Weekend Coffee Share......Come Sit with Me

It's another week of Weekend Coffee Share. I always love everyone's posts. Are you like me and try to visit everyone? It doesn't always happen but I try. 

If we were having coffee we'd probably talk about:

The Weather: It is definitely fall here in Washington state with rain galore. We laughed when we came home from vacation last week. We had left the previous Friday to our grass being brown and came home a week later to lush green and needing to be mowed. Our reactions were quite comical. It doesn't take long to bring it back. Rain is in the forecast pretty much every day this coming week, though not outrageous percentages, so we could get lucky with some dry days. 

What we're thinking about: The next few weeks are going to be busy with working the pumpkin patch on weekends and then normal life the rest of the week, so I'm thinking about schedules, easy meals, when and how I'll do certain things. Also thinking about the upcoming Christmas season and how busy it will get at work. I need to create a Facebook post for our work page to encourage people to plan ahead and start doing their shipping early. I probably need to start thinking about Christmas gifts. 

What we're thankful for: I'm so thankful that we have access to naturapathic medicine (I just wish insurance companies would honor them and cover them). I recently went with my daughter to an appointment and she said "mom, it's 90 minutes long". I said "yes, because they want to get to know the whole person, ask questions, they treat the whole person, and the roots and lifestyle, they don't just say 'oh, you have this issue, take this medicine'". I love our ND's. 

What we're reading: I'm almost done with Jo Traceys book "wish you were here". Then I'll start another one. I'm a fast reader, I just don't have as much time as I'd like to read. I do regularly read articles and of course a variety of blog posts from the linky parties I'm a part of. Oh, I did win a book that was written by a high school classmate and now author, and motivational speaker, Chris Widener. The book is called The Image-A novel about God, Success, and Business. I just started it, but I chuckled because he signed the inside and it looks exactly like his signature did in high school. 

Around the home: We purchased the stain color for our porch and I believe the concrete should be poured in the next week or so, hopefully the weather cooperates. Our doors should be delivered today. It's mostly a waiting game on some things right now. My hubby got the cutouts done for our gas stove pipe and kitchen range hood and picked up all our plumbing fixtures. We were planning on picking them up on our way home from vacation but realized we also had to pick up a toilet and our rig was jam packed with stuff from vacation and wouldn't fit. I'd love to be in there by Christmas, but we'll see. Everything is still looking chaotic. We still haven't picked backsplash for kitchen. 

Chaos!! Lol. the wood is for our shiplap accent wall where the gas fireplace will go. 

I'm excited to get our appliances in. Our refrigerator and wall oven are Kitchenaid, the dishwasher is Miele, and the range/cooktop is Wolf. We did not get a microwave. 

No decision yet on backsplash, but these are the lates options. On the first on the left, it's either the bottom two (the edges are the difference between the two), of the top pointy end ones. The middle set, it's the bottom one, and then that trim piece in the middle where the cooktop would be, or the one on the right which seems to me, to be a bit more contemporary. I like them all. 

This is front and side view of our gas fireplace. It's called The Tree of Life. I love it. I can't wait to get it over to that other part of the house and see how it's going to all look when put together. 

From the kitchen: Not much since we got back from vacation. It's been a busy week. I went to my book club meeting and the host made this yummy spread for crackers or tortilla chips and I hope to make it soon and will share the recipe. I was planning to make ham and bean soup (which I love to make with ham hocks), but I couldn't find ham hocks in any of the stores I went to. If I can't find any this weekend, I'll just buy some regular ham and cube it. It's not the same but it'll do. 

Favorite quote of the week: 

I loved this quote I shared for our #WQWWC. I just love fall. Do you say fall or autumn? I've always called it fall. 

What we've listened to or watched: On Wednesday I didn't babysit like I normally do so I did online work and tried to catch up on some Magnolia Table episodes (there were a few recipes I'd like to try). I also listened to a few podcasts. One was the "Ya'll Podcast" and I listened to an interview with a writer I enjoy, Sean Dietrich. I can't remember now what the other one was. 

Favorite photo of the week: 

Yesterday my husbands company had a gathering at the Pumpkin Patch. Our oldest daughter, son in law and the kids met us there. Indy wanted to play hide and seek in the hay maze. He hid, and when I found him like this I said "I found you!". He replied, "but you can't see me". So cute! 

Randomness: I don't often win things, but this last week I've won two thing on Instagram. Normally I join giveaways because I want to support the people I follow. Of course it would be fun to win, but that doesn't often happen. BUT this week I won two giveaways and one of them I was so totally excited about. I have followed a certain blogger, Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer, since 2008 and have always loved her blog, IG, FB and what she shares. Well, in the last few years she has become very well known for her Charcuterie board creations, has a book coming out next month (which I pre-ordered) and her own line of charcuterie boards and accessories to go with them. Find them here. Well, she had a recent giveaway for her book and one of her boards. I've been drooling over them but they're a little out of my budget right now, and I had decided to just start saving for one. well, I won that giveaway. AAAhhhh I'm so excited. I plan to give my pre-ordered book to my oldest daughter who loves charcuterie as well. The other giveaway was for a family pack of Aunt Nellie's sliced beets and a $25 gift card. Whoo hoo! 

Check out all the other posts on Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I'm off to go visit some now. #weekendcoffeeshare

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin