Let Us See

Let's see if I can complete a post.  Unlike my other ones, though, this one might be rambling and nonsensical.  Wait.  Most of my posts are that way!  Well, this one might be worse.  I have Hope and Justice here.  They are wonderful little girls, but like I've written before, they do require lots of attention.  Plus, Justice keeps merrily trying to get one of the baby "gittens" and when I tell her not to do that, she stomps and says, "Dat not you baby gitten!!!'  Last night at bedtime she became very upset with me over something like, oh, you know, it being bedtime, and she said while pointing at me angrily, "YOU NOT G'AMMA CINNY!!"

She took away my entire identity!  Hee hee!!

So, to catch you up on things, Easter was fine.  Mother's Day was, well, really it was just another day, albeit with a humongous card courtesy of Jethro and some phone calls from my other children.

I've always wanted to try dying eggs with natural dyes, like flowers or fruits, or even onion skins.  I've also wanted to try dying eggs with silk ties, but unfortunately, the thrift shop I use only had one tie that was made of silk.

Here I was using dandelions.  It took a TON of dandelions to make any sort of color on the eggs, at least, in my experience.  Notice that one of the eggs is cracked?  Yeah.  I can't boil eggs very well.  Don't judge.

The egg on the right came out with a stripe.  I'm not sure how that happened.  Anyway, after I boiled the eggs in the dandelions, I set the little bit of color with some vinegar, rubbed the eggs with some oil to make them shine, and then we promptly ate them.  Dandelions aren't poisonous, so eating the hard boiled eggs was fine.

Later I used frozen spinach and some frozen blueberries to dye some eggs.  The spinach, well, it made nice white eggs (there was no change at all in the color), and the blueberries made a really cool purple.  

I wrapped these eggs in some light fabric, trying to protect the eggs from cracking, and also to see what kind of pattern it made.

As you can see, even the material didn't protect the eggs!

Here Justice shows off the egg we'd decorated with a temporary tattoo.  I felt sunflowers were more appropriate for Easter than, say, the skulls we also have on hand on the tattoo sheets.  

Another day the girls and I, along with Saige, did a tie-dye method to color our eggs.  That's pretty easy, but if you're doing this with a 4 and a 2 year old, well, I recommend you don't do that!  All you do is hard boil the eggs, and then put them in a colander.  Sprinkle them with some vinegar.  Then take two or three colors of food coloring, and drip them down over the eggs.  If you are 17 or older, at least in our house, the eggs look very colorful and pretty.  If you are 4 or 2, the eggs look kind of muddy, and your hands are colorful.

I try to do a lot of crafts with the girls when they come over.  We have some nice, homemade play dough that has kept for several weeks in the refrigerator. A little while ago we made liquid soap, and later, we're going to try making bath jelly.  In truth, I am doing most of the work, which is fine, since making the soap and then the bath jelly calls for boiling water.  

Three of the four kittens (gittens) have homes, and if the fourth one found a home, I'd be happy with that, too.  I'm really glad the male, named Prince, has a nice home.  He's already been to the vet, had his shots, and he'll be neutered when he's old enough.  Yay!  

Here we have Emily, Bear, Darcy (who lives with Macrame and Jethro) and Prince.  

Emily is still with us, but she has a home. The only one that is without a place is the gray one.  She is so cute!! Well, they're all cute, of course, as kittens tend to be.  If you remember Teo, the cat who died a month or so ago, he was the father of these kittens,.  Well, of some of them.  Cats tend to be rather promiscuous, and can have more than one father per litter of kittens.   I'm pretty sure that Teo is the dad of the majority of kittens, though, because Hell Kitty was his father, and Hell Kitty looked more Siamese than anything else.  These kittens look like their grandparents, that's for sure.

Hope and Justice keep trying to pick up and love on the kittens, who don't want to be squeezed.  I'm working with Justice especially, showing her how to "be soft!  Soft!!  Ack!  Put down that kitten!"  The lessons aren't going too well.

It's rather cool and kind of dreary outside today.  I was hoping the weather would turn and it would be nice so we could go to the park.  I mean, we can go anyway, I suppose, but it is better when it's nice outside.  We're supposed to get more rain throughout the afternoon.  Well, if nothing else, I'll let the girls use the small garden spades so they can dig, and plant.  I have a lot of old seeds--and if anything grows from them, it'll be a miracle, and if they don't grow, the girls will have fun digging.

I'm going to have to get them lunch soon.  Justice keeps coming up to me and saying, "I need eat!  I need a 'nack!"  

Oh, I have to confess something stupid I did with Hope.  Jethro, Hope, and I had driven somewhere, and it was rather hot.  I ran into a gas station to get a soda, and when I came out, Hope was holding a plastic cup that held some now warm water. I handed her the soda with the words, "Here, honey.  This soda is better than that old water, isn't it?"  

Well.

Apparently when Hope was home, she'd say she was thirsty, and when Jethro or Macrame got her water, Hope would say how soda is better than water.  Grandma Cinny said so!

I explained to Hope that I'd just meant that the soda was better at that time, because her water was warm.  I told her that water is always better for you than soda.  I told her that even grown ups make mistakes sometimes.  My mistake was forgetting how 4 year olds are concrete thinkers, and if a grown up says soda is better than water, then by gosh, it is better than water!

Erma and Ambrose have spent the past couple of nights here.  Both of them began working last Monday at various places, which is good, but they're employed in this town, and they live about an hour away.  Gas prices are soooo high that having to drive back and forth every day is a bit much, so they stayed here for a few days.  

Lampshade is still here, but I've told him he cannot stay much longer.  Supposedly he's going to get back with his wife, and they get to have her Dad's house while he goes to Florida to visit his mother.  We'll see.  I love Lamp, but he causes too much stress and drama, and things tend to disappear when he's around.  You know, things like money.  Electronics.  In fact, Saige heard him saying to a friend that he was going to get the title for my old Escort, so he could scrap it.  Uh, I think not.  

The rash I had last year is back.  I think it's exacerbated by stress.  And Dr. Lampshade.

Well, I need to get going.  Go in peace, be warm and filled!