Review: BarkBox

This past year for Christmas we gifted Gilbert a subscription to BarkBox.  (Yes, we get gifts for our dog. Sometimes they are practical, sometimes they are not!)  What is a BarkBox you ask?  It's a box containing 4-6 dog goodies that gets delivered to your door once a month.  It's always a surprise but typically the box will contain some treats/bones, a toy, and a hygiene type product.  A card is included to tell you more about the products and the companies that make them.  Most often, these items are not found in pet stores and are more of a specialty item that is only sold online.  Boxes are set up for small, medium, or large dogs (small and cute, just right, and big and bold are their terms) .  So, if you have a great dane you aren't getting a bone meant for a Yorkie.  You can purchase subscriptions in one month, three month, and six month  increments; getting the best deal by purchasing six months.  We started out with a 3 month subscription for $23/month (which includes shipping) and figured we would cancel if we (or Gilbert) didn't like it.  

Personally, I enjoy it!  I like knowing that we get a treat replenishment each month!  It's also an opportunity to see what new products are out there.  Some of the products might not be worth purchasing to us, but you never know if you will find something that you love.  For instance, I really liked the Oatmeal Shampoo that came in December's box.  If I wanted to I could visit the company's website or even Bark Box's store and purchase a full size bottle. I liked the subscription enough that I did not cancel (my one complaint...the subscription automatically renews) and Gilbert is getting another three months. I'm pretty sure Gilbert likes it. He sniffs the treats and then takes the toy and runs while I check out the hygiene product!  I recently brought in a similar sized box from Amazon and I'm pretty sure Gilbert thought it was his Bark Box.  He ran into the house and patiently waited as I opened it. Only to be disappointed that it was not for him!

So, if you are in the market to spoil your dog, try out BarkBox.  It's just as much fun for humans as it is for their best friends!  'Like' BarkBox on Facebook and you can get coupon codes for new subscriptions.  

December - Treats, red velvet dog cake mix, oatmeal shampoo, toy

January - treats, treats, spiral bully stick, moist wipes, toy

What's in here?

February - treats, treats, treats, dental chew ring, toy

March - treats, treats, bionic bone, poop bag holder, toy

Ooooh, a stuffed bone!

Don't touch it.  It's mine!

April - Duck treats, liquid vitamin water dish supplement, grooming mitts,
bone stuffed with something dogs love, and a rope toy.

The newest paper used to package all the goodies.

Project 52: March

My lack of motivation continued into March.  The weekly assignments were beginning to feel like work and like I was forcing a photo to fit with the theme.  So, I told myself if that weeks photo didn't come to me during the week I wasn't going to force.  Therefore, I missed two weeks!  Oh well, I just don't care.  It's looking like a similar scenario this month, but I'm really hoping the weather improves so I can get outside!

 

10/52 Sunlight

 

Sunlight was hard to find.  Here it is shining off of an icicle.

 

 

 

 

11/52 Wildcard

 

This was easy!  Here's a lime growing on my lime tree.

 

 

And, that's all folks!  See you next month!

Project 52 - February

If I would take a look back at the photos I’ve taken over the past four years I would probably notice that the least number of them were taken during the winter months.  My guess is that February is the slowest.  It is the shortest month of the year afterall.  It’s also by this time that I am DONE with winter and the short daylight period.   I’ve grown tired of my usual indoor shots.  There just isn’t much going on!

This February is no exception.  Beyond a few photos of how finishing the basement is coming along and my project 52 challenge I have rarely picked up my camera.  If it wasn’t for project 52 I think my camera would have sat unused for a few weeks.  The worst part?  I can barely get myself to take photos for project 52.  I’m so uninspired and just not into it.  For the last few weeks I’ve pulled something out of my arse at the end of the week, just so I could submit something!  I’m hoping with the coming of spring I get my motivation and creativity back.  This funk is not just affecting my photography….my house isn’t nearly as clean as it usually is!

Without further ado, here are the submissions I pulled out of my arse this month:

6/52 Light

I didn’t know what I was going to do for this one.  Light is hard to come by these days.  Luckily it snowed late in the week and I was able to get out during the day on Saturday to get these icicles.  I was running in and out of the house when I noticed the sun actually make an appearance!

 

7/52 Composed

This one was a total reach.  I just happened to notice the reflection of the outside trees in my glass coffee table and figured I’d try to do something with that since I had no other ideas.

8/52 Inspiration

Yeah, didn’t have any of that this month!  On Sunday I decided to buy some flowers at the grocery store.  I always love to take pictures of flowers and thought that would be good inspiration.  Well, I neglected to refill the water in the vase and they died before they bloomed.  That is so uncharacteristic of me!  On Saturday, I remembered this flowering plant in the kitchen and decided to use that instead.  I brought it to the deck door, the only place we get light inside the house (and only between 11am and 1pm).  Gilbert was laying there sunning himself and I didn’t want to kick him out so I used both him and the flowers as my subjects.

9/52 White

It’s funny.  For a whole week I had no idea what to do for ‘white’.  I guess I’m so sick of snow that it didn’t even occur to me that snow is not only a Wisconsin winter staple that I hate, but it’s white!  On Thursday or Friday I noticed these huge icicles forming on the gutter from the bathroom window.  Though a reminder of how cold it is outside, they were something different to look at as I blow dried my hair!

I really hope that I won't be whining about my lack of inspiration to my readers next month!

Project 52 - January

I started a new project 52 this year and so far am liking the set-up.  The themes have been interesting and challenging.  I feel like there are a million more participants in this challenge compared to the last one.  Talented participants at that!  Even though they feature over 25 photos as 'eye candy' each week I have a feeling being featured is a hard task to accomplish.  But, we will see.  With more participants I have noticed more participation and comments on the Flickr site which is nice.  We'll see how long that lasts.  I've already become a slacker myself!

Here were my January submissions:

1/52

Time

This is my time to wake up each morning.  Not bad considering I'm AT work at 6:30am. 

I decided to challenge my low light shooting this week as well.

2/52

Fresh

A fresh pair of new running shoes to begin the year.

3/52

Pieces of Me

My purple painted toes describe a few things about me.  Purpletoes, with the addition of my maiden name, was my very first e-mail address.  All the forms of my name were taken so I had to think of something fun.  That's when I looked down and noticed my purple painted toenails.  That e-mail address led to purpletoes becoming my moniker for many websites.  Somehow, using this name still gives me a connection to my maiden name.  Also, one of my biggest pet peeves is unnpainted toenails!  I'm not really a fan of other peoples feet.  Hopefully mine don't gross too many people out!

4/52

My Daily Routine

Though not always daily, I typically take Gilbert for a walk every afternoon when I get home from work. He was not too happy after this photo session when he realized I had his leash out for nothing!  I like how his one white toe made an appearance in the picture too.

Neilsen Ratings

In the beginning of December the Nielsen people contacted us asking if we would be willing to be a part of their Nielsen ratings survey.  Being the avid TV watchers we are we decided, why not?  The five one dollar bills they promised us were all the incentive we needed! 

Our package, including our diaries (and cash!), arrived a few days before our week of logging began.  We were a bit disappointed that our week was during many of our favorite shows hiatuses, but we still managed to watch many of the other shows that we like to watch.  We were also able to log any shows that we watched on our DVR.  At times I felt like we HAD to watch TV and tried to watch all of our shows during that week.  Other times, knowing that I had to log even snippets of shows, I avoided turning the TV on at all.  I was also slightly embarrassed to log our usual Saturday morning shows, 'Born to Explore' and 'Sea Rescue', considering there is no one under the age of 12 (or even twice that age!) living in our household!  Overall, it was very easy, unobtrusive task. Though, come to think of it, Mike did most of the logging (and more of the TV watching in general) so it didn't really affect me much at all!  I'd like to think that our participation will keep many of the shows we watch on the air for a long time.  I can see 'Born to Explore' being a Saturday morning staple for the next 15 years...all because of me!

Mike sealing up our diary

Ready for Nielsen to add our TV viewing to their statistics







Project MCP - December

The year has come to a close and I have completed my participation in Project MCP.  In total I submitted 42 pictures; only missing about three themes.  I found the project challenging in a good way.  It forced me to think outside of the box and to just get out and have a purpose when taking pictures.  Some weeks were harder than others - with both the theme and making the time to take the pictures - but I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing that I gained some knowledge and experience in the process.  Admiring other peoples photos also pushed me and gave me new ideas to work with.  I recently pushed myself to work primarily in the manual mode of my camera when 'playing around' as well. 

Project MCP has changed formats, moving to Facebook and focusing more on editing challenges this year.  I still feel like I should hone my skills on the basics of exposure and composition (and tackle manual mode more) and don't really care to follow Project MCP for their editing challenges quite yet.  Not to mention that it's on Facebook.  So, I have followed a group of regulars to another Project 52 that has a similar format and am looking forward to starting fresh.  I will probably continue to share my submissions at the end of each month so keep an eye out for them!

Here are my December Project MCP photos:

               

December Week 1 - Favorite Christmas Decoration

We didn't have our decorations out yet so I took this picture of the

Hallmark snowman that St. Nick brought me.  

December Week 1 - Favorite Christmas Decor

I submitted this late, but my beach themed ornaments from all of our travels really are my favorite.

And, this photo is better than the previous one!
I still love my snowmen though, St. Nick!

                                     

December Week 2 - Tradition 

Hiding the pickle

   

December Week 3 - Chrismas Spirit

Beleiving in Santa Claus
I guess I did start to play around some with editing.  Honestly, I prefer my photos to look as true to life as I can.  I don't have issues with others doing natural edits, but I can't get over seeing my photos looking different from real life.

December Week 4 - Christmas Wish

A Nook!

Sometimes a nice B&W works for me though!  It's not often, but I really did like this over the color version.
I also forgot to crop this one.  I meant to to change the composition a bit (I could have cheated and posted that instead!), but it must not have hurt much since it was featured on the blog (though, being Christmas week I think there were very few submissions!)

 

December Week 5 - Thirteeen

Did you know there are 13 card of each suit in a deck of cards?

I found that interesting considering that cards are a big part of gambling and that the number thirteen is considered an unlucky number.

Chris gets Crafty: Purple Martin Birdhouse

Every year for Christmas for the past few years my mom has given us all some type of crafty challenge.  One year we had to make a gingerbread/Christmas house out of a supplied foam craft kit.  Another year we had to make homemade ornament.  This year we had to build a birdhouse.

I was telling a coworker about this years challenge and she mentioned a birdhouse that her father made out of an item found at certain grocery stores.  She said she could acquire this product for me as I was not able to find one at the stores I frequent.  Weeks went by and I kept reminding her, but she never produced the item.  With a little more than a week before Christmas I had to come up with another plan.  (I won't be sharing my original idea in case we have this challenge again!)

I had already been considering purchasing a gourd from Amish Gourds and decided to go back to that plan.  I had also read up on birdhouses and how certain birds like certain sized entry holes that are a certain height from the floor, etc.  I then discovered that this site had kits available for making a birdhouse for a purple martin.  Even though I've never seen one of these birds in my yard I thought I would follow the instructions and hope that maybe I could attract some!

I had thought that my husband would have the necessary tools to complete the project, but I was mistaken.  After a trip to the hardware store and a large chunk of change (for a birdhouse) taken from my wallet I was all set to start the job.  I did need some help with operating the tools and devices but I mostly managed to complete the project on my own.  I think for my next craft, I shouldn't go so far above my head so that I can finish it on my own!



Using a 4.5" hole saw to saw out the entrance and clean out holes



Inside of the gourd



Still sawing



Finished with the holes



Caulking the entrance and clean out cylinders with
 premium polyurethane construction adhesive (PPCA)

 

Notice the nice smooth line



Though I'm not a fan, I guess these birds like white houses.
 So, I completed it by painting it with the same paint my kitchen cabinets are painted!


Once at my parent's house we had to present our birdhouse and then we all voted on which one we thought was the best based on design, function, and looks.  In the first round of voting it was a tie between myself and my brother/niece's house.  In the end I came in second.  Not too bad!  However, being that I'm the only one with a yard with trees I now have to hang all the birdhouses in my yard.  I'm pretty sure a few will fall apart after the first rainstorm!