Life at a "Swell's" pace

Growing an Avocado Plant

We've taken up the trend of growing avocado trees from seed. We have been saving our avocado seeds throughout the year and trying our best to get them to root. We've has a bit of success and therefore we've planted them in small pots and then combined them into a large pot all together. They've struggled a bit, but they are growing. We haven't read about how long it takes for them to grow larger, but for now we are happy with what we've created. The plants currently share a pot with some ginger found in the back of our refrigerator a few months ago. Waiting to see what happens with that, as well.

There's different way to get them to root, but I've always found that the toothpick balanced on the top of a glass has worked best for us.

I like to wait until there's a good group of roots showing and a small sprout coming from the seed before transferring them to soil.

These are the plants that the seeds above created. This is about a year's worth of growing. There is ginger in the pot with these, but overall there's definite success with the seeds. It's kind of satisfying to know that you can eat the avocados and with a little patience allow it to continue on with life. Everything in this world has a purpose, and I feel that sometimes giving other living things a chance to continue on living, is a great way to appreciate life on a different scale.

Easy Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are one of the first things I learned to bake once I was out on my own. But having to ice them and decorate them, is mostly something for holidays and special occasions, unless you have the time and patience. Just having a simple sugar cookie on any day of the year, or even just a quick cookie to take somewhere, or to eat on throughout the week, is something a lot of us enjoy. Sugar cookies, just baked and left by themselves, is such a simple cookie to mix together. The key to these easy sugar cookies is to roll them in sugar before baking, without the hassle of cookie cutters, or icing. Here is my version of "Easy Sugar Cookies" that you can make any time of the year. And the best part, they're soft.

Here's how to make these easy, soft sugar cookies:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking power
3/4 tsp. sea salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Using a stand mixer, mix wet ingredients together starting with the butter. Combine butter and sugar, and add the eggs. Combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well. Form into balls, about two tablespoons for each ball. Roll in granulated sugar, or colored sprinkles, flatten just slightly and lay on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for about 30-45 minutes, or freeze at this point to bake later.

Bake for 12-16 minutes at 350 degrees.

I would add to allow them to cool before eating, but nothing is better than a warm sugar cookie straight from the oven, so enjoy!

Five Simple Things (March 7)

Hello.

Here are five things this week.

1. This sky.

The clouds will never stop impressing me here on the west coast.

2. These finds.

We checked out a few estate sales this week and I found some cute items. The flower frog is definitely going to be put to use soon.

3. This map.

At that same estate sale Skylar found this topographic map of The Island of Maui. He loves geology and this map being part of the U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey makes it that much better. Now, where to hang it?

4. This purse.

Another estate sale item. I'm not sure if I want to hang it in the bathroom with some items in it, or use it in the kitchen, or maybe even the bus... Decisions, decisions...

5. This night.

We participated in the IKEA After Dark Sleep Trivia Night, and some of the trivia questions stumped us, but we pulled it out in the end and won. We also participated in the selfie challenge through the store, as well. We ended up winning some great items from the night, spent some time around the store looking for anything we needed at home, and had a great time. One of the things we love about IKEA in Portland is how many great family events they have throughout the year. We are definitely going to be participating in this one in the future.

One last thing:

These Midnight Flora and Fauna Spiral Notebooks and these Honey Bees Short Juice Glasses are now in the shop. The notebook is 160 pages spiral-bound in this nature-lovers notebook. Great for school, journaling, or officer notes. I am still an avid list maker and I love jotting down brain dumps, or daily tasks in spiral-bound notebooks. These honey bees juice glasses caught my eye immediately when looking for kitchen goods for the shop. I love honey bees and these have the perfect, hand-painted bees to grace your breakfast table or to just grab a glass of water. They are delicate honey bee paintings, so be sure to hand wash these cute glasses. You can check out the rest of the Five Simple Things shop here.

Positive affirmations this week:

The truth behind this is sad but real. There are many people who are labeled as sensitive and deal with numerous quiet, unresolved situations that they try to keep in their own hearts and minds. It's a difficult place to be in, in some situations. Often, sensitive people are labeled incorrectly; they are thought of as rude, antisocial, dramatic, or even callous. The truth is, there's a great deal of hurt involved in being a sensitive person, especially when someone does or says something that they know is wrong to say or do, yet blames the sensitive person for it. To add more hurt on top of that, they tell the sensitive person they hurt that they are being too sensitive. It's a tactic that allows bullying behavior to get a free pass at the sensitive person's expense. If you are one of the sensitive types, just know that it is not your fault. There are a lot of people in the world who cannot handle someone actually being kind to them, or, on the opposite end, dismiss them completely when the sensitive person calls out betrayal or repeated disrespect. It is not your job to coddle the betrayer or the person disrespecting you at your expense. As for the hurt, therapy can be a great way to navigate through the pain that we carry. Being sensitive is a superpower, not a flaw. Just know that. Those who use it against you are often people who need a different kind of therapy themselves. And those are their issues to bear, not yours.

You can do this!🌈