Easter's Pink Tablecloth and Napkins

I could hear my mother's, my grandmother's, and my great-grandmother's voices in my mind as I dropped the linen napkins and tablecloth into the pink dye bath. "Thank you," they said. "Thank you for using our things and not letting them sit idle in a closet. And thank you for being brave enough to try and change them and make them your own."

Changing something like old linens is not without risk. Colors could streak. Stains could look more pronounced. The dye might take unevenly. It does take some courage to experiment, especially with a much loved item entrusted to me by a previous generation of family. I reminded myself that these family linens would not become any prettier in the dark of a closet. I might never use them in their original white rendition. So it was worth a gamble, I thought. (The post where I talked about plans to dye a white tablecloth and stack of napkins can be found here.)

I will say that I did everything I knew to do to ensure a good outcome. I used liquid dye instead of powder. I added the salt and detergent recommended on the label of the dye bottle. And I allowed the linens to agitate in the dye for the full amount of time. I also rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed the linens. Initially, the pink was more intense than I'd hoped. Rinsing in hot water repeatedly brought the hue down to something closer to what I envisioned.

I'm very pleased with the results. The color took well, uniformly. I would try this again with other linens, should I have a vision in my mind for making an old thing "new." One of the bonuses -- there were a few faint stains on the original tablecloth. Dyeing it seemed to make those stains less noticeable. Of course, YMMV, should you try to dye handed-down linens.

March's skill-refresh serving me well in April: cook and prep once to use in multiple meals throughout the week

April is nearly half over already. It seems like just the other day I was finishing up my month of cooking every night. If you remember, one of my gifts for my two daughters' birthday was to take over their cooking nights for the month of March. While I did this as a gift to them,. it was hugely beneficial for me, as well.

I really worked on my efficiency during March. I doubled up meals and meal components wherever I could. I planned ahead a week at a time. And I made good use of any leftovers that I hadn't planned on.

So, you may be wondering if I'm carrying any of what I worked on forward into April. Well, yes, I am! Last week I was cooking just for us three ladies at home. (My husband got back yesterday. He had a wonderful time with family.) I worked at not making extra work for myself for the whole week. One of the benefits of cooking for 3 women is we don't eat all that much. What I would ordinarily cook for the family of 4 seemed to last for 2 meals for 3 of us, with very little extra work. I only had full cooking last week on two evenings. My daughters each took a night. And last night we did a super simple hot dog cookout.

Now this week, I'm back to cooking for 4 every night. And throughout the week, I'm adding in bits of cooking for Easter dinner for 7. So I've been utilizing the skills I refreshed in March. 

This morning I baked the carrot cake cupcakes for Easter dinner. I frozen the unfrosted cupcakes in a doubled zip lock bag and will thaw and frost them on Saturday. While I was grating carrots in the food processor anyway for the cupcakes, I grated a few extras. Some of the extra grated carrot became a carrot-raisin salad for one at lunch today. More of the grated carrot went into tonight's tossed salad of lettuce, celery, and avocado. And the rest of the grated carrot is waiting for tomorrow's dinner, to be made into a carrot-raisin salad for the family. One chore of grating carrots will serve multiple purposes.

When I was searching the freezer for meat to cook for dinner tonight, I particularly was looking for a larger cut of beef, so there would be leftovers for a couple of nights. I pot-roasted a large chuck roast. I also baked the last of the russet potatoes (going wrinkly and need using anyway), and roasted two large parsnips. I also baked a rhubarb pie to serve as tonight's dessert as well as tomorrow's. But I unintentionally cut too much rhubarb. So I turned the rest of the rhubarb into rhubarb sauce (like applesauce in texture) to be added to Thursday's dinner. (Wednesday's dinner will be quasi-special -- my birthday. My husband's birthday is next week, so we'll do a big shared celebration later in the month. Anyway, no cooking on my part on Wednesday.)

For tomorrow's dinner, we now have leftover cooked beef, gravy, baked potatoes, and parsnips to go with that above-mentioned carrot-raisin salad. Dinner should be a breeze to throw together tomorrow. That will give me extra time in the day to work in the garden and to clean the dining room and powder room. I'll have some beef and gravy leftover after tomorrow's dinner. The rest will go into the freezer as the start of a beefy soup for lunch on Saturday. 

Working efficiently takes mental energy. I don't particularly enjoy meal-planning or work planning. But in the long run, it saves time and physical energy while producing meals for my family.