It's going to be good

So I'm on the road for a few days this week for work, and as usual at a hotel, I'm not sleeping well. I think the fridge made some kind of weird noise at 3am which woke me up and I just couldn't fall asleep again. I should have had the sleepy time tea my mom gave me! I feel like that really does help me stay asleep longer.

I laid there for awhile and eventually decided to catch up on my blog reading. I need to figure out a way to mark the posts that I love and really want to comment on. I think I should start using the bookmark feature on feedly to remind myself to go back and comment. I feel like when I'm reading blogs, I'm just not in a headspace to make the thoughtful comment that I want to, so ultimately I don't. Plus when I'm reading on my phone, some blog platforms aren't all that friendly to phone commenting. I can't tell you how many great comments have been eaten by my phone! Then there are some blogs that just don't like me - I wanted to comment on Erin's (http://pbsandwch.wordpress.com) blog to congratulate her on baby #3, but it always asks me to sign into a wordpress account I don't have! 

Anyway, that was a long tangent that devolved into a different post I've been meaning to write, about how I would love to be more thoughtful about the blogs I love and am inspired by. So two for one I guess. My ORIGINAL point is that after about 30 minutes of reading, I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get any more sleep. Yesterday was a long day of meetings with a brutally early start, some went better than others, but ultimately I think will resolve well. I had a pretty good dinner with coworkers. I'm missing my family like CRAZY and can't WAIT to see them and squeeze them tonight, especially with a bout of illness in our household. I've got a to do list a mile long and there's nothing I can do about it now. 

And yet. With so much on my mind, totally exhausted, I just had this incredible feeling of....I don't even know. Hope. Happiness. Contentment. Love. Just so much positivity washed over me and it's so unlike me to say any of that but there you go. Nothing specific. Just good. I dashed off a quick text to let my husband know I was thinking of him. I got up and decided to make the most of my newfound time by taking a leisurely shower and having a cup of hotel coffee. I've got more than enough time to finish up the order for Julie (https://www.etsy.com/listing/165587253/hand-knit-toddlerchildrens-mittens) that will go out Saturday, though I wish I'd planned ahead enough to bring the yarn for my next slipper order (https://www.etsy.com/listing/118129146/tall-womens-cottage-slipper-socks)! And with that I'm going to try to hold on to that good feeling through another long day. Hopefully by putting that good energy out there, it'll come back to me. :)

(Also I kind of want a nutribullet now. Darn you hotel infomercials!)

Just enough

 

Talk about cutting it close. I was getting quite nervous as I bound off! This is 1/12 of a group project, so hopefully I'll have a picture of the finished item in a few weeks. I also REALLY hope that my gauge is accurate. I used the larger size needles that the pattern suggested, and it seemed like the right dimensions as I was knitting, but my finished dimensions feel a bit on the small side. I've currently got it pinned out on my floor and gave it a bit of a steam to hopefully stretch it a bit to match the others.

Now on to mitten #2 of an open order! I'm so happy I was able to fit in this bit of personal knitting. :)

Pinterest

Likely if you're savvy enough to be reading blogs right now, you know about Pinterest. While I'm definitely not one of those users who sets (or even follows many) trends and has thousands of pins or followers, I still totally love Pinterest. I created my personal account way back in 2010 when you had to get an invitation or get on a waiting list to get an account. I loved it for the simple fact that you could visually tag websites and it would lead you right back to the full how-to, or where to buy, or what was that thing I loved? Pre-Pinterest, I was always saving lists of bookmarked websites which later made no sense because they weren't neatly categorized, or saving images with no idea where they came from, or even trying to put web addresses in the names of the images so I could go back later....it was sort of a mess. So when this super simple layout and tagging system came along, I was ALL for it.

So yesterday when I was referencing something I'd pinned, a little thing popped up for "Pinterest for Business." And I was intrigued. Lately I've been pinning a bunch of tutorials about how to improve my photography - I'm actually in the middle of a three week course through my alma mater right now that I might get around to recapping sometime - and I thought, well, that would make a lot of sense to file under "business." It would also be a perfect place to pin all of the listings from my shop so that one of those taste-makers can find me, pin me, go viral, get orders from celebrities, get famous, retire early lol. You know, the usual.

I set about creating a few boards that really spoke to where I am right now as an Etsy shop owner: pins of my listings, a board I created about craft fair booth set up, nuts and bolts of photography, props and things to complement my hopefully soon-to-be-improved photography skills, and research for new ideas to develop for my shop in the knits off season this spring.

So if you're interested into a little peek like that into the brain of a shop owner, you can follow me here: http://www.pinterest.com/cozycapecottage/. I already followed a few of my favorite people yesterday, so some of you will find that familiar! I'll still have my personal boards where I'll pin all the usual stuff like what in the world to make for dinner, and how to make my yard look less junky, but I'm aiming to keep all the shop stuff together here. You can also theoretically follow me from the button on my sidebar, provided I set it up properly. Even though I checked it....I never can quite tell!

Once upon a time....

We wanted to mount the tv on the wall. For normal people, this should take what, an hour? For us? 5 days. Yep, pretty standard stuff.

 

To my husband's credit, I will say that I think it looks great and he did an awesome job. But I just have to laugh and shake my head, because I know it's ALWAYS going to be a bigger job than it was supposed to be!

So do something about it then

So in yesterday's post, I was hyperbolically complaining about the cold like so many of us do in these ridiculous-even-for-winter weather conditions, just generally trying to be funny. But then I went to wrap it up with the realization that, uh, not only do I not actually have to go outside in said cold for more than about a minute per day, but I have more than sufficient means to keep warm. Which then made me feel like a total whiny....well, a-hole.

Rather than delete the whole thing, I decided to make it a self-teachable moment. I immediately looked up a local charity that I actually volunteered for in the food pantry several years back - to get my architectural license I logged about 80 hours of community service. Isn't that funny that it's a requirement for a professional license? I don't know the details of WHY it's required, but I kind of liked it. It seems like unless you are part of a religious organization, which I am not, many of us fall out of any kind of volunteerism as adults, so it was a nice push. Anyway, I saw that they give clothing right to the people who need it, which is exactly what I was looking for. I often give to Goodwill, but I feel like they just resell donated goods and use the profits to help people - which is great, but I have a perfectly good down jacket that right now could be much more useful on someone's back than as cash in pocket, you know?

Pardon creepy dog-flash-eyes. He can't resist something soft on the floor.

So yeah, I found a coat from college that is super warm that I forgot I even HAD, so clearly, I don't need it. I also found a bunch of hats, scarves and mittens that are in great shape that I just don't wear.

 

I even found one of my very first crochet projects, a VERY unfortunately colored blanket. It's hideous, and I must have run out of purple so I decided that neon would be the perfect thing to make it longer? Good lord, I have no idea. BUT, it's actually seamed together pretty sturdily and it's quite soft. May as well give it a shot at some use rather than hiding out in ugly shame under my bed, along with a couple sweatshirts that haven't seen much action.

So yeah, I don't know. I didn't sit down to do resolutions, but don't be a jerk whiner and help others seems like a pretty adequate goal for life in general. I'll be dropping off these 3 bags of warmth tonight, and meanwhile trying to complain about my first world problems a little less.

What the "polar vortex" means to me

It's cold and it's dark, and there is precious little that makes me think that prying myself from my warm bed is a viable idea. And this is despite investing in a programmable thermostat that warms the house up to a tolerable temperature and a sunrise alarm clock that is supposed to trick me into thinking that there might be something worth seeing. Oh no self, you can't outsmart me. I know that the blanket fort is where it's AT.

On my day off this week I rearranged the furniture in my living room to resemble a giant couch-bed and piled it high with blankets while decked out in my snuggliest fleece. I considered this a perfectly reasonable way to spend the day.

At any given time, I might be wearing 2-3 full outfits simultaneously. No, I don't pick out my work clothes this time of year based on what might look cute. I choose my pants based on which ones have enough extra room to fit my under armor running tights and still button. Which in itself is laughable, because I don't run, and I sure as h*ll don't run when it's cold!!

I don't tend to dress in bright colors. I know that probably there is some psychology that says that seeing bright, cheerful colors boosts one's outlook....but again, I'm too smart for that nonsense, self. You might be able to get away with that in springtime, when it might actually warm up to a reasonable temperature in the foreseeable future. But now? It's January. The BEGINNING of January. I know that this is only the beginning, and therefore I prefer to tuck in and pile on as much clothing as possible, most of which is black....gray....charcoal gray....navy if I'm feeling crazy/it happens to be a thick sweater. Maybe the dark colors remind me of still being asleep? Warm in my bed? Which is my favorite thing lol.

I also begin to seriously regret not knitting more for myself. I would love to have a good pair of wool socks and a super cozy oversized grannyish sweater. Instead I just put on as many thin Old Navy sweaters as I can get away with and make a mental note to spend time this summer knitting for ME. Yes, it might be somewhat unpleasant if it's 80 degrees....but the payoff will be worth it!

I begin to think crazy skewed thoughts when facing a high of -10 with windchills around, oh, -50. Thoughts like oh, it's going to get up to 10 degrees today! Above zero! That sounds not so bad! And what's that you say? Almost UP to freezing this weekend? Huh, might as well chuck the hats and play outside!

Mostly though, I keep these thoughts to myself and thank my lucky stars that I don't actually HAVE to spend any time outside. It also gives me the thought to clear out that basket of "just in case I need it" winter stuff like hats and gloves that I don't really wear, and get myself to the nearest shelter. Like tonight.