KB Girl - Story Time

[raptron]

Gee, I wonder why Jaap gets roped into helping so many people move. 😆Glad your mom is improving. And omg! Your bestie moving closer is amazing news. 

 

[KB Girl]

On 11/22/2020 at 11:28 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I agree with the answers you came up with. If the focus is not on losing weight, the focus can be on being healthy. Not restricting food, but focusing on good, healthy food. Not torturing oneself with workouts, but focusing on good, healthy, sustainable movement.

Oh I like that analogy with movement! That's one of the main things about our gym- the main goal is to make movement fun and to make people feel good. Anything else is secondary (except for the few pro athletes we have). 

 

On 11/23/2020 at 12:10 AM, Elastigirl said:

I like your thoughts on maintaining weight. One thing I've found helpful is to focus on my values around food. Picking two or three top values and using that for my decisions around food. For me, that was joy and self control .Which work really great together. Self control helps me to say no when I need to, but joy reminds me that eating can be joyful (not simply fuel) and there are times when I might eat more or different food than in my normal routine, 

Also getting in movement.Not looking at it as a way to lose weight, but as something I do for enjoyment, and to help  support my body.

 

Maybe also just time. Realize that it is a journey, and you are learning. I've done the gamut from super strict, to way too loose.All those things helped me, and  I was able to integrate what I learned from my successes and failures into where I am now.

Yes I've been following your challenges around this with interest! I think setting parameters to help the decision making process is one of the key things to do, if you don't know what to base your decisions on they're going to cause you endless stress. 

Some people probably get there quicker/easier, but yes.. for most it'll be a journey.

 

On 11/23/2020 at 7:55 AM, Harriet said:

Excellent food thoughts. My desires around food gradually relaxed after I gave up dieting. But steering gently towards more healthful but not obsessive or punishing eating seems to be a longer journey. I like your idea that it should be automated/habitual.

That's a big step though! It also gives you proof that it affects your desires and that's a big eye opener. 

If you were my client I'd probably try to paint a picture with you of what you'd eventually like your habitual eating pattern to look like and then pick something to focus on first. 

 

On 11/23/2020 at 10:04 AM, WhiteGhost said:

I grew up with 9 other siblings.  In general we would probably be considered an "otherwise loving family" but boy howdy did we have some folks who couldn't get along with some others.

Hehe yes... well, we don't always get along either, but there is a general respect at least? There's not getting along and then there is really not getting along please get me away from this person permanently, y'know?

 

On 11/23/2020 at 10:13 AM, Mad Hatter said:

Sorry I'm late but I'm so so sorry for your loss. All the hugs to you! ❤️

Thank you! No worries! 

 

On 11/23/2020 at 8:06 PM, raptron said:

Gee, I wonder why Jaap gets roped into helping so many people move. 😆Glad your mom is improving. And omg! Your bestie moving closer is amazing news. 

it really is! It's also so fun that we have daughters the same age  

[KB Girl]

Monday 

My best friend dropped by again (she was sleeping over at her mom who lives close to me), the kids played, we had lunch, we went outside for a walk.. it was nice. I also give myself an A+ for housekeeping, which I haven't had in weeks(months?). I did a lot of laundry, some general tidying up, properly cleaned the kitchen and I cleaned the toilets and part of the bathroom. Went to bed early instead of doing story time. 

 

Tuesday

Morning classes and then deadlifts.. came home for lunch and a nap with the baby, cooked dinner and went back to work. In between classes and a zoom coaching call I did a bit more work and ended up with this; 

• deadlifts 3x45, 3x65, 2x75, 1x85, 1x95, 1x100 (post partum PR), 3x5x65
• pushups a set of 2 on the floor and then 5x5 elevated at 7.1 (also both PRs)
• reverse lunges with 20kg, 4x5/5 
• 3x10 sec active hand & 3x1 pullup negative in the rings

I really wanted to watch queen's gambit, but Jaap was busy watching the climbing European championships so... I've been playing chess on an app with my brother. Anyone else want to play a game with me? 

 

Story Time

This morning I told Emma a made-up story for the first time in months. Might be the first time since the baby was born actually. It takes quite a bit of focus, which I don't have a whole lot of right now. So I was very pleased to give myself that little extra nudge and just do it. I let Jaap sleep in, made pancakes for breakfast and told a story about a princess. Emma always wants stories about princesses, so I just try to make them as cool as possible.. and to help me come up with the story I ask her for a prompt, this time she said the princess had a special flute to call for help. I try to let her help with the story (picking animals and colours etc) and I try to work in some moral to the story, like working hard, helping people, not giving up.. that sort of thing x) 

 

The princess was woken up by a very heavy storm. She went downstairs for breakfast with her parents, the king and queen. They had pancakes and discussed the storm. The queen said she hoped that all the animals got through the storm alright and the King thought they would probably have some damage and might need some help. The princess thought that was an excellent idea and immediately volunteered. Her father advices her to bring her toolbox and her mother wanted to make sure she'd bring her special alarm flute in case of emergency. She also brought her backpack with a sandwich, an apple and two spare blankets- just in case.
She walked into the woods and the first animals she saw was the mouse family. The storm had blown the roof off their family house and they couldn't get it back on, not even all working together. The princess greeted them and offered to lift it for them- she was after all much bigger and pretty strong because she worked out regularly. After lifting the roof on the house the father mouse said morosely that he was sure it would just blow off again with the next strong wind. But the princess had a great idea, she used nails and her hammer to make sure the roof would stay put. 
After saying her goodbyes she walked on and ran into a hedgehog who was shivering from the cold. The leaves had blown off and she had woken up from hibernation. The princess sat with her, offered her a blanket and shared her apple. That made the hedgehog feel a whole lot better so she could go back to sleep. 
Then the princess checked up on mother fox. The wind had collapsed part of her den which had filled it with sand. The princess offered to clear out the sand but the mother fox said she was almost done and it would be more helpful if the princess could hold on to her babies for a bit. So the princess sat with the babies and sang them a song. When the mother fox was done she asked the princess to take a look at their lamp, which wouldn't go back on. The princess took out her toolbox again and fixed it right up. 

On her way back home she saw an animal she'd never seen before. It was a green baby dragon with golden flecks. After getting over the shock of seeing a dragon the princess noticed that it seemed a bit disorientated. So she walked right up to it and asked what was up. The baby dragon told her that he was blown off course by the strong winds and had hurt its wing while crashing into the forest. The princess was worried because she didn't know how to help - she didn't know how to fix the dragons wing. Then she had an idea! She took out her flute and blew on it really hard. Then she sat down with the dragon and shared her sandwich while waiting for help to come. 
They didn't have to wait long for her father to arrive with three of his knights. Luckily her father knew what to do. They carried the baby dragon back to their castle so the medi-wizard could take a look at him. The old wizard produced a healing salve and wrapped the dragons wing in bandages. He cautioned that it would have to heal for a couple of days before the dragon could fly back to his family. 
The princess consoled the dragon and made sure he was never bored. They read books, played games, baked cookies and build with lego. After five days the medi-wizard took off the bandage and pronounced him healed. The dragon had missed his family so he wanted to fly home immediately. The princess gave him a big hug and said that she was happy for him but would really miss him too. The baby dragon promised to come back every Sunday so they could play and bake cookies.
The end

[WhiteGhost]

I loved that story, especially the part about the princess working out regularly and the bit about her having the tools needed to fix a lamp  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

I loved that story, especially the part about the princess working our regularly and the bit about her having the tools needed to fix a lamp  

Same here. I want to raise that kind of princess. 

[Elastigirl]

That is so amazing that you tell your daughter stories that you make up! And thirding the awesome princess. 

[Scaly Freak]

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I loved that story, especially the part about the princess working out regularly and the bit about her having the tools needed to fix a lamp  

 

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Same here. I want to raise that kind of princess. 

 

The princess with tools reminded me of this:

 

[Mad Hatter]

Love both the story and the cartoon!

 

8 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I really wanted to watch queen's gambit, but Jaap was busy watching the climbing European championships so... I've been playing chess on an app with my brother. Anyone else want to play a game with me? 

Sorry I'm with Jaap.  (Also don't play chess)

[KB Girl]

23 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I loved that story, especially the part about the princess working out regularly and the bit about her having the tools needed to fix a lamp  

Right?  I try to work that kinda stuff in there. 

 

23 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Same here. I want to raise that kind of princess. 

Me too! I think I have to start learning these kind of things myself now x) 

 

21 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

That is so amazing that you tell your daughter stories that you make up! And thirding the awesome princess. 

It used to be a daily thing! I hope to more regularly have the brain power for it again. 

 

20 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

The princess with tools reminded me of this:

Yes! that one is brilliant  beautiful things can happen when you allow a child to explore their interests freely! 

 

15 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Love both the story and the cartoon!

 

Sorry I'm with Jaap.  (Also don't play chess)

 I thought you would be watching as well. 

[KB Girl]

Wednesday 

Had a good day again! Another A+ for housekeeping. Got a lot of laundry done, prepped the evening meal early in the day, did some cleaning upstairs. Chipping away at the mess. Also got caught up on the gym's admin work. It was also pleasant with Emma, we played cards, she helped with dinner and while eating Jaap and Emma did a story telling by turns thing- I was amazed at how creative she was and how she structured the sentences  

So that was our semi-sunday and after dinner I had to go to work. Handled a few questions, spend some time replying to messages, did my own training and taught the ladies strength class. 

• 3000 meter row in 15:45
• kettlebell snatch with 12kg, 5x 10/10 
• Bulgarian split squats, 4x5/5
• some hip maintenance work 

 

Story Time

One of the advantages the group strength class has over simply writing everyone their own program is that it is much more palatable to do the little maintenance things. They are the things I don't even bother writing into someones program because I know they will hate it and probably not do it anyway or the things that don't even have a name and that people will forget two seconds after you've shown them. So we gather up and do our hip range of motion circles, our single leg balance practice, our breathing and bracing practice, the wrist prep, the hip work, the foot arch maintenance. It's great. 

 

The other thing that I really like is being on top of it when someone has little aches and pains. This evening I got to use the magic knee fixer and her knee pain went from a 4 (where 0 is no pain and 10 is time to call an ambulance) to a 1. Someone else had a shoulder twinge during pull-ups which was completely gone after a few neck retractions. Lovely things. 

[KB Girl]

Thursday

My brain seems to be behaving a bit better. I'm still tired, but not so.. flat. Did quite a bit of housework again and handled some work things I'd been putting off (definitely a good sign). Now I/we just have to be careful- it was hard when I crashed in the afternoon so I was inclined to feel bad about crashing when I should be happy the whole day wasn't like that. And Jaap has been extremely gentle with me and naturally when he notices things going a bit better he'll let up his hold on himself a little bit and while that is a very good thing we need to be careful about it because things still hit really hard and while extremely gentle might no longer be necessary we definitely still need very gentle.

Have I mentioned lately I'm grateful for Jaap? because I really really am. And for personal growth for us both, because this would not have gone half as well even two years ago. 

 

Pleased list; 

• read several books to Emma
• made a bunch of food for the baby
• made blueberry pancakes for breakfast
• no more items on the stairs or my bedroom floor
• another load of laundry
• clean kitchen, no dishes/cups in the living room
• made pulled pork in the slow cooker
• cleaned up all toys etc after the girls were in bed
• swept the living room floor
• cleaned the orange sheen off the bathroom tiles
  (I wonder if Jaap will notice that one, he had a shower since, but hasn't mentioned it) 

 

Story Time

Spoiler

 

On December 5th dutch people celebrate the feast of Sinterklaas, aka Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. 

It is rather a big deal in the Netherlands, far more so than Christmas. Starting in mid-november there will be decorations everywhere, the stores are full of traditional candy, there is a special tv-show detailing Sinterklaas' journey from Spain, by steam boat, and children are allowed to put their shoes by the chimney to be filled with small gifts and treats. Every town and city has their own arrival event with Sinterklaas on his horse accompanied by people dressed up as his helpers Zwarte Pieten / Black Petes, who wear a costume based on 16th century noble attire and blackface. 

Nobody will be surprised to hear that this has been heavily protested and the last couple of years it has even led to different activist groups (anti vs pro) coming to blows over it. Even in 2018 more than 80% of dutch people did not see Zwarte Piet as racist and if you were 'against Zwarte Piet' then you were at best dismissed as whiny or 'being difficult' and at worst insulted and accused of being a child hating anti-dutch monster that wants to suck all the joy out of this innocent but very important dutch tradition. 

Change was already happening, books were being published with a different Pete illustration, traditional songs were recorded with different lines and last year the special Sinterklaas tv-show only had Petes that had soot marks on their faces (from climbing down chimneys) instead of blackface. The Black Lives Matter accelerated this change and almost half of the dutch now support Pete's changed appearance. It's sad that almost half is a positive. Only half. 
 

The children don't care. I had some understanding for those that grew up with this tradition and have a considerable amount of nostalgia- I can understand a reluctance for change. It is more difficult for me to understand that after the heavy media coverage of the issue in the last couple of years that people still dismiss the idea that blackface is racist. My understanding has eroded. The claims of "I'm not racist but I support dutch tradition", or some similar bullshit, are prevalent. 

In 2018 I made a resolution to not stay silent (on any issue*) in order to avoid conflict any longer. You can imagine that I've been busy. Sometimes with positive results, other times not so much. My patience is starting to grow thin. 

I need to remind myself that it is often people who are themselves disadvantaged in one way or another that seem to have the most difficulty viewing an issue from someone else's point of view. It's disadvantaged people that hold on the most to tradition and experience the most xenophobia. It does not actually make them bad people. Uneducated, disadvantaged... deserving of some understanding and patience and probably politeness.. and if not then politeness and patience is still the best way to go about making change.

Pray for me?

 

*this was actually inspired by things happening in my sports' global politics, not this issue- but I'm not picking and choosing. 

 

 

[@mu]

Fantastic princess story!

 

Spoiler

On 11/26/2020 at 11:33 PM, KB Girl said:

It's disadvantaged people that hold on the most to tradition and experience the most xenophobia. It does not actually make them bad people. Uneducated, disadvantaged... deserving of some understanding and patience and probably politeness.. and if not then politeness and patience is still the best way to go about making change.

 

Not an easy one. Sometimes it can come out as a bit condescending as well, and that does not work either.  But I do agree it's very important to not keep silent in any case because "the other side",  so to speak, is getting a lot more verbose and expressive these days, or so I feel, and they are not necessarily bothered by how they put it. That will not necessarily affect people who are already convinced, but it will affect people standing by that might be a bit hesitant on the topic.

 

[Renate]

Oh, I find the pro-Pete protests so silly.

 

Spoiler

 

As a Dutchwoman, I see so many more amazing Dutch cultural events and traditions to be proud of that we should make kids aware of. (While admitting the dark historical parts.)

 

But insisting to keep the brown paint color, red lips & big earrings as part of Pete's "look"?  Is that what you want to fight for, the big cultural thing that your Dutch pride is characterised by? Come on, guys. That's a bit weak? 

 

(While growing up, almost all people who said that the anti-Pete people were fussing too much SAID that Pete look like that because it was "chimney soot". That always made me giggle. I doubt I would look like Pete if I would go down a chimney. At least they finally admitted it does not look anything like chimney soot .) 

 

Some Fun facts. There is a Russian card game called Black Pete with exactly a chimney sweeper as its symbol

 

And in Eastern European Christianity, Saint Nicholas (also celebrated on 5 december)  is the patron saint of Fishermen and sailors. Which is interesting because of Saint Nick's liking of boat as a main means of international transportation, and the fact it's much more a Dutch tradition than in other countries (I think) My grandmother makes the tastiest fish dishes on 5 december.

 

That's how people celebrate 5 dec. in that part of the continent.

 

EDIT:  And I wanted to point out that those great things achieved by Dutch forefathers were not achieved when they protested in favour of something as frivolous as the way costume should look like of the helper of a children's friend,

 

on the contrary, if the concessions made to achieve such an atmosphere for freedom of speech and religion etc. were as easy as that, they likely would have done it in a snap.

 

All throughout history people here did their best to make a stable  trading and business climate, for there to be an environment where innovative minds get space to be who they are, to grow as people,

 

so their creativity and initatiativeness can flow unencumbered. 

 

And you never know who these minds belong to, so it's not very smart to have someone with a certain trait/skin color/gender or w.e. be represented as a silly, goofy helpers that constantly needs to be reprimanded by their boss lol

 

 

 

Anyway. I will always love learning about how other Dutchies celebrate Saint Nick & having kruidnoten and taai taai and listening to/writing poems around that time of the year. My 5 y.o. sis and I had a lot of fun watching the Sinterklaas series this weekend.

 

In any case, I find comfort in knowing someone like you has stopped remaining silent. Like mu said, (paraphrased) those that should keep their mouths shut are usually the loudest. Considerate people need to speak up as best as they can.

[Harriet]

I'm glad you're a little less flat. I hope things keep getting better! 

 

Spoiler

I admire your decision to face conflict in order to say what you think is true and important. And the new soot-marked Pete sounds good--it sounds as though he maintains the nice and needed parts of the tradition while dropping the disrespectful parts? As for the fifty percent who still aren't on board... I think change is often decades in the making, so this actually sounds to me like decent progress. If people see that the new Pete works just fine, and no one is taking Christmas off them or whatever, maybe resistance will settle down. Patience and politeness sound like good tactics for those people who are still muttering about it, since I think people dig their heels in when they feel judged. In fact, I read a study where people who merely read uncivil comments underneath  a scientific article (on which they had no expertise) came away with more polarised and extreme views on the subject than the control group who read a version of the paper with only civil commentary underneath. 

 

[Renate]

10 minutes ago, Harriet said:

In fact, I read a study where people who merely read uncivil comments underneath  a scientific article (on which they had no expertise) came away with more polarised and extreme views on the subject than the control group who read a version of the paper with only civil commentary underneath. 

 

😮 Is this study (available) in English?

 

(Sounds good. Must find.)

[Harriet]

15 minutes ago, Aθena said:

 

😮 Is this study (available) in English?

 

(Sounds good. Must find.)

 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcc4.12009

Here you go. I think there are probably loads of other studies by now, too, if you wanted to find out more. 

[KB Girl]

10 hours ago, @mu said:

Fantastic princess story!

 

  Hide contents

 

Not an easy one. Sometimes it can come out as a bit condescending as well, and that does not work either.  But I do agree it's very important to not keep silent in any case because "the other side",  so to speak, is getting a lot more verbose and expressive these days, or so I feel, and they are not necessarily bothered by how they put it. That will not necessarily affect people who are already convinced, but it will affect people standing by that might be a bit hesitant on the topic.

 

Yes it's quite a fine line.. it's actually made even more complicated by some of these people being my customers, you know? 

 

9 hours ago, Aθena said:

Oh, I find the pro-Pete protests so silly.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

As a Dutchwoman, I see so many more amazing Dutch cultural events and traditions to be proud of that we should make kids aware of. (While admitting the dark historical parts.)

 

But insisting to keep the brown paint color, red lips & big earrings as part of Pete's "look"?  Is that what you want to fight for, the big cultural thing that your Dutch pride is characterised by? Come on, guys. That's a bit weak? 

 

(While growing up, almost all people who said that the anti-Pete people were fussing too much SAID that Pete look like that because it was "chimney soot". That always made me giggle. I doubt I would look like Pete if I would go down a chimney. At least they finally admitted it does not look anything like chimney soot .) 

 

Some Fun facts. There is a Russian card game called Black Pete with exactly a chimney sweeper as its symbol

 

And in Eastern European Christianity, Saint Nicholas (also celebrated on 5 december)  is the patron saint of Fishermen and sailors. Which is interesting because of Saint Nick's liking of boat as a main means of international transportation, and the fact it's much more a Dutch tradition than in other countries (I think) My grandmother makes the tastiest fish dishes on 5 december.

 

That's how people celebrate 5 dec. in that part of the continent.

 

EDIT:  And I wanted to point out that those great things achieved by Dutch forefathers were not achieved when they protested in favour of something as frivolous as the way costume should look like of the helper of a children's friend,

 

on the contrary, if the concessions made to achieve such an atmosphere for freedom of speech and religion etc. were as easy as that, they likely would have done it in a snap.

 

All throughout history people here did their best to make a stable  trading and business climate, for there to be an environment where innovative minds get space to be who they are, to grow as people,

 

so their creativity and initatiativeness can flow unencumbered. 

 

And you never know who these minds belong to, so it's not very smart to have someone with a certain trait/skin color/gender or w.e. be represented as a silly, goofy helpers that constantly needs to be reprimanded by their boss lol

 

 

 

Anyway. I will always love learning about how other Dutchies celebrate Saint Nick & having kruidnoten and taai taai and listening to/writing poems around that time of the year. My 5 y.o. sis and I had a lot of fun watching the Sinterklaas series this weekend.

 

In any case, I find comfort in knowing someone like you has stopped remaining silent. Like mu said, (paraphrased) those that should keep their mouths shut are usually the loudest. Considerate people need to speak up as best as they can.

huh fish on December 5th, I like that. 

 

6 hours ago, Harriet said:

I'm glad you're a little less flat. I hope things keep getting better! 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I admire your decision to face conflict in order to say what you think is true and important. And the new soot-marked Pete sounds good--it sounds as though he maintains the nice and needed parts of the tradition while dropping the disrespectful parts? As for the fifty percent who still aren't on board... I think change is often decades in the making, so this actually sounds to me like decent progress. If people see that the new Pete works just fine, and no one is taking Christmas off them or whatever, maybe resistance will settle down. Patience and politeness sound like good tactics for those people who are still muttering about it, since I think people dig their heels in when they feel judged. In fact, I read a study where people who merely read uncivil comments underneath  a scientific article (on which they had no expertise) came away with more polarised and extreme views on the subject than the control group who read a version of the paper with only civil commentary underneath. 

 

I jinxed it. 

but thank you for that perspective, a lot more positive. I needed that

and I'd heard of that study- there is definitely some digging of heels happening, it's better to understand where people are coming from rather than dismissing them as bad and/or stupid people. 

[KB Girl]

UGH! I wrote a story time and then my browser crashed and UGH. 

It sucked anyway, so.. moving on. 

 

Last couple of days (fri-sat-sun) felt really bad, they weren't so terrible but they contrasted badly with the couple of better days that went before. I was too optimistic and probably tried to do a bit too much work which ended with not getting a training in and being over tired and over sad and feeling rather hopeless and trapped. I know those feelings/thoughts are a lie. Highlights were two walks with the four of us, baby in a sling and Emma hunting for Christmas decorations. 

 

Let's wrap up this challenge.. actually it went quite well didn't it? I wrote quite a bit. Missed some days, but for very understandable reasons. It made me feel like I was accomplishing something and building towards a better brighter future  which I really needed. And it put me into the habit of doing something useful with my evenings- not necessarily work, but something for myself, my long term goals/dreams. 

I think I might do it again for the next challenge. Other than that? Right now I'm feeling rather morose so not a good time to be thinking about it.. and the day before yesterday there was a huge list of things I wanted to do-  a good sign that my brain is doing a bit better, but also a terrible idea. Let me sleep on it. 

[Elastigirl]

I really enjoyed your stories this challenge. Well done on the challenge. 

[Mad Hatter]

12 hours ago, KB Girl said:

and I'd heard of that study- there is definitely some digging of heels happening, it's better to understand where people are coming from rather than dismissing them as bad and/or stupid people. 

I think it's also important to remember that "we" are just as biased as "them", and get the same brain rewards for reinforcing and arguing our beliefs. Kudos to you for picking up the fight!

 

I really hope you'll continue with the stories, they've been a delight to read! Congrats on a successful challenge.  

[KB Girl]

On 11/29/2020 at 10:07 PM, Elastigirl said:

I really enjoyed your stories this challenge. Well done on the challenge. 

thank you  

 

On 11/30/2020 at 10:15 AM, Mad Hatter said:

I think it's also important to remember that "we" are just as biased as "them", and get the same brain rewards for reinforcing and arguing our beliefs. Kudos to you for picking up the fight!

 

I really hope you'll continue with the stories, they've been a delight to read! Congrats on a successful challenge.  

You're right. and I will!

 

[sylph]

Thirding/Fourthing/Whatever that I've really enjoyed reading your writing this challenge. ❤️

[KB Girl]

22 minutes ago, sylph said:

Thirding/Fourthing/Whatever that I've really enjoyed reading your writing this challenge. ❤️

Thank you!  glad to hear it.

will you be joining the holiday challenge?

[sylph]

10 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Thank you!  glad to hear it.

will you be joining the holiday challenge?

I don't think so. I think it was better for me to be audience member this time around, so maybe I'll do that again and think about a real challenge again in the new year.