No, I'm not getting rid of hubby; I think I'll keep him for another year or two. However, we did get rid of a family member who's been with us 32 years! We decided the time was right to replace our washing machine. We bought our Sears Kenmore way back in 1977 and it was still chugging along. But with laundry going almost 24-7 and a recent open house by our local electricity utility, along with rebates, we decided a more energy efficient appliance was in order. Little did we know that it would also serve as a built-in babysitter. Isobel brought over her stool and drink and spent at least a half an hour watching the laundry go round and round:
Of course, Grandpa was pretty interested as well:
My initial impression of the new washie is quite positive. It is SO quiet. The loudest sound it makes is when the water drains. And I know it will be kinder to our septic system.
As expected, not too much knitting news to report. I did start on a Wonderful Wallaby for Isobel, but have made limited progress. I'm up to the underarms and have started one sleeve.
The lack of fall weather has seemed to make its necessity not quite so urgent. The first day of fall is expected to be up in the 80's!
Yesterday we celebrated Mei-Mei's second birthday:
She spent all day going around singing "Happy Birthday". Definitely one of her favorite songs. Last week hubby and I took the girls out to lunch with some friends. Hubby gave Mei-Mei a square of jello on a fork. She looked at it and exclaimed, "Birthday cake", and proceeded to sing Happy Birthday, charming everyone in sight.
In not so happy news we had a little bit of a traumatic incident a couple of days ago. The girls and I were eating popcorn and tossing bits to the dogs. We've done this ever since Maggie was a puppy with no problems. Unfortunately Maggie and Kirby went for the same piece of popcorn at the same time and a tussel ensued. It only lasted 5 seconds, but when it was over, Kirby's eye was dislodged from the socket! Eewwww! The vet was able to replace the eye in the socket and stitched the eyelid shut. In two weeks we'll go back to have the stitches removed and see if the eye is viable. Kirby seems to be doing ok and has started eating and drinking well, but he definitely is having mobility problems. He was already about half blind (and deaf) and this does nothing to improve the situation.
I'm kicking myself because I feel I should have known better. Maggie has always had food issues with other dogs. A human can go up to her and take her food away, but she viciously guards her food against other dogs. The one exception has been popcorn time when she's always seemed perfectly happy to share with Kirby. I'm trying hard to not be mad at Maggie because I know she was just being a dog and essentially wasn't out to inflict any real harm. She just caught Kirby in exactly the wrong way. Any advice out there from more experienced dog people?
missouristar 
If I recall Kirby is one of those pushed in face dogs? This type of injury is relatively common in those dogs. It happened to my MIL’s Lhasa when it was playing with their bigger dog. Playing, not tusseling.
As for the food issues I’m not sure because Patty always did all that training when they were puppies. Maybe talk to the breeder about a solution? I know that even with my two there are occasional snarl fests that last all of 20 seconds and we usually just yell knock it off and they sheepishly go to their corners. It’s almost as if they are embarassed that they got caught up in the moment.
Hopefully everything is well with Kirby very soon.
Poor Kirby, although I bet the humans were way more freaked out than he was.
Congrats on the new washer. It looks very entertaining.
Oh man, poor Kirby! That just makes me cringe. I have no advice, other than it’s not your fault. Lewey is very food-aggressive with other dogs as well. We had a big dog fight once when we tossed ice cubes on the floor for he and Riley. He’s OK as long as we feed him according to the rules, but occasionally we forget, toss or drop something, and he’s off to the races. We have a set meal time ritual for them, and as long as we all follow the same rules every time, he’s fine. It’s the unexpected food surprises that causes his little brain to just go haywire.
Yikes, the poor little guy! It must have been traumatic for all of you. I hope he is all better soon.
Your old washer sure gave its money’s worth. It’s so funny how the new one is a source of entertainment for all ages!