ALL ABORD

I'm on the road again and for the first part of my journey I had the pleasure of flying.  I really enjoy flying and even get a kick out of the airport experiences. This trip to Escanaba Michigan began as usual in West Palm Beach at out relatively small PBI airport. The only reason West Palm airport gets to be an "international" airport is because of the frequent daily flights to the Bahamas. We have to do our part to share our tourists with less fortunate but far more beautiful places in the islands. And all the pot heads appreciate a quick run to Freeport for a smoke.
From PBIA I had a sort flight to Atlanta Heartsfield airport which is considerably larger than West Palm.  Atlanta airport is like driving blindfolded through Manhattan at rush hour during the Christmas season.Total chaos and packed with travelers who are all searching for the terminal and gate they need to get to.  Atlanta has about 6 different terminals that are all connected by a train or endless walkways all of which contain confused travelers carrying all sorts of suitcases and/or "carry-ons". All of which are terribly oversized and cumbersome and can inflict the nastiest of bruises should you be unfortunate enough to get within bumping distance. None of these travelers are the least bit aware of their surrounding travelers so it is completely up to you to run the obstical course without being injured. Should you be so unlucky as to be attacked by one of these bulky items you will get the "Look of death" from the owner of the item, as if you are at fault and have some how damaged their property.  The fact that the suitcase or package REALLY should have been checked at the gate and stowed safely in the belly of the plane is not an issue. Why do people have to carry their suitcases and crap ON TO THE PLANE ?  With today's technology you really can be sure that your valued possessions WILL arrive at the same destination as you. Not only are you a pain in the ass carrying all this shit with you but then there is the boarding process that takes twice as long because of the idiots who insist on shoving their 40 pound carry-on into the over head compartment that was originally designed to hold your jacket and maybe an attaché case. Not only does the bag NOT fit but half the little old ladies can't lift their damn bag and must stand in the middle of the aisle searching for a poor slob to lift it for them.
And the airlines do NOT help. Not with the lifting but with them allowing people to bring these huge items on to the plane in the first place. I have mentioned before that it would make so much more sense for the airlines to charge for carry-on's rather than checked bags. Their profits would triple in a month. The airlines, with the exception of my wonderful Southwest, are also idiots when it comes to boarding process.  If a person has chosen a window seat would it not make sense to get them onto the plane first so they don't have to climb over two other people in order to get to their seat? That and the logical move of boarding the back of the plane first so people aren't blocking the aisle putting bags in the over head compartment or having to get out of ther seats to allow the window seat passenger in.
I'm thinking this is all just common sense but I know it gets down to the almighty dollar. If Joe Schmoe buys his Delta super Sky Club Platinum ticket he wants to board the plane FIRST! No matter that he is assured that his special fat seat is waiting for him no matter if he is the first person on the plane or the last.  He is ENTITLED to get on that plane before everyone else.  You would think that by sitting in that seat early and getting bashed in the head and bruised by all the passing carry on crap you would want to board last but oh no, "I am part of the Elite" so I want on first.
It don't make sense to me but then I fly cheap and am always in BORDING ZONE 3, what ever the hell that is.

DECORATING ELVES

When Husband was alive I used to tell him we did NOT have elves that washed clothes, cleaned the house or cook the meals.  I honestly think the man thought there were little elves, aka Pixies, that did all these things. I know he never gave me credit for getting them done nor was he willing to share these chores with me. It was just something that wasn't important to him. How or when things got done was beyond his realm of interest.  If it wasn't on FOX NEWS it just didn't hold any importance.
There was no ELF ON A SHELF in our house.  I never heard of the little guy until I had grand kids, although it, (he/she) has apparently been around for well over 50 years.  Go figure?
Every day life was always interesting enough in my home but come CHRISTMAS it was an all out free for all.  I wish I had an army of elves to get the tree up, house decorated, cookies baked and gifts wrapped. There were the few occasions, especially in our retirement years that Husband did attempt to help. His gift wrapping looked like something out of Charlie Brown's Christmas and the decorations were usually all clustered together in one spot of one room rather than spread out through out the house. But HEY, he helped !
And so now that I have grand kids it is so delightful to have little ELVES that come to my house and help me with all these holiday tasks. My house has never been so decorated in all my years of holiday celebrations. What is is about kids and decorations ?? Give them some paper, glue, ribbon and GLITTER and it is a holiday explosion no matter what the occasion.
All my grand kids love to decorate but none more than Kaelin and Finn.  Abby is an awesome decorator and Smith, Wynn and Grey can be enticed into the decorating spirit if given enough glue. They LOVE glue as much as Kaelin loves glitter. It's a dangerous combination when those guys all get together.
As of today all the Thanksgiving decorations and art work have been stored away in containers in the shed and it is now time to dig out Christmas. There are about 5 large plastic containers out in the shed that are labeled "CHRISTMAS". They have been stored in a storage unit for a year and a half and now it is time to break open the goodies. My previous condo was just too small to do any serious decorating so I am really looking forward to this Christmas. Especially since I have my two little elves living just down the street. We are all chomping at the proverbial bit to get Christmas up and shining around here. I have room to put up outside lights and lots of space to put out all the treasured decorations from years past. Now we just have to find the time. Plans were made for KK and Finn to decorate their house on Friday and Saturday and then the elves would come to grand ma's today, Sunday, to get some Christmas cheer going over here before I leave for Michigan. (I'm flying up there on Tuesday to make the week long meandering drive back to Florida with Dwayne. Stopping at friends and family along the way we figure on being back here by December tenth. ) Arriving back in Florida on December 10th gives me exactly 14 days until Christmas to write Christmas cards, (that I just remembered to order this past week so they aren't here yet! ) , wrap gifts, (which I think I have pretty well got bought),  bake cookies if I care to and to decorate the house. Mr. Dwayne has offered to help and I actually believe him. Yet with that short a time frame I figured I better get a jump on something. Decorating first, wrapping second all while packing a suit case to leave in 48 hours. today I was really looking forward to spending the day with my 2 little elves but sadly they BOTH woke up this morning with fevers. There is no decorating with little people who are under the weather.
Was it too much partying from Thanksgiving?  Too much decorating at their house these past 2 days? Or are they in shock that they have to return to school tomorrow after an entire week off ??
What ever the case I think I will hand them the key to my house, show them where the boxes of decorations are and let them have at it next weekend when I am away. 
This may be the most genius idea I have had yet !!!

GIVING THANKS

I'd like to start by saying I am SO thankful that I am not feeling like I did last night at this time. Yesterday was a wonderfully fantastic day and I had a blast with my family. The food was out of this world delicious ! Steve did a lot of the cooking and baking in the tradition of his family.  His dad was always the one in the kitchen creating a feast and Steve did his father proud yesterday. From the brine soaked fabulous turkey to the to die for pumpkin pie the meal was amazing. And naturally the best part was that I didn't have to cook or prepare anything. With the exception of the home made apple sauce that Kaelin and Finn helped me make last weekend I didn't lift a finger.
I DID though,  lift a fork ! Actually more than one fork each one laden with delicious food that was sooooooo good I just did not stop eating it until my plate was empty and my belly was beyond full. And then I ate PIE ! Home made pumpkin pie with home made whip cream. I do think that may have been the fork full that put my stomach on over load and made me feel more sick than I care to ever feel again. I swear the stuffed turkey was feeling better than me and he was DEAD! There were actually a few hours there last night that I considered death over how full I was. But fortunately given enough time my tummy settled down and this morning I had a hankering for left overs. Thankfully all the left overs were left at Keri's house so I settled on toast and tea which was probably the very best choice I could have made.
Yesterday's feast was wonderful and it brought up so many memories of holidays past. The food got us talking about Grand pa Fred and what a wonderful cook he was. The kale on the table got us talking about Grand pa Ger and how he wouldn't eat anything out of the ordinary. These two wonderful men were part of our giving thanks for having had them in our lives for how ever long God saw fit. Thanksgiving is a day of celebrating life but it also gets us to stop  and remember those who are not with us any more and for thinking of how very blessed we are to have had the opportunities to know them. So many wonderful people from my life are gone and I miss them all very much but rejoice in the knowledge that I was so lucky to have known them.
Today I am toasting my best Friend for life Gloria's husband John who just passed away this August. Today, the day after Thanksgiving is John's birthday. He left us very young and is missed by so many people. His family face this holiday season with this raw wound so fresh in their hearts. But we know John is in a great place, sitting on a park bench with Gerry laughing at us all.

And so I am giving thanks for everyone in my life . . .  past, present and future. We don't know what life has in store for us so remember to rejoice in the NOW and do your very best to give thanks for all that we have.  We love you John and Gerry, and Fred. You are missed !

SPARKLE PLENTY (OR TOO MUCH!)

I think we are all familiar with the saying;  "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Give a man a fishing pole and he eats for the rest of his life" . It's a classic and it makes a lot of sense. But in the case of little girls the saying is more aptly applied to SPARKLES and might go something like this;  "Give a little girl a craft and she will be busy for an hour. Give a little girl sparkles with the craft and you end up with a shit load of sparkles ALL OVER your house but the child will be busy for DAYS!".

This will be the Thanksgiving of sparkly Turkeys, Pumpkins, place mats, napkins, place card turkeys and Grandmas. There are sparkles EVERY WHERE !  There are sparkles where sparkles have no right to be. My house has exploded in a covering of BLING and I am personally finding sparkles in areas that are just not meant to glitter.

When I baby sit my grand kids there are always crafts involved. Usually on the first day or hour of the "stay over adventure" it is absolutely necessary for all participants to make a trip to Michaels Craft Store. We pile into the car, coupons in hand and off we go for the hour, (at least) adventure. I couldn't take these kids any place else that they would love more than to go to a craft store. They know the drill and head out to find the sale items left from the previous holiday. Kids really don't care if they are making Halloween crafts in November or Easter crafts in July as long as glue and glitter are involved. You might wonder if glitter comes with all crafts and the answer is NO! Most crafts are best sellers specifically because they DO NOT include glitter. What sane parent wants their kid in possession of bottles of sparkles? Any sane parent knows this is a recipe for disaster but the old kindergarten teacher in me is still drawn to the crowning part of any craft . . .  GLITTER !!  A craft is just not complete unless it shines and shimmers in the light.
Once at Michaels we discovered several Thanksgiving crafts that were very reasonably priced and so we had enough "Turkey" crafts for everyone when the Pompano Cousins arrived on Saturday. LET THE CRAFTING BEGIN !  Three year old Wynn and Grey were delighted to have things to color. Wynn spent a good hour coloring a small wooden fire truck. Grey decorated her "rainbow" airplane with a multitude of water color markers and it was beautiful beyond all imagination when she finished working on it off and on all day. To see these 2 little guys enjoy decorating a small toy SO MUCH was worth the whopping dollar spent on each item. I think Wynn may have taken his home and slept with it because he was so proud of his work. (Unfortunately the water color markers have a tendency to "bleed" and so both Wynn and Grey were transformed into red and rainbow children by the time their dad took them home. That's what baths are for! (And pay back for many years of raising my kids.)
Luckily cousin Kaelin had not discovered the small storage box containing the glitter. That discovery was made on Sunday when all Hell broke loose and the glitter monster went wild adding a GLOW to everything in sight. Kaelin was transformed into the SPARKLE FAIRY who wandered around the yard adding BLING to everything. My mums sparkle, the furniture sparkles, the carpet sparkles and thus my vacuum sparkles! Kaelin was very precise in her decorating. She had a small cup and a paint brush which she carried around while "painting" everything with a thin coat of glitter. When the sun is shining you need Eclipse grade sun glasses to avoid being blinded. But what the hey, it's only glitter and it washes off in the rain. OH WAIT . . . IT DOESN'T !  About the only thing the rain did last night was to spread the glitter across even more area out side. I do believe I noticed some glitter on the tree outside my patio. Unfortunately, the glitter inside the patio and house will probably remain for the rest of my residence here and then some. Sparkles have a tendency to cling to surfaces and so are extremely hard to clean up.
The lesson I learned from all this is NEXT TIME DO THE CRAFTS AT THE KIDS HOUSE !

"BABY" SITTER

What  did I ever do whenI was raising my kids and didn't have parents to help me out? My mother died before my kids were born, my dad wasn't living near by and Husband's parents were not the baby sitting sort of grand parents. And so if I felt the need to get away I sucked it up and stayed home taking care of my kids.
It seems that now a  days parents feel the need for ME TIME. What the hell that is is beyond me.  Me time for me was the five minutes a day that I got to go to the bathroom without a little person attached to my leg.  Me time didn't even come after the kids went to bed because at that point Husband felt I should be giving him my undivided attention. Me time was a non existent dream. There was never even a thought that as a parent I was entitled to time to myself. Me time would be that time far far in the very distant future that I would occasionally allow myself to dream about. That  day when the kids were all  grown and the house was paid off and the dog died so I could actually sit down and do something for myself!
But this is a different world. Parents seem to think that they are entitled to time off. Parenting has  become a part time job at which the parent is actually allowed to step away from the roll of chief cook and  bottle washer and have time to do things they like to do. The concept that a parent could actually do things they LIKED to do was unheard of.  You did what was necessary for the well being of your child and then you went  to sleep for a couple of hours, if your were lucky, and then started all  over again.
As parents we actually cooked meals for our kids. No fast food, no take out, no microwave meals. You found the time to make a shopping list, get to the store and then prepare a full meal, complete with  vegetables and dessert. My mom ALWAYS made sure there was dessert AFTER dinner. Now kids eat dessert FOR dinner if they are lucky enough to have parents who take the time to have food in the house.
Parents now seem to have the idea that they are entitled to much needed time off from parenting. The "adult vacation"  without kids. If Husband and I wanted to have a vacation you can be sure there were 3 little people tagging along with us. We never even  considered going away without the kids. It just wasn't done. A family  consisted of a mom and dad AND the kids. No  separate vacations, my kids didn't even get to go to  sleep away camp in the summer. We were together 24/7 EXCEPT at night. That was the one time tat a parent got to "get away"from their kids. Come bed time the kids went into THEIR rooms where they stayed for the entire night.  There was no sharing the bed with mom and dad. Husband barely tolerated sharing a bed with me never mind 3 kids. If someone got sick in the middle of the night I would be found sleeping on the floor of their room next to their bed. NO WAY were they permitted to share mom's  bed. That too  seems to be something the "modern" parent has been unable to fathom. Many of my grand kids don't even know they have a bed because they spend so many nights in with mom and dad.
All this comes from the fact that I just spent the past 4 days taking care of my grand kids.  I ADORE my grand kids and enjoyed every minute  of being with them. (Well maybe not so much at 7:00 AM when they get up.) BUT lets face it, taking care of kids when you are 40is one thing but taking care  of  kids when you are 72 is quite another adventure.  The fact that these kids live in a house with  stairs is a game changer right there.  My old knees just don't do  stairs that well  any more and every time I had to go  up or  down these stairs I was reminded of my age.  Luckily these 2 children happen to be awesome when it comes to  taking care of themselves and  going to bed at night so  I think a good part of this past weekend turned into them taking care of me, rather than  the opposite way around.
It has been  a wonderful experience having this time with these children but I  am not going to be lingering when their parents show up tonight with their sun tans and island adventure stories. I love them all but it is time for this grand ma to return to my child free life and  to enjoying my remaining years of being a grand ma who only sees the grand kids when I want and then leave at the end of the day to collapse at home to enjoy my hard earned ME TIME !!

TRCE

Happy Thanksgiving from me and my grand kids.  This being "THE HOLIDAY SEASON" I am being inundated with holiday pictures and crafts from my grand kids and naturally I am l loving it. For as much as I am trying to clean out "memories" from the past and make my new home less cluttered I am soft when it comes to throwing out anything that was given to me by my kids or grand kids.  I still have ceramic creations from all three of my kids that I just can not part with.  They do not fit into any decor nor will  you ever find the likes of them in Better Homes and Gardens but they are treasures that I just can't get rid of.

About 2 weeks ago Kaelin and Finn arrived with a "lovely" Fall wreath that Kaelin had made. They had both gone to a craft class at Michaels and learned how to make wreaths and so I naturally was the recipient of one of the creations. It is hanging proudly on the front door and each time I open or close the door another small piece of the wreath hits the ground. I figure I will have nothing remaining by Christmas and so will be ready for their next creation.
Inside the house there are several works of art hanging in various spots through out the place. I still have  some of Kent's art work from when he was a child along with framed finger paintings done by Abby and Kaelin when they were no more than 2 years old. These treasures are just as important to me as an original van Gough would be to someone else.  Most recently I framed a wonderful piece of art done by Kaelin just before Halloween. I just loved it so much I had to hang it up for everyone to see. Unfortunately this condo has limited wall space as most of the walls are taken up with built in shelves or mirrors. So if you get to visit you will be subjected to sleeping in a guest bedroom that is filled with all my grand kids art.

Besides being the proud owner of some wonderful pieces of art I am blessed to have grand kids who write me notes. Abby and I will go on sprees of letter writing back and forth between Florida and Atlanta and Kaelin and Finn are forever slipping me little notes scribbled out on any one of the numerous note pads that I forward to them from my endless collection. These are the REAL treasures!!  There is nothing like a note on a little piece of paper slipped into your hand as you are leaving to warm your heart and bring tears to your eyes. I carry one such note with me in my wallet. It is so beat up and  falling apart that I know I should just throw it out but I can't bear to part with it. This note was given to me by Kaelin on my of my trips to Maryland. Kaelin was teaching herself how to write in script, (something that is no longer taught in school). She was very proud of her accomplishment so she wanted to share her talent with me. I will treasure it forever.

But above and beyond the pleasure I get from looking at these wonderful works of art there is the mystery of deciphering just what exactly the message is on these little notes that I receive. Most times I can figure out the phonics of the words and come up with a reasonable translation but every now and again the words allude me. As is the case of the most recent contribution from Finn. Finn and his mom Keri were discussing the menu for Thanksgiving dinner and Finn decided to write it down so they would have it to refer to come Turkey day. Item number one was TRCE.  Luckily Finn had given me this note the other day when I was at their house, (how great is it that they live 2 minutes away from me!!!) Fortunately for me the note came with an illustration to help me translate. 

TURKEY!

How could I not know what TRCE spelled. So when I got a copy of the menu I knew exactly what that first item was. I'll let you try to figure out the rest.

   

Give up?

How about MASPTATOS -  Mash potatoes of course.  That was an easy one.

 MRSHSCAMMELAS - marshmallows (on the sweet potatoes)

and finally the hardest one of all that took Keri and I about an hour to figure out:

BARESOS

otherwise known as cranberries.   I really don't know how that translates but that is the only thing on the menu that we can figure is a possibility.

You just have to love kids !!!!!!!

I'M NOT LISTENING !!!!

Today was one of those mornings that all the stars were NOT in alignment  for me and some thing had it out for me to screw with my head. (That doesn't take much.)
Do you ever feel like something is telling you, "DON'T DO IT!"?  What ever "IT" happens to be. Well this was definately one of those mornings that I was getting major signs and signals to stay in bed and go back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours.  Or at least for another 20 minutes.

First of all I woke up at 7:30 AM which as you all know is a completely unnatural time for me to wake up, never mind GET up. But the angels were calling me this morning and they woke me right up out of a sound sleep whispering in my ear, "Come on Cath, get your lazy bones out of that bed and go to mass. You've been thinking about getting to daily mass so here we are waking you up to do just that!" And so there I was AWAKE but still fighting those little voices that were encouraging me to move my bones. Now at this point I have the devil on one shoulder and my angels on the other shoulder all fighting for my attention and I'm still not sure just who I'm going to listen to. Naturally the devil's voice is the louder one and it is telling me I really don't have enough time to get moving and out the door to make it to 8:30 mass. By now the clock has ticked away a good 15 minutes and I am still wavering in my decision of how I will spend my morning.  I stopped to check the mass times at all the surrounding churches just in case one of them might have a 9 AM mass but that wasn't the case. (Who am I kidding, I knew that fact all along.) It was 8:30  mass or nothing, unless I wanted to wait till 5:30 and go to a near by church that had that late mass. And the clock is continuing to tick away the minutes! I knew full well that if I didn't go to mass NOW I was not going to get there at all, no matter what my intentions were. And so at 8:05 I got my butt moving at hyper speed and was out the door by 8:17. (If I had gotten out of the bed when I first thought about going to mass I would have had a good 35 minutes to get ready but instead I let the devil play with my head so I was now rushing like a lunatic to drive the 8 minute drive to my church. And so began the HARD PUSH on the part of that nasty little devil to keep me from actually arriving at the church in time for mass.
As I left the house the sun was shining brightly !  It was a beautiful morning! And yet in the span of 2 minutes it started to rain. The sun was still shining but it was raining. Not uncommon for Florida but by the time I got into my car the sun was GONE and the sky was opening into a total deluge. Thankfully I had grabbed a light jacket on my way out the door, (only because it was sitting on the chair by the door and I know how cold the church can be.)  Unfortunately, my "car umbrella" was sitting on the chair on the patio and I did NOT pick that up to take along with me. At this point I knew the devil was up to his tricks and was going to mess with me all the way to church which naturally got me even more determined to get there on time. I managed to catch EVERY red light between here and my church.  A total of 5 red lights that at 8:15 in the morning are usually green all the way.  Not this morning. And then there was the 300 year old man driving down the road in front of me who wasn't going more than 15 miles an hour in the 45 MPH zone. 
As I swung into the church parking lot the sky was continuing its down pour so I knew I was going to get wet. But luckily there were bunches of parking spaces right in front of the chapel so I could jump out of the car and run into the chapel without too much damage.  Funny joke !  Mass was NOT in the chapel but rather in the main church of which the closest door was a good 500 yards away. It was shorter to run back to the car, move the car to a closer parking spot on the side of the church and make the second mad dash for the door. At this point I am muttering under my breath how the damn devil is pulling out all stops to keep me from getting to mass this morning and I'll be damned if I am going to let him win this battle. 
I made it soggily into the church, put on my jacket because the church WAS freezing, especially since I was now thoroughly soaked and sat myself down in perfect time for the beginning of mass.
And ever since that moment my day has been  PERFECT !  No more blockades in my way. The sun was shining brightly when I left mass and it hasn't gone in since then. It's the most beautiful warm sunny day that we have had in a while so I think maybe God is smiling at me for putting up such a good fight.

MEMORIES

Lets start by saying sorry for the gap in blogs.  Its been busy around here with settling into the new place, wonderful grand kids and visits from the Michigan Man. As you  may have noticed I usually only blog when I am bored, angry or unhappy. The past month has been filled with so many blessings that my brain hasn't had time to write. That's a good thing for me but I know some of you seem to enjoy my ramblings and so I apologize to all for my lack of attention to your needs.
With that said let me tell you about one of the BIG things that is taking my attention these days.Ever  since I sold my wonderful home that Ger and I shared here in Florida I have had to rent a storage unit for all the "things" that I just couldn't part with but didn't have the space for in my tiny tiny cave of a condo. The majority of those things being photo albums. LOT AND LOTS of photo albums. My close friends and family can tell you that I always have a camera in hand and love to capture every moment when I'm with those friends and family. Over 45 years that adds up to A LOT of pictures. And being the compulsive person that I can be I always was right up to date in putting the photos into albums so that the memories would be saved forever or until I croak and my kids toss EVERY THING into a dumpster. Because you know that is exactly what is going to happen. And so to spare my children the burden of tossing all these albums I decided to go through them and take out all the photos that my kids and friends might like and toss the rest. Who knew what a Herculean task this would be when I finally emptied the storage unit and brought all the "stuff" here to the new condo.
The photo albums are now in a plastic bin in the shed that is attached to my new condo. Most people keep garden tools in their shed. I have photo albums!
The trip down Memory Lane starts in 1973 when Kyle was born. Good God were my children EVER that small and adorable? It's funny how I can look at some of the photos and remember the EXACT moment when that picture was taken and others are just a blur of a memory from Oh so long ago. I feel like I am a traveler in time, visiting places and people that I haven't thought of in years. The vividness of the memories amazes me and has brought about a ton of tears and just as  much laughter. I just keep saying over and over, "Where have those years gone?" How is it possible that I have traveled through this life so quickly and reached this point where my brain is filled with so many memories? How blessed I am to have these memories and how blessed I have been to have had all these amazing experiences over the years.
I have albums and albums recording our 10 years of family camping trips all over the United States. These make up the bulk of the collection and are wonderful to go through but who needs 10 albums of pictures of rocks, mountains, rivers and lakes? As much as I enjoy looking at them and remembering the places I just have to toss them. Pictures of people are being put into LARGE manila envelopes so I can pass them on to my friends and family for them to enjoy or toss. My job is done, the children are grown and my kids are making their own memories that they will sort through some where down their road of life.
And now that the memories are all filed away and the albums are gone I have lots of room and hopefully time to start making new memories which I continue to record on camera but at least now the memories are stored in THE CLOUD which doesn't take up any space at all.