Good news!
The friendly Sears repairman showed up at exactly 8:10 a.m. yesterday morning. Clearly, I am living right.
Bad news!
The dryer is dead. There was talk of a resurrection but, considering the majority of parts needed are no longer in existence for our particular model, as far as resurrections go it would have ranked up there with raising Lazarus from the dead.
Except it wouldn’t have been free, but rather $350.00 with parts and labor.
On the bright side, Sears applies the repairman’s diagnostic fee towards the purchase of a new dryer so I headed to our brand new Sears Outlet store to purchase a dryer.
I walked in, looked around and decided on some sort of Kenmore with limited bells and whistles. It was the dryer of choice for two reasons.
1. It was big on the inside.
2. It didn’t have a complicated control panel. I get stressed out with too many drying options. Life is hard enough without adding in PERMANENT PRESS/COTTON vs. LOW HEAT/DRY SENSOR.
Several of you were concerned about my washing machine situation, so I feel the need to let you know that we purchased a brand new front loader washing machine about a year ago.
I put a lot more thought into the washing machine purchase because a good washing machine is crucial whereas a dryer is just something I use to dry socks, sheets, pajamas and towels. Everything else gets hung to dry.
Also, thank you for all the helpful suggestions. According to the comments, I should never buy a Maytag and only buy a Maytag. Whirlpools are terrible, but some of them last for twenty years. GE is horrific, but some people swear by them. Ugly washers and dryers last longer than pretty washers and dryers.
The only real consensus was that those of you with LG washers and dryers adore them and, apparently, they sing a little song and make the universe a happier place. But here’s the thing, for me personally, spending money to buy an appliance is like spending money to rent a shovel or a paddleboat.
If I’m going to shell out big money, it’s going to be for something meaningful, like shoes or a great pair of jeans. Things that can truly change your life.
Anyway, while I was perusing the store for a dryer, I spent a lot of time opening and closing the doors of various dryers as if that would give me some insight into their drying capabilities. It seemed to give the illusion of KNOWLEDGEABLE CONSUMER.
Everything was going really well until I shut my middle finger in one of the dryers.
That was when I just picked one (not the one I slammed my finger in because clearly that dryer was a bad seed), made the purchase, scheduled delivery and walked out of the store with my dignity, if not my middle fingernail, in tact.
Since I was right next door to Target, I decided it might soothe the pain of my ailing finger. But as I walked through the women’s clothing I realized I must be delirious from the pain because I thought I saw floral print leggings on display.
And then I came to the horrifying realization that Target is, in fact, offering floral print leggings for purchase.
I haven’t thought about floral print leggings since the days I thought it would be awesome if everything I owned was by Adrienne Vittadini.
In other words, EIGHTEEN YEARS.
I smell a comeback.
In which case I won’t need that dryer because everyone knows you have to hang those bright, floral knits to dry.
Fashion Friday will return next week. I accidentally deleted my entire fashion email file, so if you’ve submitted a question it is floating around somewhere in internet space. However, next week I’ll discuss the top trends for fall.
Only time will tell if floral leggings make the cut, but I’ll go ahead and say DOUBTFUL.
I am very happy to hear that you have made your dryer purchase. Like I always say, we have so many decisions to make and the free market is out there giving us a gazillion choices. Picking a cereal is hard enough and then to have to struggle with a dryer. I am so sorry. I can’t wait to hear how Caroline is getting along with school. I must say you always put a smile on my face.
I was able to pull off the floral leggings in the the early 90’s but I would be an ugly site to behold now.
Come to think of it, it was probalby an ugly site to behold back then as well. I was just high on hairspray fumes and keg beer and didn’t know the difference!
my target just rolled out some faux denim leggings right next to the floral ones. i have been shaking my head at the florals, thinking it couldn’t get worse, but it did.
glad you got a dryer Melanie.
I’m with you on keeping it simple.
OMG. (isn’t this what the teenagers text??) I had to put down the hairspray JUST NOW and come right in here to the computer at 7:01 am to tell you all
THE BACK-COMING/TEASING IS WORKING.
who knew?
(apparently, some nice folks in Texas).
my life has just taken a whole new turn.
Thank You.
Ok, assuming the budget doesn’t take too big a hit… I think the fact the dryer died is a blessing. Really, who wants to deal with regular repairs/repairmen? When my last dryer was about to die, we thought we could fix it ~~ wrong! On it’s last day, it left black dots all over my clothes!
And, the floral leggings…. Really? Who thinks of this stuff. Do they not know our rear ends will look like your entire state of Texas in those? Not to mention the shear hideousness. But, most importantly… us girls want to THANK YOU for whipping out your camera in Target to protect us from the shear shock the next time we walk into our local store!
I saw those leggings last week, but I was so shocked by their very existence that words failed me. Been there, done that, got the Cambridge Dry Goods t-shirt.
Just sayin’.
Leggings? Did someone say leggings? Are they back? I didn’t think I’d live to see the day!
Not floral ones, though – no one’s butt is small enough for floral leggings.
The sister to the leggings, the skinny leg jeans, are back also. Did I mention all the ruffle collars and colored, textured tights?
This is not the fashion season for a woman who is holding on to some baby-weight (my youngest is 7, so maybe I need to just admit it is regular weight?).
Oh Melanie, Please show us something cute for the average- sized woman who does NOT want to look pregnant in those tent shirts, and wouldn’t wear floral even if they could!
Oh my goodness, I am cracking up:) I used to have a pair of bright rainbow striped United Colors of Benetton leggings that were the coolest…and yes, Adrienne Vittadini was the coolest too!
I know you think that the floral leggings were the most shocking part of your post but they were not. The shocking part of you post came right in the first sentence:
“The friendly Sears repairman showed up at exactly 8:10 a.m. yesterday morning.”
Clearly all your stars were aligned yesterday…
Hm. Floral leggings? Won’t be making my shopping list.
Glad you got the dryer situation worked out. Though I enjoy a new appliance, I find shopping for them to be stressful — I can never quite find that balance between price and enough bells & whistles to make it feel worth it.
I am pretty sure I gasped when I saw the picture of the leggings. I BELIEVE if I looked hard enough I could find a picture of me in those EXACT ones and THEY should never have entered the fashion world again!
Melanie, I just love the fact that you apparently always have your camera with you to never miss out on sharing the visual images of things like floral leggings. I can just see you in Target doing a photo shoot! 🙂
If they bring back stirrup (sp?) pants, I’m seriously going to have to write to someone.
so where do you hang dry the rest and why do you do that? Is it so the clothes last longer? I am just curious, I dry everything, even my daugters barbie clothes which now will only fit barbies babies
I was at Target the other day shopping with my teens (Lord have mercy on us all). And I realized that if I could just walk back into my closet from 1982, I would be the hippest, coolest mom in the planet.
Because I totally had floral patterned leggings and flats!
Next we’ll be seeing hair bows the size of a human head.
We love the Sears Outlet Store and we love our Kenmore dryer too! We just bought it six months ago, but I had the same philosophy as you, just the basics. As long as it had low and high, that was all I needed.
On the floral, that looks like a pair of pants I had in high school. I really hope that doesn’t make a comeback, because I am so NOT participating!
Hey!! I just got those pants!! I love how my butt grows larger as I walk away from you.
Obviously, I am joking… don’t want anyone thinking my fashion sense is all about enhancing the booty:-)
Oh no, not the floral leggings. I understand some things coming back….but NOT the bad stuff. Please Fashion Gurus…let the 80’s rest in peace…it was ALL bad.
Last year while shopping for my daughter in Hollister, I saw a pair of LEG WARMERS!! I held them up and another Mom asked me, “Are those what I think they are?” We both just cracked up.
I want to know how people hang things like t-shirts to dry without them being wrinkled. My t-shirts come out of the spin cycle of the washer wrinkled and if I hang them to dry, they stay wrinkled. How do you handle that?
I think I had a “bubble suit” back then in that same print! Do you remember those? A one piece thing with puffed sleeves, a fitted (often v-shaped) waistline, and big legs that puffed into smaller cuffs. Boy, as I’m writing this, it’s really hard to believe that we work that kind of stuff!
Hope you “Enjoy” your new dryer. 🙂
Leggings…comeback….seriously.
These events just leave me feeling like my mother and finding my mouth filling with phrases like, “you won’t see me in those” and “I remember when”.
UGH.
My memories of leggings are filled with the sight of my pregnant body poured into them with a long T-shirt and big permed hair accesorized with plastic earrings.
NO!!!!!!
I can’t go there.
I have begun fervently praying for the rapture because I am confident that there are NO leggings in heaven.
I’m feeling left out. I was just in our Target yesterday and I didn’t see any purdy floral leggins at all. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they will show up soon. Nothing says I am self-confident like walking around with flowers stretched beyond belief.
Congrats on the new dryer!
Oh my eyes. Make it stop! Make it stop!
Oh my, I remember those from middle school! I think I even had some with stirrups in order to make sure they remained taught on my legs when I had to wear the full length variety in the winter time. OH THE PAIN! Blast you target for bringing back a trend that should have never started in the first place! If the flowers get bigger, or I start to see stirrups, I’ll think I’ll have to stop shopping for a while.
LOL…what will come back next? T shirt clippies and neon leg warmers?
Ewww… double doubtful!!
Oh dear. Those leggings look an AWFUL lot like something I wore from The Children’s Place in 1991.
Tragic. Absolutely tragic. Those leggings I mean.
I’m with you on the dryer.
“If I’m going to shell out big money, it’s going to be for something meaningful, like shoes or a great pair of jeans. Things that can truly change your life.” Quote of the day!!! Love it.
And, I’m with Kelly, if stirrups came back I’d just die. Us long leggers had a hard time with those.
Umm, did you happen to notice if they had those with stirrups?
Jes Wundren!!?!!
Teehee!
May have to check on QVC for a sweet oversized TOP to match those babies!
Yay. I actually had good advice to give! (The Sears credit for service calls). Anyhoo…My MIL swears that things with all the bells and whistles just have more things to break, so ALWAYS go with something simple and basic. It’s pretty much true, in my experience.
I will make sure get me very pregnant rear-end into some of those floral leggings. I’m sure it’s a great look for everyone.
In college, I had the cutest floral leggings that I wore with a turquoise tunic. I loved that outfit. Now, I do anything to prevent drawing attention to my saddlebags. Sigh.
I can only praise the Lord from shielding my eyes from those floral leggings while I was at Target yesterday.
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and I’m always so encouraged to read your sweet stories about your daughter. I don’t have kids yet, and I’m kind of working through my Fear of Motherhood. Your stories always make me think maybe I can do it. 🙂
I’m wondering about this hang-to-dry idea. How do you do it? My clothes always end up wrinkled with hanger dents in the shoulders. Any tips?!! Maybe a Fashion Friday post could be about caring for your fashionable items. 🙂
Thanks!
I too have been having dryer troubles. Didn’t they used to last like 20 years? Ours is almost 11 too. It takes a cycle and a half to dry a load anymore. I cringe at all the electricity I am using! We had a man at our church look at it, he cleaned out the vent and other gunk. Some really long, rusty nails were in the place where lint goes. (I don’t know the correct dryer term) Anyway, I still had to add at least 15 more minutes. So, now it is back to the old problem. Another man in our church offered up a washer & dryer from a home he is remodeling. He wanted to know if I felt I had a new one. Listen, I don’t care what it looks like, I just want one that works. I usually don’t take guests into my laundry room.
Please, Big Mama, maintain your mantra that skinny jeans are NOT our friends.
Thank you.
what is that saying……if you wore the style the first time it was in fashion, then you by no means should wear it when the fashion repeats?! 🙂
I’m sorry that your dryer died, but happy you got a new one.
Thank you for the warning about the leggings! I will be careful to shield my eyes at Target!!
I am Shocked that the repair man was there in the morning! I always get stuck waiting all day for those people!
And I spotted those leggings at Target the other day too! I almost grabbed my camera out of my diaper bag to snap a pic….SO ugly! What’s next the hammer pants!!
I totally had those leggins!
Floral leggings? No one needs that kind of spandex covering 50%-60% of their body, let alone while adorned with cute flowers.
Unless you’re under the age of 2.
Lord help us all!
I just laughed out loud. I haven’t thought of Adrienne Vittadini in years. But I am positive that I had a pair of leggings just like that, with a matching sweater top. My penny loafers added just the right touch.
I’ve noticed a massive 70s feel coming back. Have you noticed golds, browns, and orange in a nasty print is everywhere? I swear I saw a blouse my 1st grade teacher wore at Kohl’s last week!
Clearly we are living in the end times cuz whoever looked at yester-years clothes and said ooo that might work for today’s woman has turned to the darkside.
I can spot a blogger a mile away when they are in Target taking a picture of floral leggings to post on their blog! 🙂
Too funny!
And, yes, I am with you on the dryer…no bells and whisles, please. I have enough complicated things to worry about in my life, I don’t need one more.
Floral leggings…ummmm, not so much thanks. That is one trend that I won’t be revisiting again. But I am pretty sure that mine (from many mooms ago) are hiding out in my Mom’s attic.
Target has been a teensy bit of a disappointment lately.
Or maybe I’m just getting old.
I’m with you. There’s nothing more depressing than going shopping for a boring appliance and shelling out a few hundred bucks that could have bought so many PRETTIER things.
Not included in that pretty list would, of course, be those floral leggings.
Ew.
Although I do miss the stirrup pants. Not for the fashion statement, mind you. Just that they felt really cool on the bottom of my feet.
. . . when I saw Michael Phelps wearing a leggings swimsuit in the Olympics, it made me want to become a swimmer so that I too could wear stirrups again and still be cool.
Oh my heavens! I had a pair very similar to those in 11th grade! Ack!
Seriously!
You take the gold olympic blogging medal (totally should be a sport). You make buying a dryer and a trip to Target SO FUNNY. You have a lot of pressure BM, because I count on you to make my otherwise ordinary day FUNNY!
Don’t let me down.
Kelly S. Your Michigan reader
no. please tell me your lying. floral leggings? ick!
Let me just say, I was made aware of your existence at the siesta fiesta and I have decided that I have never encountered anyone that can make blogging so hilarious. I laugh out loud at all of your posts and your daughter is just precious.
Anyway, I can’t believe the Sears man came at 8:10! I didn’t think that was possible. I was beginning to believe that those repairmen didn’t actually show up at anyone’s house until 4:00 in the afternoon. You are definitely doing SOMETHING right.
“Anyway, while I was perusing the store for a dryer, I spent a lot of time opening and closing the doors of various dryers as if that would give me some insight into their drying capabilities. It seemed to give the illusion of KNOWLEDGEABLE CONSUMER.
Everything was going really well until I shut my middle finger in one of the dryers.”
That totally sounds like something I would do. I have this fear that I don’t look natural when I shop by myself so I do things that I think look natural and then I always end up just looking stupid. So I feel your pain. I hope the new dryer works out for you 🙂
back in the day floral leggings looked awesome on this girl…at this time I will pass the torch to the almost 9 year old and the 6 year old…
I KNOW those leggings were in my closet at one time. They will NOT be making a return…seeing as I’ve birthed babies and they would only make the backside look even bigger than it already is!
OOOOOHHHH.. wonder if Gloria Vanderbilt jeans will come back too? Remember them with the swan and the thread that may or may not be a different color say like magenta, purple or lime green?
The bad thing about leggings is that EVERYONE thinks they look good in them. Can I hear a great big OMG what was she thinking!
If you would have told me 18 years ago I would lust over a small appliance, I would have said, ‘Whatever. I guess I’ll stop getting spiral perms too?’
But, I am in full on desire over the Cherry Red Kenmore front loads. And yes, the $3000 they cost would buy a lot of shoes, but darnit if I have to hang out in the laundry room washing six people’s clothes, it would be so nice for it to look HOT!
Glad you got a good sensible dryer!
Floral leggings – the horror!! That would be a very scary sight on me.
And, BTW, I just talked to a mom the other day who has actually seen stirrups in some stores – oh yes, they ARE back.
I wouldn’t mind the 80’s flashback so much if I could have my 80’s body back, also. 🙂
Several things I loved about this post:
1. That you can write about washers and dryers and make even THAT interesting.
2. That you carry your camera in Target and
3. Security lets you take pictures
4. You are willing to risk your freedom to make sure we have pictures of floral leggings as proof of their existance in 2008.
Thanks for takin’ it for the team, Melanie.
My mom has 2 dryers. Yes, you read that right, she has TWO dryers!!!! Can you believe that? She defends this by saying it takes longer to dry than it does to wash therefore why waste time waiting around for the dryer to finish when you could be doing something productive like eating some cheese or watching Project Runway. I will say those dryers have come in handy when I’ve been over at their house… 😉
oh NO!!! NOT floral leggings. I had some 17 years ago. And wore them with a huge coral color t-shirt from the men’s department and a little seashell tshirt scrunchy holder thingy on the side! And that was only one of my several pairs.
Ok, the floral leggings are for sure a big no, right? But, I saw Katie Holmes wearing jeans that were all tight rolled up like I did in junior high. What is happening to fashion? Are the designers sitting around trying to figure out how to make my watermelon look bigger? I think it’s a conspiracy.
My DH was watching “My Cousin Vinny” on TV Land tonight…Marisa Tomei was wearing a floral bodysuit that looked JUST LIKE THOSE LEGGINGS…complete with the cut out back and all. Do you think Target will carry them next season?
My sister, a twenty year old fashion merchandising major, assures me that the PINCH ROLL is making a comeback! I bought into it in the 80’s (okay, and the 90’s), but I simply can’t go there again. Unless, of course, we go full force with the big hair. We all know big hair is the only thing that can bring balance to cinched pant legs. Well, that, and fourteen pairs of socks…in assorted colors.
I had a cloth-covered journal in that exact same floral print. In 1984. (I filled that journal with longings for Rick Springfield and Boy George. Clearly I was delusional.)
Those leggings – they terrify me!
However, I AM happy for your savvy dryer purchase. I’m sure your Kenmore will either last a lifetime or blow up tomorrow.
Double doubtful…DOUBLE DOUBTFUL….should I go on shouting NO? To the floral leggings. Please, no!!!
I’ll just go ahead and say it.
I like the leggings. I think they’ll be a smashing compliment to my cankles. I’m going to buy them in every color, and I’m going to wear them with an oversized Benetton sweater because I’m not 40 and it will always be 1988 in my mind.
I don’t know where to file this one…I guess file it under COMPLIMENTS. I was reading this post and I totally thought I was reading BooMama. See, you are right beside each other on my google reader and the whole thing sounded like something she would have written right up until I got to the part about Fashion Friday and then I was like, “Huh? What? What blog am I reading anyway?” And I realized it was yours. But it could have TOTALLY been BooMama’s.
So, you’ve been spending a lot of time together.
It’s a compliment, really!