Showing You

I thought I would show you the place that A Cozy Life may be moving to. If we are, I hope it is all done before it gets too hot around here. In central Arizona almost everything is stucco and desert looking so this house is typical of what you find here.

The front of the house faces south. The windows you see behind the tree are in a breakfast nook. When I was looking at houses I noticed the wonderful light in this room. The mind started working and came up with the realization that this would be the perfect well lit space to use for taking pictures of my items for my online shops. No need to worry about heat or wind or rain and no need to haul everything outside and then back in again.

For those of you who live in greener places the front yard is actually done. It has a few bushes and a tree. The rest is gravel. That is very typical here. With the amount of water it takes to keep grass alive during the hottest months grass is a luxury reserved by many for a small spot in the backyard. If you ever had to mow a lawn like Jim has when it is 115 degrees you really understand the reasoning for just a small amount of grass.

Just waiting to hear if we get it is getting old. We thought we would know by now. Silly us.

Awaiting the Storm

As I sit here waiting for the brunt of the coming storm that the forecasters predict will break records it occurred to me that having something soft and scrumptious to curl up in would be wonderful. The backyard is full of puddles and the worst of the rain and wind is yet to come.

I have some scrappy afghans of my own but if you find yourself often in the same situation and don't knit or crochet I thought I would show you some of the best I think artisans on ArtFire have currently for sale in their shops.

From the shop Craftshoot-

This next one in a stunning red is from Elleellee.

Now really how could you not feel cozy wrapped in this lovely color from

Thunder Mountain?

I will tell you that not only do I admire the workmanship in these pieces but I certainly appreciate the difficulty of photographing a blanket and making it look good. I think these talented needleworkers have managed both. Don't you?



This post is part of the BlogFire Guild biweekly blog carnival. You can read more posts showcasing the outstanding knitting and crocheting found on Artfire by going to the guild blog on Friday, January 22nd.

Same Decade

With the birthday of my youngest sister this month we are all in our 50's now. We are all grandmothers and well past the age of worrying about thing like blackheads treatment.My youngest sister that you see on the right is a busy lady. She kayaks as a hobby and you see her here with a daughter and granddaughter. She also runs a machine embroidery business out of her home. If you are in the Ventura CA area look up Creative Stitches.

Being the oldest in this bunch the sister you see on the left is the middle one. She stays busy working at the post office in Magna UT. Her passion is for helping kids and she is very involved in BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse).

As for me? Well I have kayaked with Kristi and had fun. I must confess though that I don't do vehicles that require helmets so I haven't ridden motorcycles with Karen. But my fun is more tame since I am such a homebody. By that I mean a stack of new books from the library, a box of yarn and too many ideas, just simple quiet stuff. Each of us different, but it is all good, we are sisters.

Learning Something New

I ordered one of my own Christmas presents this year because Jim would never have gone shopping for me on a knitting web site and gotten all the little bits and pieces I wanted. I got a Knit Picks interchangeable set, a cable needle, extra cables in all the lengths offered, all the needle tips sizes they have and some fixed cable needles in the very small sizes.These tools are part of my personal plan for this year.

I have wanted to learn how to do a couple different things for awhile now and this is the year. First I wanted to learn the magic loop method of knitting. This lets you knit small round items like hats and socks or knit afghans or baby blankets from the center out without needing to manage a set of double pointed needles. I am working on a baby blanket right now that starts from the center out. It is my own design, not real fancy or lacy this time but I like how it is coming out so far and when I finish it will go into one of my shops.

The second thing I want to do is knit socks. This would be for myself mostly. Even here in Phoenix there are several months a year when having a cozy pair of socks to pull on in the evenings would be nice. I don't see myself knitting up a lot of different sizes to make them for sale. I got a couple sock books as well that have a lot of information on getting started. As usual they don't have directions specifically for left handed knitters. My brain has to switch the hands in the directions but I am used to that.

Do you have any plans to expand your skills or knowledge this year? I would love to hear from readers about what you are doing or learning.


This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by the BlogFire Guild of ArtFire. The carnival will be posted on Friday, January 8th. To learn more about the Blogfire Guild and to find all the posts in the carnival go to our guild blog.

Getting Fancy

Do you ever get surprised by what your spouse is thinking? You know when they say something and you wonder where did that idea come from?

Something new popped up in conversation after dinner last night. Jim wants to go on a cruise some time this year. He called our youngest daughter who has been on a couple cruises to Mexico to ask some questions. What he wanted to know about particularly was formal night. I guess this is a tradition on cruise ships and every one gets all dressed. For guys it can start with a tuxedo shirt, jacket and the whole deal or just a regular suit. For ladies it is formal evening wear which I don't own. It's not like we go to formal events often or even at all. Heck I didn't even go to my high school prom. I understand participating in formal night is optional.

If you have been on a cruise to anywhere I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment here or link to a post about your experience so I can learn more.

Officially over

The holidays are officially over. In our family they begin with Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Year's Eve and finally on the 4th of January my husband's birthday.He had two long weekends at home and this morning he is back at work and I have the house to myself. Nice and quiet but strange.

He is not the type of person to sit around much. You know the type. When he works he works hard, when he plays he plays hard and when he sits he falls asleep. He spent a lot of his time off looking at our insurance coverage on different things. He checked out homeowners and our car insurance. He started gathering up information for taxes. We watched football, took a drive to Payson, played with a new mixer, snacked too much, put away the holiday decorations, got cars washed, and I don't know how many other things. Some days I get tired just watching him.

Now that I have gotten way off track here let's get back on topic.
This post is to say-

Happy Birthday Jim

and many, many more!