Water bills and a truck.

It turns out last term's higher-than-normal water bill was not caused solely by my sudden fascination with hand washing, but rather by a washing machine that was running unsolicited "phantom cycles" whenever it pleased. Yes, full cycles, when empty, often in the middle of the night.   It also only ran with hot water, and it sometimes stopped mid-cycle for no apparent reason, then refused to start again.

Yup, our washing machine was broken.  Mama tried to fix it (with the help of a fantastic guy named Dave from here), but it was really broken.  Badly.  When she realized just how many parts would have to be replaced for it to run again (and when she considered the fact that it was old enough to have fake-wood paneling), she and Daddy decided to just buy a new washer.  Which is important, because the new washer was delivered to my house.  In a TRUCK!  A truck, in my very own driveway!  I got to stand in it and everything!  Mama made sure to take pictures for me to share- what a fun day!