wholly weak
Every night I keep writing in this entry and then never get around to posting it, so this is three days worth, so it's a bit long.
Tuesday: I went shopping at a local store (instead of the mall) to get maternity nylons. I bought one pair just to make sure they fit, but they fit really well so I think I will go back and get a second pair, but not necessarily this week. I needed a pair of sheer nylons for my Easter outfit, and now I have them. (I tried on their maternity swimsuits too, but didn't like them. Maternity swimsuits are going to be a pain, I think.)
I wore my Easter outfit (complete with shoes) for about an hour and a half that evening to see how comfortable (or not) they would be. Verdict: not bad!
A big financial stressor has been lifted. The Husband's union and employer signed a new contract, and it's about as favorable as we could want, under the circumstances. The Husband even gets a small raise. This is much much better than losing his job (which we feared might happen) or some of the other things they were talking about might happen. So, we can start looking for a co-op to live in, and that's why I've been making a bunch of hitherto delayed purchases all at once.
Wednesday: a bit lazier. The only major things I accomplished were a bit of laundry and getting a huge pot of vegetarian curry done. Since the Triduum (the Triduum the Triduum) is upon us, having a meatless meal in the fridge to be reheated and served in haste is essential.
I made it up out of my fridge contents, but it was based on stuff I'd done before on the stovetop.
~1 lb frozen hash browns (in lieu of regular chopped potatoes)
1 head cauliflower, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can coconut milk
~2 c. leftover homemade makhani curry sauce
Dumped in the 6qt crockpot in that order and vaguely stirred, and put on high for three hours. The carrots were not quite tender the first time around (it's the quandary, do you want cauliflower mush or hard carrots) but soft enough to eat. It could have done with some extra seasoning to combat the attenuation you get via slow cooking but it was good.
Today: I was not feeling the greatest, but I managed to more or less keep up with household stuff, and I did a round of egg dyeing, and some palm weaving. Originally I planned to do eggs on Saturday, but I suddenly became afraid of what would happen if I discovered on Sunday morning that the eggs looked terrible. There wouldn't be any time or opportunity to get new ones. So I decided to do it tonight. If the eggs look great, they will still be fine to put in her Easter basket on Sunday. If they look awful, then I can buy more eggs and a kit.
I put pictures of the eggs in process on Facebook but I'm too lazy to copy the pictures on here, at least right now. I will probably post a picture of the finished product, though. I used five different dyes: turmeric, "Summer Berries" herbal tea (hibiscus), "Clarity" herbal tea (blueberry), instant coffee, and green tea. For acid, I started out using lemon juice, but then got paranoid and added white vinegar... maybe a teaspoon of acid per mug. (I used mugs, which held two eggs each.)
Cost breakdown (rough):
Teas: 2 bags per cup @.15/bag x 2 cups = .60
Instant decaf coffee we were never going to drink: 2 sachets @ free samples = free!
Turmeric: a few tablespoons? = .25? (I buy my turmeric cheap at the Indian grocery, so maybe less than this)
Expired green tea I would otherwise throw away: free!
Lemon slice: 1/8 lemon @ .25/lemon = .03
Distilled white vinegar: 5 tsp = .05? (vinegar is super cheap)
Total: <$1
Even if you used regular tea bags for this, at .15 to .20 cents per tea bag you would probably still beat the cost of the kits. Of course, this assumes you only want to do like a dozen eggs. I'm not sure that you couldn't use the dye again, but the time factor makes that more awkward. Dyeing eggs with the kits only takes ten or fifteen minutes per egg. The natural dyes definitely have to stay overnight.
I took a peek at the 3 hour mark. The green tea egg looks REALLY pretty, and so does the blueberry egg. The hibiscus egg is barely colored as yet, the turmeric egg is gritty (I used too much turmeric) but hopefully that will rinse off, and the coffee egg shows a disappointing tendency to look just like a brown egg you'd get from the store.
Tuesday: I went shopping at a local store (instead of the mall) to get maternity nylons. I bought one pair just to make sure they fit, but they fit really well so I think I will go back and get a second pair, but not necessarily this week. I needed a pair of sheer nylons for my Easter outfit, and now I have them. (I tried on their maternity swimsuits too, but didn't like them. Maternity swimsuits are going to be a pain, I think.)
I wore my Easter outfit (complete with shoes) for about an hour and a half that evening to see how comfortable (or not) they would be. Verdict: not bad!
A big financial stressor has been lifted. The Husband's union and employer signed a new contract, and it's about as favorable as we could want, under the circumstances. The Husband even gets a small raise. This is much much better than losing his job (which we feared might happen) or some of the other things they were talking about might happen. So, we can start looking for a co-op to live in, and that's why I've been making a bunch of hitherto delayed purchases all at once.
Wednesday: a bit lazier. The only major things I accomplished were a bit of laundry and getting a huge pot of vegetarian curry done. Since the Triduum (the Triduum the Triduum) is upon us, having a meatless meal in the fridge to be reheated and served in haste is essential.
I made it up out of my fridge contents, but it was based on stuff I'd done before on the stovetop.
~1 lb frozen hash browns (in lieu of regular chopped potatoes)
1 head cauliflower, chopped
5 carrots, chopped
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can coconut milk
~2 c. leftover homemade makhani curry sauce
Dumped in the 6qt crockpot in that order and vaguely stirred, and put on high for three hours. The carrots were not quite tender the first time around (it's the quandary, do you want cauliflower mush or hard carrots) but soft enough to eat. It could have done with some extra seasoning to combat the attenuation you get via slow cooking but it was good.
Today: I was not feeling the greatest, but I managed to more or less keep up with household stuff, and I did a round of egg dyeing, and some palm weaving. Originally I planned to do eggs on Saturday, but I suddenly became afraid of what would happen if I discovered on Sunday morning that the eggs looked terrible. There wouldn't be any time or opportunity to get new ones. So I decided to do it tonight. If the eggs look great, they will still be fine to put in her Easter basket on Sunday. If they look awful, then I can buy more eggs and a kit.
I put pictures of the eggs in process on Facebook but I'm too lazy to copy the pictures on here, at least right now. I will probably post a picture of the finished product, though. I used five different dyes: turmeric, "Summer Berries" herbal tea (hibiscus), "Clarity" herbal tea (blueberry), instant coffee, and green tea. For acid, I started out using lemon juice, but then got paranoid and added white vinegar... maybe a teaspoon of acid per mug. (I used mugs, which held two eggs each.)
Cost breakdown (rough):
Teas: 2 bags per cup @.15/bag x 2 cups = .60
Instant decaf coffee we were never going to drink: 2 sachets @ free samples = free!
Turmeric: a few tablespoons? = .25? (I buy my turmeric cheap at the Indian grocery, so maybe less than this)
Expired green tea I would otherwise throw away: free!
Lemon slice: 1/8 lemon @ .25/lemon = .03
Distilled white vinegar: 5 tsp = .05? (vinegar is super cheap)
Total: <$1
Even if you used regular tea bags for this, at .15 to .20 cents per tea bag you would probably still beat the cost of the kits. Of course, this assumes you only want to do like a dozen eggs. I'm not sure that you couldn't use the dye again, but the time factor makes that more awkward. Dyeing eggs with the kits only takes ten or fifteen minutes per egg. The natural dyes definitely have to stay overnight.
I took a peek at the 3 hour mark. The green tea egg looks REALLY pretty, and so does the blueberry egg. The hibiscus egg is barely colored as yet, the turmeric egg is gritty (I used too much turmeric) but hopefully that will rinse off, and the coffee egg shows a disappointing tendency to look just like a brown egg you'd get from the store.