==I love my husband, and here is one reason why.....

==Place: Canadian Tire
==Reason: Purchase Cake Boss mini baking pans
==Realization: They have none left...(fluted)
==Reaction: Shrug shoulders and continue browsing
==Great find: RED coffeemaker...and I have "wanted" one  forever
==Action: Seek out hubby, who is now in the "Man Stuff Dept". Show him the find of the season.
==He: You already have a coffeemaker!
==Me: But it is not red!
==He: We have no room for another coffeemaker.
==Me: But there's only ONE LEFT!!
==He: There will be others. Why don't you wait till the other one stops working?
==Me: Never mind. (Puts the coffeemaker on a stack of toilet tissue and walks away)
==He: (catching up) Look! If you want it that badly, get it!
==Me: I don't want it any longer.

This is where I exhibit all the  qualities of the perfect wife, bite my tongue, and refuse to mention the electronic toys "He" brings home from time to time, and the only reaction he gets from me is a raised eyebrow! (Well, two raised eyebrow, I never learned to raise only one.  But it sounds good! )
We proceed to the check-out with my one bag of sugar [really] and a turkey baster.

==He: Go get the coffeemaker...
==Me: I really don't want it any longer...I have already forgotten all about it!
We check out, go to the car, and drive home. The atmosphere is pleasant and the CM is no longer an issue...with me. Once home, I eye my brewmaster balefully, and proceed to make supper. I honestly did not TRY to burn the ribs....
Supper/clean-up/ and I decide to have an early night, do some socializing on my LT, read, and go to sleep earlier than usual.  I feel the book drop from my hands, and I sleep like a baby till 6:30 am. 

Funny! I thought I smelled coffee...Naw!! I doze for another ten minutes. Get up at 6:40, stumble to the kitchen in the dark, see a strange blue light on my kitchen counter, flip on the light, and...there it sits!! My coveted RED COFFEEMAKER..brewed coffee just a-waiting for me to pour the first cup! AHHHHHHH. Sooooo good!!
I make myself comfy at the kitchen table with my coffee, my Bible, and begin my daily (mostly) ritual. I am halfway thru my study, when hubby comes down the hallway! 
When the hugs, kisses, and thank yous are dispensed of, and I am on my second cup, I ask..."Why?"

****************HIS STORY**************

"I settled down to watch the hockey game after you went to bed. Habs won!! Then I got to thinking...you know , I do this a lot!! You want to change something, make something, buy something, and immediately my analytical mind takes over, and I am filled with reasons why it is not possible/practical/ financially feasible for you to do whatever. Then you are manipulated into believing you really didn't want to do it anyway! (This is true...it all of a sudden doesn't seem too important anymore.) So I quietly slipped out and got to CTC just before closing.

And couldn't find the coffeemaker! The staff checked the computer, they had one left, and he would check in the back. He returns empty-handed...wearing a puzzled look! No red coffeemaker! But the computer says.....

I am by this time standing at the check-out with a red coffeemaker in my hand. It was still sitting on the stack of toilet tissue... I hand it to the checker. She admires it. I tell her my story. She sighs "I just wish I had a coffeemaker that WORKED."  She checks it thru, bags it and I leave the store.

I  returned to my car. Driving towards home, I pondered the scene at the checkout. The checker's words haunted me. Here I was, buying something I didn't need, just for the color match, when someone else didn't have one at all, at least not one that worked properly. . I turned the car around and returned to the store, hoping I wouldn't find it closed. 

By this time all the staff was sweeping/cleaning/tidying for the next day. I went to the small appliance section, chose an OSTER on-sale coffeepot, went to the check-out, the same checker returned to the till to help me, she gave me a puzzled look, checked it out and passed it to me.  I then returned it to her, along with the receipt, and said: "This is for you!".

The look on her face was incredible, as she tried giving it back, saying she couldn't ...she really couldn't...but I insisted...and she gratefully accepted it. 

****************Me again**********************

===And that, my friends, is one of the many reasons I love my husband! The red coffeemaker? I would have lived without it, and not resented it. ==

 He would never have shared  this story ....but I am proud to.....before his analytical mind tells me I shouldn't!!=== :-)

===I spent the afternoon "winterizing" my shrubs and plants. I watered in my baby trees, transplanted some flowers, thinned out some others. As I worked, my thoughts reviewed the past 5 months that we have been in Nfld.
 Our drive to Hant's Harbour in July to help friends who are renovating an old house to use as a summer home. We were to help with the siding and some outside painting. It rained! But we got a good visit in, and managed to do some sight-seeing as well. Our plans to re-visit St. Johns never materialized. We spent most of the summer doing home jobs, which is exactly why we live in a condo in AB to avoid having to do! Go figure! 
We had a lot of company this summer as well. Three lots from AB. Family from NS. My brother and family from CBS...who I had hoped to visit at his home, and that didn't happen either. I am thankful we did see each other earlier in the summer. My two brothers in Lamaline work away for months at a time, so our visits are too rare. Last evening our young nephew and his girlfriend joined us for supper. That was so special...and we enjoyed every moment with them. 
Most of the summer was centered around Art's brother who was seriously ill last Spring, and spend six weeks in the hospital. His recovery was slow...and Art drove to Grand Bank at least twice a week to spend the day with him. Then, as Howard felt stronger, he would drive to our house in Garnish and spend the day. Last month he stayed with us for a week, helping with vertical siding and whatever else needed doing. I worried about him over-doing it, but he seemed to enjoy being busy and the bonding of the brothers was important to them both. 
My sister and I saw each other twice weekly for dinner at each other's home..we made that a tradition five years ago. I did not see some friends I had planned to see...even promised. I apologize to Mary, Bess, and Marguerite especially.
When my back started hurting and it became an effort to stand, I walked to the back of the house and stood gazing out over the Bay. The calmness and cerulean blue of the summer ocean have passed on, and now the seas are a dark, nearly black at times, blue, and the whitecaps are racing toward the shore.   It is a beautiful sight. I drink it all in. This image has to feed my hunger all winter till next Spring when, God willing, we will return again. I tell myself the wind is causing my eyes to tear up...but why the heaviness in my heart? In two days we leave this Island, this town, that we both love. When we see our daughter, her husband, and our two precious g-children, when we settle in at home, see our "western friends" again, then this vision will recede to the back of my mind, not to disappear, but to make way for what will then be "home" for the next six months. Within a week, we will have adapted to our day by day life. We are so very blessed to have a foot in each province, and to feel equally at home in either.

I wish that I had known, I would have moved for sure
And moved in with my sister , a short jaunt round the shore.
"Time we did some renos" and "New windows are a must!
Gotta change out the meter box" the thing is full of rust."
Off to the local hardware store, it was a long week-end
Siding  was on special.. perfect time to spend!"
Should we choose a green or grey,  or a blending of the two?"
I asked my pumped up hubby who replied "It's up to you".
I hit my hand against my head, I must have lost my mind.
A tiny lapse of memory , cos hubby's colorblind!
The front door frame is quite a mess.., it looks as if it's rotten.
Throw  a new door into the mix, now, what have we forgotten?
 Oh! Those "little" incidentals,  like nails and tape and screws.
We call Kenny, our favorite go-to guy ..Hurray! He's free..can't lose!
The project got off of the ground , north side stripped and clad
In it's new colored siding! "Oh good," sez me, "I'm glad.
 This will be a piece of cake." We moved round to the east,
Popped in a bedroom window, and then...we met "THE BEAST".
First the planks came off the deck, but that was no big deal.
They had to do the bottom half even tho' they had to kneel
Being very careful not to bump their heads.
They got it done and then moved on to the south wall , and I sensed dread
When Kenny muttered, frowned, and kicked the wall beneath the sill
 Of the living room window, and in my mind I heard the till..
Ka ching ka ching ka ching!!
I knew the fun was over as siding and boards were tossed
Over the rail and into my shrubs, I protested, but knew I'd lost..
These guys were in no mood to care where debris found it's temporary home
Cos the south wall was the "weather side",  high winds and salt spray foam.
Then Mother Nature took a turn . Rain and winds prevailed.
But much too late to change our minds, because that ship had sailed.
So..work one day, then two days off, talk about a PAIN!
I fussed, I fumed, but was plainly told "We can't work in wind and rain"
The job that should have been finished in seven days at least
Took three full weeks or longer before the hammering ceased.
I can hear it now "You must be glad==Your house is done at last."
Well, no, not exactly, nothing moves that fast.
There still remains a lot to do , the finishing work still lingers
Replace the skirting, some vertical siding, no rest for calloused fingers
The planks that we took off the deck must be replaced as well
The inside work on the windows, as well as one door (and doorbell).
Gyproc and plaster in spaces where the hammering caused HUGE cracks
By the time we leave this province we both will need new backs
Some neighbors helped us out a lot, they hauled away the wood.
A nice man asked for windows and we gave him what we could.
Still, the yard remains a mess and it will till we call it a day
Hopefully the storms feel sorry for us and veer away from Fortune Bay!
I'm sorry...was I complaining? You know I never would :-)
Everyone's done their very best..but still..I really would
Like everything finished before we leave so in Spring, when we return
We can enjoy the fruits of our labor, more renos we will spurn!
Uh..I just remembered, I can sometimes be a tad dense!
When we return, I've been promised that I can have a new fence!!== :-)

===Saved by...the bell??

***This is a "borrowed " blog....but I liked it so well I want to share it....vt***

Saved by…..the bell?

August 21, 2013 

Noooo. Not the bell. By grace. Amazing grace…
What’s grace, you ask?
It’s getting something that we don’t deserve.
It’s a gift.
A”get out of jail free” card.
A pardon.
There isn’t anything we can do to get grace…it isn’t earned.
God can’t possibly love us anymore than he already does. So, there should never be guilt-driven deeds, tithes, works, etc. going on in our lives.

“For it is by grace you have been saved , through faith-and this is not from yourselves-it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast”

~Ephesians 2:8-9

So often we can get “religion” and “grace” intertwined….but truly, they aren’t the same. In fact, I get the “he bee jee bees” when people label me as a “religious” person- because I’m not. I’m saved by grace, not religion. I’m not religious at all, actually.
What I know is this-Because I love Jesus, what He did for me and continues to do for me, I can’t help myself but to read his word daily, be obedient to Him, pray to Him throughout the day, teach my children to love Him, tell others about Him, and {this is a really fun part} love others~ because when I love others, I am loving Him. 

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”

~Matthew 25:40

I encourage you, sweet friends….to stop… relax…. bask in the knowledge that if you were the only person on Earth- Jesus would have died for just YOU.
That’s really something.
That’s everything.
Give of yourself… because you can’t help yourself…to be motivated by the deepest love there ever was.

++I am a HUMAN BEING!!++

===As you are now

==so once was I

==my parents chose

==I would not die

==As I am now,

 I pray you'll be

==precious life

==alive and free!!===

**You are loved, little one..**.

I am a Human Being

Today's modern science reveals that at the moment of conception (also known as fertilization), a genetically distinct organism comes into existence

. Section 223 of the Canadian Criminal Code states that a child becomes a human being ONLY at the moment of complete birth. 

.

 ‎===this is not the time for fence-sitting. This is not the time for "Let someone else do it". This is the time to show your support for the as yet unborn. I am always amazed, and hurt, when friends say.."Oh, I do not support abortion, but..." Now it has progressed to killing the "just born". And why? BECAUSE WE DID NOTHING TO FIGHT THE ABORTION ISSUE!!

• • Listen up friends---the moment you get an illness that no one wants to treat/deal with/etc....this WILL be you! Or your Mom, Dad, friend...it won't matter!! God made us higher than the animals (yes, He did ). The governing world had placed us beneath the animals. They have ppl fighting for them...even to the point of removing the livlihoods of thousands...and we let it happen!!! I include myself in all this....NO MORE!!! Now is our chance.!! STAND UP! STAND OUT!! Don't look at who has initiated , eg, the peaceful anti-abortion protests, which, by the way, is held annually across North America on the 1st Sunday of October, (check it out), and refuse to get out there in support, because you have issues with their beliefs, for example. It's NOT about that!! people, don't give up your rights to protest....they will be taken away soon enough.
    And what have we done?

DECEMBER 25TH 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, dear family and friends!

 I hope this finds you all well and happy and excited to celebrate the birth of our Lord.
Even the church services take on a warm and celebratory glow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I have always loved Christmas, and the child in me still does. We do not exchange large gifts with each other any more, and haven't for several years. My gift today from Art was a large bag of dark roast Italian coffee beans from Starbucks. LOVE it!!! The money not spent on gifts for us goes elsewhere. We have learned that not everybody has a ho-ho-ho and expensive reason to celebrate....and not every child goes to bed on Christmas Eve with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. We take our two youngest grandchildren with us on Christmas Eve, so they can see this for themselves as they pass out gifts. They interact with the children,and we get to chat with Mom, usually a young single parent. In recent years, we have started delivering a fully cooked turkey dinner to a family as well. Why not? A few extra veggie and baking added to the turkey is not going to break anyone. I mention this hoping to inspire some of you to think about sharing what you have been provided with...I know lots of you do lots more than we do, and some have never even thought of it. I know we didn't for many years.

Speaking of grandchildren, Grace just turned 6 on the 23rd. She is our Christmas baby. Shen will be 11 in February, he is our Valentine's baby. Our two oldest are now adults, Kyle is 22, and Amelia will be 20 on the 28th of this month. (She is our Christmas baby too). I just finished visiting with them on Skype, gotta love technology, even if you don't understand a thing about it.

Pam just returned to the workforce. Her determination to work only while her children are in school paid off. She works in a small Medical Clinic M-F, from 9am-4pm. She was blessed to get those hours as the office is open M-Sat, from 9am to 9pm. Ken works hard for his family as he has always done. Our son still spends 90% of his time in the air. His job takes him around the world at least twice a year. I wish he had been a plumber..or a carpenter, or a ditch digger, or....or....:-)
Our  daughter-in-law is still teaching and has just completed some courses thru Wycliffe that enables her to teach others to read in their language, and she will use the Bible as her curriculum material. In 2 days she goes to Mexico..I think she will start some teaching while she is there.
As for us, we spent our usual nearly 6 months in our favorite vacation spot. We both love NL and look forward to returning in May.
In early December we had an early Christmas with our dear friends in Barrhead, in what has now become our annual Klufas-Christmas, now expanded to include friends John and Marlene Szwec.. This corresponds with the Christmas Banquet at the Barrhead Alliance Church, where we attended for many years. We meet old friends again, and enjoy visiting with them.  It was special having an all too brief visit with Sylvia, but the quotation comes to mind..."Don't cry because it's over. Rejoice because it happened!!"

 In February, we are heading to Texas with my sister Daphne and her husband Edgar for a holiday together, which we have never done. Being separated by 5000 miles for so many years only allowed for brief visits, especially in our working years.

Take care of yourselves, and each other. Enjoy the rest of the season, and may God richly bless each of you in 2012 '

Those Thornhills
(Art and Valerie)