Egg Decorating

It has been years and years since I have colored eggs for Easter. You know, the basic dunk and dye with perhaps some crayon resist techniques. This year I saw a class offered on Ukrainian Egg Decorating and decided to register. The pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) I have seen were beautiful, colorful, and detailed. It looked like a challenging skill to acquire.

Luckily, the process itself is not hard per se - just time consuming and a bit messy. It also helps to have a steady hand, which I do not. The process is a wax-resist so hot wax and fire (candle) are involved. I found it interesting that pysanka (singular of pysanky) is from the verb pysaty which is "to write". The decorating method is considered writing with beeswax on the egg.

Although my first attempt took me a couple hours, I can see myself getting hooked on it [as if I need another hobby]. I have ordered some supplies to make more on my own. It may become my annual Easter tradition to break out the supplies and make one (or more, if time permits).

We were told in class that in the old days only the women decorated the eggs (and no one else was allowed to peek) and did it together in groups, usually at night after the children went to bed. Decorated eggs were given to women who wanted children, put in water troughs to ensure the animals reproduced, given to protect a house from fire or carried around a house after a blaze was started to help stop the spread of flames or egg shells were thrown into a fire to help extinguish it, and hung from fruit tree branches in the spring to bring a good harvest...and many other uses in traditional rites. There is much symbolism in the designs and colors used. Obviously, pysanky were very important and so when Christianity was spreading, the missionaries incorporated them into Christian beliefs.

It is all quite fascinating to me.

Anyway, below are photos of my first pysanka. It's my own free hand design and I went with the earth tone colors.

Book & Paper Arts Class Projects

French link stitch. It's hard to see the stitching because of the design on the ribbon I used. You can click on the photo for a much larger image with a better view of the stitch.

Abecedarium (ABC...Z book) - collaborative accordian pocket book by whole class. We each did 2 or 3 letters of the alphabet and made pages that fit into the pockets. I haven't made the book covers yet...still deciding on design.

I did 3 pages: K, R

and T (two-sided page with removable ticket). Rather fun to make since the pages are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - the same as ATCs (artist trading cards).

Long stitch box book (use any box: cake, mac & cheese, playing cards, etc). I used an old Swedish playing cards box. I also did some over-stitching to make it look fancy.

The last group of photos are marbleized paper. I tried various colors and design styles. Unfortunately, I didn't put enough alum on my paper so some of the colors washed off and aren't as vibrant as the paints were. As example, the 2nd photo has some pink color - that was bright red before the rinse stage. Oh well.

A Snow-filled February

We have received some major snow storms with record snowfalls - may break the record for the amount of snowfall in February. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the month with a big storm coming the exhaust blower on our furnace seized up and the part had to be ordered. We were without a furnace for 3 1/2 days. Luckily, we have space heaters and a gas fireplace (more decorative than for heat). Lia was not shy about being where the warmth was...in front of the fireplace or in front of the space heater.

We survived the furnace-less snowy weekend and still had our Super Bowl party. Our basement is finished and has an electric baseboard heater that kept our guests warm.
The above photo is our deck earlier in the month. We got another couple of inches after this was taken. The weather did warm up for a couple of days and a lot of the snow melted. I didn't get a photo of the snow at its maximum accumulation.

House and Cats

This is our family room with a fireplace and built in bookcases on both sides of the fireplace. We purchased matching recliner chairs for this room ("his" and "hers").


Surprisingly, the cats will sleep together on this chair...my chair. Until now, they did not sleep next to each other. I think the stress of the move, the cooler house temperature, and no couch makes them more willing to share space and warmth.


The family room windows have some strange blinds. Since the left half is a door that opens onto the deck, the shade on the right is not centered plus they do not cover the whole window. Which allows the cats to keep an eye on the backyard while the blind is "down". Each blind has 4 strings to open them....

because they are "decorative" when up. We inherited them from the previous owners. I hated them at first but I am adapting and they are growing on me. It's not in the budget to replace them any time soon so that is part of their "charm". :)

Grady absolutely loves the bay window and has claimed it as his. Lia will get up there once in a while but won't stay if Grady is there. I moved a kitty bed there and the first couple nights...and days...Grady was ALWAYS in the window. It is a bit drafty and colder now so he has opted for other places.

In front of the fireplace is a very warm alternative location.

Faux Real opens at the Thirsty Ear

photo (l-r): Mary Dysert, Amy Riley, Amy Tibbals, Lou Ann Racher, Shelley Johnson

Our improv troupe, Faux Real, opened for Parlor Tricks, Shimmy Shake Project, and Fake Bacon last night at the Thirsty Ear in Grandview. After a delayed start because of the sound equipment and a false start with the alphabet game (okay, I forgot which game it was and used a different "alphabet" that has a lot of Y's), we did our set and got some laughs. It was great to meet the other troupes, watch them perform, and laugh so much. Good times!!

Star Wars in Concert

Earlier this month John and I attend Star Wars in Concert at Nationwide Arena. It is a concert where a live orchestra and chorus perform music (composed by John Williams) from the six Star War films while a HUGE LED screen is displaying clips of the films. The show was hosted by Anthony Daniels, who was C-3PO in the films. He did quote on of his own lines in C-3PO's voice while showing his gold vest (his character was a gold-colored android). It was a fabulous concert! There were props from the films at different locations around the arena too. Those who attend our wedding reception know we entered to the theme of Star Wars (yes, we are geeks!).

Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) on the big screen as he is introducing the next segment.

A blurry view of how the films scenes were playing above the large orchestra and chorus.

A frozen Hans Solo prop from the films. I was so crushed as a teenager when the "2nd" film ended with Hans in this condition. He was my favorite character (ok, I had a crush on him). I still have the bubble gum trading card of Hans Solo.


Me in a perilous situation (with a smile on my face).

A Sneak Peek at the House

Since I have finally downloaded photos from the camera to the computer, I am going to post some views of our house. I realized I have not taken very many and not any "Before" photos. Oh well. We have started moving over boxes and small furniture. We are pricing moving companies to move the large furniture next month.

This is the view through the master bedroom window...obviously, taken before all the leaves fell off the trees.

The dining room after we finished painting it. The photo was taken from the kitchen doorway and there is a door to the left that goes into the entryway.

Here is our kitchen which became our main place for everything - tools, papers, etc. Through the doorway (where the black stepladder is) is my studio which is the smallest room in the house. But is it mine with a door to keep out two curious cats.

This is the view of our backyard and beyond from our deck.