Wash Day Blues or Reds

 What do you think when you see my washing machine filled with red?

 Am I using it to hold punch?

Am I going to dye something?

Or did I have a major accident?

As Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. I started a load of clothes Friday night because I knew we were going to yard sales early Saturday morning. I wanted the laundry out of the way. At some point, I realized I hadn't heard the washer go through the spin cycle. I walked into the laundry room and found my clothes in that tub full of red water. Sitting. Just sitting. No spinning at all.

I quickly started pulling out the clothes and throwing them on top of the dirty towels. (Remember - they hadn't gone through the spin cycle and were full of water.)

Then I realized how red that water was in the washing machine. I ran water in the laundry sink and transferred the clothes. I let them soak overnight. Saturday ~ after the yard sales ~ I rinsed them, wrung them out, and hung them outside to dry.

Next up was a trip to Lowes to buy a new washing machine. This one was repaired once since we moved here 6 years ago. We figured it was about 12-15 years old.  The sales person at Lowes told us the average "life" is now 5-8 years for an appliance. Isn't that awful?
The good news is my new washer will be delivered tomorrow (Monday). They will hook it up and take away the old one ~ at no charge.

Last, I had to dip out the water in the machine. I started with this small pot before switching to a large McDonalds cup and then a smaller cup. Finally, I put a towel in the bottom to soak up the water that was left.

Why was the water red?

Well, at Goodwill, I bought a sweatshirt and a dress that were maroon.

I assumed they had been washed before.

WRONG.

What's the worst laundry mistake you've ever made?

***** The Lowes delivery truck was here at 8:00 and I now have a new washing machine. What great service. *****

Rocky start - rocky finish

I'm not very good at _______________.

There will be many posts that start with that sentence. 

I'll just fill in a different word depending
on what it is I might be trying to do.

Today's word is landscaping.

My plan was to fill in the bare spaces in my rock bed
where the black plastic was starting to peek  glaring through.

To originally fill this area with stones,

I went to Lowes and bought 12 bags of pebbles.

A nice young man loaded my car for me,

but he couldn't go home with me.

I was so proud of myself when I got them all out of the car.

Then I discovered that I had scratched the bumper of my new car as I dragged those heavy bags out. 

That was two years ago and my wonderful 

hubby has never mentioned that snafu to me.

Fast forward to this summer.

I needed some more stone, so I asked that same 

wonderful hubby to pick it up for me.

Bless his heart.
He set out each bag where he thought I would use it.

I just opened and spread my rocks.

Do you notice anything?

How could I not have seen the difference in color?

Being the optimist that I am,
I'm holding on to the thought that they'll eventually

look the same ~ you know, after the fall rain,summer rain,

winter snow, and spring rain.

It wasn't like I could return those bags,

so I just kept ripping them open and

spreading that stone.

Did I mention the heat?

90+ and no shade.

This is my finished landscaping project.

Let's recap:

weeds pulled - check

black plastic covered - check

no car harmed this time - check

I'll get back to you next year
on whether the stones are matching.

I'm linking to
http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/