~Dye Easter Eggs Naturally~

Did you ever dye Easter eggs with natural dyes from Mother Nature? The colors that emerge might surprise you.

Coffee grounds will produce a light chocolate color,
tea bags a reddish brown.

These gorgeous colors came from onion skins and red cabbage leaves. The blue, from the cabbage leaves is so pretty.

Turmeric gave this sunny golden color and the beets produced a light mauve, it's my least favorite.

To make a mottled looking egg with onion skins, wrap the paper thin skins around the eggs, place in a pot with water about 1 inch above the eggs, put a few more skins on top and boil for about 5 minutes, then set aside for an hour. Remove to paper towels to dry.

With coffee & tea bags, you put 4 T of coffee grounds or about 12 tea bags, 1 T white vinegar & water, enough to cover eggs, in a pot and boil the eggs for about 15 minutes. I usually cut open the tea bags.

To use vegetables, you'll need about 2 cups of material, 1 T white vinegar in a pot of water & boil for 15 minutes. Then add room temperature eggs......make sure there's enough water to cover the eggs & boil again for 15 minutes.

Leave the eggs sit in the water for more color, that's the trick. To shine the eggs just rub them with vegetable oil.

Blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and basil will all create beautiful colors. And you could create your own colors by combining materials.
I love the colors of eggs dyed this way, the old fashioned way! This must have been how it was done long ago!
Now what to do with all these hard boiled eggs? Egg salad, deviled eggs...any suggestions?

~ Were You Unplugged?

If you joined Kimba’s party and tried to stay unplugged on Friday, how did that work for you?

I really thought I could do it. I’ve done it before when I was busy or wasn’t feeling well. But, I couldn’t do it….I caved! It was all Mia’s fault!

How can I blame my sweet little grandchild?
She was at daycare that day and I just had to log on to see how she was doing. There’s a camera in the room and you can watch what’s going on at daycare over the net. How neat is that….watching your little one while you’re at work!

Who, BTW is crawling a little, standing a lot and wanting to eat everything she sees. It’s hard to believe that she’s almost one year old.

So while I was on the computer anyway, I had to check my email, of course! It was almost 4pm when I logged on and I didn’t stay on more than 15 minutes, so that was good, I thought. I did get two closets cleaned out because I wasn’t wasting time at the computer.

Even though I didn’t make it through the whole day, I was happy that I spent only on a short time on line. Maybe I should consider making Friday an unplugged day from now on! Great idea KIMBA!

~And the WINNER IS!~

The winners of the Spring GiveAway of a PEAR tassel or a WIRE CLOCHE are...

LMH from White Spray Paint
and
KellyB from The Cottage around the Corner.


Congratulations AND Thank YOU to EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!!!

Winners, contact me HERE.

~The coffee Blessing~

I'm blessed to be a young retiree. A whole new world has opened up. That world that has no alarm clocks that startle me out of bed and allows me to awaken slowly and peacefully. It's revealed those few moments before I'm fully awake and yet not quite asleep. In those moments, random and unrelated thoughts drift through my brain. I firmly believe that we need to listen up in those moments. When we're quietest we can hear what the Lord is saying to us.

On this particular day, the thought that stuck with me was to have the Best day! A happy day, a day to smile, be kind, to take care of my body with healthy foods and exercise and to be aware of all the blessings around me.

With winter being so dreary, it's easy to fall into the slump of wanting to just stay home and hibernate.....but not this day......that is past, Spring is here. Now get out there and smile!

This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118

So I did. I needed to activate a new debit card at an ATM machine so I went to Sheetz. Sheetz is one of those mega gas stations with hot foods, delicious sweets and of course coffee. The smell of coffee is the only thing you smell in Sheetz! Being a coffee lover, I knew as I was using the ATM that I would have to get a mocha frappa cappachino vanilla latte drink thingy! But....... I heard it in my head......no...not the healthiest, calorie laden choice, not today, so I left without my coffee drink.

Next stop, the flower market to get some pansies to brighten up the kitchen. As I was approaching the entrance, I wasn't thinking of coffee, I was thinking about the joys of Spring, and I was anxious to see the colorful pansies.

There I was, inside the sun warmed room filled with beautiful pansies and.......... I saw a sign...................free coffee!

I think I laughed out loud. Wait on the Lord. I did! Afree cup of coffee was the reward. I guess the Lord knew I wanted only the taste of coffee and not all those empty calories. It's such a silly little thing and yet I felt so Blessed and so rewarded.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37

I felt compelled to share this silly story that I'm calling the Coffee Blessing. The lord is always with us...no matter how trivial the situation.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all yout heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways know and acknowledge Him and He will direct and make plain your path. Proverbs 3:5-6


Share your blessings!

~Blog Land is rockin this Week~

Parties, Prizes, GiveAways and Challenges, WOW. Blogland is in Party Mode!
Pretty Organized Palace is hosting a Toile party.
Toile is one of my all time favorite designs. I've heard it's popularity may be waning slightly. It may be slipping, but it's a classic that will be around forever. So TOILE LOVERS, get your party on!


These three pictures are from my inspiration file.

You can see touches of toile in the pillows and the drapes in this country style room. Below is our master bedroom in red toile.

A toile skirted table in the basement family room.

Since I've taken these pics several years ago, I've changed the bedroom a bit, got rid of the greenery and changed some of the furniture, but it's basically still like this. I enjoy the toile in our home. Now I need to get rid of some of the outdated gold in the frames and lamps.

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Wednesday, Jen from Sanctuary Arts is hosting a makeover party. If you're into furniture makeovers, this lady is one of the best I've seen. Her skills are amazing! So get on over there to see lots of makeovers on all kinds of things and add your own.

The kitchen island redo was my latest project. It went from plain white to jazzed up red.

Here's the yardsale desk I took from frumpy to fabulous.
Click here if you're interested in seeing more of my makeovers.
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Prizes galore!

Have you joined the ultimate blog party at 5 Minutes for Mom? There's still time. You can meet lots of new blogging friends and win prizes too! Don't miss it. It's the biggest bash ever.
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Kimba at A Soft Place to Land has issued a challenge. Can you unplug and stay off the computer for 24 whole hours?

No blogs, email, twitter , facebook, or myspace for a full day! How would you spend the day? Would it be grabbing a nap, spending time with family, cleaning or using that one day for reflection, rethinking, and prioritizing. I can do this challenge, no sweat.......I think. It's this Friday, are you up for it?

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GiveAway, I'm hosting a giveaway here. It's ends on Thursday at midnight, so if you haven't entered there's still plenty of time left to win a tassel or a wire cloche.

Blogland is sure partying this week!

~Lasagna~

Lasagna is something I don't make often, but when I do, it's never the same recipe. This time I decided to try these whole grain noodles. Have you tried them? They're good. Lasagna is always sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese.......

And sometimes I'll add in vegetables. This time I added a box of frozen spinach. Now you probably couldn't get away with this if you have kids. You'd have to use way less spinach and chop it into little bits to hide it, but that might not work either. I also added mushrooms and a few nice peppers from our garden last year that were frozen and sometimes I add grated carrots or zucchini.

I used lean ground turkey and Bill didn't even know. He prefers ground beef...oh well...you gotta think healthy once in a while.


The noodles were the kind you don't need to boil. It was my first time using them and was definitely lots quicker and they tasted great too. I've heard that the no cook kind can be gummy, but these weren't.

Here it is. It was so good with a salad!

So, what's in your lasagna recipe? Home made sauce? I use jarred sauce! Do you prefer ricotta cheese or cottage cheese? Provolone or mozzarella? What do you think of the no cook noodles?

Do you make different variations, like chicken or vegetable lasagna or seafood lasagna? My friend makes an awesome seafood lasagna, but it is SO rich with cheese and creamy sauce!

Share your recipes Please!

There's still time to get in the GiveAway, it ends on Thursday night so click HERE.

~Ultimate Blog Party~

I'm participating in the Ultimate Blog Party. Check out all the COOL prizes that YOU could win!

I'd sure like to win a $30 Christian book Distributors gift cert. from A High and Noble Calling
A Carrabbas gift cert. from The Divine Miss Mommy
Blog makeover from Southern Girl Blog Designs
or #123, 91 or 58. Or, 22, 19 or any other gift certificate.
IT's the biggest blog bash ever, so get on over there. Janice and Susan, identical twins run this lovely blog for Moms and everyone else. It's a friendly site where all are welcome. They promote all things MOM, Mom business and web sites and give us this opportunity to meet many more bloggers.

Don't miss my little Giveaway one post below. If this is your first visit here, Welcome! I'm happy you're visiting.

~GiveAway Time~

In honor of the first day of Spring, the 2nd anniversary and the 300th post of my blog, I'm having a GiveAway as a thank you to all my visitors.
Remember the wire cloche.......well, I'm giving one away. It's about 12" tall and 8" wide and features a Paris tag with a cute green ribbon. It's perfect for Spring decorating, covering a nest, eggs or little birds. In Fall, it could cover pears, pine cones or you could use it anytime to showcase precious mementos .......the possibilities are endless. A few small clothes pins are included to clip on notes, business cards or recipes.


A pear tassel is the 2nd part of the GiveAway. This baby is about 12'' long not including the hanging ribbon. It's got a cute little fleur de lis attached and is in colors of green, burgandy, gold with cream colored fringe.



*There will be TWO winners. The first winner will choose the tassel or the cloche. The 2nd winner will get what's left.

*To enter, all you need to do, is comment that you are following my blog in a reader. Just look in the right sidebar where it says, I'd love to see your name here too and click follow. That's it! Easy as pie!

*The GiveAway will end on Thursday, the 26th @ midnight. Saturday the winners will be announced.

Good Luck!
Continental USA only

This post is also on Hooked On Fridays over at Julia's, Hooked On Houses. I'm hooked on Spring! Yeah

~Spring Fluff~

I've added this post to the Spring Fling over at The Decorating Voice. You can show off your decorating and might just win a fabulous gift.



Welcome to SPRING FLUFF here at the BUNGALOW! Come on in.

The front door greets you with a basket of pretty faux spring flowers. It's one I've had for years. Every year some mama bird builds a nest in it and makes such a mess but that's part of the rebirth of spring.
Just inside the door are bunnies, eggs and nests with black and lime green. I love that combination. The bunny urn was black and got fluffed up with white spray paint yesterday.
A touch of purple in the nest along with bits of paper and twigs.

A zebra plate from TJMaxx is a touch of whimsy!

Some reindeer moss would've been a nice touch....maybe next year I'll find some.

With the arrival of Spring comes Easter. The colors of Easter are symbolic of the events surrounding the Resurrection. Green symbolizes the palm fronds. Red is the symbol of blood and pain. Purple is the symbol of royalty and suffering and is draped around crosses during Lent. On Good Friday, the purple cloth is replaced with black, the symbol of sin and death. White, representing purity, transforms the cross on Easter morning. The black color of sin is replaced by white, signifying the passage from darkness to light.

Eggs represent birth and that's why we dye them such pretty colors....I think.

Another vignette on a silver tray in the LR.

I found the little nest sign and the nest at a yardsale last year.

Lime green wreath and bunny sign in the DR....... The dark red DR, which is about to receive a lift from a lighter color.

More nests, eggs and white urns on the DR table.

Welcome Spring, you couldn't get here fast enough!

Hop on back to Rhoda's for more Spring Fluff.


Friday I'll be announcing a Spring Giveaway! Don't forget!