Oh, well--that! I'll cook, you sew, but we'll hire the cleaning part out. Good for the economy, you know.

I was passionate about sewing. I sewed all my clothes in high school and would stay up til the wee hours of the morning. My mom would take me to Woolworths and buy me fabric for $.25 per yd and tell me it would have to last all week. When I ran out of that - I'd go looking for her old clothes and take them apart and cut new patterns. I wore floral pant-suits with my John Lennon hat and Go-go Boots!!! I had a friend who was an extradornary pianist and I made a red-velvet suit for his recidal at the U of Chgo. I couldn't find a mens pattern at the time, so I had to adapt. Made beautiful 'glow in dark' shirts for the band 'Outsiders' and they were thrilled with them...all of this before I was 20 years old. I studied to be a Home-Ed Teacher, but life took a different turn for me. I managed to save a bit of the fabrics of those wonderful clothes of my youth and 'someday' will put together a quilt. Ahhh, the memories. It's been years since I've made an outfit, but I sure can alter just about anything. My daughter never took a class, but has the talent as well. It's in our blood. My dad would tell me about how talented his mother was as a seamstress and he thought that she was 'chaneling' through me. Who knows? I love the stories, guys

Reg--I missed fingerpainting in kindergarten, too, or at least that's how I remember it. I was home sick the whole month of April with scarletina--they kept you home a long time with that back then. My brother and sister were quarantined and had to stay home from school for a week, too. My poor mother. Anyway, as I recall, I missed fingerpainting, the Easter Parade (the kindergarten class play), and my birthday. It was all very disappointing. I'd really been looking forward to fingerpainting, and was supposed to sing a solo in the Easter Parade. The funny thing is, though, that as I was going through stuff at my parents' house last fall, when we were cleaning out the house, I found a fingerpainting done by me, so somewhere along the line, I did fingerpainting! Maybe it was in nursery school, before I dropped out......but that's another story.

I love you, too, Reg!

You can all come live with me. I'll just stay outdoors and tend the veggies, fuit and BlunderChooks

Wow...I also missed fingerpainting in kindergarten! I was out sick a lot with strep throat and ear infections until I got my tonsils out in May in my first grade year, so I was sick when it was my turn to fingerpaint, and the teacher just moved on to the next kid on the list. Come to think of it, I was sick for every class party in kindergarten AND first grade! And once those tonsils were out, I rarely got sick.

OK, the percentage of Blunderite women liking or disliking Home Ec. vs: wanting to take shop or auto repair didn't surprise me, but now there's this new and unusual link of missing fingerpainting in kindergarten, which somehow led several of us here, and we're all creative types. Do you think we've always been trying to compensate for missing fingerpainting by branching out into other creative/artistic endeavors, and it also really fueled our love of folk music, inevitably leading us here, to the website of the Folkslinger himself?! So much to ponder......

Wow, was that the Outsiders group who out the hit song in '66 "Time Won't Let Me" I have that record on a 45 & Mike has the album of it. If so that's neat...

I sorta liked Home Ec... the sewing part of the year. I remember we bought blue gingham and made aprons without a pattern. Then we made skirts and moved on to the A-line dress (mine was pink paisley).
Funny thing is, whenever I remember sewing class, it always begins with learning how to sew a straight line by running a piece of lined loose-leaf paper through the machine without thread.

I never liked cooking... still don't. We made tuna and I remember we were to add dry mustard. It was good, but I still didn't know how to make anything "important" like things that needed to be cooked... so I had the impression that making sandwiches was "cooking."

I love auto repair and taught my kids the importance of knowing the parts of the car and how to do some minor "repairs" in case they ever get stuck. Girls especially are vulnerable to being ripped-off at repair shops. That's how I learned about cars. And doing some body work and rebuilding an engine. Still can't change a tire, tho.

Spackle... now that's "my thing." We have an old modified-Victorian-style brick house that's just about 100 years old. The walls are plaster-lathe and most were panelled back in the 70s. Under the panelling (which wasn't even real), we found layers and layers of wallpaper. That was SO much fun. Then I got the chance to spackle all the huge holes made from the installation of the panelling. One entire wall was totally uneven from when electricity got added to the house, so I really had my work cut out for me. I had a great time with the 5-gallon container of spackle... And sanding, of course! I even did wood filler. Sanding that was harder, though. When we renovated the main bathroom, we ended up having to drywall, so I got to spackle again!

I don't sew anymore, although I made a beautiful brocade blazer once. And I used to make lined handbags with fringes at the bottom (typical 60s).

Home Ec was only o.k. We didn't do too much cooking only baked alaska as I remember. I think maybe the teacher was worried what might happen.

Always wished I'd been able to take shop... but got to learn some car repair from my dad. Much to his frustration my cousin Diane and I would take things apart, and sometimes just could not get them back together...

hmmm, I think I did lots of independent finger painting, but don't remember doing any in school.

I was never a good cook until Mike got diabetes. I thought cooking canned veggies in the microwave along with fixing frozen Banquet meats was fixing a good dinner. Once I found some good diabetic cookbooks & diabetic cooking magazines, I began trying out good recipes & learned how to good. Now I eat my cooking & enjoy it & Mike does too...

Judy - Yes, there is something very cosmic about all this...OK - first issue -This fall we all finger paint. I'll bring the paint and the long roll of shiny paper and the table.We can even hang them from the tent poles when we're done...We can have our own little art show going on....We'll all just finally get this resolved!!!

Second - Louise - I remember what you said is out in your garden - & "Im not goin'"

I'm in for both--can't wait for the fingerpainting party. And I'll muck stables with Wheezie any day. What fun!

Geez - the Home Ec STORIES! Yes, Cheryl Harrell...'Time Won't Let Me' with Sonny Geraci and Tom King!!! I had a friend, Peter Shelton, who asked me to be their fan Club President!!! He managed them for awhile, I think, and then Jim Cantale came on board and he and I were great friends for awhile...they were out of Cleveland, OH.

Just want to say to all of you - 'thanks for the memories' and maybe we can find some ole friends...where is Sonny Geraci, Tom King, Pete Shelton and Jim Cantale? We ARE all connected!

Anyway - I'm rooting for the Pat's cuz I'm thinking that cuz Arlo's from Ma, that would be his team? But then, How 'bot dem Bears!!!!

I dunno...I've got more than a foot of snow...(no snow in Portland)...I kinda like living at the bottom of Mount Hood...I walk out my door and hear the Sandy River instead of I 84...problem is...I still work in Portland...

edited to say:

This is my forecast:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=pqr&smap=1&textField1=45.37639&textField2=-122.01556

Here's his site:

I think he's kinda cute...

http://www.sonnygeraci.com/

That is so cool you knew them...