HOME EC AND OTHER NEGLECTED SKILLS

I remember how excited I was to finallybe in junior high school (7th grade). I was eager to be able to take "home ec"! Back then it was a required class - all the girls took it while all the boys took shop. In retrospect, it would have been a good thing for all of us to take, but this was the late 60's and things were just beginning to change. I do not think schools offer home ec any more, even as an elective and let alone as a required class. It's a shame. I think it is something everyone needs to experience. I learned a little basic cooking (cole slaw, burgers, etc.) and some techniques and terminology. I loved sewing. Mostly I just wanted to put together a sewing kit. But I made a swim suit cover up out of 3 red terry towels and a couple other items. I learned some mending and some embroidery, etc. The first term was cooking and the last sewing. Can't for the life of me remember what we learned during winter term? Maybe it was home management? Baby sitting? It is lost in the mists of time.

I am thinking back to 7th grade home ec today as I wonder where I missed out on the training needed to take care of a home. My mom was a pro at this and still is today. She is superwoman. But somewhere I missed out on the basics. I think mom was very busy with 4 active children and a husband who often worked long hours as a trucker. It was just easier to do it herself. Anyway-I missed the boat. I didn't learn to cook. Or to clean, or to organize or economise. Make a budget and stick to it. I did learn to sew, however, and I did know how to take care of the horses and the barn. I helped to put up the garden by freezing and canning. I do not know how to make hospital corners or how to cook without my microwave. My poor children! I was, of course unable to pass these unlearned skills on to them! Their father, when we were still married, was the cook of the family. So they did eat well until we divorced and I took over the kitchen -but it was scary since I was a working mom, too.

Dear son likes to eat and work out, so hence has learned to fend for himself. A stint in the military also helped him hone his house keeping skills. Dear daughter is a medical student. She can suture, so in theory she can sew. She can cook enough to survive. She has been known to practice her surgical skills on defenseless dinner entrees.

This post has been interrupted to watch the most violent spring thunder storm I have seen in a very long time. The rain, then hail was battering my house, coming down nearly horizontal and with violence. The trees were whipping. The sky was black and the hail was the size of marbles. The gutters could not take this and were overflowing. Looking out my second floor window was like standing behind a water fall. My back courtyard is flooded inches deep. But things are clearing now, and I can see blue sky. Mother Nature - what a show. We don't get storms like that here often. It was so violent, folks were wondering if it was a tornado. We don't get those either. Sad news - someone was killed when a tree fell on their car.

I have washed the sheets and tonight's goal is to make perfect hospital corners!