Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.
Here are five of my favorites from the past week:
1. $400+ instead of $2,000+. A few weeks ago my mother-in-law lost her hearing aid — not a favorite thing! My husband and a couple of ladies who work at the assisted living place looked in every nook and cranny they could think of but just could not find it. We had not seen an audiologist here yet, so had to find one, and they couldn’t get her in til last week. The audiologist called the company to find out if the hearing aid was still under warranty, and it had just barely passed the end date, but they authorized covering it anyway. That was a huge blessing! We still had to pay the audiologist fees for the appointment and had to pay for the mold, the part that goes down into her ear canal, but that’s much better than having to pay over $2,000 for the whole thing.
2. Oven meals. I don’t turn the oven on much during hot weather, even with central AC, and especially not for those meals that take 45 minutes to an hour in the oven. But with our first cold snap it’s been fun to pull back out some of those oven recipes. Besides enjoying some dishes we haven’t had for several months, it’s nice to get everything in the oven and then have some time to relax for a bit before dinner.
3. A surprise package. When we moved from SC, I told my “Secret Sister” at church who I was and told her good-bye, then the plan was that the person who had my name would take the name of my Secret Sister. But when they lady coordinating the Secret Sisters tried to arrange that, the lady who had my name said she “didn’t want to give me up.” So she has sent me a couple of packages since we’ve been here. One a few weeks ago contained some nice autumn dish towels, and I’ve loved using them. Then I received another this week containing several goodies:
Though I hate to think of her paying postage, I am incredibly touched that she would want to keep up with me even though I’ve moved away. I can’t wait to find out who she is!
Oh, and the lady whose name I had was not left out in the cold — the lady who coordinates the Secret Sisters did give her name to someone else.
4. A working furnace. We turned on the heat for the first time this week. The furnace here is a gas one, but everything seems to be in good working order. I am always grateful for central heating and air conditioning — it is not something I have always had!
5. Starting on a new room. I may have mentioned that our new home has what is classified as a three car garage in an L shape, but my husband planned to turn the third car space into an office/guest bedroom. That project was planned for some time within the first year here. But with Jason and Mittu here and Jeremy coming for Thanksgiving, my husband decided to try to get that room habitable before then. The boxes from the attic were in that space, so we sorted through those and then my husband and Jesse were able to organize them into the attic (and it is so nice to have an organized attic!) one weekend. Then my husband had to take down pegboards and such from the walls and last weekend started putting up the framing for the wall and door that will be between the garage and the room. At some point we’ll put a door actually into the house from that room, but that is probably one of the bigger undertakings that will have to wait: for now we’ll have to go through the garage from that room to the house.
I wish I had a first “before” picture of the garage with nothing in it, then another one of it lined on all three sides with boxes. But this is an “in the beginning stages” picture:
And here it is now:
Still a good bit to do, but at least by Thanksgiving no one should have to sleep on the couch in the living room.
Have a great Friday!
Stray Thoughts 
Wow, it will be so nice to have guest space! I’m totally with you on the oven baking thing…and I’m totally back into the wonderful world of crockpotting too! Yeah! Nice and Cozy!
Wow, Barbara, that space is coming together quickly! I love that your new home has this space available. Enjoy all your oven recipes and family visits!
Oh wow! That addition is going to be fun!
And I love that your secret sister didn’t want to give you up. How special is that?!
Glad the hearing aid deal worked out better than you anticipated. That’s one thing we never had to worry about with my mom. I can’t imagine how facilities keep up with all those kinds of things (well, obviously they can’t!).
I love being able to open my oven door after I’ve finished cooking and let that heat escape into my house on a cold day.
What a great secret sister you have! Enjoy.
Central heat and air is a blessings! We don’t have central air and our central heat broke down last year at the beginnin the season so we went through the Winter with no heat except space heaters. We are in the middle of a house rennovation and hope to put in central air and get a new heater as part of that, but it is beginning to look like we may be going through another winter without heat! We haven’t gotten to the point in the rennovation where we can install that yet. ~ Oh well, I’ve learned you can live without a lot of things that you think you must have! ~ Have a great week!
Oh my you do have a lot to be thankful for this week. Things are happening over there. Love the idea of that new room. Thank goodness for lower then expected charges. Yippee for the furnace that runs and does it’s job and for oven food temps!
Always SOMEthing to do with a new home! It will be NICE to have that room!
I’m so glad you MIL has a new hearing aide… I’m so sorry you never found the old one though.
Its so exciting to add on to the home, it looks like the work is coming along well!
A furnace is something to be thankful for, I really dislike being cold!
This week, we turned on our heat for the first time this season. Isn’t it wonderful to have heat?? I love the cooler days too so I can bake without heating up the house.
Wow, that new room is going to be large and it’s amazing that your husband is doing all the work!
How fun to have a long distance secret sister — though not so secret anymore:) It’s such a huge treat to get a package in the mail.
My sister made the “tandem” part of her garage a room as well. It worked out nicely. Your’s looks roomier than hers.
Secret sisters (we called them secret pals) are fun. I miss being part of that kind of thing. So few people seem to do it anymore.
How sweet of your Secret Sis! That is so nice.
Wow, big project. Looks like you’re making good progress, and I’m sure it’ll be nice to have it done before Thanksgiving.
I read that you liked Johnnie’s post on KHW — she’s such a sweet friend and an awesome writer!
You have a wonderful Secret Sister! Those are great gifts.
Keep us posted on the progress of your new room project!
You guys are busy but that room will be wonderful once you get it done.
What a sweet thing for that lady to keep you on as her secret sister.
When fees are lower than you expect that’s the fave! What a nice secret sister you have. I love that sunshine coming in through the new room.