Easter Eggs

Dear Mom,
We tie dyed our Easter Eggs again this year, and before they are all gobbled up I took a picture to show you how 6 neckties from the Goodwill and a couple of rejects from My Hero's closet,a little vinegar and simmering water decorated our eggs. I love the way these eggs turn out and may never color eggs with food dye again. Plus it is exciting to unwrap them and see how the patterns and colors transferred to the eggs. In the photo above, I placed each egg on top of a scrap of silk from the necktie that produced the egg design.
This one is my favorite-

But this one is pretty good, too-

I linked to the how-to for this last Easter, but I'll review here.

You need silk neckties, an old t-shirt you can cut up (or two depending on how many eggs you are gonna dye), uncooked eggs, a little vinegar, some rubber bands and a big pot of water.

Neckties must be 100% silk. The brighter and wilder the print, the better (in my opinion.) Goodwill neckties at $1.99 each are perfect for this project.

Cut open the neckties, discarding everything but the silk part of the tie. Cut the tie into pieces that are big enough to wrap around an egg. You can get several eggs out of one necktie. Wrap eggs in the silk with the right side (bright patterned side) of the silk against the egg. Cut a square out of the old t-shirt that is big enough to go around the silk-wrapped egg and wrap the egg in it. Secure the t-shirt closed with a rubber band. 

Once you've covered all the eggs you want to tie dye, place them carefully into a big pot of water. The water just needs to cover the eggs, but the pot needs to be big enough to let the eggs move around a little. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar to the water. We dyed 24 eggs and I used about 1/4 cup vinegar. Slowly bring the water to a boil and let the eggs simmer for 25 minutes. Once cooked, lay the eggs out on a flat surface to cool. When they are cooled off, you can open up the wrappings and find your pretty eggs!

Hope you had a Happy (if rainy) Easter. One of the first dentists I worked for, who was a big time golfer, always said "If it rains on Easter Sunday, it will rain on the next seven Sundays". We'll see if it is true this year.

Love,

Kim

Easter Eggs

Dear Mom,
I decided to try coloring Easter Eggs this way, and I love the way they turned out. I bought some silk neckties at the Goodwill store for a $1.99 each, cut them up, followed the instructions and TA DA! pretty eggs. I almost think the uglier the tie, the better the egg. Makes me want to try some more, but there is no way my family and I can eat that many hard boiled eggs.

Love,
Kim

Sock of the week and a tired dog

Dear Mom,
A few days late, but the sock of the week, #11, was finished last night while watching New Moon with The Young Lady.

I started sock #12, and if I don't allow myself to be distracted by other knitting or spinning, I should be able to finish it by Wednesday and be back on my self-imposed schedule.

On Friday afternoon, Bumper, Patsy and I met CarolWhoseHouseGotStruckbyLightning and her dog Fergus for a play date.

The goal was to wear this one out.

It worked. A few hours later, this is how I found Patsy asleep on the couch.

You will notice that the couch is now covered in a quilt. I have given up trying to keep it free of dog hair and now have a variety of quilts that I can swap out and are much easier to wash. Before you hyper-ventilate, these are store bought quilts. Not hand pieced and quilted. 

It didn't take long for her to fully recharge.

Love,

Kim

p.s. We used Golda's Enormous Egg in our waffle mix this morning.

No Golden nugget.

Oof! She did it again

Dear Mom,
This afternoon, Bonnie Jo and I met in the library parking lot to Accomplish a Mission. As we have been trained to do, multiple tasks were accomplished in addition to the main mission. We each had things that needed exchanging.

Bonnie Jo brought me a fresh egg sampler, and the second of Golda's Giant Eggs.

I brought Bonnie a special chicken measuring tape so she can start recording the size of Golda's eggs.

I thought it was the cutest tape measure, with an egg at the end.

I also hunted down the book we three all read at sometime. I know this because we have all written our names on the cover. Wendy had to double claim the book as her own by adding her name and the words "if lost, Please Return of call ###-####" on an inside page to which my Young Lady added the same words but our current phone number. I don't think The Young Lady ever finished reading  it though, because there is a bookmark in it on page156.

I wanted Bonnie Jo to see this artifact from the 1970's.

It is in pretty good shape for a book that may be 40 years old and cost 50 cents. The cover has been taped on, and the yellowed, dried up tape has been reinforced by packaging tape, but all the pages are intact.

I hope I don't find a dinosaur inside this egg, like the boy in the story. I am hoping for a gold nugget like the Million Dollar Duck's.

Love,
Kim

Golda's Giant Egg Part II

Dear Mom,

I was a little bit disappointed to see that Golda's egg did not contain a double yolk, although it was so large it nearly filled an 8-inch pan!

I had a fabulous egg sandwich for breakfast this morning!

Thanks for breakfast, Golda!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Golda's Giant Egg Part I

Dear Mom,

I don't know whether to say "Holy Cow!" or "Holy Chicken!"  Look at this HUGE egg!

Golda hasn't laid an egg for two days.  This one looks like two eggs put together!  Stay tuned to see what's inside.  I will probably crack it open tomorrow.  Maybe its a double-yolker (twins)!!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Meanwhile

Dear Mom,

While Wendy was having the new sprinkler system installed, things continued on pretty normally around here. Normal for Spring Break, anyway. The highlight of Spring Break (for me): The Annual Purge.
We accomplished the annual purge of the kids bedrooms in One Day (a new record!), leaving no surface untouched and every toy, trinket, article of clothing, bead, bobble and scrap of paper evaluated. "Keep", "Trash" and "Goodwill" were the buzz words of the day. I didn't stop to cook. My Hero brought pizza home. With a professional beauty shop hair clip in place to keep my bangs out of my face, we moved furniture, rearranged the Young Lady's bedroom, sweat, dusted and vacuumed our way to completion. They have come to realize after so many years, that I Mean Business and the sooner it is done and behind us, the better.


We rewarded ourselves with a movie the next day.


Last night My Hero took us downtown to Iaria's, an Italian restaurant, family owned since 1933. Curvy red booths. Chianti and calamari. Pizza with real cheese that stretched and stretched from the slice to the Young Man's mouth. The food was delicious, reasonable and plentiful. The bread was still steaming hot when it was delivered to the table. The Young Lady's description of Spumoni ice cream: "It tastes like taffy!"


After dinner we went duck pin bowling, which nobody is really good at, and the Young Lady did better when she used the ball that was so beat up that it wobbled all the way down the lane if that tells you anything about the skill level. Of course, "the boys" did lots better than "us girls", but we all had fun.



That leaves coloring eggs. We tried a recipe the Young Lady found that used beets, onion skins and blueberries to make the dye. An interesting experiment, but if vibrant colors are what you are after, nothing can replace the good old food coloring and vinegar dyes.

beet colored egg

Today we try making chocolate eggs for Easter. If successful, we will bring them for dessert to your house tomorrow.
And it is time to get a grip on laundry and the reality of setting the alarm and back to school on Monday morning.
Love,
Kim

Meg's Egg

Dear Mom,
Meg resumed her egg laying on the first day of Daylight Saving Time (Sunday). Her egg was the only one I found in the nest box that day. It was as if the other girls suspended production for the day to honor Meg's dainty little egg!

Meg's eggs are about half the size of the Orpington eggs. Golda's egg is my largest egg. (I can actually tell which hen each egg came from!)

Meg's eggs are so cute, I almost hate to crack them open! I substitute two or three of her eggs for each regular size egg in recipes. Meg has been quite feisty lately and very vocal. My dear neighbor mentioned to me that Meg was "talking to her" over the fence one day!
Love, Bonnie Jo

The Farmgirl Apron

Dear Mom,
Thank you for surprising me with a new apron, lovingly hand-made by you! The yellow & white buttons are the perfect finishing touch. Since a farmgirl's official uniform IS an apron, I will be wearing it as I work in the garden, tend to the chickens, and gather eggs!


Look out neighborhood gals, this is my new style statement!
Love, Bonnie Jo

My Pet Makes Me Breakfast

Dear Mom,
This morning I fried a fresh egg and ham.

I ate eggs, ham and cheese on a toasted English muffin; it was the perfect breakfast for a frosty February morning!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Chicken Eggs and Golf Balls

Dear Mom,
Did you know that I use golf balls to show the girls the proper place to lay their eggs? The golf ball serves as a fake egg. The hen sees the "egg" already in the nest and she says to herself, "Ah-ha, this must be a safe place for my own egg!" Hens, by nature, like to lay their eggs in dark out-of-the way places. Our nest box is located at the back of the coop, with an access door from the outside. It is recommended to have one nest for every four hens. All four of my hens have always gone into the nest box to lay their eggs; they are such good girls!
Love, Bonnie Jo

Marge's First Egg!

Dear Mom,

Today was a special day for Marge! She laid her first egg. Gloria sat next to her patiently in the nest box while she sat...and sat...and sat. Bless her sweet little heart!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Winter Eggs

Dear Mom,

Golda and Gloria have been laying one egg a day for me since Golda's egg debut on Christmas Eve! I didn't expect the girls to begin laying until spring, since Winter's short days and cold temperatures are not ideal for hens to begin producing. The girls proved me wrong! Marge is a bit behind the others, although I'm happy to report that she is showing signs of laying soon! Maybe she will deliver on Valentine's Day! Meg is conserving her energy; she is using it to keep all 22 ounces of herself warm. Perhaps her dainty, cream-colored eggs will arrive in time for Easter!

Love, Bonnie Jo