What a Penny can Do ! !

A penny saved is a penny earned. 
I have heard this saying since I was a little girl. 

Fast forward 20 or so years... Married with 5 children. 
There is a lot going on in life.  A lot of everything except for the money that tends to fly out the window faster than a hummingbird's wings. 

So when we bought our washing machine 6 years ago, I inquired about the warranty.  It came with a 2 year warranty.  We were offered the extended warranty of 4 years.  I jumped on it.  I figured since our family number was 7 and the "average" family number was 4 we do twice the laundry.  There is nothing gentle about the amount of loads of laundry we put through our machines. 

So there have been a few annoying issues I have needed to address but I keep putting them off.  Knowing full well, I needed to pull out the warranty.  Not wanting to go on the search.  Well God in all of His Faithfulness, allowed my washer to stop working for me on, non-other, April 1st.  No Fooling! 

I wasn't too amused.  Did I mention we do a lot of laundry around here?  And I was behind a couple of days.  But committed to acknowledging the blessings in disguise, I found the warranty and first thing Monday morning I called about the warranty. 

Woohoo, Good thing the machine died on the first, cause the warranty expired on the 16th. 
Blessing number 1

Jumped through scheduling hoops, secured a repair appointment.  Met with the repair man....nothing he could do that day.  Parts needed to be ordered.  The good news, we stopped using the washing machine in perfect time because we did not burn up the control panel!

Blessing number 2

Parts will take a week to arrive.
Completely convered by the warranty that is still in effect

Blessing number 3

Now a year ago, I might have cried.  I might have begged, implored and sobbed for a loaner washing machine. 
God in all of His infinite grace and wisdom, saw fit for my machine to die when it did.  15 days before the warranty expired.  4 months after my dad bought a house 5 blocks from me. 

Blessing number 4

For 16 days I have strategically scheduled 3-4 trips a day to my dad's house to do laundry.  Gotta go to the grocery store, leave 15 minutes early, do a load of laundry. On the way home, stop and do another load.  Load before swim team, load after swim team, load before doctor's appointments, load after.  My life for 2 weeks and 2 days.
But it is doable and I don't have to go to a laundry mat. 

Blessing number 5

But what does this have to do with what a Penny can do???
Well Tuesday morning, my most anticipated visitor arrived.  I was so excited to discover him in my laundry room. (I didn't know he was there, my husband let him in.) 

The Washing Maching RePaIr MaN. 
MY HERO!!!
From the dining room, I hear, "I know what your problem is!

Blessing number 6

 The problem:  "It is a penny."

WHAT?
We all,  all 7 of that is, walked to the laundry room to check on this declaration. 

A penny ended up stuck in the motor. 
A penny stopped my washing machine.

This penny



The motor was probably not broken.

Blessing number 7

I had my new agitator now, cause I was "forced" to get out my warranty and get things moving.

Blessing number 8

We have a "spare" motor now, just in case.

Blessing number 9

But a PENNY???

Guess I am going to have start checking pockets.  I don't like to check pockets.  It takes time and there are a lot of pockets in my laundry.  I just like to collect the money and put it in my jar. But my warranty has expired now.

That is what a penny can do.....

A penny can make this momma get off her duff and call about her warranty.
A penny can re-arrange schedules.
A penny can make children appreciate the process of laundry so much more.
A penny can make warranties worth every Penny!
A penny can replace worn out agitators.
A penny can make a momma dance the happy dance cause she has her washing maid back.
A penny can give a repairman a new story to tell.
That penny is now in my "penny" bank....saved with all the other change I get from the laundry.

Blessing number 10...a penny saved is a penny earned.....

She is a crochet machine!

Little Princess is going to town with her crotcheting.  After her potholder and 2 hats, she decided to learn how to make an afghan.  She pulled out the afghan my Grandma made me 30 years ago. 

Sized it up.  Looked at it from all angles.  Counted the number of squares.  All sorts of wheels were turning in her head.  She watched this video a bit more...

and watched some You-Tube videos.
Then she got to work.
This is what she created for her American Girl doll. 

I am in awe of her talent and ability.  Not only that, but her passion for crocheting.  She is doing the research.  She is doing the self-teaching.  She is reaching out to others and asking questions.  All of it  is done in her free time.  Not in place of school or chore time.  She loves it.  She starts talking about the next 30 projects while she is in the midst of one already.  Always think ahead of what else she can create.

This post contains affiliate links.  See my disclosure here.

Lessons learned at the YMCA

Tonight's conversation with The Man at the Y after swim lessons.
THE MAN:  The machine won't take my TEN ($10). 
MOM:   Because the machine doesn't take $10 bills.  Only ones. 
THE MAN:  That's inconvenient.  I didn't know that.
Then the machine worked.  That's convenient. 
Where does my Man come up with these things?  How did he ever learn to properly use the word convenient?