Laundry Doesn't Belong in a Bathtub...just sayin'

Surprise!

I'm back :) Since the holidays are over (which I hope were happy for everyone!!), I figured my excuses for not blogging are done for as well. Although, I have to say, I think I'm busier now than I was over the holidays! Which kind of leads me back to the title....

Last weekend, our washing machine just randomly quit working.... in the middle of the rinse cycle of a huge load of our kids' clothes.... So, after wringing out the clothes in the downstairs bathtub with Dave, I got my dad on the phone and proceeded to delve into unknown waters by taking apart random parts of the machine, per my dad's instructions....

Now, I have to say, for a girl, I'm pretty handy...but staring at a disorganized mess of tangled and bundled wires was a bit much for me... especially while getting instructions over the phone without having anything written or visual to guide me (VERY visual learner, here...) So, after awhile, I handed the reigns over to Dave...then we worked together for awhile.... and finally came to the conclusion with my dad that we would have to call someone...

Then came the trouble with deciding whether we should risk wasting money on having someone come out--just to tell us we needed a new one, or just go ahead and buy a new one...which is where we still are 5 days later... (to be fair, first thing Monday morning, Dave was ordered to drop his job and take on a huge project that has kind of thrown us off-balance...but more about that in a few!)

So, in the meantime, I've been doing laundry in the bathtub... I know I could go to a laundromat, or have it done at the cleaners, and we have had several friends very kindly offer the use of their washers, but...I have to admit, I actually don't mind doing it...Other than jeans, which are impossible to wring out (which our friends SO kindly let us wash at their house!!), it's super easy, and doesn't take much time (a major benefit to the mini-loads I usually do). I have a whole new respect for women who used to *always* have to wash their laundry by hand (although, if I lived back then, I definitely would have had servants to do my laundry...just sayin)

Don't get me wrong, I plan on getting a new washing machine (I'm not insane...), but until next week when we either get a new one delivered, or get someone out here to look at it... I'll just go on with my bad Victorian-era self :)

So back to Dave's fun work situation.... I won't even try to get into the whole explanation since this is already getting long.... but basically, it involves Dave being in training all day most days...getting lunch whenever they say, for however long they say, instead of coming home at the same time for lunch everyday....and staying at least an hour late everyday. The biggest kicker is that, after spending the last I-don't-know-how-many years being able to text throughout the day, all of the sudden we can't.... and it has really sucked. I didn't realize I was so dependent on our conversations throughout the day!!

 Needless to say, I am horrible at dealing with change, and for the first day and a half, wasn't too gracious about it all... But then I put it into perspective, in comparison to the rest of my life (this project is only supposed to--unrealisically, according to Dave--last until July....so I'm crossing my fingers!!), and realized I can probably survive :) So my goal is to make Dave's life at home as easy as possible while work is so insane and to NOT COMPLAIN....I so do not want to be the nagging wife Proverbs talks about...so wish me luck!!! :)

Time to go.... until next week! :)
Ashley