Stick with what you know…

Hi everyone!!! Hopefully everyone is having an awesome week, and since it’s Friday it’s even better! 🙂 I know that for me and Morgan we look forward to this day all week! We decided last night, since Morgan had to work kinda late that it would be easier to just order something in. Now, normally we want something healthy, but we were on a pizza kick, and thought some pizza sounded AMAZING!!! Now, we have heard mix reviews about all the pizza places here in Murfreesboro (seems like there is one on every corner for sure!) So we brought up tons of websites, compared prices, and checked out coupons. Of course there were your normal Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa John’s on our screens. We talked about it and decided that we wanted to try something new! Oh, how we were wrong! We settled on Roma Pizza and Pasta. We read some reviews saying it was good and had awesome bread sticks! So, we found a deal for two pizzas (which is wayyyy too much for us to eat, but it was the best deal) for around 25 dollars, plus you got a two liter Dr. Pepper and a coupon off for 4 bucks! oh sign us up! We picked out our two pizzas and our dr. pepper and added a side of breadsticks just to test it out. We were pretty excited because we’ve been talking about how we would love to find a good pizza place up here that was different from the rest and we for sure thought we had, by the photos and deal. 

Well, we sat here for 30 minutes…then 40 minutes…Morgan actually stood at the window checking out to see if they were here for a while. At the 1 hour mark we were getting pretty upset. FINALLY!! our doorbell rang and we were handed our pizza and breadsticks and a bag…..

Now….we were confused, as we looked at what we had sitting on our stove, there were four cans of dr. pepper, two orders of breadsticks, and what appeared to be a cheese pizza and sausage pizza instead of the Gourmet meatball we were promised. We were hungry so we just said whatever!

So….here is our review of Roma’s Pizza and Pasta:

First off, not counting it being late, we were greatly disappointed! The pizza looked and tasted like something you would get in a lunchroom that had been frozen, and I’m not talking about the Betty Mann lunchroom ladies either! It was greasy, doughy, and the cheese was just blah! I was very disappointed for sure. Both pizzas were sad honestly. Maybe we honestly got our hopes up, maybe we expected alot more, who knows! I would have preferred Pizza Hut for sure, or Papa John’s if I want greasy pizza. 

The second thing is their sauce, I swear their sauce taste like jarred salsa! It’s chunky and filled with peppers, just like salsa. It honestly didn’t have the worst taste in the world, I’ve had way worse, but its wasn’t that great. 

The bread sticks were really the only thing enjoyable about our whole order! However they were pretty doughy. And they are $2.99 for nine big sticks. For some odd weird reason we got two orders of breadsticks…not sure what went wrong there.

 

So, as for everyone considering eating at this place, for get about it!! It was horrible! I can not really understand why they are still in business, unless people’s taste buds are completely screwed up for sure!!

 

Well, I just thought that I would offer my insights on our experience with Roma’s Pizza and Pasta. Off to make Steak Lo Mein with veggies!! Yummy! 😀

Have a great weekend and Thanks for reading!

Manda

bring on the work out…

woo hoo, so Morgan has been working out now for the past two months and I’ve just now jumped onto the band wagon with her. And I’m ashamed to say that I am sore!!! HAHA….We’ve done a little research and decided to try some work outs. So far Morgan has found one that really helps her out alot, and has honestly made her drop some pounds! I’m so proud of her though, she is pushing forward and making great moves to get to her goal weight. SO tonight..is work out night, and I gotta say that I’m actually looking forward to it minus the aching legs and butt! Who know that squats could hurt so bad! So putting on the Nikki Minaji…maybe a little Luda, and definitively some Jake Owen. (Oh how sexy that man is *inserts drooling smiley*)

But anyways….To everyone try to lose some weight or just get more active, good luck! I know it’s not easy but we can all do it for sure!

Yummy salad….

So after Morgan and I started eating more salads we wanted to try some new dressings. We were in Kroger’s one day and came across this dressing and absolutely love it! You can only buy it at Kroger’s though because it is their brand. It’s called Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette with Parmesan. Sounds a little iffy, but it’s great! I think it would be great on chicken as a marinade for sure. But if you are looking for something that is healthier than a creamy dressing then you should try this out!

Another good thing about this dressing is that it’s fairly cheap, I think it’s around $1.50, or a little more. Not really sure. But it’s really worth it.

So, we also found a recipe for donuts and hopefully I will be able to post it soon after I get it all typed up! But they are great and not has bad for you as you would think!

Ohhhhhh…..Eggplant does not taste like eggs! :)

Hi everyone!

So once again me and Morgan are starting something new in our lives. When we became friends like 1000 years ago, we didn’t really care about what we ate. Well since we have gotten older we have changed our eating habits drastically. Now, don’t get me wrong, just like everyone else we enjoy a good cheeseburger and fries every now and then. And who can resist a piece of cake! However, we have tried here lately to expand our food ideas and try this whole eating healthy type thing. Now I know what you are thinking eating healthy is nasty. That’s kinda the way I thought about it when I was younger however, I’ve really found that both of us really enjoy being healthy. So here goes the turning over a new leaf! 

To start out we decided that we should eat a salad at least once a day. We read into the Salad in a Jar diet and that really soundedgreat. So for a while now we have incorporated a salad into our meals at least once a day. We have been eating way more fruit and really paying attention to what goes into out tummys! I think one big problem with people is they think they can lose weight and get healthier by just eating low fat and fat free foods. Well, I hate to break it to you guys, but you can’t. We looked into some of those things and they are terrible for you. Yes they take out the fat in it, but they add things to substitute for that fat, and that stuff can cause complications later on in life. So No thank YOU!! Instead I think that people should really pay attention to what they are actually eating. I know that as college students that can be very hard. But it’s pretty important when you start thinking about it. And there are simple things you can change that would help you alot! For example, instead of frying french fries pop them in the oven. And if you eat a big salad with something you have then you will get full faster on the salad and not eat so much of the stuff that’s not good for you! Another thing that I read was that if you eat on smaller plates you will eat less because your eyes are being fooled. 

Now, when we say we added salads to our meals that means lettuce, tomatoes or other veggies, a tsp of Parmesan Cheese and about a tablespoon or so of dressing that is oil based or homemade. We have been very careful about that. Not that that is for everyone but so far it has helped us out alot!

So, as part of this new health movement, we decided to try something. And what is great about this is it’s very cheap!!!

We were shopping in Kroger’s yesterday and saw an eggplant, which was $1.49 for one! So Morgan had mentioned let’s try EggplantParmesan! Well why not! I love the color purple and it’s always intrigued me. So we bought an eggplant! We got home and  unpacked the groceries and set it aside for tonight! When Morgan got home this afternoon we were in our kitchen and just kinda starred at it wondering what to do. Do we slice it thin? thick? Do we peel it? Leave a little on? Do we fry? Or do we bake? UGH! So manyquestions….so after a little research, this is what we came up with and thought we would share.

First fun fact: You should cut them all the same slice thickness, and of course baking is the healthier alternative to frying however either one is said to be good. 

Second Fun Fact: You cannot and I repeat do not eat an eggplant raw! As Morgan said this I was slicing and thought Oh my Goodness! because the peeling has a toxic chemical that can cause you to get sick if you do not cook it! SO DO NOT TRY IT RAW!

Third Fun Fact: It smells like a cucumber.

Fourth: You want to purchase and eggplant that is medium sized, semi soft, and waxy purple. Not all roughed up.

Fifth Fact: It can sometimes be bitter so make sure to season it well!! (oh and you can eat the seeds!) However we tried it and it tastes a lot like squash or noodles. Just everyone should really try it!

Now…on to what we did. After hearing all of this and reviewing many eggplant recipes we decided just to wing it as usual and I’mreally glad we did!

For baking the eggplant or frying:

-Three Bowls

      -One with Flour

     -One with Egg mixed with a little milk and a little water

    – One with breadcrumbs, we used Italian season breadcrumbs, but your fave will work!

    – A few greased cookie sheets( we used three)

Preheat oven to 350. Slice up your eggplant, we sliced ours fairly thin, but you can slice it according to how thick you want your layers. Take each eggplant slice and coat it in the flour then the egg, then coat completely in the breadcrumbs, placing them in a single layer on the cookie sheets. Bake for around 20 minutes, you might have to bake them for 30 depending on your oven. Ours cooked for 30 minutes and got a little too done. 

We prepared our Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna style, so if you want to do this you will need:

1/2 a cup  of Parmesan Cheese 

1 1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese

2 cups of marina sauce

1 cup of sliced mushrooms (optional)

2 cups of raw spinach (optional)

In a greased baking dish put some of your prepared sauce in the bottom, just enough to light coat it. Place one layer of the baked eggplant on top of the sauce, try covering the bottom completely. Sprinkle some of both of your cheeses on top, (I really did this to my preference.) If you are adding your spinach and mushroom add half of those now. Next add another layer of sauce over the spinach. Keep repeating this. Your finally layer should be cheese , but really you can assemble this any way you like as long as your cheese is on top. Next put in the oven at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes until it’s all melted and the cheese is a little brown on top. Let sit a few minutes once you remove from the over then cut and plate up! 

Hope everyone enjoys this! I know that we really did and it was a first for us! It really is a cheap idea for dinner and very easy tomake! 

Let us know if you’ve ever had eggplant though and what’s some other ways to cook it! Would love more ideas thanks! 

 

Geez….

Hi everyone!! It’s truly been forever! So been up to many things. Being incredible busy working with my graphics. But anyways. Hope everyone is doing good tonight and for the rest of the week…

I have been researching some artsy stuff this week and came across from really awesome things. One of those being the tshirt scarf! I’ve made two so far and the first one was terrible for sure. But the second one turned out like this:

I’m not sure how this is going to go. But I would really enjoy making more and even selling them. SO hopefully we will see! 🙂 I’m pretty excited about it and Morgan is going to show the red one off at work Monday hopefully. If anyone is interested comment on here or on facebook! 🙂

Now the other thing that we found tonight was teh recipe for a brownie in a mug. At first we were like wow, this can not be real! But we did it and it is awesome!!! And it’s really really quick. Here is our picture. 

This is stuff is really so easy to make and it only takes a few minutes and if you cook normally like we do then you will have all this stuff in your kitchen. 

You Will Need

Here are your instructions:
1. First off grab a big mug, and put your butter in there. Microwave just long enough to melt!
2. Now add in your water, vanilla, and salt.
3.  Then add in all your other ingredients one at a time, making sure to mix it up completely before you add the next ingredient, making sure there is no lumps.
4. Pop in the microwave for between 60 to 90 seconds. I had to do mine 90 seconds then a little longer. Unless you want a runny center. 
5. Now enjoy with some ice cream or whipped cream! 🙂
Hope everyone has an awesome week!
Manda

Sweet CeCe’s

Hi everyone. So as we said before we were going to shake things up a bit here on our blog. So for this new blog we decided to to write about one of our favorite shops here in Murfreesboro. Sweet CeCe’s, it is a frozen yogurt shop that offers a variety of flavors and tons of toppings! 

SO before I get started I would like to let everyone know that I am lactose intolerant, which means I can’t have ice cream, and I hate that I can’t have ice cream! When Morgan and I went to Panama City Beach with my aunt, uncle, and their kids, we had frozen yogurt at a shop similar to Sweet CeCe’s and I LOVED IT!! Now back to Sweet CeCe’s.

Sweet CeCe’s is located at The Avenue here in Murfreesboro, TN. Once you walk into the door you are greeted and head to the back to make your own self served creation! I think that is awesome that you can come up with your own combination of the offered flavors. Another thing that is great is that if it’s your first time, you can sample the flavors before you decide which one to get. Once you decided what flavor or flavors of frozen yogurt/sorbet, the next stop is the toppings. Which vary from big gum balls, cereals, candy bars, chocolate covered espresso beans, and nuts. Then your next stop is a station set up of fresh fruit, sprinkles, cheesecake, brownie, cookie dough, chopped candies, and other goodies. And finally you can top it all off with either caramel sauce or hot fudge sauce. They weigh your finished cup, so be careful not to over fill! You pay by the weight of your cup. Which any time me and Morgan have went usually our cups are around 5 dollars or less. Plus, they offer a punch card, which after you buy nine cups of yogurt you get your tenth one, up to 5 dollars for free! And the one here in Murfreesboro offers a deal of Two Punch Tuesday, so you can reach your goal faster of getting the tenth one possibly for free!

Morgan and I have been many times and it’s really hard to not stop in more than that. 🙂 But we have tried many of the offered flavors so we will give our opinion on them!

Cake Batter: This stuff is awesome, you can mix it well with fruit flavors or chocolate or anything else they have. It taste so good! Taste just like fresh cake batter!

Crazy for Coconut: Mixed this with the cake batter and it taste just like a coconut cake! Really good, but really intense by itself, I don’t think I would want this alone. 

Dutch Chocolate: This is made for a chocolate lover. Really good!

Perfect Peanut Butter: Mix this with the chocolate and it taste just like a reese cup! Morgan had this and absolutely fell in love!

Cable Car Chocolate: Taste just like fudge! 

Very Raspberry: This was good, but it’s really intense and needed balance, I added cake batter and it was awesome, but I love raspberries! 

Blueberry Burst: This stuff looks so pretty in the cup! But it taste good too! I really liked it and wish they would have had cake batter as well so that way I could make something that tasted like a blueberry muffin. But it was still good.

Fancy French Vanilla: I mixed in the blue berry with this, and it was good. It taste like homemade vanilla ice cream.

Morgan had one that was called Mounds or something like that, and it tasted just like a mounds candy bar. 

As for go to toppings:

It never fails, Morgan always fills her cup with nuts and cheesecake or chocolate. 

For me, I always go for the fresh pineapple and Hot fudge sauce. That sauce is so good, it taste like it has coffee in it but that only makes it taste richer! 

I think this is a fun place to take your kids, they will enjoy making their own yogurt creation, and plus it’s really healthier for you than ice cream!

And of course we couldn’t write a blog without posting our photos!!

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Hope everyone enjoys! And goes to visit Sweet CeCe’s but be careful, It’s very addicting!! 

Manda

Paul Mitchell School of Murfreesboro

Hi everyone, I know it’s pretty late now…but, I thought I would type up a little blog. Morgan and I have thought about making some changes to our blog. And we decided that we were going to test out some products and let you know what we think of them. So the next up coming blogs will be most likely make up related and food related. But for the first product, I am going to tell you about now.
Recently I decided to get a hair cut, as everyone knows, if they know me, but if not, then I got a hair cut. 🙂 Living away from home and only having one person cut my hair my whole life it made it hard to trust someone else with my hair. A good friend of mine suggested that I go to the Paul Mitchell School here in Murfreesboro and let them cut it. With a photo on my phone, and being very nervous, Morgan and I set out to the school. I was very nervous I must say about them washing, cutting, and style my hair. I mean they don’t know how my hair is, they don’t know how I style it.
However, much to my surprise there was really nothing to worry about. I went it for my appointment, and was greeted at the door by the girl who was going to cut my hair. Her name was Molly, (which if you go I recommend getting her! She was awesome!) She introduced herself and talked to me the whole time. I filled out a little survey about my hair, how I style it, what I would like to change about it, and what I was there for. And she was there the whole time helping me fill that out. So that was super simple. The cut included a wash and a scalp massage. That was a little awkward for me but she did a good job and my hair felt great. Morgan was my guest so she set there next to me in another chair. It was a very comfortable setting. I showed her photos of the hair style I wanted and she told me she could do it no problem. She cut it wet a little, then applied some smoothing stuff, which I will blog about later on! She dried it and straightened it and I swear she made it look just like the photo!! After she sprayed it with hair spray and someone came over to make sure I had a great experience, she walked me to the desk to pay. And much to my surprise I paid only 15 dollars for my cut!! All the other places I looked at were well over 30 dollars! I was so pleased with my cut, I easily received a cut that was worth well more than that I’m sure. I liked it so much and so did Morgan that she scheduled her a hair appointment not long after that! And her’s was just as good! These students really know what they are doing, and you can get a great deal out of it. I know that it’s a little nerve racking thinking of a student cutting your hair, but they are almost professionals and they have plenty of practice. For example, the girl that cut my hair had said that she had been cutting hair including her own since she was in high school and that was almost ten years ago!
I would encourage anyone to go and have their hair done there for a great price! Both times we have been they have been crazy busy, but I can understand why!
Hope this helps everyone out! BTW, here are my photos I took her to work with, and the end result! 🙂 Hope everyone has an awesome day!
Carrie Underwood
me…not a blonde, but it’s very close to her hair and a little different angle!

Geez……

Sorry guys for slacking on the job here!! I promise to try and get things back again on this blog! So so far I have two now, or well I have one and a half, since I share this one with Morgan! 🙂 We have tried soooo many new things here recently and I promise we’ve taken photos of it all! I have many recipes to share since I’ve been away sooo long!!

Things are going pretty good here though. Filling out my Intent to Graduate form this week! SO WOOOHOOOO!! I’ve been going to school for so long now, I wont know how to act with out it! 😛 We recently had a huge storm come through. Meaning Morgan and I were in the bathroom for yet again another Tornado warning. However all of our belongs were fine as well as the areas around. I think some people got some wind damage but that’s about it!

Let’s see…what else is there to tell! I got my hair cut. Which I was extremely happy about. I wish I had a before and after pic to post of it, it was around 24 inches long, probably longer. But it looks good! I made an appointment at the Paul Mitchell school here in Murfreesboro and the nice stylist washed, cut, and styled my hair for only Ten BUCKS!! How can you beat that, especially since she made it look just like the photo of Carrie Underwood I showed her! 🙂 Now I have a friend shipping me some PM products to use and let me tell you, that stuff is awesome!!

Speaking of the Paul Mitchell products, I might start doing reviews on this blog, so if you would like me to try something you can ask, no promises that I’m going to run out and get it, but I can give you some insight on it. 🙂 I don’t know, just really a thought I had. Well see how that goes!

So…I guess I need to put up a recipe since it’s been so long. But it’s going to have to be off the top of my head so let’s try this:

Roasted Chicken-

This is going to sound weird, but you have to trust me that it makes some of the best chicken!

You will need:

-Chicken pieces with skin on and bone in

-Your favorite Honey Mustard, I use the Johnny Fleeman’s I think it is the best to use!

-Mrs. Dash, or Zesty seasoning from Krogers

-Olive Oil

-Salt and pepper

-Broiler pan with foil in the bottom

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

So here’s what you do. After you get the foil lined in the bottom pan, place the rack back on top. Using a brush, brush on a little oil. Now place your chicken pieces on the rack, they do best if they are not frozen. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a bowl put some of your honey mustard, using the same brush as before brush on the honey mustard on the chicken. (FYI I can’t really taste the honey mustard once it’s cooked if any of you are worried about that) Make sure to coat it well, then sprinkle with the Mrs. Dash seasoning. Bake at 250 degrees for about an hour. Then take your chicken out and coat it again with honey mustard, I normally don’t add too much more seasoning but that is a preference. Let bake for another hour  or until chicken is done.

Sorry this is such a rough recipe, but Morgan and I make this very often and we just rough it when we make it and it always comes out tasting the same! It falls right off the bone and is so juicy! It’s really like a rotisserie chicken.  You could use other spices if you would like instead of the Mrs. Dash.

Hope this recipe is helpful to everyone! And hopefully alot more to come! Things coming up…..Red Velvet Cheesecake, Brownie Pudding, Italian Cream Cupcakes, Gnocchi, and much more! 🙂

Manda

Sweet BBQ Pineapple Marinade….YUMO!!!

Hi everyone! Gosh it seems like it’s been forever since we posted a new blog! But have no fear my friends, we have been cooking, just with no time to post things!!

So, this past weekend for me and Morgan was our fall break. So we headed home, since Saturday was my Daddy’s birthday. We headed home on Friday and stayed the weekend! So on Saturday night I went to my Great Grandpa Clate’s house to celebrate my daddy’s birthday with some family and I made him a cake, (Will post photos and recipe later).Which that was fun. It’s always good to see family members who you don’t get to see a lot. And of course this included watching the race from Charlotte! Jamie McMurray did a great job at winning that race! But anywhoo…

Sunday Morgan, Mrs. Barb (Morgan’s mom), my mom and myself all spend the day at the Heart Association’s Heart Walk in Fayetteville, TN, (our hometown). Our mom’s both work for the Exchange, so that’s what team we were all on. After the two mile walk around town, we went out separate ways for the afternoon. My Granny Betty was cooking supper Sunday night for my dad, which she does for all of her kids and grandkids. In our family we have this recipe for this grilling marinade. It’s really simple and well worth the mess! So that is the recipe I’m going to share today. Hope everyone enjoys it!

First off you need….

-2 links of polish sausage

-one ham for this we use a canned ham

-one large can of pineapples (Chunks)

-one pack of bacon

-and for this recipe we used chicken cut up in chunk

For the marinade you will need…

-One bottle of your favorite bbq sauce

-One bottle of sweet bbq sauce, we like to use a honey flavored bbq

-the pineapple juice

First thing you need to do in prep, so get out your best knife and your cutting board! Now you need to cut everything into bit size pieces. For the bacon, you will need to cut each piece in half, then roll them up. You need to drain your pineapples but keep the juice. After you get that done get your sticks ready. You will need grill safe skewers for this recipe. Now you need to put a piece of ham, pineapple, sausage,bacon, and chicken  all on the skewers until you run out.Set them aside and make the marinade.

For the marinade, mix together the sauces and the pineapple juice together and there you have your marinade! That simple!

My daddy said to put your grill on 250 degrees or 300 and the same goes for the oven just make sure to watch them. Now put your meat on the grill and spoon some of the marinade over each one, making sure they are covered. Let them cook on the grill or in the oven for almost 2 hour. They will start to get a little black and that is what you want, just make sure all the meat gets done. Also flip them every 20 minutes and make sure to put plenty of the marinade on them. When they are done take off the grill and you might want to let them sit a little then serve!

This one something everyone is my family loves, or they love parts of it. Hope everyone enjoys!

-Manda


Happy Birthday Dale Earnhardt Jr!!!!

So, everyone who knows me knows that I love racing, and that my favorite drivers are Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr.. Well today is Dale Jr.’s birthday!

 

This photo was made by me, but I do not own it. If you would like to see more art I've done please check out my page on Facebook K.B. Design ! thanks!

 

Morgan and I watched them race in Cali today. She was cheering for her driver Clint Bowyer, while I was pulling for Dale Jr., and lucky enough, he finished in the top 20 so that’s not too bad.

Well, last weekend when my parents came up we went to the outlet mall that is in Lebanon and they have a book store there. If you have never been shopping at this outlet mall, it’s pretty nice. They had some awesome deals. So not only did I get this awesome purple jacket from the GAP, I also got lucky in this book store.

Not long ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s grandmother and Jeff Gordon’s mother got together  and wrote this cookbook. When this cook book first came out I really wanted it, however I haven’t been able to find it at a good price. Oh, and btw I LOVE, I mean LOVE cookbooks. Well, while my sister shopped for jeans, Morgan and I went into this book store.

And there it was, and at a great price!! Under ten bucks! So I bought it. This cookbook is one of the best books I have ever purchased!

It reminds me so much of my Granny Betty and home. I know many of the recipes in the book, but there are stories in the book that bring meaning to the recipes.

Sooooo, long story short I decided to bake a cake for Dale Jr’s birthday out of the book. (actually I just wanted to see if the cake was good cause it had SUNDROP in the title!!! ) 😀

And if you didn’t know what Sundrop is……Let me introduce you!

It is awesome, and you should all go out and try it if you have never had it before!!!

So, I made this cake today during the race. It was my first time ever making a pound cake of any kind, so I really didn’t know what to expect. Another problem is the fact that I didn’t have a bunt pan, so I just used a silicon round pan. The recipe says bake for an hour and 15 minutes, I did this, but the middle didn’t get done so I baked it for another 15 minutes or until the middle had gotten done, I recommend using a bunt pan though. Another problem with using the round pan is when I flipped it over the cake messed up a little, so that is why the top isn’t so pretty! lol. So please forgive me :P. So, for me this cake taste alot like something my mom, or Granny Betty would make! It taste more lemony than it does sundrop, but it was still really good! So thank you Martha Earnhardt!!! 🙂 For Morgan, she said it was good  and maybe we should have added a little more sundrop! But we both thought that this would make really good cookies or maybe muffins! 🙂

In the following photos, there are photos of the cake, cookbook, and the recipe, if you can’t read it let me know and I will send you a copy of it! 😛 Hope everyone likes it!

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