WE GOT THROUGH IT ALRIGHTY

I never did find the tree in the KingTutTombMinusAllTheGold basement this year. We all searched high and low..nowhere to be found although I'm sure there are caverns untouched in that junk receptacle down under.
But we got through the Christmas eve and Christmas day just fine with out all the regalia of broken ornaments and fake pine needles and dust...dust seems to accumulate faster in December when all the ornaments are on the tree and by December 26 I am usually really ready for Boxing Day...yeah, boxing up the faux branches and blown out light strands that KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong won't let me throw out because he just might work on them next year....we have piles of them from years gone by... don't have to worry about working on the half lit strands next Christmas..now do we?
We can look back and remember the tree last year~ and we can look forward and think about a much better New Year!

!

Is It Over Yet????

Trying to get into the mood for Christmas...but I can't find the Christmas Tree box in the King Tut's tomb of a basement. Here's a picture of what it looked like in the past....along with my favorite ornament of my Mother's..at least I know where that is. I know I saw the tree box in July..I know it's only December 5, but parties and gift exchanges start very soon and I'm not prepared...the more I try to straighten the house in anticipation of finally finding the little tree...hmmm maybe it is stuffed up the chimney for safe keeping? ...the house looks even messier. I think this year the family and friends should just go shopping together and decide that we will buy ourselves what we like and everyone will 'cheer' at our choices! That way every one gets what they want and we have had a great time together..then spend Christmas the way in the true spirit of how it should be spent...

48 Years Ago November 22

I remember most of this day so clearly in my mind.
My mother always had the television on in the mornings as we would prepare for school. The television was a very small modern set ~ we always got to try out the latest models since my father was a television and appliance manufacturers rep. It sat upon the Philco refrigerator.
That was the era of our beloved President John F. Kennedy.
I loved everything I read and heard about him. I loved his regal ways and his speeches..I felt safe with him in charge, but I was always worried for him.
I remember watching one morning when we got to take a visual tour of the White House with Mrs. Kennedy and gaze upon all the decorating she had done. I remember seeing her and the children.
The Kennedy family reminded me of my father's side of the family..big, Catholic family that spent summers together boating and enjoying each others company~lots of cousins and loving aunts and uncles.
The news of the world bothered me as a child as I would worry about the threats of communism. That was drilled into our heads as I was young. I used to lie in my bed at night and imagine going to the Soviet Union and speaking alone with Nikita Khrushchev. I had seen him stamp his shoe on the table in important meetings. I imagined how I would talk to him and convince him to no longer be a threat to the world. I would be the child that would save us all.
I would worry about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs. Those types of worries carried over into my daily life as I walked to school. To this day, I avoid watching the news in the morning on television.

I remember the morning of November 22, 1963. I was standing in the kitchen ready to eat breakfast. I was facing the stove with my back to the television on its refrigerated stand and I heard the news man say that President Kennedy was going to Dallas that morning. I recall an imaginary map flashed in front of my face and I saw that it was the state of Texas. My finger traced a line to Dallas and my mind's eye followed it. I thought to myself.."Oh I wish he wasn't going there." Then I thought better of that and told myself that our President will be alright because he will be with 'our people'.
The news came over the loud speaker in that second floor art class in the early afternoon. I was in the 7th grade. I'll never forget the tearful memory of my classmates and me trying to finish out the class time.
I don't remember finishing out the rest of the day.

Friends by the Written Word

I can sit here at my little desk and visit marvelous interesting people all over the world. I read blogs~some about traveling, some about decor, some about cooking, some about poetry and literature and animals, and some that are so poignant I sit and read and weep. I am never alone and come to read to help myself get through a tough time or enjoy a happy time or just reassure myself that I am amazingly not much different than everybody else. I let my mind wander into another's life of triumphs and travails and just plain everydayness. I can comment and get responses immediately much faster than a posted written letter. I can copy and print these tidbits of wisdom and bits of thought onto tangible paper to read over and over again..so all is not lost to the ether. I have struck up friendships with people I may never meet, and have only seen still photos of~yet we are connected~and yet we are separated by towns, states, countries and oceans. We look at the same moon when it is full and think of each other across vast waters. We try to solve mysteries together and we send each other gifts. We cry for one another, we laugh with each other and we are in awe of each other. We share our lives and are bonded in our friendship by our love of the written word.

Compulsion

For people who are artists and artsy creators, antique shop owners, vintage hunters, there is one common thread...We want IT! IT is just a little something that catches our eye and no matter how much stuff we already have, we have to have something more~even if it is exactly what we already have at home. We can't help it, it is an addiction and except for space allowance and bumped toes in the night, it is a relatively safe addiction...I have never heard tell of any one dying from this affliction! There are hoarders and there are "got to have its". We are not the H word! Hoarders have massive amounts of worthless junk. We just have slightly smaller than masses of wonderful treasures. *note to offspring~ There is a big difference.~

Just a thought....

This thought just came to me...
Do electric lights make a noise that we subconsciously hear?
You know how quiet the night is when all the lights are out.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Been missing all of you as my computer has been declared dead by the dreaded 'Blue Screen of Physical Memory Dump is Complete'. Everything must have its day and mine had over 10 years of 'days' and finally went to the Ether Land of OH $#*&.
I have ordered a new one..a lap top this time...never had one..hope I like it..guess I'll feel resurrected from the doom when it comes!
Funny that it died right at Halloween time!
Happy Halloween, everyone...My favorite holiday..no presents... just altered egos and candy!

Fallin' for the Amish in Southern Indiana

Last weekend was a wonderful autumn time in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana. The afternoon on Friday was spent at the court house going through the old, old marriage records of the family. Huge books with the weight of boat anchors, filled with beautiful calligraphy from the 1800's.
Friday night~ full of dancing and music during the Pumpkin Festival in French Lick. Many bands in outdoor venue tents scattered along the streets. KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong's cousin Bobby Easterday and the Heritage Band played into the night. It was the last band still standing. I was not always standing during the evening, however. When they played 'Wipe Out' I had to get up and dance 'the bird'! Kind of a throw back to high school. Well, I didn't realize I had been sitting too long and didn't have my sea legs or dance legs! Well, one wild gyration led to another and just as KennyRogersblahblahblah turned around to grab my hand to twirl me....I went down! Which is not unusual if you know me at all. How embarrassing..I felt like a beached whale..KennyRogers****picked me up with the help of Bobby's girlfriend and I continued on dancing wildly. I know how to fall and I obviously have enough 'padding' to withstand a blow to the floor!
The next morning we were awakened by a clip clop sound. Very unusual to me, being as we were staying with Aunt Margie and she lives in a little neighborhood in town. I looked out the front door and saw Amish buggies going down the street. We quickly threw on our clothes and followed the parade. They were going to an auction 4 doors down the street. I'd never been to an auction and I'd never been that close to the old order Amish before~to hang with them...er well, I stood with them~is more like it! I was fascinated and intrigued. Would have liked to ask them lots of questions and would have loved to follow them home and have some fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy and corn and green beans. Bet they would have an apple pie for dessert,too. Made me kinda wish for the plain life. Think I could go for that right now. Isn't it a great thing that we can have diverse lifestyles in this country?

Nothin' Like Indiana in the Autumn

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Mama say a prayer for your only son
God, forgive him, all the wrong he's done
All he ever wanted is to have some fun
And now he's up in Indiana till his time is done

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

She looked over 22
A man could drown in eyes so blue
And now I've got some time to kill
In a little town called Henryville

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Working on the line ain't the life I know
Wish I was floatin' on the river out at night [Incomprehensible]
Laying on the bank with a fishing bow
Instead of cutting this corn and losing my soul

I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Miles and miles as they march back
They lift their ears up to the sky
Standing tall and satisfied
Like to try to run but I just might die

I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Mama say a prayer for your only son
God, forgive him, all the wrong he's done
All he ever wanted is to have some fun
And now he's up in Indiana till his time is done

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

She looked over 22
A man could drown in eyes so blue
And now I've got some time to kill
In a little town called Henryville

Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hair blond as hay and long as rope
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Working on the line ain't the life I know
Wish I was floatin' on the river out at night [Incomprehensible]
Laying on the bank with a fishing bow
Instead of cutting this corn and losing my soul

I do a little thinkin bout a girl named Rose
Hell don't care but Heaven knows
I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows

Miles and miles as they march back
They lift their ears up to the sky
Standing tall and satisfied
Like to try to run but I just might die

I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
Up in Indiana where the tall corn grows
LYLE LOVETT

From Creamed Potatoes to The Grand Ole Opry And George Jones

I used to go once a year to visit my son when he lived in Nashville, Tennessee. He and a roommate rented a big house with my son's recording studio on the lower floor of a split level where he played steel guitar and Rhodes piano. They always cracked me up talking to each other in phrases from movies the way guys do. One day they had a plumbing issue so the landlord came and fixed it and somehow the landlord and I started talking about creamed potatoes..a rather lengthy but tasty conversation much to the dismay of my son and his roommate! They thought we would never stop talking so the landlord could leave. (You never want the landlord to stay too long) They teased me that they were in the kitchen with spoons trying to cut their wrists while our conversation piled on the sour cream and the butter and cream cheese.
During that visit he took me to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum and introduced me to the exhibit of Hank Williams. He was thoroughly mesmerized by this display and am sure if he would have gotten inside it Hank's tight fitting country singer suit would have fit him to a T. I was never into country music much although my grandparents loved it and never missed Midwestern Hayride the entertainment show broadcast from Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1960's. They also loved to watch Porter Wagoner on Saturday afternoons who gave Dolly Parton her start. I loved to watch that show with them because Porter had all the glitz and over-the-top sequins and jewels on his rodeo suit and I loved sparkle. So my son decided it was time for me to experience the Grand Ole Opry. It was rather late in the afternoon but he called and got great tickets for two, front and center. How lucky was that! When we arrived it was truly impressive and as we walked in my son got lots of looks..he is tall and slender and looks great in jeans and cowboy hat and can walk with that "I'm a star" strut. He has the ability to look like any thing he is into at the moment. Would be a good actor. Wow, what a show! Brought tears to our eyes. Porter Wagoner came on first, introduced by Little Jimmy Dickens, with all his gild and glam and sang and my son and I just turned our heads to one another and smiled and nodded...this was it! We didn't have to speak. Loretta Lynn sang and of course everyone went wild and wanted her to sing Coal Miner's Daughter and she fussed and whined that she was "so tired of that girl and wanted to just forget her" but of course she sang to please the riotous crowd. My, gosh it was a great line up of stars as we were graced with the musical talents of Brad Paisley who wasn't quite famous yet (my son whispered to me "Watch him, Mom, he will be a great rising star soon") Leon Russell and Amy Grant and Vince Gill. Wow, what a night we were able to share together. Seeing the old famous stars was the most awe inspiring to us and people left the Grand Ole Opry with goosebumps and tears in their eyes. My son got the looks again as we departed and he took me to a place to dance that is a bar by night a boot store by day~the real guts of Nashville night life~he was shocked to see that I can really cut-a rug and he gave me a big proud hug. Yes, son, I can dance and now I listen to George Jones ~my favorite song~I Put The Golden Band on the Right Left Hand This Time....Rest in Peace, George Jones...Country music just won't be the same.

A Peek With A Slap

KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong and I went to dinner tonite~been a long time since we did that and then even rarer, we went to Keystone at the Crossing Fashion Mall..it was a misty dreary night~ remnants of Hurricane Lee so we decided to look through the shops.
We went into Anthropologie...love to look at how they decorate each store differently..the clothes are just not me but I enjoy displays more than the actual merchandise.
We also nipped into Restoration Hardware...I have been seeing the adverts in the decor mags but haven't been in the actual store for years. OK, I was slapped down by the new look...that is the term my friend Lynn and I have always used..you know, something just is so unique that you feel slapped to the ground! KennyR and I were so slapped that we want a second house and about $30,000 to furnish it with their unique furnishings. Yes, it is a bit way out but if I were furnishing a loft...the pieces would be perfect and I love anything way out!
I found something that I could actually afford ...a beautiful book of the most interesting decorated rooms photos...I'm such a sucker for decor books but I held myself back and did not buy it. Maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas. Silly because if you saw our study there are so many books that we can barely sit down and we'll never be able to read them all. It's a goal though.
So we got slapped down for the evening...what better way to fall in love.

I'm So Dizzy, My Room Is Spinnin'

A nice long weekend we just had and I had some kind of creepin'crud sinusy cold thingy..I tried to do yard work to help KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong and look what it got me? Yeah it got me...2 Sundays ago I pulled the dusty ivy off the front of the house cause it was growing up over the windows and I didn't wear a mask..Well that resulted in dizziness for the next week but no headache..I usually get a headache when dust goes up my nose. Then it turned into a sore throat and then the sinusy cold attack..and it was 100 degrees this past Saturday (today it is 65 degrees tops). All I could do was lay on the bed since I had no energy..amazing what sinus attacks can do to your body let alone your equilibrium. By Sunday I felt better and made myself clean the inside of the house~Where I Belong~ even though there is dust there too, but my sinuses are used to those dust mites and their homes.
When I clean and vacuum I love to move things around and KennyRogersblahblahblah never knows where anything is gonna be when he gets home..but that is part of the fun. If you recall I just had to buy those leopard chairs that made you sit up straight for the living room. Well, since no one was home and I could movestuffaroundandputitbackifIdon'tlikeitandthereisnoonetotellmeIcan't~I moved them into the dining room around the dining table~they are actually supposed to be dining room chairs but I had them in the living room because I have a very tiny house. They look great in there except you can't have more than 2 people dining at a time. Whatever.....We can store the wooden chairs in the basement and bring them up if people ever come over~that's simple isn't it? So then I put the high heel chairs that are in the living room in the place where the leopard chairs were. That looked great to me...so I took pictures to show KennyRogersetc...he does so much better if he can just look at my ideas instead of thinking that I have cemented items to the floor...I guess that's what he thinks when I say...How about lets move this......That always initiates a big NO I LIKE THINGS THE WAY YOU HAD IT ORIGINALLY~DON'T GO CHANGING EVERYTHING EVERY OTHER WEEK!.....furniture and accessories are easy to move and they aren't set in cement, ya know..is my answer...but anyway taking pictures and and showing what could be was a much better idea. Only thing holding me back from keeping all the chairs in their new places is that there is no room in the basement for the wooden dining chairs. But someday there might be after he goes through all that memorabilia he has stored for posterity or whatever.
Looking at the photos I noticed a spirit orb~are you familiar with spirit orbs? They are little orbs of energy left by someone..usually that you love~the spirit orb is right where our dear little cats used to lay whenever I moved the furniture around while they were still with us. Funny, I was thinking so strongly of them when I was hoisting those chairs...they must have come back to join in the fun again as they loved it when I moved furniture when their daddy was at work and they never snitched! the spirit orb is in the last photo to the left of the high heel chairs

I Need a Man!

Way back when we each had 2 strong arms and a strong back but it wasn't enough!

Do you think with 2 men in this house someone in the last 10 years could fix the b$*&^ door handle that my daughter and I jerryrigged? Of course not..we can barely unlock the darn thing ~but they just plod along...I guess till it actually falls off and the door swings open to expose them in their 'wonderwear' these men will consider it status quo as in...'Put all your bags down,push a little, tug to the left and then lean in as hard as you can while turning the key...easy peasy...no need to fix till it's really 'broke'.

**UPDATE: WE DON'T NEED TO FIX THE DOOR HANDLE TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT..WE HAVE A GUARD SPIDER! SHE HAS MADE HER WEB ACROSS THE DOOR!! SHE IS SO BIG AND ORANGE AND FURRY NO ONE NOT EVEN US DARE GO THROUGH THAT DOOR! GUESS THE GUYS ARE OFF THE HOOK TILL SHE MOVES AWAY!

Conversations in my day.....

My conversations on the phone with dental insurance associates...

9:34am Health Resources, Inc.
Me~My patient just got a denial on procedure code 4342. Does she not have benefits for 4341 and 4342.
Associate~I don't see a claim for either one of those codes. Are you sure?
Me~I know I have seen the denial.
Associate~Are you sure you didn't dream it?
Me~No...I'm not sure...it's difficult to tell my dreams from reality sometimes though.
Associate~Oh I see it now...you didn't dream it...you sent it in as a pre-treatment estimate for determination... Or else maybe I'm in your dream.
Me~That's right... my dreams do become reality though and I thought I recognized your voice from two nights ago!

10:15am Delta of New Jersey
Me~you have been so nice with your advise today on my patient's benefits. It makes my day much more pleasant especially since it started out with mice droppings at 5:30am as I was cleaning up the kitchen!
Associate~Oh, I know the perfect thing for you! Just let me find it on the internet for you...Ah yes...TheMousedepot...I have used it...it works...here...just type in themousedepot.com it will solve your problem for that cute little fellow. He is cute isn't he?
Me~Oh yes he is so cute. Thank you for all your help with my patient's benefits and for the benefit of my little mouse, Lil'Buddy, Chris. I hope I get to talk with you again sometime!

How does your day go???

Real Quick Post

It's not a real fix but just a band-aid. I stuffed the hole that Lil'Buddy was coming through in the kitchen with aluminum foil and then I taped over the aluminum foil with duct tape...good ol'duct tape. I didn't want to just tape over the hole in fear that Lil'Buddy would get stuck to it and not be able to escape...Ewwww that would not be good ...besides not being humane. So any way, the band-aid is working for the time being and Lil'Buddy is being cute down in the basement! I'll keep you posted!
Posted this update in case enquiring minds want to know.

Right before our little evening 'visitor' (that is what themousedepot.com affectionately calls them) moved on up, I was walking through Lowe's in search of braided wood trim for the tops of my cabinets. For the past 17 years I inherited with the house a trim that was spindled on the top of my cabinets. I never really liked it...it was ok but not the European look I go for. So since I hadn't done much decorating for a long time (which is really not me..don't know what I've been doing but it wasn't decor related)I decided I could (~in my inexpensive~make~ something~out~of~something~else~but~keep~the~old way) attach the braid wood trim over the spindles. I painted it black. (KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong of course repainted over what I had painted because I missed a couple teenny weeennny spots for heaven's sake)and he cut them to size. He helped me put them up ~I thought I could do it myself while he was out but they kept flipping around and I almost fell into the sink a couple times~so he could see 'bein' a woman and all' I might need some manly man help. Got that accomplished with happiness! Then while I had been at Lowe's I saw a valance for the kitchen window on sale for about $11 still in the package but the package looked like it had been run over by a two wheeler truck, so they put it on sale. A darling toile 2 layered valance no worse for wear. Now this might not sound so astonishing but I have never had a valance at a window before..I don't like draperies and I am the kind that makes up my window coverings or enhancements from place mats to napkins and tablecloths at the windows. So for me to buy a ready-made meant~to~hang~in~a~window was a first for me. For many years I had my copper pots hanging in this window from iron rods. Even though it is ready-made I had to use my creativity to hang it...I didn't want a conventional rod so I hung a plate rack and suspended an iron rod from it and ruched on the fabric to that. Ah this made me happy since it wasn't conventional. Well, KennyRLAblahblahblah....came home and said "I don't think I like that..I miss the copper pots and the kitchen looks darker." "Well! I exclaimed, "I looove it~it makes me happy!" I was so proud that I didn't back down and he just grinned and I want to think has grown to like it or maybe to tolerate it. I had those pots up there for years and years...he has to admit it was time for a change in that kitchen. So every time I go into the kitchen I feel happy..all because of a conventional curtain and some braided wood trim! I think that is why Lil'Buddy decided to take up residence in the happy place!

OK, OK

I think I may have to borrow some of Betsy's (My Five Men blog) cats! As you know mine are gone now and some one cute has decided to move on up the stairs. And he is soo cute and I named him which is a real no no but you know how I am with animals (rodents in particular) Yes, Lil'Buddy has decided that he is king of the hill now and had been making his presence, though not physical presence, known of a morning when I am getting ready for work. Well, the other night I was on the phone to my sister and we talked till about 12:30am and I decided to go into the kitchen. The lights were burning bright and there 'him' was, dark gray with velvety ears, bright black button eyes and the tiniest feets I ever saw! He was only about 2inches long. I can't help it, people, he is darned cute..looks just like a toy, honestly. I just want to scoop him up and put him in a cage with a wheel to run around in. My son was appalled. He said, "Mom! you can't keep him as a pet!" I just looked at him. He said "I know how you are! Mom they can eat your wiring and burn your house literally down and besides they are a health hazard!" Ok ok, but I'm not killing him. I will find a humane trap and take him where he can be cute somewhere else. So now I am looking at themousedepot.com for one...the testimonials are great. And I know what you are thinking..you better get several cause there is never just one mouse. OK OK OK. Now if he was a bug I would place death traps everywhere! I am petrified of bugs.
Shhhh~know what?~I am getting tired of mouseproofing the kitchen every night before I go to bed. I'm ordering right now. Ok, Ok, he'll just have to be cute somewhere else.
Photo borrowed from Guzer

What Have I Been Doing???

Gosh! Have I been lost in blogland's vacant mind swirl or what? Suddenly my blog friends, family members and even KennyRogersLookAlikeBeforeThePlasticSurgeryWentWrong have been asking and nudging me to post on my blog again.
Weird Spring...Hot as Hades summer...brain was numb and soggy from cold and rain and now it feels like a soupy sauna-ed plop of protoplasm...How About That Description???!!!
I actually like heat but when it feels like it is raining inside my body and then overflowing and running out of my forehead and eyelids I think I am tempted to call out~Enough!
My squirrels don't seem to be complaining much although I do see them draped across the limbs of the pear and crab apple trees...and the cute thing about them is that they gather around me for their peanuts and then go up into the trees closest to my swing where I nap and they lie down too..watching to see how long all of us can be restful. Once in a while Luke Danger (the orange fluffy love boy cat from next door) comes meandering in and causes one of the furry darlings to sound the alarm...she gets worked up and then works up the others until I finally have to say...'alright, it is time to stop barking ( have you ever heard a squirrel bark?)and every body needs to take a nap!' Know what? They did just what I told them to do...they are so obedient..I am a great mother to this nature bound habitat! Squirrel Whisperer! That's me!
As you have previously read we are now a catless household...missing those two 'sisters' very much but one advantage is no more cleaning poop from the litter pan. So for a while I was silently reveling in that one less chore..no more poop. However, now that the final housebound cat is gone, a tiny mouse has decided to move into the kitchen and I find myself having to spray and wipe up little 'tidbits'(nice way to put it~however I don't say that so nicely to myself at 5:30am) So no matter how I try to get around it...poop happens.
Hopefully summer will get a little more exciting as it heats up even more!