Weekend Fun!

What a lovely weekend it's been!

This weekend:

• We basically became BFFs with our favorite high school quarterback/artist/jungle doctor.
• We stayed up until 5:00 a.m. chatting away about anything and everything.
• I fixed the dishwasher.  (Fingers crossed!)
• I wore both of my new Old Navy Prep Coats (not at the same time) because it finally got cold outside.
• We snuggled with the cutest dog on the planet.
• I made two kinds of delicious ice cream. 
• I watched two episodes of the new season of 16 and Pregnant and yelled at the tv.
• We made bolognese.
• I met the lady across the street.  I'd been meaning to introduce myself for a few months, but couldn't figure out a way to do it that didn't seem creepy. 
• I went to Cupcake Happy Hour at Back in the Day Bakery.  Okay, so Cupcake Happy Hour was insanely fun, even more fun than I thought it would be.  First, I got to hang out with my good teacher friend.  Second, Back in the Day was serving pizza, which was basically the greatest thing I had ever seen or tasted (hyperbolic, sure, but also true).  Third, our friends Brian and Ann joined us (a.k.a., "parents of the two (but soon-to-be-three) cutest girls on the planet"), along with Iris and Opal.  Oh yeah, and there was bingo.  And Iris won the bingo.  And I might have been more excited about the bingo victory than anyone else at the table.  I also might have scared Iris with my excitement.  Oh well.

Anyway, it's time to watch Boardwalk Empire before bed.  We're so addicted to that show!

Handy Mandy

I'm cheap.  Really cheap.

And I'm resourceful.  Really resourceful. 

So when shit breaks (or when I break shit), I am loathe to call a repairman.  Instead, I insist that I can fix it myself. 

In the last few weeks, I've fixed:  Matt's dresser drawer, the kitchen sink (my bad), the dishwasher (still not really sure what I did), and. . .

Rewind to Sunday.  Matt and I went to the beach, got into a five-minute fight, got sunburnt, read magazines, headed home, bought a pineapple at the Piggly Wiggly, got home, took showers, and started a load of laundry.

Easy enough.

Except that when the washer had completed its cycle, I went to switch the load and the washer was still full of water.  Like full full.  Like "Oh shit, we're going to have to go buy a new washer" kind of full.

Crap.

So I asked Cris (Lost enthusiast and former roommate, mother of Reilly, pictured above) what she suggested, and we decided that it would be a good idea to just run it again.  Kind of a "turn the computer off and then turn it back on" solution. But it didn't work.  The washer was still full of water. 

And since I really didn't want to spend the rest of my evening emptying the washer with plastic cups, I turned to The Google, googled "washer won't drain," and discovered that there was a good chance that the draining hose thing was clogged.  Made sense, especially considering how much fur and how many coins and tubes of Burt's Bees have ended up in the washer.

So I pulled out the washer and unplugged it (figured that might be a good idea), and slowly removed the hose.  After I stared at it (much in the same way that Mitch stares at me when I ask him if he wants to order a pizza--slowly moving his head from side to side) for a few moments, Cris had another good suggestion: blow into it. 

Yeah!  Great idea!

So I blew.

And I blew, and I blew, and I blew.  (I blew more than the horrible episode of The Hills that I'm watching right now--Jesus Christ, Spencer, could you be a little more crazy?!)

And bubbles kept coming up from the bottom of the washer.  Just like farting in the bathtub.

I blew some more, at this point because I was impressing myself with my incredible lung capacity.

Then came the moment of truth.  We put the washer on the rinse or spin cycle (I can't remember), and held our breath.  Well, I didn't hold my breath.  I was kind of out of breath from all the blowing.

And. . .

VICTORY! 

And then, every 10-15 minutes for the next three days, I'd turn to Matt and be all, "Hey, remember that time I fixed the washer by blowing into it?"

Washing Machine, 0.  Mandy, 1.

Bam Bam Wins Again

I've mentioned before Matt's obsession with podcasts, and how he has to be entertained during every waking moment. How he takes the Zune on its speaker dock into the bathroom with him while he showers.

Well, a few days ago, the speakers stopped working. I maintain that the speakers died because of all of the moisture during shower/podcast time.

Matt maintains that the speakers died because of all of the times that I tripped over the cord (WHEN THEY WERE IN THE BATHROOM!) and flung them onto the tile floor.

Knowing that no good would come from blaming Matt's need to be constantly entertained, I directed my anger at Altec Lansing, the makers of said Zune speaker dock. And I decided that, since the speakers were already broken, some Mandy fix-it-ness was in order. Couldn't hurt, right? (In some ways, this experience is analogous to one of the storylines of the Lost premiere.)

My first great idea was to just throw the dock onto the ground several times to see if I could knock things back in place. It didn't work, but it wasn't a complete bust, either. I saw a flash of light, and became more hopeful. But then after a few more tosses to the floor, nothing.

So I went to my toolbox, and retrieved my trusty hammer.

And, frustrated that I had spent $100 on piece of shit speakers, I began to hammer away. And would you believe it? When I plugged them in, THEY WORKED!

Maybe I need my own reality tv show where I fix things with hammers and eat cupcakes? Oh, and take naps. Naps would have to be included. Sounds like a hit to me.

Budding Electrician

This is the pencil sharpener in my classroom.

This is the pencil sharpener I bought with my own twenty dollars, partly because my students needed one, but mostly because it looked cool.

This is the pencil sharpener that made me so happy the day I sat in my classroom with the lights off and the windows open, listening to whiny boys with guitars, and sharpening about 75 pencils to perfect, gorgeous points.

This is the pencil sharpener that has now become the bane of my existence. This is the pencil sharpener that frequently goes on strike. (Design flaw--shavings get stuck up in the top, and we have to unplug the thing and then, in an almost obscene way, empty the shavings.)

This is the pencil sharpener that a student broke last Thursday when I had a substitute.

This is the pencil sharpener that I FIXED yesterday. Like, cut wires, and then twisted them together kind of fixed. Look at that pretty pretty pencil point!

So, if this teaching thing doesn't work out, I'll pursue a career as an electrician. I did install a dimmer switch in the bathroom this summer. It is, of course, upside down. (Thanks for pointing that out, Matt. M Cubed is on the way toward becoming M Squared if you know what I mean.)

Electricians get the summer off, right?

(Oh, and I'm just joshin' about that M Squared thing. I adore the Matt, and who else would turn the light off when I fall asleep with it on? Mitch is terrible about that kind of stuff.)