Appliance Woes

You know, I wasn't too happy when the coffee maker suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks ago.

And I was quite annoyed that I had to make a special trip to the Dollar General and shell out ten whole dollars for a shiny new one.

Um, yeah. That was nothing.

I'm thinking we'll be spending about forty fucking times that tomorrow, when we go to pick out our new washing machine.

Yup, the washer, she is dead. It was so sudden, we're still in shock. One load everything was just fine, and the next, well, I walked in to find Shrike bailing water out into the sink.

The wash cycle still seems to work and, evidently the rinse, but that's as far as it gets. It won't drain or spin.

And those are kind of necessary components to the whole washing process.

Shrike consulted with a guy at work who knows how to fix things and he said that it could either be the belt, in which case, she should be able to fix it herself, or some other thing, in which case we're fucked.

"I think he said it might be the compressor, maybe?" she told me. "Something like that - I wanted to say 'transmission' but I knew that was wrong!"

We had a good laugh over that, "Ha ha, transmission, washing machine, we're silly girls!"

So, she got some tools or something and opened up a bunch of panels and exposed some parts that didn't look like they were supposed to see the light of day.

I offered to help, but realized it might be best if I just kept my distance. I did check in a couple of times when I heard a lot of banging - or spraying water.

She never found any belts that looked problematic, so it's evidently that other, "fucked" thing.

She did, however, find the owners manual. As she was looking over it, she said, "Hey, it does have a transmission! Son of a bitch, how 'bout that!"

But, wishy-washy-transmisson or no, we're getting a new machine tomorrow.

I've listed a request on Freecycle, but we don't have a lot of hopes there.

There are several used ones listed in the CountyShopper for $100, but Shrike's been doing some research and says we can get a new one for around $400, so I think we'll probably go that route.

It will be warranteed, and won't be so old that someone else is getting rid of it, and burly men will deliver it, hook it up and take the old one away.

So, that will be the big plan for tomorrow: decide between Lowe's and Sears and order us up a new washing machine. Yippee.

The whole washer thing has also reminded us that we need to figure out how to get hot water to the damn thing some time in the next year or so.

If I'm remembering correctly, nothing comes out of the hot faucet that it's hooked up to. Or maybe cold water comes out of both. Or something like that.

We gave up and have just been washing everything in cold water. I think there might have been some hose-swapping that was required to make that work?

But, if we're going to be washing poopy cloth diapers (which we're considering, but not yet committed to) or even poopy everything else, regardless of which variety of diaper is insufficient for the job at hand, I'm thinking we're going to need some hot water.

When we're done buying the new washer, we'll reward ourselves with a trip to Red Robin, where we'll use Shrike's birthday coupon to get a free burger and sundae!