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: While it has been hot still, the temps are going down a bit. I thought I read somewhere that we were looking at some upcoming 100 degree days, but nothing is showing that right now. In fact, a few days have shown only in the mid to upper 70's.

What we're thinking about: Oh boy. Quite a bit. It's been a heavy week of sorts. One of my uncles passed away. It wasn't unexpected, he was given 4-6 months about a month or so ago, but still. There is another issue with extended family that I don't feel I can/should share, but it weighs heavy because I know it all could have been avoided. So if you are a praying person, please pray for a positive outcome, and restoration of relationships.

I've also been thinking of the term "glimmers". Have you heard of those? I saw a reference several months ago and really liked the thought. We hear so much about "triggers" in a negative reference. I shared about them in my #WQ post with Marsha..you can find that post here and I'll share a quote below, but the basis of them is that they are the opposite of triggers. They are tiny moments that spark joy, calm, connection, peace. They strengthen the neural pathways related to regulating our emotions. This can be the smell of fresh coffee, laying in the grass, walking in the water, catching the sunset..whatever thing brings you joy. It's so easy to get caught up in the everyday, and also to let the negative things have center stage. I also think the term "triggers" gets overused. 

What we're thankful for: I'm thankful for people who remind me who I am and who know me and my heart. I'm by no means perfect, and I shy (run) away from conflict, but my heart and intentions are never malicious or hurtful, and this past week I've struggled with some things that have come against me and have needed those reminders, though I need to keep strongly believing them and not constantly second guessing myself.  

Around the house: Oh just the usual. I'm still getting a lot of blueberries...about 7 gallon size bags now, I'm hoping to at least get 2 or 3 more. I mostly use them in smoothies, muffins, pancakes. 

Other than that, not much else...I need to spend some time cleaning and organizing some areas. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: I think our next book club read is going to be the book Weyward by Emilia Hart. It has the most votes. Our library doesn't have it so I'll probably have to buy it. I'm still plugging away at The Charm School. I'm not really enjoying it. I feel like it has veered off of what it's supposed to be about and could be shorter. We'll see how I feel once I finish it. 

What we're watching or listening to: I just finished listening to the book The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel. Such a fascinating story! I will probably look for another one. I really like listening to these when I walk or drive. I might ask if you've listened to any recently.  

For the love of food: Let's see...I kept things fairly simple. Pepper and I made simple PB cookies (or Peeny Budda as she calls it) using just 1 egg, 1 c. PB and 1 c. sugar (I used coconut sugar and adams, but they will definitely taste more healthy). I also made a yummy bean salad. Here's a link to that recipe. I actually submitted it to the magazine cooking for two quite a few years ago and it made it in. It's so simple and if you have a thriving garden, all but a few ingredients can be picked fresh.  I made some really good salmon and we had the bean salad with it. This next week I start my Arbonne 30 days to healthy living so I sat down today to make a grocery list and menu for next week. The reality is, we already eat pretty clean, but it's tweaking things just a little bit more and avoiding some foods that are known to be inflammatory and "troublesome" to some people. 

Favorite quote: I talked above about my post for #WQ and linked that above as well, but here's one of the quotes I found that I liked. 

Favorite photo(s):

Love this photo of my MIL and Pepper. They love their great nannie! 

Random or not so random things:

I read a post by someone on one of the blog hops (I can't remember which one) who was talking about some animal or bug being where it shouldn't be...and now I can't even remember what that was either...anyways, it reminded me to share what happened to us. At about 1:00 in the morning on the 25th (last Tuesday) our youngest daughter sent us a text saying they thought there was a bat upstairs in the hallway. This isn't the first time we've had them, and apparently, as the next day would show me in memories on FB, it was EXACTLY 6 years ago to the date that shooed 3 others out of our house. To make a long story short, and I wish I could show you or tell you how comical it was, because there certainly were comical moments with 4 of us trying to decide what to do, who was going to be the brave one (it wasn't my husband by the way...lol). This particular bat seemed "stupid" to us, as we didn't have as much trouble the last time getting them out. He didn't want to cooperate and go towards the open door at the bottom of the stairs. Finally we decided to open one of the upstairs bedrooms windows, and see if we could coax it in there, which we did. Then we shut the door and waited for it to fly out. We stationed ourselves outside so that we could see it flying, but hopefully also see it fly out. I had only opened the window about halfway, so decided to put a sheet over my head, go in there (with the bat), and open the windows the rest of the way. It took FOREVER for him to leave. We actually decided we were going to just leave it shut in there, go to bed and hope in the morning it flew out. We checked one more time and didn't see movement. I went in (why do I always have to be the brave one), and I didn't see it..by 3:30 we were finally able to go to sleep. July and August are their mating season or when babies are born or something like that. Not a fun night. I bet Gary Wilson could come up with a great story had this happened to him. Our conversations were funny, if only we had recorded the whole thing. At one point, I had something in my tooth so I went and got a piece of floss...I walked outside where my daughter was and she looks at me, laughs and says "are you seriously flossing right now?". 

In other news, my in laws were supposed to fly to Bangor, ME on Thursday night. Their flight was canceled. I managed to get them on an earlier flight the next day. They got on that flight, flew into Newark, only to find their 1 1/2 hour flight to Bangor was canceled and wouldn't fly out until Saturday night...they waited in line, my hubby, daughter and I were on computers and phones trying to get them something sooner, get a hotel, get them refunds. We got them on a flight for Saturday morning, but they had to fly into Boston, which was 3 hours from the friends house they were staying, thankfully their friends were more than willing to drive to get them. The airline (United) said they'd make sure their luggage got to Boston...guess what...it went to Bangor, ME. Thankfully, that airport was only 20 minutes away from where they were staying. So they had a long trip, may never want to fly again, and at the very least, NOT fly United, but hopefully they have a great rest of their vacation. We are considering adjusting one of their other flights because they are going to also visit family in Indiana. 

If you're still here reading, let's see if I can find some lighter news. Work was great. I really enjoy the ladies I work with, the customers who come in, and all our delivery drivers. We have fun, even when it's stressful at times. 

We watched the grandkids several times during the week, which is always fun, and busy. Pepper would love to play outside the entire time she's here...I try to make that happen. I had to ditch the bucket swing and buy another big swing because she prefers one of those now. Last weekend we had Pepper overnight on Friday night and she stayed all day Saturday while her parent's and big brother went to the Motocross races. 

We also made homemade hot chocolate with frothed milk and sprinkles.

This guy loves motocross and was so giddy about being at the races. They also volunteered at the FCA Motocross booth two of the days. 

We also enjoyed ice cream. 

I also finished my Martha's Vineyard Puzzle and started this new Sherlock Holmes one, which is tricky because there is no photo to go off of. You read a mystery story first, then put the puzzle together and then try and solve the mystery. 

It's Sunday morning now and I'm just now finishing this post. Last night I went to a wedding with my oldest daughter. My youngest daughter was in the wedding. Such a nice night. 

I'll leave it at this for now. Here's my post from last week if anyone wants to read it.

With Joy Unquenchable

Kirstin