POTD

Since it is below freezing this New Year's Evening with threats of freezing rain,

I thought that I would remember Oregon in all of its glory

during mid-summer.

To Dye For...

Our first foray into the world of fiber dying.

This really was a great project to do with the kids. We learned that we need LOTS more kool-aid for deeper richer colors. I also learned that you can use wilton gel food colorings with a few glugs of vinegar to get good results. Who knew...

I ordered some hanks of bare peruvian wool from Knit Picks with my christmas money. I ordered a whole lot more too - but let's keep that one a secret from the man...

Next we washed the wool being very careful not to agitate too much as the 100% wool has the potential to felt and that would be a disaster.

Then, using a turkey baster the kids "painted" the yarn. G is using just two colors for stripes.

When the yarn was all "painted" we wrapped it in plastic and zapped it in the microwave for 2 minutes twice. We could tell that it was done when we pressed the yarn and saw clear, rather than colored water seep out.

Here are two finished skeins hanging to dry in the bathroom. Hmmmmmm... wonder what they will become...

Teenaged Fiber Wisdom

So - I was in Walmart with the kids. (Have I ever mentioned how much I detest going to Walmart with 6 kids? - sorry back to the story...) The kids were picking out cereal (Walmart has cheap cereal btw... ) while I was searching the shelves for Kool-aid.

Now those of you who know me well will not be surprised that this garnered much confused attention from the tribe.

E and K were loudly whispering :

"Hey, mom's buying kool-aid!"

"What! No way! Is she going to let us drink it?"

"Yeah I think we get Kool-aid"

Followed by some jumping in the aisle.

Enter the thirteen year old brother:

"Guys, no way is she buying kool-aid..."

Prodded by younger siblings, he confirms that I am indeed purchasing kool-aid.

"Hmmm - maybe we are getting kool-aid..."

Enter the voice of 14 1/2 year old wisdom:

"Guys! Be real! (lots of eye rolling ) She's not going to let you drink it - She's probably going to dye wool with it! Geesh..."

Sure enough - Miss M was right. I AM dying wool with it! Turns out Kool-aid makes a great dye on all animal fibers. You can read all about it here.

I plan on some lemon-lime mittens...

A Family Home Evening Hit

Peppermint Patty Burgers

This was a BIG hit at our last Family Home Evening

RECIPE

1 box of Vanilla Wafers (these are the buns)

1 bag of Peppermint Patties (these are the burgers)

Coconut Flakes ( for Lettuce)

White Frosting

Red, Yellow and Green Food Coloring

1st -

Put your coconut in a plastic baggie

and put a few drops of GREEN food coloring in.

Mush the baggie

This will be your lettuce.

2nd

Color half of the frosting RED - for catsup

Color the other half YELLOW - for mustard

3rd

On one Vanilla Wafer spread the RED frosting

On the second wafer spread the YELLOW frosting

Sprinkle the GREEN coconut on one of the wafers

4th

Add a chocolate peppermint patty in the middle

and you have a BURGER

5th

ENJOY!

Thoughts about our Family Home Evening

Run Molly Run!

Jason - compulsive proposer

So maybe watching the Bachelor was not the best FHE we've had in a while... But it was fun yelling at the TV and making fun of all the idiot choices being made.

The whole show is admittedly ridiculous - I mean these relationships are doomed to failure. On one hand, the whole concept of the show has me digging my eyes out with a grapefruit spoon - I mean how do these beautiful women debase themselves by chasing after some stupid guy who can't make up his mind because he has too many choices?

In general it is NOT a good idea to agree to marry a guy with 25 other girlfriends - that is unless you call Colorado City your home...

- but for some reason I get hooked.

Some observations from the tribe:

G (12) - "Why can't he just make up his mind already? (guttural sound of disgust) They're just girls (roll of the eyes)."

J (19) - "OH MY GOSH!! OH MY GOSH!! OH MY GOSH!!" (followed by squeaking)

M (13) - "I can't believe she's just sitting there - I would walk away." (that's my girl!)

The Man - "I can't believe we're watching this..."

K (10) - "I give them 2 weeks."

E (9) - after watching the entire night... "Wait - who did he choose?"