So, when I was in middle school I was a Sandi Patty fan. She is a Christian artist and I just loved her. I had this cassette tape and I can't find it or a CD of it anywhere. "Sandi Patty & the Friendship Company" was the name of it. There were several songs on there I loved. I still know them all by heart, strange since I haven't heard it in about 20 years~

"Forever Friends" is one that Amy & I sang at youth camp & in church. Someone should have STOPPED US and gently told us that we seriously could not sing!!!! But.... our hearts were in it and I'm sure God smiled.

There was another song on there I loved. The words & tune have both popped up in my heart this weekend and stayed there. For now, I leave you with a line from the song.....


"miracles can happen, to those who love the Lord. Blessed are they that believe in him, his kingdom shall be yours."



Big things in the lives of the Tanners and for now, just know all glory and praise be to God!!!!
He is so good!! (and obviously likes to shock our socks off)

Mountains Trip
Saturday

We woke up Saturday morning, MY BIRTHDAY, to over cast skies. Thankfully no rain most of the day, just yucky looking. We walked up the street to the FlapJack Pancake House and it was fantastic. You know it's an "off" travel time when you walk into any pancake house up there without a wait, strange! We couldn't figure out if everyone was scared of gas issues or they're waiting until October when the leaves were fully changed. After my REESE'S PANCAKES THAT WERE COVERED IN PEANUT BUTTER DRIZZLE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE.... we were off!!



There are 7 of these FlapJack's in the area, we ate at one downtown. Then there are tons of other Pancake Houses, everywhere!




We walked around downtown for awhile, hitting our favorite little shops. I bought the coolest stuff to "make snow" in the world. I can't explain it, but can not wait until our snow unit to share with my kids. It's this "stuff" that you mix with water and it expands into fluffy snow and feels wet and cold!! It's wild!! People use it for decorating and such, great find!!


Andy hates when I make him pose places like this, how can I resist?




Rock Candy, yummy....... Pure sugar, yep!!!



We came back and hopped in the car to drive to the Sugarland Visitor Center. It's the official visitor center for the National Park. I haven't been able to go to the TOP of the mountain in the national park in years now, my car sickness just wont allow me to go that far on those curvy roads. I feel terrible b/c Andy's never been up there and I have tons of times when I was younger. Eventually I'm gonna send him off with my Mom & Dad on a trip and let them head up there. Anyway.. I love the movie they show about the park, just a 20ish minute of fantastic footage of the park and animals in different seasons, but it wasn't showing.

They were having a HUGE alumni thing for the CCC "Civilian Conservation Core" that helped establish the National Park years ago. There were pictures and things out everywhere, special speakers and TONS of old alumni. Pretty neat, but it had things really jammed up.

We headed off onto one of the little 1 mile walks to the "Cataract Falls", I didn't remember doing this one before and when we got there, it was a dribble. Very disappointing. The water flow off the mountain is low anyway, but this low? Wow, we were fooled. It was a nice little walk out there and back though.

Signs of Fall on our walk, the first red leaf!



Cataract Falls (dribble)


We returned to Gatlinburg and walked downtown again to take our annual ride up the mountain on the chair lift. I've been riding this since I was a little bitty girl with my family, it's a tradition now for Andy & I. This years picture fills up the last spot in my 9 picture frame in our hall. It's fun to look back over the years. (Amy, I have some nutty ones of us too!)


Looking up, up, up.....


Just us, one more ride!!





We had forgotten that the Aquarium was having a "shark" race down the creek. You could pay $10 to support a charity and purchase your own plastic shark with a number, the first one across the finish line won a F-150 (lease for a year) and a Jet Ski. As we went up the chair lift and over the creek, we saw them getting ready to dump them at the starting line.

THEN... on our ride back down, we saw the horror that was "the great shark race". Turns out the river is so far down, there is no big current and thousands and thousands of plastic sharks were stuck everywhere!! There were oodles of teenagers from the Aquarium out in the water with nets trying to scoop them up. They had a huge job ahead of them, they were EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!



We came back to the hotel for hanging out by the creek and then getting ready for the "Dixie Stampede". If you've never been before, it's so hard to explain the right way. It's a dinner show, it's "southern" in theme and it's pricey. It's so much fun and exactly what I wanted for my birthday. Andy & I have been 3 times before, then I've been tons with my parents years ago. (Amy, you went with us once, right?!) There is now a location in Orlando, Branson and Myrtle Beach too. If you're ever able to go, do it!!

You sit side by side in a HUGE horse arena. It's like a giant booth all the way around. There are rows of these booths, all levels from top to bottom. The show is southern in theme. There is comedy, dancing, singing, ostrich racing, pig chasing, horse riding, wagon racing and a beautiful patriotic tribute. All the while you are served a great meal, the food is some of my favorite anywhere up there!!!!! You get a chicken (yes, an entire cornish hen), corn on the cob, the BEST creamy vegetable soup EVER, herb roasted potato (Andy wanted to tip Herb) slice of grilled pork, flaky apple turnover and all without utensils of course! :) It is such a great time and exactly what I wanted for my birthday!! It's $38 now per person, but we feel well worth it. (We do get a $6 military discount)

In our seat ready for it to begin!



Not a good picture, not mine. You aren't suppose to take pics in there, so Andy wouldn't let me. I borrowed this one to show you the seating sort of.

There are tons of other shows up there and if you're going, you have to check one out. They are part of the quirky southern charm. The Black Bear Jamboree is our other favorite dinner show combined, check it out sometime!!!

Let me back track to say that the pre-show is fun too. You get there 45 minutes early and go into the saloon to watch a great moutain, country, hillbilly, band. "Mountain Ruckus". They are fantastic with music and comedy, fun times. You can get all sorts of non alcoholic funny drinks and popcorn or peanuts. I have a video here of part of the gospel set they do.

(Turn your volume up!)

Click HERE


After that we headed back to our hotel. We walked the 1/2 block to catch the tram and headed up the mountain in the dark! It's neat to take the 10 minute ride up there anytime of the day or night, neat ride. We didn't get to see much and the entire area up at Ober Gatlinburg was closing by the time we arrived. (Bear habitat, ski resort, chair lift, sled ride, games, jumpies, shops, ice skating, etc..) So we walked around and caught the next tram back.

It was a great day and although the weather wasn't all we'd hoped for...I had a great birthday!
(until we watched the last 1/2 of the UGA game, but I wont even go into detail....even with me wearing my brand new "essential black out t shirt" maybe I outta put that thing in the back of the closet now?! )

Our Weekend in the Mountains
Friday

We started thinking about a month ago that we desperately missed the mountains and couldn't wait to take a fall trip up there. (Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, TN that is, we just say "the mountains") Before long the trip turned into.... well, should we just go to Disney for a few days or is there a 3 night cruise that works with our dates? Imagine that huh? Just like us. Eventually we wound our way right back to the fact that we missed the mountains. Last year was only the 2nd year of our 11 together that we didn't make it up there.

We left Friday morning although we were a little leery of what the gas situation might be up that way. Other than road construction north of Knoxville, we made great time. We stopped for gas and for lunch, noticing that not only did everywhere have gas... but it was also cheaper!!

A trout in the creek, from our balcony. Can you see him?



Fall has arrived in the mountains. Every hotel, place to eat or shop, etc.. has a fall display. Very neat, love it! I had a fit because all the displays had "girl" scarecrows with pig tails, they were too cute and I'd never seen them at home. We found one with a price tag and saw it came from Old Time Pottery, we hit Old Time Pottery before we left. I have my very own scarecrow with pigtails now!!



I had made reservations online after several nights of browsing places to stay. We've pulled the camper up there a good bit, but weren't about to consider that with the gas issue. Anyway, I thought I booked the perfect place right downtown. I walked in the lobby to check in and it looked like a section of the Haunted Mansion. The ceiling was falling in, the wall paper was coming off, the carpet was an inch deep in dirt. Dust was everywhere so deep I could write my name in it and cobwebs galore. There were holes kicked in the wall in the halls and well, I'll stop there. Still, I checked in. It was only for 2 nights, it was cheap.... we would be fine.... wouldn't we? After opening the door to our room, we gave up trying to be brave and went down to check back out. Thankfully we got our money back. We don't mind "cheap OLD" hotel, we can handle it. Dirty and scary though, it's another ball game!

We found a fantastic Fairfield Inn & Suites downtown. It wasn't that much more, it had a balcony over the river. We could also see the tram to Ober Gatlinburg going by, see the trout in the water, watch people fish and hear the sound of the water running through there too. Perfect! It was only a block walk to get to main street. The room was HUGE! It had a fire place, 2 queen beds, a large chair & foot stool, a desk & chair, jacuzzi, fridge and tons of room to spare! Ahhh.... much better!!

The tram came right by our room, pretty neat. We took it up the mountain Saturday night.



The creek behind our hotel, our balcony was right over it.



We headed to town to walk up and down main street, then find a place to eat. We ate at Calhoun's Ribs. (Neither of us had ribs though, LOL!) After supper we walked around downtown a bit before it started raining enough to make us ready to head back. We drove back into Pigeon Forge and did some outlet shopping! I got a few Christmas presents for Mom & Dad, the great nieces and nephews, plus of course our little one "to be" as well. We picked up the laundry list of requested candy for my parents, bless their hearts. (They haven't traveled in over a year now and it's there favorite thing too) We ended our evening with HOT OUT OF THE OVEN Krispy Kremes, yummy!! Just what everyone needs as a bedtime snack....

Gas Situation Stinks!

Ok, I have to rant here for a moment. I'm allowed, right?!

I have friends who live across the US and it seems we are the only place right now that are having this issue. Gas is insanely high, if you can find it. Yes, I said if you can find it?



It was bad enough this summer with the jump to $4 a gallon. In the month of July we paid just over $600 in gas!!!! Did you read that??? $600 in gas! Granted Andy drives a truck, he drives over an hour both ways to work and I drive a SUV as well. Still, should we really have to spend that much money in gas?? Add to that the fact that groceries go up with gas and WOWIE ZOWIE folks, it's insane!!

But now, we can't even FIND gas!! A few weeks ago I prayed and God answered in allowing me to literally roll to the pump at my FOURTH try at finding a station with gas!!! I drove around until I was literally on fumes and I prayed God would take care of me, he did! My Beastie died, literally at the pump!

I know that Hurricane Ike caused severe damage in Texas and I totally understand that power was shut down for quite awhile, days on end. I feel terrible for those families who suffered loss, hoping and praying for a speedy recovery for them. I think everyone can be patient through a crisis like that and sympathize.

I just can't figure out why the craziness has continued here in the Metro Atlanta area and mainly ONLY here! Gas is $3.99-$4.19 when you can find it. The thing is, Cobb & Paulding counties for sure are out! I mean OUT! There is no gas within about 20-30 miles of our house, at least! Nowhere, no small town gas stations, no large corporate owned ones. Most of our local counties drive huge distances to work and it's causing major problems.

Places that have gas are putting on limits. You can only buy $20 to $40 worth of gas. For the thousands who drive trucks and SUVs, that doesn't get you very far for $4 a gallon!! Then you have to drive 30 miles to find gas again. It's a vicious cycle. People are waiting in line an hour (my Mom & Aunt did this weekend) only to get close to your turn and they run out. You've just wasted gas sitting in line.

We just spent the weekend in the mountains, we were very nervous about the gas situation as we headed North. Strangely enough though, around Dalton & Calhoun is when the gas craziness ends. By the time we got close to Chattanooga and in to Tennesee, there was plenty of gas. Not only was there plenty, but it was CHEAP!! Even in the local tourist traps of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, it was $3.49!! We haven't seen those prices here in forever!

I'm just sayin'... what is the deal? What needs to change? Is it our behavior, are people freaking out and making it worse? Is there a logical reason for this? What can we do about it?

(Rant over, blog on our trip to come soon)

September happenings:

Let's update on random things at the house of Tanner.

Parent's House:
My parents house is moving along quickly. They put walls up and a roof on in no time. I love the multi color roof, it looks great. Now inside everything makes sense and you can see it all coming together. Pluming has been ran, as well as electricity. The septic tank has been put in and the sheet rock was delivered today, they're waiting on insulation to go in first tomorrow I think. The tubs are put in, the showers are going to be tiled & stoned, so they're coming later. They spent almost 3 hours with the cabinet man one day this week, everything is being custom made. The deposit has been made on the pool and the plans are beautiful, there's a waterfall!!

Sept. 14th (I think)


This is the end facing the house they live in. That roomish thing to the right with a window is the 3 car garage. The porch area to the left is the open area where the pool will go. It's all coverd for hanging out, all the way around the corner. The total left side towards the back is going to be a vaulted ceiling with beams, it's going to be pretty. There will be ceiling fans and a swing. Our kiddos room @ Grammy & Grandpa's is right there with a windown over looking the pool area. Great stuff!! This is my favorite part. We kept saying "good thing yall wanted a smaller house, HA!" Mom wanted to cut down on cleaning, have less to take care of, we just keep laughing!!


This is the front



Sept. 20th
The roof on~




Sept. 20th
My Mom's CLOSET!!! She has her own, yes! Almost as big as our nursery & spare bedroom.




This is the eat in kitchen. The side with the window has vaulted ceilings too. The kitchen is huge, has an island. Which is funny since my Mom NEVER cooks anymore! We're standing in the living room area and this isn't all of the kitchen, just one direction.



Dad's office looking out the front. That oval ish window to the right is actually in the laundry room, no walls yet so you can see through of course.



The basement that is going to have one finished bathroom and is big enough for a living room/kitchen and 4 bedrooms down there. Cracks us up how big it is.



Chex Mix Fiasco:

I had a chex mix fiasco this week. I had a 100 calorie pack of chex cereal one day and opened it in the car, it exploded and cereal went everywhere! It was in my hair, in my clothes and all over the car!! There are times this would make me grrrrrrr in frustration, thankfully all I could do was laugh and laugh and laugh some more. It was a mess and what can you do? I took pictures to show Andy, figured he'd shake his head at me. Then immediately clean the Beastie out end to end! (That man is obsessed with a clean vehicle, you family members know that first hand!)





Early Birthday Celebrations:

Today my kiddos and Ms. Dawn helped me celebrate my birthday at school. The kids surprised me when Ms. Dawn pulled out a super stash of birthday cards they'd made at home, I was very impressed with their sneakiness! Each one is adorable, I'll share a few. They sang Happy Birthday and (like all 4 year olds would) they blew the candles on the "fake cake" out for me!! (I only had 5 candles like they get, that's encouraging!) Our fake cake (made by my room mom & friend last year) is adorable and perfecting for celebrating all birthdays!! It has swirly crazy candles, not in this picture though.



A few cards, I couldn't scan and post 'em all. Too cute though!



This little guy drew "Ms. Tanner & Winnie the Pooh" on the left. I think it's awesome that he remembered me saying that during Bear week or the first week when I talked about how I love Pooh. Funny!!


Can you tell that this little one wrote my name across the card? "Tanner" So sweet! And yes, that would be me that he drew!


Tonight Andy brought home an ice cream cake, it's my favorite kind of cake these days! It is a cutie football, just needs a big "G" on it!! We ate ice cream cake tonight after supper!


The Fair:

At school we always go to the fair the last Thursday that it's here. It is my favorite field trip of the year. I love fall and it's the first time everyone is together, we get to spend some time chatting with the parents after spending some time with the kids. They kids are so excited because it's the first trip and it's just a super fun day. All of the four year old classes & Kindergarten go, plus all parents!! It's 120 kids!! We're going tomorrow!!!

Last year was the first time in about 11 years that I didn't go to the fair on my birthday. My Dad always said I was a "cheap date" on my birthday. Take me to the fair, buy me a corndog and cotton candy and I'm good to go. It became a tradition with Andy and my parents to go. Last year we went on the Disney Cruise & spent a week at Disney, so we skipped the fair. This year since we'll be in the mountains, we're going to the fair tomorrow night! Fun, fun, fun!!! Fried food, pretty lights, farm animals to pet, homemade goods to observe and carnival workers... what more entertainment can a girl need?

The Mountains:

And, to further celebrate my birthday (I firmly believe in celebrating all week long!) We are headed to Gatlinburg this weekend. We usually go once or twice a year. Due to "the year of Disney" last year, we never made it up there. So we're both very excited about a fall mountain trip!! We aren't taking the camper, with gas prices it's not feasible to pull it up there. Andy took Friday off and we leave that morning and we'll return Sunday evening, I'm so excited!!

Needing a Disney, Cruise or better yet Disney Cruise
fix at our house.

Tonight I found this and it made us laugh over and over. Ahhh, the joys of cruising. Hope this makes ya laugh, turn your volume up for sure!!! Farm friends, you'll love this!

Click on link below:
Horn Battle in Dock

Springville Sprint 5K

Andy has been running the Powder Springs annual "Springville Sprint 5K" for much longer than I've known him. This year was no different, he'd been looking forward to it for quite awhile. Typically it's the same day as Powder Springs Day with a parade & arts/crafts. This year the festival has been put off until October. Our church sponsors the event, it's where the race starts and ends. They have a competition between local elementary schools to see who can get the most kids to show up for the 1mile fun run. Then there is a free pancake breakfast afterwards and award ceremony. Great times in a small town!!

Andy finished 8th overall and 1st in his age group, it's the 4th year in a row that he's been first in his age group. (Maybe more than that, but those are the trophies I can count on the shelf right now) He finished 3rd overall a few years ago :) Steve finished first in his age group as well and was 5th overall. Good job guys!! Yep, big brother beat little brother!! :)


And I have to mention Patty McFarland Wilder who also won in her age group, because I've never seen anyone so excited over their tropy. Patty is the "baby" sister to my best friend from childhood, Amy. So Patty, "that is awesome!!" Love ya girl, it was fun to spend time with you!!!



While we were waiting and watching awards, Uncle Andy seems to have put Tanner right to sleep. That boy was making all sorts of crazy noises bouncing around, he became quiet and this is what we saw. Funny baby!! I told Andy he is the "baby whisperer"!

My parents house!!

This is MONDAY!!

It's the only Monday picture because it was SO MUDDY from the rain!! Dad got the golf cart stuck and they had to push him out. I went over there in FLIP FLOPS, not smart!! I sunk down to my ankles!! It was a nightmare. I thought I was going to have to scream to be rescued myself.


These area all THURSDAY!!

By today, FRIDAY though, it looks nothing like this. All the walls are up and the roof is mostly up and on. Looks 100% different already!! Crazy fast!!!! I didn't have my camera tonight when we did a walk through. I'll take some soon though. It was so neat to walk around in it and see the rooms and where everything is going. Just a few weeks ago it was still a field, wow!!!



This is the very end side, my favorite side b/c it's where the pool will be!! :) The pool guy had pictures of it made on his computer and it's so cool. It'll be free form, have a dark blue bottom, rock around the side and a big ole waterfall. I'm so excited!!! They are too, it's so funny! This concrete area is all going to be open. It'll have a roof, the leftish side will have a cathedral ceiling roof with open beams. They'll have ceiling fans, chairs and stuff out there. I requested a swing be hung out there tonight matter of fact. The room that is on that end will be our little ones room @ Grammy and Grandpa's, it'll have a window to look at the pool. How cool is that???!!!!
Here is the front right side and Dad :)

This is the front. To the left there is the 3 car garage.

This is in the basement, from the drive in door. They have a garage up top with a 3 stall garage. But Dad insists that they need a drive in basement too. It's huge down there. There is enough area to have a 3 bedroom apartment, with living room & kitchen, plus bath. They are finishing it or at least part of it now, plus the bathroom down there.




This is the view from the back side.
We were all convinced it looked so small when they started, suddenly this week.... it's huge. My Dad says "it swelled up!" They were suppose to be down sizing their house, not sure if that's the case my friends. Crazy people! They worked hard, they deserve it!!

Consignment Sale Anonymous

Yes yall', I need a support group! I absolutely live for these things. The one at the church where I teach preschool is my favorite, they get good stuff! They have it in the spring & fall, double the fun each year. On Saturday they put everything that's left on sale, so I fear that I'll run back tomorrow. We'll see.

Yesterday afternoon was a ton of fun. My Mom was a crazy woman, she showed restraint in buying more than I thought she would. Despite the fact she ran from item to item yelling "Look!" and "We need this!". She didn't buy it all. It was a hoot because I had friends saying "look at this, you're gonna need it." and "you should get this", while others were shouting "stop, put it down" and "what are we gonna buy you if you keep shopping?" It was fun to be there with everyone too though!!

I did fight the urge to buy Halloween outfits just for dress up fun, it was so hard! There was a Pooh straight from Disney outfit that was $6!! :O Those things are $40 at the Disney store, it was in perfect condition. Minnie outfits, dance/cheerleader/ballet stuff, Buzz Lightyear and on and on. So much fun for dress up play for a few dollars each. *sigh* Next time........

Anyway, here's the loot. The only thing I didn't take a picture of was the bassinet my Mom bought for HER HOUSE. It's really cute though, looks BRAND NEW and was $40. I'm talking looks like it hasn't been touched, ever! Here's a picture I found online and it looks like this.



These are my favorite buys of the day!! The golf set is a major find, I can't wait to show Andy! (Who has been out of town) It is a little beat up, but it was $2.00!! It has 3 clubs and these little cups on the back you take off and hit balls into. Perfect for outside fun!!

The rocking caterpillar plays music, how cute is that?! I LOVE the colors, so fun! It was $10. The space rocket is so cute. It has all sorts of sounds when you scoot it around or you push buttons. The seat comes up for storing treasures. It was $5!!! As Amber says "SCORE!"

These are the 2 outfits I bought our great nephew Trey, they were $4 and $5.
(Trisha, are you reading this? Surprise! I want to come by one afternoon this week!)



Here are the girl clothes we picked out. Mom liked the dress with the doggies and I liked the one with the Christmas gingerbread stuff. A couple of PJ onesies that were a few dollars, the smocked dress that was $4 and looks alot like the bigger size I bought last week. (Still has tags on it) And one just cotton comfy outfit.


The boy outfits. The one with tags on the top left is too cute! It has a bear on the onesie shirt & plaid shirt and the corduroy pants. I love it! The out fit on the right has a bicycle on the pants, shirt & socks! I think one outfit was $6 (tags) and the other was $5. The Georgia outfit was $6, shirt was $1 and cotton comfy outfit was $2 or $3.

It was so much fun! I am still feeling good about it since we'll continue to have great nieces and nephews. If we don't get to have BOTH a son & daughter at some point, I'll pass it on to them!!! It really is fun to see what deals you can get!!




These are not consignment, they are all Target clearance. The 1 pieces were $3 each, as was the boy's swim trunks. They are all size 4. The bikini was just $2.50, I couldn't pass it up!! I can't think of what size it is. Again, what we don't get to use, we'll share!! :)

Consignment Sales

Consignment sales for sure will be the death of me, at least my check book!! I showed a picture of our little one's closet in the last post, scroll down for a picture. That however, was not a recent one. The problem is that since we don't know if we'll have a son or daughter, I continue to buy BOTH girl and boy clothes! One of our nieces & nephews to come is going to seriously rack up in the future!! Thankfully I can say that everything in there is either a gift (Mom & Misty have both bought things too!) or bought on clearance and/or at a consignment sale! When you start telling me those cutie dresses are just $3, the gowns are $1 and 3 piece boys outfits are only $5.... I'm a serious sucker! I am going to share JUST SOME of my great buys, there are not photos from each sale.

And... for those of you who live in the area, McEachern Methodist has their consignment sale this weekend. It is usually HUGE and my favorite!! Thankfully since I'm staff we get to shop early on Thursday afternoon. Yipee~

((Lindsey, are you reading this?! Remember to come Thursday @ 1:00 with your Mom!!))

This was from March consingment sales at McEachern Methodist & Kennesaw FBC.

Girls Stuff




Boys Stuff





This is from this weekend @ Echo Mill Consignment Sale

Boys (Tags are still on outfit on the right, too cute $5)



Girls (sweater- Gymboree $1, 2 gowns for $1, smocked dress $3, velvet dress$3)





The closet now:
(Yes, packed full!! Top/bottom, left/right.) I've also scored 3 girl bathing suits for $2 or $3 each on clearance, various sizes and 2 boy bathing suits for the same.




Top of the closet stacked with things for future Christmas or Birthday presents. You'll see there's even a Disney castle & add on pieces. Those are from the first version they had out, about 7 years ago. There's a NEW version now and you can be ASSURED our little one will have both versions of the Disney Castle play sets!! (We want them to get the monorail too!! :) The far right, bottom. That is a stack of Disney Wooden Puzzles. I've had them about 8 years now! I was afraid they wouldn't sell them anymore, so I bought one of each!! All kinds~ HE HE HE..... In the bottom picture you'll also see the water stains on the ceiling. They were there when we bought this house and even though we've had the whole house painted, we didn't paint in there. OOps!! Yes, the purple box up there is full of stuff too. :)