Staci Shuck

The Bandit Strikes Again!

It is the season of EGGS!!!!  (It's really the season for much more important things but...at the moment it's all about the EGGS!)  We do eat eggs at our house...some of us that is...others of us just make eggs or cook with them.  On occasion we color them, hide them and fill them.  No matter what we do with them we always seem to attract bandits!  You know...those ghosts who dip into the eggs, no matter what kind, snatch'em while we're not looking and then say..."where did all the eggs go????"  I thought this year might be different, or I should say I had HOPE that it would be different,  but alas, the "Pickled Egg Bandit" is among us.  He (we know who it is) has struck multiple times!  He's slowing down in his old age though as this year he's been caught in the act!  That hasn't stopped him though....The trail begins at the refrigerator and looks something like this...

It, (the drippage), continues across 5 feet of kitchen floor until it reaches the salt shaker on the countertop...then the drops disappear!!!  Down the hatch they must go in a big old purple gulp!  The drippage picks up on the bandits chin(not sharing that picture) and then "he" disappears!!!!
Who knew that these little purple eggs and beets could cause such a mess and a speckled floor!
And yes, there are only 5 eggs left of the original 30.  The bandit has been pretty busy in the last 24 hours!  Here's hoping the "bandit" doesn't strike at your house and that you have plenty of Pickled Eggs with your Easter Dinner!  It's a good think we are going OUT for dinner!!!!!

Happy Easter!

Staci

Happy New Year!

Good Morning 2012!
This is the view from the kitchen this morning...no "official" sun at this point, just a pink sky on the horizon and it's the first sunrise of 2012...at least in Central Pennsylvania!!!  Great way to start off the year!  I should have ventured outside for a better photo but instead shot this right through the screen on the kitchen window.  Tradition brings us together today as a family for our "good luck" pork and sauerkraut dinner.  It's a favorite get together in the family and a wonderful way to start off the year.  Special preparations mean getting up at the crack of dawn (or before in this case) to put the kraut and the pork in a slow cook roaster like this... OFFICIAL RED NESCO 18 QT roaster oven.....it's big, beautiful and holds enough for the entire family to feast this afternoon....and the sauerkraut smells wonderful already! I was glad to be working at the window filling this new roaster and get a glimpse on the start of the new year with this sunrise...finally the red sky turned into a bright sun, again through the window...this time the living room window...dirty window at that...but it commemorates the moment...first sunrise of 2012!

Lots of reflection in these few minutes..."changes"(the one little word from 2011) that have taken place in 2011 (and those still to come in 2012), thankfulness for all around me and appreciation.  It amazes me how much can go through your mind as you work and take time to think, relax, enjoy, live and "embrace" the moment!  Suddenly I realized...my word for 2012, which hadn't come to me yet...there it was..."embrace" - the moment, the changes, life, inspiration, family, the adventure and 2012!  May it be a blessed, creative, healthy 2012 for everyone!  Embrace every minute of it!  Happy New Year!

Just like my Nan used to make!

I'm actually starting to worry myself a bit with all I'm doing!  But I think it's a good worry and I know the things I'm doing, like "putting up", making Ham n' Green Beans and making Nan's (she was the bestest-and she liked the bestest wool store in the valley too) homemade vegetable soup... are being enjoyed and appreciated by the family!  So if cooking up some homemade vegetable soup...
just like Nan's, can conjure up comments from the family like "hmmm...that's the good kind too mom" and "mom that soup is great" it is all worth it!   The "big change" (which we'll talk about at a later date) has triggered and enabled me to actually enjoy this season! With that said...4 quart of soup is frozen with a little leftover for lunch tomorrow and there are enough veggies left to make another batch before the weekend is over!  It's pretty good stuff if I do say so myself!!!! 

No peaches today or tomatoes but I'm hoping the weekend will bring a few our way!  I can see that creative time light at the end of the tunnel!!!  Looking forward to attending Art On A Limb with Lisa Patterson, Cheryl Darrow and my good friend Laurie Hunt in a few weeks.  Check it out and join us!!!  You WON'T be dissappointed!!!  Miss Lisa was just named to the Authentique Design team too ...yeah Lisa!!!

That's all for now!  Hope to be back tomorrow!!!!  Happy Friday!

Things are changin'

and it's not just the season!!!!  Things are changin' around here and I am lovin' it!  There's lots going on but for now I'll start with today and a trip to the "valley"!  The BIG Valley that is!  Not sure how it became Big Valley but it's a wonderful valley.  I enjoy weekly trips during summer for dry goods, fresh produce and shopping at the flea markets!  It's full of farms, amish and mennonite families and businesses, antique shops, flea markets, livestock and fresh produce auctions and the bestest(I don't think that's a word but it really describes my feelings about this shop!) place to buy wool and felt for use in my felting machine... thank you dear friend Stephanie Ackerman for your encouragement and guidance (enabling me) in the purchase of this wonderful machine!!!!  My mind continues to spin with ideas for my felt and wool stash!  It IS THE BOMB!!!!  More on that in future posts though!

Back to the Valley...today's trip was a bit later in the day...around Noon (usually it's 6AM or so) so we missed the prime goodies but we managed to do pretty well.  It is the time, here in rural Pennsylvania anyway, for "putting up" for the winter!  You know...harvesting all the goodies from the garden that are plentiful and canning and freezing for meals through out the coming year????    It's something I've done since I was a small child helping my mom and grandmother.  Trust me when I say that I really DID NOT enjoy prepping for canning while I was doing it but now...I cherish those memories!  What a skill I learned at an early age.  I am thankful!  Tending garden was part of the tradition as well and even though we've had gardens in years past, we completely miss planting season this year.  We have NOTHING to harvest!  Thank goodness for neighbors, the local farmer's market and "the valley"!   Today's trip was about finding large quantities of these....
and some potatoes, onions and ham for what else....Ham and Green Beans!!! 4-Half Gallons frozen!  Yippee! There was even enough for dinner and to share with some special neighbors!  It was lots of snapping, washing, scrubbing, crying(silly onions), peeling and cooking but it tasted great and we've got food for winter!!!!  Next up...some sweet stuff!  Peaches...regular and WHITE PEACHES!!!!
The traditional orange colored(inside flesh) were not quite ripe but the white peaches(they're actually white flesh) were deeeee-licious! Outside coloring is the same just a little lighter.  The kids agreed...those were the favorite.  Next week...a bushel or so of those to freeze for fresh fruit in the coming year!  Picked up some red ripe tomatoes as well...and hope to try freezing them for marinara, taco, chili sauces and soups.  Local farmer's market tomorrow...will be checking it out for some celery, carrots, onions and peas for veggie soup!  Things are changin'(oops! there's my word of the year again!) around here and I'm liking it!  Hope you're enjoying some fresh market fair this season and are changin' things up a bit!

Secret...I figure if I "put some things up"  I'll have more time for some creativity!!!!  Keep the fingers crossed!

Happy rest of the week!

First Project of the New Year and...leftovers!!!!

Happy Monday!  Back to the grind today and all is well! 

Have you selected your  one word for 2011?  After some thought...I've settled on "CHANGE" as my word!  I'm not sure exactly of my definition  yet but...the word just feels right for me right now!  Soooo....here's to 2011 and the changes in my future!  Who knows how they will let my life evolve!

Have to share my first project for 2011!  I vowed to begin the new year creating...didn't know what I'd work on but was committed to spending time in my "CLEAN" workspace.  After getting things in order for the our traditional dinner on New Year's Day I sat down to create and bring in the New Year right.  I began about 10PM by settling into my clean space...(have I said my room is now clean?--just have to keep saying it...it's still clean too!) by organizing a little bit and then I grabbed the first thing that caught my eye...one of Donna Downey's  amazing kits I purchased from last year. Things started out okay and then I began to mix colors, add some sparkle and suddenly I rEEEEally didn't like it sooo...I cut more octagons and started again.  Straying a bit from the directions ( I think I've mentioned that I don't follwo directions very well!) and instead grabbing "things" from the newly organized bins in front of me to add and embellish the canvas.  Suddleny it was 3AM!!!!!!  I had NOOOOO idea time could fly by that quickly.  At that point I decided I had to continue because I needed to put pork and sauerkraut on at 5AM...chances of my going to bed and getting up at 5 were very slim sooo I continued to craft and ended up with this.... Used the stamps from the kit and the same color scheme but had to add some felt and some cut up packaging as well.  Went back later yesterday and added some other things but don't have it finished yet but it is well on the way and will hopefully be finished this week sometime.  Great start to 2011!

Have to share this too...I know you probably don't believe me when I say that New Year's Day dinner is our favorite meal but IT IS!!!  I cook 3 times the amount we need just so everybody gets to take leftover boxes with them!  IT IS TRADITION!!!!  So it's 2 days later and we are still eating mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, pork, hot dogs, sauerkraut stuffing and baked apples with pudding!  This is how my oldest likes to eat it...I LOVE that he enjoys this food!!!!!

Have a great week everyone!  Eat those leftovers!

Happy 2011!

Best of good health and happiness to all of you in this new year!  I look forward to sharing it with you as well!  I trust you all had your pork, sauerkraut and masked potatoes for good luck!  We've had ours and as most of us agreed this is a favorite meals because of the leftovers!  Somehow that sauerkraut tastes the day after and the day after that!  The pickles are tasting pretty good as well...that brine makes them better day after day! Here's that recipe for those who requested.  I really meant to post it the other day but...here it is...

Micro Pickles

3 cups finely sliced cucumbers (the little ones)

1 small onion, chopped finely

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. mustard seed

1/2 tsp. tumeric

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup white vinegar.

Slice cucumbers and onions and place in a shallow pan.  I use a glass, microwave safe, round casserole. Combine all other ingredients and stir until well blended.  Pour over cucumbers and pickles.  Place in microwave 3 minutes - stop and stir.  Heat 4 minutes more.  Stir and then cool.  Place in refrigerated sealed container til completely cool.

While I'm on recipes...I had a few other request for the peppermint bark recipe I use.  I promised to post it with some pictures as proof that I use a food processor to crush my peppermint (when I can't find it already crushed that is!) rather than using the old rolling pin method.  However, if you NEED to get rid of some frustration...there's nothing better than placing peppermint into a bag and banging it to smitherines with a rolling pin or mallet!!!!  I usually alway end up popping a hole in the bag though and all the crushed peppermint ends up on the floor!  Soooo...I instead, I use my little food processor  and the peppermint goes from this.... to this.... in a matter of seconds....truly not a soothing but...much faster and much less mess!  Get's a little smoky but I'll take that over cleaning the floor any day!  The recipe is easy...1 box candy canes, crushed (it's the equivalent of about 12 candy canes-whichever flavor you like.  1 bag of mints would work as well) and 1 bag Wilton vanilla baking chips.  Cover 1 cookie sheet with waxed paper.  Crush candy canes or peppermints.  Melt chips until smooth and pourable.  Pour onton waxed paper lined cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with crushed mint to cover.  Place in refrigerator for 2 hours or until completely cooled.  Remove and break into pieces.  I use these red and green candy canes by Bob's.  They are a bit milder than some of the others...but you can use whichever you prefer.  Mine ends up ont the tray like this...I have a few big pieces on this batch because I pulsed the processor instead of just letting it run by itself....Again it's your preference!

That's all for now!  Happy Cooking!  Happy Monday!  Happy New Year! 

Sketches and Pickles!!!!

Quite the combination I know...and NO...I am not pregnant!!!!!  Just trying to multi-task and get as much done as I can before the mayhem begins again!  Got a few more layouts done...photo of one for now...this time I used Sketch #156  from Trish at Sketch Inspiration....needed some variety so went searching for more Sketch sites.  This is a great community and I finished 5 more page layouts and using my scraps did some cards and big journaling tags too!  It's all in the name of progress! And my version....(better photo later...I took this in the darkness of my craft room at 1AM this morning...just  a little off!)

If you need a good cup of tea....I suggest Teaforte English Breakfast...had a cup while doing the page and it was delightful!  More examples of this sketch to follow as well as a few of the December sketch.   Now for the Pickles....there is absolutely NO connection between pickles and sketches...yet that is...I will be doing a page about pickles in the future though!  I began preparations today for our New Year's day dinner....grocery shopping, cleaning, washing dishes....you know the drill...also on the list was "Pickle Prep".  Mom is the queen of making pickles and has tried many recipes...they have all been good but I have never ventured to make them myself until now!  Tasted these..... 
thinly sliced morsels at Christmas eve dinner and was immediately hooked on the crispy, crunchy texture and the sweet and tangy taste.  I responded with a "these are gooooood" and mom said "7 minutes in the microwave"...she is such a smart lady!!!!  So I ventured into "pickleland" yesterday and did 2 sweet batches and then created my own "dill" version.  Hope there are some left for New Year's Day dinner!

Happy Thursday!

Peaches and Posies!

Amid prepping for back to school and setting up my classroom as well as prepping things at Grove's for the Fall class and crop season I took some time to finish these posies! 

Nope they are NOT from the garden but they are from my stash of yarns that I just can't stand throwing away!  There's a mix of wools and cottons and all were from tiny balls leftover from projects. Next on the list is to finish some projects USING some of these posies! 

And  PEACHES...yummmy!  We used to can them but now we freeze!  Fresh from the Valley and the seeds came out so easily!  We'll be eating these this winter...if they last this long!

Happy Friday!

6 days late!

Well...here goes!  I've always thought about setting up an official blog but only until this year was I actually motivated to begin.  So what motivated me????  Project 365!  Sound familiar to any of you scrappers out there?  Details of the project and be found here and it's the brain child of Becky Higgins!  I began hearing about this in December and was motivated enough to check it out!  So I finally decided yes, this will help me scrapbook the year much better and will also maybe help tell stories about the everyday things in my life!  Well....long store short... January 1st was the day the kit went on sale and...I was way to busy preparing pork, hotdogs, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut to pay much attention to the speed at which these kits disappeared!  That's when it hit me...I can create my own Project 365 by blogging the photos and journaling.  Yes, it will be a bit different and may not be in kit form but it will get done and it will document my year!  So off we go!  I'll begin here with the photo's from the first 6 days since I'm already a bit behind documenting and then hope to keep up with this daily!  Hope someone enjoys it besides me!!!

Day one, January 1, 2009  What else do you do on New Year's Day!  To be sure you have nothing but health, wealth and happiness...you celebrate with pork, hot dogs, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut!  A traditional holiday dinner for our family that everyone enjoys!  We also know that it's ALL better as leftovers!  This meal was traditionally prepared by my grandmother, Nan Henry, and upon her passing, I volunteered to take over.  She VOWED that the ONLY sauerkraut that one should EVER use was Silver Floss and it MUST be the Silverfloss in the glass jars, not the cans and not the plastic bags!  My mom and I both support her and continue with the GLASS JAR TRADITION!
Day 2, January 2, 2009:
Ah yes, another tradition of the New Year...watching Penn State Football at a bowl game!  This is more like a Morning After photo...to express our dedication to the team AFTER their loss to USC in the Rose Bowl.  They did lose but did also have some major accomplishments...most points scored against USC all season and others.  Despite the loss...we still bleed blue and white and are steadfast in our Nittany Lion Pride!!!!!  Go Joe Pa!

Day 3:  January 3, 2009
Finally the amaryllis is blooming.  These are also a holiday tradition for me.  I've done it annually since I married, and the kids participated when they were little, but now I am really the only one who continues it.  Mom always got my brother and I an amaryllis each Christmas to care for during the holiday.  We did manage one year to have it bloom in time for Christmas but...it hasn't happened since then.  So today, I commemorate yet another tradition...the amaryllis.
January 4, 2009:

Ahhhhh...still leftovers!  Mashed potatoes turned into potato cakes!  Anyone else enjoy these tasty morsels!  This is pretty much the only time of year we have them and oh they are soooooo good and a great way to use up extra mashed taters!  Of course, I now make extra potatoes so that I can do the potato cakes!!!  Little egg, onion, parsley and season on a hot cast iron skillet...ooozing with butter...and you're good to go.  Enjoy!

January 5, 2009:  First day back to school!  So hard to return after a nice vacation!  Even harder to return knowing that I haven't gotten everything done that I had planned to get done over break!  Oh well...why should things be different this Christmas.  Today was a strange day at school as everyone readjusted to being back and trying to get into the swing of things.  My mind whirled with all the things I needed  to do and then wandered off to a project I had finished using Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  This is my new favoriet thing to play with...I taught a class at the store using it and have become addicted.  This little book is available on my etsy website.  Really fun stuff to play with...just be sure you have alot of baby wipes on hand!

Today, January 6, 2009:  An early dismissal from school and what a wonderful thing!  I didn't care much at all about driving home in the ice, sleet and freezing rain but was instead focusing on getting home, taking an Excedrin Migraine and going to bed!!!  So it was for 2 1/2 hours when I awoke a new person!  Thank goodness for this stuff!