First of all Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. This was the day my Mom would keep us home from school and take us across the border to see the Detroit Santa Claus parade and then take us to Hudson's to sit on Santa's lap LOL It was a magical time for us kids.

I have been without a washing machine since April. I didn't mind washing things by hand because since it was summer my clothes were lighter and the bulkier items like towels and sheets I would wash at relatives or friends who offered their machines for me to use. Now that the time for heavier sweaters and blankets is here hand washing is harder and my hands don't have the stength anymore to wring out heavy items. I scrimped and saved and banked my GST and HST tax credits and a small Ontario sales tax credit I just received. (don't know what that was for) and put that money towards a new washing machine. Yay! I tried to buy a used one, I even put an add on Kijji but no luck. I think it was better I held out for a new machine because I could have bought used one that might have not lasted too much longer.

I bought a Maytag top load high efficiency washer on sale but the taxes on it almost brought it back to full price. LOL I forgot all about the HST tax. Reading the material it only costs around $18 dollars a year in electricity to run the washer. No agitator which means I can put in bulkier items and it is supposed to spin dry the clothes until almost dried thereby taking less time to dry in the dryer or on the line. I am not one for buying extended warranties but I did for this machine because a few of my relatives who bought new machines had something go wrong with them/ If this machine is fixed twice the third time it breaks down it is replaced.

About an half hour ago my machine was delivered. I was so excited. I like doing laundry believe it or not and was looking forward to trying out my new washer. When the delivery guy tried to unhook my old washer to take away the hose connection attached to the tap was corroded and wouldn't budge. The guy tried to get it off but then asked me if he would be responsible if my pipe broke so I told him to stop. My pipes are old LOL I said I would get someone in (Handsome Ken) to replace the pipe if needed but the guy told me to put some penetrating oil and leave it for an hour. After he left I got to thinking what "penetrating oil" might be and decided it was WD40. Lucky for me I had a can of it down the basement so sprayed it on. I called my brother to ask if he could stop over on his way home from work to see if he can get the hose off and set up my new washer. He is very forgetful so he may not show up.

I have a question. My basement floods - how would I raise the machine off the floor so it would stay balanced. I checked the feet on the machine and they lift the machine up a bit. The corner where my machine goes slants so the flood water usually doesn't get that deep where the machine is but sometimes it does. The way my luck has been with basement flooding the last few years I want to keep my machine safe. LOL I so need a man around here.

I really dislike having something so pretty as my new washer sitting down my dungeon of a basement. LOL I only go down there to clean out the litter boxes and to do laundry. I tried to use my shop vac last night to clean up the cob webs on the laundry room side rafters but gave up when small daddy long legs spiders started to float down above my head. I don't know why I get so many cobwebs down there - my dryer is vented and it wasn't that long ago that I vacuumed down there.

No store bought Christmas presents for anyone this year because I spent the money on something for me for a change!

Anne