Exciting New Additions

Roxy in the old bed

Mitzi nesting in the sofa pillows

Big excitement today: the delivery of a new (to me) washer and dryer. When we bought this house I asked to have the appliances that were in place in the house. I figured it would save me an outlay of thousands and would give me time to amass the needed cash to purchase new ones before the old collapsed weeping in exhaustion. Since then we've had a few repair bills: the ice maker had a few problems that were expensive but less so than a new unit, and I had one service call for the dryer (?) that must not have been a big deal because I have already forgotten what it was. Lately the washer started refusing to click forward to the next cycle and was lounging around with a full tank until someone would come along and try it a few times or on different cycles.  True to my thrifty character I called in a repairman to see what it would take to replace the timer. Apparently people are very proud of their abilities. It cost $100.00 for me to tell him what it needed; he gave me an estimate for repair parts and labor that would actually pay for a new unit. Shana and I sat on it, we talked it over, we couldn't decide. Then out of the blue a friend told us she would be selling her one year old Maytag matched pair. For less than the total cost of our repair estimate. She was selling them for about half of what she paid for them only a year ago. I did have to pay someone to pick them up for me and take my old ones to the dump - not inexpensive but done without worry by guys I trust to handle my things without breaking them and not to break into my house later. Yay! Faster, less water, bigger capacity, and I am sure the electric to run them will cost much less than my old 20 year old units. Plus they are purty.

In the area of doggy thrills Roxy and her old bones got a new dog bed yesterday. She was starting to have trouble climbing out of her favorite laundry basket. Since she spends a lot of her time sleeping these days and has achy old bones I sprung for a new comfy bed for her. She checked it out right away - in fact she is in it right now. I keep quite a few dog beds around - three upstairs and two downstairs plus the downstairs laundry basket which is the stormy weather bed. The girls rotate around them during the day plus various spots on the sofa and my bed that appeal at different times of day. Lots of lounging going on here.