Life at a "Swell's" pace

This wallet.

Because it's not only colorful, but very me all the way around.

These pictures.

Because they were part of a photography class I took about 6 years ago and I still adore them. They currently hang in my office.

This action figure.

Because my son is obsessed over Star Wars and I think it's fantastic!

These mocha's.

I am not a fast food frequenter, but the Peppermint Mocha from McDonald's right now has a hold on me that I can't seem to shake.

This candle.

I just love the smell of it.

These teas.

Because the Sugar Plum Spice only comes out this time of year, and there's always room in my tummy for Chamomile Tea, but this time of year the Celestial Seasonings brand offers a collectible tin in their tea. Go get you one!

Random Photo of the Week:

A free seasoning packet prompted me to prepare my own homemade Chex Party Mix. It was very tasty!

Eco-Tip: Compost scraps from your kitchen to create the most amazing soil for your garden and flowerbeds. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

So a few weeks ago, after the presidential elections, I got pretty creative and surprised Jeff and Skylar with a little streamer scavenger hunt throughout the house. I had them leave to get pizza for the night since it was storming pretty bad, and while they were gone I covered the entire house in streamers. But I didn't stop there, I had them grab a streamer roll and follow their streamer to the end to gain a prize. This was a great way to spend a rainy night indoors.

I ended up using 6 rolls of red streamers for my house.

Skylar's little arms I should have taken into account when placing his streamers higher than his head, but he had a blast and loved that it was an adventure. See our Board of Great Things!

Skylar reached the garage first, where the prizes were, and Jeff soon followed. Jeff's streamers took him up stairs for awhile, so we had to catch up. HA!

They had a ton of streamers once they finished following them all through the house. Jeff's looks like a roll of toilet paper. HA!

I put a few straggler streamers around to throw them off the trail a little. This is what the house looked like after they went through the living room.

They loved their little scavenger hunt gifts. Skylar got some doggy cookie cutters and scented markers and Jeff scored himself a small weather radio and some camping utensils.

The items I surprised my family with can be found below.

I highly recommend this indoor rainy day activity, we had a BLAST, and I had even more fun setting it up!

Eco-Tip: Consider installing a bat house on the side of your home or near a barn or standing water. Bats will help cut down on the mosquito population naturally during the warmer months. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.