The Road and To do lists.

I had just dropped off my husband at work. My mind was focused on shifting my mental gears into my job and writing while my hand shifted gears in my car. 1st gear, getting into the process of what my to do list is for today; learning new terms, make a few phone calls; second gear, meet new bosses, eat lunch; third gear; writing. Once I had reached third gear I stayed there for a while. The car was running smoothly through traffic and in my mind was a solid to do list. Occasionally I would go to fourth gear and think about what to do tonight once I got home but otherwise I stayed in third and ran through the to do list.

What was really interesting is that all through my to do list, not once did my eyes leave the road and glance at the scenery. Not once did my mind leave the to do list and thank God that I am alive one more day on His great earth. Not once did I think that I even love my hubby. Only to do and road.

Isn't that how we run our lives? Isn't that how we go by day to day. We focus on our list of things that need to be accomplished and we think of how best to get revenge on that 'pipsqueak' who just cut us off. We think of getting our children to school and dashing past the homeless person on the side of the road, thinking to ourselves, 'I'll help them later' when really, we won't even notice them on the way back because we are thinking of what to have for supper and putting up our feet for some 'me time.'

It is increasingly obvious that today's society has become a society of 'I' rather than Him. We try to run our lives and we blame Him when things go wrong. We can't comprehend that the world does not revolve around our to do list and the road. We are always on the road moving from to do list to to list. There is never an end, never a 'break.'

When I turned into my works parking lot I looked at the sky and there was a brilliant red sunrise. It was the most of the sun that I would likely see today since it was overcast. But even in the busyness of my to do lists and the road, I decided to take time and thank God that I'm alive another day, and that He had the wonderful idea of putting that beautiful sunrise in my direct line of view so that I could focus on my road to him, rather than my road to to do.

** I referbished this post from my old blog. I think it's still pertinent even 2 years later. Let me know what you think!



The Lonely Park

Hey all!
So, there are tons of things that I absolutely love doing and one of them is amature photography. I would not call my self the best by any stretch of imagination but I find it relaxing to capture different scenes. I'm not really a huge portrait person, I dabbled it in but that's about it. Same as my paintings, I like scenery or inanimate objects: finding beauty in items that some may not think 'beauty' at first sight.

Anyway, this morning I woke up and it was just one of <i>those</i> mornings. The ones where you just want to role back over and skip. After about an hour or so of that, I decided that I needed some fresh air, despite the cold of eastern Canada. Course, I'm not one to go for a walk without something to do or some purpose, so I take my camera and I start taking pictures. After a few moments of walking I come across a children's play park that has not been used since the last snow (no foot prints ^.^) So I pick my way through the snow and start taking pictures. Hope you enjoy.

 

 





The Cozy Window Seat: An Introduction and Crochet DIY

Hey Everyone!

Welcome to my sanctuary! This is my dream place, my portfolio, my smile :) I love to share and get feed back on things. That is the purpose and design of The Cozy Window Seat. So! I'm going to get started doing that! With that in mind... Here is my first DIY!

 KNITTING NEEDLE CADDIE

So, I was organizing all of my yarn, as I do about twice a year, and I found that my old homemade knitting needle caddie was just not holding up to the job. On top of that I had not put my new needles into the caddie! Well that's just a not allowed. So I decided to make another one! That would have room to spare as well.

Materials needed

1 Old T-Shirt

Thread in whatever colour you want

Two needles, one to hold thread and one to hold yarn.

two colours of yarn

crochet hook is whatever size you like

Scissors

Optional: buttons.

Process 

Step One:

Start crocheting with your choice of main colour of yarn. In my project, it's the left over white that I had from an old banket project. I basically went length wise so that I would be sure that the caddie would be the right size for my tallest needles. I also wanted to be able to fold over the top so that none of my needles would fall out (most annoying thing ever!). Then I just kept crocheting and placing my needles on the square till I was sure that all my needles would fit and I would have plenty of room to spare for extra needles.

Step Two:**

Cut shirt to size of crochet square with extra at the bottom, so that the ends of the needles will be protected. Use your own preference. Then use thread and needle to stitch the two short ends together. Then stick your needles in and pin the needles in, so that there are little pockets for the ends. You can choose not to do this, but I found that the needles made the giant pocket bend forward and as a result the needles just end up sliding around.

Step Three:**

This is another optional bit, but when I put the needles in their little pockets, they still leaned foward and weren't as secure as I'd like. So I cut another strip of the t-shirt to put across the middle of my needles. I also pinned and stitched, the same as I did with the bottom half. When I put the needles into those slots, they stayed upright and didn't swing around ^.^

** I did the stitching by hand and by golly it took me FOREVER! I'm sure if you are a tad craftier than me, you could probably sew it together.

Step Four:

Just to give my hands a break, I crochet my border around the white square. Both the white and the purple were done with single crochet in two different crochet hooks. I believe I only did three rows for the border. 

Step Five:

Then I crochet two strips in the purple to cover the two stips on the shirt. That way the stitches are covered and it looks more 'uniformed.'

Step Six:

To give my caddie a little flair, I then crochet a little flower and then sewed it onto the front corner of the caddie, putting a little button in the center.

(steps 2 through 3 can be done in any order you like or find understandable)

Step Seven:

Put the whole thing together! I used a large needle to pull yarn through the whole thing, joining the t-shirt with the white backing and the purple pieces covering the strips of shirt.

Step Eight:

FINALLY I crochet a quick chain using both colours of yarn and then I attached it to the end with the flower so that it would all roll together and be held tight. Also, because I used a thicker yarn for the base, the whole thing is thick and sturdy! Below are pictures of the finished product!

Hope you all enjoy and make your own knitting needle caddie. Let me know what you think and send pictures if you make one of your own!