How to help with the winter....get cozy in your home.

image from publicdomainpictures.net 

A foggy Monday morning.  I can’t see the intersection north of us, one block away.   Temperature will be warmer today as the high will be 35F(2C) winds ESE at 5 to 10 MPH, so that will be better than yesterday with higher winds and out of the south it was very damp and colder.  We might have some light rain tonight.  Winter is keeping us on our toes, with watching the weather and what is coming.  Stay warm, stay safe.
 
Australia family and friends are on the opposite of this.  Their week is warming up today Jan 6 Tuesday will have a high of 81F(27C) and humidity at 90%.  This article of about staying cozy will not be for them, I should find one that says stay cool at home.   Stay cool, stay safe.
 
I think we need to try to do some of these things to make this winter enjoyable.  We have had so much winter weather without the sun, and cold temperatures.   We miss sitting outside, we miss the sunlight that warms us, we miss working in our gardens.  We need to make it cozy in our homes to help with the lack of these things.  Hope this helps. 

Ideas for Staying Cozy at Home in Winter
How do you get cozy? As the nights grow colder, find ideas for creating comfort—from making a cozier room to warming yourself!
How to Cozy Up Your Living Space
Like me, maybe you love the cold, snowy, and spare aesthetic of the outdoors in winter but dread the short days and the low arc of the winter sun.
The number one trick to beating back the darkness is light! Full-spectrum bulbs and lamps mimic natural daylight (but without dangerous ultraviolet rays). Some people use special photo-therapy lamps (light boxes) to help fight seasonal affective disorder (winter depression) by basking directly in their light for a few minutes each day. In my experience, people not only feel better and see better in areas lit by full-spectrum lighting but also look better.
Outline one or more windows or door frames with strings of small Christmas tree lights to create soft, intimate lighting  that helps a room feel cozy.
Mirrors placed to reflect lamplight can help brighten the evening.
Cozy up your space by adding brightly colored accents: pillows, throws, and area rugs. Professional designers suggest adding depth and texture for extra coziness: a plush, fluffy throw, two or three layers of pillows, and a shaggy area rug.
Consider an indoor tent! When my daughter was young, I remember making all manner of tented play spaces by draping sheets over furniture and large-appliance boxes from the hardware store. You can still fashion them yourself, but nowadays, online merchants offer hundreds of styles of indoor tents and privacy canopies, some designed as floor-less models to enclose, provide privacy, and even insulate their occupants from drafts.
Suffuse your living space with comforting fragrances. Any kind of baked good in the oven—banana bread, apple/pumpkin pie, chocolate-chip cookies—will do the trick. But you don’t need to cook to fill your home with a warm, inviting scent. Boil water containing cinnamon sticks with other favorite spices, or a few drops of an essential oil, and set the container on a counter or shelf. Light a stick of balsam or pine incense.
How to Green Up the Indoors
Well-maintained house plants brighten a space, soften harsh angles, promote a sense of calm, and help purify the air. (Check out these tips on houseplants for low light and this guide on winter care for your houseplant.
If you already have one or two plants that do well, you can try expanding your collection by propagating some new ones from cuttings.
Don’t have the money or patience for houseplants? Buy or forage in the wild for some evergreen boughs. Trim them to size and place them as table settings or on mantelpieces, bookcases, and dressers. Keep the water fresh, and they’ll stay green for weeks. Bonus: Balsam or pine cuttings will send evergreen scents wafting through the air.
Warm Yourself
Feeling cozy means feeling a comforting sense of warmth. Before the advent of central heating, our ancestors used ways of heating themselves and the space immediately around them rather than the air throughout the entire room. They invented hooded chairs to capture and retain radiant heat sitting in front of a stove or fireplace, folding screens to reduce drafts, and insulating canopies and curtains around beds.
My mother recalled her days growing up in a big Vermont farmhouse; her mother heated stones in the kitchen woodstove and used tongs to place them in a long-handled brass bedwarmer that she slid back and forth between layers of goose-down comforters before tucking her nine children in for the night, two or three to a bed.
Maybe you’re turning down the thermostat to save money on winter heating costs. Here are some ways to stay cozy:
Hot baths. Nothing beats a hot bath on a winter evening. Adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to the bathwater may deepen your relaxation.
Seed- or bead-filled beanbags heated in the microwave. Over the years, I’ve acquired a big collection of them, mostly as gifts. I have bean bags that drape around my neck, over my shoulders, and down the back. I have some long, narrow ones I can spread across the top of or along the sides of my thighs. I have beanbag mittens that soothe sore fingers and wrists and beanbag booties to take care of cold feet.
Slide a couple of heated beanbags under the covers for a few minutes before you turn in for the night to create an intense coziness that helps you slip quickly into a restful sleep.
My go-to plan for evening coziness: I heat a couple of my beanbags, apply them to a stressed area, and sit in my recliner under a thick plush blanket; there, I sip a cup of ginger tea, read a book or the newspaper, do a word puzzle, watch tv, or chat online—pure joy, especially after that hot bath.
Nothing creates a deeper sense of comfort and joy than the right food and drink. Winter coziness depends on having a good supply of them on hand. Of course, the favorites and the recipes vary from culture to culture and household to household.
My winter comfort foods include any kind of homemade soup, stew, and chowder—and chili! The possibilities are endless, depending on the ingredients I have on hand. It’s easy to cook up a huge stockpot of dry beans, then make a big soup that lasts for 3 or 4 days, then turn the rest into a chili with onions, garlic, and roasted peppers from my freezer. A big part of these comfort foods for me involves the versatility and ease of preparation. Add a cheese sandwich to the soup and a green salad to the chili, and you’re set.
For cozy winter drinks, I think of strong, dark-roast coffee, cocoa, herb teas (especially peppermint and ginger), mulled cider, and the various recipes that come under the general heading of wassail. You can make a nonalcoholic wassail by simmering any kind of fruit juice with a handful of spices such as cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Some people (raising my hand) even take comfort in a cup of boiling water spiked with plenty of lemon juice, with or without a sweetener.
Taken from https://www.almanac.com/winters-coming-ideas-staying-cozy-home
Till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa [email protected]  641-794-3337  cell 641-903-9365  Beckysgreenhouse.com  Facebook Becky Kerndt Litterer or Becky’s Greenhouse