of mice and men

a couple of weeks ago the googiedaddy and i did what two semi-intelligent decent adult people do on a snowy saturday:

sat down and went through the bills. we consolidated, figured, paid off, budgeted, and made plans.

oh what fun it was.

but we have a budget, and we’re sticking to it.

and thus did the gods of small home appliances hear our plans, and oh how they laughed.

just like that—in quick succession--our dishwasher, vacuum, garbage disposal and oven went.

if it wasn’t the absolute honest to goodness truth, i wouldn’t believe it myself.

the dishwasher just decided it was done washing. as we were literally on our way out the door to buy a new one, a friend stopped by.

a small appliance repairing friend.

in about 45 minutes he dug down to the source of our issues: a chicken bone, and various other to-remain-unnamed grossness clogging/blocking/annoying the water pump/filter/flux capacitor. i’m not entirely sure what was where doing what.

all i know is he saved us about $450, minus the gift certificate we bought him since he wouldn’t accept payment.

the vacuum? well, after a thorough talking to, stern lecturing, and emergency beater bar hairectomy it pulled itself together enough to struggle on.

yes, the hose is duct taped. yes, the light flickers like a strobe. yes, it was a hand-me-down to begin with. but it works well enough. we will deal. we’ve promised it that it’s the next up for early retirement, so long as it works with us for a bit longer.

the garbage disposal, however, would not listen to reason. it was a stubborn chap. we had to give it tough love. it was kicked out, and replaced. but with much stronger model—one capable of handling the chicken bones the dishwasher keeps whining about.

googiemomma’s etsy money literally down the drain.

and finally, two nights ago, our oven. jauntily going about it’s business—baking away the evening’s meatloaf dinner—decided to throw itself a party.

complete with fireworks.

oddly enough, we were not impressed. turns out sparks + electric oven bake element = scary.

and the three loaves of bread rising on the counter couldn’t just bake themselves.

so, googiedaddy took our bread on a little trip to grandma’s house, and googiemomma spent more of her hard earned etsy money ordering a new element on ebay.

and thus ends my tale…budget still intact, all in all we emerge relatively unscathed, having successfully navigated the treacherous waters of Adulthood and the Bay of Homeownership.

unless you’re a paypal account, in which case you took a pretty good hit.

***so apparently blogger wants in on the action too. i broke it.
or something. if anyone can tell me why i can't turn off "bold" i'll be forever grateful.
i will not, however, replace blogger with a new one paid for from my paypal account. no matter how cheap it is on ebay.