well, i hope i don't burn down the house today...

This is a pretty good story.  Well, for us it's worth repeating anyway.

It all began with a washer and dryer.  The day after we got our keys and moved in our things, we needed to do a load of laundry.  Down to our new basement we go with a bit of pep in our step, prideful of our home and our newly acquired, albeit archaic appliances.

Hahaha, how naive we are.  We load the washer, turn the dial and hope for the best.  The machine turns on after a long sleep (four years long) with a massive groan and continues to bellow for the next 60 minutes.  We can't hear each other talk but oh well.  Then came the challenge of operating the washer and dryer at the same time.

The machines sit next to each other and have equally exaggerated noises.  They were each vibrating so much that their doors wouldn't stay latched, forcing them open and the cycles to stop, leading to messy, soapy water, angry and tired machines and overwhelmed and flabbergasted homeowners.  The solution?  Duct tape.  Yes, we had to tape the machines' doors shut to get a load done.

Here enters Ted Williams before his drive by discovery.  If you need a refresher on this heartwarming story, here he is:



{Yes, he went to rehab after three days of fame, but his teeth look great!}



Our cheap, possibly unliscensed plummer, aka Ted Williams' Midwestern twin (the hair, the dirt, the teeth, seriously, "the everything!"), supposedly helped us hook-up our new washer and dryer.  I say supposedly because his God given talent was not a golden radio voice, but rather evasion.... evasion from the IRS (yes, "the Man" came up in topical conversation), the shower, and as you might have guessed, from us.

Intially, this guy was all over this job.  An eager beaver ready to help us out.  But then, something turned; after he dented in the dryer and forgot to turn on our water heater (after turning the gas line off and then on) he was no where to be found.

Mind you this all happened after he collected his check.

A day and a frigid shower later, I was leaving for work and M was trying to figure out how to ignite the flame within the water heater...  The last words I heard from him, "Well, I hope I don't burn down the house today."

Me too, honey.  But as soon as I get to work I see this from my eleventh floor skyscraper window, coming from the very general vascinity of my house... that I moved into three days before.

Michael had been turning into a bit of a cocky homeowner up to this point, referring to himself as "Handy Mike," proud that he was able to fix (mostly) all of the mistakes Ted left behind.

Nooo, Michael had not ignited our cedar shake home.  But what a crazy coincedence, eh?  Less than a mile a way from our house a large gas fire explodes on the very same morning M "hoped he didn't burn the house down."

A Ted Williams and Cub Foods gas fire later, we have a spiffy washer and dryer set.  This is when I geek out for a sec:



{naturally, we got the set in white:)}



Front loading beauties aren't they?  Oh I just cannot say enough.  The washer is quiet as a church mouse until it's done, when it sings a perty melody to let you know that it's time to dry.  Wonderfully, it's EnergyStar and very efficient.  The clothes come out of the wash almost dry and the dryer stops when they are, even if there's more time on the clock.  And, if you don't go to get the load right away, it spins every fifteen minutes to prevent wrinkles.  Everything is digital.  And we couldn't be happier with our purchase.  Whew!

Oh and M got the dent out of the dryer that Ted left, so we're good!