Currently . . . June 5, 2026

The "Currently" link-up at the beginning of each month is now hosted at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. Our new hostess Amy posts a set of action verb prompts for the month and writers respond. So, without further ado, here are this month's prompts and what's happening currently . . .

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Enjoying - Things I'm loving right now include:

We have a house! To be fair, I'm not enjoying the actual move process that we are in the middle of, but I love love love the house we just bought and I'm enjoying the excitement and possibilities of getting settled in and decorating and buying some new furniture and things. I love the open feel and the way the light comes in these windows, and I love the wood floors (that area rug is going away eventually, in favor of a smaller one).

I love how big and bright the kitchen is, especially compared to the apartment. There's a bay window to the left of that table that I love. (The table and chairs were left by the seller and I like it a lot, I just don't think it will stay in the kitchen so that's an open question at the moment). I love that there's a perfect spot for a little coffee bar right beside the fridge too.

I love the deck and yard, and I love that the seller also left the outdoor furniture, which means we can start enjoying the deck immediately!

I'm even enjoying the front entry, even though it's smaller and narrower than I would have liked in my ideal world. But I got my USA garden flag out there first thing, because you need to set the tone!

I'm enjoying all the patriotic decor and things, and am hoping that there will be lots of fun, safe, celebratory things to participate in over the next couple of months as we celebrate the 250th year of the greatest nation on earth! I love the USA and I love the flag! I got a pair of these banners that are going up in the new house ASAP.

Wearing - mostly t-shirts and jeans or capris, same as almost always. My office is in a warehouse so I don't dress up at all for work, so my wardrobe doesn't change a whole lot. I recently got a couple new pairs of shoes that I love. When I need a light jacket, I've been trying to choose my Scioto Valley Chorus jean jacket because it's my new favorite.

This photo is from when we first 
got the jackets, back in December.

Watching - Well, of course we've been watching the Stanley Cup playoffs! The enthusiasm we felt dropped off after hubby's favorite team (Montreal Canadiens) lost their series, but we are still following it. Other than that, I haven't watched much TV at all, and no movies. I sat down with hubby to watch the first few episodes of Spider-Noir which we're quite enjoying. Sometime when we have a free evening (which might not be until July the way things are going) we still need to watch Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Listening to - I listen to a lot of podcasts, especially at work. Technically I watch them while at work because I use the Rumble app so there's video. My favorites there are political commentary. I listen to the non-video podcasts at home and while driving, and my favorite in that category is The Bible Project. I had been listening to - and rehearsing along with - the recorded versions of my chorus rehearsals while driving, but that app doesn't communicate nicely with my car through bluetooth so I can't change the volume. Makes it really challenging, since it's usually not loud enough to sing along with, so that's frustrating. I recently listened to an audiobook I really enjoyed - Tom Selleck's memoir, narrated by him. 

Musically, I listen to mostly alternative Christian rock and other rock/popular music. My radio station of choice is RadioU.

Buying - I don't think I've bought much lately, but I've got a list of things I plan to buy for the new house, mostly furniture items. We had to buy a dehumidifier for the basement immediately. Since we 'inherited' the outdoor furniture, I'd like to buy a large patio umbrella or awning or something like that. I'm planning to buy a bed for the guest room and new living room furniture. But I will wait on all of it until after we get back from vacation. Might do a bit of shopping when Mum and Dad are here - we'll see. 

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Here's a short Coffee Break Reading List . . . 

I'm currently reading . . . 

The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

  

More reading news and recent reviews are at Just A Second.

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Something fun found during coffee breaks:

I found this a few years ago actually, but it popped up in my memories on the book of face and made me laugh. This is SO me!

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What's currently happening in your life? Leave a comment and let me know! 

This post will be linked at this month's edition of "Currently" hosted by Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

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 ©2006-2026 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Everyday Images #89

Welcome to my ongoing challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I'm not a photographer, but I enjoy taking everyday photos of things I find interesting or want to remember later, and I'm more likely to notice interesting things when I'm intentionally watching for them. Having some prompts that are open to interpretation has helped me pay a little more attention to what's around me. Here's how it works: Every two weeks I have a few words and phrases to focus on, and I try to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week. The link-up post will be here every other Thursday, sharing my photos and offering a link-up for participants to share theirs. Right below the link-up is where you'll find the next set of prompts. 

May/June Prompts - Everyday Images #89

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flag

simple and/or complicated

at home (monthly)

Wednesday weather

doorway

movement

branched

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flag

simple and/or complicated - I noticed this coloring book I got for my granddaughter has some pretty simple designs and others that are a lot more complicated.

at home (monthly) - it doesn't look very homey yet, but we only just took possession of the house yesterday evening!

 

Wednesday weather

doorway - bonus, got to see the new house in the dark for the first time

movement - not actual kinetic movement in my photo, but a representation of the movement from one dwelling to another

branched - Oh sure, I could have taken photos of trees, but I kept forgetting! 

And a few bonus photos:

After closing we went out for dinner to celebrate. The walls of our favorite Greek restaurant are decorated with beautiful murals of Greece.

Here are a few photos of the house on the first day we had possession, everything mostly empty and bare. We were pleasantly surprised that the seller left behind some furniture, including a really nice kitchen set and outdoor furniture.

I've been saving the wine basket I won as my own housewarming gift. LOL

Decided immediately where the coffee station will be:

I am sharing my photos every other Thursday, along with my prompts for the next two weeks. You can use all or some of the prompts for your own photo posts, or none of the prompts and just link up a post featuring your photos. Simple rules: Your posts must be family-friendly; the photos must be your own; and the post must be mostly photos. If you do share I'd appreciate a mention and link to A Fresh Cup of Coffee on your post.

The Everyday Images link-up is posted every other Thursday, and is open for two weeks.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

June Prompts - Everyday Images #90

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wildflowers

water

neighborhood spot (quarterly)

nature

adventure

favorite

twilight

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

©2006-2026 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Something So Nice About the Hodgepodge

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  What's something you find extremely difficult that most people would say is simple?

 

Understanding driving directions. I wouldn't say it's "extremely" difficult but it's a challenge and the only thing I could think of. If I don't have a map or some kind of visual frame of reference, I feel like I have a deer-in-the-headlights stare when someone is trying to explain where to find an address. 

 

2. "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow fast in movies I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." ~F.Scott Fitzgerald

Does the season of summer make you feel this way? Elaborate.

I think it's more common to see springtime as the season of beginning over, but I can sure get behind thinking of summer that way as well. It's a very celebratory season, with vacations and long weekends and parties and all, and a season to relax and soak up the sun so in that sense it feels that summer can have a reset button that lets you get a fresh start. I like this idea!

 

3. Pickles. Love 'em or no thank you? What's your favorite type of pickle? What's something you eat that definitely needs a pickle added?

 I'm actually pretty 'meh' about pickles. I don't love them. I enjoy them in my burger occasionally, and I like deep fried pickles, but I never eat them on their own. Bread and butter pickles chips are my favorite. I love a good Cubano sandwich, and obviously that has to have pickles on it.  

 

Weird core memory . . . I remember when my parents had people over for dinner, my mum had a pretty crystal pickle dish that she always served bread and butter pickles chips in. With one of those teeny pickle forks for people to nab their pickles with. 

4.  'Tis the season . . . do you know any June brides? Are there any weddings on your summer calendar? What's your favorite movie wedding?

 Do I know any June brides? There are none in my family and I honestly can't think of any in my close circle of friends, but I'm sure I've attended June weddings. I don't have any weddings on my calendar this year. Two movie weddings came to mind as contenders for my favorite - the iconic wedding scene in The Sound of Music, and a movie I only saw once but loved, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

5.  June 1st is/was National Say Something Nice Day . . . say something nice here.

 I'm so glad for the kind, friendly, and patient bloggers in the Hodgepodge community. I usually schedule my posts and have just enough time in the morning to link up, and then I'm lucky to get around to visiting the other bloggers within a couple days. The same is true of other link-ups I participate in as well. I really enjoy the link-ups, and I appreciate that you all stop by and "say something nice" in the comment section here.  

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We should be getting possession of the house tonight and will start moving stuff in!! Big moving day is Saturday!

What's something nice happening in your world this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

I host the Wednesday Quotes link-up every other Wednesday. Stop by and share a few thoughts and quotes on the current topic here:  WQ - Courage. I host the Everyday Images photo link-up every other Thursday. And find the Scripture and a Snapshot link-up here every Sunday.

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

 ©2006-2026 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Progress and Goals 2026 (May)

Since I didn't pick a Word of the Year for 2026 I had planned to just do a monthly progress report on some of the goals I am working on. Well, for the first part of the year, that wasn't happening! I finally got myself together to report on my progress a month ago and had to summarize four months worth. I'm a little more on top of the report in month five, but also there was a lot of movement on one of the two major goals.

The two main areas I wanted to focus on this year are: 1) Improve my overall health and fitness: and 2) Move to a home that suits us better than our apartment. 

During May it felt like I had a lot of trouble being consistent with healthy eating, but I tried to be conscientious about keeping a daily log in the app I use for my nutritionist program, and that did keep me accountable for how well I was doing. I managed to shave off a couple more pounds and my healthier habits are becoming more ingrained. That reminds me . . . I didn't log what I ate today . . . better do that now before I forget!

When I updated at the end of April, we had made significant progress in our plans to find and move into a new home. We had just entered into contract on the house we'd chosen and were waiting for information on what we needed to do next. So during May, there was a lot of "hurry up and wait" but the checklist looked a little like this:

-submit a whole lot of signatures and documents to our lender

-move funds into the appropriate accounts

-get inspections done on the property

-obtain homeowners insruance on the property

-give our written notice to our apartment management company

-submit more signatures and documents to the title company

-do a final walkthrough of the house pre-settlement

-wire the downpayment to the title company

-get to the realty office to do the in-person signing of all the final settlement documents

All of that completed as of May 29th! We probably should have been doing more packing earlier, but we're gaining momentum on it and we do still have a bit of time before we have to be completely cleared out of the apartment.

We actually take possession of the house sometime this week, and Saturday will be our main moving day. We'll have another week after that to finish getting any odds and ends out of the apartment and doing a final cleaning. Coming up, my checklist is pretty focused on getting all the change of address tasks looked after. And getting ready for vacation!

Here are some highlights from the merry month of May!

I had my hair done on the first weekend of the month, and decided to make a bit of a change. Switched to an assymetrical cut, which you can kind of see in the Mother's Day weekend photos. The first Sunday of every month is free at Franklin Park Conservatory for Franklin County residents, so we took advantage of that with our son and his family. Great day until I tripped near the end of our visit and banged up my knee and hip. Went to East Market for dinner and home to watch the hockey game. Spoiler alert: we spent a lot of evenings at home watching playoff hockey!

After the work week, I chose Yellow Springs for the Mother's Day weekend outing. We went there to hike at Glen Helen Nature Preserve with the kids and then had dinner at Ye Olde Trail Tavern.

new hair, same old me - hubby is far more cheerful
than this photo might indicate

On Mother's Day we got Asian takeout for lunch after church, had a very relaxed day at home, and of course I called my Mum.

Once again, the workweek didn't have any real standout unusual moments. On the weekend, we suggested our granddaughter pick a park and a place to eat, so we went on a nature walk in Delaware County, explored a little in town before eating at Wendy's, and then finished with a visit to the O'Shaughnessy Dam park.

The next week was a little bit busier. On Monday I had a dentist appointment, and then chorus rehearsal in the evening. On Thursday I took time out from work to meet a couple ladies from the chorus at our church. The chorus is looking for a new rehearsal "home" and my church is one of the suggested places.

On Saturday morning, hubby went to work for a little bit but he had a nasty cold and didn't feel good. He came home earlier than planned, and after some discussion with our friends (we were planning to go to their place for dinner) we rescheduled our get-together for Sunday instead. Sunday morning he felt better and we did make it to church and worship team as usual. We had a great time with our friends for dinner.

We had originally thought we'd spend Memorial Day getting started on packing, but hubby went to work for a little in the morning since he'd cut Friday and Saturday short. Then we accepted an invitation to lunch with another group of friends.

The short week of work started off with me feeling a bit iffy, but thankfully my cold didn't get as bad as hubby's. On Wednesday I left work a little early so we could meet at the new house and do our final walk-through.

Friday was another shortened workday. I was in and out getting to the bank and doing the wire transfer of the closing payment on the house, then meeting up at the realty office to do the closing and sign all the remaining documents. To celebrate, hubby and I went out to dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours - Anna's Greek Cuisine. Came home to watch hockey. A good day, but felt a little sad for hubby because his team was knocked out of the playoffs. 

This past weekend, hubby worked all day on Saturday and I did some errands and got a bit of packing done. Sunday was a quiet day as well. We had a good lunch after church, and long naps, then I putzed around the apartment and also did some rehearsing while hubby played hockey.

How are you doing with your goals for the year? Leave a comment and let me know!

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

 ©2006-2026 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.