Cuprum29 Shop of the Week

Cuprum29 is an amazing shop filled with work that shows the talents of ErikaLyn who is an artisan committed to creating beautiful things with a mixture of different metals and techniques. After looking at the shop, take you time by the way because you will want to browse it all, it would only take a minute to share it with your followers on your favorite social media.

As a personal note ErikaLyn also shared a great tasting salsa recipe that was a big part of our football food around here yesterday. Thanks!

What a week!

I happen to belong to a wonderful group of online friends. You can find links to them all on Group2020.com. I was the group's featured shop this week and the results have been very nice indeed and I want to use this post to thank them publically. The views of my Zibbet.com/cozy shop have tripled my average monthly results.

These friends have tweeted, pinned, blogged, G+'ed. stumbled and posted on facebook and wanelo.

Thank you all!

What's New Wednesday

So what is new today?

Well it is snowing but at the end of January that is not so new. American Idol is on tonight and that is a new episode and I admit to being a fan. I have surveys to fill out in my inbox, not new. I got a couple likes from strangers on my tumbler blog and that is new.

But to me the best news I have is that I got two shawls listed online yesterday. Learning some construction techniques from other projects helped me to design and make these and I am pleased with how they turned out. These really need to go where they will be worn and loved by somebody.

I used four strands of thread to make the shawl above that had grays, beige and browns, one of them a variegated thread. It came out so soft and drapes over shoulders so well that you could wrap it lots of ways. The border creates a ruffled edge, but not too ruffly. I have only done one of these so far but I do have supplies for more.

This one I imagined as a bridal or wedding shawl although if someone likes to wear white it would work for them too. When taking the pictures I was really worried about capturing the white without funny tints and am pleased with that. This thread has an opalescent strand in it that I just couldn't get to show up. So with this one you get white with a bit of bling. I did this style in an icy blue too and will hopefully be getting that posted today.

If you want to see more pictures of these they are in my shop Cozy on Zibbet.

Yellowstone Has Teeth

I live in a very small Idaho town and to do any kind of big box shopping it has to be online or drive more than an hour. On weekends we like or rather Jim really likes to get out of town to relax away from his duties at work.

This weekend found us in Riverton, Wyoming. On the way home we stopped at a gas station in Dubois (around here it is pronounced due-boyz) and while waiting my turn for the only restroom I looked at a display of books in the aisle right by the door. I can tell you, Marjane Ambler, that your book is well placed. I saw the title "Yellowstone Has Teeth" and of course read the back cover. If you know me at all you would know that I buy most of what I read at thrift shops and library books sales so full price is a splurge but that is what I did.

I read the first couple chapters before bed last night and am loving the story and the way it is told so far. I can think of a few folks in my family who would really enjoy this too and will be passing it on to them when I am done. If you have an interest in Yellowstone National Park, wild life, surviving winter in small communities, you will definitely want to get a copy of this one for yourself.

I will post more about this when I finish.

Memories of a Nice Weekend

Over the weekend we had guests. Our weekend company was a couple that Jim works with at the hospital in Jackson. They arrived late afternoon on Saturday and brought these tulips as a gift.

We had dinner together that included a prime rib roast cooked by Jim. He used tips from the Pioneer Woman website. The company was great and the food was good. After dinner we played the card game Phase 10. Have you ever played that one? Jim won. Our guests spent the night rather than go home late at night over Teton Pass.

In the morning to get the day started we have coffee, juice, fruit, and bagels. The they left us to go home and watch the football games. All in all it was a fun way to spend a weekend.

Books 2014 Ratlines by Stuart Neville

I don't usually read to study but rather to enjoy. The terms some use when reviewing books don't fit with how I use books to entertain myself so if you are looking for a deep analysis here I recommend looking this book up on Good Reads. That said, I really did enjoy this story. I like nearly all historical fiction and this one kept me tuning pages in my spare time for a couple days. The setting is Ireland in the 60's. It has a hero who gets the girl and some bad guys and those who get caught up in between. Want to know more? I recommend you read the story.

Perils of Online Selling

I sold a headband yesterday and promised my buyer that I would send it first thing this morning and I kept that promise. Keeping it was a bit of an adventure however.

You see we live in a very small town that has no home mail delivery and Jim has to drive a mountain pass to get to work. He has to use his 4 wheel drive truck to get there and home safely. He also said that he needed an ATV with a blade on the front of it to clear the snow we get here. That leaves me in the winter with our old rear wheel drive sedan and that is where my adventure begins today.

I went out to the garage and pressed the button on the wall to open the door after packing the order to get in the car to go to the Post Office and found the ATV parked snugly right next to the driver side door of the car. I decided to get in on the passenger side. Going over to that side I found bicycles and a lawn mower right by the passenger doors. I had to move the bikes and lawn mower so I could get in the car and scoot across to the driver's side. I started the car, backed out of the garage over piles of snow left behind from plowing the driveway with the coveted ATV by someone who is mostly right in thinking I never go anywhere anyway and looked up at the visor to find the garage door gadget was not there.

Leaving the car running in the driveway I went back into the garage, hit the button on the wall to close the door and left the garage by the small door on the side to step out onto unshoveled sidewalk. Not shoveled because no one comes here, we use the garage usually and the snow plow blade is too big to do the sidewalk so why would Jim bother clearing it anyway? My broken toe (a story for another day) and I limped around the garage in the snow to get back to the car. Driving slowly and carefully on barely plowed and icy streets I made it to the Post Office. Hallelujah I found no line at the Post Office thanks to living in a very small town.

Coming back home on those same streets I had to reverse the process. I pulled into the driveway, went around the garage in the snow, pressed the button on the wall to open the door and pulled in. The bright spot was that with the bikes and lawn mower already moved getting out of the car was not as big a pain as getting in.

I got there and back safely, the order is on the was so now as Phil of Duck Dynasty says, "Everyone should be happy, happy, happy."

Blogger is being a stinker about pictures for some reason right now. Add another event to today's adventure!I will show you all the headband when I edit later. Who knows I may show you the old car and coveted ATV too.