While I’m enjoying our stay immensely, I’m waging a personal war with the excuse-for-a-washing-machine located in our kitchen. Typically, I enjoy doing laundry. It’s a matter of personal pride that I can get out virtually any stain and I can wash even the most delicate of fabrics with no damage. However, my accomplishments are rendered moot by the machine. The thing is quite small with a capacity of less than half of my washer at home. It takes forever, with the average cycle taking 90 minutes, and finally, the $%#$ thing is a washer and dryer in one. It sounds great, but you’ve probably never used one! After about 30 minutes in the “dryer”, the laundry is very hot and very wet. After trying all the settings and reading the manual through twice, I decided that the only answer is to disable the dryer function. Unfortunately, it appears that is not possible. So, instead, I must babysit the washing cycle (did I mention that’s about 90 minutes?) and quickly shut the darned thing off before the “dry” function starts. Then I must painstakingly hang up all of the clothes on the towel warmers and the drying rack. Oh, and did I mention that while I’m torturing myself with all of this, I’m in Scott’s way -- literally in the middle of the kitchen. The washer is “conveniently” located between the sink and the stove. If the washer is open, you cannot stand at the sink or load the dishwasher. I haven’t given up yet. I can't. The mountains of laundry will just continue to pile up. However, I’m not yet winning. After four loads, the score is currently 2 Laura; 2 Machine. And there is one casualty – Scott’s favorite pairs of trousers. At least it wasn’t one of mine!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Water and Wires II (Not So Nice Thoughts from Laura)
While I’m enjoying our stay immensely, I’m waging a personal war with the excuse-for-a-washing-machine located in our kitchen. Typically, I enjoy doing laundry. It’s a matter of personal pride that I can get out virtually any stain and I can wash even the most delicate of fabrics with no damage. However, my accomplishments are rendered moot by the machine. The thing is quite small with a capacity of less than half of my washer at home. It takes forever, with the average cycle taking 90 minutes, and finally, the $%#$ thing is a washer and dryer in one. It sounds great, but you’ve probably never used one! After about 30 minutes in the “dryer”, the laundry is very hot and very wet. After trying all the settings and reading the manual through twice, I decided that the only answer is to disable the dryer function. Unfortunately, it appears that is not possible. So, instead, I must babysit the washing cycle (did I mention that’s about 90 minutes?) and quickly shut the darned thing off before the “dry” function starts. Then I must painstakingly hang up all of the clothes on the towel warmers and the drying rack. Oh, and did I mention that while I’m torturing myself with all of this, I’m in Scott’s way -- literally in the middle of the kitchen. The washer is “conveniently” located between the sink and the stove. If the washer is open, you cannot stand at the sink or load the dishwasher. I haven’t given up yet. I can't. The mountains of laundry will just continue to pile up. However, I’m not yet winning. After four loads, the score is currently 2 Laura; 2 Machine. And there is one casualty – Scott’s favorite pairs of trousers. At least it wasn’t one of mine!
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1 comment:
After doing a little research on combo washer/dryers, it seems that for best results you have to keep the loads REALLY small (like half the capacity). The clothes need more room to dry than to wash. Most people who are happy with them throw in just a few items at a time (not exactly convenient with a family) and set the timer (if yours has one) to finish up around the time you expect to return from being "out-and-about". Good luck!
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