Thursday, January 31, 2013

Feb 2 & 3 | FREE Events for Kids and Families


The Home Depot Kids' Workshops
  • Saturday, Feb 2, 9 AM - Noon | Build a Valentine Card Holder

Bank of America Museums on Us

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping


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If you need a dessert to WOW your family and friends, then this Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping is your answer. It is decadent and delicious and the blueberry topping is a must. Although, raspberries or strawberries would make great substitutes.

I found this recipe in a magazine ad for Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese. This cheesecake tastes like something you'd eat in a fine restaurant, but you can easily whip it up in your own kitchen.

Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping

Adapted from Kraft

Ingredients

  • 18 Oreo cookies
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 4 (8oz) blocks of cream cheese - I used Kraft Philly brand
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted. Place in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments. Stir in between until it is completely melted. Allow to cool slightly.
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Place the Oreos in a food processor and crush the cookies. Drizzle the melted butter into the food processor while it is running. Press the crushed cookies on the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan to form a crust. Bake for 10 minutes.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the melted chocolate.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix well between each egg.

5. When the batter is well blended, pour onto the baked cookie crust. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes or until the center is set.

6. Run a knife around the rim of pan right after removing from the oven, but don’t remove the rim until cake is completely cooled. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

My cheesecakes always crack as they cool. I googled for a solution and one site suggested that running a knife around the rim would prevent the cracking. It didn't. My cheesecake still cracked, but the taste was still decadent and delicious!



To make blueberry topping: Place the frozen blueberries in a bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon of sugar. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator. The sugar will thicken the blueberries as they thaw. Serve on top of cheesecake.

Print recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake with Blueberry Topping.

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This post is linked to Saturday Sharefest.

5 Homemaking eBooks for Just $7.40

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

This week's BundleoftheWeek.com collection includes five amazing resources to help you run your home more efficiently! Covering everything from organizing your schedule and household records to meal planning, cleaning and budgeting, this bundle is the perfect collection to help you keep your home resolutions. Get all 5 ebooks for only $7.40 (a savings of over 80%) for one week only.


Organizing Life as MOM by Jessica Fisher
Designed to equip you and inspire you to get your act together, Organizing Life as MOM includes inspiration to simplify and focus on the most important things in your life. You'll find real life help in organizing your different roles and responsibilities, 130 printable pages to help you keep track of all the comings and goings of your household, fillable forms you can tailor to your needs and your home, and tips for putting together a household notebook.

Easy. Homemade. by Mandi Ehman
Easy Homemade: Homemade Pantry Staples for the Busy Modern Family features more than 60 tried-and-true recipes for homemade kitchen staples that can be made with basic ingredients and don’t require a lot of time. In addition, Mandi offers kitchen tips, information about choosing various ingredients, and more to empower your busy family to make your favorite pantry staples from scratch!

Plan It, Don't Panic by Stephanie Langford
In Plan It, Don't Panic: Everything You Need to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan, Stephanie helps you: find a meal planning method that suits your family best, work with special dietary needs, become a grocery-shopping ninja, make the most of leftovers, organize and store your recipes, and more. She also shares tips and strategies to help you perfect your meal planning style plus printable planning pages and 4 weeks of real, whole food meal plans.

28 Days to Hope for Your Home by Dana White
In 28 Days to Hope for Your Home {Not for the Mildly Disorganized}, Dana draws on her own experiences as a former slob, offering a practical guide to help you discover hope for a real change in your home. Broken down into 28 baby steps, this ebook will help you develop four basic but essential home management habits. You'll also find practical tips to keep you from giving up, bonus sections with realistic strategies for laundry management, meal prep, and decluttering, and insights into why these habits are a struggle for so many of us!

Hybrid Homemaker by Melissa Gorzelanczyk
The Hybrid Homemaker: A Guide to Personal and Financial Freedom is full of tips and strategies to show you -- step-by-step -- how to get out of debt, stick to a budget, make money doing what you love, shrug off the world’s burden of doing it all, figure out what matters to you and create a home where beauty and happiness appear through your actions.

The Homemaking bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 2/4. Get yours today:


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Friday, January 25, 2013

1st Meeting of the Christmas Savings Club


On the 25th of every month from January to November, I'm holding a viral meeting for the Christmas Savings Club, a monthly accountability to help us save for a cash Christmas. Today is the first meeting!

As outlined in the first post, your goal this past month was to create a budget for your Christmas spending. Once you have a gift budget for 2013 that you are comfortable with, divide that number by eleven. That final number will be your goal to save each month between now and November 25, 2013. I'm also offering FREE Christmas Gift & Spending Budget excel spreadsheet, click that link for more information.

Creating a Christmas spending budget in January really made me conscious of where that money was going to come from. We have a gift-giving line in our budget, but when I sat down to create my own budget, I realized that our original amount just didn't cover all of the expenses from this past year. Also, the January-September months are so far away from when I do our actual Christmas shopping (Nov & Dec) that that money often times gets shifted towards other gift giving expenses, like birthdays. I've never been diligent about transferring the Christmas money into a separate account.

So, how did I do in January?
My monthly goal is $100. That number includes gifts for our kids, extended family members, teachers, friends, neighbors, bus drivers, service people, our Christmas cards, stamps, and our donations towards the Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program.

I'll be honest, this month was tough for me. Coming off of December, our extra funds were a bit low after paying for this past Christmas. I found half of the money from our spare change jar that is on my desk.


Our bank offers free change counting. It's awesome.


I'm using a savings account that was used previously for another goal. It had $10 left in the balance, so I'm including that in my monthly total. So I still need $40 for this month. I'm not too nervous about being behind after the first month. I have a plan for February.

February's Assignments
By our next meeting on February 25, your first assingment is to open up a designated savings account specifically for your Christmas savings. Personally, I opened up a separate ING Direct online savings account for our Christmas savings. I like ING, because it is not easily accessible for me. The money needs to be transferred to and from your brick and mortar bank.

You also need to think about how you're going to pull together February's funds and make up for any shortfall in January. I'm going to do a pantry challenge in February to raise my funds. It's been years since I've done a challenge, but it was extremely successful for me. I'll let you know in February how it works out.

How did you do?

In the comments, let us know if you worked on a 2013 Christmas Spending budget and calculated a monthly savings goal. You don't have to divulge your goal, but please let us know if you were able to save the money. Also let us know how you saved the money.

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Monday, January 21, 2013

5 "Easy Meals" eBooks for Just $7.40

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

My schedule has changed dramatically since September and Isometimes struggle at meal time to get food to the table on time and while it's still warm. This week's ebook bundle is just what I need to make our new dinner time schedule more seamless. And the price is just right!

Because dinnertime can be stressful and challenging for many busy families, this week BundleoftheWeek.com is offering five ebooks packed full of more than 125 easy recipes that are delicious and satisfying but don’t require a lot of prep time! Get everything from delicious slow cooker meals and main dish salads to crowd-pleasing comfort foods for only $7.40 (a savings of over 70%) for one week only.


Crock On! by Stacy Myers
Crock On! A Semi-Whole Foods Slow Cooker Cookbook by Stacy Myers features 40 all-original slow cooker recipes covering everything from soups to desserts. This full-color ebook includes high-quality photos, step-by-step instructions and reviews from recipe testers for every single recipe so that you can take advantage of this handy tool without sacrificing quality or taste!

20-Minute Meals by Leigh Ann Dutton
If you're looking for a plan to help you avoid the takeout crutch, 20-Minute Meals has everything you need. With four weeks of easy, 20-minute meals plus meal planning tools, printables and more, you'll have the resource you need to fight the urge to eat out and know you're serving your family healthy, nutritious meals in the process.

Feast in 15 by Tiffany King
Add even more recipes to your repertoire with Feast in 15: Speed Cooking Weeknight Dinners, which includes recipes like Italian Nachos, Meatball Gyros, Garlic Lime Shrimp and more that your family will love.

Got Dinner? by Susan Heid
Got Dinner? Quick & Easy Recipes from the Confident Mom features more than 40 favorite dinner recipes from Susan's kitchen that are not only quick and easy but also easy on the family budget. Plus, find great conversation starters to encourage meaningful conversation at mealtimes!

Eat This by Renee Tougas
Eating more vegetables is an important part of almost any food philosophy, and Eat This: Meal Salads & Whole Food Dressings shows you how to make meal-sized salads that are not just delicious but satisfying for a hungry and growing family as well.

The Easy Meals bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 1/28. Get yours today:


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Roasted Garlic & Herb Pork Tenderloin


I always thought pork tenderloin was expensive, so I never bought it. But I took advantage of a buy one, get one free sale recently and now I'm in love with that cut of pork. It is delicious when roasted. One package has two tenderloins, so I roasted them both at the same time and we had enough leftovers for two more meals.

Roasted Garlic & Herb Pork Tenderloin

2 lbs pork tenderloin
5 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh basil - link to frozen basil post
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a mini food processor, puree the garlic, herbs and olive oil into a paste.

3. Rub the herb paste all over the tenderloins. Place tenderloins on a roasted pan.


4. Place in oven and roast 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Additional Ideas: Serve with mango peach, tomato, or apple salsa.

Cook once, eat twice: Make tacos with the leftover pork for the next day's lunch or dinner.



Print recipe for Roasted Garlic & Herb Pork Tenderloin.

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

January 21 | FREE Entrance Day in National Parks


The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by offering FREE entrance fees to the national parks that normally charge a fee. Head to the U.S. National Park Service website for more information.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

My Road to Half Marathons


I wasn't always a runner. I didn't run track or cross country in high school. In fact, running didn't come naturally to me. In my early 20's, I had a friend that liked to run and I tagged along one day. As I was hyper-ventilating within the first mile, he explained to me that it was in fact possible to run and breathe at the same time. He helped me find my rhythm and I was soon running without gasping for air.

I continued to run to stay fit through out my 20's and I bravely signed up for my first 5k at 31. I forget my time as 31 was...cough..cough...many years ago, but I had a blast and caught the 5k bug.

After a few 5ks, I was itching for something a bit more challenging, so I signed up for a sprint triathlon. That first triathlon was a 500 yard swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 5 mile run. It was grueling and I was as slow as molasses, but I loved every minute of it. What I learned about myself during that first triathlon was that even though I was slow, I LOVED to push my body to its limits and beyond. Yep, I'm weird.

Over the next 3 years, I finished 4 more short distance triathlons until something amazing happened...


I became a mom. Running, swimming, and cycling lost their appeal to me. Instead, that little lady and I walked almost every day for two and a half years until something else happened.


I had two.

At that point, I had very little desire to do anything. A toddler and an infant were all the exercise that I needed or could handle. So I cut myself some slack and took a break from most exercise.

But when my baby hit the age of 2, I started to get anxious to be active again, so I laced up my kicks and started running a few times a week. A few months of running went by and I received a phone call from my college roommate. She had just finished her first half marathon, a grueling 13.1 mile race. "If I can do it, you can too", she told me. Several more months went by and I kept thinking about our conversation. So on January 1, 2011, I made the bold goal to run my first half marathon that year.

In October, 2011, I ran and finished my first half marathon. It was an exhilarating accomplishment for me and you can read about my experience here.

In 2012, I made the bold goal to run TWO half marathons. I ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May and the Hershey Half Marathon this past October. I was able to decrease my time by a few minutes with each race, but by October I was a bit burned out, so I took the months of November and December off from running to rest my aging body--you do the math, I'm no spring chicken.

Now I'm gearing up for 2013. I have steadily decreased my time over these three races to a personal best of 2:03 and there's no reason why I can't break that 2 hour mark. This year's goal is to improve my time and run in less than 2 hours.

To get my tail to the finish line back in 2011, I simply ran. I would just go for a run and I steadily increased my mileage in the weeks leading up to the race. That plan worked well for me when my goal was to simply finish the race, but now I've proven that I can run 13.1 miles I want to improve my time and that will take a slightly different type of training. I will need to work on my core, my speed and those bloody hills.

So I'm taking you along on my training this year for a change of pace. It might be slightly off topic, but running has become a passion of mine. It gets me outside. It makes me feel strong, capable, and quit frankly I don't know of any single event in my life (outside of delivering a 10 pound baby without drugs) that has empowered me more.

Starting this March, I'll be writing a new weekly series, 10 Weeks to a Half Marathon. Those 10 weeks will lead me up to my first half marathon for this year in Pittsburgh where my goal will be to run the race in less than 2 hours. Between now and then, I'll be writing sporadically about running, but I'm so excited about this new series that I couldn't wait to tell you.


I hope you'll join me! Are you a runner? Let us know in the comments.


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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

5 Work-at-Home Ebooks for Just $7.40

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

This week's BundleoftheWeek.com bundle is packed full of work-at-home resources, including both work-at-home opportunities and tips for juggling work and home life, available for just $7.40 (a savings of over 75%!) for one week only.


Work Shift by Anne Bogel
If you have a passion to pursue (or a budget to balance) AND you want to be there for your family, Work Shift: How to Create a Better Blend of Work, Life and Family is the ebook for you. Anne Bogel explores the trends in work life: where we’ve been as a culture, where we’re headed, and why. At the heart of this ebook are the personal stories of nearly 30 women--from college students to moms of teens, from IT specialists to Etsy shop owners-- who are making their work work for them--and their families. explores the trends in work life: where we’ve been as a culture and where we’re headed.

Smalltopia by Tammy Strobel
Smalltopia: A Practical Guide for Working for Yourself is for anyone who is interested in leaving a traditional 9-5 job or starting a home business. It’s full of tips, tools and strategies that will help you create personal freedom through a very small business, including the fundamentals of getting a small business off the ground and rethinking the nature of how, where and when we do work.

How to Be a Work-at-Home Mom by Prerna Malik
How to be a Work at Home Mom is a practical guide written by a work-at-home mom who’s been successfully juggling home, baby and husband for over 4 years now. Packed full of business ideas, resources and tips for avoiding scams, this ebook is the go-to guide for mothers who want to work at home but aren't sure where to start.

The Bootstrap VA by Lisa Morosky
The Bootstrap VA: The Go-Getter's Guide to Becoming a Virtual Assistant, Getting and Keeping Clients, and More! is a 154-page guide to building, growing, downsizing, and repositioning a virtual assistant business of your own. Lisa walks you through every aspect of creating a VA business in easy-to-follow steps without sugar-coating the hard work involved.

How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Mandi Ehman
How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too is a handbook for every work-at-home mom who is trying to juggle their responsibilities with intentionality rather than living under the burden of mommy guilt. In this ebook, you'll find encouragement that pursuing your passion is worth the hard work and effort it takes as well as practical ideas to make your juggling act a little easier!

The Work-at-Home bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 1/21. Get yours today:


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Monday, January 14, 2013

Chicken & Vegetable Soup


I found this recipe for Chicken & Vegetable Soup in a recent copy of Cooking Light magazine. I made a few changes based on what was in my kitchen. It is a super simple recipe and I used frozen green beans and carrots from our summer garden. On this cold January day, I long for summer!

Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

Directions

1. Over medium heat, add olive oil to a soup pan. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, and seasonings. Saute for 2-3 minutes or until carrots and onions are softened.

2. Add the broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.

3. Add the orzo, green beans and chicken. Cook for 5 minutes.

4. Optional - Sprinkle Parmesan on top of each serving.

Print recipe for Chicken & Vegetable Soup.

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This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Jan 12 & 13 | FREE Events for Kids and Families


Lowe's Build & Grow
  • Saturday, Jan 12, 10 AM | Mystery Kit

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35 Money-Saving Grocery Tips | Kitchen Economics


One of my goals for Family Balance Sheet for 2013, is to get back to posting more money saving tips to help my readers (and myself) reduce our grocery bills.

A couple of years ago, I coined the term, Kitchen Economics, after I read a dictionary definition of the word "economics": "the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind." Doesn't that sound familiar? On a daily basis, home cooks produce, distribute, and consume in our kitchens for (and with) our families. My job as my household's kitchen manager is to ensure that my family is eating healthy and delicious food without blowing our budget.

Here's to a low-cost, yet delicious New Year!

35 Money-Saving Grocery Tips to Help You Reduce Your Grocery Budget

Produce Tips

Organizing Tips

Meat Tips

Batch/Portion Control Tips

Organic

Misc

What's your #1 way to save money on your grocery bill? Let us know in the comments.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

Motherhood Ebook Bundle: 5 ebooks for $7.40

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

This week, BundleoftheWeek.com is offering an amazing bundle of ebooks designed to support you in motherhood and parenting in general! This bundle is available for just $7.40 (a savings of over 75%!) for one week only.



Nurturing Creativity by Renee Tougas

Nurturing Creativity: A Guide for Busy Moms is a book to help you grow creatively. It's about embracing the seasons of motherhood and appreciating where you are while helping you to make creativity a priority in your life. It will encourage you to let go of perfection, to start small, and to find inspiration in everyday living. This little book will challenge you to make the most of the time you do have to create beauty and meaning with your head, heart, and hands.

Mindset for Moms by Jamie Martin

Mindset for Moms: From Mundane to Marvelous Thinking in Just 30 Days is Jamie Martin's personal manifesto on positive thinking for mothers. It's packed full of lessons she's learned over the years in an easy-to-digest format that's perfect for busy mamas, designed to help you transform your mind and change your life.

Parenting with Positive Guidance by Amanda Morgan

Parenting with Positive Guidance gives you the tools for understanding your child’s behavior and effectively teaching and guiding your child toward increased self-control while fostering a healthy parent-child relationship. No book you read will ever change your child. But this book can change you and how you react to your child in daily situations. It’s the difference in those interactions that will effect real change in your children and your family

4 Moms of 35+ Kids Answer Your Parenting Questions

4 Moms of 35+ Kids Answer Your Parenting Questions is a book packed full of wisdom from experienced moms who have been there, done that. They answer tons of common parenting questions on everything from nap time and grocery shopping with kids to keeping your patience and preparing for the s-e-x talk, all organized in 17 easy-to-read chapters.

Steady Days by Jamie Martin

Steady Days is a book about mothering with a focus, juggling your mothering career with other roles you may hold, and being mindful as you interact with your children. In the midst of potty training and temper tantrums, Steady Days takes you through the process of becoming a professional mother: one who is organized and excited to spend time with your young children.

The Motherhood & Parenting bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 1/14. Get yours today:



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One Pot Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Dinner

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One Pot Roasted Chicken & Vegetable Dinner is comfort food at its best...and only having to clean one pot at the end of dinner is a plus!

One Pot Chicken & Vegetable Dinner

Ingredients

  • 2-3 pounds potatoes, cut into chunks (I love Yukon Gold.)
  • 3 large carrots, cut into bite sized pieces or 1 bag of baby carrots
  • 3-4 lbs. chicken parts - I used a pack that included 2 split breasts, 2 wings and 4 legs
  • butter
  • salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place carrots and potatoes on the bottom of a dutch oven or pan that can go from oven to stove top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Place chicken parts on top of vegetables. Rub the chicken with butter. Sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder on top of chicken.


4. Bake 1 ½ hours or until chicken and vegetables are cooked through.

A commenter noted that her vegetables weren't cooked through when the chicken was done. If your chicken is cooked through and the vegetables need more time, remove the cooked chicken and place on a platter. Cover with foil to keep warm. Place the pan back in the oven and continue to roast the vegetables until cooked completely. Then follow the steps to make the gravy.

To Make Chicken Gravy:
You'll need:

1. Remove chicken and veggies from dutch oven to rest. Leave the chicken drippings in the pot.

2. Place pot over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan and melt.


3. Add 2 tablespoons flour, stirring continuously.


4. Add 2 cups chicken stock, continue stirring and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.


Print recipe for One Pot Chicken & Vegetable Dinner.

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas Spending Budget for 2013 {FREE Excel Spreadsheet Offer}


Yesterday, I announced my new year long series, Christmas Savings Club. To kick off the series and get everyone started on the first step, I created a Christmas Gift & Spending Budget excel spreadsheet that I am offering FREE to readers. Details on how to obtain your FREE copy will be at the bottom of this post.

Our goal with the Christmas Savings Club is to save enough cash to achieve a Cash Christmas in 2013. Too many people rely on credit cards to carry them through the holiday spending and January ends up being a very stressful month when those credit card bills start rolling in.

Before the first meeting on the 25th, everyone needs to create a Christmas Gift & Spending Budget for 2013. On the budget, list all of your Christmas spending from 2012, include gifts, decorations, cards, stamps, parties, etc. Next, fill in a budget for 2013. This can be a working budget, where you make modifications through out the year, but you need a place to start.

A view of my FREE spreadsheet:


After you fill in your 2013 budget, divide that total number by 11 and that is the amount that you need to save each month between now and November.

I'm offering the excel spreadsheet FREE to my readers. All you need to do is email me your request at: familybalancesheet @ gmail (dot) com.

January's Christmas Savings Club Goal: Create your budget, divide by 11 and save your first month's goal. Stop back on the 25th and let us know how you did.

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