Would you like trim, or full fat milk with that????

Sometimes - I forget to be thankful.

Three weeks after our wedding, I turned 21.  For my birthday, my husband bought me this amazing (and expensive) espresso machine.

3 and a half years on, I have to confess that I haven't used it all that much.

Most people that know me, know I LOVE a good coffee.  Really LOVE.  I enjoy coffee dates more than nearly anything else.  A celebration for me, is best celebrated in a coffee date & a card.

But I've hardly used my coffee machine....??

Ok, so there are reasons.  It is partly to do with the fact that I don't do trim milk.  And to me, trim and latte in the same sentence is ridiculous.  It's like having a massive feed of macca's and having a diet coke.  (I must also confess that I do just that).

In the year following our wedding, I worked at losing 20kgs.  Full fat milk coffee's on a regular basis were just not going to work in achieving this goal.  So, the machine got neglected.

That is pretty much the only good reason I have, apart from making them takes time - but probably less time than boiling the jug and preparing for a perk or (dare I say it) instant.

Anywho - on the thankfulness part.

Last week, I randomly started discovering tiny baby white-tail spiders on my bench.  With ant-sized bodies.  Being pregnant, of course - this was much of an over-reacted drama series, inclusive of very premature nesting.  I pulled out the oven and fridge and cleaning everything and fly-spraying everything.

Of course - just like one of those terrifying films, it didn't work.  I was still finding baby white-tails on my bench.  Some dead (mostly because of the gallons of fly spray floating in the atmosphere at my disposal) - but most of them ALIVE! 

All I could imagine was eventually finding this massive nest of white-tails all running frantically - and FURIOUS mumma ones who are going to bite me all over.  (Yes I am a walking drama sometimes.)

Well, after a search operation, I discovered their source.  They were alive and kicking in bulk, inside my COFFEE MACHINE!

On the discovery of this, they were completely obliterated by fly-spray.  If that did not kill them, they probably would have drowned in it anyway.  I found no adult ones, there was no drama - it all happened very slowly.  After all, I was pretty sure an ant-sized one couldn't really do much harm.

The point is - it made me think about the fact that I have this amazing, well thought out gift - from my best friend.  I have hardly shown my appreciation for it, apart from that it takes up a lot of space on my tiny bench a prized position on my bench.

My husband is NOT at all a gift giver, nor is he a card writer.  I purchase all the gifts in our house.  He gets really stressed when it comes to our anniversary, my birthday, Christmas or Valentine's day - when he has to think about a gift or something 'romantic' to do.  It does not at all come naturally to him.  In fact, it works best if a few weeks before my birthday I write him a list of things I would/could like, and he picks something.  Or, like he has done for the last two years, he gives me money.

This gift was thought out, meaningful and something awesome!  I have sent a pretty poor message of appreciation for it.

Perhaps it's time we sit and just have a little think about thankfulness.  What kind of message of thankfulness are you demonstrating to your family, your love and your kids?

Happy Valentine's Day New Zealand!  Make sure you tell those people who are special that you love them!  ♥