Looking Forward to Summer

Now that Easter is in the past it is time to look forward to summer. In my mind the coming summer season is a time to relax until the holiday routines start again with Halloween. You know how it goes, right? Halloween with the need to get great candy and smile at all the kids. Thanksgiving with families gathered round the table and cooking, lots and lots of cooking. Christmas with the pressures of decorating and gift giving and receiving. Next is New Years when the young are excited to stay up so late and older folks like me would rather be in bed by about 9. Last in the line up is Easter which was just celebrated with bunnies, eggs and chocolate.

Summer bracketed at the beginning with Memorial Day and at the end with Labor Day does get interrupted by what I think of as the best holiday of all, the 4th of July. To say that I countdown to the 4th like a kid waiting for Santa might be a bit of an understatement. Follow along here and let's see if I can convince you about how great this day is okay?

• Clothes for the day are casual and comfy like the 4th of July shirts available from The Flag Shirt.com.
• Most towns large and small start the morning with a parade and I love parades!
• Easy food with friends and family is the order of the day. Picnics or a barbecue it all sounds good to me.
• The evening includes fireworks in most places. Big displays overhead with the local radio stations playing music or kids in the backyard with sparklers. It is all bold, bright and fun!
• The day ends with tired, well fed and maybe slightly sunburned Americans ready to do it all again next year. 

Are you looking forward to the 4th now too?


Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

This post contains a sponsored link.

Your Car, Your Safety

In the depths of a Wyoming winter or the long days of a summer road trip you need a safe ride. Those safe rides start with the tires on your truck, car or motorcycle. Most of us need experts to let us know when it is time to replace worn tires and do the job to keep us on the road. Checking out our tires is something my husband and I should have done one May a few years ago. A late spring storm turned a drive down Teton Pass in to a barely controllable free fall. I'm just sayin' trust the experts and don't neglect your tires.

Automotive service centers who provide tire services need great equipment. Best Buy Auto Equipment probably has the exact tire changer that your service center needs to care for your vehicle.

Service managers you may want to pay attention here. These guys  are owned and have operated since 1987 in the USA. If you take a look at their BBB profile you will find a business with an A+ rating. On top of that getting the equipment you need to keep folks like me on the road and safe can be purchased using Pay Pal or credit cards. Contacting customer service is easy with a big bold phone number at the top of the home page of the web site.

Reading reviews always give me peace of mind when making a purchasing decision. Here are a few for you to consider. Some customers said -

• "Great product expert service. Lift meet all expectations."
• "Best Buy AE is a very good company to deal with. They have great prices, provide excellent technical help and keep their word. I love my Nationwide car lift and BBAE automotive equipment. Highly recommend them."
• "received my nationwide 2-9k-acd on february 13. from the first phone call to delivery, and a few questions and concerns in between.Oliver took really good care of me. THANKS!!!. The lift is very sturdy . definitely commercial grade .at an affordable price"

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!

This post contains a sponsored link.

Stash Busting, Startitis and Shawl Shaping

I went stash diving recently and came up with some Paton's Lace, some Knit Picks lace weight and some sock yarn that told me they needed to become shawls. Does your yarn talk to you or is it just me?

I am trying out ideas for different shawl shapes for wearability and style and color combinations with stripes.. So far on the needles are a crescent and a triangle shape that is worked kind of sideways. The shaping for that comes from adding one stitch to the same side every other row. That idea is shown in the blue and white stripes. I also want to make a bottom up triangle and a shallow top down triangle. Some of these will be just for me and some may end up in my Etsy Shop. All this knitting should keep me occupied through this summer and on into the fall.

When I find my thoughts whirling nothing, for me anyway, helps me process those thoughts better than a mindless knitting or crocheting project. These shawl ideas are perfect projects for this purpose.

What is whirling through my brain these days? We are in a time of figuring out a transition to retirement for Jim. I suppose I should clarify that. Jim is still working at a hospital in Wyoming where we rent a house. I have no idea and from one day to the next neither does he, when or if he will come to a place where he is ready to walk out the door of his job for the last time.

We own a houses in Arizona and Utah. We have daydreamed about retiring to Arizona and I have spent time in the last two years setting up our house there to have it ready and keep it maintained. The house in Utah currently houses my son and his family. I don't know if I will ever live in that house again. I would like the option to sell it if I wish but it means getting that family out of the comfy nest I own and they are very happy in and moved on to more independence.

My mind is filled with questions. What to do if anything? Where to be and when? Will Jim just keep working until he just can't and how far in the future is that? How to split my time happily for all involved between Arizona and Wyoming? How to get my son launched into another place and have it be a good thing for all of us? Is that even possible or will I need to push and take the consequences?

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!