs and whatever else terms Oklahoma uses that are so foreign to me! I am starting to make some friends in Claremore and even some new friends in Tulsa! The girl that I am going to work with (there are 2 SLPs in our building) is completely crazy and awesome! She cracks me up all the time!

We have been going through materials in our classroom... what treasures we have found! I found a 1948 copyrighted version of on eof the DICK & JANE books on our shelves!!! Not to mention the Speech-Language textbooks that were left behind that are all copyrighted between 1937 - 1952... think those have the most up-to-date techniques in them??? We are trying to figure out what to do with these old textbooks... one thought has been to go on the Antiques Roadshow to see if they are worth anything!!! We have repainted our classroom, and moved everything BACK into our room and sorted through stuff once... with intentions to purge more really old materials in the near future.

Other fun stuff in my life includes receiving a letter from the State Dept of Education notifying me that they did not have my test scores from the National test that I took before I graduated... According to everyone I have spoken with, it appears that my scores were never sent out to the locations that I designated on the form when I took the test back in 2004! So now I am frantically trying to find MY copy of the test scores so that I can fax them to the state to get my temp license before school starts on Thursday! The problem is that I can't find my current state (Tx) and National (ASHA) license cards, or my folder that has all my credential stuff in it from college! I think they were left in Texas, or at least it appears that way to me still!

Pictures of my apartment are still to come... haven't made it that far yet in the process of sharing with everyone!

Moving Stinks!

Well... I finally managed to get about 95% of my stuff packed on my own with no thanks to the lack of help from my closest friends who all said that they would help me... (I'm over it now...) Trevor drove the trailer up to Tulsa on Friday and arrived about 10 pm, while I drove up earlier in the day.

Saturday we spent most of the morning with my dad unloading the trailer. It is coming along. I think I am going to like it, despite the lack of cabinet space in the kitchen and bathroom... I think I had more cabinets in my one bedroom apartment in college... maybe I should have requested the bigger apartment... hmmm... but for now, 630 sq ft is fine for me... I will just be creative as to where I put my baking pans and my rubbermade storage containers... and my blow drier... and....

I will post pictures of my new place as soon as I have more than just the bed made and the couch/loveseat in place!

It started when she bought a shower curtain...

So Tuesday Jen and I set out on the adventure of finding me some living room furniture for my new apartment. We ventured to Dallas to the RoomStore clearance center. Found furniture that I liked then headed to the BIG LOTS store that was down the strip. That is when it all happened...

It started when Jen picked up this shower curtain and said, oh so innocently I might add:

J: This would be cool in the guest bath room don't you think? Especially since we both travel so much...
T: It is cool...

Hindsight being what it is you know... 20/20... I should have probably chosen different words... especially if I had known what was going to take place once we got home...

Now, you know... when the boys are away... the girls will play... which is EXACTLY what we did...

We got home and put up the new shower curtain... NICE... looked great... looked up and realized that the flowery border did nothing for the shower curtain or the room... so... Jen gets the ever creative idea of putting some airplane pictures up in the bathroom. Not a big stretch for her since she IS a flight attendant and her husband a pilot... cool... no problem... well.... actually problem... flowery border... which lead her to this suggestion...

J: We could take the border down and put new border up... think we could find a border with airplanes in it... that would really tie the room together...
T: OH yeah... that should be easy... we can go to Lowe's when we go get our pictures...

An hour later we returned to start our "project..." Here is where the playing came into effect...

We started to peel the border off of the wall. All is going well until we got to the long wall that is across from the sink/toilet/cabinet... Me being the ever creative person that I am, thought it would be wise to stand on the toilet (the lid was down) and put my foot on the towel rack across from the toilet...

As you see here... I am about to fall off of the toilet and through the wall... why might you ask? Well... because as I was usin the towel rack for balance... the bar fell... and broke... so here I am, laughing as I caught myself on the wall...

And here I am using the edge of the rack to balance myself while I pulled a really long strip of wallpaper border from the wall...

I must say this at this point... I HAD NOT BEEN DRINKING AT THIS POINT...

But since the towel rack broke, we had to go to Wal-Mart at 11:00... must replace the towel rack that I broke... I'm a good person like that!

Here Jen and I posed for a picture while both standing on ONE chair...


Jen was very proud of herself... She was getting the yucky border off the wall... with little problems!

NOW WE WENT TO WAL-MART... and upon our return... Jen made lemondrop martini's for the two of us... remember that I do not partake in the drinking scene very often if at all...
My second (and last) drink of the night... didn't need any more since I was getting to be quite silly... Scott, the husband, was getting a little jealous since I never drink when he is around!

Here I am applying extra paste to the back of the border... better safe than sorry! Even with my impaired state of mind I had the common sense to add more paste!!!!

Yea, she is a natural blonde... (and I love her for it!) She looks like she is trying to advertise for the paste company!

The LAST section of wall paper in the front bathroom... notice the use of the word FRONT or GUEST bathroom... The time was approximately 2 am... and I was really tired and tipsy... I nearly tripped over the edge of the tub trying to stand up on the edge and then proceeded to almost hit my head on the shower head when the paper fell on me!

Jen wanted to be sure that we didn't leave any bubbles or "pimples" in the paper before we went into the OTHER bathroom... Yes I did say OTHER... we proceeded to go into her master bath and put up the remaining paper on two walls. It looks really good in there with the decor she already has up!

Before admiring our finished product... Jen and I thought we would attempt to put up the new towel rack in the guest bathroom... I caught Jen in the act of trying to figure out exactly what the orange "L" shaped thing was in the hallway...


Here she is examining the instructions for the towel rack. I think she gave up just from looking at the template!!!!


Now she is wondering what the orange thing is... and to think she was bragging to me earlier about how she knew how to use power handtools!!!! :)


Oh wait... it works better with a battery in it!!! Actually the battery never charged, even after being plugged in over night! We had to have the neighbor come over with her big girl tools to install the towel racks!!!

After this adventure we went out to get frames for the pictures that we were going to put on the main wall of the bathroom. We decided that the two frames we made last night were going to go above the toilet... and the third frame was going to go in the hallway. We went to my house and uploaded some vintage airplanes that Trevor and I saw at different airshows and a few pictures that one of my friends has taken in the Navy. These prints turned out awesome!!! Except... I broke the glass in one of the frames...

I'll post the final pics of the frames much later in the day. At this point, the 28 min nap I managed to squeeze in today is starting to wear off and having only had a few meager hours of sleep over the last few nights... I think I should sign off now...

GUYS: Remember... that when you go out of town and leave your wives/girlfriends/whatever you want to call the lady of your life at home... you may come home to some new decorations and a slightly higher credit card bill... so....

MORAL OF THE STORY (for the guys): ALWAYS take the time to take your significant lady with you when you go on trips.... at least attempt to make the effort to include her... don't tell her it is too inconvenient to pick her up at the airport if she has to arrive after you... PICK HER UP... unless you don't mind coming home to find your furniture rearranged, your bedroom a different color, new wallpaper in the house... and possibly even a different car in the driveway... :)

Blessed

I feel so blessed... here it is nearing the end of July and what am I doing at almost 9:00 am... I am still laying in bed relaxing with no intentions of getting up anytime real soon!

In all seriousness, I feel blessed because of the people that are in my life. I have been laying here for the past hour looking at my friends profiles on myspace and reading blogs and comments, as well as reading the blogs of my friends on here. I love being able to look at the pictures of the kids and everyone that are posted. It makes me realize that I am truly blessed... I have the best friends a person could ask for!

I am blessed because I am not only part of the Barnes family... I am part of the Blakemore extended family... part of the lives of such wonderful people that support me unconditionally. I am loved by so many people that don't have to love me! And they love me because they want to!!!! I know this sounds sooo corny and cheesy, but it makes me feel blessed.

So to my other family and my friends that read this blog, THANK YOU for blessing me and touching my life in all the ways that you do!

Toothless Friends!

What an exciting week we had last week! I watched Ana several days during the week and guess what happened!?!?!?! Her mommy went out of town and she FINALLY lost her tooth!!!! As promised, I took pictures for Ronda and here we see Ana smiling her toothless smile! She was very excited to show me that she lost her tooth while I was gone for the afternoon!!!!

Then a few days later while my nieces were over at the house playing with Ana, Kenzie lost her tooth that had been loose! So of course, Aunt Tracey being the good and wonderful aunt that she is, had to take pictures of the girls goofy grins together!!!

I can remember a time when Kenz was taller than Ana! Now Ana is taller than Kenz! The girls are so cute together! The bond that they have is very special! The two of them will probably always be good friends, kinda like Ana's cousin Jami and me!
Here the girls are posing in their ballet outfits! Yes we are at the age of dress up and dancing!!!

Flashback a few years...

I have been over at Blake and Ana's this week watching my little munchin while her mommy is out of town and her daddy is at work... I have had the fun chance to look at pics on the computer and remember the past few years... My how time has flown by!!!

Here Ana had just turned 2 a few months before... we were taking our own pictures that night while Blake was playing basketball!!!
This is a picture that I will be sure to put in Ana's SR year yearbook!!!! I remember that she got sooooo mad at me and threw the biggest fit ever when we ran out of barrettes and ponytail holders! She wanted more ponytails and barrettes in her hair! She kept signing "more" to me!!! To think, at one time this child didn't like her hair pulled up...
Here is a picture of me and Blake at his Surprise 16th birthday party... how young and innocent we were...

More flashback pictures to come!!! :)

Claremore here I come!

I made my decision last week... I am taking the job in Claremore! I will be working at Claremont Elementary School! I am now in the process of looking for an apartment or house to rent in Owasso... A nice middle point to work, Tulsa, and my parent house!

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense! I will update with pictures from the fun I am having here in Oklahoma!!!!

F is for... FRIENDS!!!

Friday night found me and Trevor getting all dressed up to go out to dinner with our friends Jenny and Scott. Jen and I got this brilliant idea a few months ago that it would be fun to get dressed up and go to dinner with the guys... since Scott and Jen are getting married next weekend (and I am coming home for a while...) we decided that there is no time better than the present to get dressed up for dinner!!! We decided to go to this quaint italian restaurant in Irving called Cafe Cipriani's. It is really good, I liked the atmosphere a lot!

Here is a picture of Scott, Jen, me, and Trevor after dinner. What fun we always have together!!!

Here is Jen and Scott together... he isn't the cameraphobe like some of us... so this picture was like pulling teeth to get him in!!!

We are two peas in a pod! Her dad says that I remind him of Jen when she was my age... look out world... there could very well be two of me out in the world!!!!

Trevor and his two blondes... what guy could ask for anymore????

More pictures to be posted later as our dinner guests have arrived and I think that we (hopefully) will be eating soon.