Replacing Appliances

Here's a helpful post on what to look for when replacing appliances...and getting them to run for years (and years and years):

http://smallnotebook.org/2009/03/11/ready-to-retire-the-washer/

Don't miss the comments -- they're the best part. Small Notebook is talking about her washer and dryer; I wish I could find more info on replacing a dishwasher. We've had a few over the decades -- and without exception, every one was a piece of crap. The current loser is broken. I've been hand-washing dishes for weeks now, and/or letting them pile up in the sink. Not good.

We need to get a new one. But which one?

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The Crazy quilting class went very well, considering (to my shame) that I didn't cover absolutely everything about the subject, and I forgot to answer a few questions that were postponed until the end. Did an adequate job, thankfully, and Daughter #1 was working the job with me, which helped a lot. But I was soooo tired...this absentmindedness is definitely stemming from not getting enough sleep.

Going to bed is no problem -- but I lay there and lay there, sleep for a few hours, then wake up as if someone slapped me upside the head with a two-by-four. If I can manage to sleep longer, then I have bad dreams. (The night after I got home from Michigan, I dreamt that I found our puppy boy Buck on top of a garbage heap, covered with snow and legs barely moving. Horrible.)

I keep hearing talk about Tylenol PM being a help. Just know I've got to do something.

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Be extremely careful with this flu. Many people were sick with it in Michigan, and my aunt ended up in the hospital because of it. I honestly think my dad's death was hurried up because of it. It's moving through Colorado...and, I assume, the rest of the country, in varied forms.

I'd pretty much assumed that only the elderly, young and already-sick were the only ones seriously threatened by influenza. But this past week, one of the women in our church got it. She was in church on Sunday, got the flu Sunday night, and at the doctor's on Tuesday. Admitted to the hospital Wednesday, dehydrated. Pneumonia and septic shock followed...she died Thursday at midnight.

Shelly Brauer was 40. She was in good health up to this point, with four children ranging from 10 to 18 months.

Don't take it lightly.