An Open Letter to the Surviving Appliances in My House

This is a letter from the very depths of my heart to the things I rely on most in this world.

Please, hold on! Fight to live!

There seems to be a nasty appliance bug going around that has taken a dear toll on my mechanical friends.

It started about 6 weeks ago when my vacuum lost its very last wheel, and cracked right across its housing. That day, I cried as I duck-taped the crack and glued three funky slider tabs to its belly. Alas, its days are numbered.

Little did I know, though, it was just the beginning of an epidemic.

Four weeks and three days ago, my washer choked on a load of laundry just as we were preparing for a trip east. It required 3 new parts and the competent doctoring of my husband to coax it in to agitating and spinning again. It is still not fully recovered, but my clothes are coming out a little less wet, and a little more clean (I hope!). It too, has a poor prognosis.

A week and a half ago, my server decided to pitch a fit. Doctors aren't sure what's ailing it yet.

Then, a week ago, my dryer started out the day with a fever. Now, whenever I use it, if fills the house with a faint whiff of burnt wires (that can't be good!). It's still plodding along, drying in double time...but it requires my constant vigilance. (Yes, I do have a fire extinguisher handy, and no, I do not leave it alone.) I'm hoping my appliance doctor can take it apart soon before the nasty illness kills it for good.

Then, just yesterday, with a house full of kids waiting for the gourmet (right) frozen pizzas I was about to cook, I found my oven dead in the kitchen. And I didn't even know it was sick!

It's not funny.

So, to the few of you, my dear mechanical friends, who are still plugging away, please FIGHT this thing! Take care of yourselves! And, take your vitamins or whatever it is you need to do to stay healthy! But don't die on me now.

I'm in the throws of a house in disarray with a dwindling army. I need you, and I can't bare to lose even one more of you!



And to my bloggy friends, will the rest of you please pray for the health of my appliance friends? Seriously? I wake up each morning wondering if today will be the day I lose another.

If I had better perspective, I might approach this with thanksgiving and thank the Lord for a glimpse of how women of old kept house--instead of whining. That would be mature, and noble (sigh).

But I'm not there, yet. For now, I need to go check on my smelly dryer, drag my seriously sad cleaner around, and think of something to cook that doesn't require an oven.