Friday Flotsam

Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrit’s been a week.

You guys are not going to dang believe this. I don’t like to dump personal woes on the general public, but for this, I gotta collect data and make a big decision, man!

PONY UP.

Last Friday (as in, an entire week ago) I started a load of laundry and zipped out with my friend to an estate sale. Got home and found the washing machine . . . blinking. With an error code. No.

(Why yes we just replaced our broken refrigerator. Good memory.)

I started the load again, only to get the same message. NO, NO.

Aaron and I both had busy days and didn’t see each until later that Friday night. So Saturday morning we YouTubed a few tutorials and discovered that this code is fairly common, but could be anything from unplugging and restarting, to traveling to the Moon to get specific martian dust particles. So we booked a technician with Sears for Monday morning between 8am and noon. That timeframe came and went. They called to reschedule for the next day “due to unforeseen circumstances.” Hmm. Okay.

Tuesday’s timeframe came and went (You really didn’t think I was going to leave out the entire STORY of this, right? You know me better than that.) We got another message right at noon saying they needed to bump.

So I went another route and called, what I thought, was a Prairie Village appliance technician.

Guess what.

It connected me back to Sears!

I was like, “Oh hell no. You stood us up twice. Give me another company.” And the dude was like, “Booking online is weird, you’ll have better luck booking over the phone because we’ll give you tracking, the technician’s name and exact timing.” I said, “You’re SURE?” And he swore to me.

He swore to me.

So I . . . booked again. Why are you looking at me like that?

(Why yes the laundry pile has reached the chimney by now. And looks like a Ren and Stimpy cartoon.)

The next morning at 8am I get my first text alert telling me the technician’s name, the fact that we’re 3 stops away and his arrival time of 9:45am. Great! This is great! This is different! I refreshed closer to 9am and saw that we’ve been bumped to 11am and are now 2 stops away. Okay, can totally deal with this.

Refreshed again closer to 10 and saw that we’re now bumped to noon and 1 stop away. Hmmm. Okay.

Refreshed again at 10:45am and saw, “You’re the next stop!” but the timeframe is now between 1pm and 2pm. My stomach dropped. I waited 30 more minutes, refreshed and saw that the alert went away and the timeframe now said between 3pm and 4pm. NOOOOOOO.

At the same time, Aaron got an automated call saying they needed to reschedule. So we just canceled everything and put a For Sale sign up in the yard.

Just kidding.

What’s the saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool with me three times, sell the house? Something.

So I called AB May, gave them the sob story and they were out by 10am the next morning. Which was yesterday morning. And after a quick glance at the machine (it’s very old), a reboot and a dissection of the motherboard or whatever the hell it is, it was declared dead. The parts don’t even exist anymore.

I HAVE MORE APPLIANCES TO BUY, IS WHAT I AM SAYING.

I cried. I did. I cried to my friend Kim, who graaaaciously has been letting me do my laundry at her house just up the street the past two days. One more load this morning and I’m all caught up.

But . . . now I have to buy a washer/dryer set and I am pissed off and CLUELESS in this arena. This is the thing. I do not care. It’s in the basement. I don’t have an attractive laundry setup. It’s very ’90s down there with props and Christmas and Halloween and luggage and camping crap all set in wood paneling. It’s nothing. But I need you tell me what to buy! I just need something to wash and dry and not break.

I’ve heard Speed Queen is incredible, but that’s a LOT of money. I don’t need bells and whistles. I really just want something that’s high efficiency and white. That’s all. I don’t care if it’s front or top loader (what’s the better option though? Why did we all switch to front loaders years ago? Is it really that much better?), I just need press start and walk away.

What do you use? What do you love? I’m collecting this data today and ordering tomorrow morning.

Thank you for the input! And for listening to my never-ending woes. (how about, also this week while this was happening, we had to have an electrician come fix the wiring between our dishwasher and disposal because they were both fusing out and not working. Hahahahah! WHAT IS GOING ON. I need one week for things to just . . . work.)

The end. I hope.

While I have you, wanted to let you know we’re closing shop on Nat’s Girls Scout cookie site in about a week, if you still wanted to order. Not sure why I’m helping her out though, as earlier this week she said to me, “Your nose is extra pointy today.”

Hmm. Thank you for that, you 11-year old turd. Here it is, for those still in need of cookies. And of course a massive thank you to those who have ordered! You da best.

Weekend plans?

It’s a wild one over here. The kids aren’t in school today (when are they ever?) so I’m chaperoning a bunch of Girl Scouts this afternoon to an event downtown at Union Station. Should be super cute. Tonight’s Aaron’s winter work party (held at Allen Fieldhouse, for those JayHawks lovers!), so I have to get dressed up nice while thinking about washing machines. Yay? Tomorrow I’m actually going to a funeral for a guy I knew loooong long ago. Undoubtedly a sad situation, but going to be great seeing old friends from a few lifetimes ago. Then a soccer game Saturday night and the Super Bowl on Sunday! And ordering a washing machine. Like stat.

From this week::: Soba Noodles With Shrimp! Delicious and slurpy. And the video for it! Also your Feb mixtape. It’s GREAT. I really hope you’ll listen, if you have a slight indie side.

Okay, guys, washer and dryer set. What am I buying?!