Escape To The Garage...

 The Hubs and I have been slightly obsessed with the TV show Escape To The Chateau, which is a British show in which an English couple buys a French chateau and renovates it. There is also a complimentary show called DIY, where the cameras follow other couples that have done the same.  There are hours of shows to watch, and we find the narration and subject matter quite calming.  I suspect best part for Hubs is that unlike other home renovation shows, it's unlikely that I'll be asking for a walled garden this spring, and, despite my best efforts, it's unlikely I'll be successful at installing a moat, sans gators, around our tenth of an acre estate.

Lately there's been much discussion regarding the Husband's shed, as we've discovered it will cost less to build one than to buy pre-fab. Where will it go?  How big? Lean to? Free standing? The list has been endless.  As have the other things that cost money, so we've curtailed the actual build until Fall. The other day I while watching The Chateau I was sketching up ideas and told the Hubs "I think we could make a turret shed off the corner of the garage.  It won't go over our septic, and it would look great all landscaped in."

He rolled his eyes.

Youngest: Wait. We're installing a turret on the garage? Like a machine gun turret?

Me: No, like a castle tower turret.

Enter Oldest: Wait, we're getting a turret? *makes machine gun gestures*

Me: What is wrong with you people?  It's a tower, and it would look beautiful and not take up a ton of space.

Hubs: *continues to roll eyes*

Oldest: Here me out, you build the tower and then we put the machine gun on top.

Me, knowing the engineer won't let this go: Ok, you can install a super soaker on top.

Oldest: But wait! There's more! We can make it so it has a water supply, like the hose, so it will constantly fend off attackers.

Me: We have attackers?

Oldest: Wait.... ooooo... we could make it so it automatically fires water back and forth and waters the lawn!

Maybe I'll have him help me with that moat idea. 

And in case you're wondering, Hubs is still rolling his eyes.

The Washing Saga Continues...

 This is the third day I have taken off for the washing machine repair man to come out.  My co-workers are beginning to think I'm having an affair.  Hubs could care less, as long as the machine gets fixed.

If you missed it, my 11-month-old Maytag washer doesn't sense when a load is off balance and shut down like it should.  Instead, it keeps trying to get it done, causing it to get stuck in a cycle indefinitely.  We found this out when 15 minutes before it finished one night, it got stuck in the rinse and spin cycle for 9 hours. Nine hours folks.  The agitator melted and split in half.  Youngest's winter coat was covered in melted plastic, as was a full load of brand-new Christmas clothes that thankfully, he wasn't too broken up about. Had water not been running through it, while draining the tub, we could have had a fire or flood, or both.

The first guy came out and declared we needed a new agitator.  Um, yeah...

Two weeks later the next guy came out and installed the new agitator but never did a diagnostic check to ensure that it would not happen again.

Two weeks later here we are, with yet another tech and a new part, checked out some things, ordered another part, and informed me we'd be setting up another date in a few weeks for install. While discussing my tales of washing woes, I did learn some things.

Apparently having a large capacity washer (8cu feet) doesn't mean you can wash more things; it just means you have more room to wash it.

The new machines have a spin speed on them. While it will take a bit longer, spinning on low or medium (ours only has med/high) will ensure the drum doesn't get off balance.

You shouldn't wash more than 3 pairs of jeans in a load and no more than 3 large towels.

And no matter how much laundry you have, you should never fill it over the halfway point. 

So now, until eternity, or the next 5 years with the way these machines are made, I will be the only one doing laundry to ensure the house doesn't burn down. But on the off chance someone wants to give it a go, I used my new circut machine to spell out the rules.

I probably could have put them on a sticky note. 

I also learned I may have a circut problem...

Jackpot...

 If you've watched the weather here in the States, you may have noticed there was a big old storm barreling towards the Northeast.  It started around 8pm on Friday night, ramping up around 5am Saturday, until finally spinning off into the ocean around 10pm that night. There was 70+ wind gusts, and white out conditions.

We, of course, were in the jackpot area where fun bands of snow, falling 3-4 inches per hour just hovered over us.

It was the first time in nearly 20 years I called in because of weather. One of my coworkers snapped this picture Sunday morning.  We weren't allowed of course to go in and dig out our trucks, because that would make a ton of sense.  Instead, it was left for our ONE Maintenace person to dig out over 50 trucks, clear the parking lot (front and back) and the main PO a half mile down the road. *sigh* Many post offices in our area made the call to keep their employees safe and close down.  Ours did not.  Eleven employees showed up. One drive of 10 minutes on local roads took 40 minutes.  Another 20 minute ride took 2 hours. Not a single piece of mail went out. 

It simply wasn't worth the risk for me, and I'm tired of management who can't understand that NOTHING Amazon sells is more important than my safety. 

We ended up with about 22 inches of snow.  With our close proximity to the ocean, the bottom 4 inches was widow maker snow, the type heart attacks are made for. The next 14 were heavier and packable. Topping off the last 4 inches, was light and fluffy snow that blew right back to where you had just moved it from. We spent well over 4 hours shoveling and snow throwing ourselves out. A young person's game, this snow removal stuff. Thankfully we had Sunday to clean up as well, and due to a well-planned appointment from a month ago, the Hubs and I were both off today as well. We finished off the access to the basement and the area where the electrician will be putting the outlet for the generator plug next week. A long overdue task on the to-do list, I had called him a few weeks ago, and he's been waiting on parts. While we did not lose power this storm, to be able to run the furnace with the generator will be a huge relief for the next time. Getting the basement clear was important to me because I have a sneaky suspicion that Maytag will be replacing the entire washer soon, as there seems to be an issue with the computer system itself, not just the melted agitator. 

After our appointment and snow clearing, the Hubs and I went to lunch.  We were discussing the hockey raffle from the previous post, because we just can't let it go. Somewhere between the endless breadsticks and chocolate dinner mints he says, Let's bank $400 and take $100 and get tickets. Then, that will be it. Done.

Dude, you don't have to tell me twice.

Driving home I think he had forgotten when we pulled into the gas station, and I gave him cash to go in. I also gave him the ticket I previously purchased to buy another since it was a $10 winner.

We bought 7 tickets total. Five of them hit. We won $75 on 4.  The last one was one of the complicated crossword ones that take forever to see that you're a loser. Thirty minutes later, scratch residue everywhere, I hear, I think I won $625.  I verify and agree. Of course, you can't cash that at the local grocery, so we got on the lottery website and apparently there's a mobile app that allows you to claim it electronically.  You just scan the barcode, and it deposits into your account. So, we set it up. Scan. Deposit... one thousand dollars.

Apparently, we had missed a scratch bonus.

To recap...

We threw $25 we never expected to see again at my nephew's hockey team fundraiser.

We won $500.

We then used that money to win an additional $1075.

Did I also mention that earlier in the week I got a check from a class action lawsuit, from a mass mailing notification that I had forgotten all about, for $340? 

The Universe is preparing us for something friends, I just know it.

In the meantime, I'm spending $50 of the winnings on a Superbowl sqaure, proceeds past the $500 per quarter winnings will support a friend's charity run of the Boston Marathon. 

What's the worst that can happen?