Waiting with a Laundry Pile

"This is going to sound so old lady-ish, but I love getting new appliances."

I stared blankly at my friend. In two years of homeownership we had replaced one appliance, and were on the verge of replacing another, but it had been such an awful experience I was not looking forward to another new appliance.

The dishwasher had been doing its business less and less well, so we did the internet research, I took some of my most used pots and bowls into a couple stores and tested how they fit into a few different models, and we placed our order. I think we were given an approximate delivery date a week out from purchase. The next day our struggling dishwasher died. "Just a week," we told ourselves. On the expected evening before install, we received the confirmation call and a time window for delivery. On the morning of install, I received a call from the truck, our item had not been at the warehouse, so delivery would be rescheduled.

This happened three more times.

Shortly before the install actually happened I learned that the error was in stock reading. The particular dishwasher was listed as 1 in stock, so each time our order came up, it was not ordered. However, the 1 in stock was not in the warehouse, it was on the showroom floor. Hence the circles for two months.

So, appliance #2: the washing machine filled with water but would not agitate or spin. It had been making a lot of noise lately, warning us that its time was come. On Friday I walked into the store with a computer print-out of the model we wanted. Type, type, type, swipe... easiest sale of the day, with delivery Monday.

On Sunday after church I found a message on my cell phone that the driver was at our address ready for delivery. We missed him. When I tried to sort it out later, I found that the base was the attempted delivery, and the washer was still due for Monday delivery, but the base had to be rescheduled for later in the week, which would not work because the washer can only be installed with the base... which means two weekends without a washing machine. At least.

Truly, all this fussing with delivery takes the joy out of a new appliance. Buying the car was easier because I drove it home.

What's our next appliance? I want the wheeled option.