Grandma's Sewing Machine

I want to point out that this machine is not new. I guess its no longer new to me either. I inherited it back in 2007. In this photo its missing a piece, I haven't lost it, that piece just hasn't made it into my bedroom where its new home is.


Back story (and the whole reason I decided to blog about it):
I love to sew. I received a sewing machine, a brand new one with all the bangs and whistles for my High School Graduation present. When it broke, died, and I realized new sewing machines are pieces of junk and I now needed a new sewing machine, my Grandma told me I could have her new sewing machine when she passed away. I told her thank-you and how grateful I was but in the back of my mind I was thinking "new sewing machines are a piece of junk, I want your old sewing machine" but beggars can't be choosers.
So when the time came along that I was to receive her sewing machine I was given the above shown sewing machine. A Singer series 500A, made in the early 1960's. I told my mother there was so mistake, that Grandma had told me I was to have her "new sewing machine", I was thinking that at this point this one couldn't possibly be for me, and that someone else was to get this gem of a machine. My mom laughed a little and told me that this was her "new" machine. She called it that because it was new compared to the black Featherweight that she had been given by her mother. All those years I debated finding and buying a new-to-me sewing machine. I'd watch things like ebay and craig's list waiting for the perfect "old" machine to make mine. Worrying about getting the "new" one from my Grandma. All all that time, the perfect "old" machine I wanted was my Grandma's "new" machine.

DNA testing

my DNA ring

Through one of those daily deal sites I found a deal to have individual DNA profiles created. I decided to buy one for each member of our little (or by some standards not so little) family. It was $29 per person for the deal. This company Connect my DNA, is trying to make DNA test affordable for the average person. Their test isn't a full DNA profile. Its only the 13 sites using STR (short random repeats) that are used for DNA forensic testing. This test won't tell you anything about your DNA (ie- cancer risk, Alzheimer risk, are you a carrier for anything). Instead it only looks at random sequences and tests the length of the random sequences found in all/most humans. Connect my DNA's test is normally $89.95 per person. I really wanted to know if my girls are identical. This test isn't designed to do it, but should be obvious enough to tell if the girls are identical or fraternal.  So I was able to get a great deal, but compare their $90 test to other DNA test out there it would cost me about $200 per person to get the girls tested. For the deal I got I was able to also test myself, my husband, and our son, in addition to our twin girls. Point being if you want to have your DNA profiled, this is an affordable way (even without the great deal I found) to get it done.
Just a word, ignore their "country connection" feature. They say my country connection is Malaysia. My family history is British and Danish. The only European country on my "country connection" was Hungary. I don't even have any family from there or any other countries on my list. It was pointless. It does remind you that your "country connection" isn't what your ancestry is, it is just a list of where you'd most likely fit in current populations. 

Everyone Thinks They Have a Right to Judge

A friend of mine recently made a post called "On Parenting". She goes through a list of things that she reminds herself when she see parents Parenting in a way that she wouldn't. She has a lot of good thoughts. It brought a number of thoughts to my mind. It also reminded me of an e-article I read a couple months ago, "Apologies to the Parents I judged Four Years Ago". In this article, the lady talks about how she use to judge and realized, now that she's a parent, that she judged unfairly. 
Both my friend and this article, remind me at how much we judge each other as parents, but also judge ourselves. With my husband being deployed I am very much not the parent I want to be. I know that right now I am being a single parent but I don't know how single parents do it. I don't go to work all day, I don't have to balance a career and my children. I am still a stay at home mom, and I can hardly have time to keep up with my laundry, clean up my house, and do a bunch of other things I can't seem to manage all I want to do.
I have a hard time trying to be the type of parent I want to be. I have ideals of how I want our home to run. However I fall short.
Yes every household is different. Yes there is no one right way to raise our children. Yes there are always circumstances in other peoples lives that we don't know. Yes all of us have things that we want to change about how we parent. Why are we so judgmental of ourselves and others on how they raise their children? I think the operative part is "children". We see children who grow up with no discipline, with no respect for authority, with bad manors, with bad habits, and these are people. They grow up to be part of society. So often disrespectful, rude, bad, people reflect the parenting or lack of that receive. As parents or perspective parents, non of us want to be reflected poorly on because of our children's actions. In the bigger picture, we want to know that we can stand blameless before God and know that we did the best we possibly could in raising our children to love God and follow His commandments. 
Is how quickly and well I clean up from dinner going to reflect on how righteous my son is? Probably not. Is whether I have a decorated house worthy of posting pictures of on pinterest going to keep my girls from getting married in the Temple? I serious doubt it. 
Some things are essentials to our eternal salvation and to our children's. Every thing else is just- everything else. Yes those things make life nicer, possibly easier, less stressful, or more stressful, but they are not essential. The next time I wake up in the morning and realize I left the leftovers still sitting on the kitchen  counter, I need to remind myself that its not essential to our salvation and not beat myself up on it.

New Dress

At DI I found a dress. I rarely find good items that fit me at thrift stores. I was thrilled to find something that actually made me feel like I didn't look pregnant. I feel so fat. I am trying to loose the weight. Last time I lost the weight after the birth of my son only through diet. It took loosing 55 lbs to get to the point where I was fitting into clothes I was fitting into before I became pregnant with my son. I had only gained 13 lbs with my son. It really depressed me. This time around I am starting to exercise, focusing on cardio and strength training (with more on abdominal strength training). My goal is to fit into clothes sooner than 55 lbs, and eventually loose the 60+ lbs I'm overweight.