Feb. 16, 2004 ~ My Valentine
Friday's water exercise class went fine. It was a little too strenuous for me, but next time I will go to the "Gentle Joints" class. I was all set to go today, but had several new cuts and scrapes (thanks a lot, Meadow) so decided to skip it. The rules say no one in the hot tub or pool who has any open cuts or sores, etc. I actually debated whether or not to go anyway, because I wanted to go! In the end, my sense of fair play won out. I would want others to follow the rules, so I will do the same. Miss Meadow dog is sometimes a little too exuberant and bouncy, and she accidentally scratched me yesterday. Tomorrow I have other plans, but should be able to attend the class on Wednesday and maybe Thursday. Oh, and I didn't have to undress in front of strangers, as they have private dressing areas with curtains. Most everyone used them, so I didn't feel overly modest, either. My fellow class members (maybe 40 people?) were all nice and friendly, and I felt warmly welcomed.
Friday brought a surprise -- snow! For many of you folks, snow is old news, nothing special, but here in Texas I have probably seen snow less than a dozen times in my life. It's always a picture-taking occasion. It may have been Meadow's first experience with snow. She seemed very surprised by the whole thing. First she tried licking the snowflakes off of her doghouse. Next she started jumping up, biting at the falling flakes, trying to catch them in mid-air. Very adorable, guaranteed to bring a laugh. Wish I could have caught that on camera! Instead, I took a bunch of pictures of Meadow the Blur, who was so excited that she raced around at top speed, jumping as fast as she could.
Saturday was a snow day, too, and College Boy was here with us for the weekend. It's always so good to see him! He is very sociable and is good company, though this time he had to spend a lot of time on homework. He brought all his laundry with him, and we were doing the last load when we heard a funny noise. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the laundry room, so we went outside to check it out. The laundry room was filled with smoke! Luckily, there was no fire, but the washing machine was smoking! This was not a good sign. We do have a fire extinguisher, and after unplugging the machine, I stayed out there babysitting the washer for a good long while. The poor thing has not been well since lightning struck the house and zapped the washer last summer. It was clear that it was on its last legs, but you know how it is... we just hoped it would last another year, another month, another day. It died on Valentine's Day. Husband worked that day, which may not seem very romantic, but... He came home after working all day in the freezing cold, and when told the condition of the washer, simply said, "Do you want to go get a new one?" For a while we talked about whether we should maybe try to get it fixed, but it had belonged to my mom, who died in '92, and I think she used it for a year or two. We are hard on washers, too, since Husband's clothes get so incredibly dirty and greasy. So we decided on a new one.
Sunday was Husband's only day off, and after spending half the morning in church, then Husband spending a couple of hours working on College Boy's car, we drove to town and got a new washer. He unloaded it alone, got the old one out of the laundry room (no easy feat) and hooked up the new one. A new washer may not seem like a romantic Valentine's gift, but trust me, it was. I nervously tried it out, and it seemed to work. No smoke. No leaking water. I kept going out there and shining the flashlight behind the machine, looking for water. This is what I do -- I'm a worrier. But I'm getting better. This morning I did a load of clothes and only checked for leaks ONCE. It seemed dry. So maybe it is going to behave itself.
All rights reserved
_______________________________