I had a delightful time playing with my Singer 99K yesterday. It is an absolute dream to sew on and I finished the baby quilt top I was working on late last night. In all honesty, the top probably took about 5 hours, and that included my definite struggle trying to decide what fabrics to use from my stash. I wasn't about to buy new fabric when my cabinet is absolutely overflowing.
I gave it a very quick oil yesterday, yet it still sounded a bit louder than I expected. Of course inquiring minds need to know, and yep that is me. I am quite mechanically inclined and I am definitely not afraid to tackle most anything. As anyone that has read this for a while might remember... that whole ice maker thing with my fridge... I just need the right information and I will completely tear apart anything and put it back together.
That being said, last night I woke up for some reason at 3 am. I guess that is my wake up time when I am excited or engaged deeply in something, I simply couldn't fall back asleep, my mind was spinning. It was not my fault that I opened my YouTube account and there staring me straight in the face was a series of videos about refurbishing vintage Singer sewing machines and their cases.
My case is very rough, so that was the first thing I watched and I feel like Hubs and I together can definitely repair that baby and make it better than new. I have a beautiful scroll saw that was simply made for that kind of work. Instead of making me tired, that video only inspired me to want to learn more. Did I mention that I love learning new things?
The next set of video's was geared to the Featherweight Singer 221 machines, and I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but... well... I might have bought one of those as well. It should be arriving today.
I can honestly admit that I have spent evidently the past two hours deeply engrossed in videos that show how to completely disassemble, clean, oil and service both the 99K and the 221. Now my head is spinning and I am ready to engage the mechanical side of my brain. Sweet Hubs might come home to find out I have disassembled my 99K. As much gunk that I have removed simply from the bobbin casing area tells me the rest of it hasn't been cleaned or dealt with in a very long time also.
It is dangerous for me to have time to do the things I love. What I find is one thing leads to another, which leads to another, which... yeah you get the idea. Yesterday was a day of chores for the most part. Paying bills, making appointments, grocery shopping, cooking. It wasn't very creatively productive at all until about 4 pm, and then I almost forgot to make Hubs dinner, I was far too wrapped up in working on the baby quilt top and learning my new to me 99K.
Heck, I even got Hubs working on it. As I mentioned he is planning a project, and initially he proved me right when he said he was definitely using the Pfaff, now I get the feeling he is not so sure. I understand. These old machines are absolute gems.
I didn't even manage to do much work in the treetop garden, except watering it and harvesting some lettuce and a few more of the radishes (they are almost done for the season) for our dinner salad. I need to weed a few of the boxes - birds keep planting their seeds - guess they don't feel I am keeping the feeders full enough - or they want something fresher. I also need to get the basil planted before I kill this batch also.
I simply do not know how anyone could have ever told me I would be bored being home. Truthfully, I am so busy it isn't even funny. And I love it!
I love that in the middle of the day when my girl stopped by to drop off some pavers, we are going to eventually use on our hill, I could stop and sit out in the sun and chat with her. She is quite a hustler and her time comes in small doses in between projects and jobs. As much as I hate the summer heat, sitting out front in the sunshine and chatting was incredible.
I simply do not understand how anyone could get bored or not have enough to do in their own homes. On the flip side, I mourn at the amount I didn't get done when I worked. Armed with a cup of coffee (or glass of ice water) I can keep myself entertained and deeply engaged in stuff all day and then some. In fact, I think my brain not shutting off at night is partly due to the fact that I simply don't have time to explore everything I want to during the day.
I feel our world is changing. I see so many help wanted signs, everywhere I go they are desperate for more workers. Part of my brain believes it is the crazy stimulus stuff that happened in the past year. And I definitely believed that firmly a few months back. Why work at a job that wasn't paying you a decent salary when you could stay home and make more.
Now I am wondering.
Is it that they are making more on stimulus? Or is it because once you are exposed to the freedom of exploring things that fill your soul on a deep level. Once you have time to enjoy your family and participate in the day to day. Once you can follow your dreams and imagination. Once you are exposed to all of that, do you have a taste or willingness for the mundane?
Is that 8 - 5 job worth the losses of new found freedom's and ways to express ones self? A lot of the people that were doing those jobs took that time to explore their passions. To figure out what they really wanted out of life. And maybe those passions don't align with making a burger or working somewhere that they didn't feel respected and appreciated. Where the exchange of their life, those precious waking hours, were not being cherished.
I have had many jobs in my lifetime. A few I would do again in a heartbeat, they filled my passions and fueled my soul. That number is very low. Most careers are not people's passions. Most people fall into a job because they have bills to pay, need medical, etc.
I wonder if more and more people haven't spent this time over the past year or so, processing the same thoughts and ideas. If they were temporarily laid off when the world closed, did they experience a feeling of loss of value and stunned shock? Of being tossed aside, even though they could understand it on a higher level, what did their heart feel? I know when I was afraid of being one of the ones let go to save money, I understood, but I felt devalued. Then when we were not laid off, it was a completely opposite feeling. I have chatted with a few of my friends that worked through the "pandemic" and it brought about a feeling of disregard. As if we were disposable and didn't need to be protected from the pandemic.
Speaking with friends that were laid off, I hear almost remorse that they were called back. Some found other careers in areas that filled their purpose, that gave them time to have a life. People started doing things differently and found that they were happier.
I personally don't think that taking away the stimulus and extra's is going to flood the job market with more employees than they know what to do with. I think many people have found other ways to take care of themselves and their families. That they have discovered ways to fully explore the world around them, to engage with others for the same things that they had before, but in a different way.
I am wondering if employers will ultimately realize that when the world was shut off seemingly overnight, it signaled a bigger change in the world than anyone expected. Maybe it was the start of a global shift in a way that wasn't anticipated. I have my own thoughts and beliefs on the whole scenario and I don't believe that the plan was to shift the world into a kinder and gentler way of living. I do believe it was meant to fracture us, to keep us separated and estranged from one another.
Oddly, I feel strongly a very different outcome is happening. Some are still separated by choice, but others are closer. They are leaning into one another to learn to be more self-sufficient. I marveled from a distance at the sour dough bread craze that happened at the start of the shutdowns. I was still working full time, I didn't participate. I thought is was an odd expression of where folks were, but I enjoyed watching people become more self-sufficient. Gardens popped up, meals were prepared at home. People were walking and riding bikes. Kids were outside playing. Adults were out in their yards chatting to other adults.
In the process of disconnecting us from everything, we started to reconnect to the root of our humanity. Our need to be with one another, to help and serve one another.
Are people just struggling with the call to return to a normal that benefited their companies and employers, with little regard to their need to be humans. The need to be a productive part of a larger pack? The need and desire to truly be creative and connected?
Wow... I guess I needed to finally get those words out. They have been simmering in my brain for a while now. It's all part of the process of karmic healing and it's generations old. There is much healing that needs to happen. If you are into astrology and listen to anything out there, you know we are in a period of time where much must be completely destroyed - it's too far gone to correct the course and continue forward.
I think that there are many out there that have been reduced to ashes and now it is the time to rise like a Phoenix out of the ashes and live the lives we have always had the desire to live. We just weren't willing or brave enough to light our own matches to burn it down. Yet, as the flames cool and the winds shift, now they are rising!
I am finding so much that I thought I had lost of myself and my passions. I am sure other's are too. These are miraculous times we are going through.
So the question remains... should I?
Yes you should...follow your heart! Good BLOG 381+
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