Hi Nancy,

That will also serve as a cutting table, then...?

Yes, it will. It comes with a reversible (yellow/purple for dark/light fabrics) rotary cutter mat and is height adjustable. I can also tip
one side (looks like a drafting table) if I want. I can also put a
cutting board on it for when I'm cutting clothing or other large
yardage projects. Only down side is that I can't set it up half size
like my current (double drop leaf) table so it will take a bit more
room.

Win some, lose some... ;) Sounds like it will be mostly a gain... and give you a bit more flexibility over all... :)

Quite so, once I get it set up. I'm on the "off my feet" restriction
again, had the 2nd shot earlier this afternoon so I can't work on the
room clean out. Also got a more heavy duty knee brace.

bill paying, etc will be a lot easier than previously.

And hopefully her mom sees the benefit in turning over the reins to
her daughter... While Mommy never got that concept, my neighbor that I
was
helping with medical and finances, saw a good thing when it
presented... One day when she was struggling to sign her name on a
check, I asked her if she'd like to put me on the account so that I
could just sign it for her... she looked at me for a moment and then
said YES!... we let her
daughter know what we were planning and she gave her approval, and off
to the bank we went.... :)

As of now, I believe the daughter is writing the checks/mom is signing
but I don't think mom has given up physical control of the check book.
If things can be set up to do it all on line, that would be much easier
for both.

Same as with some recipies with ingredients lists and
instructions a mile long each. (G)

I'm not likely to try any recipes like that... I'll leave it to
you guys instead... ;)

I've done it from time to time but not as a general rule for my
cooking. If I read over the recipe and see it has a mile long

list of RH>> ingredients but most are small things like spices, etc,
I'll consider RH>> it. If it's chop, then brown, then puree, then mix with something else RH>> that's had a number of prep steps, I'll
probably not try making it. NB>> That's the sort of thing to get at a restaurant... or have someone NB>> else fuss over it... ;)

Most likely a restaurant. (G) Tonight I did salmon patties, (pre made) rice--just reheated it, and sliced cucumber with a fig bar for
dessert. Simple, filling and tasted good.

And no-fuss... :)

Very much so. Tonight is pulled pork (from the freexer, potato salad
(left over from Sunday, bought at Sam's) and beets (frozen, but from the farmer's market originally. Little time on my feet, out the door for
church to get there on time sort of supper.

Richard taught a class on TV repair in a highschool night school... RH>>> OK, guess I'm out of touch with night school on the

high school

level.

You might find a look at the offerings quite interesting... ;)

Possibly, but it's not on the radar for this fall.

I wasn't thinking of it as courses you'd be interested in

taking, just NB>> a more general, be interesting to see what was
being offered... ;)

Might tempt me to sign up for one or two. I've thought about it when I
see what the local community centers offer but there's usually
something (time, money, travel) to keep me from doing so.

Ah... Yeah... I haven't taken any classes for years, either...
similar somethings keeping me, too... ;)

Some do look interesting. Others, I could probably teach but for the scheduling.

I inadvertantly made a substitution in the recipe--turned out
without a problem tho--and was well received.

Those sound good... :) What sort of substitution was it...?

Subbed cream of mushroom soup for the cream of chicken called
for. Still tasted good and I may keep that as a personal
adaptation.

As long as the mushroom doesn't overwhelm the poppyseed, that
should work out fine... :)

It didn't, and the young man whose mom gave me the recipe had no
problems with chowing down a large helping (and seconds) of the
modified version.

Tasted close enough then... ;) I wonder what his mom would have
thought of the substitution, though... ;)

Probably would have liked it; she didn't seem to be a strictly "by the book" cook when I met her.

And if you have occasion to serve her your version, you can confirm that... ;)

True, turned out good with the cream of chicken-mushroom (or was it mushroom-chicken?) soup I found the other night. It would probably work
with a home made white sauce as well, just not as quick and easy.

Sounds like there's a good chance they'd still be in business another NB>> year and on... I don't remember any Chinese dishes on

the menu at NB>> either Nam Vang or Saigon Pho... But a previous Vietnamese restaurant NB>> had a wider selection, and then merged
into another more varied

restaurant called The Wok... all sorts of Asian dishes there....

That would be an interesting place--trying to make up your mind for
the meal might be a bit of a challenge. Do I go Chines, Viet Namese,
Thai, or what? (G)

Main problem there was that they weren't all that good overall... ;)
They were better to begin with as mostly Vietnamese... :)

Sigh! Sometimes it doesn't pay to stretch yourself too thin.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... If you focus only on the thorns you will miss the beauty of the rose.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

Hi Nancy,

bit awkward... ;) It works better for the smaller sheets, of
course...

We have a queen bed so they're not that hard to handle. Worst ones
were with the water bed--the sheets were sewn together at the bottom. Major pain to fold without some sort of help.

We have a california king water bed, so we use king size flat
sheets... the sewn at the bottom ones didn't work on our bed... the

We should have, had we thought about it. That was our transition to
queen from a double bed so we just went with what the sales folks said
to use.

guest bed's
just a double, as is the bed at camp...

Our camper (main) bed is a short queen (about 4" short of standard
size). The extra bed made by converting the sofa area is a 3/4 double;
it'll sleep a couple of small kids or one adult somewhat comfortably.
Found sheets to fit that on Amazon.

Now, yes. Been wearing the brace more, including some time
grocery shopping earlier this afternoon.

You're learning... ;)

After some "guess I should have used it but didn't and feeling it now" times, I'm grabbing the softer one more often. The firmer, less
flexible one (from the doctor) is for times I have to be on my feet for extra long times..............not had any of those yet.

Or at least the soft brace has been sufficient...?

So far, wore it today to see TWTH (see prior message) and a bit of
grocery shopping afterward. Will be making a broccoli salad for the
church's fall picnic this week end so had to get the main ingredient.

I'd rather put them right away from the basket, all nicely

folded, RH>> once I get back to home (camper). Even socks--Steve will fold his and RH>> occaisionally mine but I'll fold for him and me.

It's a job that we can do either all at once or between steps working
on a meal. If it's the latter, I try to pull things out of the dryer
and lay them out in a way they don't get too wrinkled.

We do it all at the laundromat now... before, it was down in the
basement, so that wouldn't work all that well for me now even if the set-tub hadn't sprung a leak so we can't drain the washer into it any mroe....

Sigh! Nice thing about the laundromat tho is that you can do multiple
loads at once--get it all done in almost the same amount of time it
takes to do just one.

Richard folds his own clothes there at the laundromat except for

the NB>> socks, which he leaves to me to sort, since he's mildly colorblind, so NB>> has trouble matching the colors... I fold mine
and things like towels NB>> and such... when there's some reason I
didn't go with him to the

laundromat, he usually will fold my lot as well, but still save

the NB>> socks for me to deal with....

Makes sense--red/green color blind or otherwise? Does he see a red
pepper as a green one or vice versa?

No, it's more subtle than that... I think it was at the picnic that he
was looking at somebody's book with color-blindness tests in it (Steve's?)... It's a form of red-green... but it's more that he has trouble with brown vs green or red vs orangy-yellow... :)

Not Steve's but don't know who had it.

All the more reason to make a list... ;)

I didn't today and got all I need to make chili for Thursday
night, as well as other groceries. It'll be more the competition
style chili so if there's left over, Steve can eat it without
the worry of picking out corn.

I bet there wasn't very much left... ;)

Under a cup, with lots of positive comments. I didn't stay too long, hurting from some sneezes, but Steve brought home the pot scrapings.

You score again... ;)

Yes, it's a winner, but I can't give the exact recipe away. (G)

It's always just on Saturdays...?

Yes, except the week of Thanksgiving they have one on Tuesday,
but not Saturday. The state one in Raleigh is every day except
holidays, not sure about Sunday tho.

Depending on how a picnic there is structured, it might not be
so easy to get to the Wake Forest one, then....

It's Saturday morning from 8 to noon so a trip should be workable. Not that big so, depending on how much you stop and talk to vendors, other folks, can be done in an hour or less.

Maybe, then...

And I'll get to go back tomorrow.

and a package of Hormel's beef tips in gravy...

I see, have to check out the beef tips for a possible easy do
in camp meal.

Dunno if you'd find all the ingredients satisfactory... but
I'm ok with it, as long as we don't do it too often... :)

I'll take a look--might do my own version to pop into the
freezer in meal size containers.

That could be another option... :)

One I'd be more apt to do.

True...

Maybe, after things settle down a bit here, I'll give it a try.

It does make a nice shortcut for the beef and gravy... :) And
the cats definitely approve... they like to lick the package
once I've added the contents into whatever I'm fixing... and
want their dibs from the meal as well...

But, of course. (G)

They were approving of the beef stroganoff I made with that as

the NB>> base, also... ;)

KItties with good taste. (G)

Yup. :)

And smart too.

Not a lot of visible bruising but the internal shake up... I got
hit by both the seat/shoulder belt and air bag. To the point now
where it doesn't hurt quite as much to take a half deep breath.

Progress... But it does take time...

Yes, and much as I'd like to say I'm all better, a sneeze or cough
brings me up short that I'm not.

It does take time...

Yes, just have to be patient, and at times, I'm not.

Don't know but probably as needed during the day. Steve's sister
and BIL are down there now, a big help.

Yes, that is a help.... :)

Quite so; they missed the worst of the latest hurricane (got a bit of
wind and rain). I think it would have been harder for them this year
if they'd had to go to a shelter as they did last year. This year they stayed home, and safe.

That's very good... From what I heard it sounded like they should
probably be ok for this storm.... and yes, going to a shelter this
year might have been much more of a challenge for them....

Probably a good bit of a challenge, especially with no family to help
during some of the time. Neither Mom nor Dad drive now so they would
have had to have somebody take them.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Mind... Mind... Let's see, I had one of those around here someplace.

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

Hi Nancy,

flat ones... we found out quickly enough that fitted bottoms
didn't work for that bed because they weren't the right shape
for the california king...

Still ended up being a good deal for you. Did you ever try the regular California king sheets? Don't know if they would have fit; you would
have to check measurements.

California king sheets should have fit ok, since that's what it was...
but I don't think we ran across them in the stores.... The flat
sheets have enough leeway that they do fine on the bed.... so we
didn't see any reason to go searching and/or special-ordering.... :)

They can be found more readily now. Used to be we rarely saw them,
seeing more of them now. Queen seems to be the new double.

the guest bed's just a double, as is the bed at camp...

Our camper (main) bed is a short queen (about 4" short of

standard RH>> size). The extra bed made by converting the sofa area
is a 3/4

double; it'll sleep a couple of small kids or one adult somewhat
comfortably. Found sheets to fit that on Amazon.

We just used full sheets on the 3/4 we had at one time....

Probably before the days of Amazon and easy ordering on line. (G)

Very definitely... :) And we still aren't casual Amazon shoppers...
;)

I'm not, but Steve is.

So far, wore it today to see TWTH (see prior message) and a bit
of grocery shopping afterward. Will be making a broccoli salad
for the church's fall picnic this week end so had to get the
main ingredient.

That's a pretty long time on your feet.... good that you were
using the brace... ;)

Knew I'd be on my feet a lot as I had to get things done. BTW, made a
2 1/2 batch of broccoli salad, got back a few sunflower seeds, onion
bits, a few bits of bacon and maybe a couple of raisins--not even 1/8 cup's worth of oddiments.

I trust you got some at the picnic, anyway... :)

Yes, we both made sure we did. We weren't the last in line this time as
we had to use the truck to bring out tables and chairs.

multiple loads at once--get it all done in almost the same
amount of time it takes to do just one.

Exactly... and the folding can be done while waiting for the
heavier clothes to dry, so that is also sufficiently
time-efficient... :)

For sure! I had 4 loads to do on Monday, took me the better part of
the day but I was able to do other things while it was washing/drying.

And you have it on the same floor as your kitchen and all... so you
aren't making multiple trips up/down stairs... :)

Kinda hard to do that in a single story house. (G)

competition style chili so if there's left over, Steve can
eat it without the worry of picking out corn.

I bet there wasn't very much left... ;)

Under a cup, with lots of positive comments. I didn't stay too
long, hurting from some sneezes, but Steve brought home the pot
scrapings.

You score again... ;)

Yes, it's a winner, but I can't give the exact recipe away. (G)

For one thing, it's an inexact recipe anyway.... ;)

Very inexact. I can give a list of ingredients but that's about as
close as I can come to an actual recipe. (G)

Makes it harder for someone to steal it... ;)

They're all based on meat, peppers and seasoning, probably most of them
use onion as well. The tomato helps tenderise the meat as well as adding
its own flavor.

Maybe, after things settle down a bit here, I'll give it a try.

At least a few small containers worth, maybe... :)

Picked up 5 lbs of stew beef at Costco yesterday--will make stew with about 1.5 and freeze the rest as 2 1lb containers, one 1.5lb container until I figure out what to do with it. I can see the possibility of a
beef curry with some of it.

And maybe set up a few meal-sized containers of beef and gravy to be a base for other beef dishes along the way.... :)

Possibly so, TBD at this point.

should probably be ok for this storm.... and yes, going to a
shelter this year might have been much more of a challenge for
them....

Probably a good bit of a challenge, especially with no family

CONTINUED IN NEXT MESSAGE <<

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net FIDO 1:396/45.28


... The first rule of intelligent tinkering: Save all the parts!

--- PPoint 3.01
* Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)