Nora

The EtsyBlogger of the month is the person behind Designs by Nora. Click any item above to be whisked away to this delightful shop. Being an EtsyBlogger of course there is a blog for you to enjoy and follow as well. Frequently on her blog she showcases other artisans in a feature called What's New Wednesday. Take a look. You may find something new and wonderful.

Need Some Sunshine

Do you need some to help you feel like spring is coming and the world will be warm again? I know I do.

Is It Just Me?

Is it just me or does everyone have a bit of the blahs? Not to whine but my car broke down. By the time I get home I will have been away for 3 weeks instead of the one I had planned. Visiting with my kids and grandkids is fun but I am feeling a need for my own stuff and space. The weather has been Utah strange. This morning it snowed again.

On the bloggy front Project Wonderful may delist my ad space. Something about views and visitors. I don't get rich off that but I actually enjoyed seeing what ads showed up here each day. I discovered new shops and blogs keeping an eye on those spots and I hope some of you did too.

Enough complaining. I got to spend the day with Posie the 2 year old while her mom worked. How could I not have a good time with this face?

It's Spring or Is It?

Finally it felt like spring and on Saturday we took advantage of it here at my daughters house in Salt Lake. It was a perfect day for a 5 year old boy to give up his training wheels and take off for the first time. The smiles and looks of growing confidence were wonderful to see. Little sister of course had fun trying to keep up. I took so many pictures but this grandma will save them for her screensaveer and just give you this one of them together.
Then today in typical Utah fashion this happened. The snow started last night and continues so far this afternoon. So no matter what the calendar says, is it spring yet? Not today.

My Car

If you are a reader of my other blog A Cozy Life you may already know that I am stuck in Utah waiting for my car to be fixed. It had a major breakdown and the part it needs is back ordered nationwide. They say I will probably have it back by next Wednesday.

In the meantime I am able to use computers at different houses to check mail and write occasional posts.

Today I am showing you a box of cute car themed cards. They are from the shop Liz Felgate Crafts. Stop by and take a look at this charming shop and if you are in the mood let her know Cozy sent you.

Top of the Morning!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all!

I am looking forward to an Irish feast at my daughter's house this evening.

Hope you all have a fun and wonderful day too.

Today's image is from Best Doilies shop on Etsy.

Carry Your Luck

With this tote from pinkclover1 you can carry your luck with you where ever you go.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you!

Now Ready

The daffodils are blooming beside the walk to the front door. It was so nice to see them there. It means that spring is on the way to Utah. Along with the daffodils the house is now already for the next family. We have turned the home over to a property manager now to find renters. With a lot of work it has been freshly painted, all the bathrooms and kitchen are clean and shiny and the carpets have been cleaned.
I am still waiting for the car to be fixed. It should be ready for me to pick up on Thursday. By this weekend I should be back home in my little desert house once again.

What happens?

What happens when something like this thing breaks in your new car with less than 10,000 miles on it on a trip from Phoenix to Salt Lake? Well I'll tell you. You get to stay an extra week waiting for the part to be freighted in and replaced. More time to spend with grandkids and less time in front of my own computer blogging to you all. However I will be around occasionally.

No Pain, Still Gain?

I have been working consistently for the past couple weeks with some exercise CD's that are mostly walking or aerobic routines I have picked up here and there. I enjoy them but the same one each day is kind of boring so I rotate through them to keep my exercise each day form getting too boring. I have noticed that even though I wear good shoes and am on padded carpeting my knees and ankles are sometimes a bit achy.
I have learned that one of the best reasons to consider an elliptical trainer is to avoid just such pains. When you are using ellipticals the movement of running or walking are imitated without the impact because your foot does not leave the machine as you use it. Do you exercise regularly? What are your routines like?

Guess What?

Jim let me know the last night that we will be going to Country Thunder 2009 in Florence, Arizona on Saturday the 4th of April! That is the last day of the event and will end with Alan Jackson that night. I have never been to anything like this before. I expect it to be very crowded and lots of fun.

I love all kinds of music but country, folk and bluegrass have always topped my list of favorites. I am really looking forward to this!

A Prediction

I think that Scott McIntyre will be one of the 3 singers selected by votes to be in the top 12 of American Idol.

I guess we will have to wait for the show tonight to find out for sure.


Edit: He made it along with some other very good singers!

In 2 Weeks

It will be St. Patrick's Day in 2 weeks from today. That is in the US where it is celebrated on the 17th of March each year. It is a day for remembering all things Irish since so many Americans trace their roots back to Ireland. I am one of them myself. So I went window shopping on Silkfair to see what I could find and of course I came up with something for you to see that I think is certainly prettier than green beer and might even smell better than freshly baked soda bread.


This lovely soap is from the Desert Maiden Bathworks Shop. The seller describes the product this way-
Just in time for St. Patrick's day. Buy this bar for your favorite Irish man or lady! The orange is a Fizzling Tangerine scent. The white layer is Lemon Drops, and the green is our Twist and Shout Lime! Perfect for either scent and light enough to celebrate spring and refresh the senses!The Celtic oval represents the Irish's proud Celtic heritage!All my soaps are created using the highest quality bases and fragrance oils. Nothing created in my soap kitchen goes untested by me and my business partner, Lisa. We take pride in all of our creations. All bath and body products are made in small batches to ensure the highest quality for our customers.All soap bars are approximately 3-4oz in size. We do have multiples in stock in most cases. We welcome all wholesale orders. If your fragrance is out of stock, we will be happy to make you a bar or two, but please give us 10 days to complete custom requests.Ingredients: Saponofied Coconut Oil, Saponofied Castor Oil, Saponofied Safflower Oil, Saponofied Palm Oil, Olive Oil, Soybean Protein, Sorbitol, Sorbitan Oleate, Water, Lye, and Fragrance.

If time permits and I don't get too distracted with other things I will be bringing you more things from Silkfair and other sites that fit the St. Patrick's Day theme.

Ugly American

From Wikipedia.org-

Ugly American is an epithet used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home.

My husband ran into one of these this weekend. We were in a casino. I expect that most of you know that a casino anywhere in the US is most definitely a smoking environment. Most will accept that when you walk in the door it will have smoke in the air and deal with the issue in joy if you smoke and in resignation if you don't.

A lady sat at the machine next to him and asked him to put his cigarette out. He said this casino allows smoking so I won't. She told him next that she came down to Arizona every winter and spent a lot of money here and should be shown some consideration from people like him. His response to that was next winter why don't you and your money stay home. She played a couple more minutes and then left.

All winter starting about November and ending around April our traffic in this big city is more snarled. The lines in grocery stores and pharmacies are much longer. The wait for tables in restaurants can double or triple. We take it all in stride knowing that from May to October our little corner of this big place is quieter, getting around is just a bit easier and because of the extreme heat it is nesting time down here as we survive in our air conditioned spaces.

To say that you deserve consideration because you come to a place and throw money around is just rude and condescending. You are an "Ugly American". I hope that you don't travel outside the US because we don't need you building on our tarnished American reputation around the world. I am not sorry to tell you lady that personally we would not miss your money if you did stay home.

(She did say where she was from but I am omitting that so I don't slur all the great people I have enjoyed meeting when we visited there.)