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. I have loved getting to know different bloggers and I figure if they take the time to write a post, I'll find the time to visit, even if it's a week later. I truly enjoy what you all share and I often learn so much. 

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

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

The weather: Just going to leave it at this....lol. Next weeks forecast looks better, but we'll just wait and see. 

I'm not sure I believe the above graphic. We'll see! Stay tuned next week.

What we're thinking about: The audiobook I just finished has me thinking about quite a few things, but one thought that I jotted down was this. "It is not selfish to live a happy, fulfilling life. But often we feel guilty especially when we see others (maybe especially those close to us) struggling. Unhappiness serves no one. Happiness is not a limited resource. You're not going to use it all up. If anything, it's a resource that exponentially grows when it's cultivated. Happiness spreads. Your happiness isn't defined by others. It's defined by you and the daily choices you make. Lots of good thoughts strung throughout the book, that have me thinking. 

What we're thankful for: I was talking to a few people here and there and often people will say, oh, I don't like to read, I don't like to listen to podcasts, and I think, "well, how do you learn and grow"? I'm thankful that I've always been a reader, I've always loved to learn. I'm thankful I allowed myself to delve into podcasts and audiobooks. I want to continually find ways to learn and grow. Perhaps next I'll learn to enjoy attending workshops, or lectures. Who knows. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: Nothing new. I'm still finishing up the book American Marriage. We are currently getting ready to choose our next book club book and there are some great choices. Below are the choices. I can never just pick one...lol. I chose Mad Honey, Now is Not the Time to Panic, and Rock Paper Scissors. I'm about two books ahead of my reading goal. 

What we've listened to or watched: I finished The Joy of Missing Out. It was a good book and came with a discussion guide. I bookmarked a lot of spots in the beginning, fewer towards the end. When I finish an audio book I go back to find the bookmarks and write down key things that stood out to me. I have another audio book on hold called The One Hungred Years of Lenni and Margot. It's one of the books on my 12 books by 12 friends list. I didn't really listen to any podcasts. The week just seems to fly by and I get to the end and realize the things I didn't do. My husband had a movie on the other morning and then left for work so I finished it..it was called Your Place or Mine.  It was cute. I need to finish up a podcast I started. I am also looking at putting a hold (because it seems every book I want to read, everyone else wants to read too) on the book How are you, really? by Jenna Kutcher. I follow her on Instagram and have been curious about the book. 

Around the house: The weather is keeping us from getting anything done though today my hubby mowed the lawn. My blueberries are getting their buds. I should track down some straw or hay to put down to help keep weeds out. I have found myself very unmotivated to get anything done outside with my containers..I really need to remedy that. 

For the love of food: I've been making ice cream here and there in the ice cream maker I got from Pampered Chef. Everyone loves it. I made a really good Turkey Meatball and tortellini soup the other night. I didn't have any because I had went to lunch with. my Mother in law and a friend and wasn't hungry by dinner. I also made some chicken lettuce wraps, but those are often hard to eat, so instead, I made some rice, and then bought a bag of asian chopped salad mix, so instead of wraps we did bowls. I liked it so much better. 

A favorite photo: One of Indy's favorite You Tube videos to watch is a group of siblings called The Fun Squad. A few months ago he asked me if we could get shirts from their store, because of course they advertise at the end of their videos..lol. I said, well, let's look and see...they were either 19.99 or 25.00...So I told him I'd need to save for a little bit (which was kind of true), but I also wanted to see how bad he wanted them. He literally asked me every time he saw me..so a few weeks ago we sat down and picked out shirts. He was so excited when they came. I wish I had gotten video of that....my daughter said he wore it all but 1 day this last week. We of course had to take a picture...they do the Shaka because they do that on the videos. 

I'm also loving how much he enjoys drawing. I don't know if I mentioned that we follow Art for Kids Hub. They are so great. It's a dad and he draws with his kids and they just do a great job encouraging. He reminds me of an actor but now I can't remember who. I'm drawing (no pun intended) a blank.

Favorite quote of the week: This weeks #WQ theme was Earth Day/Gardening Day. Here's my post. And here's one of the quotes I chose. I don't have a garden at the moment, but I think this is so true. 

I also loved the following quote that Deb from Deb's World shared last week. I took a screen shot because I couldn't log into the article and didn't want to forget it. I thought it was so good, and I want to try putting this into practice. 

Random or not so random things: Overall it was a good week. I did have some car trouble on Thursday. Our car (our only car at the moment) has been having trouble starting...at least for me it has because it never gave my husband a problem. Well, long story short, on Thursday on my way to work I stopped at the store and when I came out, it wouldn't start. I was so frustrated.  Typically it would start after several tries, but not that morning. Thankfully my FIL came to the rescue and brought me to work. Thankfully my. hubby was working from home and they got it to the shop. Well, turns out the battery needed replacing, however I also think my key might be an issue as well, but I didn't argue that point. It was a bit of a stressful day but got the car back and it seems to be running fine. We've been on the hunt somewhat for a second car, but boy prices are crazy. Whether new or used they're about the same and a wait for new is long. We don't want one that's too old and has too high of miles. It will also be the first time in years that we've had a car payment, but we don't really see any way around it. 

I've been plugging away at my White Mountain Puzzle, US States puzzle. It's tough. Each state is basically it's own little "mini scene", so deciding how to separate the pieces has been tricky. Then on Wednesday, I bought another puzzle that also had mini scenes, but I loved it, so I couldn't pass it up.

My daughter's both had business gigs yesterday. My oldest will have her coffee cart at our local lilac days at the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. She was there yesterday and will be there 4/29 and 5/13. My youngest daughter had a wedding to shoot yesterday up in Lynwood, Wa. So proud of them for going after their dreams. I can't wait to hit the lilac days and visit the gardens. They are open during the week, but all the extra stuff is weekends only. If you are in Washington or Oregon, this is worth a visit. Beautiful grounds filled with lilacs and other flowers. They have a gift shop, museum, and her house is open to tour. 

Our latest round of our exercise challenge is going good though this week was hard for some reason. I'm not sure I'll get my 3 days of 5 miles this week, but that is okay because this wasn't part of the group challenge, just a challenge I set for myself. I do find that my endurance is increasing, which is great. I'll take measurements the first of May. I do find it certainly takes a lot of extra time to get those steps in and I think that's why sometimes I'm so far behind in my posting/commenting. I'm busy trying to get those steps in and not sitting at the computer. I'll have to find a way to remedy that. It has become such a habit, that unless I'm just super tired, I will stay up just to get 10,000 steps (even though the goal is 70,000 a week, and not necessarily 10,000 a day, it just has to add up.) 

I think I'll leave it at that for this week. It's now Sunday and I'm once again pushing it getting this posted. See ya next week. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin