Although I turned on the heat in my studio as soon as I got up today so it could warm up, I never got there .
I started the day by calling my new health insurance company to give them the name of my primary care physician. The call took much longer than I ever could have imagined, mostly because I’m fortunate enough not to have been to a doctor since getting some vaccinations I needed for my trip to India in 2017.
I won’t go into the tedious details, but I kept in mind Jon’s idea of “dealing with bureaucracies as a spiritual challenge”.
Every time I felt myself getting angry, I took a breath and tried to change the tone of my voice to a neutral one. And it worked. Without getting angry, I eventually was able to voice my complaints and have a useful conversation with a woman at my health insurance provider who actually seemed to care.
That took up my morning and zapped any creative energy I had. But it set the tone for the rest of my day.
I was determined to repeat the best part of the mornings experience.
Since I was already in the “dealing with bureaucracies as a spiritual challenge” state of mind, I decided it was a good day to get my driver’s license renewed.
Getting a the new “Enhanced” license which New York State residents will need to fly domestically starting in 2020, requires that you show up in person at the DMV with many different types of identification.
The Sewing machine repair shop is just about 10 minutes from the DMV, so I told Fate that we wouldn’t be going for a walk today and loaded my 25-year-old broken Singer Sewing Machine in my car and asked Fate is she wanted to go for a ride.
Good sport that she is, Fate jumped in my car and off we went.
No matter what happens at the Washington County DMV it’s never as bad as my first experiences of going to the DMV on Long Island, where I lived when I first started to drive. Still, I prepared myself for not having everything I needed even though I spent a good amount of time reading and rereading the guidelines online and gathering documents.
Either my “spiritual challenge” mindset worked or I got lucky. But it took me less time to renew my drivers license than to give my health insurance provider the name of my primary care physician.
The thought of being without a sewing machine if my Viking needs to be cleaned or repaired, inspired me to try and fix my old Singer. That and also because I couldn’t bring my self to just take it to the dump. I might be able to buy a new sewing machine for the price it takes to fix it, but I doubt it would be as good as this old one.
So I dropped it off at Charlies Vacuum Repair (they also fix sewing machines) in Glens Falls and headed home. It was another pleasant experience.
Fate expressed her anal glands in my car on the ride home, maybe as a kind of revenge for having to sit in the car for so long. I did make sure she got to have a good run around the sheep after feeding time.
We got a big package of Jon’s latest photos in the mail yesterday. So tonight I’ll get them ready for the postoffice for tomorrow’s mail.
Then in the morning I’ll be back in my studio again, I’m determined to get Wendy’s Migration quilt done and in the mail by the end of the week.
I too know the value placed in an older sewing machine. I have my grandmothers old singer which does not work and is in a cabinet….I will never get rid of it. I hope to have it fixed one day. It is one of the very first ones with a motor. I also have a Pfaff I purchased in 1988. Every 2 yrs I drop it off to be oiled and cleaned and it is a wonder to sew on. I hope your Singer works like a dream when you get it back.
I think there are a lot of us in your same situation Sally. The Pfaff sounds like a great machine. I sometimes think of selling my viking and getting a machine that is simpler and does less. I really just need it for strait sewing. I have a Brother for my free motion sewing that I love.