The Singer 'handyman' arrived the next day as expected. Unfortunately, I was busy finishing up my cooking in the kitchen at the time, making a mean chicken stew and rice for lunch (I called it
mean since my kids always help themselves for seconds whenever I serve this dish). I sure hope the fragrant smell did not bother him too much as it was nearing lunchtime. (If you wanted to give the recipe a try, just scroll down near the end). Not intending to be impolite, I turned down the heat for slow cooking and invited him in to have a look see.
At first, I kind of anticipated a look of utter disbelief on his face when he saw it, but the guy just kept a straight face and said, 'Not too bad, Ma'am. But would you consider upgrading with a brand new sewing machine?'. Oh dear, that was a classic.
I just smiled and told him about my 'mission', which is to give the old faithful a new lease in life. I also told him about my blog and how he was going to play a part in it (and then asked permission to take his picture, he he). He was a trifle surprised when I told him that I couldn't sew - Oho ... what big mouth I have. Whatever happened to 'never expose any of your weak points', eh? :P. I just stopped yapping right then and let him tinker with the machine - see what sort of repairs needed to be done.
The Stew, The Service Guy and The Little Vinca Girl
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| The Little Vinca Girl |
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| Vinca flowers |
Meanwhile, Nafisa (my youngest), was out alone in the garden picking her favorite vinca flowers. I found myself going back and forth between the kitchen, the living room and the garden. Lucky for me the stew was finally done, so I could concentrate on the repair and my little girl. If you were wondering how does a vinca plant look like, to the right is a picture I googled fromwww.parkswholesaleplants.com. "It is easy to grow, and requires little or no attention. A grower once reported that he has grown Vinca in the same location for 30 years. It successfully reseeded itself each year, with no effort on his part. This plant is known by three names: Vinca, Periwinkle (or Madagascar Periwinkle), and Myrtle. Botanists will tell you that there is also a separate strain or variety of Periwinkle. Vinca plants are native to North America, Europe, China and India. The plants are grown for its attractive glossy, green foliage, as well as its flowers. Flowers bloom all summer, and up to frost. Common colors include white, rose, pink, and red." - Source: www.gardenersnet.com/flower/vincaperiwinkle.htm
Enough botanical ramblings, back to the repair.
Here are the stuff in the list needed replacing:
* Motor drive belt
* Gear belt
* Pineapple Gear or 'something'
* House Service
After some calculating, Mr. Rais told me that he estimated the cost of repair to be around Rp. 260,000.- or around USD29.25! Wow, not too bad, eh?
While I waited for him to remove the machine for repair, I came across this website:
http://www.singerco.com/
Very useful site! It even has some free designs and project for its users. Here is one of them:
Click
here for the full instructions. Dare I even dream of trying to make such a beautiful creation? He he ... dream on ...
When I finally snapped out of it, the machine was off the cabinet at last and out she went with Mr. Fixit. It would be 2-3 days before I could see her again.
Oh, and I really, really looked forward to that day. :)
BONUS:
-- > Chicken Stew Recipe < --
Cut 1 whole chicken into 12 parts
Marinate with a mixture of:
- 1 tsp tamarind paste
- 1tsp salt
- 2 tbsp water
Put aside
Grind together:
8 pcs. of shallot/red onion
4 pcs of garlic
3 red chillies (large size)
3 pcs of candle nut/kemiri
Medium heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
Fry the fine mixture of onion etc above until fragrant
Put in the chicken parts, cook for about 3 minutes
Add the following ingredients:
- 4 tbsp of sweet soy sauce
- 1 tsp of sugar
-1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3 dried cloves and
- 1 cinnamon stick
And after the meat is evenly coated, add:
- 250 ml of water and
- an additional 6 tbsp of sweet soy sauce
Let it boil until the chicken is about done
When the sauce is thickened, add some lemon juice and
voila!
Bon Appetite :)
Oh, bummer!
I had been lagging in my posts lately, so many things happening around here that almost made my head spin! (but not like Linda Blair in Exorcist III, I assure you).
I edited and republished two of my posts from this blog, entitled '
Our Dear Pets' & '
Buffalo Shower at Mekarsari (Hold the Soap!)' in a
Wikinut website. I had to admit that it was quite a new experience - I met lots of professional writers from all over the world whom I received wonderful insights, useful guides on how to write great articles, and many more.
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| one of my published work @ wikinut |
And there was also this end of semester exams for my older children, DOUBLE BUMMER ...
Fortunately for me, the kids had all went to sleep, so I got a few hours of my needed peace n' quiet, just perfect for winding down and write. With my ever present mug of hot cappucinno, soft music playing in the background, I let my fingers to dance on the keyboard. What bliss.
The Big Day
At last, Mr. Fixit arrived with my Singer cradled on his motorbike. Oh, goody, goody! I couldn't be more happier. I quickly let him in to reinstall the machine onto its cabinet. And while working, he showed me the parts which he had replaced at his shop before. Here they are:
The pineapple gear (don't know which part resembled a pineapple!)
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| the old 'pineapple' gear |
The motor drive belt
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| old motor drive belt - crumbled at a touch |
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| sturdy new belt |
The 20 years old black gear belt (which could have easily snapped on my first attempt to reuse it).
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| pic of the new gear belt |
And finally, just finally, the machine is back to where it belong, back in the house, all 'rejuvenated' and ready to rock n roll!
SWEET!!
Dropped me 'da bomb'! Uh oh.
'Would you like to give it a try, Ma'am?", the guy asked .. [and received a completely blank stare that certainly made me looked so stupid] ... But then, he must have remembered that I sit at the very bottom of the 'sewing chain', so he quickly whisked a spool of maroon colored thread from his bag pocket and deftly showed me how to do it. (Pheww, that was awkward!)
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| he forgot to take this off - finders keepers! lol! |
After showing me not once, but twice on how to feed the thread, he proceeded and sew a straight line on a piece of blue cotton scrap cloth. Hearing the
'thudda thudda thudda' sound made my heart to go pitter patter. I felt so happy it worked again so I continued to pay more attention and absorbed as much information from him. He showed me how to refill the small thread spool, set the different pattern width, replace the needle, and so on. All the while, I had a picture of
me fixing my children's clothes, making useful things for the house (i.e. cover for my hubby's electronic piano/keyboard, runner for the dining table, sofa pillow cases, and many more!)
Ooh, so exciting!
Mr.Fixit stayed only for 25 minutes as he had another machine to deliver. After paying his well deserved fee and a tip, I saw him off and quickly went inside again .. to celebrate the homecoming of an old friend :)
*Just to let you know what happened after the repair, the machine sat idle for another 6 months before I even tried to use it, lol!
That was the time when I made my decision to become a crafter - hence, 'Mad Crafter at Work' came into existence {love}.
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