Saturday, August 27, 2022

Derring Do

I've been on a tear. Tim started it, really. He's had a Dewalt saw in a very large box that he bought some months ago. It has been sitting in the front hall ever since. It is not an attractive decoration, being in the bright yellow and black box, and from time to time, I complain about it. Usually when I get up in the middle of the night and head out into the front hall and trip over it. 

"Why does this have to stay here?" 

"Well, he tells me, "I can always take it upstairs." 

And my answer is always, "So how exactly does that help? You're just moving the clutter someplace else." 

He's been pretty stubborn about it. 

Since my last trip to Pittsburgh with Maddie and Rudy, I have learned something new about the Amish. Everytime we passed a yard sale sign, an accented voice would ring out, "YARD SAAAAALE!!" something which would cause the driver to stop the car. One of their purchases was a cabinet sewing machine, which struck me as a strange purchase for the Amish. I asked where they were going to plug that in at, which struck them as funny. 

The sewing machine would be taken apart and made into a treadle machine. 

I said, "Well, we've got two old sewing machines from a house. The things are very old, metal housing...." Maddie said, "We'll buy them off you." I said, "Don't be silly. We paid nothing for them. I would give them to you." 

Tim and I talked about it later and I eyeballed the old Singer treadle sewing machine, in perfect shape with drawers full of attachments for it. It both struck us as wrong that we'd been using something as a decoration that someone else would put to good use. I dropped a short note in the mail and one of the kids called me on the neighbors phone. Yes. They would surely love to buy the treadle sewing machine from us. 

So the following week, once the rain stopped, we loaded up three old sewing machines and delivered them. I took the lid off the least useful one (the cords were old and brittle). Maddie was thrilled with it. "Yes, she said, "We can use this. It's a fine machine." Levi stopped work at the sawmill and came up to see. We got the others unloaded and they looked at them. Levi inspected the treadle and announced that he'd never seen such a fine sewing machine. 

But, I digress. Moving the old treadle machine out left some space in our livingroom. I began to rearrange furniture and move some of the bigger plants from the office, now that there was room to display them in the living room. 

Tim didn't say anything while I cleaned and bustled around. 

So last night I couldn't sleep and I headed down the hall in the dark, and again, I tripped over the damn Dewalt box in the front hall and I swore my customary swear, and continued on. 

This morning, much to my surprise, Tim was up and moving. He got that saw out of the front hall. Moreover, a organizational thing that I'd wanted him to do for some time got done today. We gave the kitchen a good scrub down and did some rearranging there as well. Tim washed windows. 

I was getting caught up on laundry from being away for the best part of a week, and getting caught up in the moment, I...well...you're not going to believe it, but...

I THREW AWAY THE MATELESS SOCKS! 



30 comments:

  1. Haha! Congratulations on getting rid of those single socks!😄And how wonderful that the sewing machines are going to be used now!❤️Xo Ricki

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, it is wonderful. Her daughter's will each have a machine of their own.

      Delete
  2. Haha! What adventures you guys have--loved the Amish at the yard sales here in Pittsburgh, one of which one is going on RIGHT NOW across my apartment. Wonderful to read about the sewing machines!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We have been doing the same, throwing out clothes with holes in them. What madness! And shredded papers from an old employer where I haven’t worked in 12 years. Getting rid of things others can use is so much easier.
    KJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To top it off, i...got rid of the stuff on top of the fridge.

      Delete
  4. I think I would have found it easier to get rid of the sewing machines than the sock. I always feel that once I have tossed away a sock its mate will appear. You are very brave!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a favorite pair of earrings. After a couple years of thinking it would turn up, I accepted that it was lost and gone forever. I got rid of it and not long after, discovered that lost earring under a car seat. So believe me...i know the fear.

      Delete
  5. Now the mates of the mateless socks will start to turn up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay! Good for you. Hmmm... My mother has one of those very, very old Singer sewing machines that's being used as just a place to put her table clock. If I could find someone here who would like it, I'd gladly give it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never gave it a thought. The treadle sewing machine was 125 years old. Finding someone who could use it and was quite excited to have it made me see the situation in a whole new light.

      Delete
  7. Glad it gave you a laugh, Red!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Replies
    1. I am courageous like that. (Some of those unmatched socks had probably been singletons for longer than they had been pairs).

      Delete
  9. How crazy? I clicked back to Reader and just realized your title was derring-do. I was going to write that in my comment, above, but wasn’t sure if it was correct. It was.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad you got rid of the saw in the hall way. Everything comes to those that wait!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seriously, I have been complaining about this saw since just after Christmas. I wanted him to take it where he was going to use it.

      Delete
  11. I keep old socks for staining wood

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are in a box in the garage for checking oil. I kept two soft wool ones (of two different colors) for dusting.

      Delete
  12. I am jealous as I have quite a bit of stuff I need to clean out. I keep thinking that one of my kids will need some of it but that never seems to happen. I know I need to follow your example and just start getting rid of it. We'll see, Debby, I hope I can do it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. So many of our friends live in houses that are hard to move around in due to all the things being stored inside. My wife and I try very hard to keep ours thinned down which means we don't have a lot of decorative items. But it is a constant struggle and moves in spurts like earlier this spring when I took two van loads from our basement to our neighbor's garage sale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd have a field day here, Ed. I'm keeping a basket and dropping unused things in. When it gets full, I haul it to goodwill, bring back the empty basket and start all over again.

      Delete

I'm glad you're here!

Weary

I am sure that everyone has seen the video of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I lived in Baltimore for a couple years while my...