Just a Steel Town Girl on a Saturday Night

While working on punching up my bio for some craft show applications, the song Maniac (from Flashdance) kept playing in my head, so I had to rework the lyrics to create a crafty version and hope my readers will appreciate it:

Just a steel town girl on a summer night
Looking for the craft of her life
In the real time world no one sees her at all
They all say she's crazy

Locking rhythms to the beat of her tools
Changing movement into her art
She has crafted into the danger zone
When the crafter becomes the craft.

She's a maniac on the floor
And she's crafting like she's never crafted before
She's a maniac maniac on the floor
And she's crafting like she's never crafted before

The original lyrics can be found here.

Preserving a bit of early summer in a jar

When I was quite young, my Gram planted a strawberry patch simply because I loved them. Over the years, the patch grew and produced more berries than we could eat fresh, so Gram began making freezer jam and freezing bags of sliced, sugared berries that could be thawed for strawberry shortcakes or topping ice cream even in the middle of winter. With strawberries in season, my boys and I enjoyed the annual Strawberry Festival at Triple B Farms this past weekend. We enjoyed a breakfast of strawberry pancakes and bought strawberries to bring home. Today, faced with the fact that we'd eaten all we could before they got to the point of being overly ripe, we decided to preserve our own small bit of early summer in jars. Sadly, these five jars won't last long once they start having peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches or jam on toast so we'll be making more early next week. Fortunately, freezer jam is quite easy to make.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
2 cups crushed strawberries (we use a potato masher)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 cups sugar
(1) 1.75 oz. pkg. fruit pectin
3/4 cup water

1. Combine fruit and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add sugar, mix thoroughly. Let stand 10 minutes.
2. Combine fruit pectin and water in a small saucepan. Bring water to a rolling boil and boil, while stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Add cooked pectin to fruit mixture. Stir for 3 minutes.
4. Ladle jam into jars (I save ones we've emptied over the year, then clean, & sterilize them) , leaving 1/2 inch head space. Apply caps and let jam stand in refrigerator until set, but no more than 24 hours. Serve immediately, refrigerate up to 3 weeks, or freeze up to 1 year.

Come Visit Me at the I Made It! Cozy Market Today

Curious about what I've been making lately? In the Pittsburgh area and just want to stop by and say hello or purchase unique handcrafted goods from talented artisans?

I'll be at the I Made It! Cozy at the American Jewish Museum SUNDAY, June 7 from 2 - 6 pm. Enter the JCC on Darlington Road (near Forbes Ave.)

40+ local craftspeople come together to celebrate the American Jewish Museum's current exhibit, Nests, and to offer crafty objects for your own nest. Artist Anna Divinsky examines birds' nests as a metaphor for Jewish immigrants finding and building new homes in the United States. She is creating a larger-than-life nest installation in the museum and leading workshops with people of different age groups from diverse communities, exploring memories of leaving home and building a new life. During I Made It! Cozy, Ms. Divinsky will give demonstrations about her techniques and conduct workshops with visitors.

I Made It! vendors will be contributing handmade items to be auctioned off with proceeds benefiting the American Jewish Museum.

To learn more about the AJM and Anna Divinsky's exhibition, visit the AJM's website.To learn about some of the IMI vendors participating in this market, visit the IMI blog.

In July, I can also be found vending on the South Side as I Made It! Market joins the South Side Works' EXPOSED ARTIST'S MARKET

July 10, 5 - 10 pm July 11, 2 - 10 pm July 12, 2 - 6 pm

Spend an afternoon and stay into the evening...wander through the artist's market to find fine arts and unique one-of-a-kind goods, stay and dine in the South Side Works or enjoy festival foods from local vendors. Check out the sidewalk sales and enjoy the lineup of live musicians.
Vendors: Apply Here

Travel Blog: Long Overdue Final Entry

As usual, I had the best of intentions to write blog posts on a daily basis once I returned from vacation, but as you can see in the gap between this entry and the prior one, I'm lagging a bit behind on my schedule.

For some reason, I simply can't seem to force myself to tackle chores I find to be monotonous without breaking them down into small, manageable chunks. Due to that fact, I only finished going through all my vacation photos last Friday, and am now finally getting back to the blog.

Tuesday, we headed to the Aquarium and got there just after they opened. The boys were so excited to be heading into the aquarium, they wouldn't even stand still long enough for me to get a good shot.

In the interest of finally finishing this series of posts, I'm going to just sum up the rest of the trip quickly here so I can move on to other topics and hope to soon post about some of my new art projects.

After the Aquarium, we visited the Fort Sumter museum then headed to the open air Market for unique shopping followed by lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp.

Wednesday was Jared's birthday, so after a morning at the beach we headed to visit the

Yorktown followed by an afternoon of me dragging Jared all over Charleston so I could take numerous shots of cemeteries and houses, and whatever else struck my fancy. I did, however, treat him to a birthday dinner at Poogan's Porch which is his favorite restaurant in Charleston, so hopefully he enjoyed his day at least a little.

Thursday we spent another morning at the beach followed by a trip into Charleston for lunch at 82 Queen (my favorite restaurant in Charleston). After lunch, we enjoyed a walk through a few more cemeteries and Julian enjoyed using his inherited digital camera (I gave him my old one after getting a new one for Christmas) while Jared & Kendall tried not to be too bored.

Friday, we spent the majority of the day driving to Williamsburg, VA which is a convenient halfway point on the way home and gave us a chance to spend the following day at Busch Gardens. The boys had a great time and even though rain was forecast for the day it held off until around dinner time so we were able to enjoy a full day at the park.

Kendall decided he was hot needed to stand where the Escape from Pompeii ride splashes down. He got cooled off in a hurry.

Travel Blog: Day Two - Two Boys and the Sea

Monday, April 27th, our first full day at the beach house, we spent the majority of the morning at the beach. I'd already finished my "beach book" , Twilight, before we even got to the beach, so I sat, camera in hand, watching the boys frolicking in the surf, and soaking up sunshine. Of all the simple pleasures in life, there are few I enjoy more than watching kids having fun, especially when the kids are mine. More pictures from the day can be seen on my Flickr page.

We couldn't have asked for nicer weather for the trip. Every day was sunny and the temperature was between 75-80. At the beach, the ocean breeze kept things so cool and comfortable, no one wanted to leave. Sadly, though, sunblock starting wearing off and the sun got stronger as it climbed higher in the sky, so we bid a fond farewell to the sea with the promise that we'd soon return and headed off for other adventures.

My in-laws took our boys to Angel Oak, nearby on John's Island. Angel Oak is a live oak tree and sprouted nearly 1,000 years before Columbus ever set foot on the soil of the New World. While it is indeed lovely and impressive, we've seen it several times so instead opted to head off in search of lunch and to pick up a few things we needed from the closest Target, most notably the book "New Dawn" for me.

On John's Island, close to Seabrook, at the site of the old tomato packing plant, stands Stono Market which features fresh, local, fruits and vegetables along with regional gifts. More importantly, it also houses the Tomato Shed Cafe, which serves inexpensive lunches featuring fresh, local ingredients served in home cooked style. I had a delicious tomato sandwich with bacon, lettuce, and onion added to it with a side salad of fresh greens and pickled beets. Jared opted for the pulled pork sandwich and for dessert we enjoyed a slice of fresh cinnamon bread topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh sugared strawberries. The strawberries were so delicious we bought a quart from the market to take back to the beach house with us.

Content, with stomaches full, and errands completed, we headed back to the beach house where we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and a dinner of grilled burgers and hot dogs, accompanied by fresh tomatoes and corn we'd picked up at a small farmer's market while we were out. Few foods are better than simple meals made from locally grown produce and the company of our family added extra flavor and joy to the meal.

Island Travels

It's been a while since my last blog entry as it seems that all my time for the past few weeks has either been devoted to preparing for our trip or to the trip itself.

As a Mom, I got the pleasure of locating everyone's summer clothes, washing said clothes, and packing for myself and our two young sons. This, in addition to making sure the house was clean and tidy before we left (one of many quirks I inherited from my mother). After preparing for vacation, I really needed one! My husband moans about having to lug suitcases to the car, pack the trunk, and drive all of us to our destination, but I think he has no idea just how easy he has it compared to all the behind the scenes work I put in just to make sure the trip can happen in the first place.

Every year we take a trip with my in-laws, even if it's just a long weekend, but most years we make the trek to Seabrook as it's my mother in-laws favorite spot, and for good reason.

We spent the first day driving to Mt. Airy, NC where we spent the night. The town holds the distinction of being Andy Griffith's hometown, but for us it's merely a convenient halfway point.

On the second day, after a brief stop at the Piggly Wiggly on John's Island for groceries, we arrived at the beach house my in-laws had rented for the week.

Although it's not an exotic remote tropical island, Seabrook is lovely and life on the island definitely follows a slower pace than much of the world outside. We spent our trip enjoying many trips to the beach, and exploring the surrounding area, including numerous trips into Charleston.

Favorite nearby locations include:

Rosebank Farms

Bohicket Marina

Kiawah Island

Rather than write one, long, lengthy post about the trip, I've decided to write a mini travel blog, with one entry per day for the time spent on the island. Stay tuned tomorrow for the first travel blog entry.

What to do with leftover Easter Eggs

Like so many other people, my boys and I colored Easter eggs this past weekend. My 10 year old drew designs on most of his eggs with crayon before dipping them in multiple different cups of color. Since we'd recently rented (and watched) the movie Bedtime Stories, many of his were based on characters from the movie.

I purchased 2 dozen eggs at the store on Thursday, thinking we'd color 12 and I'd have 12 left for baking. Somehow I knew, even at the time, that all 24 would likely end up boiled and colored. Julian had finished coloring the first dozen before his younger brother, Kendall, was even out of bed.

Once Kendall decided to join us, I had the second dozen eggs finished boiling so he could also color 12 (I must be fair and keep things even). His eggs took on a similar theme in keeping with his older brother's ideas. By the time they were finished, I had two dozen boiled, colored Easter eggs. There is a limit to how many hard boiled eggs we can eat. So, I was faced with the dilemma that faces so many others this time of year. What to do with all the leftover Easter eggs?


My personal favorite way to use the extra hard boiled eggs is to make egg salad, by chopping the egg and mixing it with mayonnaise and mustard until it looks right, then adding some chopped dill pickles to the mix. It makes delicious sandwiches.


For a slightly more fancy way to use some of the leftover eggs, you could also make deviled eggs:


Best Deviled Eggs (from my Southern Living Cookbook)

6 hard-cooked eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/8 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

Paprika



Slice eggs in half lengthwise, and carefully remove yolks. Mash yolks with mayonnaise. Add relish, mustard, salt, and pepper; stir well. Spoon yolk mixture into egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika. Yield: 6 servings

Enjoy! Feel free to comment with additional ideas about other ways to use leftover Easter eggs.

More pictures of our egg coloring adventures can be viewed on Flickr.