Thankful Thursday

New here? Thankful Thursday is something we’ve been doing in these COVID times; a (frugal and free) exercise to help us hunt for the good that is in our lives and in the world, even in the midst of a pandemic.

This week I am thankful:

for my cheerful spiral wall candleholder

I have Ikea tea lights in it, and they turn on automatically every afternoon (they have an internal timer).

They do chew up batteries faster than I’d like, but I am considering the battery purchases an investment in my mental state, because oof, I am struggling with how dark it gets so early in the afternoon.

And some happy tea lights help a little bit. 

that soon, the days will start getting longer.

We have *checks calendar* about 18 days left until the shortest day of the year. That’s just a little over two weeks!

And then, slowly, the days will lengthen. 

It will still be cold, but I do. not. care. I will just be thankful for the daylight.

that the sun is shining today

Mr. FG and I had a cold walk this morning, but oh, happy sunshine! I will cheerfully freeze as long as there is sunshine.

that I don’t live in a place with darker winters

At this time of year, I am reminded that I never, ever, ever want to live somewhere that is more cloudy and dark in the winter than here.

(For instance, the Pacific Northwest. Or really far up north, where the days are extremely short in the winter.)

I know I could survive and that God would give me grace to do so, but that is just NOT a circumstance I will ever freely choose.

that we are still able to have medical/dental appointments

I was thinking back to the initial lockdown and how everything was completely shut. I am grateful that now, optometrists and dentists and such have figured out how to keep seeing patients.

for the sweet readers who bought Sonia’s knitted items

Sonia has a hand-me-down phone from Mr. FG, but it’s gotten so old that it is no longer compatible with Ting’s current SIM cards, so we can’t activate it to get her service. And the battery dies awfully quickly too.

Thanks in part to the sale of her knitted items, she had enough cash to purchase a refurbished phone for herself, along with a case and screen protector.

(We have opted not to buy phones for our kids; we’ve given them our hand-me-down ones for free, but if they want something more updated, they have to buy it for themselves.)

Also, I have to tell you that the reader who bought the white bunny is naming her Miss Clara and will be using her in her virtual kindergarten classroom. Is that not the cutest thing?

that my post office experience was good

The post office can be a disaster in December. But I went to ship Sonia’s packages shortly after opening time one morning, and happily, the line moved pretty fast, and the employee who helped me was cheerful and efficient.

(I made sure to go home and fill out the survey on my receipt, mentioning the employee by name. This post office used to be staffed with much crabbier employees, so I want the post office to know how much I appreciate the cheerful people!)

that our current plumbing problem MIGHT be simple

Remember how we had a leaky septic vent pipe a few years back?

Well, we started having the same slight rotten egg smell, so we called the plumbers and they brought their smoke machine out.

It appears that perhaps the culprit was our aging toilet seals (visible smoke was coming out there), so they fixed those, and we’ll have to wait and see if that takes care of the smell.

The plumber said we may eventually want to replace our vent pipes, as they are made from an old pre-PVC style of pipe, which is more prone to leaking.

But I am really hoping that that time is not right now because it involves removing a lot of drywall, and I am not ever in the mood for that.

It’s not event that I don’t want to pay for the work; it’s that I hate having my house torn apart!

But this is Thankful Thursday so I will not go further down that rabbit trail. 😉

that our financial needs are provided for

This is always something to be thankful for, of course. But in these current times, I am particularly reminded to be grateful for our jobs, our home, our cars, food to eat, and so on. 

What are you thankful for this week?