MY FAVORITE APPLIANCE

As mentioned in my post announcing our new house, we bought a new washer and dryer. I also promised to tell you all about them. So, here it is...


The only appliances we lacked upon moving into our new place were a washer and dryer. When we put together our offer for the house, our wonderful real estate agent suggested that we ask for a washer/dryer credit from the seller (it is a buyers' market, ya' know?!). We received the credit and my father assured me that we could install a dryer vent in our laundry room. So we went shopping!

I did some online research and then one Sunday evening David suggested going to Sears to look at our options. Our plan was to just look and not buy until after we had closed on our house. However, plans change! We got to Sears in the middle of a 20% off all major appliances sale. And we couldn't say no. We bought our washer and dryer - they are RED - and scheduled to have them delivered the Sunday after we moved in.

I did my first load of laundry on Labor Day Monday. And it was fantastic. Not only is EVERYTHING digital (you just hit the casual clothes button and it washes your clothes - no choosing a water level, water temperature, nothing), but it is also a front-loader. So I can sit on the floor of the laundry room and watch my clothes being washed (I've only done this once). Additionally, both the washer and dryer are HUGE. I've washed my clothes in an apartment-sized washer for the past five years. I was so excited to wash all of my sheets and pillowcases in one load!

I've also learned a couple of lessons during the past few weeks with the new washer and dryer...

1) the water to the washer must be turned on before trying to wash. On our first washing attempt, we got an error message within minutes of starting the cycle. Turns out my dad turned the water to the washer off. Lesson learned: turn water on before each load.

2) the salesmen at the store sometimes get confused and pass along misinformation. I remember our Sears salesman telling me that you can store detergent and fabric softener in the machine. He reported that there is a sensor that knows how much soap to use with each load. This is not true. I dumped about a half gallon into our machine for the first wash and all of it was used in a single load. Lesson learned: read directions.

3) for high efficient washers you do need to buy a special kind of detergent. I went out and bought two huge containers of Arm and Hammer brand 'HE' detergent on Labor Day (we only did one load with regular detergent). The 'HE' stuff is a little bit more expensive, but I am proud to say that I bought mine on sale - buy one get one free. I do have a nearly full bottle of Arm and Hammer detergent for regular machines. If you'd like it, please let me know.

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SCHOOL UPDATE: I'm finished with week three. Things are going well... I decided to take four classes this semester: Principles of Biostatistics, Principles of Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, and Health Survey Research Methods. I really like the Infectious Epi class and the professor for the surveys class is great. I'm enjoying the train rides to/from Baltimore - I'm productive in the morning and nap in the afternoon. Plus, having space at home to study and a short three minute walk to the Metro is fantastic. My rotations begin in the new week or so, my schedule will quickly fill up with 20 hours of work each week. I'll be sure to tell you all about it...