Update from previous list:
The washer and dryer problem has multiplied. The clothes were not drying. Ever. I was basically steaming them to death, and I had no idea what was wrong. I called downstairs, they said to empty the tray. I looked for a tray. Nope, didn't see one. Saw a heat conductor thingy, tried to dump it, but alas, nothing to dump out.
Then the washer stopped working. Well, it would start a cycle, ding to say done, then the clothes would be sopping wet when I opened it. I gave up and called for a service man to come up.
Service man speaks no English. He assessed the situation, called downstairs for a front desk clerk, and then proceeded to speak to her rapidly in Mandarin. She called me in, said that the service guy said I needed a lesson on the machines. Well, duh, dude. They then explained that the setting I chose on the washer was just a rinse cycle. Doh.
In my defense, I chose it based only on the temperature reading and the length of time on the display. It was all I had to go on.
He then showed me the cycles I would want to use, the buttons and what they do, and such. He made me laugh because he clearly thought I was dense- many times he said, don't touch that, just make sure these lights are on, only use this or this. I was incredibly thankful. And I would get actually clean clothes instead of just incredibly well-rinsed clothes.
And I asked about the dryer while he was there. The man reaches up, pulls on the side of the top of the machine (well above my head) and pulls out a giant tray full of water. You see dear readers, the machine is not vented. The steam collects in the tray, condenses, and you empty it after each cycle or two. Or else, steamed clothes that do not dry.
I could have kissed that Chinese service man right on his mouth.
Small side note: I may have broken the microwave today. When it just stops working in the middle of cooking your frozen lasagna for lunch? And then won't turn back on for an hour? That's broken, right?
Other items to remember:
- Every time Harper sees the stroller in the apartment, she says "bye-bye?" and pushes it. She loves our trips out so much that we have taken to hiding the stroller in the guest bathroom to keep her from pitching a fit to go out when she gets bored.
- We finally opened a set of blocks we have been saving since Christmas. My Aunt Janie gave them to Harper, and they are blocks in the classic style, but with Chinese lessons on them. Simple words, characters, phrases. She LOVES them. Harper wants either Neil or I to sit with her and build tower after tower and makes the funniest shocked face when she knocks them down.
- Harper has a "lift-the-flap" book of animals at the zoo. The first set of flaps focus on animal sounds. She picks up the books hissing for the snake sound every time. Takes after her Papaw, there.
- I just made a trip to Metro- think Sam's, Costco, BJs- and was ridiculously excited to buy a broom and dustpan with a stand-up handle. No more pregnant lady on the floor trying sweep up around the high chair. High class right there, people.
- Harper's pure joy when we opened the air shipment and she rediscovered her chair and her musical instruments. We even opened a new baby and a stroller. Of course, she LOVED it. Strolled that baby all the way to the mall for a grocery shopping trip. She was the talk of the town, I tell ya.
