LollyChops

The Craft room makeover (plus a winner)!

I just loved reading all of your comments last week on your favorite spots for vacation... I was ready to take a year off and visit them all right along with you!

RonChops and I will be doing a staycation this year... just hanging out with our families and enjoying the summer.  It's already off to a great start but I could sure stand to head to a beach or two!

CraftRoom Update!
RonChops finished up my craft room floor last week (everything except the thresholds and doors cause he needs something special to get the thresholds in)! I set to work first thing on Saturday morning hauling all the stuff back in...  I decided it was time for a MEGA overhaul...  LOTS of purging...  LOTS!  I thought it might be fun to share a few pics of the whole thing!

I found the absolute perfect rug at Tuesday Morning!

It's a patchwork of flowers, butterflies and swirls!

They also had a rug that was about 95% teal and I somehow passed on it.
I'm pretty sure I was running a fever.

That's the only explanation for why I would have passed on that teal rug.

I don't have any regrets.

Honest.

None.

Zero.

Zip.

Zilch.

(if I get arrested for breaking into Tuesday Morning to steal a teal colored rug tonight... you'll know why)

Here we have the closet.

 I'm pretty sure these floors won't see the light of day until the next ice age.

...and if you think I'm joking...

...check out the aftermath...

See what I mean!?!?!

I went from 5 feet of visible floor space...

...to about 11.75 inches...

 
Remember the assortment of "items" in the living room last week???

Here we have exhibit A...

...and...

...exhibit B...

I got it ALL in there.
Every. Single. Last. Bit. 

I have MAD crazy packing skillz!

The little fence slat shelves RonChops made for me a few months ago.
I keep my music computer on them along with some other odds and ends.

Oh and I had LOTS of help from the Dogs!!!   

They made sure they laid right in front of the craft room door as I was bringing in everything from the living room.

DogChops and CharlotteChops even formed a special double dog barrier!!!

Aren't they the best????

Since I was messing with everything else, I used this as an opportunity to reorganize my shelves too! 

Can you tell!?!?!

.snort.

I'm kidding.

I can barely tell!!!

I found a giant green chicken under the rubble.

He's my new craft room mascot!

You can barely see him sitting in the window seat.

Heck...  I didn't even remember that I had a window seat until around 6pm on Saturday when I excavated it.

Here is one of my newly reorganized shelves...

...sporting some of my MANY animal statues.

I seriously like chickens, bears, birds and rabbits.

 .like, seriously. 

...and cause I can't go two weeks in a row without crafts...

MomChops saves the day!

She made me this necklace a few weeks ago.
Emily sent me THIS link and MomChops had one made for me within a few days!
(thanks Emily and MomChops)!!!

I loves it to pieces!!!!

So... on to the winner of the Front Porch Kits One Sunny Day June kit!

I asked RonChops to pick winner this time...
He read ALL of the comments.

...and was cracking up the whole time...

He said to let you all know...  that he'll never do it again.

EVER
(he asked me to put some emphasis on that part) 

That was a one shot deal.

Soo...

...the winner according to RonChops is...
Theresa "TreeFrog" Kelly
from Binky Blossoms!

Congrats Theresa!

Thanks to each and every one of you for entering!
I'll be doing another FPK giveaway for sure in the coming months! 

I'll be back next Monday with some crafts!
I found a zillion forgotten projects that I have in the works!
I can hardly wait to dig back into them! 

 Have a tealriffic week everyone!

Rainbow runaway flower collage...

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a terrific 4th of July weekend!  I did boat loads of crafts and had a nice swimming BBQ Sunday with RonChops (those are our very most favorite kinds of days ever)!!!

Friday I took off work and spent the day hanging out with MomChops (we shopped, had a nice lunch and then went back to the Chops House and sewed ALL DAY LONG)!

When we were out shopping I spied the perfect frame to make into a collage of pictures of MomChops and my sister!  It was a "vacation" frame that had a little bit of damage.  The nice cash register lady knocked 10% off the price...  I mean the "V" had dropped and the "A" was completely upside down????!!!!  Someone must have had one heck of a bad vacation!  Since I did not want the "vacation" part anyway, I was not at all sad about it and brought that fella home!

My plan was to fill the bottom part with a rainbow of flowers (and deal with what to do with the top part later)!!!

When I got started I was 100% focused on that bottom section...  cause I had wanted to do something like this for eons!

Before I started taking the frame apart I laid out all of the flowers I was going to use to make sure I had enough and that this was going to look like it did in my mind!
(I think you guys know me well enough by now to know that I always do that!!!)

When I saw it all together I was so excited I was ready to glue them to the glass and call it DONE!

...sigh...

I hated to take it apart but I had to prep everything so I could get it together for real!!

I opened up the frame and removed the "vacation" letters.
They peeled right off lickity split!

Once I started laying the flowers inside the recessed part of the frame...
I realized that this was simply not going to work!

The white background was going to peep out in between each flower...
(if it had been teal I would have been ok with it of course)

...but a white peepy background clearly would not do...
...sew...

I punched little one inch squares in rainbow colors and laid them about inside the frame...
...gluing them as I went along...

I figured this would also help me keep my sections of colors even as well!!!

Things went pretty fast from there since I had already gathered the flowers I was going to use for each section.
(some of the flowers were bought and some I had made)

I busted out my new AMAZING glue gun that I bought during the same "vacation" frame shopping trip!
(you can see it HERE)
(I heart it BIG TIME!!!)

I sadly had to retire this fella...
He's served me well for 12 solid years!

Let's have a moment of silence in honor of all the crafts he's helped me with shall we???

 

Rest in peace buddy!

Moving on...

The little squares definitely helped fill in the little peppy holes that were here and there!

I kept on gluing and finally got to my favorite section in the rainbow!

TEAL!

So in case you are wondering where the blue went...
I decided to delete blue from the rainbow and replace it with teal.

blue schmoo
(I honestly don't have a single solitary flower in plain ole blue)
.honest.
.to.
.peanuts.

So here it is...!!!
I loves it!

Now I need to work on the top part...
MomChops is digging up a bunch of her favorite pictures and will bring them to me this week...

...so I'll share the finished picture next Monday!

Now for some random stuff...

A few people have asked me how I organize my craft goodies...
So I thought I would share some of the details you never see!

I store a lot of stuff in ziploc bags!

...these are my flowers...

..and this is some of my ribbon...
(I have a whole different method for the stuff that's still on spools that I'll have to share later)

As a general rule I sort and store nearly everything by color!
It makes it super fast to find what I need...
...and since everything is in bags...
I just dump out the bag and paw through it till I find just the right piece!

I leave the bags unzipped and compress them into plastic containers.

I also store my brads and eyelets in those same type of containers.
This storage and sorting method makes it sooo easy to grab a container and start pawing!

I also sort my buttons by color and store them in little mason jars!
(me thinks I am going to be moving to MUCH larger mason jars here soon)

So that's all I have for this little section...

Now for something silly...

When RonChops and I were swimming Sunday...

I was on one side of the pool and he was on the other...

...and I hear something that kinda sounded like...

ahhhhhhwoahwhatisthat!

He jumped about a mile and was flailing his arms around!
(we'll just keep that between us girls ok???)

I am envisioning a giant wasp or snake or something...

...but lookie what jumped on him!!!!

Have you EVER seen anything cuter??????

It's FrogChops, Jr.

!!!!!!

EEKS!

I carted him around for a while and gave him a little bath!
(to remove the chlorine!!)
(The LollyChops Salon For Dogs Frogs was open for business yet again!!!)

I think he was ready to be put down at this point.
I am pretty sure that's the frog version of the evil eyeball!!!

...and lastly...

I am altering these fellas for two projects I am doing for CHA!!!

I'll share the finished peeps around July 27th.
(aren't I the meanest of the means????)

Any guesses on what I am going to do what that cart thing?????
(if you guess right I'll secretly let you know via email and give you some extra hugs)

Sew that's all I gots!  I hope you guys have a wonderful week...!!!

More hugs than you can stand!

P.S.  My owl bag class was moved to July 24 due to shipping issues (not all of the supplies came in on time)!  Email me or call Scrapper's Boutique at 817-503-0777 to get the details!

P.S.S.T.  If you want to see what I will be doing in May 2011 - take a peep HERE!!!!  EEKS!  So exciting!!!

XOXOXO's!

The "thanks for the skirts MomChops" felt flower wreath...

I have a lot of random stuff to share today (and I am going to be jumping all over the place so just grab your glue gun and follow me to the party).  I promise I'll not keep you more than 3 minutes and 42 seconds (give or take a minute or 2).

The MomChops Approach to Zen Sewing
MomChops focused her chi, did some deep breathing and magically managed to bust out the rest of my wrap skirts this past week (that's 4 wrap skirts in less than 6 days folks).  She wore her little baby bunny fingers to the bone - so I decided she needed a BIG thank you wreath.  BIG I tell ya!

The criteria for the wreath was as follows:  It had to be pink... be made from felt and fabric and contain flowers of some sort (the more the merrier I always say)!

Before we get to the wreath... segue #1
I decided to use my new craft stuff organization system (download and print freebie posted last week HERE) to help me pick out which dies I would use for my wreath project!  I am so totally in love with that silly system that I can hardly stand it.  I know you guys prolly think I am crazy (you might actually think that every time you drop in round these parts) but I love anything that makes crafting easier!

I only managed to get my Sizzix dies cataloged last week.  I have them bound with 3 plain rings for now...  (the fun cover and decorative ribbons and stuff is coming later).

I'll keep sharing my progress with this organization book as I get further into it!

Whew... what a MESS!

Clean, Clean, Clean!!!
I spent about 7 hours organizing and cleaning my craft room Saturday.  RonChops got me some fabulous bins from a hardware store that was changing out their nut and bolt containers (they are HEAVY duty and were only $5 each...  a total steal of a deal).  I made labels and sorted and sorted and sorted (and sorted).

Shudder...  the craft closet...
...of doom!

RonChops has declared this his favorite label...

Zip Ties & Cork & Mirrors

I am not sure which is weirder... that I have so many zip ties I need a special place for them...

...or that I would think to put these fellas all together.

hmmmm

Here is the craft room all nice and sparkly!

RonChops said that he couldn't tell the difference.
hmmmmmmm

.men.
I swears

The Second Skirt

So this is the material from the second skirt MomChops made me!
It's designed by Kaffe Fassett and it's called "Paperweight"
You can see it HERE.

I decided to make embellishments from felt that I could attach to the bottom of the skirt...
(thanks for all of the suggestions last week you guys... I am going to test them all out and share the results soon)

Seeing all of those elements crammed together made it hard to pick and choose my favorites...
So I decided to cut out the elements from the fabric that I liked best....
...and then I glued them into my sketch book.

Here is what I have done so far...
I am not 100% happy with them...
I dunno...  they just don't feel right to me yet!
I have some ideas I am going to play around with this week.

Think beads....  loads and loads of beads!!!
(I'll share my progress next Monday along with the 3rd skirt... and you guys can tell me what you think!!!)

The Thanks for the Skirts MomChops Wreath
The idea for this wreath came from wreaths I have seen on Etsy lately.  They are super fabulous and wrapped in yarn...  lots and lots and lots of yarn (like this one HERE).  I decided to crochet a wrap for my wreath instead of doing all that yarn wrapping!

I started with some groovy lime green yarn that MomChops had in her stash.  It's quite possibly older than the hills (not older than me cause I am older than the oldest old).

I mean seriously...check out the label of this yarn!

Clues that it's older than old:
It was only .97 cents when originally purchased in the dark ages.
It's moth proof (the moths in the dark ages evidently swarmed around like rabid dogs)
The fabulous pink, gold, and brown lettering on the package!
and ummmm the font (disco anyone???).

Hello, 1970's...  it's MomChops and I am comin' to get ya!

MomChops only had one skein and I decided to chance it and start my crochet wreath wrap...
(it's made by doing double crochet that's 7 wide (think of it as a really really long skinny crochet scarf))

...and I ran out of yarn.
I was totally bummed!

So I switched to a nice white yarn....

...and was able to wrap the whole Styrofoam wreath in a nice crochet cover!

The wreath is really dense Styrofoam so I simply lined up the edges of the crochet wrap and pinned them into the back.

Nextly...

I got out my Sizzix and started cutting flowers from various shares of pink felt!

I cut out a LOT of flowers.
(about 3 times as much as I have here)
(you guys know about and me and the excessive amount of flower usage right???)
(so that means you can forgive me for going over the top yet again right???)
(hugs)

I also made some fabric flowers from Wall Flowers Week

You guys remember these fellas don't cha?

I loves them to pieces.
(You can get the how-to from Juliana of 17 Turtles HERE)

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today....

hehehehe....

Group and stack the flowers as you see fit!
Make sure you cut out some leaves too!

Then start pinning the groupings to the wreath.

...and whatever you do...
Make sure you forget to take pics cause you get overly excited about how it's turning out!
(that's the most essential step of them all)

See...  it's craft magic!

If you close your eyes and click your heels 3 times the wreath will magically finish itself!
(fur serious)

I also used a few lucite beads (found HERE)...
...and these amazing little chrysanthemum cabochons (found HERE)...
...and some MomChops crocheted flowers (how-to found HERE)

I simply ADORE these small accents in the center of each flower!

I love seeing the wreath sweater peeping out on the side!

...and I love how the whole thing looks with all of the pinks hanging out together!

YAY!!  All done!

Sew I have a question for you guys...
I have a little dilemma....  the flowers are simply pinned into the wreath now with white headpins.  I think it adds a nice little accent...  but I am not sure if I should leave it like that.

What do you guys think....

Exhibit A (white pin flower centers)


Exhibit B (no white pin centers - I am thinking about doing french knots for the centers with beaded accents along the edges of some of the flowers)

I kinda like the white pin centers but I am afraid it almost leaves the wreath feeling half finished.  I think the french knots and beads might be a super nice touch... KWIM???

That's all I gots for today!  Thanks for hanging with me till the very end!

I'll be back next week with a super fun and EASY beading project!

More hugs than you can stand!

P.S.  XOXOXOXOXOXO's

Magic Cheese Box Productions presents... mindless ramblings!

Firstly I gotta shout out a GINORMOUS THANKS to each and every one of you for leaving me so many sweet comments last week (you guys are basically the coolest).  I was really excited to post my video tutorial (finger twinkles and all) and I got so many links and pictures of finished projects (many of you saying you grabbed paper, scissors and tweezers and busted out flowers before I was even finished gabbing!!!)!  I just totally loved the heck out of that!  So thanks again!!  :D

I am working on a video tutorial for a project I shared last year (that heart flower picture thing-a-ma-bob up top there is the 2010 version).  I'll post that finger twinkler video next Monday!  This week I'll be recording my third take of the tutorial (the first take was an hour and 15 minutes long, the second 18 minutes and hopefully this next one will be down to around 10 minutes).  Do you see a trend here?!?!  hehehe...  You can call me ChattyChops-A-Lot.

Mish Mash
So today I have this massive mish mash of stuff to share (the magic cheese box made me do it).  I'll just dive right in and explain things as I go along.

Video Camera Set-Up
Several of you asked how I had my video camera positioned so I thought I would show ya!

RonChops created this stand thingy from microphone boom stand and then he added the head from a tripod to it (so the camera would be securely connected and not crash down on me (it's pretty darn crafty - from a man craft perspective)!

The camera basically hangs right over my work area.  All we have to do is flip the video upside down and POOF...  LC tutorial videos are happenin'!

Shown to the top left is the big ole craft room view with all the crazy lights I have (there are about 5 total and they seem to do the trick since I film around 10 - 11 o'clock at night).  I try to be all artsy fartsy and bounce the lights off the walls and ceiling... I am all about being artsy fartsy whenever possible (snort)!

So for the video table area I Zot a piece of LollyChops paper down using re-positionable Zots so it does not move around on me during filming (which sounds kinda fancy but it's really not).
That also helps me to know what table area I have focused in the camera view so I am not constantly looking up to make sure I am working on screen...  Hello neck cramps, this is Lolly...
(ummm  yeah... I learned my lesson about that on my first try).

Meet OCD Lolly

I document the details from my projects in a little sketch book.

That's not weird is it???

Guys????

Ok so maybe that's just a tad obsessive.
Just a teeny tiny tad.

:)

Some of you have asked me about this so I thought I would share a few pics of my book from some of my recent projects.
That pic up there is the page from the perpetual calendar ScrapyLand project I shared last week.

Sometimes I start from a sketch and sometimes I just wing it (flap flap flap).
I document the list of the products I use (including samples and skews as well as any other details I think I need to remember).
I also document the date and approximately how long it took me to do the project (this includes brainstorming time which sometimes is WAY longer that the project takes to execute).

Disclaimer:  unless you speak, read and write chicken (aka chicken scratch)...  don't even attempt to try to read my scrawl.  It's total chaos.

The last of the year long quilt group... A Notion or Two

MomChops finished off the last of the quilt squares we needed to do for the quilt group I joined
(I should just say she joined it since she did most of the heavy lifting)!

This last one is for the organizer of the whole thing (Dana from Old Red Barn Co).
She sent each person a set of fabric in one particular color.
I got the browns.
I wonder who got the teals.
Lucky ducks.

Catherine from OriginalStitch sent me the following:  Real English tea (loose and of two different kinds), a tea strainer thingy (official English name for it - or so I'm told) and a beautiful handmade bag (which you can see hanging in my craft room off to the right in the pic way way above).
When I did my tea bag carriers two weeks ago, her and I struck up a conversation and she then wrote the most adorable post on proper tea preparation (she then promptly sent me some goodies so I could make the real thing (thanks Catherine!!!)).  You can read her sweet post HERE.

LollyChops Out and About

Dara made a cork wreath after seeing my tutorial on it a while back.
You can read all about her cork wreath making adventures HERE.

Silsine made a mini desk calendar using my calendar templates from a few weeks back.
You can see the video of the entire project she made HERE.

Daniela made some really cute Valentines projects using the rolled flowers tutorial from last week!
(she busted out this cute project and had it up on her blog and theirs in record time)!
You can see her projects HERE on the Elle's Studio blog.
LOVE them!

...Oh and Carrie from DixieMango sent me these lovely vintage canning jars!
They are too nice to put regular old supplies in so I am having the glitter deer watch over them until I can figure out an uber crafty way to display them in my craft room!

...and almost finally...
DogChops is still in love with her Christmas Goose!
(I found them just like this after she was finished playing with her Goose one fine morning)
GooseNaps are the best don't you agree?!?!?

And last to lastly...  I made a couple cards for my latest ScrapyLand DT assignment.

These pics are of bottoms only...  just cause they were the most special parts!
(as bottoms tend to be sometimes right??)

That's all she wrote... BUT...
I have one question for all of you multi-lingual girls!

How do you say "HUGS" in your language?
I have a little HUGS project planned and I need some help in that department!

So far I know "KRAM" means HUGS in Swedish...  but that's about as international as I get.  Lame right?

So please leave me a comment with some international HUGS and I'll share what I have up my sleeves SOON!

Oh and if you have some LC projects or just general crafty projects you would like to share from your blogs or Flickrs, please post a link in the comments so we can all check them out!  Spread the crafty love!

Have a souper week everyone!

More Krams than you can stands!

Lolly's Craft Room :: Loads of Pics.. no really. Loads.

I am pretty darn excited to finally share pics of my redecorated craft spaces.  After much planning and organizing and reorganizing, I am finally ready!  I have lots of pics of my main craft room re-do plus never before seen pics of the new room - The Craft Room Annex!

My very first blog post contained a few pictures of my craft room (you can see that post HERE).  One of the main reasons I even considered starting a blog to begin with was because of so many of you guys out there... I had been looking for organization ideas and found all these amazing craft blogs with craft room pics, projects, tutorials and freebies (loads and gobs of fabulous freebies)!!!!

You see - I had been living in a cave called "Corporate America" up to that point...  (who am I kidding...  I still live there...  I just break out every now and then to play some).  This craft blog stuff was completely new to me ("Lame" might actually be my middle name after that confession) and I was seriously hooked after just a few hours of poking around (can you blame me...  I mean seriously).

I remember being so darn proud of that first post.  I felt like it was the perfect subject.  I of course had no clue what I was going to do for the second post...  but I had that first one nailed... hehehe! 

You guys all know where it's gone from there right???  The 12 days of Patterns, my obsession with buttons to cover, Embroidery Week and the soon to be unveiled - Big Time Bunny Week.  Sigh.  Who knew it could turn into this craziness right???  Just from a little ole craft room post.  So here I am 6 months later sharing yet more pics of my ever-so-special place... only now it's two places cause I just kinda went a little nutty and expanded things a tad.

Our house has a castle thing going in that we have two perfectly round rooms (it even has a pointy thing at the top).  See that picture way up there of the glass balls?  Until this past weekend the first floor circle room contained only these glass balls (not even kidding).  Nothing on the walls, nothing else in the room.  Just the glass balls.  It was like a special hide-out just for them (I seriously heart those little fellas).  Since it was just sitting there empty and it's right next door to my main craft room, I decided to make that another craft room.  I usually have about 4 projects going at once and my small table was not cutting the mustard.  I needed more space folks.  Seriously needed it!

So I'll stop talking and just get to the pics.  :)  The second pic from the top is from the Main Craft Room (here on out called MCR).  I have a little window seat and love to hang out and read (well not really but I would if I had the time...honest). 

That's where I take almost all of my pics actually.  The light is fabulous and I love to use the seat as a foundation (that's why you see blinds in so many of my pics...  sorry guys)! 

The third pic is of some of my rabbit collection.  I heart rabbits.  Like..  ummm  a lot...  and the 4th pic of all of the shelves... that's what you see when you walk in...  those are my new shelves that RonChops installed for Valentine's Day (thanks Bunny...  oops...I mean RonChops)!

Moving on....

I have another table in the MCR where I keep my paper cutter, cricut and photo/everything printer.
I also have a cork board there that's loaded with cards and pretty yummies that you guys have sent me!
I keep everything.  Every scrap.  Every card..  even some of the envelopes
(the pretty decorated ones are my favs).


Here is a close-up of my cork board.
Can you see all those buttons to cover thumb tacks!
YAY for buttons to cover!!!


This is the view from the window seat.


And the view of my main table.
The door on the right is the closet and the middle door is a bathroom
(for craft room potty emergencies - mainly from laughing so hard you... well you know...)


This is just another view of the other side of the room.
Nothing fancy over this way...that little bed there is where HarrietChops hangs out.


This is my small pittance of a sewing table...
can you even see it????


Some pics of my new shelves.  Packed to the gilders.


Some of my punches.
I keep them right behind me so I can get to them easy as pie.


Another view of the shelves.
I am almost ashamed of how much paper I have.
I had to split it up so I would not take the wall down.


...and this is a view out the door...
Do you can see The Craft Room Annex over there to the right?
Peep...  there it is!


Here she is.  The Craft Room Annex!
Since MCR is for bunnies...
I figured The Craft Room Annex would be dedicated to the birds...
...only I locked up a bunny in the bird cage to be crafty.


I had to keep my glass ballies in there...of course!
That's the kitchen off to the right.


Here is my photography light box in it's new home...
My beads to the right and my cricut cartridges
...and misc jewelry supplies to the left.


Close-up view.


Close-up view of my beads and my jewelry class tote.
Through the door is the front door and the MCR.


Here is another view.

And lastly...

A close-up of my bunny (I made him in ceramics) in his bunny/bird cage!

So there you have it.  The Craft Room Annex is mostly for jewelry making and photography.  The light in there is pretty fantastic.  I have not yet worked in there but I am going to this weekend!!

I would share pics of the closet... but how in the heck do you think I got things looking this clean for the photos???  I shoved everything into the closet (MomChops came over this past weekend and was cracking up when I opened the closet to get something...  I think the stacks of paper were literally cascading out of it)...  hehe...(true confessions right)...  I keep my fabric in there all organized by color on shelves RonChops made for me...  plus I have more paper and frames and all sorts of stuff I stash away to use in my projects.  If I feel brave and it looks clean enough I'll post a pic of it someday!

Share your space!!!
How much bribery am I gonna have to dole out to get you guys to share pics of your craft spaces?!?!?!  I would love to see them (it's a mini addiction of mine...  I still scour the internet for craft room/space/corner/couch/closet pics).  Pretty please send them my way and I'll post whatever I get next Wednesday ok!  If you do not want to send pics...  how about you leave me a comment with the place you craft in (is it a converted chicken coup or perhaps a corner of your bedroom)?  I will gather everything together and share your comments with any pics I get!?!?!  If I don't get any pics I might get sad and cry.  I am serious as a pack of peanuts ok.

Wednesday HUGS!

P.S.  Here is a pic of how my craft table REALLY looks most of the time.  I took this when I was creating the pattern for Wendy the Bird...  and working on some cards, and download and print freebies and evidently also making jewelry.  heh...  See what I mean?  If I can share this..  you can share your pics too right???



P.S.S.  C'mon you guys.  It'll be fun.  I swears!!!