Book Club Mondays: Mockingjay

I have finally completed the Hunger Games series. Mockingjay, the third book, definitely kept up the expectations created by both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I will say, of the three books, Catching Fire was likely my favorite.

Mockingjay did a great job of maintaining the excitement level of the series. It chronicled Katniss' evolution from a two-time Hunger Games participant into a main player in Panem's new rebellious attitude, becoming the rebels' own Mockingjay. It chronicles life in District 13, once thought to be uninhabitable, but where all the members of District 12 were moved after the firebombing after the Quarter Quell in the second book. Katniss and Gale join the rebel army, go through training, and set off to kill President Snow.

The book kept my attention just fine, but I almost felt like the ending was rushed, especially for such a thought out and fleshed out trilogy. Still a wonderful end to a great trilogy.

How-to Tuesday: Keurig K-Cup Storage!

If you checked out my earlier post today, you know just how much I love our new Keurig Elite B40 single-cup coffee maker. In my excitement to try all kinds of different flavors, I rushed out and bought a huge variety pack, as well as a couple of other packs. This led to Mount K-Cup on my kitchen counter:

When I priced out the different drawers and carousels that Keurig makes, I was a little surprised that anybody in the world would pay that damn much for a metal drawer or metal carousel. I knew that there was a way to make something that would serve the same purpose for about half the price, so I set out to do just that!

You will need:

• A three-drawer storage box of some variety (I got mine for around $12 at Target)
• Scrapbook paper
• Self-adhesive letters
• Scotch tape

I'm sure you can predict what's about to happen here. Just in case you can't, here goes!

1. Slide your scrapbook paper into the front of one of your drawers, and mark off the height of the drawers on the paper - this will be important.
2. Fold the paper lengthwise three times, just in case you make a mistake and need extra (I know I accidentally bought 8.5x11 sized paper!)
3. If there are indents in the fronts of your drawers, mark those as simply as possible.
4. Grab your self-adhesive letters and write out what you'd like your drawers to say! (Mine say 'coffee', 'tea', and 'etc.', but use any words you'd like.)
5. Fit the drawer front into the drawer and Scotch tape into place (I tried other ways of doing this, and none worked better. 
6. Repeat for the number of drawers in your container!

There you have it! A very simple project, that allows you to store quite a few cups, that's cute and will go with any kitchen decor! You could even update the colors with the seasons, if you wanted! So, before you run out and spend $25-35 on a Keurig K-Cup storage solution, think of the good you could do at home with just a few simple supplies!

Stuff I Love: Keurig Elite Coffeemaker

Mike and I aren't really big coffee people. I drink it now and again, and he likes teas and other hot drinks. We've seen the Keurig machines around, and thought that it was a pretty rad idea, especially since both of us are a little picky, and we've been talking about getting one. Well, it's not every day you happen to have what seems like a sign...

Last Thursday, I won $100! So, since it wasn't money I was expecting, I decided to just spend it on something for the house, something that both of us could enjoy. That brought me back to the Keurig machine we'd been admiring in the stores!

Now I was initially looking at the Mini model machine, but the store I went to was out of them, so I just opted to spend the extra $20 and get the Elite model. Let me just say that I'm so glad that I did! Being the kind of person that doesn't want to drink an entire pot of coffee at a time, or even coffee at all, it's a great little machine to have. Check it out here!

Likes: 

• The large water reservoir on the left side. It holds the likely equivalent of a pot of coffee (if not more), and warms very quickly. 
• If the machine is coming from off to on, it takes around four minutes for the water to heat up. Not long at all!
• Two different cup sizes! 
• Easily cleanable, and easy to read display.
• If we wanted, we could use our own coffee with the My K-Cup!

Changes I'd Make:

• More cup sizes. I find that the larger cup size only fills most of our mugs about halfway.

Not even kidding, that is the only change that I would make. We love having this thing in our house! I am personally obsessed with the apple cider, and my Batman cup. 

Overall, I am definitely excited that I decided to take the plunge and make this purchase. I'm having a great time collecting different flavor variety packs and deciding what we like and don't like! I do wish that there were a few more stores who sold the 3-cup sample packs, though!

In short, if you are thinking about getting a Keurig machine, do it! I am so happy that we decided to make this purchase, since we aren't really... coffee people by typical standards. I'm looking forward to our Keurig Elite being part of our household for a long time to come. 

Check in later to see the K-Cup storage solution I came up with in this week's How To Tuesday!