The Swarrell Life

 On Friday, February 17th, 2012, my Oma died in the home where she had lived for over 30 years. It seems common these days to say "passed", or "passed away" (or something like that) when someone dies. I refuse to say that about either of my grandparents. The reason is this: they earned the right to die because, for all of the years that I knew them, they truly lived. The more stories I hear about them, I am also convinced that they lived life fully for as long as anyone can remember. Now, I do believe that they are in a better place, but only after making the world around them a better place. Oma (german for grandma) was a war bride, brought to the United States by my grandfather after World War II. She was raised in Munich, Germany as an only child. They met in an unusual way, which is funnier when you hear both sides of it. The story goes that my Opa (German for grandpa) was hanging around Munich with an army buddy, chasing pretty German girls. They both saw O...

I promise that this is the last time I will make bad jokes about Pinterest . Probably. Okay, I may just take a break. I did a search for house designs and that yielded some good results, so I am not going to write off Pinterest completely. At least not yet. I think that the problem for me is that it is entirely too much shopping and not enough buying. I can usually get to the information on the web pretty fast and I can filter out the junk pretty quickly. I can't do that yet on Pinterest , so I think that is what bothers me. It's like an unsearch. It gives you answers when you don't have questions. I'm probably over thinking the whole deal. Teagan sang to me while I was giving him his night time bottle. Autumn made up a short song that she sings to him and he sang it to me, without help, this evening. Good stuff. He had a conversation on the phone with Autumn while he and I were running errands this afternoon. He didn't even have a phone. The kid is way smarter t...

I was thinking about a short series where I explored Pinterest , but I am not so sure anymore. I went on the website and typed "running". It wasn't really that interesting. I pinned a picture of a rhinoceros and made what I thought was a funny comment about how I usually felt like that when I run. Is that what I am supposed to do? What is interesting is that yesterday, I was notified that three more people that know me are following me on Pinterest . Now there is a little more pressure to be Pinteresting to those that are following me. I wonder if anyone else feels this kind of pressure? I am guessing that it is because I have spent more time looking at emails that tell me who is now following me than on the website itself. Hmm. I'll maybe give it another go and let you know what I find...now on with the pictures! Goofy girl: she put herself in Teagan's shoes. Yeah, size 7s now in a size 4? She's not 10th Century Chinese as far as I know...and yes, there ...

It's a weird world we live in. I signed up for Pinterest the other day. And by the other day, I mean over a month ago. Now I get emails about once a week, or more, saying that someone is following me on Pinterest . How do they even know I am there? I guess it's a Facebook thing. So it goes. I think I have been on Pinterest exactly three times. I have no idea what I am doing when I am there, it is really just confusing. Maybe that's the point? Well, quite a few people that I know are on it, so I figured that I would join. And that is really the end of my story, at least so far. I don't use it, don't really know what to use it for. Seems like there are crafts and homemade fashions on it a lot. Not really interested. But am I Pinterested ? Hmmm. Still not feeling it. I'll keep you all up to date on my Pinterest Padventure. But for now, on with more fun than a barrel of Pmonkeys!  This is a story about a picture taken about 5 seconds too late. Moments before...

A few weeks ago I made the mistake of telling Autumn that I wanted to write something meaningful on this blog once a week. Now, I haven't looked back lately, but I think I can safely say that I haven't done that. I told Autumn that because I wanted some accountability, because I really do want to put something on this blog every week that is more than a bunch of pictures and captions. It was a good idea. It still is a good idea. I think that I might be setting bar unrealistically high, at least for now. Should I expect to make one post a week meaningful if I only post once a week? Maybe, but I think I will revise that goal and say once a month I want to say something that means something to me. Perhaps it will be cathartic for me. Perhaps it will be useful for you. Perhaps both. How and what people write says a lot about the person writing, at least for me. I enjoy how people say things as much as what they say, perhaps more. I bring this up because I have noticed that peop...