Transforming Egg – Page 2 – Being transformed by the renewing of our minds …

Dear Children, your mummy is an introvert…

To B1, B2 and Bubba Girl,

My dear little munchkins, I love you all very much. It is because of this overwhelming love for you that I must inform you that your mummy is an Introvert. It’s not something to ashamed of or something to hide, it’s rather a type of superhero, just like my fellow superhero, the Extroverted Mummy.

You see, all mummies have special powers. A mummy can magically pull whatever is needed out of our ‘mum bag’, be it a toy, food, spare clothes, medical equipment or “that thing” you picked up from “that place”. A mummy has the strength to pull apart two tiny Lego pieces with just her bare fingers. A mummy can juggle cooking dinner, helping with homework, putting away folding, answering the phone, checking facebook and entertaining a toddler all at once whilst holding a screaming/crying/feeding baby.

But like Superman, this superhero has her kryptonite. Introverted Mummy loses her special powers after a long exposure to people (the opposite of Extroverted Mummy, who gains her superpowers by being around people).

Thankfully Introvert Mummy has a special forcefield, called “a mother’s love”, which surrounds me daily. This forcefield slows down the rate at which my superpowers are drained when I’m interacting with members of our special family (aka YOU). As the day progresses my forcefield can wear down and the banter of our household can deplete the superpowers of Introvert Mummy just like other social situations.

When Introvert Mummy’s superpowers are low, it is imperative they be replenished so that I can continue to battle for our family. Mummy can recharge her superpowers on her own by going for a walk, reading my Bible or escaping in a book, having a shower (without an audience), listening to a sermon/music or even simply doing work around the house on my own.

Because you are so important to Introvert Mummy, there are also special ways you can help to recharge my superpowers. You can sit and have quiet cuddles with mummy, play cooperatively with each other or each play quietly on your own, and this will help Introvert Mummy’s superpowers to recharge and her forcefield to replenish.

Please do not misunderstand me. I adore hearing about your Lego creations and the ‘spaceship’ we have made in the loungeroom. I love that you are curious and want to know how trucks are made, how solar panels work and what happens to solar panels if it snows. I’m thrilled that you enjoy singing praise songs to God, over and over and over again, and want to confirm with me the correct words and what they mean. However, when my forcefield is down and my superpowers are low, my brain gets so tired that I struggle to listen and so scattered that I cannot think straight. It is not because I don’t love you or you are not important to me, but because my special powers are low and need recharging.

I do my best to keep my forcefield intact and my superpowers full so that I can enjoy each day with you, however please understand when mummy needs to be put in “time out”.

Love from Mummy

aka Introvert Mummy

A member of Superheroes Anonymous

Sometimes guys just need a little prompting…

If you were a follower of HappyHouseWifey back in the early days, you may remember seeing this pic come up on facebook:

The context

We have ~~argued~~ spoken before about our differing views and expectations on housework. Our expectations on the state of our house are ~~at opposite ends of the spectrum~~ slightly different. In saying that, my husband does contribute around the house and is very thankful and appreciate of all the work I put in. We are just wired a bit differently!

So as every relationship will have their own unique ways of making things work for them, we’ve developed (and are always refining) systems to make our relationship work.

For us, communication is the key. As we don’t prioritise the things that need to be done in the same way, it works much better for both of us when we communicate our expectations/needs clearly with each other. We can then discuss and decide on a course of action. Some examples:

1. When possible hubby tries to be home AND available 5:00 pm to 7:00pm to help with the dinner/bath/books/bed routine with the kids. I’ve communicated with him how helpful this is to me, and he communicates with me about what he’s got on so we can discuss. Some weeks he’s home most days, others only one or none. It varies, but he prioritises it and we negotiate. (hubby is a Pastor as well as a student, so is often out nights. He also works some days from home, so sometimes at this time he is physically home but busy working)

2. He now knows that doing the dishes is always helpful. There has been times in our marriage where he has done the dishes in the morning before I get up, as this was the best time for him. However some days he leaves the house between 4:30 and 6:00am and with the location of our kitchen doing the dishes can wake the kids. So I’m more understanding and he knows that doing them is always helpful at anytime of the day that suits!

3. If I’m upset or angry, hubby asks me, “What do you want me to do?”. Sometimes he words the question, “Do you want me to help you solve this, or just listen?”. This helpful response has come about after many miscommunications in the early years of our marriage. Mostly, I just need him to listen.

So what was the response to my SMS? Here was the text of the SMS I got back:

“I’ve already noticed on the blog darling. (Yes, he read’s my blog! Perhaps to keep tabs on me?)

Great stuff babe!

I shall reward you when I get home

with dishes and kisses

on a place like your face

so you’ll know I’m not slow

to show your attempt is not exempt

of that love from above…”

Owww… he wrote me a poem!!

And then when he came home, he did the dishes.

I wonder if it will work again? 😀

A Student of your Spouse

One of my favourite blogs to read at the moment is Mummy’s Undeserved Blessings. I recently read a blog post Lisa wrote a called “The Heart Wants What The Heart Wants“. I won’t go into what she said because you can go and read it (tell her I said “Hi” 🙂 ), but at the end Lisa asked for people to comment and share tips on how to keep a marriage strong. I started thinking over all of the great marriage advice we’ve gotten over the years, and what we’ve put into practice. I’ve blogged about some before, such as the “1:5” ratio we learnt about at a marriage course hubby and I went to. I have also half-written some drafts about others.

One of the other things that stuck with me at that course, and is some of the best advice I think we’ve been given, was our need to study our spouses. We should always be ‘students of our spouse’. It was suggested that we should be creating (whether on paper, on our computer/phone or mentally in our heads) what they called a “Love Map”. This is pretty much a guide to everything we have learnt as we study our spouse. This should be added to and updated over time, as you learn more about your partner and/or they grow and change, as people do over a lifetime. I LOVE this concept.

If we are to actively love our spouse (and I’m not talking about ‘love’ as the mushy feelings, I’m talking about love as a verb – a ‘doing’ word), then we need to really KNOW our spouse. We need to know what they like, dislike and what makes them tick. It also has to be current. Their favourite hobby that helped them relax five years ago may now be something that causes stress. I got a wake-up call recently when asked what my husband’s favourite type of birthday cake was and after nine years of marriage I couldn’t say!

Example of things you could study about your spouse include-

What they are passionate about
How they like to unwind/relax
Fav foods & drinks
Emotional Triggers/stressors
Coping strategies
Friends
How they feel loved (eg. love languages)
Hobbies etc.
Least favourite household chore
Way to spend holidays/birthdays etc or celebrate special occasions

An example of a few things I’ve learnt/observed about my hubby:

He loves Japanese Curry Chicken.
He unwinds by playing xbox with his online mates
He’ll smile for a photo on occasion, but he prefers to enjoy the moment without the camera.
When we order Chinese, he likes Lemon Chicken. Don’t bother offering him sushi.
Ukulele’s. Loves ukulele’s. (I don’t get it, but I don’t need to.)
Is a teacher at heart. Loves teaching our boys, teens and anyone about what he’s learnt and what the Bible says.
Once he decides to go to bed, that’s it. He’ll be asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.
After he gets home from a meeting, he’s used enough words…. it’s not the time to chat.
Don’t ask him to cook/prepare something fancy. Food is for eating, not creating a masterpiece. He’d rather takeaway.
He misses the beach.
If I need housework done, he’s happy to help, but he likes to be told. He doesn’t see it the same way that I do.
When hubby needs an ‘escape’ after a huge week, he likes to go to the movies.

Perhaps in the next week, intentionally observe and listen to your spouse. Try to listen to the things they don’t say and see what you learn. It’s an interesting lesson, and hopefully one that will grow your marriage/relationship even stronger.

What other areas/observations would you include on your ‘love map’ of your spouse???

P.S. If you try this, I’d love to hear about what you learn and if this helps you to understand your spouse more and deepen your relationship!

P.P. S By the way, I checked with hubby later and he said the reason I wouldn’t know his favourite type of birthday cake is because he doesn’t have one because “food isn’t a big deal” for him (I knew that). He did say he’d been thinking of cheese cake recently, so I’ve ordered the caramel cheesecake in the kindy pie drive. Yum!

Parenting Fail or Success??

Moment One

Think of one of those mornings when you are trying to get yourself (and the kids) out the door by a specific time, and things are not going well. This story is about one of those mornings.

As well as my four year old (“B1”) and two year old (“B2”) boys who have been waking during the night, I have a two month old baby (“Bubba Girl”) who feeds in the night. I’m sleep deprived. I’d had an emotional few days. Bubba girl was crying from being over-tired, and despite my best efforts the boys were not getting ready. My stress levels were rising. I was trying to settle the baby, get all of us dressed, pack the lunchboxes I hadn’t gotten around to the previous night and B2 decided now is the time to sit himself on the toilet… I was so close to giving up and staying home, but was so close to getting out the door that I didn’t want all the effort to go to waste. We were so close, and we’d all have a better morning once ~~mummy got her cup of tea~~ we got there.

I was walking through the entry of our house to the lounge room to pick up crying Bubba Girl when it happened. There was an unexpected knock on the wooden door.

I got a fright and screamed. I burst into tears.

I opened the door, tears streaming down my face, to the Australia Post parcel delivery lady.

She asks, “One of those days, hey?”

Moment Two – Later that afternoon …

We’d just been to the doctors and discovered B2 had tonsillitis, so went next door to get his antibiotics from the Pharmacy. When I am concerned about losing B2 or him running away (eg. in shops, carparks etc), I often get the boys to hold hands whilst walking and they usually do it quite well. So they walked together into the pharmacy whilst I followed behind pushing the pram. Whilst we waited, I chatted a bit with another two ladies waiting for their medication.

Have you ever noticed how many things there are to touch on the counter? If you have kids, surely you have! There were cars, lip balms, wallets, watches and all kinds of gifts, not to mention all the chocolates, lollies and musli bars just at the perfect height for kids to touch. So touch them B2 did. Over and over again. Each time I would lean over and gently hold his hand, and ask him not to touch please. After I don’t know how many times doing this (8-10 at a guess?), I crouched down to his level, and explained that these things were not ours, we do not own them, and therefore we cannot touch them. I got smiles from the ladies.

The boys then played and hugged each other laughing for a while, whilst I chatted to the ladies some more. It came up in conversation how my boys are “like chalk and cheese… one likes to follow and enforce the rules, the other likes to break them. Can you guess which one is which?” and we all had a laugh. They knew!

As I was paying, B2 tried touching a few more things. I pointed to the carpet next to the pram and quietly told B2 to sit and wait there. I reckon there was about a 50% likelihood of him doing what I’d asked, but to my surprise he did. And he stayed there (win!).

As we went to leave, I asked the boys to hold hands again. B2 refused, and made both hands into a fist. He put his head down and shook it. I could hear the two ladies, another who had walked up, as well as the two pharmacy assistants having a giggle at how cute he was. I got down onto my knees and gently explained that we would wait right here until he was ready to hold hands. And we waited, completely calm and patiently. After about a minute they held hands. They walked out and I followed behind with the pram.

As I left, I heard one of the ladies say to the others, “She’s certainly got things all worked out, doesn’t she?”

Reflecting in the car

As I drove home, I couldn’t get the contrast between these two moments out of my mind, and the fact that both extremes had occurred on the same day. In the first moment I looked in desperate need of parenting classes and a good sleep, yet in the second I appeared like mother-of-the-year (I wish!).

If asked how my day was, I’d probably think of the morning chaos and dismiss the afternoon successes. How many times have I dismissed the good job that I’m doing, only to focus on the negatives?? I concluded that I was being way too harsh on myself this morning. I should not define my days or my parenting ability by a few bad moments, but rather should be encouraged by the ‘success’ moments and look at the big picture.

When taking a few days off, becomes a year off

You may have noticed it’s been just over a year since I’ve blogged. I’ve had a few people ask me in person about it, and a few people message me online to check I’m okay. Yes, I’m okay! So what happened? I didn’t really plan for it to happen…. I only meant to take a few days off…..

Hubby went overseas for a few weeks, our housemate moved out…. and I begun the process I called “reverse-nesting”. I reclaimed the extra space we now had, moving around furniture, cleaning, tidying…. I was in a bit of a frenzy. I put the computer I used to blog, which had been in the make-shift ‘office’ in our living room, into our new spare room. And I turned it OFF. Just for a day or two…. which became three or four….

Instead of having the computer on constantly, it was switched off. So when I’d normally sit down to type a quick blog or email etc, I would think “It’s not worth turning the computer on for, I’ll do it later”. I would do something more productive around the house (yay!).

I also was no longer able to blog in our living room whilst the kids played around me, as the computer was in the spare room. Goodbye to daytime blogging.

I’ve had some minor health problems as well, so about the same time I tried to cut out some night activities so I could get to sleep earlier and hopefully see an improvement in my health. Goodbye to nighttime blogging.

My 18month old had also stopped breastfeeding, so goodbye blogging whilst breastfeeding.

In the time off, I lost my blogging confidence. Lost my ‘mojo’. A few times I sat down to start again, and had half-written drafts (like this one I actually started 9 months ago – a few months after stopping blogging), but lost the words to say. I lost the ability to click ‘publish’. I begun debating again about the blog name, blog direction and what I wanted to write about, but thats a whole other story for another day.

I’ve been challenged a few times over the past year (and again this week) about picking up blogging again. I’m thinking about it, probably just blogging a little less often. I love to write and get my thoughts out and record things that happen. I now have another newborn, so am back in the breastfeeding stage again, and thus more time to think and write (in theory!).

So what’s in store for the future of happyhousewifey.com??? I’m not exactly sure. Stay tuned…

'A couch potato's guide for getting into exercise' – Monday Motivation

Today’s post is a Guest Post, written by Rachel from Redcliffe Style. Rachel Wernicke is a 39 year-old married mother of two girls. After working as a paralegal in Brisbane for 14 years, she left life in the big city to focus on her family. Once the kids were both in school, it was time get back to work. In a four-person house with five computers, two iPads, two iPhones, two iPod touches and half a dozen cameras there seemed only one direction to go. Rachel decided to learn more about the the world of blogging and indulge her passions for style and life on the Redcliffe Peninsula. In October 2011, she started RedcliffeStyle.com as a place to write about and photograph the things she enjoyed. RedcliffeStyle.com is a light-hearted blog about lifestyle, fashion, beauty and food. The Facebook page can be found at http://www.facebook.com/Redcliffe.Style

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I am not an expert in exercise but I am a mum that has made the move off the couch and to the gym. I have participated in various fun runs and I have managed to make exercise an important part of my life.

It is hard when you know you need to do some exercise but you don’t know where to start. Finding the motivation to exercise is hard and it would be different for everyone. Some suggestions I have to try to find your exercise mojo are:

1. Put your gym clothes on when you wake up. If you are in the right clothes, it’s easier to go for a walk around the block, hop on the treadmill or do some wall sits. If you have your ‘day wear’ on, you are less likely to want to get changed again. I put my sports clothes on and don’t get changed until after I have exercised. Even if I don’t find the time until 4pm and only have a quick run on the treadmill. Wearing the clothes is a constant reminder that I need to do some exercise;

2. Get a sports bra. Bouncing breasts are very uncomfortable and if you are anticipating discomfort you are less likely to look forward to the workout;

3. Invest in some sports shoes. These can be $20 from Kmart, but try to get the best you can afford;

4. Decided on an realistic and achievable goal. You know yourself, do you work better with a

A weight goal – I need to lose 15kg;

A fitness goal – I want to be able to run 5km without stopping;

An event – Jetty to Jetty in August I would like to enter; or

A set time and place – I will work out 3 times a week for 45mins.

5. Find a friend. It’s always more fun to workout with a friend. You also are less likely to let them down.

6. Think about buying an iPod. You can download some music you love or an audio book. You’d be amazed how long you can walk, run or workout if you have a distraction;

7. Just think if you put down a cookie and move for just 5 mins you have made a big step in the right direction. Just do a few more and you’ll be on your way to achieving the goals you have set.

8. Smile. Everything is better with a smile.

If you’ve had a giggle, been encouraged or found this helpful, please consider sharing this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest 🙂

Egg-Free* Key Lime Pie

*The biscuit packet I used was marked as “May contain traces of Egg”, which is ok for my friend’s allergies. Please check the packaging of all products and the severity of any allergies before serving this recipe. (ie. it ain’t my fault!)

The Lime Tree in our backyard had recently produced a lot of fruit. Since recently I’ve seen so many yummy-looking Key Lime Pie recipes floating around the Interweb, I thought I’d try to bake one and see what all the fuss is about. I was having a friend over with egg allergies, so I tried to find an Egg-free version and found this one over at Yum, Yarn & Yoga. The recipe had the US cup measurements… and biscuits we didn’t have in my Australian supermarket… and I wasn’t sure there was enough butter etc…. so I changed the recipe a little 🙂 This is what I did…

Base:

150g Marie Biscuits

130g Melted Butter

1/2 Cup Raw Castor Sugar

Crumble biscuits in food processor.

Add Sugar & Butter, then process a bit more to mix.

Press into dish. (I used Tupperware Flan Form – worked perfectly!)

Bake for 5 mins on 160 degC (Fan Forced)

Filling:

2 x 395g Cans of 99% Fat Free Condensed Milk

1/2 cup Light Sour Cream

3/4 Cup Lime Juice

Zest from 1 Lime

Mix together the condensed milk and sour cream with hand beater or low.

Mix in juice and zest.

Pour over prepared base.

Bake for 15min at 160deg FF.

Cool.

Notes:

The recipe at Yum, Yarn & Yogo also states to make sure the pie doesn’t brown, so I was really conscious of that when baking it. The filling just needs to set, which happened perfectly for me in the 15 min.

The amount of butter in the base can vary a bit, depending on if you want it really buttery, dense & thick or a bit crumblier. The Yum, Yarn & Yoga recipe had 6 Tbsp., which the online conversion told me was roughly only 85g. When I put only this much in I found it really crumbly, so chose to put quite a bit more in. With 150g it was quite buttery and dense (which some people who tried it loved), however the next time I put in 130g and really liked it.

Can also be made in a 23cm sqaure tin if you want to cut it as a slice.

It took me 30min from start to finish, including baking time (though I had someone else squeeze them limes). I served some as larger ‘pie’ pieces with cream, and then cut the remainder into bite-sized squares. It was super delicious either way!

That’s how simple it was. Seriously simple.

Before Photos

To find out the reason I’m posting these pictures, checkout my post from Monday.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Before: Loungeroom

After: Loungeroom decorated for Baby Shower

Without the ‘before’ photos, I would just look around and see my tidy house. I would not be able to see the hours of work that I accomplished!

And mummy is now awake.

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 7am. The house was quiet. I got up and had a shower. I got dressed. I walked out to the living room. I sat down. In silence.

At 7:15, my 3yo (B1) appears and with a puzzled look on his face says, “Mummy, why were you up before me??”, as if it’s never happened before. In fact, I cannot remember the last time this happened in our house. What usually happens? I’m glad you asked. There are several scenarios:

The Slam-Door Scenario

B1 wakes up and as he leaves his room he closes the door. Really loudly. This wakes B2, whom he shares a room with. B1 goes to the toilet. B2 cries for his breastfeed. Mummy is now awake.

The Milk-Bar Scenario

B2 wakes up, he’s hungry and wants his breastfeed. He cries. His crying wakes B1. B1 goes to the toilet, then searches out mummy for his warm milk (‘milkshake’). Mummy is now awake to 2 boys wanting their respective milk beverages, which cannot easily be made simultaneously. *Sometimes hubby/ housemate are home/awake to get B1’s milkshake. These days I just feed B2.

The I’m-Drowning-In-My-Pee Scenario

B1 wets his bed. B1 screams from his bed, “Mum, Mum, Muuuuuummm, Mum, MMMUUUMMMMMM…” etc. Meanwhile B2 wakes up, and starts screaming for his breastfeed. Mummy is now awake. On days when hubby is home we divide-and-conquer. On days when he isn’t ~~like happened 2 days ago~~ mummy gets still-quite-distressed B1 to the toilet and then baths/dresses him whilst B2 screams down the house (or B1 is put in the bath and B2 is fed in the bathroom). Fun, fun.

The Monster Scenario

B1 has a nightmare. He speaks loudly in his sleep. He wakes housemate. Housemate opens door to go in and comfort B1. Light from open door wakes B2. B2 screams. Mummy is now awake. B1 is fast asleep again, whilst B2 will not settle and keeps mummy and housemate and sometimes hubby awake. And B1 is still sleeping. *Instead of getting up, sometimes the ‘elbow’ principle can be used here

The Freaky-Stalker Scenario

B1 wakes and quietly comes out of his room. He comes into master bedroom, and stands there and waits. His puts his head right up to mummy’s face. “Mummy, may I please have my milkshake? Mummy, mummy… Milkshake…” Mummy is now awake. *Somedays the “daddy, daddy’ version happens to hubby too, and ~~I’m~~ we’re trying to encourage this 🙂

The Elbow Scenario

Hubby’s alarm clock goes off. Mummy is now awake. Hubby is still asleep. Mummy elbows still-sleeping-hubby, “Oi, wake up”. Elbows again. “Oi, turn it off”. Mummy is now very awake, but rolls over and attempts to go back to sleep. This scenario is then followed by another of the listed scenarios.

The Oops-I-Did-It-Again Scenario

Housemate wakes up in the night. Accidently wakes one of the kids. Kid screams. Other kid wakes. Other kid screams. Mummy is now awake. Mummy walks out to settle the kids. Mummy see’s housemate who smiles sheepishly and says, “Wasn’t me…”. Mummy smiles. *Instead of getting up, sometimes the ‘elbow’ principle can be used here

The Sleepy-Head scenario

Any of the above scenario’s play out and Mummy breastfeeds B2. After this B2 goes into the playpen, B1 is supervised by hubby,housemate or a dvd, and mummy crawls back into bed. And rolls over. And goes back to sleep. Kids scream. Mummy is now awake. Again.

If you’ve had a giggle, been encouraged or found this helpful, please consider sharing this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest 🙂

Linking up with Jess from Diary of a SAHM for iBOT – I Blog On Tuesdays!

The Power of Before – Monday Motivation #4

Do you ever get part way through a task, project or day (or life!) and wonder what you’ve accomplished and struggle to see what’s changed? It can be very unmotivating to feel like you’ve worked so hard yet not see any results.

If you’re baking a cake or building a house, it’s really easy to see the results you’ve made compared with the bits you begun with. However in many of the things we spend our time on, we cannot see the full scope of what we have achieved. I can think of many different examples in my life:

There have been times when I feel like I’ve been eating healthy and exercising, yet cannot tell if I’ve lost any weight or are any fitter for it.
There are days when I’m so exhausted and feel like I’ve been working hard all day, yet as I look around there is still mess in every room.
We’ve started new parenting strategies with my toddler, yet not really been able to clearly see if there has been much improvement because we can only remember his behavior from the past few days.
I would love to remember what I expected being a parent would be like before we had kids. I cannot remember what I thought at all.

Taking a brief snapshot of your situation BEFORE you start a project or task is a great way to measure results. This can be done in a few different ways:

A ‘before’ photograph. By far the simplest if the results are going to be visible.
Take a video or audio that records a snapshot of ‘before’
Keep a list of all the steps you take, so you can measure the distance between ‘before’ and ‘after’.
A journal entry describing the ‘before’ situation. This can be done several ways also:

1. A record the facts before you start and as you progress (eg. measurements, weights, distances you’re able to run etc.)

2. Your feelings or perception about the ‘before’ situation (or ask for other people’s views about the situation). Especially good for the n

3. The description of what your ideal end goal would look like. This may change as you progress, so great to record at the start.

Having a really clear view of ‘before’ can give you a better view of just how far you’ve come. This can be extremely motivating and empowering, because if you see how much you have achieved – just imagine how much more can accomplish?! LOTS! So off you go… take a few snapshots of where you are now… and then look back tonight at all you’ve achieved!

P.S. I’ve also taken a few before/after photos of my house (eek!) to show how much I can notice the difference some days. I’m going to pop them up on the blog on Wednesday…. so if you’ve ever wondered how ~~messy~~ tidy my house is…. or are curious if my house is always ‘picture perfect’… then stay tuned!

P.P.S A really great example of the power of ‘before’ photos is on a blog Healthier, Fitter, Stronger. Christy has been on a weight-loss journey this year and has a really clear picture of how all her hard work has paid off through the changes to her body. She’s now recording her journey in written format through her blog as she continues on her journey towards being healthier, fitter and stronger.

‘); // ]]>

If you’d like to contribute an article or quote to the Monday Morning Motivation series, please email me with your idea!

If you’ve found this helpful, please consider sharing this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest 🙂