Waste not, Want not. I don't wanna sew!

Something I've noticed about old people lately, they hate to waste things!
For example, in the dining room. There's a rule at the Wesleyan , I assume for sanitary reasons, that the
food being served cannot be put down on the table and taken away until the end of the meal. Often, the elderly person doesn't notice the desert cup or yogert that is sat down beside their plate by a server. They shake their head no when they see it and the determination to get someone to eat it begins.

They don't want it but they want someone else to eat it. I can't count how many times in the last few years, I have been literally begged to eat food that was sat down without being asked for or desired. Sometimes I take it and hide it behind the fake flower dining room table centerpiece.

A few weeks ago, Mom wanted me to sew up a hole in her red sweat pants. Mom won't wear anything with a hole torn in it, even if it's in a place it doesn't show.  She kept begging me to take the pants home and stitch them up. Thinking she would forget about it in time, I just took them home and threw them away.

Every couple of days like clock work, "Did you sew up my red pants?"  While shopping , I saw a new pair of red sweatpants. Problem solved! "What happened to my other pair?" she asked in dismay.
Yesterday, she asked me to sew up a tear in her OLD OLD blue pockadot shirt. "Mom, I dont wanna sew! You know I hate to sew! I've got a job, a son with a broken ankle, a house to clean, a workout at the gym, a class at Church. I don't even own a needle! I have no thread! I don't wanna sew! I'll buy you a new shirt!"

"Well it would only take 5 minutes to sew up that shirt, Ann." she responded sadly.

My neighbor sews. Wonder how much she would charge me?