I was having a productive day...

So this morning I was all, "La, la, la, la, la... I'm cleaning and doing chores... la, la, la, la, la." And I was sort of enjoying myself. I mean, as much as you can enjoy yourself while you're cleaning. I cleaned the oven, and was very satisfied at how well it turned out. (So shiny!) I swept the wood floors, and wiped down some of the baseboards. (So clean!) I put a load of clothes in the wash... and this is where it all went to hell.

After the washer shut off, I went to transfer the load to the dryer. When I reached in to get the clothes, it looked a little like it hadn't been rinsed. There were still soap bubbles sitting on the top of the clothes. Hmmm, I thought, I hope the washer is rinsing okay. So I turned the rinse cycle back on and stood there for a minute to make sure water was going into the tub. Satisfied that it was indeed filling, and thinking that it just might have been a case of too much soap, I went back to my cleaning.

And that load of clothes turned out fine after the second rinse. I put it in the dryer, and started yet another load. (We have at least a couple of loads a day.) Once that load was finished, I opened the washer and saw soap bubbles again. This time I was sure I didn't use too much soap. And I noticed that the clothes still looked really, really wet. So I thought, oh no, it's the spin cycle that's not working. And I turned the little knob to spin, shut the washer, and listened to it buzz. It was not spinning, it was buzzing. Okay, I thought, I'll just rinse these and then I'll have to just squeeze them out and put them in the dryer for longer.

So I started the rinse cycle yet again, and stood there to watch the whole process start. That's when I found out that my washer not only didn't do the spin cycle, but had also decided to just sit there and buzz instead of agitating the clothes. My clothes were just sitting in a big tub of water, listening to the washer buzz.

I had to wash those clothes by hand. By HAND. And let me tell you , that is not very fun. And then I had to squeeze them out before I could put them in the dryer. That, also, is not very fun. (And it's hell on the skin. My hands are dry. My wrists itch. And even my nails look dry.)

I guess I should count myself lucky that at least the washer was filling and draining. But I may just weep a little at the thought of buying a new washing machine.