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: Here's a graphic just to let you know what we've been and are dealing with..haha. We did have some patches of nice weather in between the crazy stuff, so I took advantage of those times and took some walks. Tuesday I ran errands, did a blood draw and when I got off the exit, it just dumped buckets of hail...it was so cold, then a few hours later, the sun came out and I went for a walk in a t-shirt. Friday was a beautiful day but I was working, so stuck inside. I did go for a quick walk when I got home. 

What we've been thinking about: So many of your posts encourage me weekly to think differently or more deeply about things. I love that. I've mostly just been stirring around thoughts of how to continue to be a better version of myself. Discovering what are things that hold me back. I've also been thinking about the thought of as I get older, what do I want my mindset to be. I love that my MIL is turning 78 tomorrow sent me a text yesterday while they were at the beach saying that she had gotten 18,444 steps in that day. Ending her 77th year with the most steps she's taken in a day. I know she's starting to feel her age more, but her mindset is one of doing everything she can to live as long as she can. 

What we're thankful for: I am thankful for the simple things...I'm trying to remember to be mindful of the little things around me...the birds singing, seeing flowers blooming. We just had our mailboxes replaced and I'm so thankful for the neighbors who coordinated it all and put them up. It's easy to only try and find the more noticeable things to be thankful for. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: I'm working on getting through reading The Four Seasons, the book my high school classmate, Chris Widener wrote. Then I did start the book An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. It hasn't quite "grabbed" me yet, but we'll see as I get more into it. 

What we've listened to or watched: I'll include audiobooks here..I'm about 65% of the way through the book Joy of missing out. It's a great book, though the last several chapters didn't grab me as much as the first several, but I still have several spots highlighted that I'll go back and write the thoughts down. I did listen to a few podcasts by Ed Mylett. One was Find your Purpose with Sam Acho, and the other was called How to attain total freedom. The last one was a short 15 minute talk and it was really good. I also got caught up on the Life on Purpose podcast that I listen to. The sister of a friend of ours hosts it..it's another short, 15 minute listen each week and I've found many of the episodes really good. 

Around the house: I thought maybe I found a comforter for our room, but nope, I got it home and didn't love it, so the search is still on. I need to go either super light, or on the darker side...the one I bought was in the middle and it just did nothing for the bed or the room. We've had to start mowing the lawn...I love the smell of fresh cut grass. 

For the love of food: I'm trying to get back to making some meals and hubby lunches that I was doing a few years ago when we first lost quite a bit of weight. I've managed to keep most of mine off (except for about 5 pounds, that seemed to come on when I was struggling with my peri-menopause stuff), but he has gained most of his back. I know changing back to the diet isn't 100% the answer, because I don't often stray too far off of that way of eating..I shouldn't even say diet because it's really not. Anyways. I haven't really made anything new. I'm making a backed macaroni and cheese recipe this weekend for my son in laws birthday get together. I'll let you know how that tastes. 

For Easter I made some sourdough dinner rolls that turned out really good. 

We've also used our new Pampered Chef 1 qt. ice cream maker a few times and it has made some amazing ice cream. We've made plain vanilla, vanilla with chopped peanut butter cups stirred in and coffee flavored. All have been very good.

Also one of our local favorite spots featured a yummy salad by a local youth who won a future chef cooking contest. He is in 4th grade and placed 1st in the salad category. It had spring mix, bacon, blue cheese, blackberries and a vinaigrette. I tried it last week and it was tasty.  

A favorite photo: Three fun ones from the week.

Indiana loves drawing and we found a great You Tube Channel called Art for Kids Hub. He (and me too) has learned so much from following their instructions as he draws. He drew this dog for his sister while she took a nap earlier in the week.

How cool is this barn. I've seen it often driving down a certain road in Vancouver, Wa when I go shopping, but have never stopped and took a picture. I want to go back and get a better picture, but it's just a fun barn. I tried to find something online about it, but so far haven't come up with anything.

My daughter sent me this one. Friday they took the kids to a local BMX track where Indy will ride his Stacyc bike. While they were there, some police officers on bike patrol were there....I can't remember if they were already there, or just riding around...but anyways, they rode with him for a little bit. He thought it was pretty cool. 
 

Favorite quote of the week: This weeks #WQ theme was about being a tour guide in your town. Here's my link. I'm sharing two images from an e-book I read a few years ago that reminded me about exploring right in my own "backyard". It was such a good thought. The book was called Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain. I want to have a mindset of a traveler, a tourist in my own town, county, state. I want to not take things for granted. 

Random or not so random things:

These little puzzles are so cool. My friend has given me three, and she has a few more to let me do. They are fun, and not as hard as I thought they would be. Kind of addicting. 

I also just bought this one from White Mountain Puzzle. I've started it. I've got the edges and now I'm trying to separate first the pieces that have the states name on them. Then I'll go from there. Not sure how I'll separate pieces after that. 

On Easter Sunday I helped my oldest daughter with her coffee cart at their church. The entryway isn't large so she had it set up outside under a tent. I helped with taking orders and flavoring drinks while another gal (who is a barista) made the coffees..then during the services I stood guard. 

I've been liking having my Tuesdays off. Last Tuesday I went to town and had some bloodwork done, then stopped at a few shops before heading home. This next week, I'll just stick around home and get some things done around home. 

We did decide to do another 12 week round of doing 70,000 steps a week. We did add a few extras...we are doing 140 pushups a week (20 per day avg), 210 situps a week (30 per day), 7 minute plank a week (1 min a day). I am also adding shooting for 5 miles of steps at least 3x a week. So far so good. I have 2 days of 5 miles, so that means today or tomorrow I need to try for another 5...I don't think it will be today (Saturday) so tomorrow I'll have to be more intentional.

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin