-=> Quoting Janis Kracht to Nancy Backus on 12-04-19  14:52 <=-

 > Two of my sisters have done that sort of sewing... I never got quite
 > that proficient... :)  I did help make my wedding dress (quite a simple
 > one), but one of those two did most of it.... :)

 JK> Still, that's cool that you were able to help with it :)

I'd learned some basic sewing in school, just never really developed
into a seamstress... ;) 

 JK> I started sewing all my clothes when I was in about 7th grade because
 JK> my arms and legs were longer than the pre-packaged "sizes" allotted for
 JK> from clothing store racks ...

So you've always been a "stringbean"...  ;)

 JK> I dug up my grandmother's sewing
 JK> machine (It was an ancient Singer that would probably be worth a ton of
 JK> $$ now.  My youngest sister finally swiped it and used it as living
 JK> room "show-piece"). It was totally "mechanical", so it sewed really
 JK> well with very even stitches. By the time I was in High School, working
 JK> summers at our local Hospital, I was able to save up enough $$ to buy a
 JK> more modern Singer (still mechanical as opposed to electric) and that
 JK> made sewing even easier. At some point in High School I had a job
 JK> working for a dress shop in Warwick, NY where the 'well-to-do'
 JK> Hollywood types that lived in Warwick liked to shop... so I sewed a
 JK> dress for Gloria De Haven (most people don't even know who she was I
 JK> think )... It was cool because of course people like her wanted
 JK> dresses made from exotic fabrics, etc.  And because of people like her
 JK> and the dresses I sewed I had enough $$ to make my dresses for High
 JK> School proms, etc.. like a sari silk dress, and also a gold lame dress.
 JK> I _think_ I still have them here somewhere ...

That's neat... :)  Working at that dress shop gave you experience with
the exotic fabrics so you could confidently work with them for your own
dresses.... :)  And you'd probably be able to wear them still, if you
did find them.... :)

 JK> After I married Ron, he bought me a 'dream' machine that was electric,
 JK> did embroidery and all that stuff .

You'd be able to appreciate it, and make good use of it.... :)  I never
had anything much more than a basic machine... worked well enough for
mending, and simple sewing... :)

 JK> Back then Singer allowed you to trade in your old machines as a down
 JK> payment on a new one, so when Singer came out with the Athena 1000 I
 JK> bought one of those... it was such a great machine (still have an
 JK> Athena, it's an Athena 2000)... I sewed for everyone in the family, my
 JK> kids, my sisters, my mom...creating daring dresses for my sisters (as
 JK> couples my sisters/their hubbys, and Ron and I used to go out dancing
 JK> in Jersery at night clubs owned by some friends of my Dad... that was
 JK> incredibly neat). 
 JK> When my youngest sister got married, another of my sisters couldn't
 JK> find a bridesmaids' dress in her size, so I made a copycat dress for
 JK> her from scratch that matched everyone elses.  She was so happy, I
 JK> remember :) 

Now that is indeed a gift... to be able to do that from scratch....  :)

 >>> You are so right as to everybody's body being different in how it
 >>> processes its fuel... Mine certainly isn't as accomodating as yours
 >>> is... 
 >> Well, there are days when I would like to just be 'normal' but I guess
 >> the combination of my height (geez, I'm not that tall, but ~5' 6"
 >> maybe) and my pulse clocking in at about 70 do it.. got me... :)
 > Apparently you've also got a very efficient metabolism... mine tends to
 > shut down all too easily...  :)

 JK> Understand, one of my sisters has a metabolism similar to yours.  It
 JK> can be hard for her as well, so I always sewed dresses for her.

Is that the one you made the bridesmaid dress for....?

 >>>> Yes, this week continues to confirm what we feared after we heard
 >>>> about the stroke..  with essentially no progress, her insurance will
 >>>> slip into Medicaid as opposed to medicare.
 >>> She might have been having little strokes all along that just weren't
 >>> noticeable... that would also have played into the ability/mindset for
 >>> doing the rehab...
 >> Sure, that makes a lot of sense, really.  She still won't try anything
 >> along those lines.  They wheel her down there I guess, and then wheel
 >> her back.
 > Sad.  I suppose that at her age, and given the stroke, it might have
 > become more than she actually can do anymore....

 JK> And that's if she can even understand what the staff is saying to
 JK> her... If she cannot even recognize family members you have to wonder
 JK> where she thinks they are trying to take her, and for what purpose.

Quite possible... Is she settling in to living there now....?

 >>> That's a mood booster, for sure...  :)  And you'll have the fresh
 >>> veggies to look forward to even as the season gets less appealing
 >>> outside... ;)
 >> Yes, I was so happy to see they've expanded the veggies they package
 >> included eggplant (they are smaller, purple ones almost like japanese
 >> eggplant).
 > Oh, that sounds really good...  I do like eggplant, especially the
 > japanese sort... they cook up very nicely...  :)

 JK> Yes, and they are so sweet.  I love japanese eggplant :)

I've never grown it myself, but I do get it now and again when I see it
at the Asian food market... :)

 >> The seed pot kits arrived a few days ago... now I have to sterilize
 >> the aerogarden "Farm" we have in the living room so I can plant the
 >> new pods. :)
 > It's for a good cause, after all... ;)

 JK> Yep - just a bit of work... you really have to sterilize everything
 JK> thoroughly with bleach.  Thankfully it's not hard to do, it just takes
 JK> a little time. 

And do you have the plants growing yet....?

 >>>> My favorite recipe for peanut butter cookies is one that I've used
 >>>> since "forever".. it is so good, just 2cups peanut butter, and 2 cups
 >>>> sugar (I cut down the sugar to about 1 1/2 cups), and no flour.
 >>> Those would be rather nutritious... and be an easier way to eat the PB
 >>> than on a spoon from the jar... 
 >> Oh yeah, I munch on those anytime I get hungry :)
 > Good show...  :)  Easy to keep handy, too...  :)

 JK> I'm out of them now and have to make more - I was thinking about it
 JK> this week but I still have some Thanksgiving deserts left that I made
 JK> :) Pumpkin pie is gone, but there is still some Italian Ricotta Cake
 JK> left (great for breakfast haha).  And there is still some_ Chocolate
 JK> Cake with vanilla pastry cream between the layers covered with
 JK> Chocolate butter cream frosting left. For that cake, I split each layer
 JK> then filled the split layers. 

That sounds mighty good.... :)  I'll bet it's all finished now,
though... :)

 >> We also are trying something different this year... we'll see how it
 >> goes ... Wegman's had an advertisement for a turkey dinner for 12 with
 >> all the fixins' So I thought, geez, I'm old enough to enjoy just
 >> sitting around like everyone else on the holiday hahaha... so we have
 >> an order in for it.  Ron will pick it up on Wednesday this week for
 >> Thursday's Thanksgiving, and according to their instructions in an hour
 >> and half or something like that we'll have Turkey Dinner :)
 > Did that work out nicely, as advertised....?  I've thought about it, but
 > since I'm not feeding 12, or even half that, never really figured it was
 > worth doing for us... :)  But it does look like a nice deal... :)

 JK> It worked out great, and there were plenty of leftovers which to me
 JK> was important ... I love turkey and gravy openfaced sandwiches... My
 JK> only complaint if I was going to be really picky was that their
 JK> cranberry sauce wasn't as good as mine.  You could tell it was made
 JK> from fresh cranberries, but they used big chunks of orange peel in it..
 JK> some may like that, I wasn't crazy about it...

If I remember correctly, their cranberry sauce also has apple in it, so
I'd not be able to have it anyway.... I've made that from scratch with
the cranberries and little pieces of orange rind in it... making it
yourself, you can control how sweet you make it, too... :)

 JK> Also, without the carcass you can't make turkey soup but that is not
 JK> so critical :)  If I hadn't sent the leftover legs/thighs home with
 JK> my grandson I could probably have done it :) 

You'll just have to cook up another turkey just for the carcass.... ;)

 JK> Oh, and they didn't include sweet potatoes.. can you imagine a turkey
 JK> dinner with _only_ white mashed potatoes??? :) 

Maybe that would have been an available add-on... ;)  I know that they
do have a side entree in their Market Cafe offerings of mashed sweet
potatoes... and recently added sweet potato gratins to their frozen
potato gratin line... 

 JK> But the turkey and the
 JK> gravy were plentiful and very good.  They included the whole turkey
 JK> (whole turkey breast sliced, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2wings)... tons of food.

Just not the carcass...   I guess that they figure that someone
interested in the convenience wouldn't be making turkey soup
afterwards.... ;)

 JK> Now I'm thinking about Christmas but I think I'm going to do what I've
 JK> always done in years past... Roast turkey/gravy/sweetpotatoes/mashed
 JK> potoes/veggies as the first course, then homemade cheese ravioli and
 JK> meatballs as the second course.
 JK> It's really easy to do if you plan ahead and freeze the ravioli until
 JK> it's time to cook it.
 JK> :)

A proper Italian feast, for sure....  ;)

ttyl     neb

... Newsflash!  Birdland Bar closed for serving mynahs.

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