In the continuing saga of my washing machine woes, I’ve decided to heck with the store that sent over the young technician who charged an arm and a leg to fix my washing machine by trial and error. I’ve spent the better part of this week comparing prices at other stores. That’s when I came across the store my folks used to buy our household appliances from.

There’s a new store owner now. The previous owner handed the business over to his son who happily gambled it all away, so the story goes. The new store is a no-frills mini warehouse that doesn’t even display the appliances but I popped in to have a look anyway.

And to my pleasant surprise, I found they offer some of the best prices in town. Must be my lucky day ! Yes, for the savings of a few hundred bucks, I didn’t even mind running to another store to view and select my washing machine before calling them back with the model number to order for me.

My new Electrolux washing machine arrived yesterday, the very next day after I ordered it. What great service! So it’s happy days!!

If you liked this post, subscribe to my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter for more hip parenting stories.

About two weeks ago, my washing machine stopped in the middle of Spin Dry. I guess it couldn’t handle the girls’ 2 pairs of pants that are as thick as tree barks.

I called the repair man from the same store where I bought this washing machine 3 years ago. They sent over a young guy who didn’t even bother to troubleshoot. He simply replaced the capacitor, snatched 100+ bucks out of my hand and was on his merry way not 5 minutes after he stepped into my house.

It worked for exactly one wash and then died again. Said young tech came over again on a Sunday, turned the knobs and miraculously the machine started up again and he was out the door in 3 minutes. As soon as he left, it died again.

So I waited till Monday to call him again. He mumbled something about the timer needing to be replaced, that it would cost me big bucks and that I should consider buying a new machine – from him! Oh, and that he would discount what I’d already paid for the capacitor. How generous of him!

Somehow I didn’t like the sound of that and decided to call the manufacturer who said they would charge a freaking 70+ bucks just to have someone come over to take a look. And what if they can’t repair it? Okay, so now what? We need a quick and dirty decision.

Should I buy a new machine from said young tech just so I can get back what I paid for the capacitor? Or should I take a chance on getting it fixed (or not) by the manufacturer? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new machine from another store since this machine is already rusty in a few places? What would you do?

Steev was asked to repair a computer notebook at work today. This is probably the first time and a half that he’s actually opened up a notebook. And the result was disastrous…

While one of the techs was busy unscrewing the casing, Steev sat beside him, watching intently in the hopes of remembering which screws came from where. There was a myriad of screws, in all shapes and sizes, and black and silver ones too.

By the time the notebook lay like Humpty Dumpty on the workbench amidst a heap of screws, Steev had lost track ! The tech promptly vanished for a meeting, leaving Steev to replace the broken screen and put the notebook back together.

Putting on a new screen was easy, Steev said. But he couldn’t get one of the wires to reach where it was supposed to go. So he kept pulling it and tugging it till it lengthened and thinned out so much it almost snapped !

Next came the jigsaw puzzle of trying to fit the screws back where they belonged. Only problem was Steev had no idea which screw belonged where! Finally when he thought he had it all together, he discovered he didn’t have enough screws to get the back of it back on!

Not enough screws! But there were so many to start with! But like it or not, he was still short. So he undid everything and went back in to free up some screws ! Now instead of four screws on the back casing, it only has two!

The final word from Steev:

See, Mom, that’s why I always say I should never be a surgeon. Or at least if I were a surgeon, you wouldn’t want me to be your surgeon… because your stomach might end up in your brain and your brain might end up in your bladder !!

Ouch!

Anyone has a computer that needs to be repaired?

Or destroyed?

I was sitting at a cell phone service center when a woman walks in with a cell phone that her child had flung to the floor. And just the week before, Steev was telling me about some guy’s laptop suffering the same fate in the hands of a small kid.

Um, I was like, since when did electronic gadgets become kiddy toys? Or have kids become so brilliant that they can’t be fooled by fakes any more? What do you think?

Quite often, people get frustrated with me because I don’t seem to answer their phone calls or text messages. Hey, folks, I’m really sorry, I swear I’m not avoiding your calls. I would answer if only I could just find my phone or remember to switch it on .

My first cellphone was the one my company made us carry. So like it or not, I had to lug that huge, fugly thing with me and keep it on 24 hours a day even though my job description didn’t include being night watchman watchwoman. So me and cellphones never actually got off on the right foot, know what I mean?

Then there’s my perpetual problem of never being able to get to my cell phone quickly enough to answer it before it goes dead. It’s worse if I’m driving. I tried wearing a Bluetooth headset which made me feel like an alien from planet Pluto, so out it went!

By the time I left my job, cell phones had gotten considerably smaller, sexier and even harder to find in my big bottomless tote bag. With 3 school kids to juggle, my mentality has always been: don’t call me, I’ll call you unless there’s an emergency in which case just text me and I’ll get back to you within the next 30 days or after all my kids are married, whichever comes first, thanks .

These hot days we’re having reminded me of the Lekue Combination Ice Cube Trays that I bought for my kids years ago when they were little. They’re made of flexible rubber and can be used for making ice cubes or gelatin.

They make very pretty ice cubes for kiddy parties. I’ve used them at my kids’ birthday parties and loaned the trays out to friends for their kids’ parties as well . These ice cubes never fail to elicit excited oohs from the kids.

Online you can easily order them from LaPrima Shops®. LaPrima also specializes in bakeware, kitchenware and tableware. You save $5 instantly on purchases of $50 and over simply by using the coupon code – save5 – upon checkout. Offer ends May 14, 2009. Also enjoy free shipping on orders of $99 and above within the US.

The guys will be headed to the PC Fair at KLCC this weekend. Of course!  They always have something to buy and if they don’t, they’ll find something to buy anyways .

We’ll probably tag along just for the heck of it but we’ll ditch the guys and go shopping and eating on our own. That’s what we usually do rather than drag ourselves through the crazy crowds.

I got my nails done, woo-hoo and just in time for the long weekend too! Like ‘em? Wicked, huh?

No, I didn’t spend hours having my nails painted on at the nail salon. Neither are they press-ons. Guess what? A laser printer did this for me !

As you can see, I have a different floral design on each finger. I’m wierd that way, always the rebel. It’s pretty cool actually, I picked a different .jpg file for each finger and the laser printer did the rest.

You would’ve thought my hand was a freaking sheet of paper being fed into the printer. The printing itself only took a few minutes and voila! I absolutely love this crazy idea !

If you want to have yours done, find out where you can go. Offer is only on this weekend.