Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

We are feeling a bit less of the stress from the nation as a whole now it seems. Thank god, right? Hopefully things will start to improve slowly with the new president in office now. I am just looking forward to seeing less crazy actions from people and more calm. Unfortunately, the pandemic hasn't really made things "go back to normal," but at least we are seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel. My heart monitor checkup is this coming week, so hopefully I get some answers there, too. I am anxious about finding out about my anxiety. Odd how that works. Overall, I am starting to remain calm and focus on myself more, and as Jeff puts it, telling everyone else "NO." Which, I have a hard time doing, but am working on it slowly. Overall, it's been a nice week, so I hope it lasts. Here are five things this week.

1. This Easel.

We couldn't find a decently made, or decently priced easel online, or in stores, so we made our own. It's a roughly made easel, but it works great for our homeschool classroom. We are really enjoying it. You can see more about it here.

2. These Signs.

I love black and white road signs. And, I am really enjoying the street names on these streets in Monmouth, Oregon.

3. This Kid.

I love his creativity.

4. These Lights.

I bought these fairy lights to liven up my room and to bring a bit of light in the evenings to boost my mood. I really like them so far.

5. This Game.

I love CLUE and this past Christmas I received the Downtown Abbey CLUE game. We've played it a few times already and I love it!

Did you catch the first quarter moon on January 20?

Our latest podcast episode is out, and you can check it out at the podcast link above on this blog.

Also, I got a yearly wrap up from Spotify of all the songs I jammed to over the 2020 year. It's interesting to see which songs I enjoyed most of the time over others. I plan on using this wrap up to organize my playlists better for the 2021 year.

Positive affirmations this week:

Have a nice weekend.

Hello.

The new year hasn't really lessened the blow from the Coronavirus pandemic and it's unfortunate that people are still losing their lives. I'm just glad we have a new president in office and a lot of the stress from the past one is starting to die down. I'm not political, I just don't like all the negativity that was the result of the last one in office. It seemed to just bring out the worst in people. We live in a "blue" state here in Oregon, but we live in a very "red" county. We've seen a lot of things the last two years that were unbelievable. Being yelled at while walking into a grocery store that we are sheep for wearing a mask is just beyond ridiculous. There's people protesting over things they can't control, and then there's people holding signs that the election was stolen. It's almost too much. My anxiety has been getting better, but leaving the house is becoming more of an irritation than anything else. I've started using more online services for things just so I don't have to see these people standing around screaming. Hopefully, it all dies down sooner than later. On a positive, we saw a beautiful skyline again, and received a few of our subscription boxes, so we had a good week otherwise. I got my heart monitor removed and sent in for analyses. Looking forward to seeing the results from that soon. Here are five things this week.

1. These Lights.

An ambulance was called for a neighbor down the street, not sure why, but the lights lit up the bedroom. Jeff said that they were okay otherwise, but the lights seemed so bright in the middle of the night while they leaked through the curtains.

2. These Boxes.

I received the Laura Mercier box from Influenster to try for free. I love this brand and the blemish stick is amazing! The one to the right is from Mighty Nest and the razor was the Mighty Fix and the reusable garbage bag and sustainable toilet brush was the add on. Looking forward to changing out our long-used Preserve Razor handle for the new one. The green one we've used for about five years now. These razors last a long time and can be recycled into new razor handles after you're done with them.

Another Influenster free gift to try. We having used Velveeta in such a long time, so it was nice to receive this for free and make some cheese dip with it. I forget how great Velveeta taste and we used it for a "cheat" day meal. It was delicious!

This is the Cairn box for December. With the Coronavirus pandemic, it was backed up with shipping and we received it this week with the January box below.

This was the Mully box for January and Jeff loves this box. They really have great items in their boxes each month. If you're into golf this is definitely the box to try.

This is January's Cairn box. If you're into camping, hiking, or even just some outdoors time, give this one a go.

3. This Sunset.

Amazing sunsets this week. This one was glowing pink and red and was impossible to miss.

4. This Syrup.

It's one of my favorite things from IKEA and I love that they've gone more eco-friendly with the packaging. If you haven't tried this, you're missing out. It's delicious and it's alcohol-free.

5. This Spider.

Most people flip out over spiders in their house and most of the time we catch them and put them back outside, but this one is allowed to stay. It's has a web spun around the nightlight and I can't bring myself to destroy it. For now it can stay. Spiders don't live that long and I hope it hangs out for awhile. It's quite interesting to look at.

Our latest podcast episode is out. Check it out at the podcast page at the top of this blog. It's a good one, too!

Positive affirmations this week: I love this quote. If you bring negative energy into our home you will be asked to leave. You can pick this sign up here.