Murphy

We have had a visitor in our home for the past few months.  We thought that he would only stay for a short while, but I think he is just kicking it in the spare bedroom and has no intention of moving.  No, it is not the former president of Liberia -- it is Murphy.


Murphy first made an appearance in October.  We traveled to Portland to see my nephew Derek off before he entered the MTC.  It was an awesome day.  Derek gave a great talk in church, Michelle and the girls were fabulous hostesseseseses.  That eve we said our good byes and jumped in the car, but it wouldn't start.  Long story short, 2 hours later we eventually got it started (an act of God) and drove home, but the car has not started since.  It has been towed to a few different shops but no one is sure of the exact problem.  They all have very expensive guesses, like twice-the-value-of-the-car expensive.  Whatever, we just left it at the shop we trust and have been doing the 1 car family thing for over 2 months while they try to diagnose the problem.

A few weeks after that our garbage disposal, literally exploded and sprayed water all over the kitchen.

A few weeks ago, my compound miter saw bit the dust.  I forgot how freaking expensive a good one is.  No wonder I bought the crappy one the first time.

And last week, the clothes washer stopped working and the part alone was as much as a new machine.

In between those weeks, our whole family has managed to get a strange cold that makes us all sound like a cat trying to hack up a hair ball, each morning and evening.

What have I learned in the last few months?

• U-tube rocks.  You can learn anything from some loser that taped himself and posted it on the internet.  He may not even speak English, or wear pants, but I learned how to replace a garbage disposal and trouble shoot my washer after just a couple short videos.

• Sometimes the best things in life are free.  

Karsten and Taegan discovered that Home Depot has free woodworking kits for kids every Saturday morning in the Eugene area. They even got an apron and get a pin with every project they complete. Karsten is in heaven. Thanks for the tip Chris!

• Vince was wrong.  Germans do not always make good stuff.

• Sometimes, Travis is right!  There is a time to quit buying crap and just fork out the dough for something that is dependable.

• Child Locks on a front load washer/dryer..  REALLY?!  The people at Samsung are my hero.

Langdon has already tried to open all the doors while the clothes are spinning at 50 bazillion RPMs and they haven't even been installed for 24 hours.

• Who needs Christmas presents when there is a washer and dryer box that takes up the whole family-room.

Excuse the mess! I was reliably informed that these are being converted into rockets by the short engineers that rule this home.

• I thought Langdon was the laid back kid.  This kid can be just as intense as Coach K at times.

Good thing he can't speak much English. Because, he would totally be yelling at us to get our butts down and move our feet on defense.

• I am sure I learned more but there is water spraying from the hot AND cold shutoff valves in the laundry room...  I am coming Murphy.