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 chat about:

The weather: Well, the last few days we've been in the upper 70's low 80's the last several days. I won't complain. The weather is looking good for my 10k on Sunday. I need to be prepared because we are crossing a bridge over the Columbia River, so it could be a bit windy. I'm just praying for no rain. The weather in Ohio should be good too. Again, just hoping for no rain. 

What we're thinking about: Yesterday at work we were talking about "you just don't know what people are going through" in regards to the way customers act when we are trying to help them...I'd say 90% of the time our customers are great, but now and then we get some really grumpy ones who just won't get out of their mood. This also brought up the topic of the way people feel the need to write snarky comments on Facebook. It's like "why? why do you even need to say that? Just move on, scroll by." I truly feel like these kinds of things, being grumpy to others, snarky with comments, only hurts the person exhibiting that behavior. Same with road rage..it is just making your day worse. I feel like the last several years have just increased these things. 

What we're thankful for: I'm thankful for the opportunity to go spend time with my aunts in Ohio next week. I'll miss my family, but I'm looking forward to being with family.

Around the house: On one of our office walls, we added some shiplap and painted it the color that the wall bed will be. It makes the ceiling looks so tall. I can't wait to get the wall bed. I decided to wait until I get back from Ohio to get some pumpkins to decorate. I'll decorate the house, hopefully, before I leave. 

The wall bed will go on that wall. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: Yah..nothing new...I've been straggling in the reading realm. Not sure why. I really am wondering if my struggle with reading, exercising, is the change of seasons. Even though I love fall, maybe this year it's thrown me for a bit of a loop. So, my goal this month is to finish the book club book, The Maid (I'll bring it on my trip), and also finish The Dictionary of Lost Words. I'm over 50% done but really need to focus on my book club book. 

What we're watching or listening to: I have listened to several podcasts. I am absolutely LOVING  These are Good Days  podcast. It is so good. Funny, but also serious. And they're only about 30 minutes. 

I also started a new audio book, Laughing Through the Ugly Cry by Dawn Barton. It's so good. It's serious, but she brings humor through the things she's been through. Wow! I've bookmarked a few spots to go back and take notes on. I'll share more later. It's a shorter book, only about 4 hours long. I also mentioned last time about getting the audiobook of Project Hail Mary only to discover that it was in Spanish. Well, I discovered it was available on something called Playaway, the all-in-one audiobook. It looks like this. You attach ear??? oh my goodness, I just drew a blank on the "old fashioned" term...well, I guess earbuds, but not wireless. Wow...someone tell me what we used to call them. So I plan to take that on the plane with me. I think it should be fine to take. I should make a good dent in it since my plane ride is about 6 hours total. 

For the love of food: I made a new recipe this week, Hamburger Soup, which was so good and flavorful. I will definitely be adding this to my menus. I also did burgers, wings and leftovers one night, and last night, Zuppa Toscana. Tonight I'm doing a roast. I also made some Pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bread. I've also been making my own hummus. It's fairly quick and with just a few ingredients, it's much better than buying it. 

Hamburger soup. So good and full of flavor. 

Pumpkin bread with streusel topping, and after it came out, I drizzled a maple glaze over it. It fell in the middle, but it was so good! 

Favorite photo(s):

So I didn't really take any pictures this week, but thought I'd share this one. A week ago I went to a ladies night that my oldest daughter hosted and my youngest daughter took some photos at it and each lady received 3 free photos. The lighting was kind of wonky, so she decided to go with a moody vibe. I had decided that I was going to try and wear my hair down. My original plan was to leave work, get home, have time to wash hair, let it dry and curl it. My oldest sent me a text asking if I could meet her at the venue (in our town) to help her with something before I went home. I said sure, then realized she had the kids. She said they were coming to our house during it and my hubby was going to hang with them. Long story short, I got home later than expected, kids were a bit distracting, hair wasn't drying fast enough, the girls needed me to bring things down before event started that they had forgotten. I did the best I could and while I like what I was wearing, I wasn't happy with my hair. I knew when I took my glasses off, there would be a mark. I was critiquing myself immediately. BUT what I was failing to remember, is that I got to see my grandkids, and I was helping my daughters do something they had not done before, host an event...and I love supporting them and making them successful. I know they did their best. I know my youngest was hoping for better lighting, etc., I know my oldest had to do an almost complete 360 because she realized too late that she wasn't going to get her coffee cart inside so she had to "wing it" with something else. My goal became to make it a successful night about them. I was a bit tired, I had sat on this stool for awhile so my daughter could play with lighting ideas. I hope in the end, they both had a good time and felt like it was a success. Was it a learning experience for both? Yep. But that's how it goes isn't it. 

Random or not so random things: I'm probably not going to be posting next week, but it really just depends on what is going on. I know there will be some down time, I mean I'm going to be on an island, in the fall. A small island. But I'll also hopefully be helping with grape harvest, but since it does get dark sooner, I'm thinking I might have some time in the evenings. We'll see. If I don't, I'll see ya'll in a few weeks. The week I get back (on a Tuesday), the grandkids come the next day and will be with us through Saturday...so hopefully I'll post that week, not sure though. 

I'm now sitting here with ice on my foot. I was walking down the back steps at work (there are only 3 steps) with a bag of shredding, and I somehow managed to miss the bottom step. My foot kind of twisted and I went down on one knee, barely scraped it, phew. The bag of shredding cushioned me (haha), but my foot was a bit sore when I got home and took my shoe off. I'm hoping it's nothing more than a little bruise, since I have the 10k race Sunday and I'm getting on a plane Tuesday. I will be VERY upset if it hurts too much to do the 10k.

I did learn tonight that one of my great aunts is in hospice. She's 97 I think, and my maternal grandmas older sister. My grandma died in 2020 just shy of her 92nd birthday. They come from a great family and they were all so close. 

I'll leave it at this for tonight. I promise I'll get around to commenting this week. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin