Samgaran Sanctuary - Gothic Decorating

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Gothic Decorating (Read 6632 times)

Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Gothic Decorating Oct 24^th, 2007 at 8:21pm	Print Post
	I've started this topic because it looks like we are gonna have to build the bed to get exactly what we want. Skywise is agreeable since he is disappointed with what we are finding so far and we are both reasonably handy with woodworking tools. I've found a site that has wooden spindles at a reasonable price so we won't have to buy a lathe and make our own. Finding the "flat" pieces for the head and foot boards and the side rails won't be a problem with the number of home improvement stores on the south side of Indy. The hard part will be finding suitable bedposts for the corners that are tall enough and at a reasonable price as well. I've been looking at the Minwax site and they have a number of products in black. BR, when you have a moment, check out what they have and give me an opinion since you know what I have in my naughty little mind. http://www.minwax.com/ ; The new Classic Black Polyshades looks interesting but I'm not sure if it is exactly what I need. Since my former wood finishing expert -- my mom -- is no longer around to give advice, I need your input! Next summer, my dresser is gonna be stripped down to the naked wood -- cherry -- and finished natural and if I can ever get it out from under the computer that is sitting on it, we have an unfinished computer desk in the bedroom that could be finished to match the bed. Skywise's dresser is painted brown and I don't know what wood it is underneath. If he decides to strip it too I guess we will find out! I saw so many beautiful pieces at the unfinished furniture store that I wanted to get a whole new house just so I could have room for more furniture! Our current living room set is made of solid wood 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's and is very rustic looking which does go well with the medium dark paneling in this part of the house. Yes, I'm thinking of ways to make my living/dining room Gothic too. Of course, having extremely modern things like wide screen televisions, game consoles, stereos and computers sitting around kinda complicates matters. We won't even mention the kitchen....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #1 - Oct 25^th, 2007 at 10:23pm	Print Post
	I picked up a book on furniture building today mainly because it has plans for a Mission style bed in it which could be easily adapted to what we have in our naughty little minds! I'll go over it and see what tools we would need that we don't already have. We will definitely need a drill press and some mortise bits, of course. I'm hoping that is all we are going to need to get. At the moment, I'm thinking that it would probably be easier in the long run to build the bed from scratch than to try to modify an existing bed. Skywise will have the final say since a project like this should be decided on and built by both of us.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #2 - Oct 25^th, 2007 at 11:49pm	Print Post
	I've been to the Rockler's site prowling through their Carvings, Moldings and Corbels section. I'm deep in "wood lust" and I'm getting all kinds of ideas. Fortunately, there is a Rockler's store on Indy's northside so we will hit the place in person when the time comes to pick out ornamentation. Can't wait.....
	« Last Edit: Oct 25^th, 2007 at 11:53pm by Penthesilea »

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Black_Rose Global Moderator Offline Serenity Stick Thumper Posts: 463 Location: Right next to Deirachel Joined: Jan 31^st, 2007 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #3 - Oct 27^th, 2007 at 12:19am	Print Post
	If you don't want to buy some of the tools you will need for this project, I know that Home Depot and some other stores will rent tools. Sometimes that is more cost efficient if it's a tool you will only need for one or two projects, that would cost more to buy than two projects are worth. Black Rose

	"Age and wickedness will always overcome youth and enthusiasm."
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #4 - Oct 27^th, 2007 at 12:36am	Print Post
	Thanks. That might be worth looking into. We haven't made any decisions yet. We have been on the run with this crazy schedule all week and next week is gonna be more of the same but "The Bed Project" is definitely at the top of the "To Do" list!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #5 - Oct 27^th, 2007 at 8:30pm	Print Post
	The Bed Project is a "go"! I'll be ordering the spindles for it later once the "never to be sufficiently sworn at" YouTube that Spirit wants to watch is loaded and viewed. (It was almost completely loaded when the internet connection cut out and she had to start the process over. Grrrr) When I told Skywise that I hadn't ordered them yet, he said "A true bitch would have already ordered them." I told him "This true bitch wants to know if you want poplar or oak!" The design isn't finalized so I will be getting the spindles in both available sizes (9 and 11 inches). Heck, we may end up with a design that uses one size on the head board and the other on the foot board. The hardest thing to find, I think, will be the corner posts so we will be hitting all the home improvement stores/ lumber yards until we find the perfect ones. I'm thinking something in the 4 x 4 range which comes down to about 3.5 square in actual size which should be sturdy enough for what we have in mind. (And by the way, he said "oak." LOL) The rest of the requirements are pretty straightforward and shouldn't be too hard to find.
	« Last Edit: Jan 27^th, 2008 at 4:10pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #6 - Oct 27^th, 2007 at 10:18pm	Print Post
	Well, the spindles are ordered. I got 50 of each size and that should be enough and then some! Once we have them we can get a better idea of what we want in the way of design and we'll have enough to only use the best ones with the nicest grain. I plan to sleep in this bed for the rest of my life and I don't want any imperfection in it that will bug me.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #7 - Oct 31^st, 2007 at 7:28pm	Print Post
	The small -- 9 inches long -- spindles came yesterday and I really expect the long -- 11.25 inches -- ones to arrive today. I used the small ones to figure out the spacing for the head and footboards (3 inch centers) and did some number crunching to get an idea of the size boards we will need for said head and foot boards in order to make them close to the same size as the ones in the project we're using as a guide. The slats in that project are considerably longer than these spindles so we are going to have to compensate. As it is, we will probably assemble the head and foot boards first and then cut the through mortices in the bed posts. That way, we should be sure that everything fits together like it is supposed to!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #8 - Nov 1^st, 2007 at 10:06pm	Print Post
	The long spindles arrived today. Skywise and I will hopefully start looking for wood soon. Like this weekend, maybe. I'd like to get started but if he only has one day off this week -- and that's how it looks right now -- he will decide what we do and he might not feel like running around the south side of Indy looking at wood. It isn't like we are sleeping on the floor while we are hunting for a bed. While flying through Wal-Mart this afternoon I discovered that while our local WM carries Minwax they don't stock any of the "black" shades. No problem. It isn't like we are unfamiliar with the home improvement stores! And there is an ACE Hardware in town too...


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #9 - Nov 4^th, 2007 at 3:40am	Print Post
	We made a quick pass through Menards today. We were in for garden soil -- which we got -- and we looked at potential bed posts. We saw some beautiful posts but they were all too short. We did find some "white wood" posts in the 4 x 4 range in 8 ft lengths at a reasonable price. I'd rather have white oak, poplar or pine if I can find it. We'll look closer when we aren't pressed for time as we were today. I'll admit to being excited about this project. This is gonna be a special bed and I plan to have a lot of fun in it! We're gonna take notes as we go -- in case we ever need to build a bigger one....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #10 - Nov 9^th, 2007 at 10:21pm	Print Post
	It looks like we'll be getting wood for the new computer desk on Sunday and we'll be looking for "bed parts" while we're there too. hehehehehe Once the desk is done, we'll probably get started on the bed. I hope that the weather stays (or gets) reasonably mild while we are working on the bed. The "staining" process calls for lots and lots of ventilation and, for us, that means working on the back porch of the Guest House or outside. It would be nice if it wasn't below freezing with three feet of snow..


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #11 - Nov 16^th, 2007 at 12:21am	Print Post
	Well, we got the last of what we need for the computer desk a.k.a. the Sanctuary Mission Command Center today and I'll be starting work on it around cooking chores next week. I'm going to make the rails first -- that statement will make sense when I can post pics of what I'm doing -- and then cut the slots to fit. (See above about the need for photos..) As we were blasting through Lowes on our quest for the desk's top (a 3/4 in. x 24 in. x 72 in. slab of pine) we passed through the "stairway parts" section and some of the corner posts looked promising for use as bed posts. We're probably going to look into the possibility of ordering them in a "custom" length since the longest of them was too short for a canopy bed. We've figured out the best way -- for us that is -- to join two pieces of wood to make a post that is both long enough and visually interesting but that wouldn't be as strong as having the posts all in one piece. And NO, it doesn't look like the weather isn't going to cooperate when it comes time to apply the stain to the desk. POO!!!!!!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #12 - Nov 29^th, 2007 at 7:52pm	Print Post
	I'm making headway on the Command Center. I'd have the darn thing done by now if I didn't have to do unimportant things like cooking, cleaning, laundry and writing. I'm still trying to decide where to set up my work area for the "staining" part of the process. The weather is NOT going to be warm enough to do it on the back porch at the Guest House. I would prefer NOT to experience hypothermia, thank you very much! But I don't want to fill the Guest HOuse up with fumes either. I might have to set things up in the Guest House kitchen and open the windows.....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #13 - Dec 1^st, 2007 at 2:04am	Print Post
	Well, it is looking like I might have to set up on the back porch whether I really want to or not! There aren't any temperature restrictions on the Minwax except that drying time could be extended. I suppose that I could wait until warm weather rolls around again but I don't want to wait that long! Never mind the inconvenience of removing the computer, taking th desk apart and hauling it out of the basement to finish it and then taking it back downstairs again!! sigh I'll get the thing build and then see how the weather goes. Who knows? Maybe the Gods will send a couple of mid-December 50 degree days along when I need them!


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #14 - Dec 5^th, 2007 at 1:24am	Print Post
	After talking it over, Skywise and I have decided to go ahead, assemble the Command Center and start using it. I'm going to finish the Hecate shrine and then we are going to start working on the bed! [Getting suitable bedposts will be the hardest part, without question.] Then, come Spring and a string of warm, reasonably dry days we will cut loose and start slapping stain on every bare wood surface available! With luck, we will have everything that needs to be stained, stained and finished before the next wave of monsoons hits! And Wal-Mart finally restocked the medium sized metallic silver ric rac so I can FINALLY get the altar cloth finished to my satisfaction! Yep! Things are shaping up nicely....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #15 - Dec 5^th, 2007 at 9:56pm	Print Post
	I've gotten half of the pegs cut and fitted for the Command Center although a couple of them need another session in the vice with the wood rasp! I have one side "test" assembled and it is looking good. We still need to cut the supports to size and I'm hoping we can get that done no later than this weekend but we will have to see how things go. Once we have it assembled and in place, we can turn our attention to getting the new comp and getting the network set up. That -- setting up the network -- might have to wait until after the Rush is over but I hope not! As far as getting the new computer is concerned, all we need is time during the week -- no way are we going to the ritziest mall on Indy's northside on a weekend during Christmas Shopping Season! -- and the certainty that the new comp will have the latest update of Leopard on it. (OS X.5.1)


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #16 - Dec 6^th, 2007 at 7:42pm	Print Post
	I finished cutting and fitting the pegs last night. Skywise brought the desk top down from the Guest house before he left for work so I see exactly how much room the Command Center is going to take out of the basement! I'm going to have to clean out a considerable space as the Command Center is roughly 2 feet wide by 6.5 feet long. Yeah. I like my elbow room! Once it is all assembled, I'll go on to the next wood project -- the shrine -- and then start on a massive bookcase building project as we have a lot more books than we have storage for! First up will be a unit with 4 foot shelves for Moonie's room and then a set of 3 interlocking bookcases that will measure about twelve and half feet when they are finished. And as soon as they are finished, they are likely to be full..... All of this while also working on the bed. I gotta talk to Hecate about getting the dream house.....
	« Last Edit: Dec 6^th, 2007 at 7:51pm by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #17 - Dec 12^th, 2007 at 12:02am	Print Post
	I won't know for sure until everything is set up but I'm thinking that I'm going to need some sort of stand to put the Command Center's computer on. The way the desk is designed, the entire desk top is at "keyboard tray" height which is likely to put the monitor down too low. And rather than use something commercial, modern and probably plastic, I want something wooden, handmade and "wow" if you know what I mean. The basic shape isn't a problem and I have a nice selection of suitable wood. It is the embellishment of it that is on my mind...


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #18 - Dec 12^th, 2007 at 10:53pm	Print Post
	I realized today that every bit of equipment in the Command Center is going to need a dust cover since the walls and floor in the basement are unsealed concrete and we have the cats' litter boxes down there too. We're in the process of replacing all of the open boxes (total of six) with enclosed ones but that will take a little time. And there is the matter of the litter dust that has already escaped over the years. Since I have a large stockpile of black trigger poplin to work with, I'm thinking about suitable embellishments for said dust covers. NO, I AM NOT going to the office supply store and buy a bunch of yucky plastic covers! Gods forbid that if I need waterproof covers for the computers, I will have MUCH bigger problems than wet computers! In that event, the roof is likely to be gone.... We have the desk set up and will be using it unfinished until the weather is warm and dry enough to stain it outside or on the porch. Skywise isn't looking forward to hauling it out of the basement but I pointed out that the individual pieces will be fairly easy to handle and it will be much better to do the staining and finishing with proper air circulation....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #19 - Dec 14^th, 2007 at 12:54am	Print Post
	I did a little fine tuning on the Command Center this evening. There is a slight problem -- fixable with the wood rasp -- but since it does not affect the strength or stability of the desk, I'm going to leave it until we disassemble it for staining and finishing. Working on it right now would be more trouble than it is worth. It'll keep and it is going to have to. Right now, I'm thinking about the design for the dust covers. Not so much the physical design which is pretty much determined by the shape of the equipment but the decorative designs. Since I found that trim site, the sky is the limit as far as decorative trims are concerned but I'm thinking about something more personal. Something that reflects the changes that Skywise and I are making in our lives while preserving what is best of the past. I'm getting philosophical all over the place tonight! But I suppose that working on such a design could help me order my thoughts.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #20 - Dec 17^th, 2007 at 1:59am	Print Post
	I am currently sitting at the Command Center with the computer in front of me. I won't have to build an additional stand for it. The monitor tilts so I can adjust it so it is perfect. And it is. Now I'm thinking about little "Goth" touches that I can add. While I was typing this Skywise came downstairs and installed our personalized screen saver -- including a picture I love of The War Queen and The Black Huntress when Sassy was a tiny kitten. Since it wasn't a digital photograph, the scanner must be operational topside....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #21 - Jan 26^th, 2008 at 8:10pm	Print Post
	Well, we're going to be starting on the bed soon. I'm going to be "crunching some numbers" and making out a mill list so we will be ready to go shopping when the "spirit moves us." The bed "pattern" I'm using as a model calls for slats where we will be using the above mentioned spindles and the slats called for are a LOT longer than the spindles so I have to figure out how wide the planks in the head and foot boards have to be to make up that difference. The rest of the measurements I can take from the original. The hardest part will be finding posts to make the bedposts from. I HOPE that we don't have to special order them. Right now, we're hoping that we can get everything in oak. I'm also starting to give thought to the nice, heavy, rich, decadent bed curtains that are an absolute MUST for this project and how I intend to hang them. The bedposts will be solid wood -- as things stand now -- so that won't be a problem. The problem will be the rods. One idea is really heavy/sturdy curtain rods. Another is one and a half inch diameter wooden rods -- like the rods in closets. Once we get started, I'll have to see what is available and puzzle out how the different options would work. The last problem to tackle will be getting it INTO our "not any bigger than the law allows" bedroom! We might have to take everything, or almost everything, out of the room in order to get the bed in there and have space enough to assemble it. We can probably get by with leaving the large bookcase in there but the dressers, the bedside tables, the cedar chest, the computer and small bookcase will likely have to be taken out until the bed is assembled in place. DEFINITELY a job for on of Skywise's days off! Ah well, first things first! Mill list....


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #22 - Jan 28^th, 2008 at 2:55am	Print Post
	I think that the bedpost problem could be solved. We were in one of the home improvement stores this afternoon and Skywise found solid cedar lamp posts. They were taller than we need but cutting them to length at the bottom wouldn't be a problem.They only had three of them. Otherwise, I might have just gone ahead and bought them! At least we know what to look and ask for when we go hunting them.


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #23 - Mar 18^th, 2008 at 6:51pm	Print Post
	I thought I'd better update this. Skywise and I were talking about the bed a couple of nights ago. We'll probably be getting the wood we need for the bed when our tax refund arrives. The lion's share of it will be stashed in the savings account for next winter's propane bills but with it and the tax rebate that we'll get, we should have enough for savings, the bed and to do some improvements on the Guest House. It's gonna be a busy summer but I'm looking forward to snuggling down in my Gothic canopy bed! [After some vigorous naughty activity to properly bless it, of course!!]


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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: Gothic Decorating Reply #24 - Mar 24^th, 2008 at 4:07pm	Print Post
	The tax refund arrived Friday and we will be heading into town tomorrow to deposit it. I'll be keeping out enough to get us started on wood buying. I'll tuck it in an envelope with the mill list so I'll be ready to head out when the "wood buying bug" bites! We're going to be taking it slow. Skywise is working 6 day weeks and that doesn't leave us a lot of time for much of anything and... ahem... "naughty stuff" takes priority over all "optional" activities!! He's taking 2 weeks of vacation in May so I'm hoping we can do some work on it then. I was lying in bed this morning thinking about how to hang the curtains and how very nice it will be to have both black window curtains and black bed curtains keeping that pesky sunlight out in the mornings!


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