Seminary Graduation

Erin and Bayley graduated from seminary last night. That's four years down and only fourteen more of getting kids to seminary everyday at 6 am. It is my penance for never having graduated myself. Except I have to admit that Kris does most of the driving to, I usually wake up just enough to kiss them each goodbye and take my occasional turn driving early when Kris is out of town. Instead, I take my turn driving when it is our turn in our little two-family carpool to pick up after seminary.

I should probably mention too that Erin and Bayley are officially high school graduates now also, I finished up their transcripts just last week by filling in their grades for their last semester of twelfth grade, which also happens to be their third semester at the community college, and gave them a high school graduation date. It was really just a silly and, probably, unnecessary formality since to us they left high school behind a year ago and have been full time college students for the past year. I know this is a confusing point to some of my family and friends with the way that high school just drifted into college with no 'graduation' in between. But, in a year they should be done at the community college and we will try to be more formal then and really celebrate a graduation.

In somewhat related news, Kegan and Rhys took the accuplacer (the test community colleges administer to determine college placement) and both placed into the college level in both the math and English portions of the test (that is all there is by the way-a math portion and an English portion). This means that in the fall they will both be part time students at the community college also. More blurring of the lines between high school and college, I know.

The Short Happy Life of a Kenmore Elite

So, Dave the repair guy was over today. Remember him from the oven cleaning fiasco awhile back? Dave is actually a fairly frequent visitor at our house. In the past 18 months or so he has repaired nearly every major appliance in our house; the dishwasher, the oven, the dryer, and today he was over to have a look at the washing machine. Well, Dave says the washer is a lost cause and we need a new washing machine. Something about the pump being about to spill a lot more water on my floor than it has already been putting out and, apparently even worse, everything that is holding up and turning the tub is also ready to give out and die. In fact, he looked more than a little stressed when I revealed my intention to continue to use the slightly leaky machine while I searched for a new one. But, I doubt that Dave has ever experienced what happens in a household of twelve when the washing machine is out of comission for 48 hours. It isn't pretty. And I can handle a little water leaking onto my basement floor for a few days. Besides, even when that pump gives out completely, and dumps the whole load of water on the floor--it is a high efficiency washer, it supposedly uses hardly any water, right? Well, anyway, there is a drain in the floor right beside it, how bad could it get? Probably not even close to as bad as the time that Ronan put the hose in the window well and ‘forgot’ he left it on.

The point is, my super expensive, should last me a lifetime washing machine, lasted us six years. I am willing to admit that my family is harder on a washing machine than your average family, but seriously, I am fairly certain that my mom used the same washing machine and dryer for at least most of the years that I lived in her house. And while the washer does get a lot of use, I don't think it is being abused. It's not like my children are climbing in for a ride (and, by the way, I totally put a stop to the dryer being used as a hiding place for hide and seek games too). It isn't just the washer either. I am already looking for a new vacuum cleaner. The current one is probably the fifth we've owned. I buy a toaster every couple years, and that is usually after months of going without toast or eating it either burnt or barely warm (or, with some toasters you can have it both ways--burnt on one side, barely warm bread on the other). We have replaced dishwashers three times. I am on my fourth Kitchenaid mixer. I buy new electric griddles every few years. So, is it me? Am I super destructive? Or is my stuff just wussier than the stuff my mom had? Or, am I just not remembering the headaches my mom went through because they weren't my headaches?

By the way, Dave did not charge me anything for his original diagnostic visit Saturday morning, his trip to the parts store to pick up the parts he originally thought would fix our problem or even for the 50 minutes he spent lying on my basement floor today discovering that things were way more serious after all.