I think I was meant to live in simpler times. My (our) history with household appliances is rather tragic. I don't know what it is, but we have a tough time keeping appliances as long as they should last. When we moved here, we bought a front-loading washing machine. It died after 4 years. We bought another. It died 5 years later. My parents tell me that they've had their washing machine almost as long as I've been alive. What do I do to jinx our washing machines? I haven't put any pets or children in there, nor do I wash bricks or rocks with any frequency.
The garbage disposal whimpered to a low hum in the last year, so that was replaced around the same time as the washing machine.
The day after Good Friday (a rather busy time of the year for us), our water heater died. It was pretty clear that it wasn't going to be raised to new life with Jesus that Easter morning. Nor did it die to save the world from sin. Instead, its death inspired sinful and colorful words on that already stressful Holy Saturday. Luckily, some saints from our congregation helped Erik to install a new one, so we wouldn't have to go without hot water on Easter morning.
And now the dishwasher is dead. Not dead, exactly, but close enough, unless you ascribe to the philosophy that if something is merely touched by water and soap, it's clean. Our dishes are most certainly not clean. Spoons come out looking so much like they did when they went in that we could probably identify who used it last, by the lip-marks in the thin layer of yogurt on it. The wash cycle seems to only make leftover food cling more stubbornly to the plates, rather than washing it off. And transparent glasses are now translucent at best.
We bought this new dishwasher about 7 years ago, when our dishes weren't getting very clean. After we got it, we noticed cloudy dishes. The repairman said, "The dishwasher can only do so much. What you really need is a water softener." So, much to my husband's chagrin, we got a water softener, which makes him feel slimier in the shower and leaves his skin feeling softer afterwards. Oh, the horror! :)
A year ago, tines started breaking off the lower dishwasher rack due to corrosion. Argh. I called the company to order a new rack. Get this - a new dishwasher rack would cost over $200. What?! We said, "We'll deal with a few broken tines." But now, it looks like we'll not only get a new rack, but a whole new dishwasher, unless we want to spend $300 for a new pump, in addition to labor costs. And it won't arrive quite in time to do dishes for Sierra's birthday party on Sunday. Yeah, that's about right.
Here's hoping our appliances are done being drama queens for a while. I like meeting new people, but I'd rather not meet any more plumbers or appliance installers for a long time.
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