Junkin' (and my List)

(I'm too lazy to write up a real post, but wanted to get this out there, so you get the draft. . .)

Saturday junkin'

found printer - for $8!! (on my list)


Memorial day
showed up just in time to help mary put up tent
went out junkin
found round table for dining room and a box of books for Nelly
chairs didn't work with new table, so took them to Mary's
arrived just in time to help take the tent down before the wind blew it away.
she had just got in a tv/computer monitor
I sold her the chairs for the price of the monitor.  Score!
which we will use for Saturday night program at church to watch a The Gospel of John from youtube and/or visiting missionaries who might need something to hook up their laptop.

And since I now have an extra printer, the old one went down to church.
stopped at a junk shop and was given a whole shipping box full of childrens books for Nelly!
picked up a 42" round patio table on the way home
this weekend I wanted a futon for the sunporch
found the futon frame on the way home.
as well as a door for the bathroom - on my list! 
and a patio rug, 12" wall cabinet, better bed frame than the one we have (also on the list)
you should see the car when it's loaded with found stuff!  sadly, it's always dark when we get home, and we unload it then, so no picture.

A Few of My Favorite Links

(For some reason this 'page' disappeared, and I cannot get it back, so I'm making a 'post' instead.)

What I use for my 'Attitude Adjustments' (I have to be careful what I say, since I'm not a doctor, etc.)


Metabolic Advantage  This stuff saved my life more than once.  The only reason there needed to be 'more than once' is because I stopped taking it on the advice of a doc.

Stress Soother  This is for when the Metabolic Advantage isn't enough, or if I have forgotten to take it and don't have any within reach.  For me, the Stress Soother works really fast - within minutes.  I give the stuff away all the time, I believe in it that much.  And reports are that it works for other people, too.

To help my mind stop racing when I want to go to sleep  (As with anything, it may or may not work for you.  I find that alternating them every so often helps.)


Sleep Balm

Stress Soother
(Updated with the correct link.  Sorry!)  Cool!  It also comes in a stick!  Great idea!

Thyroid info

Wilson's Syndrome
A temperature-related syndrome.  Very interesting and informative site.  Info for doctors and laymen.

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
Explains the difference between natural and synthetic thyroid hormone treatments, as well as several pages with effects of thyroid problems.  Excellent read.

Save the Toes and Legs
http://www.wehelpsavetoes.biz/Products.html
www.rebuildermedical.com

My Favorite Blogger/Home/Craft Sites

http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/

http://www.exquisitelyunremarkable.com/

http://www.favecrafts.com/ 

http://hometalk.com/

www.agracefull-life.com/

http://www.fourgenerationsoneroof.com/

http://junquemagnet.blogspot.com/ 

www.prettyhandygirl.com/

http://www.justagirlblog.com/

www.mommyiscoocoo.com

www.brightnest.com

http://roadkillrescue.net/

God even saves . . . Toes!

     My husband has had a big purple toe.  The podiatrist took one look at it, poked a large needle in it and drew no blood, and made an immediate appointment with the vascular surgeon for him.  The doc wanted to do surgery immediately.  First, an angiogram, where they run a camera down the vein in the leg.  He said there was a very long blockage, and advised surgery within the week, because he was going on vacation the following week and things could go from bad to worse rapidly. 

Feb 2

     I wasn't so thrilled with anything the doc was saying, and had my husband send a long list of questions to the doc the day before the 'necessary' vein replacement surgery.  Turns out the 'blockage' was only 50% blood flow. . .  Suffice it to say, by the time we finished talking, my husband decided to go for a second opinion.
     Actually, he decided to go for some of God's pharmacy.  You see, on the first appoinmtent I asked the surgeon if nitric oxide would do anything for the situation.  "It would be ideal, but you can't just take a pill".  Little did he know.

Feb 11

     Several years ago I found this stuff for someone with diabetes, hoping they would take it.  Didn't happen, so I sold one bag of the tea to a guy who had pain in his legs from a clot in some small veins, and gave one bag to a lady who was on the heart transplant list with terrible veins.  (Back then, the stuff was sold in loose leaf bags to make tea.  Now it comes in capsules.  Much easier!  And doesn't taste and smell like dirty socks.)  The guy with pains in his legs asked where he could get more, because after only one month his leg stopped hurting!  The lady on the heart transplant list went to the doc a month or two later and he took her off the list!!  That's all I can tell you about those two people, but it's plumb amazing!
     However, I can tell you about my husband's toe.  In 4 weeks it went from being purple and hurting like the dickens just to look at it, to nearly pain-free and back to a nice normal pink.  He also used the oil and gangrene stuff - Kit A.  We ordered the stuff separately, as you must take the capsules, and there is a 4-pack for the price of 3.  Somewhere I read it was recommended to take 6 caps a day for his condition, so he did.  And here's the results.  One month, folks.  Instead of having surgery immediately, and follow-up surgery every 3-7 years for the rest of his life, complete with pills and hospital bills.  I'm a happy camper!

March 1

http://www.wehelpsavetoes.biz/Products.html
On the left sidebar, go to Shopping Cart to order.  Make sure to check out the entire list, because some of the products you can get a good deal on if you order more than one at a time, as with the Wild Ransom Leaf.

UPDATE:  P went to the podiatrist, who was properly amazed at the progress - and all without surgery!  Goes to show why I love to say It's So Much Fun Watchin' God!  

UPDATE again:  5/21/2016  The last several months my extremities have been swelling after sitting in front of the computer for too long, to the point of being noticeable, not just feeling tight.  When I read a medical report that mentioned I was developing hardening of the arteries, I decided it was time to take some action. After less than one bag of WRL (taken in one rounded teaspoon in about 4 ounces of warm water) the swelling is almost non-existent.  Thanks Lord!

UPDATE yet again!  5/27/2016  So, the CT that picked up the above mentioned problems came back clear!  You figure it out.  I'm going to say it was the WRL!

**THIS POST IS NOT DESIGNED TO, AND DOES NOT, PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. All content, including text, graphics, images and information available on or through this post is for general informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE, OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT, BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON THIS POST. NEVER RELY ON INFORMATION ON THIS WEB SITE IN PLACE OF SEEKING PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE.

Furnaces that go BOOM in the morning

   

   
     Two weeks ago we arrived at our 'vacation home' to discover the oil tank was empty, and it was very cold in the trailer.  Since it was on Friday after all the delivery services were closed, and we didn't want to pay extra for delivery on the weekend, it was Monday before we could even call anyone to have some delivered, and Wednesday before it could be delivered.  The temperature those few days was down around zero (or lower) at night.  But we have two nice safe space heaters: an oil-filled electric radiator and an infrared.  We hung out in a small room with the door closed.  Luckily, there is a small half-bath attached. Thanks Lord!
     The good thing is that my new tenants had paid the rent (early) a few days before we discovered the oil problem, so there was just enough extra unplanned money to pay for the extra unplanned oil delivery.  Don't you just love Watchin' God??
     Since the oil had to be paid for in advance or on delivery, I had to stay while Paul went back home to work.  Paul arranged for the neighbor to came over and started the furnace for me (since I didn't take my cousin's husband up on his offer of telephone support to do it).  While the neighbor was doing that, he pointed out a few other things I might want to know: where the emergency shutoff switch was for the boiler, and a comment about a friend whose furnace wouldn't work because the batteries in the thermostat were dead.

See the Red switch cover plate?  That's the emergency shut off switch.  It was obscured by a cabinet a day ago.

     Don't you know that a week later - the furnace stopped working!
     And it was only the batteries in the thermostat.
     God is good about giving us the information we need.  Thanks Lord!

     The desire to replace the very thick wall-to-wall carpet took hold of me again last weekend, because it's next to impossible to vacuum and has been subject to cats for 12 years prior to our owning the place.  We found a piece of carpet remnant that was long enough, and arranged to have it installed. Only the price of delivery for that piece was the same as the difference in the original and sale price. . .  And I really liked another piece much better, since we would basically have to pay full price.  Only there was no more of the piece I liked better.  And before the installer would install it, there had to be a measurement by the company.  Okay. . . But that meant I would get to have to stay for another week.
     In the meantime, I figured since there was all that time to kill, I would hang the wallpaper that was stashed in a cabinet would look nice on the living room walls, even though I had acquired it for another room at about 1/20th of the retail price.  So I primed the wall behind the sofa Sunday night.
     Monday morning I get a phone call from the carpet estimator.  Could they come later that day?  "But of course!" says I.  I decide to cut the carpet off the dining room so the estimator would know exactly where I wanted it to stop.  That went well.  The trim pieces for the space that was cut out for the 'entry way' fit perfectly along the new straight-across-the-room edge.  Amazing!  Thanks Lord!  The vinyl underneath is in decent shape, and we plan to cover it eventually with sticky 'oak' vinyl strips that we purchased last year for dirt cheap.  I really like the look of the long dining/living room now that there is a definite dividing line.  And who in their right mind puts dense light colored carpet under a table, anyway??  At some point the white stuff has to go, but probably not until I'm ready to put down the 'oak'.

     The wallpaper is still in it's wrapper. . .

     Tuesday morning I got up, washed my face, combed my hair and heard this loud B-O-O-M!
     It's not unusual for a door to the bathroom closet to fall, (because I haven't put up the trim and hung the door yet) but I was standing right in front of it, and it definitely had not fallen.  I walked out of the bathroom looking for what could have made the noise to discover smoke in the hallway - and as far as my eye could see through the kitchen, dining room and living room!
     Quick, turn off (the recently discovered) emergency shut off switch!
     I called the furnace man who cleaned it at the beginning of last year's heating season.  Voice mail.
     I called the oil company to see if they had a recommendation.  They gave me the name of the man who does their work for them.  Voice mail.
     So I called Home Depot.  Yes, they have someone who can look at it for me.  The nice gentleman in plumbing took my information and said the heating man would call me in a few minutes.  Two hours go by. . .  nothing.  I was just about to call to find out what happened when the guy from HD called and said he had given his repairman the wrong number.  Within a minute, I get a call from them.  A light goes off in my brain at the name of the company.  I've had them come out to give me an estimate before.  They're outrageously expensive.  But this is the heater.  We have to have it.  And it can go on the HD credit card, right?
     The man came to give me an estimate later on Tuesday.  $4000!!!   Truly, I was expecting something along that line, and maybe even a bit more, so I wasn't shocked.  At least I was able to share some helpful personal information and this blog site with the furnace man.  God puts people in your way to help, sometimes to be a help.  This was the 'help' situation.  Later that night my facebook friends were aghast at the price, offering advice on how to fix it, and even offering to come down from Alaska to do it.  It was decided that perhaps a second opinion might be a good idea, before Thursday when the expensive people showed up. 
     The wallpaper is still in the wrapper. . . It really will look good when it's up.
     Wednesday morning I got a call about the carpet, and had to put off installing it, since an annoyance is a lot less important than a necessity.  Besides, now that I cut off the carpet under the dining room table, the vacuuming would be a lot easier and I really like it.
     My next project was calling one of those two furnace guys I hadn't been able to get ahold* of yesterday.  I chose the one recommended by the oil company.  This time when I got voice mail, I took them up on the 'in case of emergency' and sent a page.  He called me back immediately.
     We discussed his payment policy (cash or check, thank you very much) and that I don't have a car, so he would have to take me down to the credit union to get the cash.  He was okay with that.  Turns out he was only a few minutes away from our house when I called, so he was here in no time flat.
     "This isn't good," he said with a frown.
     The cap had blown off the chimney and was in the yard.  The fire box was bowed.  "That must have been quite a 'boom.'  It's really going to need to be replaced."  (Sorry. I forgot to take pictures.)
     His price to replace the unit: $2550.
     And we had the cash.  Of course, the plane tickets to Alaska to go to 2 reunions this summer would have to wait until I found a better price (the only reason we still had the money) and Paul works some overtime to save up for them.
     The furnace guy left to pick up the furnace and his son to come help him.  When they tried to get it into the spot, they were having some trouble.  "Lord, would you please help them get that thing in there?"  I said out loud to no one in particular (except, of course, God.)  The furnace man thought I was talking to him, and he hadn't heard what I said, since he was working on getting that thing in place.  I told him I was just talking to God, and what I had asked for.  He made some comment and went back to work.
     When they were finished, he said that was the easiest installation he had done in a long time.  I smiled, and reminded him of my prayer.
     If I hadn't been here the trailer could very well have burnt to the ground.  Yes, all this stuff get's annoying sometimes, but I'm glad God didn't take me too seriously when I complain that it would be "nice if all this stuff just disappeared!"

UPDATE:  This morning P forwarded an email that I sent him 11 months before this incident.  You may find it interesting.
Friday, April 5, 2013 10:47:34 AM
"Got a home warranty for the house in GA.  Can't get one for the trailer if it's over 10 years old.  .... hmmm... since this trailer was built in 1966, I don't think we'll be getting one for here, huh?  It will, therefore, be on God to keep the heater running or supply the cash to get it replaced in the event that is necessary at some point in the future."
Which just goes to prove why It's so much fun Watchin' God!!

*
definition of 'ahold'
1. Illiterate spelling of 'a hold'.
2. Broken keyboard spelling of 'a hold'.
  or

a little less condemning
to find or communicate with someone: I'd like to get ahold of Debbie and talk to her about this.

    

How many ways did you find that God showed up and worked out things in advance?


   

The Prayer That Can Send You to Hell

The Prayer That Can Send You To HELL

25 February 2013 at 11:55  (Look at that!  I posted this to my NCCarlson fb page a year and a day ago!)

 

     Strange as it may seem, there is a prayer that can send you to hell!  And it’s the ‘sinner’s prayer’.
     I can hear you thinking ‘What are you talking about?!’ 
     If you believe that ‘once saved, always saved’, repeating the sinner’s prayer – or asking Jesus to save you – can actually keep you from getting saved.  The reason for that is that many people think just saying the words will do the trick.  Bingo! You’re saved!  Now no matter what I do, or don’t do, I’m going to heaven!
     It’s not so easy.  There are conditions.  Yes, conditions.  You must see yourself as God sees you – a sinner.  No excuses, no ‘I’m doing the best I can’, no ‘I’m not as bad as the next guy, even though I am bad’.  Also, you must be willing to trust Jesus Christ to save you.  Trust involves being willing to put your life on the line, and actually doing it.  You can believe the airplane can fly, but until you are willing to actually get in the plane and let it take off with you inside, you don’t really trust the plane.  Same with knowing that the blood of Jesus will wash away your sins, and his resurrection will make it possible for you to live with him for eternity.  As long as you think you are responsible or can do anything for your salvation, you aren’t trusting Jesus Christ.  You can’t flap your arms and help the plane stay in the air.  Neither can you do anything to help Jesus save you.
     Until you are willing to acknowledge and accept as life or death fact, and reach out and take the payment offered, without trying to help, you are still on your way to hell!  Repeating a bunch of words isn’t what saves you.  It’s transferring your sin and trust from yourself to Jesus Christ that saves you (repenting).
     If you’ve ‘said the prayer’ and there is no change in your attitude about God, no little voice inside that says ‘you did wrong’ when you cross the line the Bible draws about sin, no desire to know more about Jesus Christ, and you think that prayer has saved you, you’ve prayed the prayer that can send you to hell!
     The reason?  Because you think ‘once saved, always saved’.  Which, by the way, is true.  God said ‘have everlasting life’ and ‘is passed from death unto life’ – that’s forever - you get it, you got it.  The kicker is that you must be saved in the first place.  Are you?
     If you’ve been relying on a prayer you prayed, no matter your age when you said it, but there is no evidence in your life and heart to support such a claim, don’t just say yet another prayer.  Ask God to show you.  When you are convicted (you can’t get away from the thought that you need to be saved), then tell God that you are tired of leaning on yourself, and accept the payment Jesus made on the cross for your sins.  Jesus is waiting for you to acknowledge your doubts and fears, so he can give you peace and complete assurance.  And maybe the salvation you thought you had in the first place.  You’ll go to hell without it.

Dining Room Project - The Wall

Where to start?

This old trailer had no character, though it was in fairly decent shape (or so we thought.  See here for what I get for thinking!)  And I loved the kitchen.  A u-shaped arrangement and a bit of space over the cabinets will win me over any day.  That extra space gives me some other place to decorate.  In this case, one of the legs of the U backed up to the dining room.  That gave me a place above the dining room to decorate!  Yay!  hmmmm... I wonder if I have a picture of the ivy I put up there for a few weeks.  It's gone now.  Not enough light, and there is cloth covered wire snaking around the top of the cabinets.

Oh, wait.  This is supposed to be about the dining room...  Okay.  'The Wall'.




The very first thing to go - no kidding about 5 minutes after we bought the place - was that white cabinet under the wall air conditioner!  The shelf over the AC unit and the living room window came down also.

See that wall with the rooster border?  It's a 6' wide expanse of gray 'wood tone' paneling with those awful cardboard strips covering the seams.  Those strips  had to go!  Well, after the rooster border across the top.



I wanted a venetian plaster kind of look above a wallpaper wainscot.

Having done that before, using regular mud (what is that stuff officially called??) I knew that in order to prevent any dings from showing through white it would be best to tint the mud.  I had to beg the paint mixer at Lowes to attempt to tint it, and provided a sample of the dining room color to try to match, since I planned to use the same willow green (That isn't the official name.  I think I mixed a few colors I had laying around.  I do that a lot.)  The color of the mud definitely was not the same!  The mud base is different from paint base...

color I wanted to match

This is what I got.

But I took the mud home and tried it on the wall.  Better to have it too dark under the paint than white.  This is what I got.

And I loved it!!  Reminds me of moss.  I love moss covered rocks, and this was a good start on a garden theme. 

Oh!  And look at how it goes so well with the picture I picked up at a thrift shop for $3!  A plan is emerging!  I never - well, rarely - have a plan.  That way if things don't go as planned I don't feel bad, because - how can you go wrong if there isn't a plan??  Besides, my space is always evolving, depending on what is available.

I took the sample board to try to get it matched.  Didn't come out anywhere near the same.  Especially since the mud was a much duller color when it dried.  I never did figure out how to have the paint guys match the wet color...  Well, at least not 'shoot' the color to match it.

What I did was take a bag of wet mud with me and scan the paint chips for something close.  Nothing at Lowe's or Home Depot...   I finally found 'Spanish Olive' at Walmart, and added a bit of black.  That was a pretty close match.  Not as vibrant as the wet mud, but close.

And check out the picture against that wall!  Beautiful!  Draws you right in to the middle of the painting.

The wainscoting was up, and I finally got to use the trim that I've been looking for a place to use since before Lowe's was Lowe's in Anchorage AK (pre-1998)  This is what it looks like in the kitchen.  For the dining room I didn't paint the leaves.

That outlet on the right of the window was in the way, so I had to cut a piece out of the trim.  And this is how you fix the trim when you use the chisel on the grain before cutting the trim across the grain - the split has a tendency to run!  Since this is $10 a stick, and I was running out, I had to fix it.    Notice the plastic on top of the trim to keep the glue from sticking to the spring clamp.  Only I notice that the trim has been repaired.

After painting, papering and trimming the wall, that white formica buffet needed something...  I tried a nice green contact paper with white paisley.  The problem with it is that the buffet is 6' long and the paper only comes in 5' lengths at the Dollar Tree.  And it was too much green in one spot.  Next plan??

A trip to Walmart netted a pinkish beige granite Contact paper.   Aaahh.  Much better.  It was very easy to do.  Just clean the formica well with TSP to make sure all the grease and dirt is removed, and carefully apply the contact paper.  There was a bit left over on the front, which I simply cut off with a razor blade knife against the lip of the formica.  Made a clean cut.  And it looks like the real thing, don't you think?

I'm debating if I want to paint the window wall that beautiful green also, or maybe the color of the trim.

Before and After

 

Aside from the obvious addition of furniture, how many differnt things do you see in these two pictures?  And do you want to see the projects?  (Too bad, I'm going to post them anyway!  lol)

homemade paper picture matting

   I was messing around with making paper and made it a bit too thin for any use as actual paper, so I decided to use it thusly.   

     To tint it, I added leftover paint to the water when adding the mash to the tub.  I’m too lazy to use the proper equipment, so when I make paper, I only use one screen, not the approved method of a frame and deckle (or whatever it's called...)  Works for me.  In this case, I may have even poured the mash on top of the screen and swirled it around in the water to get it to even out.  Rebel, I am…

     And then there was this old Home Interiors print with water-spotted print matting…

     A trim to fit the new frame and some glue inside a penciled border…

I tore off small pieces of the homemade paper and layered it on the edges of the picture, paying attention to the corners of the picture.

     

Some of the pieces of paper were a bit thin, and the background color showed through.    

    

     You may be able to see the vegetation hanging over the wall in the center of the picture – I used some watered down paint from a wall project to give a bit of depth to the print.  (Which reminds me, I still have not posted the dining/living projects.) 

     Ya know, I think maybe I like this again.  It’s currently hanging in the office on the wall, awaiting it’s turn to be hung back in the living room.  (The office walls are the storage place for all the pictures that get changed out by season.) 

So... what do you think?

Look at That! Yarn!

Have you ever been looking for something very specific, but couldn't find it?  And then out of the blue, in an unexpected place, there it was? 

Let me introduce you to my momma.  She does the most amazing work with yarn… and fabric… and beads…Never gonna be a day I am that good! 

Here is one of her latest creations.  She posted this on facebook for all the world to see (and rightfully admire), and then she sent it to me for Christmas!

Now, listen to her very own Watchin’ God story.

Tell me God doesn't take care even about the simple things!!!! 

I wanted two colors of yarn for a scarf I'm knitting and no one in town had them. Plus it had to be 100% wool & sock weight yarn. I looked at Value Village (a large thrift store) several times but nothing like it ever was on sale. Plus they had hardly any yarn so when I stopped there today I didn't think about yarn but I looked at their craft wall.

Not only were there two balls of yarn but the very colors I wanted and it’s 100% wool sock yarn from Norway!!! 

 I'm still amazed- God is good!

or, as her daughter would say ---  

It's So Much Fun Watchin' God!

That Moment in Time

I can see in my minds' eye the time I realized how unreasonable and damaging my screaming rages were.

 

We had recently acquired a computer - our first.  My son talked me into buying it so he 'could use it for school'.  How many parents of children in the 90's succumbed to that particular logic?  The only school use I recall is his request to take it to school for a dance because he had so much music downloaded on it.  I was a bit protective of the machine, and refused.  Wish I hadn't.

 

A very intense romantic relationship had just illogically blown up when the following sad incident happened.  I was frustrated, hurt, angry at life in general.  

My 16 year old son was on the computer, and it was time for him to do something.  I told him to turn off the computer.  Whether he didn't do it immediately or not, I don't recall.  What I do recall is that I screamed at him to shut it down NOW! 

The look of fear and hurt in his eyes as he said 'mom, I did but it takes a while to shut down," still causes tears to run down my now much older face.  

That was the beginning of the end of the yelling.  It didn't stop, but I saw myself in that moment, and I didn't like it.

Life got more depressed, because the doc asked me to stop taking my 'happy pill' supplements for 6 weeks so he could run some tests.  

In the meantime, we moved.  By then I was so severely depressed that I didn't even think about the happy pills.  

My son did something - probably related to a video game or something (I hate the things, because they are to me, and are according to me, as bad as drugs or drinking or gambling.)  I promptly started screaming at him, arms flailing in the air.

With something akin to compassion, with a bit of hurt mixed in, (or maybe the other way around) he looked at me and calmy asked if I had been taking my happy pills.

A light went off in my brain.

Immediately I calmed down.  To this day, when I get unreasonable, that question from those I love immediately diffuses an undeserved tantrum.

'No...'

God was so good to me.  Still is.  I happened to have part of a bottle of those happy pills, and I knew where they were.  Even though we barely had enough money to live on, when that bottle ran out, I found a way to buy more.

The rages became less frequent and less intense rapidly.  I didn’t stop taking those supplements again until just recently, also for a test, when my wonderful husband helped me through it.  (And I didn’t ever get to the rage stage!  Thanks Lord!)

I'm not sure my son has forgotten or forgiven those rages or if the effects have been mitigated.   I can only pray that God will work in his life in such a way ‘all things will work together for good' for him.  I hope he knows I love him, and that he saved my life more times than he will ever know, both literally and figuratively.  

May I live to see the day I can say of this devastating problem... 

It's so much fun watchin' God!

This post was precipatated by a facebook link to this article.

I wanted to add these pictures in the post, but didn't want to distract from the seriousness of the post, so here they are now.

                                                                                                                                       

Our house when we bought our first computer

Our first computer - a Gateway