Laundry

I'm not a huge laundry fan, to be honest. I don't really like doing it. However, when I do it, I know that it's clean, and I know where it's been. That makes it worth it. That and sis's smile when she realizes she doesn't have to do anything when she gets home from work! Moving to the new Freehold didn't have a washer or dryer, and that left me in a quandry. We simply couldn't afford to keep washing at the laundromat ($30 a week?!) and so we bit the bullet. Gray got us a beautiful Maytag washer that is HE and does all sorts of things automagically like sense how much clothing it has so it doesn't waste water! I love it, and the clothes come out of it feeling REALLY clean with 1/3 of the detergent we were using previously. He also resurrected our ancient dryer, which had lingered in the barn at Hinsdale for 3+ years, and breathed new life into it. A bit of rustoleum later and we had a great washer and dryer, working and being put to use.

I've done about 20 loads since arriving here (not only our regular laundry but everything that had been in storage since last spring had to be washed to get the musty smell out of them) and had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I admit that the dry laundry for folding had been piling up in recent days, but at least it was all clean! And then yesterday, the Horrible Thing happened. The dryer stopped.

It was in the middle of a load, had been running fine with no noises or complaints, and the lint screen had just been thoroughly cleaned. One minute it was running, and the next... silence. That is NOT a sound one wants to hear with a load in the dryer and one in the washer and three waiting to be run. Oy.

I've come to terms with doing laundry, really I have. I do it, I even fold clothes most of the time. What I truly despise, though, is line dried stuff. I HATE stiff towels and crinkly jeans. HATE HATE HATE!!! I cannot understand why anyone would hang anything to dry when they have a perfectly good dryer indoors. I do a lot of green stuff, recycle, do what I can for the environment, avoid cleaners that are bad for people and the world, keep a garden, do canning... and all that could easily be considered my guilt payment for my dryer, because you can take away my dryer when you peel it away from my cold, stiffening body.

You can imagine my look of distress when I hunted Gray down. "The dryer stopped," I informed him, a look of grim grief upon my face. He wasn't quite sure why that was so upsetting until I explained to him that the dryer had stopped mid-cycle and wouldn't go anymore. I tried different settings, vacuuming out the lint area, speaking nicely to it... I even thought to offer it spring water and barley, but nothing was making it return to life.

Gray slowly gathered his "household surgery" tools and took my precious baby apart. He poked and prodded, and let me know that it wasn't a fuse (house OR dryer), and then did some experimentation. At one point the dryer roared back to life and I squealed happily. My joy bubble was burst when he explained that he had to order the part that he had just bypassed. Luckily it was still available, but it will take 5-7 business days to arrive.

I sobbed bitterly as I attempted to figure out how to hang the various loads of laundry that were already wet. There is a pull-out clothes line on our covered and screened porch, and after some finagling I managed to get it up (with Gray's help). I spent the better part of an hour hanging things on that plastic line, and I sort of found a bit of peace in it. At least the clothes were clean, right? That's when the clothes line snapped and all my clean laundry fell down on top of the dirty boxes and the garbage.

*SOB*

All the clothes were rescued, and set to hang in the two bathrooms on the curtain rods. Then the next load went up on the doubled outdoor laundry line, which I jury rigged to get working again. Of course the few minutes I had allotted to laundry in my daily schedule were now LONG past. I rushed to get the vacuuming done and to set up the other things that needed my attention. The next thing I knew, sis was walking in the door and I hadn't even started making dinner! Thank heavens she understood... we went to McDonald's and grabbed burgers for everyone, which was less than economical and not nutritionally great, but at least everyone was fed (and I didn't have dishes to do, either!). Whew.