Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

Phew.. Well, the Christmas holiday is over and now onto the new year. Hopefully, 2020 will come in without any fanfare and we can get on the right track with things. We don't normally set New Years' resolutions in our house, but secretly, I think we all try to change a few things for the coming months. At least we try to stay on track, but sometimes things take a weird turn and make us rethink our plans. And, that's fine. No one should ever strive for perfection, there's no such thing. But, we should all strive to improve our situation and life every day. If you didn't already know, I am taking classes in college again to work towards a degree, once more. It's a real shame that making too much money holds you back from actually wanting to improve yourself overall. Jeff brings in too much and therefore, I can't apply for aid because of that, so paying out of pocket really is hard, at times. This semester isn't so bad, because the classes I need were available at the community college here. But, once I'm done and need to transfer to the four-year college, yikes! Student loans are in my future, for sure. On a more positive note, here are five things that made my week a little better than stressing over college money and loans.

1. These Shadows.

Having issues with anxiety and panic attacks lately (more on this later), Skylar has been coming with me to my college campus and walking with me to my classes. I am extremely grateful to have two people in my life that understand my mental health issues and support me 100% through everything that I struggle with. For years I denied that I had any problems and now addressing them has helped me a lot in the long run. I won't sugar-coat this, but it's been so hard to overcome some of my mental obstacles that I deal with. I realized that keeping them bottled up and inside was doing a lot of damage to me overall. I'm glad I was brave enough to get help and I am even more grateful that I have support from Jeff and Skylar. It really means a lot just to hear one of them say, "you're going to be okay."

On a side note: If you know someone struggling with a mental health issue, don't shut them out, or tell them what they're are feeling isn't valid. I can not begin to even explain to you the additional damage you are causing by saying that, or anything negative towards that person. Just don't do it.

2. This Kid.

Speaking of Skylar, he turned 16 in September. I can not even believe it. I feel like, just the other day we were talking about getting him a bike to learn to ride, and wondering what books would be better books for him to read as a teenager. I know most parents say the phrase, "They grow up so fast," but honestly Skylar is growing up at just the right speed, and we are so proud of the young man he is becoming. He's such a good kid and I am so lucky to be his mom and hear his voice calling me "Mumu." (He is stocking our food cabinet from a grocery run. We are doomsday and prepared preppers in this house and we like to have things on hand. We recently purchased this cabinet, and it's been serving as our food "stash" lately. Skylar likes to keep and inventory of what comes in and goes out, too. He likes to be organized like his mom, paint me proud.)

3. Mallie Jean.

Our sweet, little, Mallie Jean has been coming into her colors lately and she has a personality to go with it. She's spunky and still has a bit of the wild mallard in her, but overall she's becoming a cool duck to watch interact in the yard with Happy and Fern. She walks around the yard as if she's trying to talk to the other ducks and even Hardy, and she does this head bob where she tucks her head down and bobs up and down doing short quacks at the other animals. She doesn't like being held all that much, but she will come close when we throw out some cracked corn to them. She's a sweetie. we bring them into the bathtub from time to time, away from each other, so they get to be around us and not turn too wild. We mostly let them be in the yard, though, because they're ducks, they don't need constant supervision. Our snail and slug population has drastically decreased with them, as well as the fleas, so they have been a great addition.

4. Mighty Nest.

With our efforts in being more sustainable and living more simply, one of the items we completely cut out of our life and haven't even purchased in the last three years is plastic wrap. With Oregon passing the single-use plastic bag ban here, we decided to continue on the journey and cut out other plastics from our everyday use. We replaced it with Bee's Wrap. If you haven't heard of this, you are really missing out. I love the original design of the Bee's Wrap, but they come in other patterns as well, even a National Geographic design. You can get your hands on this Bee's Wrap for free by going through Mighty Nest and signing up for the monthly Mightfix. The first one you will start with is the free one with the Bee's Wrap.

You can use this invite code at checkout or click here to get started:

FREEFIX2-248876AE864C

5. IKEA Furniture,

Skylar has been looking for something to display his train collection and we've had our eyes on these cabinets with glass doors for awhile. Not sure if it's exactly what he's wanting, but we are getting close. Once we decide on an actual shelf system and display, I'll be sure to share it here. His collection is amazing and he is so proud of it, so hopefully we can find a good one.

Have a nice weekend.

I've always been a horror fan since I can remember. Along with the horror, I've always had an interest in anything "spooky" or "scary" in general. Fog is one of those things. I feel like fog takes you away to some mysterious place, sort of like a dream, maybe. I been so lost in the "fog" most of my life. With seeing things differently than most people and also feeling like I could disappear from life in general through fog, itself. Although fog is nothing more than moisture in the air, collected into one spot, and sits in that spot because of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air, with no wind or breeze to push it along. The National Geographic Society states that fog can also be considered a low lying cloud. Whatever "fog" is, it's one of my favorite things in this world. Because of that, I have decided to dedicate an Instagram account to just pictures of fog. You can view that account here, it's under Fog Pictures, and along with that, here's several pictures that I've taken and featured on the page. Fog doesn't get enough credit for being the amazing, and beautiful sight that it is.