Airing the dirty laundry

I miss blogging. So many other things have had my attention for too long. I had even wanted to have a fun new Valentine’s Day fishy banner, but I couldn’t justify the desire or request of the marvelous artist since I haven’t written anything public in so long. Since my birthday is next month maybe I can blog actively enough to justify a birthday banner request. That would be fun. I wouldn’t have to worry about blowing out candles since they will not light under water anyway.

My washing machine broke. We have been arguing and fighting for months. RevMrKnowTea decided to give it a few new parts and shine it up to see if it might quit throwing temper tantrums. And like any spoiled child that only worked for a short while. It was back to throwing more tantrums within a week or two. We decided we have put enough $$ into trying to repair it that we will not be doing anymore repairs. It would be my luck that it only needs one small thing left to work again, but no more; the limits have been met.

We’ve been going to the laundry mat, laundromatic, washateria place for a few weeks. OHMYPICKLES! Those places are expensive! Now, lemme ‘splain. There are eight of us. That means that between the daily clothes, pajamas, and bath/shower towels and washcloths I HAVE A LOT OF LAUNDRY TO DO on a daily basis so that weekly bedding changes and other odds and ends on the weekend do not get put off. There is some daily washing that must get done or my weekly wash day would be so overrun with laundry that I would never been seen again much less get anything else done! So for a few weeks it has been a true laundry day or two days a week loading up necessities and taking them to the big washing machine and dryers at the wash-o-teria. This is a pain in the boo-tay. Loading up all the wash for my crew, paying those prices, sitting there where not much else can be done in the meantime, and coming home with clothes that still don’t smell clean is rather annoying. Now, I will say that I am grateful those places exist and this is not the first time I have been thankful they exist. There have been times after long trips we’ve gone there to knock out the bulk of the laundry simply so we did not stay so far behind doing one load at a time at home. There were times I lived in places in which I didn’t have my own machine so it was a frequent thing. BUT LET ME TELL YOU doing my own one person laundry weekly is nothing like doing the laundry for EIGHT PEOPLE. Sorry for the yelling.

The machine I have is seventeen years old. I really can not complain about. Until recently we have gotten along rather splendidly. I might even say we have had a rather good relationship, a loving one. When I chose that machine so many years ago I chose it because it was top rated brand and it was, at that time, the largest load capacity machine one could buy. I wanted a machine that could handle king sized bed sheets and wash loads for my future prayed for, now have, large brood. By comparison it is no longer considered a large capacity washing machine as well as the fact that I have not been able to actually put a full load in it for the past two years. It just does not seem to have the strength it used to.

I have been looking, reading, comparing, researching washing machines for about a month now. I have my top three lined up according to the specifications I have and in order of priority. We compared my list to all those reports, reviews, researches and changed a few things around, but not much. This is not a purchase I take lightly. This is a major purchase and one in which I hope not to make again for at least fifteen to twenty years! After we lined up what we wanted we began pricing and checking local versus ordering versus sales versus whatever else can go into the best deal we can get. It turns out none of those three are very affordable (for our budget) and we began looking at smaller /*insert really sad face here*/ more affordable machines. Then we remembered our taxes. We had already planned what we were going to do with our tax return this year, but we reorganized that list and decided a new washing machine was a top priority. Still not able to get my dream machine, but at least not one of the small ones out there I began to breathe better and see an end to this:

After posting that picture on facebook a sweet friend from long ago called and wanted to have Sears send us a machine. You know what I did? I turned him down. Yes, I did. I explained that while what he was wanting to do was about as kind a dear as I could imagine that we were already going to use tax return money to take care of getting a new one. I had my reasons for really wanting one a bit bigger and with a few more bells and whistles and that we could do it, but we’d just have to wait. I love that he wanted to do that for us, but it’s a big purchase that will be with us for years to come. There was more to the conversation, but that’s the bulk of it and he understood and promised his feelings were not hurt. I think that may be the first official time I have actually turned down a gift like that. Really. You know what meant more to me than the offer? The fact that he called to ask me if it would work out for me first; he knew I had a list of specifics that would work best for me. And he was thoughtful enough to ask first, knowing it’s not a short-term appliance. Seriously, that made me cry.

I tossed and turned over turning him down because I was worried maybe it wasn’t wise, that my desire to to have better efficiency with larger loads and less time spent doing laundry was overshadowing the need to simply have clean clothes. I am sure some of you gasped at me turning down such a gift.

Then as God would have it, he chose to show us His love and bless us through anonymity once again. There was a beautiful gift wrapped in a way it was obvious the gift was to be used on a washing machine! Like I wrote earlier, up there, I have my dream washing machine (the one with the specifications I want) all picked out and then the one we would probably end up getting because it is a better price. Thanks to a kind anonymous soul I will definitely be getting a washing machine sooner than later! Someone said, “Well, now you can get a matching set!” HA! That would be awesome, but my dryer still works and works really well. Also I love hanging clothes out (even when it’s not a necessity) so a good washing machine is much more important than a dryer. Well, as long as it is not 18 degrees out like it was this morning /*insert big cheesy grin here*/ So maybe, just maybe, we’ll combine some our monies with the God-gift and get my dream machine; I will still be spending less than what we would be spending on the smaller machine we would settle for.

God has really blessed my heart lot over the past couple of months. I am forever grateful to those of you who have been His vessels of blessing in my life! Thank you.