A Sudsy Death

Although our week was not as bad as some people's (or dog's), it did have quite an ending on Saturday night. We were bathing Jack Saturday evening when we heard a horrible whining sound coming from somewhere in the house. I ran downstairs to investigate, the noise continually increasing in volume and intensity. Imagine the sound of an impact wrench (the tool used to loosen lug nuts at an auto shop) continually going, or perhaps the sound of someone drilling into metal and using a bullhorn as amplification.
Our washing machine was screaming in pain. Some exploratory surgery and a second opinion later, I reluctantly pulled the plug. After eight years of service, it was dead. (Well, I'm sure it could have been fixed but it would have cost as much as a new washer.)
Of course, the damn thing couldn't have waited until the spin cycle to die--it just had to go kapooey right at the beginning of rinse when it was full of water and the clothes were all still soapy, which meant that I had to pay a visit to the local laundromat.
So despite our good intentions of using the anticipated economic stimulus tax rebate to lower our debt, it instead will pay for our new washer we had to buy yesterday.
And in the end, I agree with Kate's dad. He says that it must have been a George Bush conspiracy to sabotage our washer so we would have to use the tax rebate check to buy something and thus do exactly as Capitol Hill and the White House wish. Hmmm...