Thursday 31 July 2008

Day 11

So what did we do today? Boring things such as sorting out paperwork, laundry, keeping up with FLYlady and hoovering but we also did some fun things!

The monkeys made super scrumptious pink fairy cakes. They were so delicious that I had to write down the recipe for my friend where we had dinner tonight so here it is :

100 gram sugar
100 gram butter
100 gram self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence 
1 tbsp natural red food colouring

Cream the sugar and butter, add one beaten egg and a tbsp of flour, then the next and mix in remainder of ingredients, pop in a preheated over 180 C for 20 mins. The monkeys then decorated them with Swaziland strawberry jam and sugar hearts. 



I finally managed to hang this Under the Sea pocket quilt above girl monkey's bed. It is in a temporary place hence not entirely straight but at least it is up. I picked it up from the exhibition in the GMEX in March when it was still only four panels. I have since put them on a backing but it took a while to put the border and the loops on it. Girl monkey was thrilled to bits because she helped me design it. I heard about the exhibition at a time when I was low on 'Under the Sea' inspiration so she thought it would be a good idea to have something for her room. Smiles all around again.....
The monkeys and I then went to my friend Rosana where we had a lovely dinner and I came away with these fab felt pockets. I do not know yet what I am going to do with them but I think that some might be put on a denim skirt and others might turn into some jewels for an apron. I will keep you posted.


Wednesday 30 July 2008

Busy Betsy in holiday mode

Time flies, I cannot believe we are in the second week of the holidays. I always find that these 6 weeks fly by and we are always looking forward to the next summer holidays which makes the year go even faster.... I shouldn't get sentimental now. Anyway here's the diary of the first week and a bit. Nothing much happened, it was very much party, park, party, relax for those of you who can't read through the next part! 

Day 1 : Liverpool

Today the tall ships left Liverpool to start their journey around Scotland, towards Norway and onto Holland. My friend's little girl needed a new passport so we all tagged along to this fabulous parade. It was such a beautiful day, very warm and sunny but also very crowded. We managed to have a quick lunch at the Tate Cafe where the food is always great and a quick browse at the bookshop before we went to see the parade. The first ship was the Stavros Niarchos, very impressive but there were some bigger and beautifully decorated ones following. The Mexican was very impressive, the German loud (well the music played, but very jolly though) and the Dutch were represented with a couple. I remember that my brother often went to see them when I lived in Holland but I never made the effort somehow. And of course I have to show the Brazilian ship as the monkeys are a quarter Brazilian!



On the way back home from the train station I got the monkeys a little treat. They had been so good all day, not that I can complain on the whole but they had to stand up the whole way on the way there in the train and walked for miles and miles in the heat and through the crowds. So when we walked past the pound store and they saw these dinosaur eggs I couldn't resist. One of their friends had one and they grow really big I was told.


Day 2 : Whitworth Art Gallery

Hey we are back again! I told the lady at the desk we would be coming every week and so far so good. My friend and I were under the impression that the Arty Picnics had started in the museum but we had to wait another week we were told so we spend a long, long time in the Thinkspace Makespace again. Our 4 little ones had a lovely time making lots of drawings in their sketch books and we did some ourselves. I actually made some designs for Christmas decorations. Can you believe it in this heat?


We then walked on to the Manchester Museum, dubbed the Dinosaur Museum by most children here where we had our picnic, did some more drawing and then went to see the stuffed birds and the live reptiles. The monkeys were most excited about all of them although the geckos got the most outcries. How nice it is to just wander around enjoying yourself....


Day 3 : yet another children's party!

We've had lots of them in the last few weeks, the children might not be worn out but I am absolutely exhausted going from one place to the next with my hands full of presents, cakes, party bags, balloons. However this one today was at my friend's house, very relaxed. Her boy is mad about dinosaurs which is great as we were in the right place yesterday to buy his presents : we got him a dinosaur egg too, dinosaur tattoos (I bet he is going to love these), play dinosaurs, fossils, balls with dinosaurs in them. I was thrilled to get these goodies, we knew they were going to be a hit. The monkeys had a ball, all the little ones were running around in the garden, jumping in the paddling pool and having balloon races. I wish life would stay this simple forever sometimes.

Look how our little babies have grown. Sorry only just realised the funny position they are in!


Day 4 & 5 : lazy days

After the busy last few weeks and the first few busy days of the holidays we had some quiet time at home. Well I say at home, we spent our mornings doing nothing and then went for picnics and playtime in the park. Just lovely, Manchester is great when the sun shines!

In the holidays I usually make the kids 'poffertjes'. These are little Dutch pancakes and are eaten with butter and icing sugar traditionally. Occasionally a Dutch vendor comes to town and only brings the sugar and lots of squirty bottles with toppings full of e-numbers because he seems to believe that the English do not like butter but I think the best way to eat them is the traditional way. Today though was too hot to turn around about 100 little ones so we made some normal size pancakes, they were yummie!


And look at the size and shape of girl monkey's radiccio! She planted a lot of seeds in a small pots some time ago which I tried to transfer to a bigger one when they began to sprout but I think they were all too close together to grow. It was so lovely though that she had done it all by herself as a surprise and we managed to get two big ones out. This one was 10 cm! It tasted lovely, she was so pleased.


Day 6 : Party, party & party

Yep three parties. How did this happen? Girl monkey had been invited to another one but we were lucky to make it to three as they were all one after the other. But hey as it is the holidays we should have fun and I was only too pleased that one of them was for adults even though the children were still jumping on the bouncy castle. It is amazing how much better the social life of my little ones is compared to mine, what happened to all my parties?

Day 7 : Garden Party

The invitation read along the lines of there will be music, cocktails, games and some surprises. This sounded absolutely lovely for a Sunday afternoon. But hey, hang on, who's invited? Ah it will be girl monkey. She really dressed up for the occasion, I was almost jealous. Boy monkey was very upset but as it turned out he was the only boy allowed to stay and I was the only mum! I did accept gladly as Mr Betsy had a car accident this morning so I needed to relax a little. Thank goodness he was absolutely fine but it could have been so bad. Anyway seven hours and some glasses of Rose later we all had a smile on our face!


Day 8 : Liverpool again

Today was a rare occasion as we went en famille to Liverpool. Mr Betsy had been on call the day before so he was able to join us. It wasn't a smooth journey as the train had been cancelled, we had just missed our hourly bus and of course the car was wrecked but we got there just in time to see the first major Gustav Klimt exhibition in this country. It was a nice display but couldn't really interest the monkeys. They were most interested in the architectural models and we tried desperately to have them looking at all the other works. It is amazing how different you start to look at art with little ones around you. I never thought I would try to find monkeys and knights, flowers and patterns in works before admiring the composition. 


Day 9 : Whitworth again!

I need to come up with something else quickly before you give up reading! Today we did manage to join the Arty Picnic though. This was so well organised. The staff had laid out a number of picnic rugs around one of the galleries where families could sit down to eat their packed lunches. They provided nice cakes, biscuits and drinks and great craft materials. The craft object today was a camel which we then had to go and find in the gallery next door. Boy monkey got very excited and made a blue hairy one (with a bit of help from mum) and girl monkey carefully cut hers out and then went on to make two sets of headphones. You can always rely on her to bring some stage related object in the picture. It might sound boring but we will certainly go back again. I can thoroughly recommend this place. 
After spending some more time in the Thinkspace Makespace (where this time they had more fun playing with the cushions then drawing!) we went to the park next door where all the boys had to join girl monkey in her band. A branch and a lot of sticks were used to create a lovely drum set. Girl monkey put her hat in front of her as a little busker and was most surprised that no one had put money in it. Such a little entrepreneur. 



Day 10 : Lazy day

Well at least for the monkeys. After a hectic morning for me we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park. I had to do some crafting though today. So far the days have gone so quickly that I haven't managed to do anything so when I noticed the handles on my favourite shopping bag fraying I got some fabric, covered them and added a jolly Suffolk puff (I believe some people call them yo-yo's). You can't really see but it is perched on top of a book case that I am painting. I found this discarded in the alley way at the back of our house, slightly bruised and weathered from some rainfall last week but it is going to be a beauty. 



I had to include this by request from girl monkey : her dessert creation today. Ice cream, peaches and marshmellows. It was truly tasty. 


My smoothie of the day was made with :

1/2 cup of Greek yoghurt
1 glass of orange juice
1 large pear
1 small very ripe banana

Sunday 20 July 2008

I needed cheering up today. The monkeys had yet more parties (their social life is soooo much better than mine) and Mr Betsy and I were on call to ferry them to and fro. So I went into town and bought these lovely baby booties for my friend Emma who just had her second girl. I can safely show them as she will not get near a computer before she gets these. They are so lovely I wish I had made them.


I also found this sturdy, sunny ice cream scoop, very cheerful. If only I had ice cream in my freezer.


We're off to the tall ships in Liverpool tomorrow, the monkeys still awake, they are so excited!

Saturday 19 July 2008

School's Out!!

Yoohoo the holidays have started! I have just composed and printed off the script for the next 6 weeks. This sounds rather rigorous but it isn't. Over the last few weeks I have gathered leaflets from local museums, libraries and other nearby venues that organise activities for free or for a minimal charge. I have put this information in a calendar and added various parties and commitments that we already made and hey presto a nearly full calendar. I am in the process of making a lucky dip pot for those moments that we might be bored. We've got theme days(various nationalities, colours), home cinema, park, baking, painting, crafting. Of course if we don't feel like doing the available activities then obviously we won't and might resort to a lazy day with books on the sofa or in the garden, but at least I do not need to worry about not having anything to do. 
I am glad that yesterday was the last day of term, I just love having the monkeys at home but I was also getting very embarrassed taking my girl monkey to school in the last couple of weeks because of her shoes. They didn't last very long at all, i.e. a month and they were plastered on the inside with all her good behaviour stickers. Is this a common thing to do nowadays? It doesn't help hygiene and if she'd keep them on it would be fine but she is ever so happy showing her stickers off to anyone!



I don't think I will achieve a lot on the craft front in the next few weeks but here's a little project for the next few nights. Mr Betsy came home the other day with a very practical but rather dull conference bag. I managed to find a piece of fabric with a flower that just covers the logo on it that I ironed on today with bondaweb. I will embellish it in the next few days and hope to use it lots as it has quite a few pockets on the inside. I'd like to have an organised bag for a change!



Also I am making lots more Suffolk puffs (had enough of these yet?) to liven up a dull skirt. I am going for small ones this time rather than the big ones that I used on everything last summer.


One thing I do need to do is come up with an idea for a circus cake. Girl monkey is having a Circusology party at the end of the summer and would like a circus cake, layered if possible. I haven't looked into it yet but if anyone happens to have a great idea and would like to share it, I would be more than grateful!

Thursday 17 July 2008

Lazy Days

We've had a few lazy days. For a couple of days there were teacher strikes so yesterday boy monkey couldn't go to nursery and today the whole school was closed. I love it when they are at home and can't wait for the summer holidays to start. Mr Betsy was reading a local magazine tonight that had some entertaining tips for the next few weeks but guess what we've got a full schedule already. So many great things to do in town and in and around the home, I'm considering making a lucky dip pot as we might not be able to fit it all in. That way we've got excitement every day!

Yesterday boy monkey and I went to the Whitworth Art Gallery. We went on the bus, sitting upstairs, to please boy monkey. There is a fabulous exhibition on at the moment entitled Neverland: Rediscovering Child Art? The exhibition shows works done by children over the last 100 years or so alongside works by the Modern Masters such as Picasso, Klee, Appel. Some of these works are considered naive or childlike by many viewers but the question "Could a child do that?" which was raised in the exhibition hit the nail on the head. Anyone can copy but to actually make a work of art that might resemble child art is extremely hard to achieve. It was very well put together and as I will be starting an arts and crafts club for children in September I took more interest in what the children actually had achieved in this exhibition. I just did not understand the question mark in the title, it is almost questioning the point of the exhibition. Anyway one of the commissions for this show Thinkspace, Makespace is a fabulous area where children and adults can sit down to think  about ideas and create art. There are several pods to relax in, tables, reading corners, all in bright colours, very inviting. I hope many parents will take their children there. 


Outside the museum were three tipees that were being used by a couple of school groups. We were briefly allowed to go into one, a great place to have a picnic or a snooze on such a lovely, sunny day. 




After visiting the gallery boy monkey used up some more energy by running up and down these steps in the middle of the lawn. We had a fabulous time, so much so that we'll go back on Saturday morning en famille.



Another lazy day today as both monkeys were of school. We intended to go to the gym and be active but as it was coming down in buckets again we didn't feel like walking all the way their and get drenched. So we had a craft day at home. In the morning we made miniature rooms from old shoeboxes, made our smoothie of the day (1 glass of orange juice, cup of greek yoghurt, one banana and a bowl of raspberries) which was downed in one go by girl monkey (it must have been nice......) and baked Doctor Who biscuits. After watching The Cat in the Hat in the afternoon they moved onto stenciling gift wrap for their teachers presents. We used Busy Betsy's favourite colours red, white and blue and the monkeys mixed a lovely purple. I am sure the teachers will love it, heart shapes and circles. 
Oh and we discovered seedlings on the cress ginger bread figures, very exciting!!


Monday 14 July 2008

Eton Mess

Girl monkey went on a school trip today and even though I know that she is well looked after by teachers and other mums who are able to help, I am always thrilled to have her back home. So to celebrate her lovely day out I made her favourite dessert : Eton Mess. This dish, which is traditionally served at Eton College at their annual prize-giving event at the end of May, is made with strawberries, merengues and cream. We made ours with strawberries and raspberries. Instead of making the 'mess' before serving, I put everything on the plates for everyone to mess up themselves. This of course is the best part for the monkeys! Girl monkey added some freshly made rhubarb compote on top of her merengue (she'll have rhubarb with anything...). 




I told the monkeys the anecdote of the Labrador that had supposedly sat on a picnic basket that contained the ingredients for a picnic pudding and that's how Eton mess was invented. They looked at me with utter disbelief and in keeping with the dog story started licking their plates (help!), not a morsel was left....

On the craft front, I have made some more Suffolk puffs, enough to make a little cushion and am finishing a Beach Hut hanging in Kantha (it is too wet to be photographed at the moment).



Saturday 12 July 2008

Green fingers and diabolos

On the way to a party today girl monkey mentioned that her teacher has a poorly garden. Apparently everything that grows gets either eaten by slugs or dies straightaway she told me. She then asked me about green fingers and why hers weren't green. I just love those questions. Often I will make up a story but as it related to her teacher I simply had to explain what was meant by green fingers and that we were going to put this into practice after the monkeys came back from their parties. So here we are : cress sowing in the shape of a gingerbread man or woman. The cookie cutters were kindly lent to me on a semi-permanent basis by my friend Liz who had them for a while but never used them. Funny enough I thought we'd be making lots of biscuits with the cutters but I find them rather large as a treat. They are great though as templates for Christmas decorations and making cress figures. 

To make the shapes we bought some cotton wool (in a pleat, not the balls) and tore of a piece slightly bigger than the cutter. We then laid this on a small plastic plate, moistened the cotton wool, put cutter on top and filled this with the cress seeds. We used one packet for the two of them. We covered the plate with cling film and it is now waiting to grow in our utility room that doubles as a green house. The monkeys are very excited about this project.








I am getting into party overdrive. There are so many children's and adult parties going on at the moment, great fun but hectic. Tomorrow is the school's Summer Fair and we are really looking forward to that. But more exciting, I am trying to put together girl monkey's juggling party. She really loves circus acts and is mesmerized by diabolos, spinning plates and poi. I am scouring the net for some fabulous finds for her. I never thought I could get so excited about children's parties but the best fun I have had so far this year was organising boy monkey's pirate party, I'd love to do that all over again. I hope I can match it with the juggling party......

Thursday 10 July 2008

FLY and be Green

My intention was to create a basket full of brooches today but I got side tracked and realised I was a SHE (sidetracked home executive). In order to put me on track I have recently signed up on the flylady.net site. It is just brilliant! As the monkeys are helping me by pleasing the Housefairy I needed to do something myself and although some people think I was born organised it is more like organised chaos in my life. OK moving house 4 times in 5 years didn't help and having too many projects on the go doesn't make it any easier but still that shouldn't be an excuse. 
If you like being told what to do then FLYlady is fabulous. I now get daily emails to remind me what I should be doing, such as clearing out the plastic tub cabinet (don't we all have one with lids that do not match the pots?), or decluttering your hotspots for no more than 10 minutes. FLYlady believes we shouldn't spend more than 15 minutes a day doing housework and if I understand her correctly one hour of power cleaning a week. I am now getting in the habit of setting my alarm for 15 minutes every morning and it is unbelievable how much I can get done in that time. After I drop of the monkeys at school, I make myself a coffee (I never start the day without, it's the one unhealthy habit that I could not ever give up), catch up on the news, set my alarm and tackle one room. I can then start crafting without feeling guilty. I try to do 15 minutes at the end of the afternoon as well though, I am obviously still a FLYbaby. For those of you who had children and didn't like GIna Ford's method, you might not be too keen to become a FLYlady but if you're anything like me and raised kids with Gina's book in your hand, this could be a saviour.

As I got into this home organising thing today I got myself Ecoballs and Dryer Balls, and printed off some information to teach the monkeys a bit more about the environment. I love being green and wish more would be done to save our planet. Having grown up in Holland I was used to recycling and it came as a shock when I moved to London some 15 years ago that there wasn't a paper or bottle bank in sight. In the village I lived as a child paper was always recycled (and I am talking nearly 40 years ago if not more), plastic and glass bottles had a deposit on them and well, tins we used to keep to make stilts, containers for keep sakes etc. Dad hardly ever threw anything out that he could re-use. He still keeps a lot, his shed is hilarious. 

Meanwhile I have thought of a little green project I can do with the monkeys after school tomorrow: we can sow love heart or teddy bear cress figures. That should keep them entertained for a week or two. The holidays are coming up and my list of things to do is getting endless, could we please take the rest of the year off?

Tuesday 8 July 2008

More Suffolk puffs

My work table was a very happy place to be today. Girl monkey's friend Mia left a bunch of lovely flowers at the front door yesterday afternoon and I put them right where I can see them all the time. I looked after her and her little sister on Friday and she thanked me with these in her favourite colour purple (even her bedroom is purple!). Though I have always said it is not my favourite colour it is starting to grow on me and I really like the shades of the flowers. 



Girl monkey made a lovely drawing for me last night that I could use as a 'design' and as she had such a poorly head on Sunday I wanted to make a little surprise for her . 


I had this maternity top lying around in the pile of fabric that needs sorting out and made a little skirt out of it. I am not used to taking pictures yet of works in progress but luckily remembered when I cut off the top. So here we are.... and of course I could have ironed...

I used her design to decorate the front and back of the skirt with some Suffolk puffs (there's a surprise!) and some buttons. There are three on the back but with shorter stems and a little closer together.  She was delighted. 



I took boy monkey on the bus after nursery to do some shopping at Hobbycraft and the book stores. I picked up a couple of lovely books. I really liked Danielle Proud's House Proud, I had wanted it for a while but had never seen an actual copy so this was a nice find. I think I have unknowingly tried all the projects in the book but it is so nicely put together that it is certainly worth adding to my craft library. 

After picking up girl monkey we went to the children's art gallery at school. It was so nice to see the art works of all the years together, there were some really stunning pieces. Boy monkey did "Myself" and girl monkey "Island at night". I quickly wanted to put a red dot on them in case someone else would snap them up! Girl monkey encouraged me to buy several other pieces and didn't quite understand that mummies and daddies might want to buy their own child's work (and just that one). Both monkeys's works have a proud place at home now. 



Monday 7 July 2008

Busy Betsy has a technical problem

Yesterday wasn't good for crafts, nor the day before. I was hired as a private chauffeur for the monkeys, they had various parties, drama classes, ballet classes, etc to go to. On top of that girl monkey ended up in the emergency department as she had a little accident. 
Someone once said to me that if she didn't make at least one craft item a day she didn't feel like she achieved something. I kind of liked that thought and have tried to live by this since but it went a bit pear shaped this weekend. 
So today a new day, that started with a ballet exam for girl monkey (and I was hoping to include a nice picture here but blogger does not upload any photos at the moment) and I spent the rest of the day sorting out my photos on my computer. About 2 weeks ago I had to download a program to scan images for my dad's book and in the process lost about 2,500 images. They have since been recovered (thank goodness!) but I could not do anything with them. The computer store sorted this out today but I have now lost all my images from last week, help I will never get this Etsy shop up and running!
Tomorrow another day and boy do I need to produce.... 

Friday 4 July 2008

Frames galore

Oh dear, one of the things on my list did not get done today: going to the gym. I had booked boy monkey into the creche at the gym which he absolutely loves but instead we spent most of the day in the park. And yes this was a more sensible thing to do on such a lovely day but I do need to try and stay fit as well. After trying to find someone who would like to take a collection of 19th Century prints of my hands and a framer to frame girl monkey's art work done with Sam Francis's brushes we went to the park and kept on bumping into friends so we didn't leave until it was time for dinner. A lovely day indeed even though I forgot to go (or cancel!) the gym. Oh yes and I needed to find a frame for this wall hanging too....


I'd like this to go above our bed as it is painted in distressed grey-green. It is one of those curly carved 19th Century copies of a 17th Century one and though it is a small bed I really love it. It just looks fab with crisp white bedding. Though I still can't bring myself to iron the sheets, one day when I do have enough hours in the day I might.
After watching The Kite Runner (I am too emotional to say anything about this movie) I started browsing Stitched Textile Collage by Lucille Toumi. For years I have been collecting scraps of material, I can't bring myself to throw any of them away as I know I will use them in one project or another. I really enjoy seeing a work grow when I ad more and more random bits of fabric, often found on the floor. I have found Janet Bolton's work particularly inspiring but it was interesting to see how Lucille approached her work. There is a fabulous collage of a cow in the book. I just love farm animals, especially pigs. I can see myself living on a farm, with lots of animals. Chicken walking around my feet, dogs and cats running around, working in my studio overlooking the barns... alas this is not the ideal of life of Mr Betsy who still prefers noisy towns. I am working on this, meanwhile I keep on dreaming....



Wednesday 2 July 2008

Dutch Delights


Recently I discovered two albums of drawings that my dad did at school in the early 1940's. I think they are absolutely brilliant and I have decided to make them into postcards as a surprise for his birthday. I am working on his memoirs which I hope to have out soon (his big day is next week so it will have to be a belated gift!) and I might use one for the cover. Dad dutifully penned his life down, refusing to even look at a computer let alone use one, bless him. I just love this mouse and farmer!



As Mr Betsy is now working in our current home town I thought he would like to have a traditional Dutch meal, call me sentimental but every now and then I do long for what my mother put on my plate back home.... So I decided to serve him boiled potatoes, meatballs, apple sauce and salad. Really I don't think you can get any more Dutch than that. My mother gave me this beautiful book (Our Taste. What the Dutch eat and drink) for my birthday which lists the most popular Dutch products. 

Sure enough potatoes, apples and meatballs were listed but I was a little put off by this image (I am on the verge of becoming a vegetarian again).


My mother's recipe for apple sauce is still my favourite. For 4 servings peel and chop 4 apples (Gala are my favorite but I have even tried it with a mixture of Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths). Put in a pan and add a cup of water, 1 table spoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Bring to the boil for about 5 - 10 minutes or until soft; mash into a sauce. 

As I was preparing the meal, girl monkey was busy in the utility room. And look what a lovely arrangement she made. She used 12 egg cartons from the recycling box, laid them out with small stones in between and put a shell and 2 laundry pegs in them. It looked quite stunning on the floor. She told me tonight she wanted a studio too for her work! She hasn't even turned 6.......






Tuesday 1 July 2008

Sunny Manchester

What a fabulous day this was! Glorious sunshine, not something we see every day in Manchester. I started off so well today making some more necklaces to take with me on Thursday when I will have a stall at an event at one of the local tennis clubs. But I found myself gazing out of my window..... As you can see I am not much of a gardener, either having lived in places for a very short time or not having a garden at all prevented me from getting green fingers but I am very proud of the monkey's sunflowers and other plants we have growing at the moment.


After having made just three bead balls I had the intention to make loads of Suffolk puffs. Just about all my accessories are decorated with them, I just love making them and love the shape and they are so versatile but I didn't get any further than just this teeny weeny blue denim one :

Hmmm.... I made myself my favorite morning drink. I made my smoothie of the day with 1 cup of Greek yoghurt, 1 medium size banana, juice of one lemon and a handful of red grapes. Very refreshing. 

I am now going to curl up with my book. I am reading a hilarious novel called The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn. It's about a woman who had it all but loses her job and finds her husband cheating on the same day. She reinvents herself as a private school admissions adviser and it is just so funny, can't stop reading it!