Just Me Venting

Today, I am posting only because I need to vent.

Or am I just feeling extra crabby today?

I don't think I am crabby.  I am just sick of my stupid appliances.

And I blame the tyranny of our government leaders who are overreaching their slimy rotten tentacles far beyond what should be allowed, trying to micromanage my private life.

I am directing screams of hatred towards my stupid GE high-efficient top-loading retarded washing machine!

When we lived in Wasilla, I had a SpeedQueen, and I loved it!!!  Okay, it made some really horrible sounds, but that only started after I washed some pillows in it and it got off balance.  Ever since then it made a horrible grinding sound during the wash cycle.  We had a guy come out and look at it once, and he couldn't find anything wrong with it.  It still worked great, so we put up with it.  Chuck always hated that horrible noise, so every now and then we'd look at the new wash machines when browsing through a store, but never bought one because ours still worked fine.  And besides, I didn't like the idea of buying those new ones that came with all their new regulations that would probably hinder me from getting my clothes nice and clean.  Unfortunately, when we moved, Chuck didn't want to take our SpeedQueen with us.  Oh, how I miss that SpeedQueen, grinding noises and all!

When we moved into this house, the previous owner left ALL the appliances behind.  He probably thought he was doing us a nice favor because they are the new fancy expensive models with all the bells and whistles.  I'm sure they cost a pretty penny. He made a comment something like "you can tell I'm a fan of GE."  I don't remember exactly the reason, but I think he was biased toward GE because he knew someone personally who worked for them, or something like that.  Anyhoo, I didn't wanna say anything and argue with him, but I have a HUGE problem with GE, and I am biased AGAINST anything GE for political reasons which I don't care to get into right now.  So the brand alone was the beginning spark of negativity towards my new appliances, which has since then grown into a small fire of hatred for the fridge, and a huge bonfire of hatred for the stupid retarded wash machine. 

So now I'm stuck with a fancy GE conventional electric oven, and a huge fancy GE refrigerator, which I HATE - I'll vent about that one after I'm done venting about my stupid retarded over-regulated GE wash machine.

I wouldn't even call it a "wash" machine.  It's more like a "get it wet and call it good" machine.

For one thing, as I said, it's got all these "bells and whistles" that come with it that I'm supposed to "ooh" and "aaaaah" over.  But c'mon, I'll never use all those stinkin' buttons!

Okay, I am starting to use the "Extra Rinse" button more often, but only because I have to!

And here is my biggest vent of all.

The first time I used this machine I noticed there were NO choices whatsoever as far as water level. 

Before government got involved in my personal laundry decisions, I had the freedom to choose my water level, whichever I felt would best clean my clothes.

But the "powers that be" decided they wanted to "save the planet" by rationing out my water and telling me I now gotta get my clothes clean in as much water as will fill a thimble.  And now, all the dark clothes come out with white soap streaks on them because there isn't enough water to rinse them out properly. (yes, I have tried using less soap) So, Chuck's work pants now have to be washed, extra rinsed, then washed again with no soap, and extra rinsed, then rinsed again.  How much water do you think I'm using to get his pants clean now?  I highly doubt I am conserving water when I have to wash his pants twice, and rinse them three times.

This makes about as much sense as the so-call water-saving toilets that you gotta flush five times to get all the contents down, and that's AFTER it floods over!  Yeah, that really conserves water...........

The only way I know of to fill up the whole basket is to put it on the "Basket Wash" setting.  It's another feature that the machine has that supposedly keeps your basket clean from mold, etc.,  I'm supposed to do this "basket wash" once every month with a serving of bleach.  So the craziness is that it will fill up the tub if you want to clean the basket, but if I want to wash clothes, the machine gets stingy.  This is so stupid!!!  My clothes are full of white soap streaks, but hey, be happy and rejoice that my basket is clean!

Yay.

I thought about throwing a load of clothes in my machine and putting it on "Basket Clean" if that is the only way to get my clothes buried in water, but the machine does not agitate on that setting, so that won't work.

As far as that "eWash" button goes, supposedly it's supposed to be more eco-friendly.  I don't know what they mean by that.  Even less water?  I have never pushed that button and I never will, even if only as a protest against the planet-saving government.

Another problem I have with this stupid retarded machine is that it easily gets off balance and starts taking a "walk" across the floor, and that machine is so heavy I can't push it back by myself so it always looks askew.  Anyhoo, so I have to pause the machine, rearrange the clothes, and start it up again.  But when I start it up again, it doesn't just continue spinning where it left off, it ADDS more water before it continues spinning. So it's like starting all over with the rinse cycle.  Sometimes my loads go through three full rinse cycles all because they get off balance.  So to add more craziness, the stupid machine doesn't give me more water when I want it, but it gives me more water when I don't want it.  Maybe one way to get more water in the wash cycle is to keep pausing and restarting it.....hmmmmm...........(...."light bulb"......)

So I got on the internet today to see if there was anyone out there with the same problem with water level.  I wasn't surprised to see a LOT of people with the same complaint.  But I did find a video of a guy who works in an appliance store, and he was explaining that the machine decides on your water level based on the weight of your load.  So he suggested "tricking" your machine into thinking your load is bigger by wetting your clothes to make them heavier.  Then I found other websites where people say they regularly dump a gallon of water on their clothes before they start the machine.  

I will definitely try that.

Some people said they actually put weights in their machine.

I think it's ridiculous that we even have to do anything like that.  

These stupid retarded machines are supposed to be the "be all" of  fancy luxury, but they are nothing but an expensive headache.  Sometimes I want to abuse mine and "break it" so we have to buy a new one, and hopefully my next machine will be a SpeedQueen.

Now onto the fridge.

When we lived in Wasilla, we were also looking at refrigerators in the stores.  Ours was getting really old.  It still worked fine, but Chuck, being the frugal kind of guy, was thinking maybe we should get something that used less energy in order to keep the electric bills down.  But we also knew that we were moving, so we didn't bother changing ours out, which was fine with me because I wasn't too happy with the fancy ones they make now.  

Everyone seems to think they have to have the new and fancy.  Maybe something's wrong with me, but new and fancy doesn't necessarily mean better, just because it looks new and fancy.  It might look nice and fancy, but looks are often deceiving and not practical.

So, when we moved into this house, this is the fridge I got stuck with.

It's looks nice, doesn't it?  

It's exactly the kind that I told Chuck I did NOT want when we were looking at them in the store.  And now I'm stuck with what I specifically did not want.

But since I'm forced to have it, I reluctantly gave it a chance to see how well I'd adjust to it, and I can tolerate it okay, but I still hate it.

If you listen real close, you might hear me mumbling some angry words while I'm digging around in there or trying to cram something in there.

For one thing (my biggest peeve about this fridge), I am turned off by having to open two doors.  Not only do I have to open two doors, but I also hate how the doors are "clunky" when you close them.  I know that sounds silly and petty, but having to open two doors is very inconvenient and does not appeal to me at all. When I'm in the kitchen, I do a lot of things fast-paced and one-armed.  I wanna get things in and out of there quickly. If I'm holding something in one hand, I don't wanna have to mess with the extra step of having to open two clunky doors with my free hand to get something in and out of there, nor do I wanna take the time to set my object down on the counter so I can use both hands to open the fridge. These big fancy refrigerators are supposed to make your life easier, but I am here to argue that. For me, they are not practical, and certainly not worth the money. Some people love them because they look nice, but frankly I think they are duped into thinking they got a good product only because it had a big number on the price tag. In other words, they spent a ton of money on it, therefore it must be a good thing. 

 Getting into the cheese drawer requires three steps.  The cheese drawer will not open unless both clunky fridge doors are open because the cheese drawer is as wide as the fridge.  What a pain. That's too many steps for a fast-paced cook like me. Also, the fridge has this "fancy feature" shelf in there that can retract, but I don't find that useful at all.  For one thing I never use the option to retract it, so that fancy feature is basically wasted on me, but because of the design of that shelf, it is necessary to have a metal bar underneath the shelf which gets in my way when I'm trying to cram things under that shelf, and I end up growling and murmuring at it because many times, what I'm trying to get in there would fit nicely if that stupid metal bar wasn't in there.  So I have to shift things around all because of that stupid metal bar which is necessary for a fancy feature that I never use.  Genius.  And also the extra fancy water and ice dispenser takes up so much room in the door, that it gets in the way of shelf room.  Argh. 

I know there's a lot of people that would think I'm weird about hating this expensive fridge.  If it looks fancy and costs a lot of money, it's supposed to be "all that and a bag of chips", and I'm supposed to love it unconditionally, but I'd rather have my old energy-sucking side-by-side fridge that gave me easy access to everything with only one arm. 

Plus, I hate the freezer.

In my old side by side fridge, yes the freezer was narrow, but I had everything arranged on shelves and things were easier to find and easier to get to.  In this freezer, everything is thrown into a giant "bin", and I hate having to dig through it all to find something that's buried at the bottom, and this also makes it extremely difficult to keep things organized.

Another downfall with this fridge is that magnets won't stick to it.

No more tokens of our past trips.

No more pictures or drawings or convenient shopping lists.

No more cute cows on my fridge.

Have to resort to sticky notes now.

Not to mention the persistent fingerprints that always show up nicely.

Yes, the shiny steel looks nice if you don't mind wiping it down constantly.

So, yes, my fridge is another appliance that I would love to get rid of.

Thirdly, my stove.

I do like having a convection oven, however, I would rather have a gas stove top.

These glass stove tops are too slippery; my pans slide around on them too easily, which is kind of a pain when you're trying to stir something with one hand.  You need a second hand to hold your pan in place. This is inconvenient for a multi-tasker. And if you spill food on the hot burner, it stinks really bad, and sometimes it's really hard to clean off. Plus, I hate it when you have to have a special kind of cleaner to clean and protect it. Just plain ol' soap and water is more my thing. It's already got a small section where the coating is wearing off, which will forever be there and eventually get worse.  Plus, the burners take forever to heat up, and forever to cool down.  With a flame on a gas stove, it's easier to control the heat.  Plus, this oven in particular is an expensive one that's got too many buttons for my taste.  I'll never use everything this oven has to offer. Anyhoo, I don't HATE this stove, but I would prefer gas.

Anyhoo, my main beef today is my stupid retarded fancy expensive GE top-loading almost useless wash machine.   Almost every day I'm sending Chuck a text message complaining about that stupid machine, but it will take a lot more than that to get him to cave.  Maybe I should start leaving those white soap streaks on his pants...

Okay, so even though I vented, I still don't feel any better cuz I know I'm still stuck with these appliances, but I had to vent this out cuz it was really really really bugging me.

I know the government's ugly tentacles keep reaching further and further out into my personal space, so by the time I will be able to get a new wash machine, I fear that the kind I want will no longer be available, except maybe on the black market.  

Is there any way to slowly poison my machine so it can't be detected by anyone (especially Chuck)?

Oh yeah, I'm not a big fan of my fancy expensive granite countertops either.

Another bonus to complain about.

(already forming a list of wants and don't wants for my next house)

Visitors

Well, here I am again.

These past two weeks have been busy and fun.  I've been hosting house guests.

First, we had Chuck's sister and her friend come through here on their way to the east coast.  They arrived on Easter Sunday and left on the following Tuesday morning, so we had a couple days to enjoy a visit with them.

We went to the same park that Chuck and I like to take walks in and took pictures of the wildflowers that were blooming and just soaked in the springtime nature of the outdoors.

And we also took them to a quaint little coffee joint for a light breakfast before heading over to Notre Dame to walk around on the campus.

Notre Dame is a very nice and very large Catholic campus.  Walking around there almost made me feel jealous of the students who lived there.  

I am not Catholic, but the inside of the Cathedral was worth going into, just to see all the ornate decorations.

While I was walking around through this cathedral, I got to wondering what their "holy relics" are, knowing that all Catholic churches are required to have at least one.  As if the building read my thoughts, I promptly found a wall full of "holy relics" neatly displayed behind glass, including a lock of hair from "Mother Theresa", who BTW is not my mother and never will be.  Before I let myself loose on a rant, I better just leave it at that.

This building with the dome on it, I think it was the administration building, as there were a lot of offices in there. When you walk in there you see lots of huge paintings on the walls depicting Christopher Columbus.  I'm not sure why.  

We also got to see the Notre Dame stadium, but only from the outside.  They weren't letting anyone go inside.

So anyhoo, Joyce and her friend left on Tuesday morning, and later that same day we got two more visitors!

Stephanie and Lula are finally on their way back HOME, to Alaska, and stopped here for a week and half.  I am so excited for her because Alaska is where she belongs, and Lula will love it there too.

AND what's in for me, you ask?  Well, I get to keep my strong connection to Alaska and go visit her any time I want!  I don't like being reduced from a resident to a visitor, like a common tourist, but this is the way it's gonna be now.

With Lula here, the kitties reacted in different ways.  Peeka was the braver one, as usual.  She was afraid of Lula, but wasn't going to let her have the house.  By the end of their visit, Peeka tolerated her enough to let her get close......but not too close!

Weeners on the other hand, pretty much lived in Justin's dresser drawer the whole time.

Poor Weeners.

While Steph was here, we celebrated her 27th birthday.

 I didn't have a #7 candle, so I had to improvise with seven regular ones.

One day last week we went to Nappanee where they were having a Maple Syrup Festival.

They had LOTS of vendors there, and some carnival rides, but only ONE vendor was selling maple syrup.  What in the world.......?

I guess I was expecting a whole street full of maple syrup vendors.

After all, it was a Maple Syrup Festival, was it not?

They did have all you can eat pancakes there, though.

On another day, Steph and I visited the quilt shop and picked out her colors for her next quilt.  

But before I can start on hers, I must first finish this stack of other quilt projects.

 Here is a grosbeak that visited our birdfeeder the other day.  Never seen him before!  I wonder what other kinds of birds we will see this summer.

We still have those grackles hanging around; I hope they don't keep all the pretty birds away.

Then on Thursday, Joyce and her friend came back, on their way BACK from the east coast.  It was good for Joyce and Steph to see each other again - has it been 12 years?

(I thought I took pictures of them together, but I guess I didn't)

Yesterday Lula seemed bored so we took her to the same park where we took Joyce.

To my dismay, she jumped in the river.  Since we went to the park in our car, we had to make sure she had plenty of time to dry off before we went back home.

She really enjoyed running around in this big open space.

Supposedly this piece of metal came from "Ground Zero".

At least, that is what the plaque claims.

Eagle.

When Joyce and her friend came back, ALL of our guest beds were full!  I kept busy trying to be a good host, cooking meals, etc.  Seemed like I was CONSTANTLY washing dishes!  But I really enjoying having people here.  It breaks up my humdrum routine and reminds me that, even though we live far apart, I know I still have loved ones out there somewhere, just waiting for our next visit.

The house guests are all gone now, and the house seems too quiet, but I suppose I will appreciate normalcy again.

And now that Lula is gone, the kitties can relax again, but I don't know how long it will take for Weeners to peel herself out of Justin's drawer.

I am just thankful that, to my current knowledge, there is no kitty pee where there's isn't supposed to be!  I was kinda worried about that.