Floof! There's always that one....

6 years ago

That one recipe you cant get right or duplicate. That one plant you cannot get to grow. That one skill you just cannot master..... I am sure there are others. I have one of each of the 3 above:

The recipe i cannot duplicate is SOs grandmothers chicken dressing. I make a good chicken dressing, it just doesn't have the same flavor profile as hers, and i cannot figure it out. Oh well....

The plant is a hydrangea. They just wont grow for me. I have tried to plant at least a dozen of them, to no avail. Last year was my last attempt at it. I am the only southern woman without a hydrangea in my yard. They are gonna make me turn in my pearls. :( (Oh wait, pretty sure i lost my pearl privileges years ago anyway :op)

The skill i cannot master is sewing. I just never got the hang of it, every attempt is a disaster. So i leave it to others. The only time i needed the skill was when my giant 20 foot tall snowman inflatable tore. My sister had to come patch him up for me.

What is yours? No need to stick to the categories above if you have others, those are just some of mine.

Featured Answer

marilyn_c

6 years ago

I am going to sound like a real dullard here, but though there are many things I can't do....I have no interest in them, so I don't care. I can't sing, dance, play a musical instrument, speak a foreign language....altho I did get pretty good with my self taught Spanish...always got the verbs wrong, but I was communicating via a Spanish dictionary. I tried the same thing with Portuguese, but gave it up.

I can't skate, hate swimming...love the water....to look at it, and the beach in winter to look for driftwood. Can't sew. Took 3 years of Home Ec in high school, hated sewing. Since then I have hemmed one skirt, and sewed on maybe 3 or 4 buttons. I can do buttons....if absolutely necessary.

I can cook....plain, regular every day southern stuff. If I like to eat it, I can cook it. That goes for some Asian and Mexican dishes.

Funny people should mention fried chicken or dressing. Dressing for example. My mother made the best dressing. I didn't pay a lot of attention to how, because I was really young and not that into cooking. However, my dad died in 1968 and she quit cooking. No longer had holiday dinners at her house...she went to my brother's.

Cornbread dressing is as individual as potato salad, and I didn't become obsessed with making it like my mother's until fairly recent years. I bet I watched 20 YouTube videos on it....fascinating how some people make it. I really didn't learn much. I kept on until I got it right....or how I remembered hers to be. Texture was as important as taste, in my opinion. And what I like, would not be what someone else might like. And I make it like hers....to taste and to "feel". No recipe.

I did the same with fried chicken. My mother just dipped it in flour and fried it in a cast iron skillet and I did that for years, and then I switched to an electric skillet and buttermilk....then umpteen YouTube videos and I actually learned something from them that I could use. I use an egg and milk wash...or egg and water. Self rising flour with extra baking powder. Electric skillet.

As for other interests....when I become interested in something, I become obscessive compulsive about it. I read and collect every book I can find on the subject, join organizations and local clubs, and meet people who have information they will share. There wasn't one on waterlilies, so I helped found the International Waterlily Society, now changed from waterlily to watergardening.

So I can grow plants. If I am intersted in them...antique roses and aquatic plants and a few others, and don't know about some things....probably could if I had an interest. It is always research and find people who know and can help you.

I guess there is one thing I wish I could do....cross a hardy and a tropical waterlily. For eons it was deemed impossible. Then a man in Thailand and a hippie looking dude in West Virginia found out how. I need to research that. I would like to try, but I need to know how. I would also like to cross some roses....just for my own pleasure. I am currently growing some rose seeds, but it is very slow compared to waterlilies, but I will keep trying.

And the last thing I am learning...the names of all the plants, trees and different bird species here in east Texas. Birds are easy...only a couple I didn't know. Lots more diversity in trees here.

My mother would say, "why don't you work on cleaning house?" Not much interest there.

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Comments (21)

kathyg_in_mi
6 years ago
I have a black thumb!

But I think that is about the only thing that I wish I could do and enjoy.
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User
6 years ago
I can't sing, dance or play an instrument even though I've always wanted to. I can't grow parsley - pretty much any other herb or veggie is OK, not parsley. I can't swim, and I have a pool and live in Florida. I freak out when water gets on my face (but not in the shower) (??) and if my feet don't touch the bottom. I can't make good fried chicken even though my Mom made it all the time and I watched, can't do it.
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Fun2BHere
6 years ago
I so wanted to be one of those people who could speak several languages. It turns out I have no natural talent for picking up new languages. I can't sing either. I have a good ear for music and can pick out melodies on the piano, but my vocal range is about three notes. The herb I have trouble growing is dill.
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Judy Good
6 years ago
I am with Kathy, I kill every plant I look at. Cannot save them to save my soul.
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aok27502
6 years ago
Ritaweeda, I read your response quickly, and saw " and if my feet don't touch the bottom., I can't make good fried chicken..." I really had to think about that!
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hallngarden
6 years ago
Let's see,cannot swim,we live on ocean and have a pool. I have never jumped off the diving board. Went down slide once but had on a life vest. Promise you it felt like I was underwater forever before I bobbled up. Have never been in ocean above my ankles. Cooking,my mother made the most amazing stewed potatoes, just potatoes cooked in water, then she put little flour and bit of water stirred over . Mine taste like glue. Hers tasted heavenly. Just a simple dish.
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lucillle
6 years ago
I have a number of unattainable skills:

Sewing

Jogging

Losing weight easily

Choosing good men to marry (1 at a time, but still...)

Understanding men

Skiing

Ice skating

Playing a musical instrument well

Speaking a foreign language well

Repairing computers, and other technical stuff

Walking in very high heels
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amylou321
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Ooooo, I forgot that one! I cannot walk in heels at ALL! I'm tall enough anyway,no need for such foolishness.....

That's what I tell myself anyway.
wildchild2x2
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Never could do a cartwheel even though I was once able to master a handstand.

Not much of a dancer. Forget singing and musical instruments.

Jogging is a no and running is a big no. If you ever see me running it's because a zombie must be after me.

I kill plants. DH shares the trait. He once killed an aloe plant. It took us 5 tries to get a geranium to grow in our front yard.

Hand sewing.

Hair styling challenged.
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Uptown Gal
6 years ago
Have to be singing. I love, love music..have it playing constantly....love

all kinds (except High Opera). Have it on every device known to man. (well,

a lot, anyway) have old 45's, vinyls, tapes, etc. .....but cannot carry a tune in a bushel basket. Certainly an extremely unfair turn of events LOL. But, if

I am completely sure I am alone...I still sing along with it all.
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User
6 years ago
Can't carry a tune.

Can't dance.

Speaking Spanish...more than a few words.

Night diving. I shake like a scared child. (But I do it)

Can't take a compliment. People tell me to just say "thank you". (Happened yesterday)

Working construction at heights....OMG. Scared!

Arc welding. When sparks fly ;afraid my hair will catch fire. lol

Petting an Ostrich. Had my fingers bitten as a child. lol
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User
6 years ago
Never could whistle, never could roll my tongue. Last year I even looked up youtube videos of "how to" and tried and tried; nope, still couldn't do either one.
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OutsidePlaying
6 years ago
I could never fry chicken properly and now don’t really want to.

I can grow lots of thing, but never could get dill to grow. No good with roses either, but hey, this is the humid south where it’s hard anyway

I love to swim, but cannot do scuba. Kills my ears and I don’t like it much anyway. Snorkeling is ok.

Foreign languages? Forget it. I can speak a few words in a few, but could never master any.
amylou321 thanked OutsidePlaying
Bookwoman
6 years ago
Anything to do with crafts/sewing/etc. I can sew on a button or repair a seam, but that's about it. When my children were young and had to do any sort of art project for school (dioramas in shoeboxes and the like) I would get supplies for them and tell them they were on their own because "Mom is craft-impaired".
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Annie Deighnaugh
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Never could make mashed potatoes the way Mom did. I watched her and she showed me so many times, but hers came out smooth and fluffy and mine always came out...as my brother called them...brick mortar. You could stick the fork in and pick up the whole mess at once!
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Cherryfizz
6 years ago
I can't make a cherry pie for the life of me. I make the perfect pie crust, put the fresh cherries in the crust with sugar and some flour. Doesn't matter what filling recipe I use the pie never turns out. It has been suggested for me to make the pie filling first. The other day I took some premade tart shells out of the freezer and drefrosted them, opened a tin of E.D. Smith cherry pie filling, my cousin filled the tart shells for me, then I baked them according to the instructions on the tin. Of course they didn't turn out. I even took them out of the oven early and the filling was like stretchy glue. haha I will stick with using cherry pie filling on my toast. I give up on making a filled fruit pie. I do make a wonderful lemon meringue though
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Rosie
6 years ago
While I love to cook, no matter how hard I try I cannot make the fried chicken that my mom and grandmother did. Crispy out the outside and tender/juicy on the inside, if word got out that either of them was making fried chicken unexpected dinner guests showed up.

Other than that, I can't sing a note, so I greatly admire those who can.

I also don't know how to sew, but that's more because no one ever taught me. I'm sure I could learn.

Learning another language (specifically Spanish ) is something I'd really love to do, but I have no talent or ear for languages despite having had private lessons given to me by a Spanish teacher friend. I keep trying and I know a lot of words, but I don't think I'll ever be able to converse in Spanish on even the most basic level.

Oh, and I'm also not athletic, at least not in team sports. I was a pretty good bowler in my time and I manage not to hurt myself when doing my morning yoga/aerobics/weights workout.

:-)
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User
6 years ago
Thought about it this morning, as I was putting on my glasses. I can get a brand new pair and within a month or two, there's a scratch. Then another. Then another. Yes I'm being careful, it just happens :-(
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jupidupi
6 years ago
Can't or don't like? I took swimming lessons as a child, hated it and quit as soon as I passed the test. But swimming is good for you. So I have tried to like swimming many, many times in my life. I really dislike it. When I told my brother, who enjoys swimming, he said, "No big deal. It took your ancestors millions of years to get OUT of the water." Now when people invite me to go swimming, I tell them, "Thanks, but I'm a land mammal."
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yeonassky
6 years ago
I can sing and dance and love to swim. I definitely can't play an instrument. I can speak two languages but have not been able to learn Spanish which has been the third language I have been trying to learn.

The big invisible talent that I would like to have is learning to de-stress. Other people have found their way of de-stressing but I have not after many tries. I have tried every type of meditation and mind relaxing techniques over the years. I just have to go hide until I calm down. Obviously sometimes I'm not able to do that.

I love fried chicken but haven't had much experience with making it. Of course after you said that you couldn't do it I had to go down the rabbit hole. This video talks about what people do wrong when they try to make it. Have no idea if all of what is said is true.

https://youtu.be/Izs0Yl_eLmI
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Floof! There's always that one....

marilyn_c

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