Sunnier Days

So finally things are beginning to look up a little here. (*A collective sigh of relief from the audience*) The new washer and dryer arrive later today and, as much as I dreaded having to spend that much money right now (thank goodness for extended, interest-free financing at Lowe’s!),  I am excited to have a pair of brandy shiny new appliances to call my very own! We settled on the new high efficiency models, hoping to offset maybe a portion of the ever climbing utility bills. The washer only uses about a quarter of the water that the old standard washers would use, and the spin cycle is so fast, the clothes are practically dry already before they even go into the dryer! Less time in the dryer also means I can actually FINISH the laundry faster, rather than waiting endless hours for all the loads to finally be done. Less water, less energy to heat the lesser amount of water, less electricity to run the dryer…all sounds fantastic to me. Good gosh, I’m getting old when things like that make me happy…*sigh* I used to drool over those pretty red or blue front loading washer and dryer sets that are ridiculously expensive and have to sit up on even more ridiculously expensive pedestals…and they’re not even energy efficient—they just look pretty. Yeah, I didn’t even bother looking at those this time. Seriously…do I need something that pretty to sit in the dark in my basement for the spiders to enjoy? The spiders can get a kick out of my new super efficient washer and dryer. Yeah, they’re white and nothing spectacular to look at…pretty standard, actually, almost boring. There is an impressive strip of lights and buttons for all the settings on the washer (new toys for me to play with and figure out what all’s what…yay!) Maybe the spiders will like the pretty lights. If they don’t, too bad. I’m not a big fan of spiders anyway—they can all go next door and see what the neighbors have in their basements and a good riddance to all of them as they go!

Also on the happy side, our Tucker had an accident-free night! Hallelujah! He’ll have a series of meds to take over the coming month to kill off the round worms and coccidia, but he should be just fine. He happily gobbled down his bowl of boiled ground beef and rice for dinner last night. I had to top off Sweet Pea and Ruby’s bowls with a spoonful of the blandness—they think Tucker’s getting some special treat and they’re being deprived, just like jealous siblings! Next to the vet will be Ruby next week for a follow up on her ear. It’s always something in this house…

I’m really proud of Michael this morning. He brought his first fundraising packet home from school yesterday—they hit you right off the bat every year. He showed me the prize sheet, pointing out the game he wanted to win and so excited--sure he was going to get it. But he had to sell ten items. I might buy one or two things but I can’t buy ten for him! So he asked if he could go around to the neighbors and see if they’d buy anything. We agreed on which neighbors he could go to—he’d happily go three streets over to perfect strangers’ houses if I didn’t set him a limit! And off he went. A little while later, he came bouncing back in, grinning from ear to ear! He surpassed his prize goal, selling well over $100 worth of items, and still has a few neighbors that have asked him to come back in a day or two! I was really impressed with my little salesman!

And the final, happiest note of the day is that I finally got my email notification that I can now log into Pottermore! JOY!! I only explored the website for a little while this morning, but I’m pretty excited about it! Makes me want to re-read the books all over again, and I think it will be an even better treat for the first time readers who’ll get to experience Pottermore as they read each new book and see the stories come to life on the web. Very super cool! So…happier days appear ahead at last…Now bring on the laundry!!