Patty Thurlby Now has an Etsy Shop!

LittleLaLaOriginals by LittleLaLaOriginals on Etsy
I wrote a few years back about one of my favorite crafters, Patty Thurlby.  She now has an etsy shop.  I love her stained glass window valences and they're very affordable for handmade beauty.

Eggs, eggs, eggs

Last night I set up a skype chat with my sister because Kid #2 was desperate to spend some time with her "Lala."  We both prepped eggs for Easter via videochat.

 I abhor the smell of hard boiled eggs so I use an alternate method:
1.  Poke a hole at bottom (biggest) end of an egg using a roofing nail.  Make the hole about 1/4".
2.  Insert a straw in the hole. 
3.  Hold the egg and straw over a bow.  Blow into the straw.
4.  The egg insides come out through the bottom around the straw.

You can then wash, dry and decorate your eggs.  I used the egg insides to make quiche.

My quiche method results in about 4 Weight watchers points for 1/8th of a pie.  Recipe makes 2 pies:
Mix 18 eggs, 1.5 cups of shredded cheese, 1 t mustard powder, 2 t chicken broth powder, 1/2 cup milk and A LOT of veggies.  I like to use about 1.5 lbs of frozen veggies - either purchased of home frozen.  Spinach or kale is really nice in the dish. 

Line the bottom of a pie pan with a big tortilla.  Pour in egg mixture.  Bake at 320 for 2 hours, if you have a slow, weird oven.

You could also make it in muffin tins and freeze the mini quiches.  They defrost easily and it's a good way to preserve eggs, which don't otherwise freeze well.


This year we're thinking of using the decorated eggs to make brownies:  we'll slosh oil around the inside and then pipe brownie batter in and bake inside the shell for an Easter Egg surprise.

Skip the grinding - use an immersion blender

I bought Husband a juicer for Valentine's Day and tried it out for making tofu at home. The first batch took forever to grind the soaked soybeans. The second batch went mug faster - I used my immersion blender. Wabam!

Ocean floor

Multiple layers of watered-down black, teal and cobalt stain on concrete overlay bathroom floor. I just wanna dive in!

My little valentine

Kid2 made a quiver by decorating and painting an old Pringles can. She made arrows with heart-shaped foam cuts glued to an unbent wire hanger. The bow is old plastic and yarn. She was Cupid all day. She also made Sister this card. Yes, it does say fart.

Overly ambitious weekend

Had a busy weekend without half the family home. Made another bath mat by felting the last of my roving. Looking forward to shearing season so I can get fleece from my Romney ewe, Mitt, for more felting. (Mitt the Romney, get it?)

I also stripped finish off dresser drawers on one dresser. I also purchased, cut and installed wood shelves in the new closet. I had to download the chop saw's owners manual since Husband had stored it and I don't want to ask him for advice on how to unlock it for fear he'd say for me to wait for him to come home. I also moved all our clothes into said new closet.  Yes, he has ninty zillion Hawaiian print shirts.  So many that we abbrev and just refer to them as BHPs:  Best Hawaiian Prints.

AND I stripped the paint off an old dresser. It was avocado with orange knobs when I was a baby in 1973, was dove grey in high school and marbleized pink in college. I used citristrip to revive paint but couldn't finish the job over the weekend because the residue needs to dry for me for at least a week to be sanded of and clear-coated. But I see how it will look great in the future...

All in all, it was a satisfyingly tiring and productive weekend that makes me refreshed and ready for more slog in front of the computer for a work week.

Boxes

The girls had John use a clamp and big Forstner bit on his drill to cut holes in old hardback books to use them as boxes as gifts. What to do with the leftover paper? Cover a box!