Flop Bott: So. I Sew! And other Super heroic things I do

Yup. I faced my fear of :

The Machine.

Yes, I'd taken Ms. Smolicks home ed class in jr. high. I learned to thread the needle, what a bobbin was and sew a straight line crookedly. Not on a vintage sewing machine, but it may as well have been because my mom's is basically a computer that sews.

I'd complain about the unfortunate fact that I didn't put effort into learning how to sew or play the piano. I quit putting time in that area because I could actually succeed in sports. Or wanted to.

So amidst the whines....

Madre:"Just read the manual and it will tell you how to do it."

For some reason I expected this 'manual' to be brick sized, like the manuals for updates to a new computer application Padre buys. I mean look at this.....(up and down pics)
It looked like the Star Treks mother board ship controls.

All I wanted was to sew a crooked line, for the love!

My attempt at learning came when

J needed new cleats.

J: Oh, I need new cleats, Mom.

Me: We just bought some last year! Can't you curl your toes or something?

This led to examining other needs; pants.

So the new pairs all needed to be hemmed..

In short, his waist doesn't agree with his height. So I had to do a major over haul on these. I told to my friend of my whoas. She offered to teach me how to sew on my mom's machine- at my house. How much easier could it be? (However, it was a Big mistake- her teaching me a bit about sewing.)

Any time I looked at the machine, I just worried over all the buttons.

And since it IS a computer ya can't put your magnetic pin holder right next to it. Lesson learned on Madre's lunch hour.

And the brick manual? Is actually a pamphlet..

oh.

I started looking and reading, trying to sew, worrying about a computer running amok then putting a needle through my finger and I was nervous.

First of all, I had a prednisone problem- my retinas are swollen due to the water retention, so I had to really squint. Made me so mad.

Retaining water in your eyes is number 276 of : Reasons why I hate Prednisone.

It took a while to remember a bobbin, how to put it in the bottom of the machine under the sled looking device called the foot. Or something.

My friend did a pant leg and I watched. then she set me free.

whir. stop. whir. stop. whir. stop. stop!

At the pace of a grandmother snail, I s-l-o-w-ly pressed the pedal with my bare foot.
Since this was so painful to watch, and physically painful on my hands and legs, my friend let me do only one pair of the pants then she did the rest while I rested my feet by elevating my legs on a hard kitchen chair.

When she got her foot on that pedal, the whirring never stopped and went a million mpr. But she can drive motorcycles up cliffs, so I wasn't surprised.

This small feat made me feel extremely confident. I could now make Batman's get up like his right hand man: Fox, (Along with Alfred, I guess)

The hemming was only part of the job. I had to "tack" down the cuffs so they wouldn't bother him as he wore the jeans/basketball pants. This took me into the weee hours of the night. Only to watch him leave the following morning in an older pair of pants. If he hadn't been at the end of the driveway when noticed, I would have dragged him inside and put one of his new pants on his head.

"I didn't know they were ready!" was his excuse. -Yeah, right, kiddo.

So. I can sew. On the computer-ish thing.
Reading the manual was actually pretty easy. Except there is A LOT I don't know how to do and my ancestors turn in their graves over this.

(a very old sewing machine that I'm sure those who used it would have killed for one like mom's that basically sews for you if you can figure out how to tell it what to do.

Over coming my fear and laziness opened up a whole new world, I felt like yelling:

'FREEEEEDOMMMM!!!!!! '
'I'm not as dumb as I thought!! Yay!'

I started pulling out all sorts of things that needed "sewing" and whirred away.

This is another find: didn't require sewing- just cutting. But how cute is this?? The first time I saw a naked kewpie doll was in the basement of my grandmother's house. I would have spent hours playing with all the clothes that this kewpie paper doll owns. There are others. This one looks like she hit the math wall - see her addition? So she will play tennis instead. Good girl! Climb the math wall another day!I need to figure a way to display these things.... time for Pinterest! (I am just now looking at what the heck pinterest even is/was. Now I know and realize you could spend the rest of your life looking at ideas and recipes.)

These dolls even have holiday clothes and can be set on the limbs of your Christmas tree. I guess I will keep my stick tree around and dangle
a couple on it's limbs!

Learning to sew has now made me love looking at fabric......
and I found myself thinking of all kinds of super hero outfits I could make with mom's fabric.

But there always seems there is work to be done first. Good thing these dolls realize it and have a working dress for cleaning. Mine isn't half as cute. Nor is my bucket!

********

Easter Day

Before bed, on this Easter evening, J was talking about the upcoming week and , what he'll do. He exclaimed he was going to work hard. Not only that, but help people. It was said with a lot of conviction. Which made me wonder if he'd planned on playing video games before this statement or he was feeling a lifetime manifesto type thing. Because he had a pump-fist look to his eye.

He had seen a picture of The Pope recently and in conjunction with having seen 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou?', we cleared up the question he had about whether or not they were one in the same.
The clothes and tall hats they wear sort of threw him.

So overall- it was a smooth Easter with family. Madre probably has a different take- she works really hard. But it was good.

Jaden's manifesto reminded me that he had to work on his 'Duty to God' segment for scouts, April is centered around Faith. (scout leaders deserve more accolades than I can think of.) so I incorporated some ideas into the conversation to help him keep his vow to work hard. It went like this:

Me: Remember you don't have to kill yourself working. Just steady and slowly you will accomplish a lot. Kinda like how you showed me the one pound weight and said it was just right for me? You were right!
My arms are still flabby but underneath...... Ha! Just watch out!

As deeper night descended,
I recalled a saying above the door a child's bedroom set in small, vinyl lower-case letters:
'do something amazing.'

It wasn't centered but on one side of the door frame, so the kid would see it every time he/she walked from the room. My prednisone brain blurped out:

Me: Do something amazing!

Which sounded half sarcastic, but I meant it and was trying to engage funny in him. I have another similar attempt at funny with Padre and he mentioned something about The Ark. (not Noah's, but the homeless shelter. So I am going to work on my timing, I suppose. Because Jaden retorted back with a sarcasm similar to mine with:

J:" Like what? Become Jimmer Fredette?" he asked in a dull, tired manner- as if the conviction had already left him.

Eventually he rolled over and fell asleep.

Something a canine would do. But that's just what he did.

(the Easter candy must have not worn off with a gradual taper but more of a drop off the cliff; he simply zonked right out.)

I was thinking more along the lines of picking up the remaining sticks from the tree branch cut down last November and starting to rake the back yard with me.

(Actually, I won't be able to due to this fun number:

No, not just an ugly foot will keep me from the yard work. It is sprained and there are bruises where the little capillaries just couldn't take of water retention and impact of me simply walking, exercising or those bumps in the lawn that roll your ankle like you were playing a game and were one on one with Fredette on defense. Where you, unfortunately rolled your ankle.

Wouldn't that be a much cooler way to roll an ankle than a divet or the edge where the gutter meets the street?

Don't you love giving advice that you don't do yourself? Especially as a parent?
Well, I will go put some menthol on the muscles I pulled last week, some frozen veggies on my phantom prednisone pain that is currently residing in necessary appendages, bones, and brain, and try to go to sleep.

Maybe all this down time has had a purpose!! Not just to learn the ins and outs of our health care system, but to learn new skills, like sewing!

And compassion.
Every day my mind is blown away about what I didn't know and what it has taken for me to realize.

Before J really went to sleep he wished me a Happy Easter.