Easter-tide

 Well, the Easter egg coloring last weekend turned into ONE egg for Leon and the rest of two dozen eggs for Meri and myself to color.  I failed to get a pic of them.  shoot.

Aggie and Jen were out of town until that evening so they couldn't join in.

Ryan completed a set of minis for a game he wants to get going with some friends.  He loves to paint tiny statues.  I can only imagine playing it is like the game Risk where you put out a ton of little soldier guys but in this case, monsters.  He said that I'll be playing too. :)

That Saturday afternoon, some ladies from church were supposed to come and watch Passion of the Christ with me and one by one, they cancelled for one reason or another.  Oh well.  I decided to work on the yard instead so that the Easter pictures would look halfway decent this year.  It's no fun when the kids are digging through molding leaves to find candy. 

TURNED out that it rained all day on Easter Sunday!  So the Easter egg hunt was in the living room and only Aggie hunted.  

Can't have everyone hunting when they're run into each other just turning around.  And there really aren't TOO many places to hide the eggs.  There were lots of plastic candy filled ones too.

Aggs had a ball.

Meri assisted by pointing them out.

Maddy outdid herself with her holiday cheese ball!  At Thanksgiving, it was a turkey with a pretzel tail, at Christmas, it was a snowman.  Well, get a load of the empty tomb cheese ball!!!

Even an angel made out of a cheese stick and the tomb sealed with a Ritz! 

I can't wait to see what she does for 4th of July.  Fireworks?  I don't know.

But for Mother's Day, I'm totally expecting a cheese ball bust of me.

Monday after work, Aggie "helped" me rake out the dead leaves in the garden and around the rhubarb.  She sat on my lap while I tried to saw out some volunteer trees under the leaves of the day lilies.  I'll have to get back there sometime and finish the job.  Then I ran a couple more loads of yard waste out to the towns lawn waste dump.  While there, I found clumps of hosta plants and more day lily bulbs!  Yay me!!!!  My garden will be built up with cast off plants!!!  for free!!!

Then she and I went on a walk out to Robb's grave.  It was still pretty wet from the Easter rains but it was fairly warm and a beautiful time out. She didn't beg ONCE for the overcrowded playground a block off our path!  I'm hoping she forgot about it for now.  I'll take her there, but I hadn't been out to the cemetery for a while.

Anyway, there was more yard work done this week and I started hauling the cement chunks back to the back yard, making the hill behind the garage a little more palatable and less thistly.  I'll show you when it looks less yucky.  I plan to work on that exclusively tomorrow morning and try to get done in time to go to the 20th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice.  Those Fathom Event Classic movies are the BEST!

Next week is 50th anniversary of Monty Python's Quest of the Holy Grail!  I hope to take Leon but we'll see what the week holds.

Has it been 50 years already??!

Am I feeling old?

yes.

Granted, I didn't see it until I was probably 20 but still.

Egg Alternatives for Easter

 I know the high price of eggs is ridiculous but I did notice that the price IS coming down just a smidge.

But if you're still egg price shy when Easter rolls around, consider this.

and for those who DO love chocolate, specifically homemade Cadbury eggs!...

Click for the link HERE.

I've already had my Cadbury egg for March anyway.  Thank GOODNESS April is right around the corner!  But I should probably drop that niggling 5 (shh! 15) pounds before I make these.

I've got the recipe saved for a future reward for weight loss!

Everyone needs incentive, right?

And finally, because... why the heck not?  MARSHMALLOWS!

Getting the grass off them might be a trick.

Not Always A Bad Thing

 It's an ongoing joke in my household...  
Any time someone comes over and I say, "Look how big my leeks are getting!"

Answer: "Having big leaks is not a good thing..." or "You should get that fixed asap!" or "I don't think that's something to brag about..."

It IS if you're looking forward to leeks in cream sauce!!! Just a tip - OVERCOOK the leeks.

And I DO love me some leeks in cream sauce!

As soon as it's warm enough, this is going to be what takes over my herb garden instead of those pesky oregano plants.  Well, that's my hope.  I can't tell you how many years I thought the oregano was basil and I even made pesto out of it.  SURE it was good...  but didn't I feel foolish later offering some "basil" to some friends.  They didn't take much.

Yesterday Matthew helped me work on the Sweetness and we got the hood latched successfully!!!!  WOOHOO!  Thanks BIL Greg for giving me ideas on how to fix it!!  The battery is good, the hood is good.  I just need to figure out how to fix the hood post but that's not a big deal and not a priority for this week.

Today in my spare time, I'm working on this project.

The wedding dress...

These are the huge oval pieces.

And then the basic skirt stuff under the flounces.

I hope this girl is strong...  Because that's a LOT of fabric!!!

Oh!  My local widow group met on Saturday and I brought some hardboiled eggs for us to color.  I had little cups of dye water in the kitchen, using boiling water, a splash of white vinegar and lots of food coloring.

I handed out the eggs and crayon of their choice and we doodled on the eggs while we talked.  NONE of them had ever heard of using crayons on Easter eggs before.  I told them that my kids always had and then told them the story about when just before Robb and I were married, he helped me and my sisters color eggs at my house for our Lutheran church egg hunt.  He, being a Methodist minister's kid, wrote "Become Methodist" on his egg in white crayon so we didn't see what it said until it got dyed. lol!  

Um this one got cracked... sorry Robb!  We'll have to eat this one now.

On my way home from the group, I called a sister and asked if she remembered that story.  She didn't remember THAT but did remember that day and said that Robb was the first person ever to color on Easter eggs with crayons before dyeing them.  From that point on, everyone in our family did that.  She surmised that all our eggs before that day must have been boring.

I texted Robb's sister and asked her if Robb invented it or if they'd always done that and she remembers doing that as a kid too.

Ah memories.  They get you in the feels every time.

Not always a bad thing...

I'd have no luck at all.

Wow, what a weekend!  Let me start off by saying Happy Easter!!!  

I don't know why I don't have someone snap a picture of me wearing things I've made.  Maybe because I don't want to see myself until I've lost 20 pounds...  Or I'm just forgetful and have too much on my mind at all times.  I'll go with that one.

Anyway, for Good Friday service, I wore the outfit that I wore for America's Got Talent and Mom's funeral. Black flowy top and knit pencil skirt with a slit.  

 The Tennabrae service is special, where the lights get dimmed a little every few minutes of the readings and I was suddenly struck by a memory of Mom that when I left the church in silence and darkness, I had to scrounge for a kleenex in the car.

On Saturday, Meri and Jen came over and helped Leon and I color some eggs.  

It was a glorious mess and they had a great time.

Then Meri, Leon, Robb and I went out for a late lunch to the grand opening of Meri's best friend's, mom's Mexican restaurant.  Meri and her bestie had been up til 5am, helping put the restaurant in order for the opening.  So when we got our bill, her food was not on it.  Awe... They're pretty great.

The food was delicious.  The mom has a taco truck that is usually out during the week but she decided to open the restaurant also.  It is undecided if the taco truck will continue.  So for a family run business, she's cooking up a storm still.  The daughters are waiting tables and her husband is taking care of everything they can't.

Leon had a hamburger, but it was really a thinly sliced steak sandwich.  He is the pickiest eater ever, so he was a real trooper to eat it all up.  I got a sandwich that I don't remember the name of.  Zumbago?  no...  don't remember.  

Meri got beef tacos and shrimp tacos.  The lime slice from her tacos saved my mouth from over burning on the chips and salsa...  :)  perfect.

Congrats to them!  I hope they're a huge hit.

When we got back, I sewed a skirt to go with the colorful top that I'd made a few weeks ago.  And yet again, have no proof that I sew for myself.  One of these days I'll have Meri over to help me do a style show...

On Sunday, we went to early church with a breakfast following.  It was great and I don't know about you, but the scent of lilies puts me in another place.  I love it!  

AND I forgot to get a pic of Meri next to the cross with lilies.  sigh...  Maybe NEXT Sunday.  The lilies will still be there.

Then we went home and scrambled to get lunch ready in time.  Jen had limited time to be here and Meri's foot was hurting.  So as soon as Jen arrived, I set them all off for the Easter egg hunt.  

It's kind of funny watching a 19 year old and 27+ year olds hunt for eggs, but as long as they're enthusiastic, go for it!  And of course, Leon was excited.

Leon left eggs behind for them to find.  He's so kind!  He was mostly hunting for the candies.

Then lunch with the china.  After all was cleaned away, Meri, Robb and I played a fun game of Apples to Apples.  She won.  

I was planning on spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing, but Meri asked if I'd go shopping with her.  SURE!  So we went to the mall and lo and behold, it was closed.  Oh yeah, it's Easter!

Walmart was open.  They're ALWAYS open, so we walked around in there and she kept putting things in the cart.  I found a T-ball for Leon.  It's been frightening to pitch a ball to him lately, as I'm afraid of getting killed...  

After hunting down a place that Meri is contemplating moving to next fall, we headed over to my besties to visit for a bit before heading home again.  Got there just in time to get on a DUO call with Maddy and Matthew!  Meri had to head home and wasn't able to come in because of her foot.

So about 10 minutes into the call with Maddy, I got a call from Meri.  

Um Mom?....

Oh boy...  

She had smelled burning rubber in the van and a light on the dash had come on.  "What's that light mean?"  I had her pull out the owners manual.  "Something about tire pressure."  

The traffic on the interstate was really bad so she couldn't get out to take a look right away, but kept me on the phone until she could.  Yikes...  the back passenger tire was shredded.

Well, THERE's the smell is coming from...

We hung up with Maddy and got the boy and several jack contraptions out into the car and headed off to rescue Meri.  

Meri helped out a bit, but with her broken foot, we told her to check on Leon.  She climbed in with him and they drew together.  Leon has a new sketch pad.

I have to tell you, I am NOT a fan of where Grand Caravan's hide their spare tire.  The shredded tire put the back corner of the van almost down to the ground and the spare is dead center underneath the drivers seat and the passenger seat.  REALLY???  

While Robb worked on getting the blow out jacked up and loosened, I poured through the manual to figure out how to lower the spare.  Got it all the way down with some extra cord to spare, but it's still in the center of the car underneath.  I am NOT going to crawl under there, from EITHER side.

Luckily, Robb told me that there was an ax in the trunk of our car.  

Do you know how scary that would look to a passers by to see a grown woman, carrying an ax,  walking toward a man sprawled on the ground by the side of the road?   hmmm.. I covered the ax with a floor mat and brought it to the van.  It worked fantastic to hook the spare and pull it out.  

The thing hooking the spare to the cover thing was so corroded with dirt that we couldn't get it to come free.  Robb hit the heck out of it and it probably won't work correctly anymore, but we did it get off.  The tire was finally switched to the donut and it was actually low on air.  So we caravan'ed to the closest convenience store to fill it up.  

Then dropped the shredded one off at our car guy.  He was closed of course.  It's EASTER!  So Robb took a pic of it and texted him.  

prefaced with ,"Our bad luck continues..."

If I had no bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...

Doom, despair and agony on me!

Heehaw: if you didn't already know.

Good Egg vs Batting Practice

So yesterday...  I decided enough was enough and emailed the person who had said the thing that alluded to other people talking about me.  I asked if I'd done something to make them angry enough to say that as it was hurtful as it dredged up lots of ugly memories of something I've been forgiven for for a LONG time.

And you know what???

That's not what they were talking about.  uggghhhhhhhh...  And my weekend mood was shot for nothing.  WHY didn't I say something on Friday??!  We had a VERY good talk and for the record, the typed word sounds very different when spoken aloud.

I guess I'm insecure at times.  I really need to practice putting the best construction on everything.

all the time.

when it would be prudent to.

Speaking of deciding whether someone is a good egg or a bad egg.  I found this egg frozen in a flower pot on Monday morning.  

Yep - the kids had missed this one.  They very well may have missed two unless someone ate one before hiding them and I wasn't aware of it. I'll find out when I do the spring clean up of the yard.

I posted a pic of it on FB and asked if I should let a dyed egg that has been frozen and exposed to the elements thaw out and be eaten...  Got a variety of intriguing responses.  

Anyone heard of fried frozen hard boiled eggs?

Is that a thing??

But what do you guys think?  

Oh.  I cleaned out the refrigerator last night.  Couldn't find anything when I needed it.  So THAT is why we have two open bottles of spicy mustard now...  And three jars of pickles.  I condensed them.

Someone couldn't find what they were looking for and went and opened another.  

Anyway, we went from a fridge that was so jam packed with birthday/Easter leftovers down to almost nothing.  hmmm...  It really SEEMED like we had more groceries than that!  But I kid.  this time.  There are still LOTS of food in our fridge, but at least now we can find things and every time I pull out the pickles, the bottom of the jar won't be sticky with syrup or some other viscous concoction that I'm too afraid to taste for confirmation.

As for that poor egg.  Two strikes.  You won't find it in OUR fridge.  It's been pitched.

It didn't even get a third strike...

Making Babies and Nope, not sticking around

There was an early out on Wednesday so Meri and a couple of her friends came over to color eggs with Leon. 



He proposed to Jolie and when she refused to move in with him after they're married ( I think because of the age discrepancies), she left his ring here.  He was disappointed, but got over it quickly.

We now have 4 dozen (minus 2, I was hungry and they cracked) cholesterol bombs in the fridge.  

Or as Leon calls two dozen of them, his babies.  They WERE his and Jolie's babies, as they made them together...  but now they're just his.

There are rules about "Leon's babies"...

1) You can't eat them.

2) You can't put them in the fridge. BURR!

3) No one is allowed to hide or hunt them.

Yeah right...  We had a talk about that!

And all the rules are now stricken.

So last night, before Maundy Thursday service, he and I stopped at a local farm and country store and checked out their live baby chicks and baby ducks.  SO CUTE!!!  But you can't hold them.

bummer.

They had some cute little plush ones that you could buy nearby, so Leon opted for those.  You don't have to feed them and they don't poop! YAY!

AND you can still freak out your dad and grandpa by saying Grandma bought him a baby chick and a baby duck. True story!  "You DIDN'T buy him live animals, did you??!"

 

He has said that his two of his "babies" hatched now, so we can eat the rest of them after Easter.

whew!  That was going to be a waste of 2 dozen eggs!

So here is the progression of the snow fort.  

Robb liked to say, 

after we built this one, 

that you can judge 

a snow storm 

by it's forts.

Leon was disappointed by the above display of "fort"itude this morning, so before the bus came, he scrounged what snow we had left and made a new one.
 

 

 One of the remaining chunks may have been too much for him, 

 

but he was determined.

  And then the bus came.

So I would have to say that this past snow storm was a 2 fort storm.

Flaunting my Wednesday evening

Except for the hem and a little handwork on the inside lining, the flowergirl dress is DONE!

I put some extra poof in the skirt by adding an extra row of netting.  This girl is going to FLAUNT it!

At least I hope so.

Apparently I'm on the egg diet next week.  I thought it just meant that we were going to eat all the hard boiled eggs that we colored last night...  Because... we do that EVERY year!  Deviled eggs gaLORE people!!!

And we DID color the eggs last night! 

I got everything ready while Leon waited by the front window watching for Meri's car.  He can spot it a mile away.  And THEN we were ready to do it.

 Leon was EXTRA careful and didn't break any and didn't splash the solutions!  Our little boy is growing up...

Just when you think 3 dozen are plenty, you're done coloring in ten minutes... REALLY??? THAT's all we've got??  oh well.  it was fun.

But apparently just egg boats(aka deviled eggs) is not what this diet is all about.  So I have do some parenting(aka googling) today to find out what's what with this diet.  

Definitely GOT the eggs!!!

and I'm FLAUNTING them!!!!

AND the stuffed giraffe that Leon and I started is finally done.  It has legs and a tail now as well as that unsightly hole in it's tummy sewed up.

 Maybe THIS is what April was waiting for...

 He probably would have slept with it if I hadn't sent him to bed early for being a booger.

Trust me...  He was FLAUNTING his booger-ish-ness...

Where All The Women Are Strong...

Went to Maddy's State Jazz Band competition this morning! Had to leave home around 6:45am, so it's been an early day.

They did really well! However since they played so early in the morning, by afternoon when the judges tabulate their votes, our band won't be remembered as well... So darn. Maddy will text me later and let me know how they did. She's down there for all day. PLUS my camera died right when I tried to take a pic of the band setting up. I just grabbed some from a drawer this morning. Double darn. Oh well. I've been recording them all season, but getting to go to State is a big deal. I saw other parents videotaping, so I'll hit them up for a copy some time...

Here are our Easter shots of this weekend for when I remembered to have the camera handy... and before the batteries were taken from it...
Unfortunately the six kids coloring the eggs didn't take any pictures during the actual process and I was too busy putting in a zipper multiple times for Maddy's friend's prom dress...

But here is what they left behind and what I've been eating way too many of in the last few days...

My cholesterol resembles a zip code...

Ryan and Tiffany had their own family time with Leon and colored eggs with him. He slept... Apparently it bored him.
Easter Sunday started off with a bang and a sunrise service. If God wanted us up this early, I'm sure He would have made it easier to get the family out the door WITHOUT losing all of our sanity!

There was a breakfast immediately following the service and my egg casserole was almost all eaten! I used a recipe that I found in a Breakfast cookbook a friend gave us. I had all the ingredients for a Denver Omelette casserole. Thanks for your suggestions everyone!

Here is Leon hunting for eggs. Looks like he found one!

For teenagers hunting, you have to be more creative, but remember where you put the eggs... You don't want to start the car later and have an egg shoot out your neighbors windows... They were done in a matter of minutes so next year we're going to bury the eggs.After which they then tallied up all their goodies and started in on the candy and egg swap. Meri ended up with about 20 eggs...

It was a good weekend! I even got some sewing done! Here is a preview of Mads dress... Keep in mind that the zipper area is only pinned and I need to take some in on the other side seam.

It's actually looking very similar to last years... but the pleating was a heck of a lot quicker and it was hand painted this year.
Once the zipper and side seam are fixed and it's hemmed up shorter with weights so it won't be poofy, it's going to be perfect.

Anyway, that's how things are at Lake Sewbegone... Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.

How are things in your neck of the woods?