What the heck?!?!

Friday night, I went to bed with a headache.  Nothing in our house seems to be working.  I have tried to have a good attitude about it, because I am grateful that the biggest problem in my life at the moment is that a couple of my appliances aren't working.  But I went to bed thinking, "What the heck?"

Friday's Broken List:
1. Dishwasher - has not worked since a week before Christmas.
2. Washing Machine - stopped working last week...I decided if there is one appliance I need the washing maching wins.  The laundry really adds up quick when you aren't doing 1-2 loads a day.
3. Laptop - randomly shuts down, very annoying.
4. Van - 100,000-mile maintenance so that it works for (crossing fingers) another 100,000 miles.

Saturday's To-Do List:
1. Dishwasher - courtesy of our Service One Home Warranty we brought a new dishwasher, which my own personal handyman (Jim) installed saving us $100. 

Not only does he install dishwashers, he does the dishes.

2. Washing machine - Early last week, we started noticing problems.  The washing machine would shutdown in the middle of the cycle.  We did a little research and figured out there was something problem clogging up the drain filter.  That was definitely the problem, it was full of wrappers, small plastic pieces, even coins.  Apparently you are supposed to clean out this filter every couple of months; we've had the washing machine for over five years and didn't even know we had a drain filter.  We were pleased that we were able to figure the problem out without paying for a professional...that is until we tried to do a load of laundry and it still stalled out in the middle of the cycle with the same error.

Jim spent most of the day Saturday working on the washing machine.  He installed a new drain motor, which seemed to solve the problem.  We were able to do two loads without a problem.  Then on our third load it stalled out again. 

Jim talked to an applaince guy from Gabriel's Appliance in Avondale, AZ (we recommend them; they were very helpful).  He told Jim that there was probably something stuck in there again.  He said sometimes it takes a couple of loads to get everything out of the hoses and filters. So tonight after dinner he took it all apart again and this is what he found...

A key and a piece of wire (probably a paperclip used to unlock a door).  The penny came out one of the previous times we cleaned out the filters.  We also found a tooth from a shark necklace, a souvenier from San Diego, which we think broke the drain motor in the first place.

3. Laptop - took it to a friend on Friday.  He looked at it, did a couple of things, said it was good to go on Saturday.  I was very excited at the time, but unfortunately since then my computer has randomly shutdown again although it doesn't seem to be happening as often.  We are still trying to figure out the problem.  Any suggestions???

4. Van maintenance - almost done.  If anyone is looking for a mechanic, I know a great one.  Chris has been working on the van for about a month (and I mean that in a good way).  When we don't need the van, we will drop it off for the day and he will get as much done as he is able.  He has worked on it two different days so far, and we probably only need one more visit. 

Today I'm feeling much better about things, dishwasher works, washing machine works, van has always worked but it will be good to know that it will keep working, laptop works very well as long as it doesn't randomly shutdown when I am working on something.

On a totally different note, we did do one project that we wanted to do. To kick off the New Year I like to do a project.  So on January 1, 2011, Jim and I redecorated our bedroom (I should really say "decorated" because we never really decorated it in the first place). 

We painted the furniture black (love it).  Jim gave me a new bedspread for Christmas (love it).  We put some new wall hangings up (love it).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

May the rest of the year be a little easier than the first week, especially for Jim, he was very busy fixing everything...I'm sure Chris (mechanic) and Larry (computer) will be happy to be done with our problems as well.