We find Lee and Amanda walking outside the hotel.
Oh and I confess, I watched this ep right through the other night – while I was doing other things, only half paying attention to it, but it did help me to get a very general gist of where things are headed.. I love to watch things unfold, but I need to balance that with writing for the blog.. So in the end.. I half watched it lol.. sort of listened to it actually.. lol! honest!!
Anyway, Amanda updates Lee on her breakfast.
Amanda: Well, he’s a nice man, but he sure isn’t very happy.
Lee: Amanda, we may be the best thing that ever came into his life. Now, he said Carla was involved with one of his regional managers…
[Yeah.. I’m gettin it. Marvin’s a nice guy. He needs Lee and Amanda’s help. But.. I’m not feelin it! I’m kinda feeling like Marvin has made his bed here.. and is partly responsible. But of course, the innocent Marvin’s patrons who eat the colossus and die? well they need Lee and Amanda’s help! Oh and I would like to see the baddies get what’s coming to them! Hmm I guess it’s worth me continuing to watch 
]
Amanda: Yeah. You think it was the guy who used to be an agent?
Lee: That’s my guess. Eddie stumbled into whatever they’re up to… Carla tried to have him killed, and I’m betting she had some help, too. She and Barry had an argument last night with Cecil Bendix, out in the parking lot, right under my window.
[and I thought Amanda’s room had a great view of the parking lot. I guess all rooms do!]
Amanda: They did? [ridiculous and shocking isn’t it?!]
Lee: Yeah.
Amanda: What were they fighting about?
Lee: I’m not sure… Bendix was back-pedalling on something real big. Meanwhile, Billy came up with some unsettling info.
Hey, Amanda wore this jacket when she told Lee to pull the blue wire. Any other time we’ve seen it? Anyone?
Amanda: What’s that?
Lee: Bendix served four years at Fort Detrick… the U.S. Army’s R&D chemical warfare center.
Amanda: Well, you don’t think this has anything to do with chemical warfare?
Lee : Let’s hope not…. Come on.
Lee opens the car door for Amanda..
and then closes it (quite gentlemanly no?!) and walks around to his car door and the scene ends here.
Back to Marvellous Marvin’s HQ at Columbia pictures!
(Oh well.. at least I’m amused by that!)
This time, we are in the factory area.
Carla (off camera): All the food and material necessary to run and operate a Marvin’s franchise is prepared here.
Carla: Every patty, every bun, every ounce of secret sauce is produced here and then shipped out, almost daily, to nearly eighteen hundred locations in the fifty states. It’s a big operation… and it’s costly…(no kidding. We see Lee and Amanda tagging along at the back of the tour)
… but it allows us to control both quality and consistency…
… so that, wherever one of our customers orders a Marvin’s burger, he gets exactly what he expects. (Marvin’s customers are apparently all men..
And yeah they get what they expect: heart disease, diabetes, stroke.. sorry can’t help myself!) Oh dear.. excuse Iwsod’s narkiness!! It’s in overdrive!!
(Lee and Amanda look up and see Bendix climbing down the stairs.)
Carla (continues, off camera): These freezer compartments are one of the secrets to Marvin’s continued dominance in the industry… (fades out)
Lee (to Amanda): All right, uhhh… cover me if you can.
Lee walks off behind Amanda.. Amanda seems a little 
perturbed.. by being left alone? but she rallies and seems to give herself a fast pep talk – come on girl! Lee is counting on ya!
Amanda moves up closer toward the tour group.
Carla (continues, off camera): A few years ago, ummm…
… we were pioneers in the area of flash freezing, which is a technique that allows us to freeze our food products, literally minutes after they’ve been prepared…
(Hmm so much detail over freezing blocks of meat.. surely this can’t be umm information we umm might need to know?! Iwsod slaps herself: pay attention!)
…For example … once activated, these units can freeze up to fourteen tons of beef patties rock solid in less than twenty minutes.
[I can’t help it.. gotta do a gifmeme of this!]
…Now, if you just step over here, we’ll take a look at our processing unit.
(We cut to Lee sneaking up the stairs..)
Lee heads toward Cecil Bendix’s office.. taking out his lock pick,
Lee opens the door and heads inside.
The shot cuts to a close-up of one of the photos, which shows a lab room – the one Lee is in.
Lee, takes out the photos Eddie left for him.. tiny photos! or ahem – Huge hands!!! HAAA
Lee starts comparing them with his surroundings.. lol it’s like Eddie has left him a trail to follow… Lee follows the series of photos like they are a little guided tour..
Much better than Carla’s!
Lee opens a few drawers..
My oh my.. a room with a view!!! (oh hey that movie had a character called ‘Cecil’! Aie.. focus iwsod! sorry fading in and out here…klabhaebaeb)
Somehow through this photos Lee is led to look under that space and find the vials..
Hmm maybe he and Eddie had a secret code for that too!
Lee picks up one of the vials and I guess takes it with him..
Next thing we cut back to the factory tour..
Carla: Now, the next area we’re gonna cover is the patty-pressing machinery.
[Look out Patty! don’t get too close to that machine!! Stuff of nightmares!!!]
Barry approaches Carla.. so Carla halts the tour a moment and they talk quietly.
We see Amanda appear, at the back of the tour group.
The shot cuts to Lee
Amanda notices Lee will be trying to get back down the stairs without being seen..
Carla and Barry are still talking, while Lee starts heading down the stairs, halfway down he notices he might be spotted.. Umm why didn’t you check before you started going down the stairs? 
Ohhh I think maybe he has confidence in Amanda to deal with it! lol.. I’ll go with that!
[How they don’t notice Lee I don’t know.. but also how they don’t notice the moving boxes I don’t know! Or do they see Lee?]
Just as Lee was about to be seen by Carla and Barry (or intercepted by Barry.. not sure – what do you think?), Amanda knocks over some boxes and they fall on Barry (what a shame they were empty and didn’t hurt).
Amanda (to Barry): Oh, I’m so sorry! Did that hurt you?
[I bet Amanda wishes!] This creates enough of a distraction to give Lee the chance to get down the stairs unnoticed. Or did he?!
Great covering for Lee Amanda!!!!!
Amanda: Oh, my gosh.
Lee: Oh, my gosh, what happened?
[whahahahaaa!!!! Lee said ‘Oh my gosh!!!’ Oh.. my… Gosh!!!!].
Amanda (over Lee): I’m really very sorry.
Lee: Amanda?
Amanda (waving her hands around): Well, I… I leaned up against the boxes and I…
Lee helps Barry with the boxes.. Yes all that air that they are full of is very heavy! and besides.. Barry is a total lightweight of a man! I suspect in this baddie combo, Carla is the one who does all the heavy lifting 
Anyway.. Amanda apologises again.. and the scene ends here. Okay guys.. gotta stop here.. anything about this bit you’d like to share? do tell!! byee for now!
"Just walk with me.." 
Hiya iwsod! It’s finally time for another BJo SMK binge. Aaaah. I hope I can get through the rest of this episode.
Ugh – I love Lee, but not that plastic blue jacket he’s wearing. I don’t think I liked it even in the 80s. And I don’t remember seeing Amanda’s jacket before. I don’t doubt that we have, it’s just that it’s pretty unremarkable.
Bwahahaha! Love the Carla gif!! So true! I guess when she got ‘involved’ with Marvin a couple of years ago it was for the money? Power?
I must say that I am very impressed with the SMK folk here. This lab that Lee goes into looks like a real lab! Between the enclosed balance, the glass flasks, binder manuals, squirt bottles with those little hook-shaped nozzle things and the general clutter of the lab bench – it take me back to my working days! And the layout, colors, and cardboard boxes fit right in too! But none of the labs I worked in had a secret vial compartment…
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Not that you knew of…;)
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Mwahahahaha! True!
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My oh my Carla pulls the most frightening expressions…..even when she’s trying to be nice! I shall comfort myself by admiring the back of Lee’s jeans. Such nice pockets he has 😛
The whole boxes ruse was lame, lame, lame. I think Lee needs to go back to Starion One and brush up on his covert op skills as his sneaking around trying to not get noticed was an epic fail!
And I can’t decide how I feel about that blue jacket of his. one minute I like it the next I can’t stand it……
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Yeah, really nice pockets. Funny how we both notice that, huh? Much better than that plastic blue jacket IMO 🙂
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Hi heartsmk! I’m new too! Everyone seems so welcoming!
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Hiya Amy – hope you are feeling welcomed 🙂
I was meaning to ask you – how long did it take you to read through the JWWM ‘back catalogue’? 🙂 I’m curious!!
Anyone want to have a guess? maybe Amy can tell give us a clue.. lol.. I’m going to guess 2 months.. Am I close? 🙂
Bye!
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Ooh! I’ll play 🙂 I’ll guess one month.
And Amy, I think you came on board while I was busy and not on the blog much, so please let me say Welcome!, albeit belatedly! I hope you have fun here 🙂
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I’m going to put forward some empirical evidence: took me about 6 weeks to catch up (rewatching episodes with accompanying blog entries). However, I did catch up somewhat obsessively, and I came on board at the start of the third season so I’m guessing 7 to 8 weeks.
On a side note, Carla’s jacket is truly hideous!!
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Well- I kind of cheated. I have been on maternity leave and about a month ago I decided to watch all the eps in order. I have not seen one in years. I found scotch thoughts and window reflections near the end of season 1 and jwwm near the end of season 2. (This was about a week apart). So I cheated and went back and read my favorite scenes from jwwm in the first two seasons. But I have read everything so far for season 3. Maternity leavr ends Monday, but I am a teacher so I only have 4 weeks left of school.
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Another teacher..yay! Sorry to say I only have three days left. Well, not sorry for me…Congratulations on your new little one!!
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Congrats on the new baby! And I am so glad that you found my stories and then you were led you here!! That is fun! You mentioned that you watched all the eps in order… can I ask what order you watched them in? I am always wondering how episode order effects viewers experience of the overall SMK story. Enjoy the end of the school year, your new little one and SMK!!!
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haaa yes details heartsmk! 🙂
I too am fascinated by episode order – though I’d say the heartsmk experimental condition here was window reflections/scotch thoughts + new order..
and therefore not a true test of the new order – we need ‘new order’ without the fan fic to support it 🙂
lol sorry!!! I can’t switch it off.. I think Morley’s fan fic would be a confounding variables! Learjet? KC? BJo? (anyone else researchie? or as horrible histories puts it ‘sciencie’?) am I on the right track here? Bye!
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Maybe we should start a thread on Neds and we could decide what order we would watch first and make comments about how we see the story unfolding. And then we could choose another order and repeat the exercise. Personally, I would love to know if watching in the order of my stories and reading them after each episode adds anything to how the viewer experiences the story.
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Yes, iwsod…Scotch Thoughts and Window Reflections are definitely confounding variables!! I guess my comment above puts me in the ‘sciencie’ category – hahaha!
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congrats on your new bubba Amy 🙂 so glad smk came into your life when you had some time 🙂 and only 4 weeks of school?! you timed that well!!! 🙂
‘Cheated’? there is no cheating – there are no rules! 🙂 tee hee..
WEll, eek! I mean, other than the agreement on JWWM to not jump ahead of where the blog is up to in the story.. lol!
hey let me guess, you didn’t go hunting for the Francine questions Rollo scene.. or my personal least favourite – the episode the artful dodger (which I call the artless dodger).. oh dear.. let me balance that – I am guessing you hunted for the wedding scene in Ship of Spies (swoony!!) and.. the kiss in Sudden Death?!
Did I guess right?!
Hey BJo! you gonna have a go guessing too?! tee hee..
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Am a bit late to this party, but I’ll guess…TGTNeighborhood, TACMKid, and TLODGeisterschloss? We get to see bare torso Lee AND wet Lee… tee hee!
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hooo haaaa! Come on Amy! Please tell us what were your fave scenes you went back to? (err prior to the current episode on this blog One Bear dances of course 🙂 ) 🙂
I’m guessing BJo you’ve just listed your faves??!! 🙂
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This is such a weird little scene when you are taking a close look like this. The little tour group is just so random looking. I’m not too sure what I would expect a Marvelous Marvin’s franchiser to look like, but I don’t think they are it and those hats perched on a few random heads just look ridiculous. And I could almost forgive the empty boxes if they weren’t sealed shut. Some companies who do a lot of shipping will have a set of empty boxes prepared so that they can just fill them when orders come in. It saves time on having to prepare them otherwise. But these boxes have already been closed.
I think I will just slip upstairs and help out Lee by watching his backside..uh…I mean back. He needs someone to observe in that area since Amanda is on the lookout downstairs.
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Hahaha! That’s good of you valeriejw…very good of you 😉
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Hello new friends!! I just started rewatching smk about a month or so ago and found your awesome blog at the same time!! I have absolutely loved catching up on past posts and comments (still have a lot to go!) and just wanted to set up an account so I could join the convo. I sure do love this show and love all the things we can learn about “real life” and relationships by analyzing all aspects of the show and the way the characters interact with each other. Excited to be joining fellow smk fans!!
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Welcome heartsmk! You have found the right place to discuss all things SMK and analyzing them to the smallest detail! So glad you found us and wanted to join in the conversation 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more from you!
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Hi, Heartsmk! (Jestress smiles and waves.) Nice to meet you. 🙂
Have you seen the forum at Nedlindger’s yet? There’s fun stuff there, too.
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So nice to meet both of you BJo and Jestress!! And…so much looking forward to this journey! 🙂 AND…no, I haven’t been to Nedlinger’s yet! What is the site for that?? THANKS!!
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Hi Heartsmk and welcome! If you look on the right side of the blog, you’ll find the heading “Blogroll”. Neds is the first link under this.
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Welcome heartsmk! Sooooo glad you found us and have jumped into the fun
(yes kiwismh – the madness! 🙂 )
This blog is focused on walking through the episodes, sticking to the episodes as they unfold, not jumping ahead, and experiencing it as we would have watching it for the first time 30 odd years ago..
Whereas Nedlindger’s has a different purpose and is basically whatever this blog isn’t 🙂
A blog isn’t a good format for people to have the freedom to create topics of conversation and ever find them again lol.. if they are not directly related to the blog post – whereas a forum has more freedom for people to create topics and discuss what they want when they want – and to revisit these conversations easily.
Hope that makes some sense!
Anyway.. long story short- JWWM is for going mad with exploring the episode and where the story is at.. Nedlindger’s is for everything else 🙂 Both are for FUN! 🙂
Hey everyone! Hope you are all well! 2 more days and my current deadline is done.. should have a little more smk time then. Hoorah I say! Yes.. I need more time to debate the pros and cons of whether Lee should be wearing pyjamas.. rofl.. I love this place 🙂
bye for now!!
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YES!!!! In two days my life will also be much more free! Am I crazy to be dreaming of more leisurely SMK time?
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Possibly, but it’s not a bad kind of craziness, and you have plenty of company. 😉
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well said 🙂
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If you are crazy for that then we are crazy together 🙂
My major assignment is in the bag.. one of the courses I’m studying is on a break (yep I’m doing multiple.. don’t ask!)
I’m about to start trying to learn speed reading- seriously!
I see on my list get back to Morley’s window reflections and scotch thoughts!! 🙂 whoo hooo!
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Whoo hooo indeed!
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Welcome to the madness…err… I mean, the blog…, heartsmk! 😀
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So glad you found us, heartsmk — welcome, and enjoy!
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Hi heartsmk and welcome, welcome, welcome. So glad you’ve joined in.
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Welcome heartsmk! I love it when new people say “hi”. It always makes the fun seem even more wonderful. So glad you set up an account and introduced yourself and I look forward to you sharing what you have discovered on this walk.
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Hi Heartsmk! Make sure you have a helmet (for all the swooning) and a drool bucket ready for gorgeous photos of Lee that abound around here. Welcome!
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Wow, with all the slapping and the pressing, I’m finding this a pretty brutal episode! How ’bout some Patty-cake instead for a welcome change??
I’m feeling rather stupid here. I knew Lee had the pix from Eddie, but I never realized they paved a trail I figured that they just confirmed for Lee that he was in the right place. (Duh!) Thanks for pointing that out, Iwsod!
I love how when a scene is less riveting, the conversations ramble! Add to the fun 🙂
I do think Barry was on his way to challenge Lee (as the “security” on the tour), but Amanda’s quick thinking distracted him. As for the box ruse itself, well, a tad lame in my book since, as was noted, the boxes were clearly empty and so not a very exciting scene.
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LOL Iwsod, love your gifmeme or Carla. 😀
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Awh thanks Kiwismh! I put it just on neds because I didn’t want to be swamping JWWM posts with my memes.. this ep’s plot has made me distracted and I’ve put in more than I usually do.. sooo thought another Carla meme would be a bit much
HERE is the link to the gifmeme of Carla’s ‘4 steps to success’ if anyone is interested – and I use to think smk was such a family show! eek!!
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Frivolous fashion notes :
Love, love, love that jacket of Amanda’s. I might have to knit one… although it looks felted, which ramps have the degree of difficulty probably well beyond my level of expertise. I shall add it to my list of things to investigate one day when I don’t have to work for a living and have all the time in the world to pursue my every whim. Hmmm, wonder what the jacket will look like on an 85 year old kiwismh…
Meanwhile, I’ve definitely gone off that blue vinyl jacket of Lee’s. It’s kinda Duran Duran-esque. So not a good look for a super-cool handsome secret agent.
But those jeans – whooo haaaa! Iwsod, this post should have come with a warning for all JWWM readers to fit their swoon helmets before proceeding… thud… thud…. thud…
😎 As a trained professional I managed to stay on my feet and even managed to contemplate whether they were Lee jeans or Levis. This required a considerable degree of study – I do like to be thorough – but I was unable to come to any provable conclusion. I did enjoy the study though. 😉
Amanda’s hair looks lovely. Lee’s is “product” perfect.
And just when you thought Barry couldn’t lose any more credibility, he decides to wear a jacket with elbow patches. Oh, Barry, you’re such a disappointment on so many levels…
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What about Lee’s shirt, kiwismh? I love it. Had to look hard to get past the jacket but it was worth it.
(I quite enjoy listening to my “greatest hits of Duran Duran” these days – is that a more embarrassing admission than a penchant for Abba??)
I really really wish Amanda would take of that Marvellous Marvin button. It’s been there for two days…
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The only positive use I can think of for that shirt is as a blank canvas for a game of naughts and crosses.
Sorry Learjet, I cannot share your enthusiasm for the shirt.
I don’t know what Lee was thinking when he packed for this trip – the excess hair product, the pj’s, the robe, the vinyl jacket, that shirt (the pattern also reminds me of deer fencing … or graph paper… )
Ok, kiwismh, think of something positive to say about the shirt… ummm…
well… it’s nicely sewn – it must have been very difficult to make the squares match up exactly down the button panel and the collar. 😀
Fortunately the jeans are sensational and are sufficiently captivating that one can overlook the not so delightful jacket and shirt combo in this scene.
PS. I’ll admit I still like Abba – their talent has stood the test of time.
On a different matter – are those really Lee’s hands holding the photos? I don’t think so. The hands holding the vial look more like Lee’s hands.
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Lee should have packed: one pair of jeans, one t-shirt and one pair of boxers for sleeping. Plus clean underwear, a comb and shampoo. I think we can agree a well-fitting t-shirt (in blue) would have been better than the shirt.
The thumb holding the vial – the nail has clear varnish 😦 😦
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😯 Gakkk!! Say it aint so, Learjet! Are you sure it’s not just highly buffed?
Nail polish? That’s even worse than guy-liner!
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Kiwismh wrote:
Nail polish?! hmmm.. ‘Male’ polish? 😉
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You pack for Lee next time, Learjet. 😉
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Abba is awesome! No shame there! Between them and John Denver, the 70’s are alive and well in my home 🙂
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I love Abba too, Duran Duran not so much.
Lee and Amanda sure haven’t left the thoughts and questions and failed attempts a some furthering of their relationship cause any bumps in their partnership. They seem to be just fine together this morning. And they really work off each other seamlessly now. I love it that Lee says “Oh my gosh.” I wonder if Amanda noticed that?
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I love Amanda’s jacket too!! So much so, in fact, that I went hunting online to see if I could find one like it. These were the two closest I could find, but I still like hers the best: https://www.christopherandbanks.com/color-block-sherpa-hood-cardigan-sweater-0037507229.html?camp=PLA:google:BMDi+-+Shopping+-+NB+-+Acquisition:Misses&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjOrtBRCcARIsAEq4rW62AjfdUstXyp0T3eN0M7atNd1NVSgPzdHfq7UngNgFTK5xvrF87E4aAgZnEALw_wcB and https://www.amazon.com/Womens-Sweater-Cardigans-Sleeve-Lightweight/dp/B07NYYD6BG?th=1&psc=1
If anyone finds something closer, please share because I really want that jacket!!!
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Well, I love the ones you posted! Darn it that I can’t go shopping this month though. Time to save up for Christmas gifts. Haven’t seen any jackets like hers, but I’d get one or two of these in a heartbeat! Especially that first one!
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