MIA

Hey blog world. It isn't Thursday and I know I haven't been around things have been sort of blah lately. It seems silly how one little change in your life can just set you back. I haven't wanted to write or do any projects. I wanted to do this blog to try to put myself out there. Try to boost my confidence. I knew it wasn't going to happen overnight but I had hoped for something a little more I guess. I am not giving up! I will be back but I want to focus on projects I really want to do. Not projects to just fill a post.

About a month ago I lost my dog. She had a tumor and she was old. 15 years old.

I had her from the second she was born. and now she is gone. It hurts a lot more than I thought it would. I still find myself looking for her and crying when I know she isn't there. I know that sounds really stupid to some. But to a lot of people I know they understand. She was my writing buddy. That's why its been so hard to sit down and write.

You see I recently put myself out there, Had some one else read my book. It wasn't anything "official" But it was my first time getting criticism from some one else besides my mom. It was a hard thing for me to do. I got decent feedback. The author was really kind and professional. But with the criticism comes the "work." And I don't know how to fix it. This would be the part where my dog would be helpful. Whenever I sat at my desk she would sit right by my feet right where it would have been to much work for me to get up and do something else. I don't know if she did that on purpose but it worked. Or if she wasn't in the same room as me she would periodically come check on me to make sure I was where I was supposed to be.

I am at the part of the sadness where I don't know what I am supposed to do anymore. I don't "Feel" like doing anything productive. I need to snap out of it. Its just harder than I thought it would be.

I am sorry this post is sappy and pathetic and a million other weak things. But I look at this way. I rarely have anyone look at my posts anyways. What difference would it make.

I hope that I can get inspired to do something again soon.

Sharing my projects did make me happy...sometimes.

Writing made me happy to.


Editing however. not so much.

So I hope you all understand....all 7 of you. And I hope you are all doing well.

I will see you when I see ya.

Review on Blue Apron

Hello Blog World!

I want to start off this post by apologizing for my absence last week.My friends and family know my reason and I hope you understand. 

This post is going to be a little different this time. I cooked. 

Be afraid. Be very afraid!

I have a bad track record and the scars to prove that I am a horrible cook...Ok maybe not horrible just...bad. I know with my last name being Cook you would think something would have rubbed off...but nope. 

I stick with meals that are very basic. Microwaves are my friend. And as long as it doesn't involve oil I am usually good. 

But let me tell you that isn't very healthy. We have been trying to be healthier, but its hard!!! 

Really hard. 

I also hate trying different things, not so much because I am afraid I am not going to like them more along the lines of, 

1. I hate trying to find different things in the store. No one is helpful and when you don't know what the ingredient is its a little difficult to search for. 

2. I hate meal planning! I am currently searching for a website that does that for me. Surprisingly they are out there. It's just a matter of finding one that has food that I know I will be willing to try. 

3. I hate wasting food I don't like or don't use for other things. For example: Green onions. I do not use these often so when they are in a recipe I avoid them. 

4. I hate going to the store after work to deal with the crazy people and do all these things in my brain.  

                The solution? 

                             Blue Apron.

How many of you have heard of Blue Apron? Don't worry this isn't a sponsorship...(Although I wouldn't deny it if it was!)

The boyfriend heard of it off Life Hacker and was bugging me about it. Its a service that sends you fresh food for three meals that is already pre measured and planned out. All you have to do is open the box and cook it. 

At first I was against this. Why? Because I hate cooking. Now you are going to throw weird food at me that I have no idea what to do with. no. I wont do it. 

I did it. 

Only The Boyfriend helped me cook... This is the part you go WHATT? He doesn't cook. He cooked me two meals when I moved in with him. 1. Chicken picata (Amazing.) 2. What he normally made: Chicken with beef ramen. (Gross) 

I am pretty sure that was his clever way to get me to cook. And suddenly he forgot how to feed himself. (I think that is a guy thing...NO OFFENSE...sorta) 

So when he offered to help me cook I was floored! 

We set up the subscription (And they do have a discount for new members) 

Then we had to wait for a meal we would like. See that's the great thing about Blue Apron. It shows you in advance what you are going to get if you accept that menu for the week. So if they have anything that you just can't stand like in my case one night they had catfish and I wasn't so sure about that so we just passed on that week. The next week was the week we decided to try. Now these were all meals that were completely new to us. 

Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken

Southern- style Shrimp and grits

Tomato Basil Burgers

The unboxing was really cool

In side the box is a cooler bag and freezer packs. They come with a recipe for each meal, full of pictures and helpful tips.  

Each meals comes with what they call "knick knacks" which basically covers any seasonings or dressings. 

You will use everything they give you in the box. None really goes to waste. 

The one I took pictures of the whole process was the Taiwanese three cup chicken. 

A few concerns when sorting out the ingredients for this recipe were: 

How is this amount of chicken going to serve two?

And how do you mince garlic. 

Let me explain...I don't cook with garlic too often because I am part vampire and it makes me sick. So I usually stick with garlic powders or the already minced garlic. 

I never once peeled a garlic clove and minced it...Neither did the boyfriend. So we had to google it. 

Once we figured out that you peel the outer layer first then separate the clove you have to smoosh it with a knife then you can chop/mince whatever you want. 

Any of the oily parts The boyfriend dealt with...

I am not allowed. 

I didn't do step by step pictures because well honestly that would be boring to you I think and the cook time for this recipe was 35 minutes. with 10 minute prep time...For normal people. 

For us it took almost over two hours. 

No I am not kidding. 

Anyways.... So I did however get pictures of the end product and let me tell you what for two cooking rookies such as ourselves I was really impressed with how these meals turned out. They were awesome! And yes the portion sizes are a little smaller than what the boyfriend is use to but it was perfect for me. No left overs :( 

Above is the Taiwanese chicken which was my favorite. 

My thoughts: I wasn't too thrilled with the additional thai basil as a garnish..in fact I don't think I like garnish at all. I picked off that right away. I am now a fan of Jasmine rice...I know how boring of me but when all you have had is minute rice and you taste this stuff... Its pretty amazing. The choy sum (The other green stuff) Was also interesting, it had a spinach taste to it but not in a bad way. 

The boyfriends thoughts: 

Liked the basil, and the sesame oil sauce, Didn't like the portion size though. 

 The Tomato Basil Burgers. By far superior to any other burger I have had. 

This had an interesting mayo sauce with kalamata olives. Nope, had no idea what a Kalamata Olive was until this but I know I like it! (also had to google how to pit an olive.)

My thoughts: The burger was great, the mixture that went into the burger...Awesome I picked the additional basil off and didn't eat most of my tomatoes. The Olive Aioli and green bean salad was interesting. Like I said picked out most of the tomatoes. BUT I DID TRY. 

Boyfriend: Olive sauce was awesome, The basil instead of lettuce was a great change. The dijon mustard mixed in the burger was amazing, would have never thought to do that. Will be making this again!

 This was an interesting one:Southern-Style Shrimp and grits. 

I knew I would like it ok because I actually like grits, I just never thought to put shrimp on top. 

But let me tell you this was pretty awesome. 

My thoughts: Too much Grits not enough shrimp. The garnish was easy enough to mix in with the meal so I didn't taste it separately. This one was a simple meal to make. 

Boyfriend:

Take it or leave it. First time having grits, wasn't a fan. It was filling but not as tasty as the other meals. Would not make again. 

Overall this experience was great! We were able to do the first box at a discounted price of about $20.00 Normally its about 60.00. Which if you really think about it isn't a bad price! When you think of all the fresh ingredients that go into these meals its a bargain! And if you are still not convinced next time you go out for dinner look at your bill. If you eat out for three nights, you will probably end up spending more than sixty dollars. (for two people)

This was a way for the Boyfriend and I to try something new, and the team work made it fun as well. We don't normally cook together so this was a nice change of pace. 

Also you may notice that we had boring blue plates to begin with but have since upgraded to awesome square plates... We are that cool.

I would love to do Blue apron again, or even try some of the other services that are similar. Because I will warn you now, going back to your regular meals after this...is hard. 

After all this I made shake and bake pork chops...So not the same! 

ha-ha. 

I hope I inspired you to try this as well! 

And even if you don't want to have the food sent to you they do share their recipes online so  you can at least try new things!

But seriously, having them send you all the stuff just takes the nonsense out of grocery shopping. 

Now if only I can get a cook to cook these for me I would love it so much more...But I guess they had a problem putting a person in these boxes. 

Until next time Blog world! I hope you enjoyed this DIY. I know its not a craft... But it is a DIY project! I will keep you posted if I come across any other awesome food services such as this one. 

By the way this is...

See you next time! 

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Notebooks and Stones

Hello Blog world!

"You'll find your passion in what inspires you the most." -Anonymous

Yes we are starting this blog with a quote. Why because its been an inspirational kind of week. 

As I was browsing pinterest I found some cool idea's for inspiration and of course I found them worthy enough to share with you. 

The first one is one of the projects I wanted to do last week for the "dollar tree blog" But, my printer and I were having a disagreement. I thought it should print when I hit the print button. It thought it should not... So after a long night of battling we decided to take some time apart and think about our differences. On Monday we sat down and had a nice long chat while I took out its screws and pointed out to it that it was indeed a printer and printers are suppose to print. It finally agreed with me now we are on good terms again. 

After all that Let me show you what I did! 

First I will show you my inspirational stones

          Ok so I know the picture doesn't do it justice. I have nothing to blame but me and my lack of photography skills

There, now you get a better idea. 

This was so easy (once the printer cooperated) and it was only 2.00!

Bought these and the heart shape dish at dollar tree

Printed out some sappy words. Make them short, or the font small either way you can do as many as you want. 

The original project was "diy conversation hearts" where they made them all pink and had sappy says like "too cute" or "kiss" buuut I didn't want that so I just did the normal Love, Believe, and Dream. I had Happiness...but it was too long. 

After printing them out I mod podged them to the back. 

The mod podge dries clear allowing you to see the words you put. 

I don't know if you can tell in the picture but I also did some colored paper ones to. Just blue and green. Just to add some extra color to the mix. 

Simple.

Next project I did was what I am calling my inspiration notebook. 

I plan using it for some of my favorite quotes, sayings or just things that inspire me. Why not right?

I found this project on pinterest as well (Seriously they should pay me for as much as I am on there!)

Now with this project it was a notebook tutorial which I thought would be a great idea since I am a writer and writers need notebooks. However. I am thinking that maybe half of this project should just go bye-bye and we should just focus on making a cover for a binder or an existing notebook. But I will show you how I did this and you can decide if you want to do the whole project or not. 

First I went on pinterest and searched things I liked. 

Sunsets

Green

Quotes about writing

My favorite James Dean quote

Flowers

My haunted house I want to buy

Moons.

You get the point. 

I copied and pasted these pictures in a new document. I used Paint.net which is what I use for all my photoshopping needs. 

(Its free by the way)

I set the document to be 8 1/2 inches wide and 11 inches long which you can change in your basic settings. 

Filled the white spaces with my pictures. Printed it out. BAM! Awesome cover 

After I printed the picture I got the rest of my supplies together. 

Loose leaf paper

Binder clips

Mod podge

Card stock paper.

Now in the original tutorial it said to use construction paper for the binding part but I used Washi Tape. 

I will explain why in a minute. 

So once you got all of your supplies together First thing you are going to do is determine how thick you want your notebook. This is important because I used the whole stack of loose leaf paper that was in the package...I think this is where I ran into problems. 

Once you figure that out you are going to clip the ends of the paper. Make sure its all nice and even like

 I was dumb and didn't take a picture of where I had the binder clips first 

but I put them on the other ends and along the sides I put glue (mod podge) This was where I put the clips to keep it together better while it dried. 

While that was drying I worked on the cover page. 

I did have to cut it down so it was so much bigger than the loose leaf paper and for me that was a slight problem.

I can't cut a straight line for the life of me but I tried. 

Always have your kitty supervise you while you are doing DIY projects. 

After I cut the front cover to the size I wanted I glued it on to card stock to make it a little thicker. 

Place under a heavy book to make sure it doesn't curl up. 

It will anyways but this is what they told me to do...

Now the next part SUCKED! Trying to get it all together...Was a bit of a challenge. I suggest you get about eight more hands and maybe it will work. 

The way the girl did it in the video..flawless!

I just don't understand. I was a fumbling mess. That's why I can't make videos. You all would commit me if you saw what I did to make these projects work. 

So anyways the tutorial said to use construction paper. Well when I did that it didn't really work as well as I wanted it to, this lead me to try Washi tape, Which ended up having the same problem...

It separates too much....

  The paper stuck together great! But its the binding that I am having a problem with. 

I don't know... the notebook isn't the most sturdy so its not a throw in your bag in a rush kind of notebook. But to sit on your desk and look pretty..Sure!

The boyfriend said "Looks like something you would buy in the stores" 

Yay! I like that compliment. 

Like I said before if you want to use the first part and just make an awesome book cover, I encourage that. I don't know How I feel about the second part though. I feel like the book is going to fall apart every time I open it. 

So there you have it. Two cheap easy projects. 

Which of course makes them...

But like I said...Mostly for the cover not so much the book part. 

I hope you enjoyed tonight's projects! If you want to see more subscribe by putting your email in the email box!

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I am also on twitter now!

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Hey I am trying to figure out this social network thing! 

Got any projects for me? Let me know! 

I do these to show you if they are possible or just crazy!

Home Office Decor

Hello blog world! How are we doing tonight? Me I am doing great! 

Its going to be another short one, I have spent a lot of my spare time working on a bigger project with my brother so I haven't had time to do any little projects. But I always find something! I figured I would do three mini projects for you but...My printer has decided it hates me. So You only get two out of the three!

I recently experience desk claustrophobia. Doesn't sound like a real thing? Well in a Casey world it is very real! And it can't be ignored! I hate my desk to have any sort of clutter on it. I really should just have a plan desk with nothing on it and I will be happier but I need some stuff to brighten up my area. So I cleaned it up a little and cleared the top of my hutch thing on my desk. Go I rearranged some pictures in my office and was pretty satisfied. Until the boyfriend said that I needed something to brighten it up. Like flowers or something. You know its pretty blah if the man of the house says it needs flowers! So I went on pinterest and looked up desk decorating ideas. Found a lot of cool projects that I wanted to do but only found the stuff to do these. All of my supplies I bought at Dollar Tree. I spent under 10.00 on these things and used some stuff I already had. 

My two projects working as one!

So firsts talk about the picture with the green paper. 

Its not really a picture...Its actually a message board. You just have to look really hard and use your imagination! 

But seriously Throw some pretty paper in an 8X10 frame (That's what this is) And bam! You have a message board! You can use it for to do lists, Inspirational quotes. Whatever ya want! I bought some dry erase markers and it works great! 

Total for that one:

2.00

You can buy construction paper at the dollar store also...Just saying. 

The next one is my flowers. I know I picked white. Ugh I wanted to do green but I already have green flowers around my office so I figured the white with the green would look kind of cool. 

Is it the best bouquet I have done? No not really. Does it brighten up my desk. A little. 

This was easy 

Vase

Flowers

Grassy stuff (If you haven't learned by now I don't use regular "adult" words)

All at the dollar tree!

3.00.

Bam.

Flowers!

The other thing I did with this was separate them. You don't have to do this but I like to pretend I know what I am doing when it comes to arranging flowers. 

Use wire cutters and cute them so they are individual flowers. 

Pretty easy. 

Yes that is my cat. 

He was supervising. 

So there you have two awesome ideas for a low price! Sounds like my kind of project. 

I hope you enjoyed tonights project. 

Hope to see you next Thursday...Don't worry I will have something awesome to share with ya!

I love showing you how to do budget friendly projects but sometimes buying crafts isn't in my budget so I have to sort of wing it!

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Box with Letters

Hello Blog World! 

I need a new routine. Tonight has been crazy, I am trying to do tooo much before a certain time. Its stressful. The boyfriend has a new schedule and I am trying to be a good girlfriend and try to change my schedule to help him out. Day two: already finding it hard. 

So anyways! Tonight's project was a simple one. I found a wooden box and I needed to make it pretty. I was originally going to stain it but thought my laundry room needed some color. I am in the process of trying to make my laundry room look as cool as the ones on pinterest do...So far I am not succeeding but I am heading in the right direction. The boyfriend even said it looks better now. But I secretly pay him to say those things. 

Any who! 

So this is going to be a quick blog because like I said I have a ton to do still!

Uck my Laundry room looks sad in this picture. Anyways so there is my pretty new box. It says Wash Not Mash...I promise! 

Of course you can see the King made an appearance in here. Hehehe

Here is the before. See it was probably nicer this way but I didn't like it. 

I have no idea what the purpose of this box was. My parents were going to throw it out and I said "Gimme!" I swear I don't have a problem. 

First I found some of these letters. 

Picking the color I wanted the letters to be in I painted the front of the box that color first

The paints I used were actually given to me but they were just paint samples. You can get a little jar/can whatever you want to call it for around 2.00. Didn't need a lot for this box in fact I still have some left over and they weren't even full to begin with. 

After I painted the front I had to cut out the letters. I didn't want rectangle shapes I wanted letter shapes.

I stuck the letters where I wanted them. I was worried they would peel paint with them when I would take them off but they didn't. I know they are crooked do not point out my mistakes! I do that on my own. ha-ha

Once you have all your letters where they need to be than I picked a darker color and painted over top of them. 

This was after the first coat. I did a few more just to make sure it was all nice and solid. 

I let it dry over night. 

I know you are so shocked that I was patient enough to wait all night and all day to finish something. 

Well I did and it actually worked out well. Because once it dried and I carefully pulled the letters off 

(use tweezers if you don't have nails!)

My result was this. 

I had to touch up a few spots where I messed up. mostly the "A" because well the center was kind of hard to cut into. 

So there you have! Your own customized box. 

The possibilities are endless. All you need is some sticker letters and some paint! If you don't want to put a word you can use painters tape and make cool designs. 

The size of letters that I had and the size of the box I used I was limited. But turned out better than I thought. 

I really thought the stickers were going to peel the paint or it would look like a hot mess. I know I know I doubt myself to much! 

Well I hope you enjoyed tonight's project! 

this was 

I hope to see you guys next week! I finally started working on some of my bigger projects again with my brother so keep an eye out for that!

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Speaker Stands

Hello Blog World!

Whats going on tonight?

I hope everyone is enjoying their weeks. Soon the weekend! I know I am pretty excited.

Tonight's project was sort of a surprise project in my mind. I have lots of ideas I want to do so I usually just get some ideas then try to come across the supplies I need. Usually it works...most of the time it doesn't. But this project was inspired by the boyfriend. We recently purchased a sound bar thingy for our tv. Yes sound bar thingy is the technical term. I am not an electronic guru, I get by ok but all I wanted from the sound bar was to make the movies louder! Which it has accomplished that so its a win in my book. This particular sound bar came with surround sound. Oh ah...Its really exciting, so I am told. I just go along with what the boyfriend says when it comes to these kinds of things. Well we had a really crazy surround sound system before but it was ugly and wires were every where...DROVE ME NUTS! So when the boyfriend said surround sound...that's all I thought. Wires. Ew. So I wasn't looking forward to this purchase until he explained to me that it was really simple. The sound bar plugged into the tv and the sub woofer (Seriously why is it called a woofer...am I alone in thinking this is funny?) gets plugged into the wall where the little speakers are plugged into that. My response was whatever just make it neat looking. Which he did a very good job. 

Only problem was the speakers on the end tables I have are apparently not "ear level" which I guess is important. To fix this the boyfriend took two of my scented candles and put the speakers on that...

Not even kidding. At least they matched. I told him that was not going to work for me. Which he replied with "Well maybe you should make me something"

Why yes...Yes I will do that. 

So I did. 

First let me tell you that the little speaker stands are stupid expensive. $40.00 and up. Ok so its not that bad. But after spending the money on the sound bar, you really don't want to add another $40.00!

My solution only cost me...

You read for this?

$3.38

No I didn't put the decimal in the wrong spot. That is under four dollars. It would have been less if I didn't take the boyfriends advice. 

Ok let me show you what I did so you can stop shaking your heads. 

Ok let me try that again...

Tada!

Is it fancy? well a little. Is it practical Yes. Was there any assembly required? Not really.

So I found these things at a thrift store. For 1.00! It was great it was exactly what I was looking for. 

Please don't ask me what these things are called. I have been calling them candle thingys for the past few days. 

Now I call them fancy speaker stands. 

I spray painted them black to get rid of all the chipped paint that was on them. Already having the paint I didn't have to buy anymore. But I used the cheapest spray paint walmart had. 

The boyfriend was concerned that the speakers would fall off...or more likely get knocked off. So to prevent that from happening...or at least trying to I added coasters to them.

I know, what? 

Well the square shape of the speakers on the round shaped stand didn't make much sense. So the boyfriend said if I got a bigger square this would balance it out. 

I just set it on top in case I decide I don't like this idea I can just take it off. I bought the coasters at the Dollar tree. So if you guessed that I paid 1.00 for them you would be correct! I was thinking of spray painting these to but I actually liked the checkered design. We shall see what the boyfriend says Ha-ha.

I took a picture of what the boyfriend had set up before this...

No.

No.

No!

This was not going to work! But I am glad he suggested I make something because this actually turned out great. I got lucky and I was able to find exactly what I was looking for when I bought the stands at the thrift store. 

See it looks fancy :D

This project was most certainly 

Why? Because it was cheap and VERY easy to do. 

SO easy A Casey can do it!

Get creative! I can honestly say this wasn't something I found on pinterest. 

I know believe it or not!

Sometimes I have good ideas all by myself. 

I hope you enjoyed tonight's project. 

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