Summer Dresses

Valentine's Day:

One of the things of being a girlfriend of a deployed Sailor is that you don't get to talk to your loved one very often. There will be days where I will hear from my boyfriend every couple days, then not hear from him for two weeks. So I didn't expect much to hear from him on Valentine's Day which isn't a big holiday for us to start with. But this morning around 10:30 I got a call from him and it honestly made my day. It's the little things that can make someone really happy. But even if he wasn't going to call I wasn't going to let that get me down. I already had a plan to treat myself to some cake and a Sangria, and boy was it good. Red velvet is my favorite and this one was good!

 I'm completely excited for summer to be here.  In June I will be going to California for about a week. Going to visit some friends and family. But I'm so excited, I even have a count down already, but I have it in weeks instead of days. It goes by much slower if I use days I have found out. So in 19 weeks I will be in California, which has been a goal for me for a while. I've never been and there's so much I want to do while there. I'm going to have to make sure I take back up SD cards. 

I'm going to get a summer/sun dress for when I go out there and I'm going to have to get a special dress as well to go out in. Of course the going out dress will be red. Not going to do any major shopping though till May, no use doing it now in case I end up loosing weight, which has been another one of my goals. I don't want to go to much into detail though. Not until it comes to pass. 

February Care Package: Brown Box

So I had seen this idea on Pinterest only using the color green. And if I had really thought about it I would have stuck with that color seeing how everyone is getting ready for St. Patrick's Day, would have made my life easier. But no I decided to go the idea of brown. What possessed me to use that color, I have no idea. But I did it and it turned out pretty good.

Now I do most of my shopping at the Dollar Tree. One I don't want to spend a lot of money and two they have good stuff for only a dollar. And if I want to pick up some stupid stuff they have it all right there and when my boyfriend gets it he can play around with whatever and then toss it and it wont bother me in the least bit.

The Box:

So I usually start picking stuff up the last week of the previous month and start getting ready. The post office has already made flat rate boxes so I picked a couple up the last time I was there. They are the perfect size and they don't allow for over stuffing. That was my problem with my first box. I had such a big box that I bought a lot of stuff and ended up over stuffing it. Also with the flat rate boxes they are cheap to send. My fist box weighed almost ten pounds so it was about 40$ to send where as this one was only 5 pounds so it only cost 13$ to send. Also make sure it is a flat rate box. They ship for one price no matter the weight. That was also one of my mistakes, the first box I did was a priority box.

The Contents:

So like I said before I picked up a few things from the Dollar Store. For those of you who are new to the whole Dollar Store concept, cause I know some of you exist, Everything in that store is a Dollar. And yes, they have some name brand stuff. But I don't just shop there. I also go to Wal-mart and Winne Dixie. If you know where to look in those stores you can find all the good yet cheap stuff. 

Dollar Tree finds:

Two packs of Yoohoo chocolate drink

One pack of Oatmeal Cookies

One pack of Almond Cookies

Wal-Mart:

Nature Valley Breakfast Biscuits

Nutter Butter Crackers

Winne-Dixie:

Bag of Pretzels

The Design:

Obviously the inside of a box is brown, but I don't like the words that are printed inside. So I like to cover them. I just took brown packing paper and cut it the lengths I needed and taped them to the box. I then used the same paper and shredded some of it to make a cushion for the bottom of the box. 

But I didn't just want to put the stuff in there, I like mystery sometimes. So I picked up some brown bags and put everything inside those. 

Finished Box:

I had some problems fitting everything in there but I got it to work. And I was quite happy with how it turned out. 

I like to number the flaps so he knows where to start, if he actually follows that I have no idea. On the first flap I explain what the theme is. On the second one I attached a letter. The third one I put a list of things that I missed, really just taking up space. Then the last flap I just put some things I didn't say in the letter. I put some more shreds on top and closed it up. 

Final Thoughts:

I loved how this box turned out. It was simple, easy and it didn't hurt my bank account to much. In total I spent around 18 dollars on the contents, the most expensive thing being the Nature Valley bars costing 4.99. In total with shipping I spent about 30.96$. Which I would say is way under what I spent on the last box. So that's a plus. I did go over my budget just a bit but it was worth it. 

Next Months:

Honey I Shrunk the Care Package!

Being twenty one and a stay at home daughter isn't what you might think. I quite enjoy this easy going life. Granted I do miss working, but I do some work out here. Like cooking. I love to cook and I do the cooking most every day. Sometimes I follow recipes and other times I just throw a bunch of stuff into the pot hoping for the best. A couple nights ago I made Tomato Pasta with Pork Chops. It turned out amazing and I just threw a bunch of stuff together.

Who would have thought soy sauce and tomatoes would go so good together. But that is another post entirely.
But cooking isn't all I do, I have two cats I look after out here. They are my babies and boy do they give me a run for my money..seriously.

And when I'm not chasing them around the yard I'm making care packages to send to my boyfriend who is in the Navy. Just sent the second box out today. I love making them, they get the creative juices flowing and it's fun to come up with a theme and to find the things needed for it.

So this is the first blog post and I hope to deliver in many more. Being a Stay at Home Daughter is fun and is filled with many adventures. So stay tuned!