Mini Verse Make It Mini Spring Deviled Eggs Bring a Small Easter Surprise

The Mini Verse Make It Mini Spring set with deviled eggs was the small Easter surprise I’d been hoping to find. It turned up after a difficult stretch of health worries, caregiving and car trouble, which made opening that one last ball feel especially sweet.

A stressful stretch before Easter

I’ve been dealing with fluttering heartbeats and higher blood pressure than usual. The swoony spells I had a couple of months ago have stopped, but my doctor ordered a carotid artery ultrasound and an echocardiogram, along with a head CT scan. The first request for the scan was declined by my insurer over a reason my doctor says wasn’t what they had provided. My doctor resubmitted it, and the appointment has been rescheduled.

A few days ago, I found a large, dark lump below my knee. Since I hadn’t injured my leg, I worried it might be a clot and went to the emergency room. The staff said its location made a clot unlikely. When I mentioned tightness in my chest, though, they kept me for more checks: blood tests, a heart X-ray, an echocardiogram, oxygen and pulse readings, and other tests. Everything came back normal. My blood pressure was a little high, which the doctor said can happen in the emergency room. I’ll follow up with my doctor and still have the head scan ahead of me.

Where I spent the next few hours.

Stress and too little sleep may be part of the picture. Since Ken had strokes last July, I’ve rarely slept through the night. His left leg, arm and hand were affected, so he needs help with toileting. Kidney damage also means he urinates often, sometimes every hour or two. I’ve had days when I could barely stay awake.

Ken is improving, though. A couple of weeks ago, he spent two days in the hospital with a urinary tract infection. It was less serious than the previous one, and he’s now taking medicine intended to help him empty his bladder more fully and reduce the chance of another infection. The emergency room doctor said stress and lack of sleep could contribute to the heart flutters and blood pressure changes. I’ve had stress-related flutters before, including when my father lived with us while experiencing dementia. A cardiologist checked me then, and the overnight monitor showed nothing unusual.

Changes to family traditions

This Easter feels different. I used to put together baskets for my grown children, but Ivy now lives in another state and Emma lives in another town. We’re also managing on a limited income, so there’s less room in the budget for extras.

A recent car accident has added another expense. I was driving Ken to an appointment at the heart failure clinic because his blood pressure had been very low. Near the parking lot entrance, I signaled and began easing into the left lane. A large red Jeep came up quickly and struck our car. It continued down the street, bounced around and stopped sideways in the lane. The driver called for help, while I got Ken inside for his appointment.

I received a ticket for entering the lane, and the other driver says I hit him. The damage tells a difficult story: his passenger-side front tire was scuffed and there was a scratch below the passenger door. Our front fender was crumpled, the wheel rim bent, and something in the steering looked bent too. The fender pressed against the tire, so I had a garage pull it clear before I drove home. Now we have a deductible to cover, on top of the repair. I’m worried our insurer may drop us because we made a claim.

Finding the Spring set

For a while, the collectible hunt offered a welcome bright spot. I’d been looking for the Mini Verse Make It Mini Spring set, especially the version with deviled eggs. I’ve sometimes picked up Mini Brands display cases with sample toys still attached, but the only Spring display I’d seen was a tall one, about four feet high, fixed to an aisle endcap.

Ken, looking suspicious by the Spring display.

When Fuzz and I returned to the one store where I’d seen it, the display had vanished. I figured it was gone for good. Then we spotted a single Spring ball on the clearance shelf at the other end of the aisle. It had no clearance sticker, so Fuzz suggested we take it to the checkout and see what happened.

We finished shopping, and I was tired and in a hurry to get back to Ken. I’d forgotten the ball by the time we left. Fuzz had bought it for me. The receipt showed it hadn’t been discounted; perhaps it was simply the last one, moved from the display. I told him he could count it as my Mother’s Day gift.

There are four sets, so I wasn’t counting on getting the one I wanted. A glimpse through the ball looked promising.

Then the packaging showed deviled eggs. It was the set!

What’s inside the mini kitchen

The kit includes a two-piece table, tiny tongs, a mixing bowl and spoon, a chicken-shaped serving tray, and a container of halved boiled eggs. There’s also a little jar of “mayonnaise,” which holds the resin used to attach the pieces, plus “peppercorns” for the eggs’ eyes and little orange pieces that might be carrot or cheese for the beaks.

A bunny head clips onto something, though I haven’t worked out what. The directions could be clearer, too. They seem to start at the bottom of the page and work upward, which made the assembly sequence harder for me to follow.

The eggs have a nice tactile detail: the whites feel rubbery, while the yolks have a rougher surface. I’ll probably need tweezers to place the tiny faces, since the included tongs feel too small for my fingers. I may leave some eggs plain. Tammy World seems to think they’re fine that way.

Tammy World is wearing the Easter dress I made for her a few years ago. Her earlier Easter photo shoot is here.

For Easter dinner, I’m making curried eggs, as I’ve done for years, and sautéed Hosta shoots from our yard. We haven’t eaten the shoots for a few years because of a house fire and other disruptions, but there’s a good crop this season, and yesterday’s batch tasted good. Hostas are edible; their young shoots can be cut at four or five inches tall, and the plants can grow back and flower that same season. After a run of hard days, the tiny deviled eggs and a familiar spring meal feel like welcome pieces of normal life.