The Joys of Being a Homeowner

Need I say it - I really miss having a landlord when I have an appliance (or plumbing) problem! Just last week I spent two days dealing with a toilet that was leaking. Last night one of my lids to an old pan fell apart in the dishwasher. The little screw went down into the pump area in the rear of the dishwasher. From experience, I know what can happen when something small and hard gets down in there, so I decided to take the cover off to get the screw off. As usual, I thought it was just going to be a matter of taking a few screws out and that would be that. The screws came out just fine, but then there is an impeller that needs to come out. Well, that screw was well and truly stuck and in the process of trying to remove it I broke the impeller. The screw then turned, but I couldn't get the darned thing off. So I went to bed thinking that I was going to probably have to buy a new dishwasher.

First thing this morning I went to repairclinic.com to see if they could help me. I submitted a question, and got an answer within minutes - it seems as if my only choice is to break up the entire impeller to remove it. (I also checked on sears and picked out a cheap dishwasher, figuring that this project was going downhill fast.) After a bit of beating with a hammer and a screwdriver the impeller started to break apart. I was getting more depressed as the pieces flew, but when I finally broke most of it off, I discovered that with the removal of a few more screws the cover came off easily! At that point I was able to grip the base of the screw and remove it so that when the new impeller arrives from repairclinic I will be able to finish repairing my dishwasher for the princely sum of 35.00 including shipping - yeah! But I still miss having a Landlord to call when something goes wrong.


Here is a picture of Jewel of the Prairie. It looks so pretty hanging up on my wall I think I will leave it there for a few days just to look at! I am really happy with it - not my usual style of quilt, but so bright and colorful that I love it.

It was fun to make, a little challenging to keep all the pieces organized, but quite east to sew, and laying it out was a lot easier than I thought it would be. There are so many different colors that it was easy to keep from ending up with the same colors right next to each other.

This one will be in the quilt show this weekend. I need to put a label on it and it will be ready to go.

This morning I finished the baby quilt I was making for the show, so all of my quilting is done, I just have to finish up labels and sleeves. The baby quilt I just stipple quilted, then I bound it by machine, so it will be very washable and durable for a baby to use. I am happy to have been so productive over the past week, and am going to have to challenge myself to keep up the good work!