Where to start, it has been a month and I have lots to post, just haven't gotten around to it all. So, will start with today: dryer is broken. Has been for a week and I have absolutely no intention of having it repaired or replaced. John and Katie are upset that it is broken and I just don't care. Well, I do care, but only minimally. In fact, my emotions run more towards elation and a huge sigh of relief. Both of them think that clothes need to be run in a dryer for hours on end, so they they are hot and dried out when you remove them. I feel this is detrimental to the clothing's life-span and that of the dryer.
I was getting so tired of pulling the 6 light weight items out that Katie thought needed to be run through in a dryer. Those items probably would have dried quicker on the rack. John is the opposite, he loads it up so full that I surprised that the drum can even move with all the weight. Whatever, it is broken now. It turns but won't heat up. Good for that 'fluff' cycle to pull off fuzz and cat hair that survived the washer but that is about all.
I prefer to hang my clothes up anyway. Since neither of them are interested in buying a dryer, looks like we will be dryer-less this winter. I reminded John of the logistical difficulties of getting a dryer into the basement. It involves taking the back door of the hinges, the basement door off its hinges, taking the stair railing off and removing the door trim, frame and framing studs. Then carting the dryer down the stairs and negotiating the hairpin turn at the bottom with the concrete support pillar right smack dab in the way and don't forget to duck under the sewer pipe running along the low ceiling. Not to mention putting the wall, framing and trim back on, plus the doors and 10 foot stair railing. Add to that the issue of how to get the old one out and to the street for pick up.
When the washer finally died, well, actually the support rods for the basket rusted through so no agitation, it had to be disassembled in the basement and carted out in pieces. I carefully measured the door opening and went to Ted's Used Appliance Shop for a replacement one. They didn't have one in stock that narrow but promised to call me when the did have one. They called me the next afternoon. I know what really happened, they had one in the back that hadn't been repaired or checked out. So they grabbed it, fixed it up and sold it to me.
Whatever, I didn't care, it fit down the stairs without removing anything and that was the important part for me. None of the local appliance stores, home improvement shops or discount warehouse places had a washer narrow enough but a couple said they could order me one, for an exorbitant price. No thanks, used is just fine.
Until I has saved up for that apartment sized washer, I just used my table top washer. Cute little thing, I sat it in the tub, put the clothes, just a dab of detergent, filled it from the tap, set the time and put the lid on and let it do its thing. When the timer went off, I pulled the drain plug, let the water out, put the plug back in, refilled it and ran it for the 'rinse' cycle. After that I just hand wrung everything out and hung it on the shower curtain rod to dry. I did wonder if any places sold manglers because I could really have used one at that point. If anything was too big, it was put aside to take to the laundry mat.
Anyway, if John really thought it was a big deal, he would have walked across the street to my storage unit and pulled out the old used gas dryer that is there and dragged it downstairs. If that was too much trouble, he could easily carry the little tiny 110v volt portable dryer over here, set it down on the broken dryer downstairs and plug it into the regular outlet. Guess both of those activities are too much effort for him. Is easier to expect me to take care of the issue, problem for him is that I don't see an issue. That is the Machiavellian humor I have.
Now, on to the dishwasher. John comes to me in his accusatorial voice wanting to know when I was going to tell him the dishwasher is broken. Broken? That is news to me I say, when did it break? He says, Katie tried to use it and it wouldn't pump the water around the inside. Oh, that I say, we both knew it had that problem. Remember? You took the kick plate off last week so you could give the fly wheel a push to get the agitation going? The fly wheel is all gummed up with crude and it needs a good blowing out with a can of compressed air. Well, I have since bought a can of compressed air, god forbid one of them buy the damn can. I blew the gunk off and it works just fine. Will wait a couple of days before putting the kick plate back on, in case it needs a second shot of air.
The next day he does the same thing, accusatorial tone, demanding to know why I didn't tell him the light bulb was burned out in the kitchen fixture. Told him, I didn't realize it was out as I rarely use that light, I prefer the light over the sink. He sulks off. Several days later he swaps the light bulb out, leaving the burnt one on the counter, to make sure that I know he did it. It sat on the counter for 2 days before I threw it out.
What he really wanted was for me to ASK him to change the darn light bulb. He has this ego issue, he truly believes that I should ask him to do everything/anything. Then he can say no, demand money to do it and/or do it when/where/how he wants with no regard as to how I want it done or how it was before it broke. He feels that since I asked him to do something, then I am obligated to accept when/where/how he wants to do it. After all, I asked him to do something so I must be deferring to his expertise in the matter and will blindly accept whatever he does as I must not know anything about what needs to be done. Otherwise, I would be doing it myself, he thinks. Umm, not exactly what I think.
With the light bulb, the kitchen stool is broken so the only way to reach it is to stand on a chair. It has been extremely humid lately so my knees are aching and stepping up like that is just plain painful. Since the light bulb isn't an urgent need, I figured it could wait. Besides, he can reach it much easier than I as his arms are just a bit longer. And the tiny little screws are difficult for me to turn as I have limited sensation in my finger tips.
PITA guy, remind me again why he is in my life? Cos I can't quite remember right now.
