So last night I was in the living room cutting out the pattern for the dresses I'm sewing for this play at our community theater. Which opens Thursday. Yes, 2 days from now. And I just got the dresses cut out. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Superman was at the computer, behind me as I was working. I've been thinking on these things the past couple of days, and I said to him "Superman. Do me a favor. Google 'Whirlpool Duet Repair.'" A few clicks later he said, "Oh look! Here's the repair manual! It's a PDF file!" Oh, for cryin' out loud. Why didn't he look this up earlier? Why didn't he find this when he was looking for the replacement part 5 weeks ago? I know Mimi has been wondering the same thing.
Why didn't I look it up myself, or suggest it earlier? Well, part of my reason for not suggesting it was to wait and see what he would/could do. The dear man is very intelligent. Brilliant, one might say. But he doesn't think in broad strokes (or something like that). I was hoping he'd take the initiative. I got frustrated enough to break through my immobility and suggest a deeper search. Some of my hesitancy was intentional. Some of it was more laziness or fear or something deeply emotional. I'm not sure.
So he read the pertinent parts of the manual, looked at the pictures, and went to tackle the machine. The thing requires a star head screw driver to disassemble the pieces. By show of hands, how many of you own your own set of star head screw drivers? I don't bitch too much when Superman buys himself stuff at the hardware store because frequently it is in my best interest. Yes, Superman owns a set of star head drivers.
The part in question is the door latch mechanism, which is (not surprisingly) on the front of the machine at the door. I was so excited about him fixing my washing machine that I forgot to take any pictures of that process. It was really easy once he knew the trick to access the latch. There's a spring retainer ring that secures the gasket to the doorway... yada yada you aren't interested in that part. But he was so sexy and manly as he was repairing my machine! I nearly swooned.
The machine has been vibrating wildly as it spins sometimes. That's what broke the latch this last time. I wondered if the springs holding the drum were the problem. Turns out there are 4 shock absorbers holding the drum in place at the four corners at the base, plus a couple of springs at the top of the drum. He took the back off the machine to check these. He looked. They looked like shock absorbers. Hmm. Then he replaced the back. Whatever. I got a picture of that.
The back of the washer
The backside of Superman
Now I get to wash a load of clothes!!! Since the washer broke I've had the laundry lined up along the one long wall in my living room that spans the room from the kitchen to the hall. The kids have been dumping their dirty clothes anywhere along there. Last night I sat in that beige chair you see in this picture and sorted that laundry. There are now 6 full baskets waiting to be washed. 
There are probably at least 3 more basket's worth of dirty laundry in the kids' room and my room. Plus bed linens. And I need to sew up those dresses for the play. And cook supper. Yeah, I'm still on the computer. OK, I'll get this posted and move on with my day. Ta ta!
