Days left

As our move gets closer, I'm finding myself less and less interested in packing. It doesn't help that our spare room has turned into a packing war zone. Now when I have to go in there I squint my eyes tightly so I can't see anything in the periphery and get out as quickly as possible.

Ryan is, of course, unhelpful in the packing field. Today, in fact, he's been entirely unhelpful since he received his birthday/graduation present in the mail:

Don't be fooled. He's not doing homework. Homework has never kept him distracted from lunch.

As for me, I have found all kinds of distractions. My coffee table, for one:

Isn't it just beautiful? After the legs on our coffee table broke a second time about 2 months ago, I decided to turn it into a piece of art-- middle school style. Just like those old desks without the threat of detention. Everyday, I've been carving out little pictures into the scratched top.

Just so you don't feel like I'm devaluing my furniture in any way, here is the view of the underside. It really needs a short, one-way trip to the dumpster.

However, carving into the top of the table is really a great stress reliever.

We've decided to toss it when we move, of course. But the more I carve into it the more I'm becoming attached. I'm thinking that I may have a harder time leaving it at the curb than I thought. It may be a sad goodbye.

Well if nothing else, we have definitely gotten our $15 worth out of this goodwill purchase.

Washing machine update:

After thinking about the walking down the street to do laundry for the next six weeks, I decided that I couldn't give up on my washer. So I convinced Repairman Ryan to help me look a little more closely to see if we could at least find out what the problem is.

What we discovered was that there was a little plastic box that controlled the lid switch that was breaking off. Which means that my washer thought the lid was always open and so, to protect me and my arms, it shut off after filling with water each time.

We were able to secure the box back where it belonged, although after we move we'll probably have to buy a replacement. Which means that we didn't have to call an appliance fixer! And my washer still works!

As a result of my adventure, I have learned more than we would ever like to know about my household appliances. And I had no idea a washer looked so frightening underneath.

Now I need to go do some laundry.

Days left:

packed: 8

I obviously haven't been packing that much lately, but that is the beauty of starting the packing early. I can pack when I want and ignore the packing when I want. I am good at ignoring.

In the mean time, my house has found out that we're moving and started to revolt. Two weeks ago it was my shower that decided to retire early. As soon as I got that fixed the bathroom scale quit (which I decided we didn't really need anyways). And this week it's the washer.

Clearly, the washing machine breaking down is the biggest problem. Thankfully, it was on the last load of the day that it stopped working. Unfortunately, it quit after filling completely with soapy water. Which led me to my romantic Saturday evening: scooping out washer water 16 oz. at a time until we could easily move it away from the wall without scratching the floor. And then mopping up the floor after learning that I do not have the coordination to hold a bucket under the washer drain.

I then tried to be the ultimate appliance repair person, which translates to me screwing off the top panel and looking at all the colorful wires. You're supposed to cut the red one first, right? Then the blue one? That's what they always do in the movies.

No I didn't cut any wires: Ryan stopped me before I had a chance to.

Turns out that that little folded paper in there is not a magic map to help you fix your broken appliance. I looked.

It also turns out that there is a nice old man online who is willing to help me fix it via webchat for $34. Ryan wouldn't let me try that option either. We decided that if you were an online repairman you would automatically upload a picture of your grandfather to your profile because who wouldn't trust their grandpa to fix their washer?

The thing is that we paid less for the washer to begin with than it will cost to get a real person out here to fix it. So for now we're enforcing a strict test to all clothing items before they go in the laundry basket and collecting quarters. And counting down the days till we move.