In case you haven't noticed...

...I have been away for a couple days. Which means this is the first time I haven't had an "Easter Special" for every weekday on my ESOTD thread :-( Sorry about that. I have excuses I swear! You see, I have been traveling around a little bit and have spent all of Sunday and half of Monday in a car with no internet access :-( When I was finally able to get to a computer in a hotel the electricity went out! Crazy huh? So here I am late at night on the computer I've been waiting for and very tired. I wanted to let you know that I'm still around. And that I will indeed be having an ESOTD by tomorrow. I will ALSO be having a new Easter thread. It will be on pictures of those luscious flowered crosses you see so much during Easter/Lent. You'll see it all within the next 24 hours. So keep your eyes open!

A nod to Saint Patrick

It's that time of the year again. The time when everyone who has .01% or more of Irish blood in them acts like pigment worship is is the same as being proud of one's culture.
Yeah, it's Saint Patrick's Day.
Now, how can one sum up Saint Patrick's Day in a picture (since I already did it in words)?
Let's try this:

Photo: zharth (the lunatic fringe)
There, I couldn't have done it better myself!

Now for all you folks that never look at your calender. Don't forget to wear a piece of clothing with at least a little bit of green in it. Something low key like a pair of socks or a four leaf clover pin outta do it.

Photo: Kevin Labianco (Columbia, MD USA)
I guess that works too.

Let's not forget about the fine side of Saint Patrick's Day.

Yes, indeed! Green beer. The drink that no one actually wants but must accept since the bartender didn't offer normal beer that actually looks appetizing. Of course you are too polite to return it so you will justify it with yourself that you are simply in a festive "Irish" mood that day.

Probably the best thing about Saint Patrick's Day is...

...that little green leprechaun that comes around carrying that big pot of gold.

So maybe he is a little creepy and has a weird grin on his face no matter what the situation. And maybe you see him even when it's not St. Patrick's Day. And maybe the few times you have pointed him out you found out that no one else has that awesome ability to see into the 4th dimension and see the little bastard. All that doesn't matter dammit! Because on this day of the year (and this day only) he actually fits in with reality.


HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

A proper Easter home

I love the way Kristen (from Atlanta, GA) decorates her fireplace area for Easter. Great colors and choices:

"Hobby Lobby to the rescue!"

"I picked up the adorable bunnies and all the fixins for the floral arrangement. I think it turned out pretty cute!"


A close up shot of the hand painted blown eggs.

Adorable.

Kristen herself made the egg garland.

"They are real eggs I blew and hand painted. The Garland is made with grosgrain ribbon. "

You can make garland out of real eggs? Learn something every day!

Here's something that's not in the mantle picture.

She has so many creative ways of showing off her Easter egg masterpieces.

Peeps! A Rhyming Story

Here's a riddle for ya: What's gooey, comes in sets of 5-15, and seems like a good idea until you try to finish the whole package? That's right, Peeps! (Good job, you can read the title).

So other than the obvious connection between Peeps and Easter why have they been brought up?

Well I have a little story about Peeps. It involves crazy colors, hardworking elves and a clever queen. Oh, and unforgiving customers. Now lets begin!

One queen and 12 tireless elves worked all day and night to make a special type of Easter candy. Something that all people will like. After trying all types of bases (chocolate, rock candy, pixie dust) the queen used her smarts to rule that marshmallows shall be the sweets to be used.
The curious elves wondered aloud what the color should be?
To which the queen replied,
"What goes better with marshmallow than...

Photo: katiescrapbooklady (flickr.com)
...yellow?!"

So yellow, it was!
Until the next Easter when the elves and queen wanted to put out something new for their loyal customers.

They wondered what the people would think of...

Photo: katiescrapbooklady (flickr.com)
...Pink!?

The people ran to get to the new pink Peep.
Of course, that didn't change the fact that after another Easter the elves found people again less interested with pink. They no longer ran to the stores but instead crawled as though in no hurry at all! And even though the hardworking elves started to think that the people had a pink kink in their think, they knew they had to be pleased.

So to make the people go faster than a hirble, they decided to try...

Photo: katiescrapbooklady (flickr.com)
...purple!

And yet, even though the first Easter with purple went superbly, a few people still wanted something different.

So again the elves tried something new and used the color...

Photo: katiescrapbooklady (flickr.com)
...blue!

The people loved the new shade and the elves started to think them easy to persuade.

So next Easter, one little elf named Poco decided to try a new flavor he called...

Photo: Jennifer Snyder (Hyattsville, MD USA)
...cocoa!

But wouldn't you know, it made the people loco!
The elves almost started to give out Norcos!

With the people so mean, it made the elves go to their queen,
"Do you see how this was unforeseen?!
We tried all shades of our machine.
Only once did we change the routine,
this made the people not keen!"
The queen thought long and hard about this while looking at her computer screen,
where before the elves had disrupted her she was reading about a giant string bean.
Then it hit her like a jolt of caffeine!
"Get rid of the cocoa bean, our answer is making the Peeps...

Photo: fauxto_digit (flickr.com)
...green!"


The elves did as she asked.
And all the people and elves in Peepsville were happy that there were so many colors and flavors to choose from...

Photo: Jason Meredith (Loiusville, KY (USA)
...except for the dreaded cocoa bean.



P.S. There are also orange Peeps.

But nothing rhymes with orange so they weren't in the story :-D

Nontraditional Easter Eggs!

Easter eggs were always my favorite part of Easter. I loved the excessively vibrant colors you could turn them into. I still think of them whenever I smell vinegar.

But why only use solid colors? Sure it's traditional, easier and overall better looking but there are so many other ways to f<%* up an egg. You just need to invest a little more time. (Total time for typical dyed egg - 1 minute)

You can do something like...

Photo: ihearthim (flickr.com)
...paint on a word that will confuse others.
Remember, it doesn't have to be a real word.
*Example above - Huske*
(Total Egg Time -3 minutes)

Sick of using nail polish on your nails?

Photo: rbatina (flickr.com)
Then use it on your eggs!
The maker says, "A somewhat failed attempt at coloring Easter eggs with a combination of enamel model paint and nail polish."
(Total Egg Time, including nail polish drying time - 30 minutes)

Turn mistakes into art by...

Photo: tobyx (flickr.com)
...saying things like, "Yeah, I did that to give it a 'swirly' look. Smooth and flawless is sooo boring."
(Total Egg Time - 30 seconds)

Do all these things take too much time for you?
How about...

Photo: Alan (Belfast Ireland, UK)
...some random designs!
Takes no time at all.
(Total Egg Time, Including the thought process - 10 seconds)

What's the matter? Still want the traditional dyed egg but something with a little more zazz?

How's about slapping some star stickers on that thar' egg?
(Total Time - 1.47 minutes)

So, next time you start painting Easter eggs with your youngins, think of all the creative things you can accomplish!

Easter Special Of The Day Thread (ESOTD)

Another one of my "Special Whatever Of The Day Thread". Since I'm now focusing on Easter this thread will be all about Easter celebrations. You know: bunnies, eggs, plastic grass and whatnot. Just like before I'll update the thread every day and will stick the photo of the picture for the day in the upper left-hand corner of the website (see where the tiny cupcake picture is now?). Then you can clickity-click on said picture and be directed back to this thread. To see and read about the Easter special for the day. Fun huh! Let's begin with the ESOTDs (Understand the letters? It's the initials for Easter Special Of The Day. Then I pluralized it. Oh, you did get it. Fine then.)

Crazy Easter Eggs
Creator: Ashleigh5272001 (flickr.com)
Place: New Albany, IN (USA)
ESOTD: 3/24/10

I admit, it almost looks like these eggs may be better suited for something a little more Halloweeny. But Easter eggs they are so on my Easter Special Thread they shall be!
Here's a fun little game, try to figure out if that egg on the left is supposed to be Frankenstein or Dick Tracy.

Girl Bunny
Photographer: Talese
Place: The US of A
ESOTD: 3/19/10

I think it's important to dress up during every holiday. It's good for the psyche to be "one" with the holidays by dressing up as one of the well known figures (Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, ghouls, etc).
I for one have been seen wearing bunny ears at the local grocery store. No, not Easter yet but it's good to be ready.

Lenten Cross
Photographer: Avondale Pattillo United Methodist Church Place: Decatur, GA (USA) ESOTD: 3/18/10

Having attended a Catholic school I still remember Lent as the time we made those mini crosses out of palm leaves. It was fun in a crafty kind of way. Apparently, it is also custom to slowly decorate a plain wooden cross as lent progresses:
"On Ash Wednesday, the plain wooden cross is wrapped with thin branches and displayed in the Sanctuary. Then on the first Sunday of Lent, the "rugged" cross is draped with a violet cloth."
The final touch are the palm leaves which are added on...can you guess which day?? Palm Sunday!! Der de der. (For all your heathens out there, Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter Sunday).

Easter Horse-Bunny
Photographer: David
Place: Gainesville, FL (USA)
ESOTD: 3/17/10

All hail the Easter Horse Bunny!!
David says,"Good sport, though I'm not quite sure how he felt about wearing the pink ears."
He felt how any proud stallion would feel: AWESOME!

Quilted Eggs
Creator: Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen
Place: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
ESOTD: 3/15&16/2010

These quilted little gems are so beautiful that I am going to extend my Easter Special of the day for two whole weekdays! That's right, not only will they be be the Easter special for Monday 3/15, but for Tuesday too! Wow! How freaking unreal is that?!?!

Spaz Easter Chick
Photographer: Rob Allegar
Place: Washington D.C....sortof
ESOTD: 3/12/10

A cute little chick on a pile of sticks. He's either spazzed out or having a bad hair day :-S
Happens to the best of us :-)

Adult Easter Basket Photographer: AnniePlace: Bostonish, MA (USA)ESOTD: 3/11/10
Annie says, "My mom always goes above and beyond the call of duty with gift occasions. I know for most 28 year olds Easter is no longer a gift-giving occasion. But my basket was fantastic! It was filled with supplies for my baking, quilting and decorating. All kinds of good stuff!" I want an adult Easter basket :-(




Mr. Easter Bunny! Photographer: Greg & Juliet PoolPlace: Carmel Valley, CA (USA)ESOTD: 3/10/10

"The Easter Bunny makes a special appearance at the park in Carmel Valley Village, for a great big egg hunt in the grass." - Juliet Pool
Wow, a sighting of the big man...or er...bunny himself.
What I wouldn't give to shake his paw.

An Egg In A Tree
Photographer: Tobias Horvath
Place: Berlin, Germany
ESOTD: 3/9/10

A shot of some fake Easter eggs in a random tree in Berlin.
Those eggs remind me of the Easter eggs my Lithuanian grandma used to have around her house. They have a more "European" or "East European" feel to the way they were painted.

Easter Centerpiece
Creator: Denise Wells
Place: Yankton, South Dakota (USA)
ESOTD: 3/8/10

Denise says, "I decorated my Tealight Tree with Easter Eggs, Flowers and Ribbon. Then put glass bowls filled with candy where the tealight platforms are. It's nice for any Easter Party."
I say, "It shouts spring!"




Stuffed Candy
Photographer: Ryan Alexander
Place: San Fransisco, CA (USA)
ESOTD: 3/5/10

Ryan says, "Here is some candy my mom sent me. Thanks mom!"
Is there candy inside the stuffed animals? I'm thoroughly confused.
Still, I love the face on the dog in the rabbit suit.




Easter Goodies!
Photographer: Denise Cortez
Place: San Ysidro CA - Tijuana MX, USA
ESOTD: 3/4/10

Denise says, "Here are some goodies from Scarlett's (her daughter) Easter basket."
Since Denise is somehow living in America AND Mexico at the same time she would also like to translate for my Spanish literate readers:
"Estas son algunas de las cositas que Scarlett resivio en su canastita."
Hum...well I don't know Spanish, but I'm pretty sure she's talking about the rest of us English speaking only folks.
Or maybe she just repeated what she said earlier about her daughter's basket.
We may never know :-(





Gianduja Easter Eggs

Photographer: Jacq!

Place: Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

ESOTD: 3/3/10

Jacq! (I wish my name had punctuation in it...) says, "These painted eggs are made from real eggshells filled with delicious Gianduja hazelnut chocolate."
Yummm, sounds delightful. I want one!
"They cost $6.50 each."
Gulp! Whether that's in Australian or American money, anything more than a 50 pence is a bit steep.

Pascha Ornaments
Photographer: Bill Rogers
Place: Tampa, FL (USA)
ESOTD: 3/2/10

I get the bunny and the egg, but I'm lost with the angelic boy-girl king-queen.
Let me do a quick internet search.
Ok, apparently the statue is a boy. Actually it's Jesus as a boy. Typically referred to as the Santo Niño de Atocha he's the, "Roman Catholic depiction of the Child Jesus and is popular in the Hispanic cultures of Spain, Mexico, Philippines and the southwestern United States, especially New Mexico." (Wikipedia.org)
Can you believe I attended a Catholic school where half the students were Hispanic?

Easter Cupcakes
Creator: Carmen Rose
Place: Virginia, USA
ESOTD: 3/1/10

Now this is what Easter is all about! Bunnies, eggs, bright colors, sprinkles and a butt load of frosting. Oh boy, oh boy! What a spartacular way to start off my ESOTD Thread :-)