I have my days all mixed up this week, so I am posting on Sunday rather than Saturday, but hey, it still is the weekend right? Come up on the porch and grab yourself some coffee, what have you been up to? It is a beautiful day this morning and the birds are chirping and there is a slight breeze so let’s enjoy the porch before it gets hot!

I had two main goals for the week: one was to start putting together an entire new section for “Cruising” on my blog, so I wrote the Introductory Page and planned in my head how I would separate the posts. I have done my homework and found so many interesting tidbits and a lot of information and it is time to start posting them! Look for that new series to start this week! Since we have never cruised before I had a lot to learn! Although much of it I learned after we booked the cruise, the posts will start from the very beginning with how to pick the best cruise for you.

My other goal was to learn how to use the “Instant Pot.” If you have read my “About Page” you will have found out what I like to do, and one of them is “cook” and the other thing I like is “kitchen gadgets.” I was reading a recipe post this week  and the cook forgot to thaw the chicken out in time so she said, “Have no fear, I’ll use my Instant Pot!” 

“What in the world is an Instant Pot?” I thought. So I dived into the world of Instant Pot. Oh, My gosh! It does everything, I must say, and the first recipe I tried was a simple one from the Adventures of a Nurse, Zuppa Tuscana Olive Garden Copycat Instant Pot Soup.   Soup in June? Are you kidding me? But, it was soooooooo good! Did I say soooooooo good? And easy, and fast in the Instant Pot! So this week I will be trying other recipes as well! Now, I am going through my cupboard to get out my pressure cooker, my smaller slow cooker, and some of my big pots to pass along to my son-in-law, who loves to cook. They have all been replaced by the Instant Pot. If you are looking for recipes for Instant Pot look on Pinterest, there are plenty and I thought they looked better than the ones offered by the recipe booklet that came with the Instant Pot. 

In case I was lacking in things to do this week, I also started studying Spanish and Portuguese on Duolingo. Duolingo is fun, free and addictive!  I love languages and Duolingo is a good way to jump in and learn the basics. I use the App on my phone the most, because I can study in spurts during the day when I have a few minutes. Since we will be traveling to Portugal and Spain in the coming months I would like to know some vocabulary. I begin my studies with Duolingo and then build from that what I call my “Vacation Sentences” by writing down phrases that I actually would use. The necessary ones are please, thank you, hello, goodbye and how are you, etc. which go a long way. Then I add things like, where is the bathroom or how much is this please?  Handy things to know.  The words for left and right are necessary. Also, a must sentence, and one you will use a lot is, “I speak only a little (fill in the blank)” and “more slowly please.”  Then I memorize the sentences so I don’t even have to think about them. Most folks appreciate that you are trying to communicate in their language.

Well, enough of me, what have you been up to? Let me know!

PS, I also have poison ivy from working in my garden, but that is another story. That stuff just finds me!

This is part of the #Weekend Coffee Share! I think it is great having coffee with all of you! It is hosted by Nerd in the Brain!  Be sure to link up so you can see what everyone else is saying over coffee!