Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

Today is a beautiful day in Oregon and the sun is out, but it's still 48 degrees. When I woke up this morning it was about 39 degrees and a little foggy. We are anxiously waiting for winter to hit here in the valley and dump buckets of snow on us. We got a good snowfall last year and we are hoping it happens again this year too. Fingers are crossed in our house. As far as the rest of the week we have been having lots of rain and wind. The wind happened to topple over our gazebo and actually break one of the support bars. We were pretty bummed, but we are able to return it to the store we bought, so it's not a huge loss. We always take it down before the weather change, but the weather change came a bit sooner than expected this year. At least we are able to return it and get a new one. We have cleaned up our garden for the winter season and while putting a layer of straw over our strawberry plants we got a nice "end of the year" strawberry waiting for us.

The Bean was the one that got to eat the late season surprise and he said it was pretty juicy. We are getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday and have a lot planned for our menu, Thanksgiving Day fun, and togetherness with some good friends. But for now, here are the things that made this week great.

1. Veteran's Day.

We took the day last Saturday and traveled to Albany, Oregon, to watch the Veteran's Day parade. We watched the Northwest Civil War Council walk through with their large number of members and their rebel flag flying the way it's supposed to be represented. We also saw some older men and women that were part of World War II. The older history-type displays are always our favorite.

2. These socks.

I'm not one to show off my bare legs, but I can't help but brag about these socks. They have been wonderful with the colder nights and mornings we are in right now. The socks pictured here aren't sold anymore, but these are similar.

3. Little library.

After months of contemplating it we decided to go for it and get our own Little Free Library. It's brought about a lot of kids and adults looking for free books to read and share.

4. These boxes.

Yogi Surprise Lifestyle box and Jewelry Box for this month was pretty on point, as always. The Walball is getting worked overtime in out house lately and I'm loving the Gratitude bracelet from the Jewelry Box. You can pick up your own here and Get 25% Off Your First Box When You Use Code: YOGI25

And just a side note, Honest Beauty has a new acne treatment out now and it's working wonders for The Bean's teenage acne. Check it out here.

5. These ducks.

Our ducks, Rosey and Happy are loving all of the rain lately. They don't have a proper swimming hole, so we've set up a make-shift one in the wheelbarrow and they love it!

• A few more things:

Instead of Black Friday join us for

Blue Friday here in the Willamette Valley.

A sustainable Black Friday alternative.

Our group on the map here! -Join us!

Mystery plane over Oregon?

Forest Feast for Kids.

Emma Watson's "Our Shared Shelf."

Tillamook Cheese keeps getting back marks.

And the cows aren't even in Tillamook.

Have a great weekend!

Hello.

Something wicked this way comes... Halloween was a success this year, and with over 600 trick-or-treaters, it was exhausting. We spin cotton candy for the community and it's a lot cheaper than passing out loads of candy treats, and honestly, it's a lot more fun. We enjoyed seeing some repeat visitors and a lot of them reminded us of who they are and we did a proper catch-up. It was nice seeing some of the kids another year and it made us feel great that they put our house on their list for another year.

Today we have taken down the decorations and we've steered clear of the rain so far today, but I think tonight will bring more showers. The temperature has dropped a lot in the last few days and we've had to fire up the fireplace in order to stay a little more toasty than the heater can bring. I enjoy this time of year, but the rain makes it a little less enjoyable, so we are hoping if it does rain that it won't stick around for days on end. I've gone through all of the Halloween decorations as we take them down to see what we can part with and no longer store throughout the year. The Goodwill box is overflowing and we are now down to a small cardboard box with only a few things we feel set the mood for Halloween night. And the minimal journey continues. Oh, for a zero-waste household. Definitely a work in progress still. *sigh*

Here are the things that made this week great!

1. Monopoly man.

The Bean went as the Monopoly Man this year and he rocked it well.

2. Cookies.

I did a bit of baking for Halloween night and decided to give Annie's Organics a try since they are USDA Organic. I normally make a pot of chili for the night and call it good, but I think baking some of these cookies might be an addition to the tradition now.

3. Persimmons.

I contemplated on whether I should include these or not, but then I thought, my mistake might help others that are interested in the persimmon seed weather predicting. So I purchased these persimmons in the hope of cutting them open and viewing the seeds. The folklore is sort of ongoing fun in our house and this year we decided to give it a try. Well, we purchased the wrong persimmons. I guess there are a variety of different ones and the ones we picked up are the seedless variety. Ooops. Well, now I know that the ones I need to look for are called the American Persimmon. I am not sure which ones we have here, but they are seedless and do us no good. So watch out for that if you decide to give the weather prediction to persimmons a try. We will give this another go with the right persimmons and update on what we find.

4. Mightynest.

This month's Mightynest was olive wood spoons. These are great and much needed in this house. If you haven't given Mightynest a go, try it out here. They send you an item(s) that helps your home be greener and more environmentally-friendly with each shipment.

5. November books.

This month brings us "Simple Matters" by Erin Boyle. She is the creator behind the blog 'Reading my Tea Leaves' and gives such helpful ways on helping one live more simply. I've been following her advice for the past year now and it has brought a new thought process to our home. It's a great read and her blog is a necessary addition to your daily internet cruising. The other books below are suggestions for this month as well and there are new selections each month that can be found here.