Favorite Finds: May Edition

A little look at what I've been loving, this month...

1: Vaseline Spray & Go Moisturizer: Aloe Fresh (here)
I have loved this line of aloe products since it was first released a few years  ago. This Spray & Go is probably the best product yet! It's super light and super moisturizing.

2: Neutrogena Naturals: Purifying Pore Scrub (here)
I am obsessed with this line. The lip balm, the moisturizer, the night cream,  the cleanser...they're all amazing! The scrub is the latest addition to my bathroom cabinet. Consistent with the rest of the line, it is light, gentle on skin, and super efficient. The Neutrogena Naturals line overall, is a great option!

3: Sonic's Peanut Butter Fudge Shake (here)
IT'S BACK!!!!!! Remember that peanut butter scare freakout that took over the nation a few years ago? Well because of that, the best shake on the planet disappeared?! Thankfully, after many, many summer nights without this blissful treat, it is quite exciting to have it back in rotation. Who even needs to try the other 25+ flavors they're advertising?! (If you do not live near a Sonic....well, I am truly sorry for your loss and misfortune.)

4. Essie: DJ play that song, the more the merrier, and naughty nautical (here)
Summer is here and so are really fun new Essie colors! DJ play that song is part of the Neon Collection. The best news? The colors in the Summer 2013 collection (two of which are pictured here: the more the merrier and naughty nautical) have a really beautiful faint shimmer in them! Here's to the perfect summer sandal-wearing colors!

5. Mint Boyfriend Watch (here)
This watch is not the one I have. However, it is the one that sparked a desire to find a great mint-colored boyfriend watch to wear! The one featured, seems to always be sold out, and if it is not it goes quickly. So, I happened to come across a great find one day at Ann Taylor Loft Outlet, and I've been wearing it pretty frequently since then. As far as I am concerned, the "mint" color craze can stick around as long as possible...it's just such a fresh and beautiful color!

DIY: Scrabble Magnets

I was inspired by a photo I pinned on Pinterest for this most recent project. Scrabble tile magnets. Cute, fun and easy! 

Instead of buying a new Scrabble game, I chose to wait around until I could score a super cheap one at a thrift store. It took a little more than month of searching, but I was finally successful!

Supplies:
Scrabble Tiles
Magnet Strips
Scissors
Clorox wipes (if you buy a used set and want to clean them first)

There are not any specific steps to follow for this project. Simply, choose the letters or words that you want to turn into magnets and begin. Cut the magnetic strips to match the size of the tiles. Peel off the backing of the magnet strip and attach to each tile.

Choose tiles.

Clean.

Peel backing on magnets and stick to the individual tiles. 

I chose to do a set of the alphabet A-Z and the words: PARIS, ROME, LONDON, LAUGH & CREATE. I had about 85 tiles in my Scrabble box (in comparison to the 100 tiles that come in a new Scrabble game) and did not come close to using all of them.

Have fun and be creative with the letters and the words!

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Uses:

     - cute decor for the refrigerator (ex: spell out names of cities to display        

       vacation or travel photos.)

     - an alternative or addition to the traditional plastic letter magnets for 

       children (great for letter 

       recognition and spelling!)

     - pack tiles with a metal baking sheet for children to enjoy on a road trip

"The Project"

"The Project". Many people know it by its normal title, "thesis". However, if I say or hear the word thesis one more time, I may just scream. After 4 semesters, an unthinkable amount of hours, days, months, and almost two years of work, this thing is almost finished!!! There are no words for how good, amazing , awesome, surprising, and relieving it feels to be at this point! Let me explain. 

When I enrolled into the Master's program at the University of Alabama, I knew that a thesis was required for the completion of my degree. A thesis, meaning a very detailed and very long attempt at creating, designing, implementing, summarizing, and explaining a research project. When I became a graduate student, I became a researcher. Let it be said, that "Researcher" is not and will never be my choice occupation. However, researcher and student have both been my occupation for the past almost 2 years. 

Thesis & Graduate School FAQs:

Q. What do you do?

A. I've met a fair share of new people and friends over the past several months, and this has been a very common question. My response? I'm Kelly, I am in graduate school at Alabama. I'm getting my Master's in Human Development & Family Studies. I work for a professor in my department as a graduate research/teaching assistant (i.e., I graded a million projects, kept attendance records for hundreds of students, and participated in research.) 

Q. What is graduate school like?

A. According to my experience, g-school is challenging and stressful. Not all of it, but a lot of it. For my program I needed 32 credit hours of classes and at least 6 credit hours of required thesis research. The classes were alright, with the exception of two stats courses. Wah, wah. Those are self-explanatory. Additionally, graduate school would probably be complete torture without buddies to share it with. I had some awesome grad companions and dear friends through the entire process! 

Q. You're doing a thesis. What is that? What are you doing it on?

A. A thesis is basically a very intensive research project. The process begins by developing an idea or an interest in study something particular, and then designing a study around it. The process goes as follows: idea and hypotheses, research (reading a bazillion research articles), writing a literature review and a proposal, forming a research committee, proposal meeting with the committee (approval for project), IRB (Instutional Review Board) project submission, IRB approval, conduct research and collect data, enter and analyze Data, finish paper, and finally a thesis defense meeting with the committee. (There are many, many more finite details that go into the process, but this is the gist of what happens.) My thesis project is on Preschool Children, Children's Literacy & Literature, and Dramatic Play. 

Q. Why study play and literacy in preschool children? Why is it important?

A. 
- Play and literacy are two of the greatest influences to children's social and cognitive growth.
     
- Play is essential to learning. Research shows that children, who engage in play, benefit in areas such as developing social interaction, exposure to literacy, abstract thought. 

- Play has purpose. That purpose being to allow children to form connections between their own actions and realizations, and the objects to which they give significant meaning. 

- Dramatic play is a form of play that may be encouraged through emerging literacy and helps children give meaning to events that they experience in their daily lives. 

- Dramatic play facilitates children's ability to improve and acquire literacy schemes and language skills, such as labeling through abstract thought, role assignment, developing conversation skills, vocabulary growth and imaginative story-telling. 

-Imaginative and make-believe play are concepts that develop gradually as children grow. 

Because of these things, I find that I have a huge interest in learning more about how young children play, learn, and grow. 

Q. What does your project look like?

A. I recruited preschool children (via parental consent) ages 3-5 years old, their parents, and their classroom teachers. 

Q. What were you looking at in your study?

A. The idea was to present children in preschool classrooms with a story and incorporate the use of props into the storytelling. I ended up conducting the study in four rooms, thus two classrooms were in the control group (story w/out props) and two classrooms were in the experimental group (story w/ props). The control group listened to the story without the use of props throughout the story. The experimental group listened to the story and were engaged with the use of story props and and interactions with the story-teller. The children in each group were then videotaped for 10 minutes as they played in dramatic play/home living area with the props from the story. They were filmed in small groups within their classrooms. After the 10 minutes of play, each child participated in a child interview with the research team. The play videos were eventually coded on a Make-Believe play scale that divided play into several different skill areas. I used Roles, Props, Language and Scenarios as my four categories on this scale. The Child Interviews were used as a measurement for memory and comprehension of the story. Teachers were asked to fill out a survey called Literature Exposure in the Classroom. Parents were asked to fill out a very similar survey called Literature Exposure in the Home. 

All of these things were the methods in which I chose to collect data and information that would help me answer the hypotheses (research questions) I had established. I had four of these hypotheses:

1) Children who are read a story that includes props will show more advanced make-believe play than children in the story telling condition without props. 

2) Children in the story telling condition with props will display greater memory for the story and greater comprehension than the children in the story only condition.

3) Irrespective of condition, greater literacy exposure at home will positively correlate with more complex make-believe play.

4) Irrespective of condition, greater literacy exposure in the classroom will positively correlate with more complex make-believe play. 

Q. What did you find?

A. The main finding in the study revealed that, children in the prop condition used more story language to describe their roles in action than children in the control group. Gender differences analyses revealed that parents reported girls to be more engaged in literacy exposure at home, as well as using more imagination. These were not all of the findings, but they were the most significant. 

Q. How can the information from your study be used?

A. Both parents and teachers may want to use the tools and findings presented in this study as a way of assessing their interactions with their children, their understanding of how children play and learn, as well as how they can be more informed facilitators of positive play and literacy relationships. 

Q. You're finished with your thesis. That's great! What's next for you?

A. Two things. 1) I have completed my thesis paper/project (all 43 pages of it). However, I still have to defend my thesis to my committee. This means I will have to explain my study, specifically the methods and results, and answer any questions or challenges they throw my way. That's why it is called a defense...I'm literally having to defend my work and its contribution to child development and to the world. My thesis defense is set for June 11th. 2) I have the crazy and unexpected opportunity to teach an undergraduate class for a summer session at UA. I'll be teaching Preschool Development for four weeks....starting TUESDAY! EEP! I'm excited and a little intimidated all at the same time. Thankfully, I'm pretty confident that I will be able to communicate the information well, as I have such a deep passion for child development, and more specifically the preschool ages. It will definitely be a challenge and an adventure!

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Hopefully, this helps explain the craziness of my life over the past year and a half, or so. This project has literally been consuming and completely exhausting. It is why I haven't read a book in over 6 months...why I haven't been able to do anything besides shower, sleep, write, and grab quick meals over the past few months. Thankfully, the end is so near I can taste it...surely it tastes similar to a Peanut Butter Cup cupcake...or even a Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper! It's got to, right? So as I come to the end I am reflecting on what has taken place and dreaming of the future! Am I thankful for the experience? Did I enjoy graduate school? Bits and pieces of it. Some parts more than others. (Some parts WAY more than others.) However, I do know that the Lord provided in many ways before, during, and now after the process in many ways. I am very thankful for his sufficiency and his provision. I am also so incredibly thankful for and blessed by the many friends and family members that have been supportive throughout the whole experience!!! I couldn't have done it without all of you!

The stack of books to read that have been collecting in my office...

As for right now....

I am enjoying having my bestest most favorite roomie in the history of ever back from 7 weeks of flight attendant training! (even if it is only for a few days!) It's been a challenging seven weeks for both of us, and it's nice to be back in the normal swing of things. I am also relearning what it feels like to have time to enjoy life and do fun things. The reality of entering into the real world will hit in the next few months, and honestly...I will be welcoming it with open arms!

Bri's Flight Attendant graduation in Atlanta!

DIY: No Sew Ruffle Tree Skirt

Who says it's too early for Christmas crafting? Not I! Seeing as I'm "designing" a whole new tree and decor scheme for this coming Christmas, it is necessary that I work on things beforehand. Thus, I made a ruffled tree skirt over Spring Break following this tutorial! A totally normal spring break activity, right? Don't answer that...just look below to see how I put it together! (As a side note, I used rolls of 5 1/2" wide chevron burlap instead of strips of linen.)

Materials Needed:
4' 1/2" x 4' 1/2" piece of canvas (I found a 5' x 5' already sized canvas drop cloth, which worked perfectly and saved some cutting and measuring.)
sharp scissors
material: 5 rolls of 5 1/2" chevron burlap ribbon (found here) or alternate material
hot glue gun & glue sticks (LOTS of glue sticks)

*before you begin, preheat the hot glue gun.

Step 1: Fold the square canvas into quarters, then over itself again to form a triangle. The folded center should be at the point. Cut the base in a quarter circle. 

Step 2: Cut a smaller circle out at the point. (It's okay to just eyeball it. Remember this is where the skirt will meet the base of the tree, so you don't want a huge circle.)

quarter circle at base                                                                                     circle cut at point

Step 3: Open the canvas skirt until it is folded in half and then cut along the radius on one side of the center hole. This will provide a slit in the skirt that allows you to place it around the base of the tree. After cutting, open the canvas to reveal your canvas skirt base. 

Step 4: If desired you can glue along the raw edges to secure the fabric. However, I bought a canvas with a backing, so this wasn't necessary for my project. 

Creating the Ruffles

Step 1: Apply a line of hot glue 1 1/2"- 2" from the outside edge of the skirt. Create the ruffles by pinching the material with your fingers and pushing it down onto the line of glue. (Just think, "pinch and glue. pinch and glue. pinch and glue.)

Step 2: Work in small sections, allowing time for you to work before the glue dries. Continue the ruffling process around the entire edge of the skirt. 

Step 3: Start the next row of ruffles approximately 1 1/2"- 2" above the previous row. You will continue to repeat these steps until the canvas skirt base is completely covered. (Side note: I began at the edge of the slit and ended at the edge of the slit for each of my ruffled rows.)

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Now after a few hours and a slightly burned finger (or two...or three), this is what I ended up with. Seriously the most fabulous Christmas tree skirts I've ever set eyes on! Love it so much, and I can't wait until it's time to set it out! 

Just one more look!

Children's Book Week! - 2013

It's National Children's Book Week! 

(May 13 - 19, 2013)

Y'all, I couldn't be more excited about this! Children's Book Week ranks right up there with Month of the Young Child and National Cupcake Day! So. Much. FUN!

In honor of this fantastic event, I wanted to share 10 of my very, very favorite children's books! 

Let's be real for a second....I have like a billion favorites. Hence, the small library collection I have here at home!

As you can see, I couldn't narrow it down to 10 so...here are 12 of my favorites!

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Row 1:
Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae
Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper 
How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop

Row 2:
Warthogs in the Kitchen by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Teddy Bear Teddy Bear by Michael Hague
Little Cloud by Eric Carle
Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor

Row 3:
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Jamberry by Bruce Degen 
I Had a Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn

DIY: Windowsill Herb Garden

It's not unusual for me to talk about wanting an herb garden someday. Ideally, I would grow herbs like parsley, chives, garlic, cilantro and veggies like green onions, jalapeños, and new potatoes (the really small, cute, cook 'em in butter and pop 'em in your mouth potatoes!) These are the produce items I find myself using most in my cooking. 

I wouldn't say that I am bad at gardening...then again, I'm not a pro either. Thus, I wanted to try my hand at "mini" garden of sorts; one that would fit in my windowsill. I figured this would allow me to make an attempt at growing fresh herbs without having to dig up the backyard for a garden space. I don't have time for all of that right now. Maybe someday, though. 

As I was walking through Walmart earlier today looking for some terra cotta planting pots (for another DIY project), I decided to stop and look at seeds just to see what I could figure out. It was apparently my lucky day...I stumbled onto gold. Well, herb seed-planting gold. I snatched up this Herb Starter Kit by Buzzy for under $4! I couldn't resist, especially since it contained seed for herbs that I have been dying to grow: Basil, Parsley, Chives and Cilantro! And can we talk about the cute little brown bag packaging?! Made it even easier to say YES!

The Herb Starter Kit contains 4 seed packets, 4- 3.5" plastic pots, a growing medium (soil), and 4 labels. 

Honestly, this couldn't have been easier to put together! There were only about 6 pretty simple steps to complete from start to finish. 

Step 1: Place the growing medium disks in a medium-large bowl. Add 2 cups of lukewarm water. The disks will absorb the water almost instantly and turn into growing medium (a.k.a.- the soil). 

Step 2: Divide the growing medium among the 4 pots, reserving a small amount to cover the seeds later. (At this point I made the labels for each pot of herbs...using a fun font of course!)

Step 3: Sprinkle 15 seeds evenly over the surface of the soil, using one variety of seed per each pot. (The directions stated 15 seeds, which was actually only about 1/2 of each packet.)

Step 4: Cover the seeds with the remaining soil and use a fine mist or sprinkle water on top to moisten. (I found an "ironing spray bottle" that has a great misting spray nozzle! It was only about a $1 at Walmart.)

At this point, I was finished planting! The only other directions are for continued care of the herbs. 

Step 5: Water daily with a fine mist (using a spray bottle is best) to keep moist. 

Step 6: Place in a sunny location. 

As a result of  $5 and a super easy herb-planting adventure, I now have some extra decoration for the kitchen window, and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some delicious home-grown herbs to cook with! Fingers crossed!

Happy Growing!

Hosea 9: Sin Doesn't Pick Favorites

I have recently been walking through a study of Hosea with the She Reads Truth community. Looking at Hosea has been great for so many reasons. I am not super familiar with this book and it has been such a blessing to learn about it and dig into the richness of the word. 

I was in awe of the truths I found on Day 10 of the study. I am familiar with the concept of sin. I am familiar with God's sacrifice that atoned for our sin, my sin. Though I read things that I have heard about for years in church and have read about in the Word, my eyes and my heart were freshly reminded of humanity's sin issue as I read through Hosea chapter 9. Particularly, verses 9 and 15. As I read of Israel's sinful mess, I couldn't help but think that I am no better than Israel, or anyone else when it comes to a matter of man's sinfulness and a Holy God. Sin doesn't pick favorites...we're all guilty. 

"They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah; 

he will remember their iniquity;

he will punish their sins. 

(v.9)

"Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;

there I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds

I will drive them out of my house.

I will love them no more;

all their princes are rebels."

(v. 15)

Let me share with you an excerpt from Day 10:

The larger my view of my sin, the larger my view of the cross.  

Seeing more of what should separate me from a holy God means seeing more of Christ. Understanding the vastness of my sin means understanding the vastness of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for me.

The cross covers it ALL.

Why the cross? Why such a sacrifice? Because we are Israel-caliber sinners. Because our holy God cannot be near sin and, therefore, cannot be near us were it not for Jesus.

Hosea 9 is the portrayal of what should be the consequence of Israel’s sin. “Because of the wickedness of their deeds,” says the Lord, “I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more.” (v.15, ESV) “Woe to them when I depart from them!” (v.12)

Sisters, as painful as it may be, it is important that we see our sin. It is important that we look on it without flinching, that we grasp the lengths to which the Holy One has gone to draw us to Him. We should grieve all sin and we should grieve our sin. 

I am so thankful for a Holy God and Father who allows us to repent of our sinfulness and return to his mercy, grace, and steadfast love day after day. I am thankful that despite my wretched sinful heart, his love for me will never change. 

May our eyes always be open to our necessity for Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. 

DIY: Sewing Cart

Ikea comes out with a new catalog filled with goodies every year. Several months ago, before the catalog came out I heard buzz about a specific kitchen cart. Once I saw a picture of it, I knew that I would need to own one! As soon as they came out, I was ready to grab one...or so I thought. The problem was that I had no specific purpose for one at the time. Bummer. 

I decided to wait. Every once in awhile I would log on to the Ikea site and just gaze at it, constantly trying to think of a reason to purchase it. Months of this happening, people, months!

Alas, last week right before my trip to Atlanta I was looking to see what I had on my list for Ikea. That's when it hit me! DING! 

I could use the Raskog cart for my sewing machine, tools, and all of my fabrics! It was clear as day. A sewing cart is what it would be! I checked its status at the Atlanta store online, and made sure to grab one when I was there. (The only decision left to make was which color to choose? A light teal/turquoise or a dark slate grey. I went with the grey. If you know me, you know that greys are kind of my default choice. Nonetheless, its beautiful!)

Here is the result...

I had to begin by assembling the cart. Thankful to say, that unlike some furniture-type items this was super east to put together! Pretty much fool proof. 

The assembly didn't take long at all. 
(Probably would've been shorter if I hadn't been chatting on the phone and simultaneously watching The Chew while I was working! Ha.) 

In the midst of gathering all the items to put on the cart, I recalled purchasing some metal buckets and baskets from the dollar section at Target back around Easter. I knew they would come in handy, and this was just the project to use them for. I think they were around $2 or $3 each. The decorative chalkboard labels I attached to the tall metal buckets were from a trip to World Market!

The stash. Fabrics. Pin Cushion. Tools. Etc. 

I started organizing. I knew that I would need to sort between some of my fabrics, and ended up placing some larger burlap rolls together on one of the shelves. There are several different ways fabrics can be stored, but for this project I chose to roll the larger pieces and fold the smaller ones. When rolling, remember to start with the rough-edged side on the inside, that way it doesn't show on the finished product.

Gathering and sorting fabrics and tools. 

Another good idea, is to pair like fabrics together either by type of fabric or color. I ended up combining both methods. 

Labeling the metal buckets. 

After adding everything onto the cart, here are what the finished shelves look like, individually. 

The top shelf holds my sewing machine and three "tool" buckets. The middle shelf holds a box for scraps (a photo box from Michaels) and a few rolls of burlap. The bottom shelf holds three baskets of fabrics.

Ready for the finished product? 

Isn't it a Beaut?! Happy in its new home in our office! Success! Stylish & Organized...as most everything should be!

A Brief Excursion

It's been...a crazy, CRAZY few weeks! I can think of better adjectives than crazy...maybe insane, exhausting...(More on that in a few weeks.) I sometimes  nearly everyday am reminded that I have really lost my mind...a significant part of it anyway. The last semester of Grad School is no joking matter. Fo' real!

Last week while talking to the roomie, she asked if I wanted to come visit for the weekend?! She had a long weekend off from flight attendant training, a rarity. UM, YES! Luckily, getting there would only take a couple of hours! Did my schedule allow me to leave town for a few days? Not really. Would my list of to-dos hate me when I got back? Probably. Did I care? Absolutley, not! I jumped at the chance, and found myself driving down the ol' highway on Sunday morning headed for the lovely ATL and some much needed roomie/best friend time! Seriously people...3 weeks is like months in roomie time! I disapprove. 

When Bri and I reunited...we hit the town running! Obviously, we started at Target. (Did anyone really wonder?) Bri needed her weekly grocery "I have to live in a hotel and can only use food I can cook in a microwave" trip, and I just needed my weekly Target fix. 

We then headed off for a beauty fix! I felt like Elle Woods searching for the nearest nail salon! Ha, we found one! French Manicure for Bri, Essie Tangerine for me. Enjoyed this little treat for sure!

We had a bit of time before church, so we headed to one of my favorite stores in the world and a new store that became a favorite!

First up...TRADER JOE'S! It deserves the all caps. Having now been, I understand why people talk about it! If I had to describe it, I'd say whole foods meets a gourmet boutique shop. Little did we know, there is special treatment for first time customers! Seeing as I don't want to spoil things, I will not tell you what exactly goes on. (Just know that if you're easily embarrassed or dislike fairly loud noise...you may want to refrain.)

I then introduced her to this place... No introduction or explanation needed.

From here we headed for what we hoped would be a great night of worship! Bri hasn't been able to join up with church community on Sunday's while at training and I had heard about a church in the area, so we decided to check it out. We attended the evening service of a well-known church in the area. Expecting to be immersed in worship and time in the word, we were sorely disappointed and our spirits were a little deflated. We didn't get preaching, we got fluff. The gist of our, I call it a "talk", was to find our passions in life. Find what God has gifted us with and do really great at it. We need to do good at what we do, and be good people. Our purpose is to use those passions we've been gifted with. Etc. Etc. 

STOP RIGHT THERE. As a believer, your "purpose" is to spread the gospel among all nations for the glory of God. Anything and everything we do should aim to be a refection of his character. In no way should we just "find our passions", do good, and be happy with that. To live for Christ and to glorify him, we need to be faithfully seeking him, soaking in his word, and sharing our faith with lost souls. Little to say, we left a bit early and were burdened for all of those people who were there with us. It's sad to think that we all essentially got a "pep talk" for the week that was supported by name-dropping, personal and irrelevant stories, and maybe three very brief references to scripture. Nothing about the sinfulness of man, our insufficiency or God's character.  My prayer is that that community is saturated with the gospel in days to come. 

We drove to dinner afterwards, hoping to somewhat erase the experience that we had just had. A co-worker at DC told me about a burger place that had gluten-free options, and it sounded phenomenal! Farm Burger did not disappoint!

Build your own burger and go for the fancy fries. Parmesean, Garlic, Herb-y awesomeness! 

Shut up! To cap off dinner we had the BEST HOMEMADE MILKSHAKES! I could'nt resisted the Salted Caramel and Bri had the Chocolate Peanut Butter. Ironically enough, these are each of our favorite sweet flavors. 

We had a great day of fun and new memories!

Monday morning, after a restful evening of blog surfing and Duck Dynasty reruns, we got a few much needed extra hours of sleep and drove to the mother land! Okay, maybe you would know it better as Ikea. It was a short trip, but I was prepared with a list and a plan! It all worked out. 

Sadly, this was our last adventure together for the weekend! Roomie needed return to the crazy life of FA training and I had to get back to my crazy life in Bham. Good news is that Bri will be done in just a few weeks, and I can't wait to see her again at her graduation! 

The brief excursion and escape from reality was just the right thing at the right time for both of us!