Diet Mentality

This is a quote from the 'Spark People' website that I hope they don't mind me sharing. It's from one of their fantastic weight loss articles. The entire site is amazing and anyone looking to live healthier, and/or lose weight should check it out! IT'S FREE and it's marvelous. Look for http://www.sparkpeople.com today and see what a great benefit it can be to you. (No this isn't a paid ad, I LOVE the Spark People website)

Anyway, here it is:

…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.
You might think that eating as little as possible throughout the day will help you lose weight. Perhaps you skip breakfast altogether and only eat a small snack during the day. But if you don't fuel your body regularly throughout the day, you're more likely to binge in the evening—at dinner and into the late evening. Plus, without adequate nutrition all day, your metabolism will wane, and slow, making your energy levels low and weight loss even harder.

(I messed up with the formating here and couldn't change it, the quote ends here, below is not a quote it's my comment, lol.)

That was so 'me'. Since I've stopped doing that I've lost TWENTY FIVE pounds. Okay, okay, I've also added a lot of exercise and made sure what I ate was the RIGHT thing to eat, but I've done all that before with little luck until I realized thanks to them that I was looking at my 'diet' all wrong. Not eating enough, and often enough was a huge trap.

Permanent Choices

I need a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. Ours is at least twelve years old (it came with the house), outdated, and feeling its age from the sound of it. There are so many fantastic styles and choices in ceiling fans now that it's hard to choose which one I want to spend my life with. Those types of things are sort of like choosing a mate. haha. When things are permanently attached to a wall or ceiling it's a lot more important, at least it feels that way.

Craftmade ceiling fans are some of my favorites in my choices so far. Their 19th century fan looks almost identical to the one I have now, except that it's a little tighter to the ceiling which is something else I love about it. We have such low ceilings in our home that the closer to the ceiling the fans can be the better. Then again, so many of their other styles appeal to me with their clean, smooth lines, they are very modern, and would probably suit the style of the house, and my decor much better. The early century fan up there now kind of stands out of place.

I wish they'd had Fanimation ceiling fans when my kids were living at home, they're beautiful and would have been perfect for their rooms. Their Tahiti fan is so whimsical and cool my daughter would have loved it, and the surfboard fan would have delighted my son.

Actually since I'm using my daughter's old room as an office now, that Tahiti fan is really calling out to me too.

What's In Your Cabinet?

What's in your cabinet? Kind of makes me think of that commercial 'what's in your wallet?' I haven't given much thought to our medicine cabinet lately, but having important first aide supplies on hand is necessary. It should be a necessity in every home. When my kids were younger it was never something I had to 'think about', we just had everything. I think people with kids are just like that. Kids are always scraping, falling, banging... so there is an ever constant need for the little necessities like band-aides, tape, gauze, peroxide, antibiotic cream etc. Those people without children, and those of us whose children are grown and gone sometimes have more trouble remembering to keep the medicine cabinet stocked with such little things though. We tend to be a little more careful about our bodies than the average four-year-old, lol.

The whole issue came to light for me the other night when I was doing dishes. More careful than a four-year-old or not I did something stupid, I was rinsing out the blender and rather than take it all apart just to use it again for a late night fruit blend I was just rinsing it and I decided to make sure nothing was under the blade, so I 'carefully' put the sponge in there. For my own record, I really thought I was being careful... jammed my finger right into the blade... so much for careful.

It really wasn't all that bad, but it needed a band-aide. Calling for hubby... need a band-aide. He came running with one band-aide and an empty box. This is it he said, hope it's enough. Well it was, but how do you get so low on something so ordinary? I just don't think about checking those things before I go to the store. A few weeks ago I needed some peroxide for a scratch I'd gotten outside... none.

Time to resupply that medicine cabinet. How about you? What's in your cabinet?

Me Time

One of the tips the diet site I found has is using skin care products like vitamin rich lotions on the skin to help the elasticity of the skin as it needs to shrink back. It can help with the stretch marks, and wrinkles as well. No sense in working so hard to look good again only to end up looking like a prune, or like someone deflated me. It feels good too. Spending just a few minutes a day taking care of my skin makes me feel refreshed and re-viatalized. It's a 'me' time. You don't realize how often you forget to take some time just to make yourself feel good when you get involved in a hectic life. Everything moves so fast. It only takes a couple of minutes to make all of that disappear and feel good again.

Help With The Cycles of Life

I could have used some progesterone creme this week. It was 'that time' and usually I don't have a lot of PMS but it was pretty hard this week. Maybe it's the new diet. I'm just happy that's over. It seems to be a lot different now that I'm older too. Things don't work the way they used to, or I react differently to them. I didn't even know you could topically apply progesterone but it sinks in through the skin, and prevents a lot of problems from weight gain to preventing breast cancer. It's amazing how much women don't even know about the things like that.

Anyway to Make a Buck

There was a headline this morning that 'dog chewed Michael Vick trading cards' were all the rage now. That's so funny it's sad. The whole scandal is just so blown out of proportion, even Vick's father is 'cashing in' on his son's misfortune with a tell-all book. Now I say 'misfortune' in the most tongue in cheek way, I mean he did it to himself, but still, he's just a man who did something horrible but going on and on about it, and people crying over it because it was HIM, and the news going on and on about it. Get over it, get on with your life, it happened, he should be punished but he's not some fallen god, he's just a man who committed a nasty crime. I have a friend who tells me all of Atlanta is mourning and sad over this fallen 'hero'. (She lives in Atlanta.) Come on people he wasn't a 'hero' he is a man. We put people on pedestals too often. It's crazy. It just breeds insanity like the dog chewed trading cards. Anyway to make a buck though, I guess.

Beauty At The Curbside

Nothing adds cool curb appeal to a home than really nice residential mailboxes. The Mailboxixchange has some really great boxes for either home, or business use. Their commercial mailboxes are sharp and crisp and give a professional polish to a storefront, or building. No matter what type of mailbox you use, or where you need it you'll be able to be proud of the way it gives your home that finishing touch, or your business that sparkle.

Even out in the country where we live our mailboxes aren't just utilitarian, they give people a small peek at 'who we are' by their style, and how they're kept. First impressions may not always be fair, but they are there. People can't help but notice things like that.

Make sure your mailbox gives people the impression you want it to, and find out how you can even earn money by becoming an affiliate. You can earn twenty dollars just for signing up for free. How beautiful is that?

It's TRUE

Okay, I actually read the article now... Nicole Richie really did only spend less than an hour in jail to serve what was supposed to be a 1-day sentence... boy she and Paris really have it made... first of all, WHO GETS A ONE DAY SENTENCE for driving the WRONG way on the freeway UNDER the influence? Dang... I'm movin' to California, but then again, I'm not rich and famous.

Doin Time

Did I read the headline right this morning? Nicole Richie spent 68 MINUTES in jail? It was something like that. I have to go back and actually read the article, I mean there has to be SOME explanation for that-right? Come on, I mean MINUTES. Not 68 hours, days, weeks, months--MINUTES. Even being rich and famous can't account for that. Heck even Paris Hilton did better than 68 minutes. What? Did Richie go into labor the moment she walked into her cell? That might explain a 68 minute jail sentence. Or did she get a rash like her pal Hilton? See, Paris paved the way and showed Nicole all the excuses. A lot of times I'm just cruising through the 'home page' and don't take the time to read the articled, but most of the time the headlines are funnier than the actual article anyway, but oh man, I have to go back and read that article.

New Diet, New Views

I've been learning a lot of new things on this diet. I really didn't think I could. I know that sounds egotistical but hey, I took a test at the start of this one and even it called me a 'diet guru'... but see, I know a lot of the right things, I just never put them into action... at least not for very long. What has dawned on my 'guru' mind is that I've always considered them 'diets'. Diets are something you go on and off of at a certain point. What I needed to think of them as is lifestyles. A new way to live. Diets are for those folks needing to loose 10 maybe 20 pounds. If you need to lose more than that, you probably need to change the way you live. Not some quick fix diet, a long term healthier way of eathing. I think, I hope I'm on the right track now.

The Blog World

The Internet has become such a fascinating place, I still boggle over it sometimes. In just maybe 20 years it has turned into a world of its own and yet expands the actual world we live in in ways that sometimes I'm not sure we really comprehend. Blogs too... those even in a much shorter time. I think it was maybe 6 or 7 years ago when I first heard the word 'blog'. My son had opened up a MySpace blog and it was just really a bunch of teens mostly keeping journals and being 'friends'... then slowly it evolved into something that was at first the same, and yet totally different. Now you can still find millions of blogs that are just 'journals' of everyday life. Big friend communities that keep track of the daily lives of each other from all over the globe, but it's sure not just teens anymore. You can also find extraordinarily informative blogs about many things, and even specific subjects of just about any nature. And the most amazing part of all is the unlimited nature of it. There is no 'ceiling' where it has to end. It can go on for ever and get as big as it will without ever hitting a wall. That itself is hard to comprehend. A world without limits of space.

Exotic Travel

Easily one of the most recognizable tourist attractions in the world, the Sidney Opera House is amazing, and beautiful all by itself. It is also one of the top Opera houses in the world and home to all forms of beautiful performace art such as ballet, opera, and symphony performances. It's said that the opera house put the continent on the map. I don't know about that. Austraila is a wonderful, exciting, and thrilling place even without the Opera house. I'd love to see Australia and stay in one of the Sidney hotels so I could look out at the magnificent shoreline and the beautiful Opera house every morning. Or in one of the Melbourne Hotels

Australia is such a contrast of modern beauty and primitive wilderness and wildlife. There are plenty of tourist attractions in the big cities and lots of 'outback' tours that are exciting. It's another of the places I'd love to visit. It's not romantic like Paris, it's raw and energetic.

Brisbane is one of the Austrailian cities you hear so much about. It's easy to find affordable Brisbane hotels and the culture is more upper European. You're more likely to feel like you just stepped out of a London building than onto the Austrailian continent when heading out into the city for the day. Brisbane even has its own football team--the Broncos for the sports enthusiast traveling abroad.

New Tech--Time Travel?

Can you believe this? I just lost an entire post thanks to a Blogger error. That's enough to make you want to give up on all technology. I was writing about the headline stating that some new thoughts may unlock the keys to time travel and how that will eventually cause the collapse of all gambling including lottery because like Bob and I so often say 'how cool would it be to be able to go forward and get the winning lottery numbers and then come back and play those numbers'. Of course, we can never afford the new technology when it first comes out so we'd be out of luck once more because by the time prices on new and used time machines dropped to where we could afford one, gambling wouldn't exist anymore.

Fixing The Old

My battered old sewing machine has been getting a bit of a workout lately since I've been loosing a few pounds. I wonder how many people anymore actually sew their own clothes, or even do simple alterations? It is such a throw-away society now that we tend to throw things out and go buy new ones if something doesn't fit anymore, or breaks. I like sewing. I'm not really good enough to make my own really complicated clothes but I've made quite a few pairs of pants, and simple shirts and tank tops. With a little time I could probably do some more elaborate work, but finding the time for it is difficult. Still it makes me feel good when I can fix a pair of pants, or a shirt rather than having to just toss it away, even if I can get a new one for a cheap price.

Road Trip!?

Oh, I almost had an opprotunity to take a road trip. I'm just a little too far off the path that the crew was going to take. They're heading out from Florida and heading to Las Vegas in an RV! What an exciting trip to go on. Too bad they're not even touching Illinois much less within a reasonable distance from me on their route. I checked though, I'd need a whole new set of luggage if I were to even think of going anywhere. I don't think it would be too classy to show up in a big hotel with paper bags holding my clothes. I had a really nice set of luggage but my daughter never returned them after her honeymoon. It was time I got a new set anyway. You never know when the next opprotunity for a road trip will pop up.

Better Desks

I wish my office were just a little bit bigger so I could get one of those big executive desks type sets they have out there. I'd like a big mahongany one with a book case behind it, and a computer cabinet. I've even seen one that the monitor hides under the desk and is viewable by a clean window so you still have your desk top, that one was amazing--and big. That's the problem, all of those sets are so big usually. They're beautiful though, and anyone with enough room in their office for one really deserves to make themselves feel like the top executive they are. Nothing makes for a better place to work than a beautiful desk, and a better place to work means better productivity since you like being there so much.

Good Vs Bad Of Working From Home

Sometimes working from home can be the epitome of frustration--like this morning for instance. Nothing is going right and I am about to pull my hair out--the good thing about working from vs. working in an office on a time clock? I get to stand up from my desk and walk away rather than burst into tears because I want to toss my computer out the window. On the other hand, some of the things that are frustrating wouldn't have happened in an office, first off-I missed a bunch of ops because I couldn't get online this morning thanks to a thunderstorm, second one of the programs I normally work with kept screwing up. Plus, even if I were pulling my hair out in an office on a time card and getting nothing at all done, they'd still have to pay me... so there's a definate downside too. At least I don't have to worry about getting an ulcer... that's good because working from home means no health insurance either.

Traveling Abroad

I've always wanted to travel abroad, especially Paris. That has to be the most romantic place to visit. Even hotels in Paris are romantic. There is something about their architecture and style, it matches everything about the country. The Louvre would be amazing too. I've always wanted to see the magnificent artwork of Di Vinci, and Monet, but I didn't know that the Louvre was once the residence of the Kings of France! I've only seen it in movies, and of course made most popular by the Di Vinci Code just seeing the splendid interior in the movies I can see Kings and their courts strolling down the stately hallways.

Then there's the entertainment like the club Lido. Cabarets where you can imagine the characters from the movie of the same name during the war reaching out to you through their modern counterparts. I imagine staying in any of the hotels in France and walking out onto the street in the dusky morning air and seeing artists on the street painting. Or waking up in my Paris hotel and seeing the Eiffel tower out of my window. Eating cheese and sipping wine on the terrace while the city moves about below. It would be the perfect vacation.

Working From Home is Easy?

Yahoo had an article this morning about the high percentage of people who work from home now, and how easy it is to find work from home opprotunities, or as they're sometimes called 'telecommute' positions. While it mentioned the scams out there in the title, they didn't hit upon the vast amount of home working scams out there in the article itself. There ARE real honest work from home opprotunities, but the scams far outweight them, and if you are really interested in working from home you have to be prepared to wade through a lot of bull before you get to the biscuits.

I'd say the percentage is about 10 to 1. Actually there are far more scams out there than a 10 to 1 percent BUT once you begin to recognize them for what they are, the number of times you'll even bother inquiring about something you have even a skeptical reason for believing you'll find your average in the 10/1 ratio. For every 10 things I check out, only 1 ends up being a real legitimate opprotunity with a true potential.

As you start looking for work from home opprotunities remember ONE thing as you look and you'll be a step ahead and be in the 10/1 catagory right off the bat: NEVER PAY SOMEONE FOR INFORMATION. If an ad says just sent 10.95 .... or any price... smile to yourself and think 'next'. You'll be on the right track and headed toward finding a real work from home career.

Get Your Heart Pumping

This is an awesome device that you can use to determine the oxygen level in your blood stream--and your pulse rate.


It is especially handy if you have oxygen related troubles like COPD it could even be useful for those in a hard core exercise program to determine the effectiveness of your cardio, and toning exercises. The pulse oximeter is small, lightweight, durable, and easy to use. It works on battery power, and turns off automatically to conserve the battery life. The pulse rate indicator would be really good for after a cardio workout too in order to determine your peak abilities.

Potter, and Time Moves On

Jamaica is bracing for a hit from hurricane Dane, and J K Rowlings is writing a new book, and the world is moving along as planned. JK has said it's unlikely she'll ever have the same success again as she had with the Harry Potter series, notice the word unlikely -- leaving it open for the possibility, after all, her name alone will sell the next one no matter what. Whether she ever does or not, the over 1 billions dollars netted from the books, movies, and Potter toys has set this once struggling single mother up for life. The real story is more of a fairy tale come true than the books ever could be.

Mining deaths

The leading stories in the news is about the Utah miners that were trapped and now the deaths of three of the rescue workers. What a horrible ordeal for the families involved. The rescue attempts have been halted with the new collapse, and from the outside it's easy to say that they shouldn't have even done it in the first place. The mine is obviously dangerous. How hard it must be for the families involved though, to have to accept the fact that their loved ones are gone, not knowing if they're still alive or not. The news reports even early yesterday still called for hope that the oringinal miners were alive, although I fail to see how after a week underground. It's hard to give up hope without knowing for sure though. I feel horrible for the families and my thoughts and prayers go out to them, and to the loved ones of the miners killed yesterday as well.

Never Pay To Work

Have you ever fallen for one of those paid infomercials on tv? I did last weekend. Oh me. LOL Now I have to deal with the money lost until I get a refund -- IF they are true to their money back guarantee. It was one of those get rich on real estate ads. I know better too. Really I do. First of all it violated my steadfast rule of NEVER paying someone to work for them, or even to learn how to work. Second I'd written a great many articles on this particular real estate scam. To my credit I'll say that at first the informercial didn't sound like the same thing. Anyway, I learned my lesson. Now I've bought things from television ads before and been very satisfied, but that was for products, not work-from-home type stuff. There are legitimate work from home things, I do them, but NEVER pay to do them! Now to go and stand in front of a mirror and repeat that mantra to myself a hundred times or so, since it seems I need a refresher course.

Buffet Tip?

Here's a question I've had on my mind for a while. If you go to one of those buffet types of restaurants that are popping up all over the place, do you leave a tip? Each different buffet has a different level of service. For the ones that do absolutely nothing other than grabbing dishes from tables I tend to think no. For the ones that come and at least deliver drinks to you along with getting the dishes okay some--maybe not as much as a full-serve restaurant. Then again, I really don't like the ones you have to rely on a waitress for a drink from. Sometimes they're too busy, but beyond that, what if you want a different type of drink? There's even one buffet style of restaurant you have to declare your drink when you pay at the register before hand--and they charge you seperately for the drink.

Can you tell I know too much about the buffet style of restaurants. Being on a diet I'm not likely to see the inside of those for a while now anyway.

You Are Never Too Old To Learn To Live Right

I've been dieting lately, and using my new Total Gym, which I LOVE. As of last Saturday I've lost 12 pounds and a total of 8.5". I try hard not to weigh myself more often in order to avoid getting over-anxious, or depressed if it's not moving fast enough. I'll be happy with 2 pounds or so a week, plus some inches off.

What I've learned about my diet is the most valuable thing, however. I've learned that it's not the amount of calories I had been eating. I always thought it was unfair that even though I only ate between 1200 and 1600 calories a day depending on the day, I was still overweight and would gain rather than loose weight, where others seemed to eat as much but were thin as rails. I discovered something I should have learned a long time ago. It's not how much I was eating, but rather, how I was eating it.

In my normal day I would eat nearly all of the calories at my dinner time, around 6 or 7 pm. I usually never ate breakfast, rarely ate lunch, and maybe remembered to get a snack or something around 3 or 4... maybe. Most times I would just pile on everything into dinner.

Quite often during those times I'd awaken in the middle of the night hungry. That didn't make much sense to me, but I wouldn't be able to sleep until I gave in and ate something, even if it was just a piece of bread, or whatever was available and fast.

With my new diet I actually eat 6 to 7--- yes SEVEN times a day!

I eat very healthy and base it on the food pyramid but it's very, very much the same foods I would have eatten before. I have always liked vegetables, and fruits, although I admit I didn't have much fresh fruit around because it is both expensive and hard to keep. But with a little extra effort I have been keeping enough fresh fruit around to include it in my everday meal plan. I usually have low-fat yogurt for a snack which is not somethihng I used to have only because it's a bit pricey, but I have always liked it. Now I make the effort to buy enough to have one or two a day.

When it is all said and done however, it wasn't the foods, or the amounts, it was a matter of breaking it up over a period of time throughout the day. Always having a light breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner, a snack and then if I stay up late enough another snack.

It is still the same amount of calories, and I am NEVER hungry. I do not even wake up in the middle of the night hungry anymore.

The thing is if you eat that often, every 2 or 3 hours, even if it is just a container of yogurt for a snack, it sparks your metabolism and keeps it reving and burning calories.

If you only eat once or twice a day, even three times a day, your metabolism slows down and doesn't burn enough. It starts to 'save' calories. We don't need that now do we?

You never are too old to realize what you've been doing wrong.

Great Hobbies

Speaking of getting a new house, Bob and I were talking the other day about what we're going to do, if we're going to move, if we're going to move somewhere we can have the animals, or not. Personally I wouldn't mind not... but he was worried that when he was ready to retire--soon, he'd have nothing to do if we didn't have the farm. He didn't have any hobbies. I reminded him how much we used to love RC cars, and planes, and boats back before we moved down here to the country. We'd build them all the time and take them out to the street, or for the planes there was a local RC airplane club that had a 'strip' not too far from home and we'd go there and fly, or we'd go down the river that was about a block away and put out the boats. It was loads of fun, and not nearly as much 'heavy' work as the animals. I'd like to do something like that. I'm getting kind of old to be doing all the manual labor of farm life.

Light Up

I went to a friend's house the other day that had a beautiful chandalier, it reminded me of a kichler lighting fixture that I'd seen here online. I'd love something like that if I had an entryway, or a higher ceiling. There are so many beautiful lighting styles though. I like wall lighting, and I like floor lighting. I've always had lots of table lamps but that can be so inconvienient. If you're not sitting in the right place, the light isn't good. I've seem some beautiful floor lamps and they make more sense, if you need to you can move them to just the right spot. I'll never have ceilings high enough for a chandelier though, not if I stay where I'm at.

Hollywood Rehab Is Still Rehab

With all the talk about Paris, and all the rest of Hollywood and their ins and outs of rehab, drug rehab is getting a bad rep. It's sure not the fault of the rehab centers. They can't control the people. What are they supposed to do, tie them down and handcuff them to steel bars? Rehab is alot about the help, but it's MORE about the individual and their ability to reform, or want to. That's really the hard part, and it is for any addict, not just a Hollywood star or starlette. They may have more individual triggers, but for anyone, that pull back to the 'life' of addiction is so very strong. It's really easy to let your head talk you back into it even if it KNOWS it shouldn't. Good help with drug rehab is essential. For many addictions there is just no way to do it alone.

A Full Diet Plan

I'm on a new diet now. I won't tell you how much I have to loose but lets just let it go at -- it's a substantial amount. I am watching what I eat, and I even bought a new weight machine for the house. It's great. I love it. I've been using it for a couple days and I feel terrific. I think I need to really get started right with cleaning out my system though. I'm drinking lots of water so that is great for cleaning out the kidneys, but one area no one talks about because it's kind of icky is how much junk your colon builds up over the course of a year, much less years upon years. There are some great products available to do a colon cleanse. You can do it right from your home. It doesn't require a trip to the doctor, or anything at all, and it flushes all the built up toxins that lodge in that area. It's not pleasant to think about, but it is something everyone should consider.

The Just Before Payday Blues

Getting paid every two weeks is a real pain in the butt, but that's pretty common with most companies now. Getting paid twice a month is even worse. The stretch seems unbearable sometimes. Right now I'm working for a company that pays twice a month. It sounds like it should be the same as every two weeks, but it's not. Not quite. Most months it does work out to every fifteen days so that would be about every two weeks, but then there are other months, when there are five weeks even with the same number of days... please don't ask me how that works, but it just does. Those months feel like they go on forever when you are only getting paid twice a month. There are times like right now, when normally I would have gotten paid last Friday if it were every two weeks, but I am still waiting on my payment that will probably happen in the next two days that I'm biting my nails in anticipation so I can pay bills and do silly things like buy grocieries. Times like this I really think about getting a payday loan. It would only be for a day or two. It would let me get the things I need and pay the bills I need to pay when I need to do it. They are pretty helpful when you have an emergency too and payday is still a week away. I've had that happen. Car breaks down. Never a little thing when that happens. Air conditioner goes out--just last week during a major heat wave. Isn't that always when they go out?

Oh well, only a few more days.

Special Moments

I can't wait for my pay this week. Hubby and I want to go to a concert next month and I didn't tell him but I'm going to surprise him by getting the concert tickets online. It's not very often we agree on a particular concert or performer. Our marriage has always been based on I love you even if I think you're crazy. Every once in awhile a moment comes along when we actually like the same thing at the same time. That's such a special occassion that I really have to commemorate it by being the one to get the tickets.

Summer Shows

I just got back from a local horse show. I always take along some of the personalized cups, pens, and date books and those types of things that I have for promotion of both the farm, and my writing. Today however, I think hubby and I used the cups more than we gave them away. We did give out lots of pens and calendar books though. I love going to the shows even when we're not actually showing. It's like a big party with all your friends you only get to see when the shows are around. I even got to see a friend from Missouri that I hadn't seen in over a year. We sat around with our drinks, just kicking back in the lawn chairs while the show went on around us and caught up on all the things that have been going on in our lives and before you know it the day was almost over. That's the real thrill of showing. All the hard work of prepping the animals and showing them is just a side benefit.