Finally!

Nineteen days.

One. Nine.

That's how long I have been without a washing machine. Since the night of June 13.

This is not to say we did not purchase a washer (and dryer since mine was as old as the washer and not long for this world). That was done on Day 2. Delivery scheduled for Day 7.

• Day 5 - they called to reschedule. The dryer had arrived at the warehouse damaged in transit. They will call when the new one arrives. And no, they won't deliver the washer by itself. (In hindsight, a good thing!)
• Day 10 - I call since I haven't heard anything. It just arrived at the warehouse. They will deliver on day 12, between 12:00 and 4:00 pm.
• Day 12, 4:40 p.m. Truck finally arrives. They remove old washer and dryer. Take new dryer off truck (it has to go in first). Take out of box. Discover it is broken from manufacturer - bolts are not in the right place. Assure my man someone will call him "first thing tomorrow." (I'm in Houston)
• Day 13 - Of course no one calls, in spite of my man waiting at home for two hours. He finally goes to work and calls from there. They assure him they will be able to deliver it on Day 17 (this past Tuesday).
• Day 16 - Verification call received - delivery scheduled between 8:00 and 12:00 noon Tuesday.
• Day 17 - Rainy morning. I give them extra time. Finally at 1:30 I call. "I don't know why they scheduled that - I'm showing no dryers are available until July 11." I ask for the supervisor, who is at GE, not the warehouse. "Yes, they are now back-ordered until July 11, but yours should have arrived at the warehouse yesterday." Puts me on hold. "Well, it didn't get there yesterday, but it just arrived today. They are booked for tomorrow but they can deliver it Thursday. They'll call to let you know what time." EXCUSE ME?!?! There have been THREE botched attempts to deliver my order, and you're just putting me back in the regular line? (I'm thinking, why is the supervisor not borrowing a truck and personally driving it to my house?!) "Once you have the items, you can call me back and we'll discuss compensation for your trouble." (I can predict how that will go!) So I thanked her, hung up, went to the store and canceled the order and got my money back. It took a little time and another phone call from the store to the warehouse (mostly because they were confused why my old appliances had been taken without new ones left) but the supervisor in the store was understanding and helpful.
• After dinner we went to Sears and bought a Whirlpool. "We can deliver them this Thursday. We'll give you a 2-hour window." YES!!
• Last night the automated call came and the washer and dryer are to be delivered between 8:30 and 10:30 this morning.
• 10:10 a.m. The Sears truck pulled up to my driveway. A pristine, working washer and dryer were installed and tested in a mere 20 minutes. The delivery guys were efficient and cordial.

Conclusions:

• Customer Service is a foreign concept to many folks today.
• Don't buy anything that requires delivery from the big box store with "Depot" in the name. I have subsequently seen online reviews where other folks all across the country have had horrific experiences with them.
• Sears still is king of appliances in my book. They did what they said, when they said they would.
• I have never been so excited about a day of doing laundry as I am today!

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Tuesday's Trivial Tidbits

• The kids came back (at 2:00 a.m. Saturday!) exhausted but had a great time at our church youth camp in Taos, New Mexico.
  
• The new washer and dryer which were supposed to be delivered Saturday just in time to wash all their dirty clothes? Delayed - the dryer arrived at the store damaged. Hopefully, just a couple more days. . . .
  
• The good thing about a washateria is you can wash everything at once - 4 machines going simultaneously makes for quick work.
  
• The bad thing about a washateria is that no matter how low you set the dryer, the clothes still come out so hot you can hardly handle them to fold them.
  
• Summertime, and the livin' doctor's appointments are easy. At least they are easy to schedule! Today it was the oral surgeon for a consult and to set up wisdom teeth removal for my boy. Tomorrow we head to the eye doctor for my girl and see about trading glasses for contacts.
  
• Why is it always the case that when you send off for something, they manage to immediately deposit your check, but take their sweet time about sending you what you requested? Still waiting on the Texas Department of Public Safety paperwork to arrive to start driver's ed with my boy. But the check cleared the bank two weeks ago, barely 4 business days after I mailed it.
  
• In the midst of all my fun reading for pleasure and reviews, I just realized I have to do my continuing education for my nursing license renewal before my birthday in early August. Which I can fortunately do through a home study/online course. But somehow, reading about H1N1/Swine Flu isn't nearly as exciting as the books in my stack!
  
• The quiz below made me laugh. It's nice to know I'm the kind of cookie I like best. (And doubly nice to know it's been around longer than I have!)

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

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All Washed Up

The kids head out to youth camp tonight. Yes, tonight. Because it's quite a distance where they are headed, so they will be leaving on a jet plane on a chartered bus around midnight.

That will actually get them to camp a little earlier tomorrow than they need to arrive, but our youth minister didn't think the parents would be too thrilled about bringing the kids to the church at 3:00 a.m.

I love our youth minister!

So about 9:00 last night everyone got in their jammies and I did one last load of laundry. Jeans, denim shorts, etc. Heavy stuff.

And right in the middle of the cycle, the washer died.

As in kaput. D-E-A-D. We couldn't even get it to drain the water. So my man lifted the sodden heavy stuff out and squeezed the bulk of the water out of them and we put them in a big trash bag. He said, "You could probably just rinse them out in the sink." Uh, no thanks. A load of dainties, maybe. Heavy jeans, no way. So I got dressed and ran to a friend's house and ran it all through her rinse cycle.

By the time I got back, my husband had bailed.

The water, that is.

So much for eating bon bons while the kids are gone. At least our newest issue of Consumer Reports that just arrived has reviews of washing machines!


Photo courtesy of stock xchng.

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Everything Old is New Again

Since I love finding out bizarre & random stuff and passing it along to you, I have an important question:

Do you know what week this is?

International Clothesline Week.
Seems there's a growing segment of the population that is urging us to air our dirty laundry let it all hang out to dry. Some feel it's important for the environment as well as the economy because of the amount of electricity used on dryers.

Now I'm all for saving money, but since the claim is that dryers account for 6% of a family's electricity usage, I'm not in too much of a panic. (The clothesline proponents act like it's 60%!) I'd much rather bump the thermostat up a couple of degrees! Besides, this movement is apparently geared for a different and much younger generation, as one site urges consumers to put up "a clothesline, just like your grandparents did".

Well, even though I'm not older than chocolate chip cookies, I do remember the days without a dryer, or at least when the dryer was new enough to only be used on rainy days. And rather than being a pleasant nostalgic memory, I mostly remember it being a lot of work, and I also remember the laundry (especially the sheets & towels) being stiff and scratchy. Experiencing a memory at your own house where your mom assigns the chores is just a tad different from a memory when you go to visit your grandmother!

And with all the pollen that Central Texas is known for, I imagine that most of the time the laundry would have to be re-washed as soon as it was brought in, if I had a clothesline today. I'm not sure I could breathe if I had to sleep on sheets that had hung outside when the oak trees are dropping their flowers. My MIL grew up on a farm, and she talks about how dusty the laundry was when they brought it back in. I suspect West Texas with its dust storms and some other midwestern states have the same problem!

Oh, and the reasoning on that website that asks "Why spend on artificial products to make your clothes smell like mountain meadows, when you can get a better effect from your backyard?" Obviously those folks didn't grow up in southeast Houston, just a couple of miles from Stinkadena!

But if you feel the urge, go right ahead. There are even websites with instructions detailing how to use a clothesline! (I'm just wondering. . . .how much do you think those 20-somethings are spending at Starbucks with their laptops while they read about saving a few dollars and how to hang clothes on a line?) It's also apparently been a hot item of debate & contention in some neighborhoods, and some homeowner associations have even banned them or at least put heavy restrictions on them. (This has sparked the Right to Dry Campaign, and they even have a petition asking the First Family to line dry their clothes on the White House lawn one day! Sorry, but I think there are many issues with greater urgency facing our country than how we dry our clothes!)

BTW, if you are going to be shopping for a clothesline, be sure to check out The Clothesline Shop - they even have one that puts the clothespins on your clothes for you!

What's your preference? The answer is blowing in the wind!

Ironically, one of my clearest memories as a very little girl involved both the clothesline and chocolate chip cookies. My mom was in the middle of making cookies, and toward the end of the stirring process had to stop and go hang another load out on the line. I was about 4 years old at the time, and I thought I would surprise her and finish mixing them. So I climbed up in the chair by the table and stirred the cookies. Stirred them right onto the floor. And in those days, Sunbeam Mixmaster bowls were glass. I saw my life flash before my eyes. But while my mom wasn't thrilled about the loss of her bowl and the cookie dough, she realized I was trying to be a helper, and I didn't get in trouble. I still like chocolate chip cookies, but I don't like clotheslines!

First, the clothesline; next it will be this.

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