I Got Sick and Tired of My Pillows!

So I decided to buy a pair of MyPillows!  

I must be unusually rough on my pillows.  I buy them, they're great for about a month, then they start to lose both their resilience and their shapes!  No amount of fluffing and pounding, washing and drying, helps.  They just get flatter and flatter, and lumpier and lumpier, and more and more misshapen as time passes. 

I finally got fed up a couple of weeks ago and decided to take the MyPillow plunge.  I bought the original classic firm pillows.  A little pricey, but they're guaranteed for 10 years and are machine washable and dryable.  At the price I've usually paid for pillows (CHEAP!), and how often I get tired of messing with bad pillows and then go out and buy new ones, I'd spend the price of the MyPillows after only three years or less, so why not give them a try?

They came really fast, and when the package arrived, I went out on the porch to retrieve it and wondered, "What the heck is in this little box???"  Then I saw the return address - "No way!"  I had ordered two king-size pillows, and I would have had trouble getting one cheapo standard pillow jammed into this box!  Opened it up, and there they were, compressed into cylinders like big sausages in their casings.  

When I removed the outside wrappings, the pillows were pitiful looking and lumpy and flatter than flat!

(Yes, this IS the dryer featured in the previous post!)

The included paper instructed me to run them through the dryer at high heat for 15 minutes, and here's the result:

Sleeping on them is a dream (ha! pun intended!) and I have a terrible time in the morning getting out of bed because I'm SO comfortable!  ("Oh, well, maybe just another ten minutes!")  If they get out of shape, all I've had to do is punch them a few times and they're all plump and beautiful again!  

So far, so good!  I'm happy with my purchase.  I wish I hadn't waited so long, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer!!!  

In fact, I may even buy more of them...!

Laundry Festivities - Part 2

Well, last spring (and about `6 months before that) we had washer and dryer difficulties (see here and here) and ended up replacing them, one at a time.  When the washer went, the delivery guy hooked it up, as usually expected.  But when the dryer went bad just a very few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, and I had a hard time getting one DELIVERED, let alone INSTALLED.  Because of That Knee That Hasn't Cooperated YET, I got the super-festive job of installing the new pigtail (the plate that came with it to keep the pigtail from being rubbed and frayed didn't fit correctly - FUN hammering it into an appropriate shape), while That Boy (I guess I should change that to "That Young Man") took care of the vent duct assembly.

ANYWAY...  After all that hoo-haw getting the dryer and setting it up, one day in late December, after That Young Man used it, he complained that it wasn't drying his clothes.  Long story short, not only was it not drying the clothes, it wouldn't even TRY.  Oh it would turn on and the lights would flash, and you could choose a cycle and all the settings, but when you pushed START, there would be a click, and then nothing more.  It would just sit there and flash its lights at you.  No error code.  No nothing.

So we had an eight-month-old dryer that wouldn't dry with a BIG load of wet clothes sitting in it.  Oh, me.

I called the manufacturer (it was under warranty, thank you) JUST after customer service hours ended.  All righty, then.  So I hauled everything out of the dryer and headed to the laundromat.  There's only one in our city, and, if I understand it, only two in the whole COUNTY!  Good grief.  There used to be another one in our city, but it's been closed for a few years.

Well.

I hadn't used a laundromat in DECADES.  Luckily, I had a roll of quarters I'd been meaning to deposit at the bank, so I grabbed it, the laundry basket of wet clothes, and my knitting bag and headed into the cold, cold world outside.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The last time I'd used a laundromat, it was a pretty seedy place - dirty floors, several machines with yellowed "Out of Order" signs on them, and a lot of questionable characters hanging around.  This was different!  Although not one of the new "hip" laundromats with a coffee bar, mobile charging stations, and counters with stools so you can work on your laptop, it was clean and comfortable, had plenty of machines, the clientele wasn't scary, and I only spent $1.75 on the dryer.  Not bad!  I made some progress on the sock I was knitting, too!  A fun Friday evening at the laundromat.

Anyway, I called the manufacturer the next day, and the guy walked me through a couple of troubleshooting exercises (while his dog barked in the background - working from home).  We got a couple of error codes.  He was going to transfer me to a tech team but it was Saturday, and they don't work on the weekends.  UGH.  

Monday I called yet AGAIN, went through all the rigamarole of being on hold for a half hour, explaining my problem, and telling them I'd already talked to somebody there and I needed to talk to a technician, then being transferred over there.  All this person did was set an appointment with a technician - when did I want it?  Well, ASAP, obviously!  Did I prefer morning or afternoon?  YES!  Whenever!  Just send someone, please!  How about 2 1/2 weeks from now?  What?!?!?!?!?!?  Is that the soonest available date?  Yes.  Well, then fine!

All I can say is that it was a good thing that that load I took to the laundromat was the very last load of dirty clothes - all the hampers were EMPTY.  But try to organize your underwear for 2 1/2 weeks with no laundry service.  OH MY!

We made it through, the technician came to look at it, and fixed it without needing any parts.  SOMEONE (ahem - That Young Man! - cough!) had overloaded the dryer with either too many clothes, or with clothes that were too went and heavy, and the belt had slipped off the drum.  The idler arm pulley was also misaligned with the drive pulley, which made it easier for the belt to come off.  So he realigned the pulley, tightened its screws all the way, put the belt back where it belonged, put the drum back into the cabinet, closed up the panels, tightened all those screws, and voila!  The dryer worked!

...And has been for a couple of weeks, now.  It took a while to get caught back up with the mountains of laundry waiting for me, but as of right now, there's about a half load of whites in the hamper, and that's all.  YAY!

I should have taken a picture of the dryer's innards when the technician had the drum removed from the cabinet.  Now that so much of the control functions are run by electronics, the cabinet was pretty empty.  There just aren't many parts any more, but oh, if that electronic control panel goes bad...OUCH!  It's expensive!  You'd probably be better off just replacing the whole thing.

Hopefully, that's the last of the appliance woes for a while.

Unless the refrigerator...!!!

Laundry Festivities

Laundry is so much FUN.

About 3 1/2 months ago, the washing machine got loud.  Not just louder than normal, but LOUD.  It sounded like a freight train was running through the house.

A year and a half ago, that same machine had gotten loud (read about it here).  Again, LOUD.  But that was a gradual buildup.  This time it was sudden.  Last time, we took out the drum and some motor components and replaced the shaft and seals.  It took ALL DAY, but we got it done.

So it was the same deal this time around, except, to be honest, I don't want to deal with pulling the drum out and all that hoo-haw on an annual basis, so I ordered a new washing machine.  Usually, I buy the matching dryer at the same time, but this time, after over a year of That Knee keeping its owner on long-term disability, we decided to replace only the washer.

So the washer was delivered and installed, and everything was just GRAND.

Until the DRYER started making noise, just a couple of months later.

REALLY?

So, I googled the problem and found the probable cause - a bad idler arm, and possibly the drum rollers.  I didn't want to deal with removing THAT drum, either, so I only ordered an idler arm assembly online.  It arrived just a few days later.  I took the back off the dryer and replaced the assembly - a pretty quick fix.

Except it wasn't fixed.

RATS.

The new laundry twins!

I was fed up with it and decided to just buy a new dryer like I should have done when I bought the washer.  By this time, the coronavirus pandemic was heating up, so I couldn't go into the store.  I got online and ordered a dryer.  It was a Saturday, and according to the website, the dryer would be delivered the following Tuesday.  I received an email confirming the day and time for delivery.

Well.

That Monday, I was notified that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the dryer couldn't be delivered and installed at that time, but PERHAPS they'd be able to JUST deliver it - drop it off at the door, and we'd have to get it inside and hooked up.  They'd let up know.

Long story short, a month later I got a phone call - when would I like to have the dryer dropped off?  I said how soon can you get it here?  So it arrived two days later.  I asked the delivery guy to remove the box for me.  It was the WRONG DRYER.  Not their fault.  I'd somehow clicked on the wrong machine.  Good grief.

I got on the phone and requested to return the wrong one, then got online (AGAIN) to order the right one.  You bet I checked and rechecked that it was the correct machine that time!!!

The right one was delivered, the wrong one was taken away, and my new dryer has been doing a great job for a couple of weeks, so I'm happy!

EPILOGUE

The day the right dryer arrived, I read the whole manual (yes, I'm special that way) and saw an optional accessory - a dryer rack.  It's for drying your athletic shoes or wool sweaters - you know, those things they tell you either not to tumble dry or to dry flat - what a pain.  I'd seen a dryer rack mentioned in the manuals of my two previous dryers and have coveted one for twenty years now - maybe longer.  I'm afraid the stay-at-home orders have taken a toll, because I said to myself, "Why not?"

The dryer rack inside the dryer.

And I did.

I got online (AGAIN - seems I'm spending an inordinate amount of time online these days) and researched and price checked and ordered a dryer rack!  If you've never seen one, it's a platform that you slide inside the dryer, place your items on, choose your settings, and turn on the dryer.  The drum is supposed to rotate while the rack remains stationary.  The rack is pretty big, and when I unboxed it, I thought, "How the heck will THAT ever fit?"  But it did!

I placed the rack inside the drum, turned the dryer on as a test, and, shockingly enough, the drum DOES rotate while the rack does NOT!  Now I'm looking forward to washing something that needs to be laid flat to dry.  What will it be?  Oh, I can hardly wait!

It sure doesn't take much to get me excited, does it?  What a nerd!