Parenting....

 

I am starting to understand

We used to get annoyed with Nick's parents because they kept their old boxy TV.  They were not interested in having a flat screen TV.  We told them "the picture will be so much better"   "It won't fill the room so much"   We tsk tsked together and said to each other "I don't know why they resist".

I think we are entering that relationship now with our grown children.  "You should cancel your Verizon account".  "Cable is so lame".    "Facebook is no good any more, it's a waste of time".

All of these are the sort of things we said to our parents.  Deep sigh.  I guess they were just stubborn .

Maybe.  Maybe we are stubborn.  Or maybe we are doing fine.   We have been through many changes in our life- both good and bad.   We have survived so far.   Some of the suggestions might save us money.  But it's okay with us.   

It used to drive me crazy that my in-laws bought the "wrong" brand of Ketchup- and in a small bottle.   It was not the brand that I liked, and a small bottle was crazy when we went there with all of the kids.    I mumbled to Nick about it.  I might have said "oh, is this the brand your buy?".   What did it solve.  Nothing.  In fact, I don;t know this for sure, but it might have felt mean and judgmental to my mother in law.

So, kids, if any of you read this, we're fine.   We are okay with our TV/ cable system.  We know how it works.  If you don't like it, that's okay.  We won't try to tell you what to do in your home, and you can try not to tell us.   I know it's hard on both sides.

If/ when we become invalids and have to move in with you- then you can control the TV system (probably).  No, we don't plan to move in with our kids.  Just saying

Social media is another thing.  Yes, I do spend a lot of time on Facebook.  It's something I do.   If I share something I saw on Facebook, I am sharing it because I want to tell you about it.   Not because I want to hear how lame Facebook is.  Maybe it's lame.  Maybe it's a lot of bots or trolls.  I don't know.  But I do know that I have found people I have not been in touch with in 50 years.   I am getting able to reach out to my long time LLL friends all over the world.  And relatives.  High school friends.   Please don't pick on me.   I am not perfect.  But this is something I do.

If you find me really being scammed and giving my money away to a fraud, help me out.  I am not stupid, but I am ignorant.   

Sometimes I get my feelings hurt by something said to me on Facebook.  I do not believe bots are responding to key words I write.  I usually know the person who has said it.   

I  am aging.  Yes I am.  Sometimes my body disappoints me.  Sometimes I move too slow= or talk too fast .   Sometimes the remote doesn't work the way you think it should.  I am okay with that.  My frustration is not an invitation to re-wire my life.  It's just a small thing.

We have worked so hard.  We have not been perfect parents by a long shot.   But we are ready to have adult relationships with our adult children.   

We may not be interested in or capable of things we were 25 years ago.  That's okay.   We all have our own path.   I am just lucky that I get to share that path with each of you from time to time.

Love, Mom

What I wrote online today

 My youngest child, Chance, was born at 32 weeks gestation. The birth had been planned to happen in the US. It didn't work out that way. Chance was born in Hong Kong. At the time of his birth I was the only mom in the hospital to be breastfeeding.

When Chance was 3 months old and only weighted 7 lb, it was clear that we needed help with breastfeeding.

We returned to the US to get that help. Joanne Scott was my wonderful Lactation Consultant.

There was an in-service for lactation consultants and La Leche League Leaders. Chance and I were chosen to be the "case study" for that in-service.

We worked so hard that at the end, one of the attendees made this "Medal" for me.

It is signed by: Chele Marmet , Anna Utter Ros Escott, Susan Dodge, Colleen Prorok, Judy Gelman, Barbara Boston, Angela Love-Zaranka, Evelyn Byrne, Pat Gilbertsonon, Paula Kaiter, and of course Joanne Scott.

It was felt strange to be the "subject". But in addition to being a teaching tool, I learned as well.

That baby, Chance, nursed until he was 7. He will be 30 this year!

Where would I be if not for the wonderful La Leche League and lactation consultant friends?

 

 

All my children

I used to watch a soap opera by that name "All My Children". 

I think about all of my children all the time.   I have so many things I fell like I should tell them.  Each separately . They are all special, individuals. 

What would I say?  I really don't know.  I often think about writing letters.  Five letters, one to each.  Maybe I will one day before I die. (I'm not in any hurry).

I used to be the best letter writer in the world.  When we were overseas, I wrote letters just about every day.  I had a log in which I kept a record of who I had written to and who I had received mail from.

My mother and my in-laws saved all of my letters and gave them back to me.     I wrote about them a few months ago.  I put a lot of my letters, written by me, and those received- letters from home.

I think I have allowed email to replace letter writing by hand. That in itself is not a bad thing.  But the  too tendency to push send and forget it is too easy (?).   Write it and forget it.

Oh well.  One day I will write those letters.

In the meantime, the kids have to take my word for it- they are amazing and the most important people in my world.

Just a few of the binders of letters I have organized

For the love of a Sewing machine!

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  My mother's Featherweight sewing machine- the one I learned to sew on and still love to use

  
  
  
   I am in a Facebook Group called "Singer Featherweight 221 & 222"
  
  Featherwieght sewing machines have an almost cult like following.  They are wonderful little machines and that's what my mother taught my sister and I to sew on.  We (my sister and I) are baby boomers, and it seems like we and many of our friends used to sew an aweful lot of our own clothing.   Sewing was cheaper than finished store bought clothes when we were kids,
  
  I have my mother's Featherweight and it is really precious to me.  Last week I found (thanks to my husband) a couple of Featherweights on an auction site.  One was a 221- a standard Featherweight, the other was a 222- a rare, free amr Featherwieght.   I lost both auctions. The 222 went for around $900.00- and that's considered a deal!
  
  It occured to me that many of us on this Facebook Group are something of a group of sewing machine collectors in addition to being in love with our featherweights.    Below is what a wrote and the responces"
  
  "I  wonder how many of us have a collection of sewing machines- including Featherweights? I have one Featherweight, one Singer Touch and Sew from the 70s, a Husqvarna from the last ten years, a serger, two treadle sewing machines in cabinets and one treadle sewing machine head- no cabinet. Also have my mother in law's maybe model 15, Singer in a cabinet."

  
  

  Comments

  • I have 14 machines. Two feather weights 221 and a 222🤗

    
    

    I’ve got 5 Janomes, a cheap Brother, a Bernina activa, a Babylock serger, and now a 221–my first vintage machine. I can’t bear to part with any of them!

    
    

   3 featherweights... thus far...😄
• 7 machines; all Singers: treadle, featherweight, 99, rocketeer and 3 newer models
• 2 Featherweight’s, 2 Vikings, singer 99 and 201, Elna, 2 sergers, universal, Singer treadle and a White shuttle treadle and 5 miniatures. Guess that is why I finally decided I needed a studio...
• Yikes! 6 featherweights, one 301 Singer, 2 pfaffs, 1 Juki serger and one german hand painted large machine.
• Last count was 14, not including featherweight and A-1. Lol
•  3 221s, 1 Red S 222K, 3 Bernina sewing machines and a Bernina serger.
• I have 4 black featherweights, 1 white featherweight, 1 Singer Treadle in cabinet, 1 White treadle in a cabinet, 1 Singer 15-91 in a cabinet, 1 Singer 16-66 in a cabinet. One Singer Athena 2000 which is giving up the ghost. And my newest is a Janome S7.
• 2 Singer featherweight 221s, a 99, a 66, 2 Janomes, 2 Babylock sergers, and a White!💕
• I do now!
• 2 featherweights, 2 Pfaffs, a Babylock, 1 industrial Juki. That’s all.
• One 221K, two 201K, one 66K, one 99K, one185K and a 239K73. The my wife has....
• 3 x 221, 2 x 222. Several (🤷🏻‍♀️) 66, 99, 201, a 15 and a hand crank Phoenix from the 1890s. My lotus 66 treadle. Then there is a few others like Husky 21a, lemair, Palmer. A few moderns- janome, 3 overlocker, 2 coverstitch, an embroidery and an industrial for good measure. I think there’s a partridge in a pear tree there too! Lol
• 2-201s, 29K, 2-66, 221, brother, white, Janome,, 66treadle, 99, 192spartan, Kenmore , HA-1
• A feather weight circa 1952, 20+ yr brother, 25+ yr Kenmore, 10 yr old, singer embroidery machine, viking Emerald, 2 viking sergers, 2 viking rubies, and HQ16
• If I count in toy machines, I think I’m up to about 60 machines. Four of them are Featherweights.
  I collect sewing machines, and find a lot of joy in servicing them and making them sew again.
• I have with my daughter Bernina 830s named John, George, Paul and Ringo. 

  
  I have 14 222s and 19 221s. Then have Brothers for embroidery and Bea is a Statler
• I have 18 vintage Singers (down to 2 featherweights) and one modern Juki DX2000QVP.
• 5 featherweight, 1 Elna,2 treadles, 2 Janome, one singer about a 1990, and 2 301. 13 total
• 2 treadles, 2 featherweights, 2 Elna, 2 Bernina, one Singer from the 40’s, a machine called the zig zag, one Baby Lock serger, 1 Husquana serger, 1 older basic Brother, 2 Singer 201, 1 Singer 301, 1 Pfaff hobby machine. So sorry I listed these. I had no idea
• 6 FWs including 1 222 Red S and 2 blacksides
  1 Singer 66 handcrank
  2 301s…See More
• Add to our list a janome9000, Janome
  Little take along machine. A 99k, alittle toyota sewer, three various years kenmore,
  Two sergers, a cover machine. a juke 2010 ,and the machine that works with wool roving.
• Oh, forgot the 221 featherweight.
• 
  
   I have 2 FW, 3 301, a 99, a 503, 2 old Berninas & an Elna. Only purchased one FW & the 301a. Total investment is @$700.
• I have 10 black FWS, one is a Centennial, + 1 white FW, I have some black 301s and a tan 301, I have numerous treadles, some Singers, some other brands, I have several Wheeler and Wilsons, including one No. 8 that has a full set of glass presser feet, …See More
• Wow that’s funny I too have my mother in laws first sewing machine. it’s a Kenmore from the 70’s. It’s what I started with. I started collecting more machines about 2 yrs ago when a friend got me into quilting. Another church friend gave me her serger …See More
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• 

  I have 1 Featherweight, 1 Brother, 1 Babylock, and 1 Child's Singer. Got rid of 2 old Singers and 1 Brother 770 last year. Just did not need 7 machines 🤔
• 🤔. Where do you all keep these machines????
• 
  
  , I wonder about this as well.
•  all over the house!
• I have a genie from the 70s, two other steel gear machines from the 70s, 2 featherweight 221, a brother Disney embroidery / sewing machine, and a serger. I actually downsized last year and got rid of four other machines!
• Oh boy, confession time. 😳 6 black 221s including an Oct. 1933 and 3 centenials, one each of the 301s, a 401, 2 404s, a T&S 600, Singer 15-91, Singer 29-4, 5 vintage Kenmores, Pfaff 332 & ?, a no frills plain Sailrite Yachtsman, a Wheeler & Wilson No.…See More
• I’m a slacker... centennial FW, 1953 FW, Viking longarm, singer 99, pfaff model unknown right now, another singer model unknown as I’m using the stand for my new Viking designer Epic.
• I have a 25 year old Brother, an older Bernina serger, a new computerized Brother & a 1953 Featherweight.
• I have a 221 featherweight, an Aria Babylock and a Lyric Babylock. Love them all.
• I have a 36 featherweight, a 42 201, a knee lever Singer in cabinet, a old Bernina 830, a new 830, a 590, a Singer Precision, a Singer Futura and a Kenmore 1/2 size...oh and a serger. Hoping to buy a long arm in the next few weeks😁
• I have 2 Featherweights, 1 black and one white,; a Husquvatna Viking D1, a serger, a needle punch machine. An portable Singer 95, singer treadle, Elna Lotus, and a Hand I Quilter long arm.
• We have a 222 a white and 5 black 221. 2 treadles, 2 berninas 2 child’s vintage, 2 Vikings , a Janome a serger and long arm. We use them all for different things.
• 
  

   About five years ago, we had over a hundred machines total. Toys, hand cranks, treadles, featherweights (30) and 4 newer embroidery machines. Even two Moldicot, which are very rare. When we had to give up our house that we designed and had built bec…See More

  have any FWs you want to let go?
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• • 
    
• My first a 758 touch & sew, 2 genies, 222, white 221, 5 blk 221, 201-2, 99K, 128! Its a horrible obsession and my Husband supports it! I am ashamed to admit I collect more than I sew. Plus I do not look for them they seem to jump out at me...

  Ok, confession time. I have a Janome NQM2016, Janome 9400, a FW, a 99, 2-201-2’s, 1-66 Treadle RE. 💖
• . I have ten machines
• I have lots of sewing machines, my daughter moves and didn’t have space in her new digs. Probably 7 in all.
• I have 2 featherweights, a treadle in cabinet, a baby lock, old commercial machine,and one I can’t remember name of but use often. And a Singer clone made in Japan after WW 2 that is in cabinet and operates like a SINGER 65. I never hear anyone mention these Singer clones. I wonder if anyone has them. I had a hard time learning to thread it but like the way it sews.
• I forget I do have a Singer toy machine that was my Mother in laws. It works too. She was born in 1910.
•  And a Bernina serger. I may have others I don’t remember stored somewhere. I need to get rid of some but not my featherweights..
• 1 newer featherweight with plastic cover
  1974 Singer Futura II …See More

  l About 50 or more. Mostly featherweight and 301’s. Some treadles , 222, 185k ,201,99,66
• 2 Janome. Big Janome little Janome
• 
  
•  I hesitate to even count. 5 FW, 2 treadles, a 201, a 301, a 401, an inexpensive brother, an 8700 Janome, and 6 others that I can count off the top of my head oh and the child's chain stitch. And 1 FW table. We are known as the Singer Salvage and Resuce Company by our friends.
•  2 Featherweights,a Spartan,a Pfaff, a Janome,a Sew Easy,a Kenmore,Singers, 6 older,my Mother- in-laws in a cabinet,my Mother's treadle,my newer Singer,a Serger. the Singers are a Rocketeer, a 501, 2 Touch and Sew, Golden Touch and Sew,and a fifties model..Favorities are the Spartan and the Pfaff.

  
  

  
  

  

  Jessica, my sister's granddaughter, sewing on her great grandmmother's sewing machine 2015
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

How's Your Sunday Going?

I fell and I couldn't get up. I fell in the bushes in front of my house - trying to turn off the hose. I didn't have my phone with me. Yelling and throwing shoes at the windows did not get my husband, or the dog's attention. A neighbor called my husband's cell phone- which my husband did not hear. Neighbor rang the door bell- dog and husband didn't respond. Finally the neighbor called our landline. Between my husband and my neighbor they were able to get me up. Kneeling is not something I can do or I would have been able to rescue myself.

My left arm

My left leg

My right side

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

This all happened early this afternoon.  I was sore, mad- mostly at myself and I felt stupid.   But I am glad that I was not hurt worse.  I felt myself falling, so was somewhat able to slow myself from just banging on the ground or getting impaled by a branch.  Damn azaleas have really stiff and strong branches!

My left hip hurts.  My back hurts.

When we were in Australia I fell off a bike.  It's more of a story than I want to write here.  I flew over the handlebar and landed on my face mostly.   I recall lying there feeling pain in my legs and thinking that was a good thing.  That's good for two reasons:  One is, if you can feel pain you are alive.  The other is, if you can feel your legs you probably are not paralyzed.

Heading to bed and hoping that I am not too sore in the morning.