Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

We are in SLC for spring break, and we always like to do crafts with my mom while we are here.  My mom found this great idea online to dye Easter Eggs.  The blogs and tutorials online said to use mens ties that were 100% silk.  We scoured Deseret Industries for good ties, and had no luck. I figured that all the Salt Lake blogger-mommies had probably already seen this idea online and had scavenged all the pretty ties already.  So my mom had the idea to head over to the womens section to look for silk blouses.  

Boy, did we ever score!  Aubrey found this hideous silk outfit for $8, and we picked up two other bountiful blouses for $3 each.  We have enough silk for 3 years now! We cut all of the silk into 6" squares.

Here's how we dyed the eggs:

Wrap an uncooked egg very tightly in a 6" square of silk, with the right side of the fabric against the egg.  You should wrap it as tightly as possible.  Then use a small hair elastic to secure the silk at the top of the egg.  It has to be super tight because the dye will only transfer to the egg where there is direct contact.

After the egg is wrapped in silk, you wrap it again in a plain white cotton cloth and secure it once again with a small hair elastic.  We cut up some of my dad's old handkerchiefs to use as the outer wrapping.

 Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the eggs.  Add 1/4 cup of vinegar to the water.  Then place the eggs into the pot and bring to a boil.  When the water is boiling, set the timer for 20 minutes and let the eggs continue boiling for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the wrapped eggs from the pot and place them on a cloth until they have reached room temperature.  Then you can remove the white cloth and the silk to see what magic you have just created!

When we did our eggs, the entire pot of water turned a dark purple.  I was sure that the eggs would all come out the beautiful reddish-purple color of Greek Easter eggs.  I was so pleasantly surprised to find that none of the purple from the water had dyed the eggs.  Only the dye from the silk had transferred to the eggs.  So don't freak out if your water turns a dark color, because your eggs are safe and sound inside of their wrappers.

Not so eco-friendly

I like my lightbulbs.  I like my house to be bright.  When we built our house, I had 18 can lights put into my kitchen ceiling, along with the two main light fixtures.  I light even, bright light everywhere in the house.  I like to have a shelf in our storage room full of lightbulbs so that when a bulb burns out, I know there is a replacement waiting for me to go get it.

I don't like fluorescent light in my house.  Fluorescent lighting is fine in a warehouse, business or bank.  But not in my house.

I have a problem with the government telling me that I am incapable of making appropriate lighting choices for myself.  If I want incandescent light, I should have the right to it.  If I want to use 100 watt lightbulbs, I should have the right to buy them as long as I am the one paying the utility bill to light them up!  But I am just a stupid common citizen who doesn't understand, which is why the government does not allow the sale of evil 100 watt lightbulbs anymore, because I should be just fine with 75 watts instead.

Our government has decided that it is not right for me to have 800 watts of light for my bathroom, and that it would be more equitable if I used only 600 watts instead.  But they really want to my only use 100 watts and put in crappy CFL lights.  Why is it anyone's business?  I need my light.  And I'm happy to pay for my light.

Anyway, I went to Home Depot on Saturday to stock up on bulbs.  We have a very high ceiling with 12 can lights in it, and when one goes out, I like to replace them all while I'm at it.  I had a cart full of evil incandescent bulbs, and I was stopped by at least 4 employees who tried to shame me into buying fluorescent bulbs.

"Do you really want to buy those incandescent lightbulbs?"
"Yes, I'm a big fan of Thomas Edison.  He's my hero."
"Do you  know how bad those are for the environment?"
"No, they're not.  Do you know that CFL bulbs contain mercury?  Is that good for the environment?"
"Well, CFLs last 10 times longer, so you don't have to dispose of them very often."
"That's funny, because when I bought some CFLs to give them a try, I had to replace them within just a few months.  And they cost about 10 times more money."
"But in the long run, you save money."
"I'd rather pay more money for electricity and have pretty, bright lights."
"Do you mean to say you don't want to save money?"
"Do you know how inconsequential the electrical savings are of lighting a CFL compared to a traditional bulb?  Factor in the time value of money when you pay $15 for each CFL (or $50 for the LED ones they were pushing) bulb rather than a few cents, and there really is no savings."
"What about the environment?  You're destroying the earth!  Don't you want to go green?"
"Not really.  I water my lawn like crazy in the summer, we use disposable plates and cups at my house, we heat with a wood stove, my kids use as much paper and tape for crafts as they want to, and I drive my car everywhere.  I will always pay more for something I love."

And so on.

And then I was hounded by a guy trying to get me to install solar panels.
"Have you ever wanted to save money on electricity?"
"Not really.  It is what it is."
"That evil corporation PGE is taking your money.  Don't you want to support a green energy business?  We install the solar panels at not cost to you."
"And then YOU take the electricity from my solar panels and sell it back to the evil corporation PGE?   Doesn't that make your company part of the evil?"

"But your electricity bill would be cut by at least 50%, and likely more like 90%.  Isn't that a good reason to have solar panels?"
"No way.  I would never do it."
"Why not?  Don't you care about money?"
"Yes, I do.  But I also care about what my house looks like.  Solar panels are super ugly."

He didn't have a comeback for that one.

Stitches

We have always had 2 rules about cars in our family.
1) NEVER play inside a car, and
2) NEVER climb up on top of a car.
Zachary and his friend from next door were outside playing last weekend, and the dad from next door was outside with the kids.  They asked if they could climb up on top of the car, and he said they could.

Well, the excitement was too great for Zachary to stay on the ground, and he climbed up onto the hood of the neighbor's car with his friend right behind him.  He then climbed up onto the roof of the car.  He stepped on the sunroof and it smashed into a million pieces, and Zack fell down into the car through the broken glass.
 

The neighbor girl came to get me, and when I got over there, the neighbor had already extracted Zack from the car (which was locked, making it tricky) and was cleaning up Zacky's bloody face.  He had 100 cuts all over his arms, hands, feet, legs, and a scrape on his chin.  I carried him into the house where we discovered his most severe injury--right on his booty!  I hadn't even noticed the slash in his shorts and boxers, but when I carried him into the house, that's the first thing that Mark and Abram saw.  There was about a 2.5" gash on Zacky's butt, and it needed stitches.
Abram went with me to the emergency room.  The doctor came in and asked Zack what had happened, and he said something like, "My mom has always told me to never play on top of cars, but today I did and now I know why I shouldn't do that."  The doctor asked Zack if he had learned his lesson.  Zack said, "Yeah, next time I want to get in a car, I will just use the door!"

Zack was super brave while he got stitched up.  Abram held his hands and tried to keep him from thinking about what was going on under the lights behind him.

8 stitches--and 2 hours--later, we headed back home with a very lucky boy.  He could have been hurt so much worse than he was.  I am so grateful that Zack didn't cut his face, neck, or anywhere that a scar would have been visible.  I can't believe he didn't break a bone falling into the car, either.  It could have been so bad, yet all he has to show for it is a scar on his booty.

My lucky cricket

"To Find a cricket on the hearth is the luckiest thing of all."

-Charles Dickens

My husband has finally joined the world of e-commerce and has figured out how to order things all by himself.  For years he would find things online, and then count on me to finalize the purchase.  He was sure it was very complicated.  He has entered the world of technology with a lot of trepidation...that's putting it mildly.  I figured it was good that he didn't dare to brave finalizing an order on his own, so I didn't push the issue.

One good thing about his new ability to order things online is that we now have a safe full of ammo while the stores around here are empty.  Also, he can order his running shoes whenever he is ready to retire his old pair (with 70 miles a week, it's pretty frequently).

He and I have an understanding that we don't really do surprises.  As we have the same budget, it just makes more sense to me to have the person buy exactly what he needs or wants.  I'm strange, I know.  He also knows that I don't like him to buy flowers... I would rather use the money to buy a plant for the yard or something.

But sometimes we find little things that are just really cool, and if they are not too much money, we buy them for each other.

Sometimes I get awesome surprises.  Maybe some girls wouldn't get too excited about Weather Watchers or Aurora Borealis 2013 calendars, but I thought they were the greatest things ever!  He picked them out for me, and they were exactly what I would have picked for myself.

This week I got an awesome bronze cricket in the mail.  We have never had a hearth, but last month we had a wood stove and a hearth installed in the basement, and I love it.  For anyone who has ever been to Girls Camp with me, or if you have ever been to a summer evening party at my house, you know that I LOVE to build fires.

A few years ago when Mark was in a mood to try reading some fiction, I had him read "A Christmas Carol."  He loved it,  and I suggested that he read "A Cricket on the Hearth" next, as it was short and in the same book.  He didn't enjoy that story as much, but he knew that I loved the symbolism of protection and good fortune that a cricket on the hearth means.

As Mark was shopping for some fireside accessories, he stumbled upon this beautiful cricket and ordered it. 

I totally love it.