Recognizing that we can only go so long without clean clothes, and delivery can often take 7-10 days, after tucking plastic money in our pockets, we set out this morning to look at washing machines. It was the "plastic money" that hurt the most, as we had finally paid the card off, on Wednesday. We decided to start at this end of Nairn and work our way down toward the east end of Regent.
OMG! Have washing machines ever changed in the past 15 years! Other than the scarcity of top loaders, the most surprising was that government regulations now require machines to be "High Efficiency". This means that the machine itself decides how big a load it has and what water level will be required. Special detergent is also required ( Have you ever seen High Efficiency laundry detergent?) The first place we hit was Kern Hill. There the nice man showed us several machines, including a GE one that I fell in love with. Of course we played it cool and thanked the man very nicely, taking his card, and telling him that we were just starting out, but expected to make a decision before the end of the day. As we went out the door, I told David that I really liked the machine. He looked at me said "so buy it." We turned around and bought it. Delivery on Monday. They'll even take away the old one and hook up the new one.
We had just bought two very big containers of laundry soap and headed home to see if we could find the receipt so we could take them back and buy the other kind. Imagine our surprise when we looked at the new bottles and saw the High Efficiency label on both of them.
Then came the challenge. Could we get the laundry room cleaned up and ready by Monday morning? It's been spot cleaned, but never fully cleaned since we moved in 18+ years ago. Well, we (??the Royal we??) have been working like dogs. Everything has been disconnected, including the almost full wine rack, and moved. The room emptied of all but the washer and dryer, and shelving unit in the far corner. The shelving unit was emptied, moved out, washed down and moved back into position, after the floor and wall around it were washed. Now David has to buy replacement vent hose for the dryer, as that broke when we were moving the dryer. Tomorrow we'll look after that, and hook the dryer back up. We decided not to replace the plastic sink, as it is only discoloured, not damaged, and it might be hard to find one the right size. Then we wait for the new washer to be installed, and then put the rest of the stuff back.
Most of this activity was accompanied by a gentle, but accepting, discussion on how poor health over the past few years has lead to not keeping up with the major cleaning jobs that are part of owning a house. We haven't come up with a plan for dealing with that--yet.
In the meantime, I've started on a new series of books--The Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross. This appears to be an up beat account of a childless, gentle "Southern Lady", who has been protected and coddled, and generally treated like a 10 year old all of her life. Now in her 60's, she is suddenly widowed, and forced to take a look at her life. It is a humorous, but well written account of her awakening to her strengths and abilities, as a woman, despite being treated as almost mentally challenged by her husband and many other men around her. (Her female lawyer has to teach her to write a check) There is also a cynical account of the role of the church in her rigidly Presbyterian life--and how she starts to view that relative to the situations she finds herself in. These books may not be for everyone, but I can't seem to put them down!
This is long enough! Time for tea ( and more of Miss Julia)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment