What's Next?

We've had a slew of things breaking in and outside our house lately.  Is there some proven fact when a house is 5.5 years old it decides to start coming apart?  Well okay...not really, but seriously people...I am starting to wonder what's next.

It started with my laptop.  The monitor has been sputtering lately, and 3 weeks ago, it went out for good. 

David is pretty sure it's a broken cable inside the hinge.  I now have it plugged into our main computer's monitor...but every time we unplug the laptop so David can use his computer, my monitor won't recognize the connection when we plug it back it...so I have to reboot the laptop.  Very, very annoying to say the least.  Not to mention the fact I can't cart the laptop around the house anymore...I am chained to a desk. Boo hoo.  I've been spoiled...I know.

There are 2 cracks in my stone countertop...one is only about 6 inches long, but the other one radiates right from the corner of the cooktop and goes out nearly 14 inches.  I am very dismayed by this...it probably means the countertop needs more support from underneath the island.  And when my awesome but very busy hubby can get to it...who knows. 

I know you can't see it...but it's there.  Sigh.

In all truth, the most concerning issue is the washing machine. 

About 2 years ago...it started to leave rust stains on our clothes.  We can't be certain it isn't the dryer, but I've figured out if I leave the lid open after the last load on laundry days, it takes care of the problem.  Within the last 6 months, the agitator has acted up, and once it stopped working completely..then decided to start up again.  It's almost 11 years old, so we know it's time may be coming.  David says if it goes out, there's a laundromat just down the street.  I told him to go "you know what."  There will no trips to a laundromat in my future...not if I have anything to say about it.  No way. 

Let's see, what's next?  Oh yes.  Two weeks ago, we discovered the kitchen sink was leaking...and the cabinet underneath was soaking wet. 

It took David most of one Saturday, and 2 trips to Home Depot...but he fixed it.  He's awesome like that.

If only the garage door had been that easy.  It started acting up 3 weeks before the faucet repair.  David worked on it 2x, and it still wasn't quite right. 

My father-in-law was kind enough to work on it while we were gone to San Antonio on our vacation earlier this month.  It worked for a couple of days, and then jammed again one morning.  I had to maually shove it up as hard as I could so I could get the van out to take Gabriel to MDO.  David gave it another go last weekend, so we'll see how long it holds out. 

Hmm...I know there's one more thing. 

No, it's not Gabriel.  But don't you just LOVE the Elmo pajamas?  "I got it at ROSS."  (Oh, and a pair of Cookie Monster pajamas too).   

Oh, yes...the lock on the back door was so stiff, I had to use both hands to lock it...and a key of course.  David sprayed the inside of the lock with powdered graphite, and now it works great. 

Are y'all noticing a common theme here?  Something breaks, David fixes it.  Yeah...he's great :-).  Heaven only know how much money we've saved over the years by fixing it ourselves instead of calling a repairman.  And yes, he's been hired out by me, free of charge, to our friends who needed some help getting their homes ready to sell.

Oh...I even fixed something myself just this morning!  The printer wasn't feeding paper correctly, so the last few times we've printed something out, the text came out crooked. 

But, I looked at it, saw the problem and adjusted the lever for the paper size... and voila!  I know I'm not as talented as my husband, but I'd like to spare him any more repair jobs for a while if I can. 

God must be chuckling right now up in heaven.  He knows one of my pet peeves is things breaking...especially if I can't fix it myself.  I am not patient, and sometimes can't undestand why it takes David forever to fix something.  I get frustrated very quickly, and resent the time it takes to fix the problem.  I need more faith...and try to go with the flow when the unexpected happens.  Sigh...and even when things break...it's not the end of the world, right? 

Well...I'm going to go finish the laundry.  Hopefully the washer feels like cooperating.