Murphy's Law-ndry

I just wanted to do some laundry...

I put off hooking up the laundry machines in the new house until I really needed them. Then I got behind the dryer and found that I would have to run to the store for a flexible dryer vent connection. With three kids at home, this would take a few days to schedule.

When I finally got it, I found that our dryer plug did not match the outlet in the wall. After another few days and a trip to the store, I had a new cord with plug (the only other kind at THD) to install on my dryer. Turns out, this did not fit my outlet either. More time and another trip, and I had returned the cord and bought a new outlet to switch out on the wall. Here you go, Nick. Just be sure to turn off the breaker first and have at it!

The breaker box is in the garage. Behind the mountain of stuff that we are storing. Centered, behind the mountain. With several hours of labor, we were to it. Breaker off. Outlet installed. Mountain in garage put back together. And the dryer was working.

Another day and time to install the washing machine. Easy, right?

The faucets leak. Both of them. My brother (and landlord) came over to inspect and fix. I hooked up my machine's hoses and got to the laundry, finally! In the middle of the load, the drain hose popped out. Good thing we caught it. And good thing we had towels. Catastrophe avoided. Drain pipe re-secured. The load finished washing and I got the newly wet towels in as a second load.

We started up the dryer for the first time and the breaker tripped. I spent a couple of days without the power, as we had to move the mountain in the garage again to get it started back up.

We were all wearing dirty clothes that did not match.

Finally, we were up and running again. I had cleaned a couple loads and was feeling like everything that could go wrong with the laundry had already happened. It could only get better from here. I started up a load as I went to bed. In the morning, Nick asked if I had been getting up in the night to keep the laundry going. No. Good idea, but no.

Nick replied that the dryer had been going all night. The clothes were OK, but really hot. We seem to have burnt out a heat element or something. Now, it takes all day to dry a load.

That afternoon, Nick called to tell me that the offer on our house (the first one, see below) had been terminated.

As I sat, a bit dazed, holding a sleeping Curie on my lap while the kids watched a cartoon, I heard a noise, like a loud faucet. I threw Curie on the floor and just knew it had to be the laundry room. Good thing I had that load of freshly cleaned and dried towels. They came in pretty handy again, as the connection to the faucet had come a bit loose and was spewing water. Catastrophe was avoided once again, but laundry could no longer be done. At least I had gotten a few loads clean.

It took at least a week to get new hoses. I didn't even want to think about it for a while. I finally just bought them on Thursday, and am installed and running.

Could anything else go wrong in the laundry room? I just want to be prepared. I seem to be jinxed.