A Year of Blogging: September 10, 2011

September 10 was 'Swap Ideas Day'. It seems like I am always swapping ideas with someone. Whether it's sharing recipes with friends, or asking a coworker how they would handle a situation. Even having a conversation with someone is an exchange of ideas. And sometimes, if there's no one available to bounce an idea off of, I discuss it with myself! September 10 was also 'Sewing Machine Day'. Yeah, another day I really can't talk much about. When I went to the Bennington Museum with Sydney a couple of weeks ago, there was a small antique sewing machine. She had no clue what it was, and as I tried to explain it to her, I realized her female role models are failing her in this area. I explained that people used it to make dresses. Her response was 'why didn't they just go to the store?' So I tried to tell her that long before there were stores everywhere, you had to make your clothes. Women bought fabric and made clothes for the family. I had no way to make it relevant to her. There are no women left on our side of the family who have sewing machines, or who sew for that matter. I at least remember my grandmother's sewing machine. My mother has never owned one. Sewing is a lost art in our family. As proof of this, Sydney asked me to buy her a little craft kit at the museum. You can make your own fabric doll. It said it was EASY! So I bought it, and when we opened it, you have to cut out the pattern and then make the dolls. That was too much for me. Thankfully, I had left my reading glasses at my mom's house, so I was able to back out of it. I felt a little bad, because I don't know that those dolls will ever get made. But when I babysat her a couple days later, I told her we could make those dolls, and she said 'no, it's ok'. I suppose she needs to know how to sew, I just don't know who's going to teach her!