Laundry Woes

Gaaah!!!  I am so frustrated!!!  The End.

Just kidding. :)  And, I promise there is an allergy-related nugget in the following rant.  I just need to be a drama queen for a few minutes, if you don't mind.

Our ancient Maytag washer decided to demand retirement in a very dramatic "Look at me and thank me for my zillion years of service" kind of way several days ago.  It started when I had been running both Sir Maytag and the dishwasher at the same time and wasn't sure which one caused the lovely flood in my kitchen.  It was evident that it was the washing machine when we realized it wasn't draining before spinning and throwing water everywhere.  My husband figured out that if we used the cycle on the opposite side of the dial it wouldn't do that, so we thought we'd be fine with that solution.  Well, the problem with that turned out to be that when it hit the "off" spot it started filling up again, which we didn't realize until it continued on to the aforementioned possessed cycle.  Of course more flooding came along with those discoveries.  Sooo much fun.  It seeped under the floorboards and we haven't been able to get it all up yet, the linoleum is bowing up, etc.

Day before yesterday my husband figured out that if we only ran medium loads and used the cycle that doesn't flood along with setting a timer for 30 minutes we could then run into the kitchen and turn the dial to the possessed cycle's "off" button.  We had been able to clean the other messes up mostly with towels, although it was obvious we were going to need to replace flooring.  Yesterday we ended up with the biggest mess yet that extended to the downstairs carpet and bubbling in the ceiling, requiring a wet vac.

So we decided to head to the laundromat to do our mountains of laundry, safe and unscented detergent in hand, only to realize when we got there that not only was the perfume in the air worse than the laundry aisles at the store, but even with our safe detergent we couldn't use the machines because of how much residue from perfumed detergents and fabric softeners was caked in the dispensers.  So much for that effort.  I was so frustrated!!!!  BUT, I'm glad that 1) my daughter was still asleep so wasn't with us to get bombed with the airborne allergens, 2) I made the realization that using the machines was a bad idea for even the piles that weren't her laundry, because the towels are in the other loads and she would have gotten chemical exposure that way, and 3) I am married to MacGyver.  My husband is now in the process of moving Sir Maytag outside and hooking him up to the hose, with the idea of channeling whatever spillover happens into the grass until we can find a royal replacement.

Sooo. . .if you are corn allergic, don't go to the laundromat.  For oh-so-many reasons.  It probably won't end well.