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, we'd probably talk about: 

The weather: The weather is certainly getting into fall...cool nights/mornings, and then it warms up just enough to be pleasant. My weather app is starting to show temps more in the 60's. 

What we're thinking about: One of the podcasts I listened to the other day was talking about celebrating others. I took so many notes, but it really made me ponder the thought of jealousy/comparison vs. celebrating/being happy. It can be so easy to say "must be nice", or "I wish that was me", etc. Those phrases add nothing to our lives, however, when we can celebrate in each others successes, etc, when we can be happy "with" people, there is limitless joy, and it serves to only make the joy in our lives bigger. I'll link the podcast in my what I listened to section. There was some really good nuggets to chew on. So if we were having coffee I think I'd love to dive in deeper to this thought. 

What we're thankful for: In regards to what I wrote above, I'd say that I'm thankful that I have come to a place where, more often than not (because Lord knows we're not perfect), I can celebrate with people, I rarely say "must be nice", I LOVE seeing peoples vacation photos, new homes, new cars, etc. Is it always easy? Of course not, but it is certainly easier than it was before. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: Nothing different this week. I'm still plugging away at the books I've been reading. They're really good and I am enjoying them, I just haven't taken the time to really sit and get some reading done. We have the grandkids this week so I don't know if I'll even crack open a book. The Maid by Nita Prose is, in fact, going to be our next read. I haven't started it yet. I probably will next week. 

What we're listening to or watching: I mentioned above that I listened to a great podcast. Here's the link. It's called These are Good Days. The episode I mentioned above was called Celebrating Others. The premise of the show is exploring things that make life worth living. I haven't been sure if I'd get all the books read for my 12 book challenge, so since I finished my last audio book, I have been searching for a new one. I discovered that one of the books on my list Project Hail Mary is in audio format from the library so I'm going to listen to that...hopefully it's a good one to listen to. *Edit to add, I turned it on in the car and it was in Spanish. That is not going to do me any good, so I returned it. Now I need to find another one. I normally listen to nonfiction though I have listened to one or two fiction and enjoyed them. I'll let you know how it goes.

Around the house: Oh, not a whole heck of a lot! I want to decorate for fall, but maybe next week. Once the pumpkin patch opens, I'll bring home some decor for the porches. 

I think this will be the layout...I don't remember what we finally decided. Along the top will be cubbies, where I can keep some blankets or pillows. Along the right side will be a couple shelves and the bottom are drawers. There's a thinner one, that pulls out like a small shelf to keep whatever on at night. The panels will be a chevron look with a stain, the surround trim will be a cream color. 

For the love of food: With the grandkids here this past week I didn't really anything new or out of the ordinary. I did make plenty of waffles because my grandson loves them and he likes to eat them with syrup and vanilla ice cream. My hubby showed him this one of the last times they were here. When he (my hubby) visited Australia years ago in college, the family he stayed with served the waffles that way and he was hooked. Our girls loved it too, but I don't care for it. 

Helping make the waffle batter. Homemade waffles just taste so good! Since they can't have dairy I find dairy free versions, and there are some good ones out there. 

Today (saturday) I had my youngest daughter make me a coffee when she was making one for herself. she has an espresso machine. I sure needed it especially because I knew I was going to be up so late. 

I also made sourdough banana bread. I love it with walnuts but left them out this time. 

Favorite photo(s):

I hate that I don't get out as much as I'd like to take pictures. It rained yesterday so I snapped this photo with my phone because I love rain drops on flowers. 

After we dropped her brother off at school on Wednesday we had some time to kill before the library opened so we went to the coffee shop. Her auntie bought her some pumpkin bread and made her a flavored hot oat milk drink. She was just way too cute. 

Random or not so random things: At the moment, it's Saturday night, about 10:30 and I'm at my daughters house. The grandkids were with us since Tuesday, and this evening I brought them home so they can sleep in their beds and since their mom and dad are coming home really late tonight. I'll drive home (20 minutes) once they get back. My daughter said I could just stay the night, but because Pepper wasn't sleeping great, I slept on the couch with her the whole time and didn't get more than 5-6 hours of sleep each night and it wasn't solid sleep. I just want to sleep in my bed, uninterrupted. Ha!! We had a great time with them though, I'm just usually wiped out by the end. 

On one of the days, I was trying to get dinner started, so I sent them out with an egg carton and told them to find some treasures and fill up each spot in the container. That was genius. It kept them busy for a bit on their own. Oh, and the orange and clear thing is a dart for a nerf type gun...lol. When I first saw it, I thought it was a syringe. 

I always try to plan at least one craft when the kids are here. This time we did fall trees. The instructions were to use finger prints to make the leaves, but Indy thought we could use q-tips. Pepper used a bit of each. 

Her Zia (aunt) Anna was doing her nails, and Pepper wanted in on it. She thought it was the best thing. 

In other news, we bought a car. I mentioned last week that we were on the hunt. We bought a 2023 Subaru Forester Touring. I LOVE it! We bought it Sunday and I went and picked it up Monday. My poor hubby has only driven it once. He drives a company car to work. We have been married 31 years next month and this is the first brand new vehicle we've bought. We felt like it was the right move for us, otherwise we would have kept searching for a good used car. We drive our cars til they die, and all the used vehicles with significantly higher miles were priced ridiculously high.

Ummm...that is A LOT of reading material. Also, I had to laugh at some of the stuff that comes with new cars. I asked the sales guy, jokingly, "have we humans become that stupid that need all these alerts and reminders?". The sad truth is, it's not that we've become more stupid, (though, some might disagree...haha), but that we've become increasingly distracted. I will say, though, some of the dings and things distract me because I'm not sure what they are. I need to read the simplified manuals a bit more).

We went with the touring model because there were a few features that we felt were important to us. The color on this one I believe is called metallic bronze. I really like it. 

Well, since it's now Sunday, and I have a list of things to do now that the kids are gone, I'll leave it at this! 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin