The Washing Machine & The Math Tutor

Our new washing machine was delivered this morning. Phone rang at 7 AM: “We’re on the way.” Wasn’t expected until this evening. Barely five minutes later and the truck was parked in front of our house. Sam scrambled to get the cats inside and the gate open for the deliverymen.

Photo courtesy of miniqueaustralia, Pixabay

The jury is still out on this new-fangled contraption. It is our first HE machine, and our first without an agitator. It will take some getting used to. Sort of like not hitting the space bar twice at the end of a sentence. Or eliminating the Oxford comma from one’s writing. That last one may be unattainable in my lifetime. Old habits die hard.

The first load of laundry did not progress as it should have from start to finish. My husband, ever the trouble shooter, looks up possible reasons in the owner’s manual.

Maybe we didn’t load it properly. I would hate to think after 30+ years of washing clothes that we can’t adequately load socks and underwear into a drum.

Maybe the load was too large. I shudder to imagine the pile of underwear large enough to cause that high capacity machine a problem. Rumors abound that Mt. Everests of laundry do exist, especially in large families. But we don’t own enough in the socks and tighty-whitey department to fill that thing up if we dropped every bit of it in at once.

Maybe we used too much soap. Hardly… In my opinion it wasn’t quite enough.

Maybe we used the wrong kind of soap. Well, it wasn’t that $15 a gallon business, but the label on the detergent bottle does say, “For all washers…” including HE.

Maybe it has experienced a malfunction. We changed the rinse cycle from “One Rinse” to “Two” after we’d started the machine.  A no-no, perhaps? Probably should have hit the “Stop/Pause” button before we did that.

After the washing machine delivery, Sam turned his attention to the plumbing once again. We have determined over the last few weeks that a large part of our problem is massive soap residue buildup in the pipes. He had success removing more of that.

I read again my response to the option of our having used too much soap in the washing machine. Our drain pipes are clogged with soap buildup.  Hmmm…

After the washing machine, and after the plumbing, Kat and I made a run to the store and then got started on our second day of schoolwork. We are reading Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Our analysis of the book begins next week.

Vocabulary and spelling words come from practice SAT materials. Don’t know why I didn’t think of doing that sooner. Word to fellow homeschool moms!

From our current list: asperity, penchant, rudimentary.  Use these words in a sentence, please:

• “I must learn the rudimentary concepts of loading laundry all over again.”
• “My new machine has a penchant for expensive detergents.”
• “Mom pointed out the shortcomings of her washer with asperity.”

It is quite possible that I am the one with shortcomings. My domestic skills are not exactly known far and wide. If anything I am infamous in that category. The washer and I will be great friends quite soon… I hope.

As we moved on to algebra review, a guest tutor dropped by to help Kathryn. Dobby might have received a warmer reception had her paws not been wet from playing in the kitchen sink.  Damp paw prints across one’s notebook and work surface does not make for a very happy teenager!  Pretty sure the algebra and vocabulary weren’t helping the mood either.

With the tutor encouraged to move along, we finished up our school work.  Taco soup was on the evening menu.  This gave us all a chance to catch a late afternoon nap, even the tutor. Thank the Lord for crock pots!

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