Shirley & the Space Lady

. . . and I’m thinking, as I skulk around thrift shops and yard sales, maybe our friend Katie is right: maybe we DO need an inter-vine-tion (or at least the Space Lady might!) . . . but they’re so pretty . . . Continue reading →

Well the snow is gone, at least the piles of it that came early and stayed late! and it’s April; St. Patrick’s day has passed and Easter is on the way. All-righty then! Now, the brown grass will soon be green, the winter winds will give way to the mild zephyrs of Spring carrying the spicy-sweet flavors of early flowers and warming earth . . . .

Hmmm . . . maybe my calendar is off.
I just came in from outdoors, where the sky, and nearly everything under it, is grey and the wind is nipping at your nose like it’s still March (which masqueraded as February this year). The snow has given way to cold rains, so that’s progress, I guess. Still . . .

Fairies and pixies and leprechauns ~ oh, my!
Shirley and the Space Lady had had enough of winter about a month ago when they happened upon a class in fairy gardening at Bennett’s, the local greenhouse. Continue reading →

And here’s Shirley’s even more colorful Easter nest made for her grandbabies and filled with lots of love ~

Beautiful!

You go, Shirley 😉

Happy Easter, everyone ~ welcome Spring!

See you next time!

Cherie & ‘becca (aka: Shirley & the SpaceLady)

(ps: got one you’d like to share? Leave a comment below or send us an image at ThoseGirls@Shirley-and-the-SpaceLady.com)

Know how every Easter you buy new baskets and that plastic grass to hold candy for your kiddies? Always thinking you will put them up and keep them for next year, and maybe you do, but then they get broken or lost or the new Easter rolls around and you can’t remember if they got broken or lost ~ or tossed in the throes of some I’m-gonna-get-this-house-organized-once-and-for-all! episode that you’d rather not remember just now . . . .

Well, here’s an idea we came up with recently that’s fun and easy and inexpensive, and which will do away with all that ~ and it will save you weeks of finding strands of plastic grass in the furniture, your kids’ clothes, your kids’ hair, your hair . . . .

Basic list of items you’ll need follows the video, along with a step-by-step how-to. Happy nest making!

to  make 1 large or 4-6 small nests

1 11oz pkg of Nestle butterscotch morsels
1 12oz pkg of dry chow mein noodles (I like China Boy brand from Target)
Easter candy to put in the nests! (used in the video: Reece’s peanut butter cups; Butterfinger golden eggs, Whopper malted milk eggs, Peeps, Lindt chocolate foil wrapped bugs, including 2 ladybugs! (hi mama!), and Twizzlers pull and peel candy)

1. put water in the bottom of a double boiler or a 4-6 quart saucepan and bring to boil.
2. shut the heat off under the water, then put entire package of morsels in the top pan of the double boiler or a slightly smaller metal or glass pan or bowl in the saucepan (be careful not to get water in the pan with the morsels or they will “seize” ~ if that does happen, a friend of mine says you can loosen them back up by adding a little milk)
3. morsels will begin to melt, while you open the chowmein noodles and put them in a big bowl
4. stir morsels (I use a butterknife for this) until completely melted (only takes a couple of minutes)
5. pour melted morsels into chow mein noodles and mix, coating noodles completely (3-5 minutes)
6. line the bowl(s) you’ll be making your nest(s) in with plastic wrap or similar food wrapping material
7. shape butterscotch noodles in the bowl into a nest (you’ll want to do this quickly while candy is still soft/warm)

• Hint: we first tried shaping the nest outside the bowl for the small nest but later discovered that shaping inside the bowl worked better for the nest forming and staying together.
• Hint: along those same lines, if the candy has cooled/hardened too  much to stick together well, you can sit the bowl over the still hot water to let the candy melt together a bit more, or if your bowl is glass or ceramic, you can place it in a 200 degree oven for 5 minutes or so ~
• Hint: additionally  (as you’ll see with the bigger nest in the video), you can melt a bit more butterscotch and paint the inside of the nest with the warm butterscotch on a rubber spatula to help strengthen the bond. (Incidentally, after we had successfully removed the large nest by lifting it at 4 points, I broke it by picking it up with my hands on either side (they don’t call me the SpaceLady for nothin’!), so my husband suggested I put it in the oven back in the bowl [which is ceramic] lined with parchment paper (DON’T use plastic wrap ~ I got room in my space cadet club, but you don’t want to join THAT way! ;-)). I did that (the oven bit, not the plastic wrap bit!)~ 200 degree oven, 10-15 minutes ~ worked like a charm!

8. let nest(s) sit for at least an hour or two (longer won’t hurt)
9. fill with and decorate with candies
10. be modest and humble when the children (small and tall) sing your praises . . .;-)

And drop us an email, if you get a chance and let us know how you “butterscotch-nested” with your own special flair this Easter! at ThoseGirls@Shirley-and-the-SpaceLady.com

Hope you had as much fun with this as we did ~ See you next time!

Cherie & ‘becca (aka: Shirley & the SpaceLady)