I read that you had your furnace fixed. For future reference, if your furnace is gas - and is - for the sake of argument - 5 years old or thereabouts, there is a sensor in the furnace that accumulates dust/dirt and that must be cleaned by a technician. This happens despite annual cleanings of the furnace. The first time it happened to us we thought we had switched on the air conditioning. The repair man told us it is a problem with all of the newer furnaces. The fast, but temporary fix, is to turn the thermostat all the way down - and then back up high again - but not to turn the furnace on. But you only get so many successful heat returns this way. This has happened to us twice - and to many others this year in the Toronto area - all with furnaces about our "age". Three weeks ago we thought it was happening again and I was up all night doing the turn down/turn up bit because it was freezing cold here and I was concerned about the pipes. The service man came, but of course just after I had finally got the down/up working again - but while he saw a bit of build-up on the sensor he didn't think that was the problem. He showed us a small, rather opaque looking circle on the furnace and told us that when it happened again, to start counting the flashes - and keep note of the times it happened - also if the flashes were say 9 fast, 3 slow etc. So we did this for 2 days and finally the down and up wouldn't work. They sent a senior fellow with a new electrical board who said that it was unusual for this part to go on a furnace not quite 5. The part cost Cdn. $400 but was covered under warranty. We have a maintenance agreement with our gas provider for repairs only - but come Feb. 10 when furnace turns 5, warranty will expire. Feb. 9 we are switching back to maintenance PLUS - for the parts. I am watching the furnace carefully though because other people have had their electrical boards go this winter too - all on furnaces of our vintage - plus other parts as well - one person has had 2 replaced. One lady asked what had happened to furnaces that lasted 25 years - obviously a "young" person. In our old house, building in 1932, the oil furnace was still going strong in 2000. The gas furnace that was in our current house lasted 17 years (which we were told was now considered normal) - so it was about 7 when we moved in. I wonder if the current one will last 10. The air conditioner had to be replaced in spring 2007 - and replaced with a 14 Seer. People were making jokes as they passed by our small bungalow with the super giant 14 Seer in front of it. Well, they aren't laughing now, as many people on the street have had to have their units replaced. I hope that you don't have any further furnace problems.

No I am not at all upset with you and I have not even said he was a beast, and yes I have admitted this is childish without question. Unfortunately we got along great for the most part of the first 17 years so I do believe I know how to treat someone when I am in a relationship as he had a breif affair when we were married almost 6 years and we survived it and came out stronger. I do not feel that he deserves respect when he is disrespecting me. In life what goes around comes around, I would never normally behave in this way but I am truly hurt by all this and I guess lashing out without it causing a big scene. My sister in law is furious with his actions and can't believe the fact that I haven't freaked. I am unaware of your marital status but have re-read your first post and don't know too many hubby's who would say ok honey let's go to the computer, when they are hiding stuff. For instance my hubby had a conversation during his lunch on facebook with his (fake..my acct.)ex-fiance while texting lovey dovey crap to my cell. I have no problem letting him go if that is what he wants but why play both sides of the coin. I do plan on telling him again cause he obvisiously doesn't get it that I am fine with this. I have held so much in through this time that I have made many wrong decisions. I truly believed when he bought me my SUV in March that he did want this marriage and I would have wholeheartedly gave it my all but it only took 2 weeks for me to see that he wanted to be single at least on his facebook. Please do not think for a minute that I do not love this man...as I truly do but I can not continue with this hurt and therefore I need to be gone. Am I going about it properly no but I do have the right to treat him as I have been treated...I know 2 wrongs don't make a right.

The sale was overall good, not great, but good. I've documented it all on my blog (see below). Sorry I haven't been around but my Grandmother died on Monday and I've been busy making arrangements etc. On the blog, you'll want to go down to last weeks entries. Here is a link that might be useful: blog

maylingsmom - I have the Maytag Bravos XL w/Steam - MVWB755DW. (Model matters - many in this style and not all created equally.) http://www.lowes.com/pd_670292-46-MVWB755DW_1z140bcZ1z11pmg__?productId=50371126&pl=1 I have really bad knees that do not allow me to squat. My back isn't very good either. Budget was under $700 before taxes. Front loaders were out if they weren't going to be raised up on a pedestal and also I wasn't going to wipe out a seal each time. There was only one or two front loaders under $700 here at that time and pedestals were $200! We read reviews until we were blue in the face. One thing we realized about the bad reviews on this particular model was that many of them were based on people not understanding how the HE models work (both TL and FL) so they were docking it for cycle time or not using enough water or it was user error (using too much detergent for a HE, not reading the manual to see how to pause the cycle to open the door), or it seems like they really got a lemon (calling it the loudest machine versus most other reviews praising how quiet it was.) Also, many of the bad reviews talked about having it for years when this particular model (755) hasn't been out that long. With many of the other machines, it seemed like the machines were actually breaking. We crossed our fingers we didn't get a lemon and bough it and an extended warranty. Been pleased ever since although I have had to play around with detergent amount and have figured out powder just may not work for me and our hard water, at least on darks.