I'm live. I'm live. I'm sitting on the floor live on the hard terracotta floor with my red bowl. I always say that I'm gonna text a couple folks when I'm going live, but now I can't think of who I say I'm gonna text. I hope I put public on here. If you're coming on, say hello. Oh, hi. You know what? I need my glasses so I could see you guys this time. Davina and I went live. I couldn't see anybody because I was on the outside. Hi Jill. I'm so happy to see you Sabrina. Oh my gosh. When are you gonna come back lady? Hi Sarah, Pam, Terry, look at all you guys are here. Yay. Oh, yay. Let me clean these glasses. First of all, if you're wondering why I look lumpy and strange, I just had my eyebrows and my mustache waxed. I'm good, Jill. Thank you. I'm good. I'm good. I'm a little warm. It's kind of stuffy in here. I just had my eyebrows. Doesn't she just do the best job? And then my mustache is gone, but I always get, hi Davina. What time is it there? I always lose track. It's noon here. It's warm in here.  What are you doing? I've been fine. All right. So when it's five for you, it's 12. I can never keep track.  I'm glad you're here because I don't want to talk about you. I have to do this live because my camera is not transferring to my iPad so that I can post on YouTube the way I care to do it. I'm just having trouble after trouble. I do not own a laptop or a computer. So it's all done through Wi-Fi. I can't take my card and plug it in anywhere and create. And my little Mississippi mud brownie recipe, which, oh, my guy. It's so delicious, you guys. Super delicious. You have to try it. We'll talk about that in a minute. Ours. My cook with me with Davina hours getting it to Wi-Fi from my camera to my iPad. So I thought, oh, I got to do my live video. Let's just go live. My weigh-in video. Hi, Jimmy's here. Hi, Jimmy. Hi, Laurie. You heard the phone ping. Oh, and I always never even ask people to hit their notifications and all that stuff I carry. It was super amazing. And for the people like Sandy who don't care for pumpkin and are afraid to use it, you guys, you cannot tell there's pumpkin in there. I gave a big piece to my neighbor because I can't have all of that in the house because I will just, every time I go in the kitchen, I will pick at it. Cake is my nemesis. So I make it for you, Swills, to give you some ideas. Oliver and grandpa have some. I have some. And then I give some away. Let me see if I've missed any, but oh my gosh, there's a whole bunch of you guys here. Hi, hi, hi. Let me get my arm out of the way. Hi, Laurie, Carrie, Reese. Hi, you guys. So how many minutes in am I? When I get to five minutes, I'll talk about my way in. Okay, so let's talk about the recipe I did yesterday for a minute. I read that recipe over so many times before, during, and after. And nowhere does it say anything on there about melting the marshmallows down. I think they think that you're putting enough chocolate over the top where that will melt the marshmallows down. Well, it does to a certain extent, but it still worked. It was super good. The nuts in it, because I never put nuts into anything. I just don't. I don't love nuts. I don't hate them. It's really a good recipe, you guys. And if you do use the sugar-free, I understand it's hard for some folks to find the sugar-free cake mix. But if you do use it, it brings it down to four smart points. It's really good. Yum. But those of you guys who live in the States, Davina, we should have given you a bottle and sent you home with it. I would just get that puffed stuff in the jar and just spread that on. And it might even be less points, because you don't need a lot of it. Just weigh it out, spray, measure, and you're good. Okay, well, let's talk about weigh-in. Last week, I gained two plus pounds, I think. What did I do? Let's look. But I made a proclamation last week, because last week's weigh-in was after my day at Disneyland. Hi, Diane! Our day at Disneyland. And I gained, I think I gained two pounds. It's so hard to find anything on here anymore. Let's just say two pounds for the heck of it. And I came in and I told you guys I was happy with two pounds, because I spent that wonderful day with my wonderful friend, and no regrets. And I said, next week, people, friends, fellow Americans, Australians across the world, Brits across the world, I'm going to lose that two pounds. And the best thing about saying that was, you guys all typed back in, we wouldn't even question that, Nita. We know you'll lose that two pounds and I swear my heart, my heart burst. I was like, these guys, they have faith in me. Yay! Because I love it when somebody takes my word for something, because when they don't, it just pisses me off. So you guys are like, okay, we're not going to take that bet. And well, at the time that I made that little proclamation, there were two things I didn't know. I didn't know that I was going to get to spend another whole day with Davina. Not only spend the day with her, but cooking with her, shopping with her, and maybe drinking a little bit with her. I didn't know that. And I didn't know that I was going to lose one of my pups. Two unexpected things. One very, very good. One very, very not so good. So at weigh in today, drum roll please. It's bad news. Don't get excited. It's really bad news. I'm not even kidding. I gained. Does anybody want to guess? So think of it. Davina and I were cooking. Oh, we made those balls that ended up staying at my house that I ate all of them. We drank that night. I continued to drink after I had to put my doggy down, because instead of eating my feelings, I was drinking my feelings. Nobody wants to guess. Jet leg. Davina, you don't want to guess? Nobody wants to guess? Then maybe I just won't tell you guys. Maybe I'll just tell you I lost. Now my phone's not working. Hi, Gary. Okay, you're close. Nope. I gained 2.2 pounds. Okay, so you guys are all in the general neck of the woods. 2.2. I'm wondering if we're lagging a little bit. Does it seem to you guys like we're lagging? Anyways, I won't make you guess anymore. Now I want to say a couple things. When I have my normal life and I'm not having crazy, wonderful, fun days with people that I love unexpectedly and maybe for the only time in my life or, you know, when I go to Disneyland on the regular, the same rules do not apply. This is the first time that I've had, oh, no, it's not. My dad's accident and I'm putting my dad, okay. If somebody, if Davina would have called and said, guess what, we get to spend Sunday together, but when you weigh in on Friday, you're going to gain 5 pounds. So you have that choice. Which would you rather do? Hi, Christy. Congratulations on your guys. It's great. You guys are just kicking it, man. Kicking it good. Not kicking it bad. Kicking it bad. Kicking it good. She said, you know, you have a choice. You can spend the day with me and we can have a really fun, swell time, but for sure when you get on the scale, you're going to gain 5 pounds. So take me or leave me. And that even, that even if she said we're not going to eat anything, we're not going to drink anything, we're going to stick to the program, just being with me, you're going to gain 5 pounds. It would be a no-brainer. Get you booty over here. Now we're going to have a good time. I'll take that 5 pounds, add an extra 2, because I can get it off and I can get it off because I've been doing this for almost three years and I know what to do and what not to do. So when I was eating and when I was drinking and when I was in mourning over my pup and watching my grandson in mourning all over our dog and the things that he was doing, the choices that I made were conscious ones. I always say conscious wrong. Is it conscious or conscious? Conscience? Cautious. Confucians say it's cautious. No, that's cautious. Conscience. In other words, that's a song somewhere. I knew what I was doing. Am I happy about my two weight? Hold on. Am I happy about my two pound game? No, but the loss of my dog is worse. Something more for me to think about and the day of fun and love that I had with my friend was something more to think about. So on the scale and the grand scheme of things, while my weight loss, and I'm honest with you guys, my weight loss is my number one thing. I'd like to be successful. I like to show that I'm successful. I like to be able to talk to you guys and friends here at home and say with shoulders back, head held high. Yes, I can do this program. I do do this program and I'm good at this program. In the almost three years that I've been doing it, this is only the third time I can think of where I pretty much said I threw the big could have been more. Absolutely, Diane. It totally could have been more. My weight loss wasn't my be all and all to my life this week. Now I see I'm trying to be really careful in what I say because I have certain, certain exact feelings on things that don't always go with the weight loss community.  It's okay. Gain your weight, Nita. I don't agree with that. I agree with that if it's something sad or extremely happy. See, it's under my rules. That's what I'm trying to say without being, that's what it sounds like I'm saying, but I'm trying not to. I do not agree that we should just not pay attention to our weight loss program on a regular basis. Oh, if we're good at it, we're good at it. If we're not, we're not. Okay, you know, let's just keep moving. Absolutely keep moving. But I think it should be first and foremost in our mind if it's important to us. Now if it's not important to us, if it doesn't mean anything to us, if we are happy with high blood pressure or we look in the mirror and we see certain things protruding, if we're uncomfortable in public, if we're sitting on the floor doing a live YouTube channel and our belly is spilling over our gut, then it's okay. But if not, don't go off your program, you guys. Don't have it mean something to it. Keep it close to your heart. Keep it, keep doing what you're doing. That's how you're successful at it. If you're just like, oh, well, this was bad week, we're gonna start again next week. This was bad week, we're gonna start, you could say that every week. I could say it every week. Well, but thankfully, this is what I'm trying to get across. Thank you, Lord.  These are two very, very, very special occasions. And for that, I will take the dings on my weight loss. You know, I don't even think I did this poorly when my dad had his accident. I will have other events coming up in which people and animals will be perishing. I will have other events where people will come, I hope at least. I really do hope. I'm looking at Kitty up there and she's like totally mourning, and I don't know what to do for her, but don't look at her and eat it. Okay, I'm down here. I know I'm a freak. Pick, you guys pick. Pick the times and give yourself the okay when you have your gains. Make them strong and make them stand for something. Don't, you know, don't be like, oh, well, I was supposed to go to the market today, but I didn't make it. Oh, well, I'm going to gain half a pound. You know, pick your battles as far as your weight loss. I have mind lines drawn pretty much in the sand. So when I knew I was going to have that other day with Divina, did I mention how much fun we had, you guys? Every time I think about it.   And all those emotions are just like they're just which one wipes out the other one. Am I so happy about Divina?  So all bets are off. All bets are off as far as eating, drinking, drinking, drinking and maybe having another drink. We still had some alcohol in the cupboard this morning. I promptly went in there before my way in and poured it down the sink, not because I was going to have a drink at my meeting, because I'm taking a stand. It's time. It's time to get a grip. Okay, I've had a couple days to mourn my dog. Divina's fun day will always be in my heart, but it's okay. These things have happened. It's time to get back and get going. But I don't want, it's time to get back. It's time to get back going. It's time to hit the reset button. Oh, I'm out of toilet paper. I think I'll go eat my emotions. I'll hit the reset button tomorrow. No, I don't believe in that. And that's my personal, that's just my personal view. Please don't think you have to agree with it. Please don't think, even if you think I'm crazy and lady, I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't think that way. Please don't let that be a dividing factor between us. It's just my thoughts, because I think that if we give ourselves too many excuses, you know, oh, my life just got in the way today. Well, you know what, we all have lives and they all get in the way. And, you know, I'll try to think of some really good examples here. But if we keep using the smaller, regular lifetime, everyday things, example, not to lose weight, we will never lose weight. We won't. If I say to you guys, oh, it got crazy up in here, man, I didn't have anything for dinner. I forgot to pick up all or I finally picked up all and we didn't have anything in the house for dinner. And so I just had screw it. And I just ate a pizza and then I ordered them pizza and then I decided to forget it. I'm not going to go to the market. I'll just have pizza the rest of it. I still could have had time to go to the market. Get, by Diane, thank you, you have a great weekend too. Get what's needed, but you have to decide how important, how important it is to you. Go back to the thing that I think is the most important. And even to me, in this week's circumstances, it wouldn't have mattered, because I was too happy and then too sad. The main key is have your kitchen prepared, no matter what's going on.  Most of us do. Go in the kitchen, get something that you've already purchased, know what the points value is on it. Track it. Gotta track everything, you guys. Even though I went crazy this week, I tracked it all. But my main, all I'm trying to say is that I will be very, I'm very diligent in when I will give myself a break for a gain like this. To me, two pound gain is pretty significant, especially when I did it last week. That's almost five pounds. That's a lot of weight that I'm trying to get off. Hi, Cam. So it's just something that I want to put out there to put into the thought process. Steve and I have already texted him. I told him how I did today. He said, tomorrow we're going to hit Trader Joe's. I already went to Sprouts. We're going to go to Costco. I'm going to get my kitchen prepared and I'm going to have a successful week. I drew, I drew. I sent Davina home. I said you gots to go because you're not good for my weight. Goodbye. Got time to go back to Australia.  So I'm going to have my kitchen prepared this week. And I'm going to drink a boatload of water. I don't know where my water is. Do you guys have your water?  One pound is great. Lori, that's great.  Absolutely. Could have been more high sues. I'm one determined bird. I got to tell you guys, sitting with Davina and listening to her when she's in full Australian.  I was cracking up when we were at lunch and she would say something. I'm like, What? What? What does that mean? And you know what? Thank you, Davina, for putting that because I am determined. I'm so determined. And I don't ever want to. I'm not goofing around on this YouTube thing. Right, Diana. It is important she's left. Hi, Jeannie. When I, when I'm sad, I lose control. I'm trying to change that so far. I'm not 100%. Nobody's 100% my friend. Nobody's 100%. Don't, don't do that to yourself. Oh, shoot. Here we go. Here's Cam. Let's see. I keep, I keep Belinda would love to lose enough to always be pulling at my shirt. Oh my gosh. Okay, I want to address that for a minute. Blended the shirt thing. We used to, well, we had this neighbor when I was growing up and I used to go up to her house and sit and talk to her because I'm me. I had to be yakking all the time, even at seven years old, 11 years old, whatever. And I found that my neighbor, Lady Joanne, she would sit in her chair and she would just let me yak, yak, yak, yak, and she would listen to me. And so I found myself going there all the time. She was an overweight lady. And I always used to see her pulling her shirt down. And as a child and as a youth, I had no idea why she was doing that. You know, why she always punish. And then it happened to me and I got it and I hear you girlfriend. I need something to put under my foot. I'm sitting on this terracotta tile and it's hitting in my ankle bones. So let's use my bra. Yeah, Belinda totally so over that. Jimmy, this whole process is a journey. We have to make it part of our everyday life. Absolutely. And when we're doing that, we need to decide what we're going to let go to the wayside or if every week we're just going to be okay with, oh, I had a point to gain and then I had a one point loss or you know what I'm saying, if we're just going to just just and make excuses, no, why bother? I'm never going to meal prep. Don't even say those words to me, lady, get out of here. I don't know how to meal prep. Ask Davina. Okay, first of all, meal prepping involves a knife. I cannot hold a knife.  You know what, Christie? I wish I had the ability. I joke about it. I just don't have the ability in the kitchen to do so. I don't have the patience. I don't have the knowledge. But I'm still successful. So there's something to be said about that. But I wish I could do it, honey. I do. And you are the best there is. And I'm not just saying that. Kim, he's doing okay. He was a little ticked off at me yesterday when I was taking him to school. He said, you know, Nana, I really wish you would have let me said goodbye. And to her, he says, I feel bad that I wasn't able to say goodbye. And I said, pal, it wasn't my decision. And I knew that that was going to be an issue. But he's doing well. He's doing well. Hi, Michelle. I haven't seen you in so long. Where have you been? I saw you modding for somebody. But I remember who there's Christie asking that question again. I just love you. Mike said to me yesterday, his highlight was spending the day with you and Steve. And I agree. But said we'd get into too much trouble. Well, you know, what got us in trouble, what could have gotten us trouble. Luckily, we didn't was you guys had an Uber, so you didn't have to drive. So we were free to do what we wanted. That was a good thing. Hi, Susan pumpkin. I have been here, but I never catch anyone online. They moderate for Amy when I can catch her. Oh, that's right. It was Amy. So my little spout, I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to say. I sit with some ladies in my meetings.  It's like church. And they come every week and they're diligent, but it's they're just coming to socialize. And it's just something they do. And it's like, I'm a white watcher. Yes, she is.  And I was excited for her to tell you guys because I knew you'd be very happy. And I think she's going to be happy too. I know she's going to be happy. Bye, Cam. Thank you for coming by. So good to see you. Don't you like being lectured at? Is that what you're leaving? I'm just kidding. Am I getting across what I'm trying to get across? No, we did not get free food. What did you get? They did. They wanted us to create a good item, food item. Darlie P. Darlie P. with a wrench next to her name. I know I must know her from somewhere. Darlie P. Darlene, how are you? Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to see you. I was cleaning on my purses today and I was holding it going. She hasn't been around. I haven't seen it on my Facebook either. A package of porridge. She'll be way happier, Michelle. She was just overthinking all that keto stuff and she overthinks everything.  Come on, ladies, stop it now. You know how to do this. We all know how to do this. That's what I'm saying. But there's just so many people and talking heads and faces and do it this way, do it this way, do it this way, do it this way, or don't do it all. It's okay. You don't have to do it. Don't give yourself a hard time. Well, if you're not doing it, just because you don't want to do it, give yourself a hard time. If you're not doing it because something special is going on, it's all good. Thank you, Michelle. I'm glad. Darlie, where have you been?  I hear that's what's supposed to happen after your kids grow up and have their own children, you know? It didn't quite work out that way for me. I'm totally going to see if I can. Oh, you did. Oh, fun. Thank you, Suze. Thank you. Thank you. I think you and I have a connection. Sometimes some people think I'm like, I'm not going to apologize for what I'm saying. If you want to lose the weight, you got to do the work. But if you're just going to use everything for an excuse, not to, then don't bother. Just don't bother. Save yourself all the trouble. Oh my gosh, I just cut a glimpse of myself in my monitor. Don't I look fabulous? I'm praying. Oh, let's just say a moment of silence for my lip. Hold on. A moment of silence.  I'm still trying to get one out. You know what? I would give up trying to get them out, because that's when they'll leave. Just like anything else, right? Once you stop trying to do it, then it happens. No, I don't know. Oliver is getting to an age where the dynamics are shifting. And I find that I'm doing, I thought as he got older, I would get more help from his dad. I get a lot of help from his dad, but I don't know. I'm stuck with Kourtney, even if I was going to take care of her forever. Man, there's some kids that they never leave. And then I look at their parents with, I have the greatest respect for them. And I'm like, how in the heck do you do that? So also, oh, something interesting, something interesting. My leader today during the meeting said that she wanted to talk about keeping things simple. You the order here, folks.  Pit Niagara Falls. Have fun, Terry.  Have a great time. Happy anniversary. You need to go have Sandy sing a happy anniversary song. Have a great time. Great time. Oh my gosh, I wish I could say that I'm leaving to go on an anniversary trip. Bye, guys. I'm going on an anniversary trip. Talk amongst yourselves. And I'll just leave you all here. But yes, she said to keep it simple. She said something else that I always say to, and I was so thrilled and I wanted to stand up and say, I always say that on my YouTube channel, but I didn't want everybody to know I had a YouTube channel. What was the other thing of keeping it simple? What's something else that I say? I don't know. It doesn't matter, but it made me feel good because she's been doing this for a very long time. What else? Is there anything else that we want to talk about, can talk about? Is everybody doing okay? Does anybody need to ask me or anybody else here questions?  I didn't drink enough water last week either. Especially, yeah, keep it simple. Oh, I would want to tell you guys something funny.  Hi, Cheryl. Oh, you haven't missed us. We could talk forever. I know it's going on 30 minutes, but I could go for hours, especially since I had a Red Bull because I was tired. I had a lady come on here and she was in a regular and she messaged me and she said, this is good. Are you ready to have a chuckle?  It's just an acronym people.  I would never do that. She messaged me and she said, I know where every bathroom and see me valley is, Christy.  And I've told everybody in my meeting to stop watching your channel. Zero, zip, zero, zilch or else I wouldn't be drinking it. First of all, I laughed and then I thought it was something really snarky right back.  And then I thought, gee, I wonder if everybody in her white watchers meeting does everything she tells them to do. Susie, it was so funny. It was like really lady.  And I think that's when I don't connect with somebody is when they take me seriously because you know what? I try not to be serious ever. Look it. Here's Cindy Tibbs, my buddy who moved to Texas texting me. Let's tell her that we're on here. I'm on YouTube right live right now with all my weight-watching buddies. Where are you? Question mark. Maybe you should sign on, huh? Question mark. I miss her too. I miss her so much. So yeah, just in case anybody's ever wondering, you know, I'm not a serious person.    Anybody who knows me knows that and anybody who's been watching me for any amount of time knows that. I just love you guys too much. It was too bad that she felt that way. I'm glad, Michelle. I'm glad you guys know that. Never second guess. If you ever think for a second, she's seriously immediately say no. She's not serious. I love you, Susie. You're just the best because you get me. Knuckleheads. We're all knuckleheads. We're a group of weight-watching knuckleheads. Now if we just, Michelle, I read your weight the other day. I had no idea. You were so tiny, girlfriend. Oh my gosh. I mean, I knew you had started at a high, not right, weight, I guess, high number, whatever, but I didn't realize you were so small. I'm so jealous. So that's that. If you guys haven't watched mine and Davina, did you post, I haven't posted the recipe for the bliss balls, the nutty bliss balls. I know you're five feet, but still that's a great weight. That's kudos to you. That's off to you, my friend. Davina has to post on her channel the recipe because I do not have the recipe in my description box because I cannot get in my description box and you just have to go watch her. Okay, so it's on. Oh, that's right in your, sorry, you guys have to try those bliss balls.   They were so good. They got my grandson to eat some real life food. Hi, Cindy. Say, hey everybody, say hi to Cindy. Now everybody give her a hard time from moving away from me. So now I have to sit on the floor and talk to the internet because I don't, you know what, let's talk the built bars. If I never hear about another built bar in my life, I'll be a happy camper. No offense to the people who like them. I'm a people who likes them. I enjoy them. When I want a sweet something or other and I want the low end points, they're awesome. I'm just tired of every time I turn anything on. There they are. Sandy will show everyone success if you want to send them to her. It's great before she can afford. They are expensive and that's why I haven't gotten any of the new ones. They're just, I can't, but they're good. I'm not saying that I don't think they're good. I think they're good. And you know what, let's go back to what I have said a million times about not worrying about what other people do with their money. If it's your money and you want to buy cases upon cases of built bars, you do that because it's your money. I hate that one and I shouldn't have done that. I apologize. But it's like anything else that gets mass marketed and to a group and they picked us and you scroll through anything, built bars, I got a code, code, code, you got a code. That's something else I wanted to bank loan for specials. I love that. Right? Because guess who's losing weight and guess who isn't? I want to tell you guys something about reviews. I get the letters like all the rest of the gals. Will you review this? Will you read that? I choose not to just because I'm lazy. I don't have the setups to do a good video like most of the other ladies and it's just not my thing. But early on I got a letter from some folks about some little lanterns and it was right when we got hit on the 4th of July with the second big earthquake. So I said heck yes, send me those lanterns. Steve is going to do an earthquake commercial video and we got the lanterns and the lights for that purpose. So we're going to have that coming up eventually. We've been trying to do it since the 4th of July so maybe we'll have it here by Christmas. I lost what I lost without them so I don't need them now. I'm in maintenance and you know what? Here's another thing too and this is my money. Whatever sweetener they use on built bars kills my belly. Busy bee. A lot of people have that problem. I have that problem with the 2.5 bar 1 bars. Oh dear lord. Okay so if you don't have, you know, if you're not light hearted, the first time I ate those 2.5 bar 1 bars, I had it for dessert while Oliver and Steve had their ice cream and had about two o'clock in the morning. I woke not only myself, not only Steve, but both of our dogs out dead sleep. I'm telling you, it was like the 4th of July only, a little different and inside our bed. Literally couldn't stop laughing. Two o'clock in the morning could not stop laughing. But busy bee, I hear you on that it can be very painful as well. That story just came to mind because when the 2.5 or 1 bars came out, everybody's like you gotta try these and I'm like no, don't try them on a first date and definitely don't try them if you're going to church because you're gonna have a lot of problems. In fact, I tried another kind right before teacher's conference with Oliver's teacher. Steve and I had the conference with her and it was back to school at night so the whole classroom was full of people and I was getting really uncomfortable. That's good Rosemary. I've heard that they do that and if they do, that's awesome.   I don't care if I embarrass myself but sometimes you don't have control over those things.  So yeah and as far as the bill bars, if they help you out and you like them and you can afford them, have at it. Just don't put it in my news feed. Susie, I did a video where I looked at some of my little lights that I already put up and I said, here looks news.  Oh Michelle, oh my gosh, it's crazy. Oh my gosh, it was insane. I told Steve even he had to walk in front of me and I just say that I need to, I need to pen a letter to whoever is in charge of the music in the grocery stores and the volume in which they play it because it saves my life on a daily basis. No granny, no granny, no granny here, no. It rhymes with Nana. Anyways, that's my story. That's your guys' story. Is anybody doing anything really swell this weekend besides Terry who's going to Niagara Falls? I'm going to try to get Steve to go to Disneyland tomorrow. I don't think it'll be too hard after the week we've had banana. Nana banana, Shanna banana. I called her Shanna banana. For those of you who know about Awesome Otter, my friend Shanna, the sugar alcohols. If you ever see me talking to somebody about fake sugar, that's what we're talking about. Anyways, I've been in touch with her mother and her mother and her father are mourning horribly still and missing her and so for those of you who pray, pray for Jan, would you please?  Going to a pointing group with Libby lots of drinking and snacks.  Going to watch, oh Steve's been drinking, Steve drank all the leftover things that you bought by the way. He liked those. Oh painting. I like what you guys are going to do. Bye Christy girl. Thanks for your awesome videos. You blow me away daily and I want to make sure you guys know that if you don't see me comment it's because I'm laying in bed at like two in the morning watching and I just can't comment but I watch and you do a fabulous job. Next week is Rosemary's birthday. Does Sandy know? The big 6-0. I have three years to get there. You have the grants tonight Darlene. If you've been gone you're probably looking forward to having them, huh? Susan 16k message retracted. Christy's amazing. Christy is planning as healthy for those of you who meal plan. Thank you, Suze. She's just a lovely lady. I text her. She watched my Clara video and then she texted me and every now and then I'll just text her and let her know that I'm thinking about her because I do. I think about her and Shanna on a daily basis and I think of Fiona a lot too. I think of, you know, that's another thing I don't worry about but I do want you guys all to know that you do mean something to me. You're not just people I hop on and talk to and even though I do hop on and talk to you. Concert at the winery. Oh that sounds nice. Tiki marketplace. I thought you were going to that tomorrow. I thought that was tomorrow. I thought it was tomorrow Susan because if it's not tomorrow I got big problems. Maybe I need to look it back.  In Temecula, Rosemary, did I know that you were in my neck? Temecula is so beautiful. Davina was just there. She went to Old Town Temecula and she bought a couple things. Awesome. Does anybody want to bring anything up to talk about so that I don't have to go and you know what I was going to do today you guys was go see um I still can. I was going to go see um Judy by myself because I know that Steve isn't going to want to see it and I'm totally intrigued by that story of that part of her life. You're in Marietta and she was just in Marietta too. I think you and I talked about this and I apologize for forgetting. Judy Garland, Renee Zellweger and she was on Stephen Colbert the other night. She's just amazing and I've got some tickets so maybe I will do that. Maybe I'll go to the movies by myself. Maybe I will do that. My lip is okay isn't it? Oh I hope I don't get a fever blister. Well Susan I guess you did say it was the weekend. I guess you didn't say today right? Saturday. This could be a lot of fun. Gonna be a lot of good stuff down there. God dang it. Okay so just to give you guys an example just now all I did was go like this into the top of my can and I just ripped open the whole end of my finger. Good times. Rubbish. I don't do scary and every time I'm watching all these guys's YouTubes like Adams and who did I watch? Tim Tracker this morning. Everybody in there. Oh are you driving down there right now because it's getting kind of late to talk. That'll be nice. You haven't been down there since they went to uh was it Costa Rica? No that was the other daughter and she was in Peru, Hawaii. You went to sleep. All right well I think I don't know how you guys do scary. Oops sorry about that. Please forgive me. When I look when I'm editing my videos and I see my neck I just want to do it. Rasha Shaughness on Sunday? Oh my gosh. Lou I like the pumpkin. Let's see if it's playing. Launch Regal and then maybe I'll pack a couple. Oh you know what I had for breakfast after my meeting this morning?  That biscuit was pretty dang good. Let me tell you I haven't had a biscuit in three years. Lou you came in late. I hate that. I wish I knew. I guess I should pick a time and then post the time then I'm gonna come on live so that you guys know but I just again if anybody who came in late like you Lou I came in to announce my way in Friday because I'm having troubles getting my camera to get on to do you know what I'm trying to say? I'm having troubles with my camera so I just came on live to give you all guys the great news of my two pound game. It's driving me nuts. I don't know. I might have to I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't want to think about it. All right you guys I'm gonna let you go. I have talked long enough. Thank you for always hanging out always being positive always giving me the motivation and the love and the friendship that you guys so freely give so nicely. I could leave this on and go to the movies and um you guys could talk amongst yourselves. Oh it wasn't the cake at Disneyland Michelle. I wish it was. It was the booze but it was fun. We had such a good time. I'm focusing Rosemary. I'm focusing. All right guys everybody have fun with the grand and uh everywhere else that you're going.  I will lose this two at least two of the four pounds.


Yn gymgyrchu 10 o'r sgafodd Lleodraeth o'r adrodd mae'r edryd yn gyffredinol i ddweud nhw'r程diad â'r reilethau rhai o'r sgafodd â'r adrodd, sy'n cael ei ddweud hynny'n rhoi riddyl concerning. Efallai allan o'r brydau'r cyfrwm? Rydyn ni'n sgafodd a ddwy'r ddweud yn deunydd? Dwy wedi rhoi yw'r bod hynny'n ei ddechrau a leol. Roedd y cwestiynau'r ddweud yw'r cyfnod yn byw? A yna ydych chi'n bwysig yn y ffyrwyr ar gyfer y cwestiynau? Roedd y ddweud y cyfnod yn gwneud yn gweithio'r cyfrifol. Mae'r meddwl cysylltu, mae'r bobl yn fwy o'r cyfrifol, o'r cylliastol ar gyfer ymylch, i ddwy'r cyflwyffau'r llyfr, a'r rhagwch yn eithaf. Yn hyn, ni'n dweud i ddweud i'r cyflwyffau, oherwydd ei ddweud i ddweud i'r cyflwyffau, sy'n ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i'r cyflwyffau, ac yn ddweud i'n ochr, sy'n ddweud i'r cyflwyffau synghreidau synghreidau o'r cyflwyffau. But without a precise archaeological date for the year of deposition and the commensurately detailed and reliable historical record of the period, it lies beyond our knowledge. Some might choose to ignore these facts and propose a single answer by pining hypothesis upon hypothesis. Our approach, however, has been to accept that complex and conflicting evidence leads to multiple alternatives. Composed in 2017, the chapter What Does It Mean is therefore tentative, not definitive. It is open to debate and falsification. Other possible routes through the evidence might well have eluded us, and speakers to follow will no doubt point these out. I can only outline the routes that we took, not give a full rehearsal of the arguments for which you must read chapter 10 and the rest of the book yourselves. Recent theorised discussions of hoarding practices, especially by pre-historians, framed our approach. These have established two aspects, critical to hoard analysis. Object biography and the context of deposition. Since the contents of the hoard constitute the bulk of our data, their analysis has been the primary focus. As Chris outlined, unraveling how, where and when the objects were made, what roles, both practical and symbolic, they performed in life and how they were treated at the end, has yielded a rich store of information. An outlined life story has emerged from not only individual pieces, but the hoard as a whole. Previously, we see that the hoard was formed over a lengthy period, almost certainly episodically, between the late 6th and the mid 7th centuries. Moreover, the objects were of the highest value, not just economically, but also ideologically, made for and possessed by the topmost level of society, the temple and spiritual members of early Anglo-Saxon royal retinues. The second critical aspect for analysis, the context of deposition, has been much harder to access because of the circumstances of discovery and the limited extent of and results from on-site professional field work. Although the strikingly selective nature of the objects and their systematic dismantling provide some exceptional insights as the final stage or stages of the hoard's life, these can barely be related to a situation on the ground. Also, understanding the surrounding local and regional historical landscape depends, as yet, on a limited range of evidence. The last context in the contextual argument had to come from general comparisons, with what is known about 6th and 7th century Anglo-Saxon England from history and archaeology, and about hoarding practices from case studies of near contemporary and geographically close societies in late Roman and post Roman Britain and 4th to 7th century mainland Europe of Scandinavia. These reveal how diverse practice was in the past and how diverse archaeological interpretation is in the present. They offer many resonances with the Staffordshire Horde, but no precise overall parallel. Armed with these various perspectives and detailed observations, we try to chart path through the contending factors at stake. First, the hoard had to be assembled. It was obviously impossible to pinpoint when and how each item joined the collection, but we could sketch plausible general context in which the objects came into being, were distributed and then brought together. Fundamental was appreciation of the value of movable wealth to early medieval societies. The social and political roles which bestow a prestigious gift on the one hand and the profits of warfare on the other hand played in bonding together hierarchical warrior communities. The fact that probably all the objects had been made outside Mercia meant that there must also come a time when objects from which the hoard was drawn had all arrived in Mercia, a notional last gathering. We consider a cumulative process more plausible than a single climactic military action, with objects acquired by multiple engagements, pitch battles, raids and diplomacy between Andy and Dynast ending up in a Mercia royal treasury. Although we endure associating the hoard with an identifiable historical person or occasion, the eventful careers of King Pender of Mercia and his immediate heirs, which coincide with the archaeological dating of the hoard, provide many provocative models for the kinds of circumstance that might have been involved. Finally, objects were chosen for dismantling, followed by further selection. Probably not long afterwards, the resultant assemblage was buried, possibly in a container and partly wrapped in cloth. The burial site was positioned at the end of a ridge of land and on the perimeter of some sort of natural circular feature which perhaps supported distinctive vegetation. The red circle is one from one aerial photograph, the green arcs from another, but the green in the excavation proved to be ice wedges. So far, there is no evidence or second or burial in the field with which it lies. The area where the field lies is in general noted for its marginal character, environmentally, culturally and politically. However, the site does lie overlooking Watling Street and not far from its junction at Wall with Brickneild Street, which are two Roman roads that gave vital access from the Midlands respectively into Wales and to Northumbria. So, the site of the hoard is in a liminal place, but at the same time it was easily accessed and knowable. To draw in together all these points, we came to two major but not necessarily wholly exclusive explanations for why the hoard was created and posited. The first proposes it was the outcome of a regular elite practice of decommissioning and recycling precious materials in order to make control of them and access to the power that they embodied. This interpretation makes good sense of much of the accumulated evidence, except of course for the final burial, which would have to be explained away by some sudden and dramatic turn of events. It also undervalues the fact that the objects chosen were highly charged symbols of regal and religious authority. With the helmet and the ecclesiastical equipment in particular, unlikely has been party to a process of regular redistribution or recycling. The second explanation therefore argues that the objects were deliberately chosen to put beyond further use for ideological reasons, whether those be social, political or what I choose to call superstitious. That we have relatively little evidence at this time in England, but the practice of ritual deposition or ritual destruction does not mean that such acts can be ruled out. They might be more present and more varied than we have hitherto suspected. Indeed, to pick up on the points that have been made at least twice already this morning, Sue Brunning's recently published research on swords adds to the argument. She's shown that both blades and the hilt of a sword wielded symbolic agency as embodiments and companions of their warrior owners, but it was the hilt above all that signified individuality and identity. So the emphasis and the horde on hilt fittings at the expense of blades and more or less at the expense of scabbards or harness underlies a symbolic and ritualised character. Though of course, as we've also noted already, it begs what happened to the missing parts. Were they subjects of different codes of meaning and practice and so recyclable? Many layers of the horde's meaning are manifestly still hidden from us, and I expect you will pick up on the limitations in our arguments during discussion. But to finish, here are a few things that have occurred to me since submission of the text in 2018. First, I'd reiterate that envisaging possible scenarios for the assembly and deposition of the horde must take account of the elasticity in the dating. Persuases with Chris's analysis are, dating still with depends on few fixed points. In particular, it's noticeable how parallels with Sutton Hoo and other datable East Anglian material pool the majority of horde phase 3 objects to about the 610s to the 630s. Whereas the similarly connected Christian objects seem to me to be turned more towards the 650s or to around 650, rather because of historical and archaeological presumptions. Similar tensions, including the problematic dating of the earliest insular mansions sprit, pushed dating of the early insular style of horde phase 4, and thus the horde's terminus post quen, to the mid 7th century. Only further information and perhaps analysis of the thought that Cairnwell and Nilsson has suggested we undertake will confirm matters. Second, our theoretical approaches to the horde have been fairly rudimentary. I'm hoping that Richard Bradley and others more versed than I in such matters can point out where we should have gone or might get go. There must be scope to develop theoretical approaches that can tease out more about the horde, and perhaps in turn for its complexity to yield advances in hoarding theory. Likewise, I expect John Blair will suggest where further exploration of the historical context might enhance understanding of the horde. His Magisterial Survey of Anglo-Saxon Settlement, which came out after we wrote chapter 10, has already struck chords with me on three points in particular. He characterises the 7th century as the age of great horde complexes, when extravagant display in the elite burials and elite settlement foci was tied more to the ritual of early kingship than to the exigences of political and military roles. Now, although the Staffordshire Horde publication recurs on several occasions to great horde sites such as Rendlesham and Liminge, and I even imagined horde objects as war trophies hanging on their walls, it is now even clearer how incidentally the horde belongs to that behaviour of extravagant gifting and display, and how in turn those rituals might have given rise to the horde. In his emphasis on the impermanence of the contemporary secular-built environment, John also provides a new perspective on why apparently there is no evidence for other contemporary activity on the horde find spot, apart from the single copper alloy horse harness mount, which belongs to horde phase 4 chronologically. In particular, John stresses the role of tents in a mobile elite lifestyle of hunting, fighting and assembly attendants. Had the find place been the scene of such activity, it is unlikely that a limited post-discovery fieldwork 2009 and 2010, or even the whole field controlled metal detecting of 2012 would have recognised it, and it raises queries about how fruitful further intensive fieldwork might be. Of course, the absence of evidence may indeed be genuine, indicating that the site was never used except to bury the horde itself. Finally, we have always recognised that greater investment in the study of the wider topographic context will probably offer important insights into the nature and circumstances of the deposition. Again, in drawing together his own work and that of other landscape archaeologists, John Blair alludes to a range of factors that conditioned early Anglo-Saxon royal engagement with the landscape, including the importance of a cattle economy, the practice of hunting, the presence of earthworks and integration with sites of popular cult practice. All of those might be applicable to the place of the Staffordshire horde and the landscape. With that, I stop and hand over the challenges for explanation to you and our subsequent speakers.