Spring break is here! So is my new washer and dryer! And so are my birdies!

Spring break starts this afternoon and we are ready.  The kids have been ready since mid-March.  I like a late Easter but that means a late spring break which makes for grumpy kids.

I prefer a first week in April spring break but around here spring break is tied to Easter in the public schools and even if the public schools didn't do it that way, our kids go to catholic school so spring break is always going to be tied to Easter.

They kids don't have to go back until April 29th at which point it might as well be May and then school might as well be over.  At least in my kid's minds anyway. All this to say, it's practically summer vacation!

Last Friday I was doing my daily one load of laundry and as I was getting the clothes out of the dryer I noticed they weren't quite dry.  So I started the dryer again and nothing happened.  It was dead.

When Dan got home he agreed that it was time to get  a new washer and dryer.  The set was 21 years old so I would say we got our moneys worth! So while he and Peter were camping this weekend, Sarah and I headed to Lowes to pick out and purchase the most basic of all washer and dryers because I didn't want anything fancy or flashy and I certainly didn't want a washer and dryer with wi-fi.

They were delivered yesterday.  I was ready with the broom because I knew when they removed them there would be some dust underneath them.  But, y'all, I was not prepared for the amount of filth that has collected underneath them.

I WAS HORRIFIED!

The delivery guy assured me that he's seen worse but I honestly don't believe him.  He mentioned that one of the hoses to the washer had a slight leak which we obviously didn't know about.  So the dust that had collected underneath had gotten a little wet thus turning it into mud essentially.

In January the detergent bottle fell from the shelf above the washer and spilled everywhere.  I got all of it up that I could see but I knew there was a little underneath the washer so I was expecting that.

But no, there was A LOT of detergent underneath there and in two months it had "dried".  Maybe hardened or thickened would be a better description than dried and then that dried much was covered in dust.

I had to get the scraper out and scrape the mud and hardened detergent off the floor before I could sweep the rest of the dust and dirt that hadn't yet hardened. 

There was also a pair of underwear, a sock, 18 cents in loose change, 3 bobby pins, a pen cap, and a bottle cap in the sludge.  It was filthy. 

Guess who had never moved her washer and dryer in the twelve and a half years we've lived in this house?  Guess who has vowed to have her husband move them regularly so she can sweep underneath them?  Guess who will forget this sacred vow in about two days?

Here's a lovely picture of my washer and dryer.  As Sarah would say, they are "so basic".  She was hoping for a snazzier model  but basic is how I like it when I'm doing laundry.

In other news, last night was the last regular season home lacrosse game.  Sarah has fulfilled her duties as manager aka water girl.  Well, the playoffs start after break so if any of those are at home she will work those but essentially she's done!

She signed up for something and even though it wasn't what she expected and even though the friend that she signed up with quit, Sarah stuck it out.  She said she didn't want to be a quitter and she wasn't.  I'm proud of her for sticking with it!

Dan and I called her the reluctant water girl because she always looked so uncomfortable out there on the field.  Dan snapped some pictures of her last night and she even smiled for one of them when she noticed him.  But as he kept taking them, she kept mouthing "STOP!"

And guess who's back?

Two weekends ago it was really warm so I put out the hummingbird feeders.  But then we got that weird snowstorm and it was really cold for the next few days.  And then it rained and then it got a little warmer and then it rained some more and nothing.

But finally this past weekend it was really warm and the forecast looked like we were going to actually get some consistantly warm weather so I loaded up the feeders again and ta-da!  Monday morning I had my first hummingbird to the feeder!  I'll try not to put a hummingbird picture in every future blog post but I can't make any promises!