Finding Love in the Laundry Room

Tuesday morning I got a phone call at 7am. For those that know me, you know that there had better be a pretty darn good reason why you would want to tempt fate and experience the total lack of coherence and charity that happens from my pillow before my daughter wakes up and I have had caffeine.

This was a good reason.

We got our NEW CLOTHES DRYER!!!

What? That isn't the kind of exciting news you were looking for? (Well, me neither at first - I had hoped it was Alexis. Plus it was an HOUR before the earliest scheduled time.) But nevertheless, I have been lusting after a new dryer for quite some time now, and thanks to Patrick's parents' generosity, WE HAVE ONE! The highlights include, but not necessarily limited to: Dust-Free. My laundry room is located in the lower basement, a.k.a. "The Dungeon" where, from the day we moved in, everything came equipped with a permanent stain impervious to scrubbing. I am currently deluding myself into believing that I will maintain one white appliance under those circumstances. Very Large - 7 cubic feet! With a light! And a big door! I am easily impressed.

ONE DRYING CYCLE!!!! This is, by FAR, the most exciting thing in the domain of being a housewife. What should be a simple load of laundry had become the household challenge - start wash, wait. start dryer, wait and wait and wait. RESTART dryer since the clothes were still damp, wait. Start another load of laundry while waiting for the dryer. Forget drying clothes, return to discover wrinkles in everything. Throw in damp towel, restart dryer, stand there waiting impatiently for those wrinkles to disappear. Hang up shirts, transfer loads, start another wash. Head upstairs, where both are promptly forgotten until the next morning, at which point both the washer and the dryer must be restarted. Repeat previous day's experience.

No longer! Today I started a load of laundry, and when it was finished I transferred into my beautiful BIG dryer, and a VERY short time later it signaled the finish. And the clothes were dry! AMAZING!

Which reminds me of another feature - the 'all-finished' buzzer that not only is loud enough to be heard from upstairs, but also continues buzzing every 5 minutes for 90 minutes. At least that's what the manual said; I have not wanted to tempt it any further than a few buzzes, as perhaps it resorts to more drastic measures after that. Perhaps it calls for back-up. HHmmm, perhaps it would start folding the clothes while it waits... Perhaps I should get up and fetch the dry clothes and put them away, since now I am out of excuses for the laundry basket storage system.

Yes, today I am bursting with a grateful heart for many reasons, not the least of which is my New Clothes Dryer!