$30 for a Stinkin' Barbie Mariposa Costume

AND IT RIPS AFTER SHE WEARS IT FOR 45 MINUTES! Sigh...I have just spent 15 mintues sewing, glueing, tacking and swearing at this costume. This is of course in 36 degree weather. The A/C is on full blast, Connor is nipping at my heels...where she has been all.day.long. 3 more hours until this party and then finally it'll be fun. Or so help me God.......

25 - 36 - 25

No, these are not the ideal measurements...these are the temperture highs for yesterday, today and tomorrow. For the American Non-Metric System types that is 80 - 102 - 80.

Connor and Tessi were going to be Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty for Halloween. Well...bugger all that now. Tessi is going to be a ballerina, sans the tights and Connor and I are headed to the shops after we get Teddy to school but before we go to Lifestart in order to find her a cool, lightweight fairy dress as Mommy has no damn time to sew another damn costume.

Teddy, Ted and I can keep our original costumes thank God. I'm used to warm weather costumes thanks to many years of living in Texas but this weather change is insane. Literally last week at Teddy's cricket practice I wore a damn SCARF! 3 days later we were all in shorts and had the A/C on. But this??!!! 22 degrees difference, back and forth like that? Sick, I tell you, just plain sick.

I'll let you know how it ends up, I've head there's supposed to be a rain storm...sorry, drught storm tonight to cool things off. I'm sure of course that it will come just as we start trick or treating or at least while we are all at the party. Of course. At least there will be a lot of wine at the party and we need to we can all walk home. Then again, Teddy has an 8 am cricket game tomorrow so we don't want to enjoy too much.

2 yoga Classes Plus Girls Jumping on Back..

..equals SNAP! I'm ok, but last night my back whet OUT. I have a weak back and after 2 yoga classes it was on edge. Yesterday I was desperate to entertain the girls after a long, long day in the house trapped by rain. Sooo, jumping on mommy's back and rolling off seemed like a good idea at the time. No, really it did. After the day we had, you would have done it too. I was ready to stab Ariel's plastic fin in my eyes if it would have kept them from fighting with other. Hmmm, I may have to remember that for next time.

Anyway, after 15 minutes Tessi, yes, it had to be her, stood up, jumped and came down on the one leg and it caught me right on the edge of the small of my back and yea verily, the snapage occurred.

Fortunately, Ted was home in about 2 minutes so he helped me up and walked me to bed. The real bummer about the whole thing was that I was supposed to go quilt last night at a friend's house. I really, really wanted to go do that. Someday, I will get that damn quilt done. Someday.

Today I am a bit better. Up and moving. The girls are going to school so even if I was in a body cast I'd get them there. For my friends and family reading; I am ok. It's sore and I'm "aware" of the back, but the stabbing pain as subsided, I promise.

More About Teddy

Oh my, I'm not even sure where to start with this kid...

Over the weekend he and the neighbor kids were bored so they created their own Olympics. The nice touch is that they charged a small fee to play the games so between the 3 of them (and 4 generous parents) they raised $30.40 - all of which they donated to the Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Pretty cool. The HILARIOUS part is when I had Teddy right down the amount of money and what it was being used for he wrote Breath Cancer. As I choked down my laughter and corrected him, he gently said to me, "Mom, in Australia they say breath." No, Teddy, even in Australia, it's breast.

Then he went back outside and was playing with Lachlan again. Ted has moved his weight bench to the back patio now since the owner put the roof up on the patio. He's offered to teach Teddy some weight lifting and the two of them are having "Man Time" out there. Teddy knows upon pain of death that he and Lachlan are not allowed to touch the weights. So I was surprised to notice that the two of them were standing near the weight set, so I went closer to eavesdrop. I managed to hear, "Yep...(deep breath and puff out chest) my dad and I are lifting weights now." I almost hemorrhaged. Lachlan was suitably impressed and Teddy went on about the work he's doing. It's even funnier if you can picture Teddy talking while having his chest puffed out as far as possible - so essentially he's talking while holding his breath.

It's these moments that help keep Teddy alive. I swear I had no idea he could be this funny.

Connor is a 4 Year Old Female

Grrrr. Connor is truly a 4 year old female. She loves pretty clothes and insists on picking out her attire. If you annoy her (ie..breathe) she will stamp her feet and point out everything you have ever done wrong. She is quite certain that she is in fact, allowed to wear makeup and believes firmly that her younger sister should not. She knows that she LOVES Hannah Montana even though she's never seen an episode and she knows, by God, she knows that she is much prettier than everyone around her.

Maybe I am a dullard, but I honestly wasn't expecting this for a few more years. This morning I found myself blinking hard to my heartbeat as I furiously tried to come up with responses to her ramblings. All I could come to grips with was, "Just do it my way, NOW" Yeah, that was awe inspiring prose.

I think I may just end up cowering behind the Princess vanity until she goes away to college. I think Ted and Teddy are already there.

Teddy Got His Name in the Paper!!!

The North Shore Times has listed the results of last week's cricket game and Teddy's name was mentioned!!! He is over the moon with excitement. He and 2 other boys got their names mentioned because they got 20 or more runs.

And to top it off, God himself appeared at our doorstop this morning to tell us. Since Morgan goes to school right up the street he dropped off his copy of the paper so Teddy could have it. I'm actually starting to feel a little bad for Morgan. You see, Morgan is nice and polite and says hello to Teddy and Teddy just stares at him. As soon as Morgan leaves, it's, "Did you see Morgan, he talked to me, Morgan brought me the paper, I can't believe Morgan came to my house to bring me the paper, Morgan talked to me..." Honestly I wish Teddy would just speak to Morgan so I could stay out of it.

Well done Teddy. Daddy and I are so proud of you. We have absolutely no idea what's going on with cricket but people tell us it's good so we're happy for you.

Teddy Learns His Lesson the Hard Way

Mickie's comment about "sexy momma" reminded me that Teddy has had an unfortunate learning moment this week. Thou shalt not say stupid things in front of thy sister thouest do not wanteth repeated. Ooooh...this is a good one.

For a week or so now Teddy has been saying, "Ooohhh, sexy mama" every chance he gets. It's a phrase he picked up at school and has been having a BLAST saying in front of me because he thinks it annoys me to no end. However, he didn't pay attention to who else he was saying it in front of...or else he didn't think she cared enough...but oh yes, she did.

You see on Monday when we all took the girls to school Connor walked up to one of her preschool teachers and said, "Sexy Momma!" Her teacher Jacque, a VERY pretty little blonde thing looked shocked and asked her what she said. Much to Teddy's horror, Connor repeated it and then said that her brother said it. Teddy turned purple and immediately started backpedaling, actually LYING that he never said it. Then we left with Teddy cringing, "I can't believe Connor said that!! Why would she say that?! I TOLD her not to say that to anyone" Ha, ha, ha. Welcome to my world kid.

Well Connor apparently wasn't done there. After we left she went up to every. stinkin. person. in her room, including parents as they dropped off kids, and informed them of Teddy's phrase dujour. We learned this from Ted when he picked up the girls after school. Teddy's had 3 days to stew about facing people at the girls school. This morning went well, not too many snickers for the Sexy Momma kid.

Hopefully this will teach him a lesson. I doubt it highly as he has two much 8 year old boy in him, though. In the mean time I have to say that I have REALLY enjoyed this Teddyism.

Risque Swim Lessons

Tessi...dear God, that girl is going to destroy me. I firmly, FIRMLY believe that someday in a post-apocalyptic world Tessi will be standing on a hill covering my body with death and carnage around her saying, "Ha! I win and you lose Mom!" Trust me, that is said with a mother's love.

Here we are at the pool waiting for her turn. Start getting her dressed in the swim suit...er um...cozzie here. No problem, it's all good. That is until Miss Silly decides to get cutesy and as she pulls off each piece of clothing she flings it at me. Ok, no big deal, I can handle it. Unfortunately the underwear was a bit more elastic than Tessi was counting on and her aim isn't exactly Rodger Clemmons-like so the knickers squip off to the left a bit and WHAM! Right into the face of the woman sitting next to me. Nothing like a pair of pink and yellow apple undies that do NOT belong in your family knocking you for a loop.

Normally the only socially acceptable thing for me to do was walk over to the pool and put my head under water and drown myself but Fate was kind and let the woman be someone I know. Her girls go to preschool with my girls so she is well versed in the ways of children. In the end her laughter was almost as loud as Tessi's and my exclamations of horror; while appreciated, were not necessary.

Still...I mean come on! How unfair is that!? I think Tessi is still laughing...

Not Connor Bear

Life is getting a little bit back to normal. Tessi rediscovered her bear from Build a Bear this morning. She was very excited to get the bear and dress it in clothes. She kept repeating over and over, "This my bear, not Connor's" So I said, "Yes Tessi, it's your bear. Her name is Tesser Bear" - Sorry I wasn't that creative last year when we were naming it in the store.

Anyway, She has spent the last 2 hours walking around with it saying, "Not Connor Bear" It took me a few minutes to understand that she has renamed the bear to Not Connor Bear. I'm trying my hardest not to laugh my tush off when she says, "I want Not Connor Bear"

Of course now they are fighting over who gets to color the Yo Gabba Gabba coloring book pages. This is impressive as they each have one each of each character. Connor is now ratting Tessi out for trying to steal her Foofa page. Tessi is now in the hallway screaming for her other Foofa.

I hate Yo Gabba Gabba. But we are getting back to normal.

Feeling a Little More Empowered

Car is fixed, not as bad as originally thought. In fact, a lot less than I thought. A friend of mine's ex-husband is a car mechanic who comes to your house. He only charged me for parts!!!! Amazing! If you're in the Hornsby, Australia area and you need an honest mechanic let me know and I'll send you his phone number.

Lice has been treated, pharmacist said I didn't have to treat all the kids, but I will anyway, just to be safe. I've cleaned up a little bit for the inspection but honestly, I don't like these people and the owner of house hates them as much as we do so, to Hell with them. Things are looking up a bit.

A little sad note. I missed calling my father today. Yesterday was his birthday - well I guess now it's today but I didn't get to call him. I'm sorry Dad. I miss you very much and I thought about you all day yesterday and most of today - except the time I needed to call you. I love you. I'll call tomorrow.

Back to the grind, Miss Connor isn't really enjoying me being on the computer.

I'm Speechless

The car broke down yesterday, actual smoke billowing out, barely made it home. The home inspection by the real estate agent was supposed to be done weeks ago - now they are coming tomorrow and a case of lice amongst the kinder.

If it was a novel right now the cow would be dying, the farm in flames and the heroine would be gasping her last breath because of TB.

Since I'm not terribly heroic I still have to keep going. "Once more into the breach dear friends..." Keep an eye on the news though...I'm making no promises.....

Survived Yoga Weekend

Made it through the beginners course of yoga this weekend. I really did enjoy it. Wouldn't say I was particularly good at it, but I did enjoy it. I do like the idea of the stretches and the breathing and learning to keep things in focus. I have a nasty habit of being blinded by my surroundings so I tend to not pay a lot of attention to what is staring me in the face. Not fun if I'm about to walk into a pole...which I do...a lot.

The instructor kind of lost me a bit when she went off on a wild tangent about "professionals" as she called them...ie...doctors. Her philosophy is that through yoga, she is aware of her body completely and she is able to heal herself and does not need doctors. She had "proof" of doctors and physios failing her, meaning her stories of them telling her they couldn't help her, and then her telling us that she concentrated on the afflicted muscles and cured herself. It's all mind over matter according to her.

My problem with that isn't the belief in the power of the mind; I firmly believe that. I just found it humorous that she went on and on about achieving balance in life and couldn't see that there can be a balance between self-awareness and modern medicine. Maybe she saw doctors and physios that weren't the best or maybe she wasn't able to describe the pain in a proper way, I don't know. What I do know is that I believe in modern medicine as well the power of the mind. You know...balance.

Anyway, I thought she was a good instructor and my friends and I enjoyed going. So I do plan on going back. Even if she was lousy, no one shouted, "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" and starting fighting over who gets to clean up first (yeah, they did that once) so to my mind it was a good thing.

An American Can be Good at Cricket!

Teddy had a great time at cricket today. He had 20 runs, not out and partnered with his friend Seth for a total of 48 runs not out. He also bowled a wicket.

I have it on great authority...meaning every Australian at the oval over the age of 4; that these stats not only mean something, they mean something great. I'll have to take their word for it.

Ted also is doing his part and was assistant scorer today so he can learn the ropes and help score and maybe someday, gulp, umpire a game. I will be charging admission tickets to see that game. I did my part for helping the team also as I went with Penny on a coffee/tea run. Everyone has to make sacrifices you know.

I should also mention Teddy's coach Morgan. Morgan is a young man who has been a tremendous help to our team. I don't know if we'll ever be able to adequately explain to him what his presence has meant to Teddy's team. The boys love him - simply love him. He has an amazing way with them and has taught them a lot. I have to mention also that his mother, my dear friend, reads this blog and I want to suck up because us parents want to hire him as a babysitter on a regular basis. "Morgan's Cricket Training Sleepover Boot Camp" We'll pay, I swear to God almighty, we'll pay. If he takes my girls also I'll pay triple.

Congratulations Teddy. I'm so pleased that you did well. I'm even more pleased that you had fun.

...and it Gets Better

I really didn't want to go into details with Teddy as to why I was in the hospital. No real reason, I just didn't want to burdon him. However, as luck would have it a fellow patient has a son who goes to school with Teddy. The kid saw me and told Teddy that he saw me. At the time it ended up not being so much of a big deal as Teddy doesn't like that kid and just ignored him.

Until this afternoon.

When the mom, who I have NEVER seen at school before, seeks me out to say hi, goes and gets her son to talk to Teddy and point out how we were in the hospital together.

Yep. Karma has got me in the cross hairs today. I have to go to yoga tonight just to get my eye to stop twitching.

Excuse me. I have to go get dinner and help Tessi put her baby in it's front pack carrier.

My Day Today

Got Tessi to school after fight over whether or not dress was ballerina enough. Still not sure what that means.
Took Teddy to school and showed Connor around the Kindergarden room
Walked back home to phone call that Teddy forget his swim gear for swim lessons.
Walked back up only to learn class was no longer in the quad. Stupidly listened to First Years who said that he was still in the office.
Walked up to office only to learn that his class had in fact left already.
Got mercifully generous friend to run swim to stuff to memory-challenged son.
Drove Connor to Lifestart playgroup at new location and struggled to find parking.
Found parking, walked down the street to building to learn OH! Didn't I get a letter from them stating that today was individual meetings and that mine was in the afternoon? No, I did not.
Drove Connor back to school and then gave up on it all and drove to Spotlight to look for fabric for Halloween costume.
Spent 1 hour at home surfing the net looking for Bakugan, a new home (pipe dream) and new dog (even bigger pipe-dream)
Now I'm about to walk back to Teddy's school to pick him and friend up and come home.
At 4 pm I will drive said children to indoor soccer.
I will then leave to go pick up the girls and head home.
Wait for Teddy to be dropped off by same merciful friend
Cook dinner
At 6 pm leave for 2 hours of yoga.

That's my day...how is yours?

Yoga Starts Today

Today is Friday and therefore the weekend is offically here. This weekend I am doing an intensive beginners yoga class the entire weekend. Two hours tonight, two hours Sat and another two hours on Sunday. That's six hours away from the family and learning to put my ankle on top of my shoulder. Ok, not really the ankle part...I never was that limber.

My friend Penny is going with me again. She's no beginner so for her it's a refresher course. But she doesn't mind being around beginners. She has 3 chilren too and she's in the middle of a home renovation. So getting away isn't exactly a bad thing for her either.

Wish me luck! I hope I don't strain anything too much. But if I do I'll just go to the movies instead!

Finally! A Sunny Day!

Yea verily! It's supposed to be sunny and slightly warm all day. Not overcast, not pouring down drought. Finally a good day. All 3 kids will be in school so of course, how will I be spending this fine beautiful day? Inside the shops racing around trying to snap up Bakugan, looking for cricket shorts, grab some groceries and having a cuppa with a dear friend. I marvel at the irony.

No matter, it will be a nice day because I love shopping, tenfold sans kinder, and I love having tea. Now, off to finish booting kids out the door.....

Time to Nap...

Unfortunatly, there's no one else here to finish the laundry, play with Connor, work out dinner, clean the house, get Tessi up after her nap and then trek up to collect Teddy and his friend Tyler and bring them back for a play until 5. Crud.

Oh well, at least it stopped droughting. It's actually a bit chilly so I can bundle the kinder up a bit before I throw them outside to play. Yesterday was a bit rough because of the rain everyone was.in.the.house.all.damn.day. Not good. At all. But when Ted got home I escaped with my iPod and my Lost episodes - I'm slowly getting interested in this show. Not sure if I'll become a Lostie or anything but it beats the Hell out of anything else right now. High praise indeed.

Tessi is napping and Connor is on the couch watching Mulan - keep your fingers crossed for a quick nap for her. 'Cause if she gets one then I get one! That's fair I think.

Tuesday is the Quiet Day

Today is my quiet day now. Connor doesn't have OT on alternating Tues anymore and Tessi's Autism services is only coming 3 times this term and that was moved to Wed. afternoon. So today it's me, Connor and Tessi. All day. All together. So what are we going to do? A trip to the shops of course!

It's not as masochistic as it sounds. I have to pick up Christmas presents from layby (also known as layaway) and the girls know that across from the store we're going to is a Mrs. Field's cookie shop. As soon as I say, "Let's go to Big W" Tessi responds, "I want cookie" Pavlov and his stinkin' dog...

It's weird...with Mrs. Field's they both still say cookie. With every other type of cookie they call them the Aussie term, biscuit. Or even better they use the diminutive...bickie...I'm not even sure how you spell it, that's just what they say. Aussie diminutize EVERY.STINKIN.THING. When we bought Teddy the cricket stumps, also known as the wickets, Teddy said, "I'll get the wickie's out of the car" I gave flack for using baby talk - an ANNOYING habit he's picked up and he was so confused and said, "No, Mom, that's the name"

I guess to fit in here I have to say, "We've off to the shopo to get Christmas prezzies and a few bickies, darling" Pronounce darling as Dah-ling and by george, I think you've got it!

Yoga Good, Connor Up All Night Bad

Went to a free yoga workshop yesterday and really, really liked it. The whole time I didn't really feel that I was working out per se...however, when I walked down the steps to leave (sick people having the studio on the second floor) I noticed that my thighs were jello. Hmmmm, must have done something right. Anyway, going back next weekend for an intensive beginners class and I'm really looking forward to it. My girlfriend Penny is going with me. She's not a beginner, but she's nice enough to come along to keep me company. We're going to try and take a regular class together after this weekend. I figure if I have someone calling to remind me that the class is already paid for and I'd better get off my rear and go that I might actually go.

Bad side is that Connor decided to be awake last night...several times. Soooo, I am tuckered, a bone-numbing tuckered. Being the new Me and all I've decided not to preservere and go ahead with the days plans and after I get Teddy to school I am going back to bed. Yes, that's right. Laundry to be done, dishes in the sink, floor to be swept, sewing to complete...I'm going back to bed and sleeping as late as I can.

Yes, the new me is turning into a rather selfish person. I'm ok with that...so far. If I get a tiara for Christmas then I'll know I've pushed it too far. Unless it's a real one and then I'll know I'm on the right track.

Becomming Aussie After All

Yep, it's a slippery slope but I think we're on our way. How can I tell? Yesterday we willingly got up and drove the whole fam damily to Teddy's 8am cricket game, which was next to a construction site, sat through a rain storm, after 2 hours (yep, the short kids game is only 2 hours) and then drove to K-Mart to buy the girls a Disney Princess cricket bat and ball and a set of stumps for Teddy to practice on. Yep, we'll be trying Vegemite and shouting Fair Dinkem!" soon. Well...maybe not the vegemite stuff. I still think that's a big joke the Aussie's play on the rest of the world.."Let's tell the Yanks we actually eat this stuff!!!"

The girls had fun hitting the ball around although Connor did get bored quickly. The picture where Tessi is on the ground crying is because she's mad because Ted won't let her take a swing at him with the bat. Yep, she's sobbing because Daddy won't get close enough, he kept backing away, when she was swinging with the bat. Mean, mean Daddy.

Teddy was having fun for a bit unfortunately my bowling skills are a little sub par so he had a hard teeing off on a shot. Still managed to knock the ball into the neighbors hard 2 times. Impressive.

I don't know if we'll end up being a proper cricket family or a cricket tragic (a fan) but Teddy likes it so Ted and I are trying to understand it. Still like football better though...

Aussie Money for US Money

Not that I'm happy about the world economy tanking...obviously, I'm not. However, I've managed to scrounge up $82 US dollars and according to today's figures that would be $116 Aussie dollars. Since we've officially started a Wii collection fund (yes, donations will be accepted!) an extra $34 is quite a windfall.

I am sorry that so many people are suffering though. I'm not going to turn this into a political blog, but I do hope that the new powers that be end up remembering who they work for and and actually work.

Anyway, I'm off to try and find more US money. Time to break up open that last piggy bank!

Well Mom Left Today

Sigh...she did it. She actually did it. She left us. Sigh....I don't blame her. 6 weeks of sleeping on a couch is enough to make a saint crack. She didn't even crack though. She was sad to leave and a joy to be around the entire time. Hurry back Mom! We miss you already!!

Now we're trying to settle back into the normal routine. I started the laundry and managed to put soap in the fabric softner dispenser. Wooo Hooo! Hurry back Mom!

I invited a girlfriend and her kids over this afternoon. All the boys will get together and play Bakugan and the girls will converge on the princess, babies and Dora stash. We figure we'll let the kids turn on each other like a pack of wolves and we'll sit back with a cup of tea and watch the show. Mutual of Omaha's Wildlife programs have NOTHING on a pack of 6 kids, ages 9 down to 2.

If it gets really bad Penny and I will flank them and lob a round of lollies and chips at them.

Lo Hicimos! We Did it!

Yep, we made it! The Dora show was a hit! Largely in part because of the huge box of popcorn and bag of Starbursts I bought, but a hit nonetheless. The girls really loved it and got into the show. Connor started yelling out, "WHERE'S DIEGO?!!!" which made me fall apart. Almost as good as Delaney yelling, "SWIPER, WE DON'T LIKE YOU!!" Tessi was sitting next to Mom, on the other end from me and so she decided to walk back and forth to me to get the popcorn. Not a bad idea except that each time she got one piece of popcorn. After the 15th trip I cut her off.

It was a cute show but I have to say that the show promoters shot themselves in the foot with their greed. We all know that the toys and trinkets for sale at these things are ridiculously overpriced. I expect it personally. However we all trudge up to the counter to fork over money to buy some useless Dora crap. Up at the counter all they have are these wands that glow for $10, a t-shirt for $20 and get this...a small cloth Dora or Diego doll for....wait for it...$30!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kassi and I looked at each other a slowly backed away. Get real. I budgeted $20 for each girl but that was insane. My girls do NOT want a t-shirt and those dolls were only slightly higher quality than the McDonald's toys. Get real. Way to go, you guys lost my $40 by not having a middle range available. I scanned the crowd too, not a lot of dolls and wands floating around either.

The next show should be a hit. In winter 2009 (that's summer for my American friends) Disney on Ice is coming back - only with an all princess show. All Ariel....all the time. Oh yeah, that'll work.

D-Day

Today is D-Day.

No, New Zealand hasn't gotten fed up and is planning the invasion of those damn Aussie shores...it's far worse. Dora the Explorer is coming Sydney and I have tickets. Connor, Tessi, Grandma, myself, Connors BFF Delaney and her mother Kassi are all braving the elements to storm Acer Arena and 5000 of Dora's closest admirers for an audience with the Holy One.

I think we would have a better chance of surviving Normandy and Gallipoli combined.

Blog? I have a Blog?

Hello All,
Yes, I am alive. The last 6 weeks or so have been a little different for the Tencza family. I did a stint in the hospital and and now I'm back home, trying to get our lives back to normal. Just another bump in the poorly-taken care of road full of pot-holes, cracks and dead bugs of life. My that was a cheerful analogy wasn't it?! And now for something completely different....

The kids are doing well. Connor is really gearing up for Kindergarden and I'm actually looking forward to it, not dreading it anymore. My mother-in-law has been here the last 6 weeks taking care of the kids while I was away - thank GOD for her. Seriously, she is amazing. The kids have loved having her around as she is a traditional grandma and that means for the price of a well-placed smile she can be had. Both my girls had convinced her that she was supposed to carry their backpacks to school - not them. Yeah, like I would EVER walk around carrying a Dora and Disney Princess backpack for them...whatever. Teddy also had Mom believing that his backpack was stored on the kitchen floor rather than in his room. Unfortunately for the kids, Evil Troll Mom reappeared and the world is slowly realigning itself.

Sorry to disappear like that. I hope to return to my normal witty self soon.