April 20th, 2007 - Quiet lately…
because I’ve been so busy at work! Mainly, it’s because last week, I was out for half a day because Eric was sick then two days for the Board of Regents. This week, I was out another day for Eric then Monday and Tuesday I’m gone for a conference. It’s really unusual for me to be gone this much so I feel very backed up at work and a bit stressed. Here’s a tiny update:
* For Easter, I tried to dye eggs using homemade dyes. I had cranberries for red and oranges for yellow. I followed directions from Whole Foods that had you simmer them for 30 minutes. The water was a lovely color, but it didn’t dye the eggs! The cranberry dye gave a sickly dark olive coating to the egg (I left it in for about 30 minutes since the usual short dip did nothing at all). I scraped most of it off, then wondered what would happen if I let it dry. It stuck! But it was such an icky color. The carrot turned the egg a lighter sickly olive color and I gave up sooner. I colored the other 6 eggs with a crayon, which was actually quite fun! Next year, I’ll try the directions in my Annie Berthold book, which has you cook the dye for 4 hours. I also tried the dye for coloring homemade playdo. I did get faint colors and ended up using regular food dye instead. Then I used the cooked cranberries and carrots to make fruit bread!
* Last night, Maggie and I put together the firebowl and bench I bought at the end of the season last year. Maggie had to go to bed before we started the fire (she wasn’t happy about that–she didn’t know we were going to make a fire since she doesn’t know what one is, but it was the first time she’d played outside this year and going inside was NOT fun). Eric and I sat in the yard with the dogs for about 90 minutes enjoying our first fire. Now we need to buy some more firewood and I need to saw up the tree branches I saved last summer.
* Exercise without electricity: Oh, yes, I know the BEST way to do this is to exercise outside using just the natural environment. But I’m talking about using my university’s strength and conditioning center. Anyway, one day last week, I was the only person in there so I didn’t turn on the TV and I used the one machine that is self-powered! I was so excited to find that out. I wonder if we can buy one ourselves? (It’s an elliptical trainer, which Eric has wanted to have since using one for knee rehab a few years ago.) The Precor website doesn’t list it for home products, but that brand is VERY expensive ($2800+) so we’ll probably look for something more in the $1000-range.
April 23rd, 2007 at 9:29 am EDT
I couldn’t help notice your comment about the Precor. I actually sell used commercial Precor’s at a more reasonable price. The least expensive self powered version I have available at $2000. If you are interested please email me and I can send you some pictures and more information. If you don’t necessarily need/want self powered and you still like the machine itself there are lesser expensive versions starting at $1500. But I think the fact that it didn’t use electricity was your point. Don’t know where in the country that you are located, but I think yesterday was the most beautiful Earth Day I’ve ever seen. But then again everyday is Earth’s day that I just get the choice to enjoy it and make the most of it. Best of luck to you and your family. In Good Health, Jessica