Halloween!

I love Halloween! I haven't really had a chance to celebrate it properly for a long time because first I was in college, then I was living in apartments, and once we finally got a house it seemed kind of sad since our neighborhood was all college students and none of them did anything for it, but this year... This year I'm back in my groove.


I wonder I love Halloween because despite the fact my family is several generations removed from the old country, we're still ethnically Celtic for the most part (with some Saxon and some Breton thrown in there for spice) and it's really a Celtic holiday. I've been pondering a lot lately on the connection between generations, and I think it's a lot stronger than anyone suspects. But regardless, we always went all out for the holiday in my family growing up and most of my favorite holiday memories center around All Hallow's Eve.


So in honor of my roots, my family traditions, and my deep and abiding love for free candy I've created a haunted graveyard in my front yard. I'm still going to work on it a little tomorrow so I won't post pictures until it's done, but so far it features 5 eerily floating ghosts, two grave stones, a zombie's hand reaching up from it's grave, and lots of cobwebs. I still think it needs some random debris scattered about, more cobwebs, some mood lighting, and some fog. I'll probably put a container of dry ice out at the last minute to give it a devilish mist. I'd also like to have some music, but I think it's kind of late in the game to do that so I might have to put that on the short list for next year.


Anyway, to get you all in the mood for one of my most favoritest holidays, here's a picture taken of Andrei today before his Halloween play at school.

Holy Graham Crackers, Robin!

Foods I LOVE!

I've been in a pretty negative mood lately, so I've been trying to think positive. The happiest thoughts I had today were while I was sharing recipes with my SIL. Ana's been living with us for a while so when we were talking about recipes today I decided after knowing her for almost 7 years and after her cooking in my kitchen for 7 months I could finally trust her enough to share some of my most treasured recipes. She is, after all, a foodie herself so I'm pretty confident that the recipes will be in good hands.
I love to cook. I remember vividly the first time I was given a recipe and told to follow it (I was 8 and sitting in my soon to be step-mom's kitchen with Jason and we made gumdrop cookies). Cooking was always a happy place for me to go because I never got in trouble for doing it, and I'd like to think that over the past almost 20 years I've gotten pretty good at it. In college I made it my business to bug my roommates for their best and brightest recipes as well so I would estimate that the gastronomical value of my recipe file is pretty priceless since some of those recipes I will never be able to track down again. Highlights include the single greatest recipes for both pumpkin and pecan pie ever to grace this earth, a recipe for funeral potatoes that are delicious enough to soothe even the grief stricken, and a recipe for Butterhorn rolls which mean more to me than any roll should seeing as they play a very prominent role in all of my happiest childhood moments.
So in that vein, I'd like to share with you a few of my faves over the next few weeks. I'd like to invite you all to share your favorite recipes, too! I'll start with this one, a Klein Ward staple for the 10 years I lived there, and the cause of much of my childhood obesity. ;)
TEXAS CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE
Ingredients: 1/2 c. butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. water
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
DIRECTIONS
bring butter, cocoa, and water to a boil. Combine flour, sugar eggs, milk, soda, baking powder, and vanilla. Add together and blend well. Add buttermilk, cinnamon, soda, butter and flour.
Grease a 9x13 pan, pour, and bake for 25 minutes.
FROSTING
1/2 c. butter
4 tbsp. cocoa
6 tbsp. milk
"dash" of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. box powdered sugar
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
1 c. coconut (optional).
DIRECTIONS
melt butter. add coca, milk, salt, and vanilla. Blend well and pour over powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. Add optional ingredients if desired. Spread icing on cake while still hot. Let cool. Eat.

Paying Taxes

One of the weirdest things about owning your own business is being responsible for paying your business taxes. I actually have a license to charge people sales tax, AND I don't have to pay sales tax on stuff if I don't want to. That's pretty weird, huh?
Taxes for 3rd quarter are due today so I had to pay both federal and state sales tax for my company, which is pretty fun even though it's a pain in the butt. It makes me feel really important logging onto a federal database and paying taxes. Woot woot!
I kind of messed up on my state taxes, though, because I forgot to include my tax exempt payments, so I had to log on twice. No biggie.
I kind of feel like paying taxes for my company is like a temple recommend interview for my business. It forces me to look over my income and expenses for the quarter and really closely evaluate my company's financial situation. It was really good for me to do that, because I've been stressing about that a lot lately. I'm not great at balancing accounts, despite my step-mother's religious attempts to educate me in balancing my checkbook as a teenager. So it was nice to find out today that I actually have about $1000 dollars more than I thought and that I actually owe about $2000 less than I thought. Heck yes! Go dress store! Go!
Also it kind of gave me the justification that I need to start seriously looking for a bigger store front. I found a nice place up the street from where we're at. It's a funny floor plan, though, so I am not sure if it will work for us. I'm going to devote a large portion of the afternoon today to trying to map out a layout that will work for us in that floorplan. The space is renting for $800/month for about 900 sq. feet, which is well under market value. It is upstairs, but they'll give us about 10 feet of signage up front and a private entrance. It has a bathroom with a large tub that we can use for tea-dying as well as a kitchenette area which I'm not sure what we'd use it for, but might be kind of nice to have. It's very open and light and has the possibility to expand. It comes with free internet and electricity, but not gas, and has a private thermostat.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, and it's certainly not as nice as the place we found over Einstein's on Center Street, but it's literally half the price.
So today's post doesn't really have a moral. It's just a quick peek at what I do for a living. I draw pretty dresses and play around with a lot of numbers. Wow. Isn't owning a dress store exciting?
P.S. we cleaned up at the bridal fair last week. I'm going to spend the next hour contacting the 35 gals who left us their contact info. Sweet, huh? The Little Miss Utah Pageant also wants us to make them about 50 dresses. That should be a nice contract to have, if we can do it well.

Nada...

Pues cuando estabamos visitando a mi hermanita en L.A. ella me enseno' el blog de su amiga y me dio' el idea escribir en Espanol a veces. No tengo mucho decir hoy excepto que hoy conoci' a un muchacho de las Islas Canarias. Estamos buscando para una ubicacion nueva para nuestra tienda y encontre' un espacio en University Ave en el segundo piso de una tienda de trajes. El hombre rentandolo es Judio y se nacio' y se crecio' en Las Islas Canarias. Su Papa' hace los trajes y el es de Israel y de Morrocco. Los dos hablan Espanol y les soprendieron que yo tambien lo hablo. Platicamos un ratito en Spanglish y me ofrecieron un buen "deal." Dicen que si quiero rentar el espacio me van a areglar a mis gustos con una entrada privada etc. para $600 al mes incluyendo electricidad y internet. Que bueno, no!
Todavia estoy aprendiendo ma's de Espanol cada dia con mi trabajo, y estoy muy agradecida que tengo la suerte entender y hablar con todos la gente hispanohablante que viven en mi comunidad. Hace mas que 12 anos que estoy trabajando aprender la idioma y creo que ya la tengo, mas o menos. Se' que falta muchas detalles de la gramatica y la escritura, pero hacer negocios en Espanol es un paso muy grande en el viaje, no?
Pues eso es todo para hoy. No mas que estoy feliz que puedo hablar y escribir en esta lenguage tan bonita, y por medio de Espanol puedo conocer a tantas personas tan interesantes como Emanuel (el muchacho de la tienda) y su Papa'!

Lo más reciente

Here's the latest and greatest to come off the assembly line in my shop. I'm especially fond of this one because I designed it myself. It's lace over satin with a satin belt. It's a size too big for the mannequin so it looks a little baggy here, but you get the main idea.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged!!

Here are the rules: You answer the questions below and at the end of the post you tag 4 people. Then go to their blog and comment to them that they have been tagged. My sister Emily tagged me on her blog so here we go...

What is your husband's name? Luis Ernesto Farias Cano
How long have you been married? Five years this August, but we started dating almost 7 years ago.
How long did you date? that question is subject to interpretation. We dated 8 months, broke up 6, and then got BACK together and immediately engaged because we realized that we can't live without each other. He actually had a girlfriend after we broke up, but had told his mother that if I ever called him again he'd propose on the spot. Sadly for her, he was a man of his word. We were engaged for 4 months. So if you count the "break" we dated for about 18 months.
How old is he? he turned 31 last month.
Who eats sweets? We both self medicate with desserts. I'm the more compulsive eater, though.
Who said "I Love You" first? I did, but just kind of jokingly. He picked me up and told me he thought I only weighed like 140 pounds (which I did NOT... I have'nt been that small since I was 10). I don't really remember when we started saying it for reals or who said it first. We really didn't think our relationship would be more than a casual fling based on anything more than physical attraction, and we both planned on breaking it off after a few dates. I'm not really good at sticking to a plan, though. :)
Who is taller? He's a foot taller than me. I LOVE being married to a really REALLY big guy for many reasons, the least of which is that I can always wear literally whatever shoes I feel like. His height is also great for reaching things on the top shelf, and finding him rapidly in a crowd.
Who can sing best? We sing equally well, but different styles. I'm more into choral stuff and he's a superior pop/ballad singer. One of my single favorite things about him is that he is always singing when he is happy. It always makes my day to hear him bust out a tune or two because he sings so well.
Who is smarter? We're pretty equally matched on this one. I'm more apt at the artsy-fartsy interpretive stuff and he's a more linear thinker. I did better in school, but that's because I have a pathological need to be the best at everything, and Luis always just did as much as he had to in order to get by because he's more relaxed with life. He's better with money and can calculate interest rates and payments and tips in his head. I can tell you what virtually any word means.
Who does the laundry? Both of us. We split all our chores in half. I wash, he puts away. Same with dishes, etc.
Who pays the bills? Mostly him. I hate money. It's too much math for me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me.
Who mows the lawn? He mows the grass, I handle the flower beds and vegetable garden.
Who cooks dinner? We both do. I do more often, but Luis makes a crazy mean jumbalaya.
Who drives? Luis. Always. I HATE driving.
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Me. Luis is kind of macho like that.
Who kissed who first? Luis SO started that. It was our first real date (we'd been out once before for ice cream, but I had to go to work so it was only like an hour). I was kind of a slut back in the day, though, so I didn't stop him.
Who asked who out first? He also started that. He asked my pal Emanuel to set him up after he we met randomly. Apparently he thought I was irresistable and had to have my number. He says it was one of the only times he was ever nervous to ask a girl out, because he was kind of a womanizer and was used to getting dates with whoever he felt like dating, but thought I would actually shoot him down. I almost did reject the offer, because I was kind of waiting to see what was going to happen with a missionary, but he offered ice cream and I took the bait. Within two weeks I was officially no longer waiting for anyone.
Who wears the pants? I'm really bossy, but if we ever butt heads Luis wins because he's just so darn charming. I swear he's getting by in life on a combination of charisma, wit, and sheer physical presence.

Who's funnier? Depends- I'm more sarcastic and witty- Luis is really good at doing physical humor and impressions.

What was your first big fight? We've only ever had two real fights in our marriage. One lasted about 2 years on and off over where we got to spend holidays. The other lasted about a year on and off (concurrent with the Christmas fight- it was a rough year for me) and was about X-Box night. We have disagreements, but we don't ever fight about them. Rock paper scissors has saved us on many occasions. However, when a topic comes up that we really won't budge on, it takes a while to put it to rest.

What makes your hubby cranky? Being told what to do. Jerlieny. Not eating when he's hungry. Me being cranky first.

How did you meet? See above. I was pretty cute back in the day and Luis has a thing for blondes. He was selling tacos and I was hungry. We got into a conversation while he was preparing my order and it turned out we had a mutual friend. One thing led to another, and a few weeks later we were inseperable. Lucky for him I'm in to the whole tall dark and handsome thing, and I'm a sucker for all things foreign. I think we were both just looking for a fling, but surprise of all surprises... we were totally made for each other. Alas, my casual relationship turned into something real and now we're stuck with each other. ;) Sigh.

Ok. Now I tag my cousin Heather, and my friends Natalie, Alisha, and Amber.

We're baaaaaack.

It's late, I'm tired. I think this picture sums up our Disneyland, California, L.A. adventures.

I'll post more tomorrow, but for today...

Fun in the Sun!

So we're having a great time in California and we're coming back tomorrow. Emily is making no-bakes right now, Luis and Brent are watching a baseball game on t.v. and Andrei is asleep.
Wednesday was a little rough with no sleep and a LONG drive. Andrei behaved reasonably well, though, and only had a couple of minor freak-outs along the way. We got to L.A. around 9 p.m. their time, and Andrei had been asleep for about 4 hours already (YES!!!!). We just had enough time to watch some Brian Regan and then fall asleep.
We woke up on Thursday around 7:30 and got on the road around 8:30. The traffic was bad going from Studio City to Anaheim but once we got there the rest of the day went well. Actually better than well. It was the best day of my life. Seriously. Andrei behaved PERFECTLY the ENTIRE DAY. Without exception. The lines were short- our longest was a 25 minute wait for Peter Pan (?). We actually did Space Mountain in about 20 minutes, Indiana Jones in around 20 Minutes, and California Screamin' in about the same. Everything else we waited for around 10-15 minutes and at one point rode Astro Blasters twice in under a half hour. We pigged out on Disneyland food, caught the parade (Andrei was stoked because Ariel waved at him like 5 times- I think she thought he was cute because he kept waving at her and yelling her name), and left around 10 exhausted and happy.
The next day wasn't quite as nice. The weather was hot, the lines were long (our shortest lines without a fast pass were 30 minutes or longer), and some of the novelty had worn off so Andrei got a little naughty and we had a minor breakdown waiting for Space Mountain. It was at like 7:30 p.m., though, so I'm glad we got through most of the day without major problems. It was worth the wait, though, because Space Mountain was seriously more fun with Emily, who went with us yesterday, and who provided me with hilarious commentary throughout the entire ride. We also were lucky enough to get AWESOME spots for the fireworks show, and fast pass tickets to Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones, saving us literally 2 and a half hours of our lives NOT in line.
Today was fun, too. I had to "transact some business" in the garment district, so Emily and I went downtown and had some fun negotiating with Persian Fabric Importers. I got zippers for 25 cents each! I also got a gross of covered buttons for $20. I know that probably doesn't make sense unless you sew a lot, but it's a good deal.
Anyway, I need to go eat some chocolate and watch some more Brian Regan before I go, so I'll put pictures later.
Today's moral: if you're going on a long road trip with a 6 year old, bribery is always a good idea.

I'm so tired I can hear colors.

So I've been up for almost 24 hours straight trying to get stuff ready for my vacation. This is the first real vacation I've taken in almost 2 years. Last Christmas I went to Fresno with my family, but I kind of don't count that because I had to deal with stressed out relatives the entire time and it mostly felt like work. I love my family and can't wait to spend time with them, but sometimes they can get really dramatic. I don't think there was a single day of my "vacation" that there wasn't somebody having a crisis. Fun, but not necessarily rejuvinating.
I also went to Mexico last summer, but that was the single worst vacation of my life and will go down in my personal records as the "anti-vacation." I was actually more stressed out when I got back than I was before I left! I won't mention details... mostly because I spent a lot of time and effort blocking most of them out and don't want to bring up any repressed memories.
The closest I've come to vacationing was when I went to Virginia last Thanksgiving for a couple of days to attend my baby brother (now nearing 6 foot 7 and 17 years old)'s Eagle Scout Court of Honor. I don't know why, but chilling with my step-mom's kids always puts me in a good mood. I think I spent more time with them than I did with my own brothers and sisters growing up (except for Emily aka Smelly Pants), so I'm more used to them. Anyway, it was a heck of a good time, but sadly only lasted for like 2 days. I wish I could see them all more.
The Christmas before that was fun. We went to Guadalajara and I met the Farias side of the family for the first time. My FIL is one of 7 kids (6 boys 1 girl) born to a devout Roman Catholic family whose father was the town doctor back in the days when that meant making house calls and such. Luis has a uncle who was a Jesuit Priest and 3 of his uncles are actually M.D.'s. The other 2 are College Professors, and the 1 Aunt is an Artist. I love their family SO MUCH!!!! We went to Puerto Vallarta for a 2 day vacation within a vacation and spent the time lying on the beach, eating lobster, visiting local art galleries, and touring the 6 million dollar beach homes that Luis's uncle (the artist's husband) builds and for me that was a REAL vacation.That was 2 years ago.
So this is the first honest to goodness ask time off work and go somewhere just for kicks vacation I've taken in a while. We're going to Disneyland and we're taking Andrei, and I'm tyring to psyche myself up, which is hard. I have a hard time NOT working because whenever I have to take even 1 day off of either of my jobs it requires at least 24 hours of solid preparation to get things put together and set up so that I'm capable of leaving without having everything crash down in my face while I'm gone. That's the nature of owning your own business AND teaching. Combined, it's lethal. I've been running around for a week now trying to organize a bridal show I'll be missing, while setting up lessons that easily transition into something a sub can do without just having to show a movie or do busy work to waste time. That's a feat of excellence that I have yet to attain as a teacher, but I think I came pretty close this time. I'll actually be working on Saturday- networking the fabric suppliers in L.A., which was the compromise I made with Luis and myself to agree to even go on this trip. What can I say? This is how I usually roll.
Now it's nearing 1 a.m. and I have to be at school to make copies at 6:30 or so, so I can be out of the building before the kids get there at 7:15. Edson Barajas is always early because he feels safe at school and loves my class, so I'm going to have to sneak out early to avoid crossing paths with him and having to explain where I'm going, which leads to a lot of whining and annoying personal questions. Ick.
Anyway, that's my rant for this week. I'll post pictures of Mickeyland when I get back. I haven't been there since I was like 12, which was the worst time possible to go because I was "too young" to go on the awesome rides and too big to think that Mr. Toad's wild ride was cool. I haven't been back as an adult because I totally oppose Disney as a soul-less and corrupt corporate conglomerate, but I'm putting my crazy conspiracy theories on hold for a weekend and I'm going to try to NOT think about the exploitation of foreign labor the entire time I'm there. Sigh. I think there's something wrong with me. Maybe it's lack of sleep.
Today's moral isn't really a moral, it's more of an observation. I'm a workaholic, and I may need an intervention soon. I'm stressed out and tired, but in some sick masochistic way I actually enjoy the torturous hours. And the money. Which is why I don't quit.

My Two Weirdos...

So here's something about Luis you probably didn't know- he's an environmentalist and kind of a tree-hugger. In fact, if he wasn't LDS, he'd probably be living in some sort of weird commune somewhere. He's constantly going around the house and shutting off lights behind me, despite the fact we've converted the entire house to 10 watt lightbulbs. He recycles everything, and only buys new clothes when his old ones have irreparable holes because he doesn't want to waste. He is thinking of trading in his Sonata for a CNG vehicle. He refuses to shop at Walmart unless absolutely necessary... for moral reasons. He saw a documentary on the company and cancelled our Sam's Club membership the next week. His life dream is to get like 5 acres somewhere and grow a lot of corn or something bizarre like that. Last night I caught him listening to a song by "the mamas and the papas" and when I confronted him he asked "so does this make me a real hippie?" I asked him where does he come from? He said "D.F." What a weirdo. :)

Andrei has been bugging me about his Halloween costume for a few weeks now. And by a few weeks I mean like 11 months. He has traveled the entire gambit of superheroes, movie characters, and cartoon characters and has asked to be everything from "black suit spiderman" to "Willy Wonka." He has ruled most superheroes out, however, because we put our foot down about 2 months ago and insisted his mother stop letting him watch PG-13 movies because he's only 6. We explained to him what violence is and why we're not letting him watch it, so now if you bring up Spiderman he'll say that it's too violent for him. What a weird kid. :)

Last week we went to JoAnn's and looked through the pattern books and he saw a Robin Hood costume, which he decided was Peter Pan, and all week he's been asking if he could please have a Peter Pan costume. Today we went back and purchased the pattern and spent most of the afternoon making the costume. At first he was confused because he's never seen anyone actually sew clothes before (odd seeing as he spends most weekends at my dress shop). When we walked into JoAnns he got angry and told me "They don't sell clothes here! We're at the wrong store!"

He couldn't understand how I was going to change a big rectangle of cloth into a costume, but once he figured it out he wouldn't leave me alone. He perched himself on a barstool next to my work table and insisted on handling all of the pins and the scissors, and hugging/kissing me every couple of minutes. Needless to say it took twice as long to build as it normally would have, but it came out SUPER cute, and all of the hugs and kisses sure made me feel great. I had to improvise on the hat because it didn't come with a hat pattern. I'm really pleased, though, with how it turned out.

Now we're trying to convince his best friend Esteban to be Captain Hook. We're making costumes for the dogs, too. Leyla is going to be Tinkerbell and Bella is going to be the crocodile.
I'll post pictures once we get everyone dressed up.

Tomorrow is Ana's baby's blessing. Her MIL gave her the CUTEST tatted lace blessing dress. After that, Mama is planning on going back to Mexico, which means I get my house back a little. I don't know if my FIL will ever come up here to see Kenley. He's really weird about that. He takes fewer vacations that Luis and I do.

Speaking of which, we're going to Cali next week to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It's a little late, but better late than never, I guess. We're taking Andrei and going to Disneyland in celebration of him pulling an impressive 180 in school. His teachers say he's still antsy and talkative, but no more so than all of the other 1st graders... without Ritalin. Hmmm... After 3 weeks of tracking sheets and positive reinforcement he's doing better. Imagine that. Hate to say I told you so, but...

We promised him if he got better we'd surprise him, so he doesn't know. We told him it had something to do with Mickey Mouse and roller coasters, but he is going to DIE of happiness when he figures it out. Maybe he can wear his costume to Disneyland. And maybe we can drive a CNG vehicle to California. :) I'm so weird.

Getting paid, getting PAID!

We got our first big check in the mail today- an order for 6 dresses all in one. I know that 6 doesn't sound like a whole lot, but when you consider we've been averaging about 4 a month, 6 at one time sure takes a whole load of worry off my shoulders. We took a picture of my partner Jenny with the check, to commemorate the momentous occasion. Here's to making money the old fashioned way.

Calling all Cake Decorators!!!

I need someone to share a new office space with me. We need to expand our operation, and I think I found the perfect space. The problem is that it's a little out of our price range and I'm looking to share the rent with another wedding-oriented business. Jewelry, cakes, photogs, invitations? There are two large-sized rooms that would make perfect show-rooms for a catering company or cake decorator.
The place is on CENTER STREET in Provo, with street access, and it's a heck of a deal.
If you know anyone who would like a 250 sq. foot office/showroom for about $250 a month, send them my way!!

I Love Rock and Roll!

So this post has nothing to do with the title. I just love Rock and Roll and thought I'd put that out there for you all. Plus it's the title of a pretty rad song that I'm listening to right now.
Anyway, so this is a quick post. My sister Melissa had her baby- a little girl named Ella Cait Gordon. I'm pretty glad they picked a cute awesome name for her. Baby and mom are doing fine, so I've been sleeping better not worrying about them. No baby dreams lately so that's probably the source of my weird sueños lately.
We're getting our first wholesale client set up at the store- producing about 6 sample gowns from our fall line for her to have on hand in her store. If we come through on time with the samples and if she likes them, she may order the entire 25 gown line. That would be cool. Her purchasing 6 gowns up front with cash is cool, too. Getting paid! Getting paid!
Tonight is scouts and we're having Pack Meeting. I'm supposed to have the Scout Master arrange and organize it, but he's kind of a bum and doesn't do much, and the Webelos leader is like super party planner extraordinaire, so she's on it. As Second Counselor in the Primary, I don't want to actually do any of the work I'm assigned to oversee so I took no part in planning P.M. The sad thing is that I'm the best the branch has got, so they'll have to deal with my lack of enthusiasm for my 3 callings. One of these days I'll get religion again and go the extra mile at church. I might even start reading scriptures again, or holding FHE, or working on my food storage... For now, I feel pretty good keeping all the major commandments and showing up to my meetings. Needless to say, I'm not psyched about being asked to dress up as my "favorite book character" for Pack Meeting, but if I complain that's pretty lame because I should have planned the dang thing myself, so I'll take what I can get and pull out the good ol' pirate costume. I can't really dress like the characters for "Grapes of Wrath," "A Farewell to Arms," or "Love in the Time of Cholera" so I'm just going to say I'm Billy Bones from "Treasure Island." That should work, right?
Anyway, congrats Smelissa and Ella. I'm glad you're ok. Today's moral is that if you can't do a job well, delegate... and always have a pirate costume on hand, just in case.