Update

There was a guitar pick in the drain pump of my washing machine. I had to remove the drain pump entirely, shake it around, and even after I saw what was in there, I had to do some serious fishing to get it out. The good news is that I got the machine put back together and didn't break anything in the process. Not even the pick. The one sump pump just needed a kick with a broomstick, and I'm suspecting high water table/too much rain as the culprit for the water pouring into the basket of the other one. It has stopped now. My fixed-it list for this place just keeps growing. A week or two ago, I replaced all the drain pipes under the kitchen sink. When I removed the sink to replace the faucet awhile back I loosened enough joints that it started leaking all of a sudden. The silly thing didn't meet code when we bought the house, so I decided to fix it the right way as long as I was taking it apart. My friends at the Home Depot helped me with that little project. From wiring to plumbing to appliances, I'm becoming a regular handywoman. Hey, I gotta get my kicks somehow and it's sure not going to be from mopping floors.

From beach to tundra in the swish of a shirt sleeve

Our house was built in 1958. And so was the thermostat. It was one of those classic round ones with the little dial that wizzes back and forth with the slightest nudge. This thermostat was located in the hallway. So, periodically we'd find ourselves sweating, wiping our brows, and making mad dashes to the thermostat to determine that someone's shoulder had gotten just a little too close. We eventually decided to put in one of these fancy new digital thermostats that are supposed to save you money. Ha. Last night at 3 am, both kids are awake and freezing to death. My clue that something might be wrong was that my nose was cold and I'd been laying there waiting for the furnace to kick on for way too long. Suspecting that our aged furnace may have finally quit, I tromped downstairs. I hate tromping downstairs in the middle of the night. The boogey men are going to get me one of these times, I'm sure of it. They spared me last night and I turned on the light to find that the LCD on the thermostat was blank. Except for a little battery shape with the word "replace" inside. The furnace doesn't run because the battery gives out? Whose brilliant idea is this??? Why doesn't this thing hold a safe temperature as a default or at the very least chirp obnoxiously like a smoke detector? If it had happened a few days earlier, we would have come home to frozen pipes and dead fish. Did this not occur to anybody as a potential problem? While Andy comforted Annika, I sifted through flashlights, trying to find batteries juicy enough to run the thermostat till morning when I can go to the store and buy new ones (I haven't gotten to the store yet). The second set of AA's seemed to hold. The furnace started buzzing and that was resolved in 15 minutes or so. The kid was not. At 4 am, I finally let her cry herself to sleep because I was tired of sitting next to her crib and Andy had already taken his turn. This was only the beginning of woes today. Andy reported on his way out the door that the critical sump pump (i.e. the one that keeps our basement from flooding) was not pumping. Water had been pouring in the other sump basket from under the basement floor all day yesterday and I hadn't had a chance to inspect it yet. My washing machine has something caught in the drain pump and it sounds like it's going to rattle to pieces when it runs. All these fancy devices, trying to make life easier. What would we do without them?

Home Again, Home Again, Riggidy Jig. Or something like that.

We made a short trip home this past weekend. With the exception of the detour in Chicago where we sat on the shoulder of the I-90 expressway during rush hour, it was a good trip. I won't go into details except to say that the rental van ran a little better than the one we set off in. On the way up we stayed the night in Wisconsin Dells where the kids enjoyed a great pool.

Never mind that we've been home 3 days and the pictures are finally showing up now. My laundry isn't done either. Though I did resolve the issues (at least for the moment) with both sump pumps and the thermostat, and the house is more or less clean for our company arriving anytime.