Washer and Dryer

It finally happened. After countless rolls of quarters and relying our relatives' generosity with their appliances, we finally, finally have our own washer and dryer:

That's a stackable (duh) Asko set. We had never dreamed of getting this high-end Swedish brand, but we have a designer friend who got us a hook up with a deal. We paid less than one-third of this set's retail price. The washer and dryer actually cost us about the same as a much, much lower end set would have, so we are pleased as punch.

One of the things that we absolutely love about this set is that they are super water- and energy-efficient. The washer spins clothes up to 2000 rpm at the end of the wash cycle (roughly the same rpm that you car's engine will have on a mellow road), and things come out nearly dry. That means much shorter dryer cycles. The washer uses about one-quarter of the water that a traditional top-loading washer would use, even with optional extra rinse cycles. It requires very little detergent and still comes in as an energy star appliance!

So, laundry is our new hobby for the new year. Happy New Year to everyone out there, and all the best in your 2009 endeavors!

Christmas came early...

That beautiful sight is a 220-volt plug for the dryer that will shortly be ours. I could have kissed the electricians who put this in for us.

(I am more excited about this than I have been about anything in a long, long time. So stay tuned for the VERY EXCITING pictures of our new washer/dryer set!)

Oh, hi Internet...

Hello again, friends (if you're still reading — and really, I wouldn't be reading after six months of silence).

I wanted to offer a quick accounting of our last several months:

June: work
July: work
August: work
September: WORKWORKWORKWORKWORK!!!!!
October: WORKWORKWORK
November: WORK
December (so far): WORK

As you can see, it's really been a blast.

We haven't moved on anything house-wise during this time either, but that has less to do with the work schedule and a lot more to do with the general state of the world economy and all that frightening business. (We'd prefer to not jump in too soon or rashly — I'd like to avoid becoming a cautionary tale.)

I will say that we have been stalking a particular lot basically since July, and by stalking, yes, I mean it all: imagining what we would look like together at parties, signing my last name with its address in my diary, picking out outfits for it, driving past at all hours of the day and night, stopping by all the shops in the neighborhood, and so on.

We actually went through a round of negotiations with the owner of this lot about two months ago but we couldn't reach a comfortable price for everyone. In the meantime, Tai has designed about eight iterations of the "outfit" we could put on that lot, and we have watched the price slowly — so slowly — edge downward. We'll keep stalking it through the next couple of months, and who knows? Maybe we'll be able to report on some action sooner rather than later. Keep your fingers crossed for us.