Roll with it.

I've always argued that moderation is the key to just about everything, but I think that's only part of it. I think a bit of flexibility is also key.

I bring this up because of my experience of this afternoon. So, I more than surpassed my goal for the day. I sorted, organized and cleaned everything within the "midspaces" area, the laundry room and the entryway. That's the positive. The negative is that I also broke the washing machine in the process. The washing machine and the dryer entered my life with Paul. They're about 6 years old and are relatively nice asko machines. They are my nemesis. At the time he purchased them, they were the most energy-efficient on the market. This translates into small and very slow. I could complete a normal load in five hours. Plus, I have an amazing skill at causing minor damage too them. Minor damage in that it takes the guy under two minutes to fix them, but damage in that they are unusable until he gets out.

So, this afternoon I broke the washing machine. Paul looked at it and then stated we should go to Home Depot and buy new ones. Now, as someone who perhaps obsessively researches, I was very unsure about this. However, my trials and tribulations with the machines were such that I agreed. So we grabbed Trajan and off we went. About forty minutes and three thousand dollars later, we were the proud owners of new Whirlpool Duet something-or-other machines. The fact that I say something-or-other shows the degree to which I didn't research anything. This decision was based solely on anecdotal accounts from friends that both the Whirlpools and the LGs were nice, but there was a real shortage of LG repair people around.

This is relevant to my continued battle against the stuff, the mess and the dirt for several reasons. First, based on my thoughts this morning on "spacescaping" the laundry room, we decided to get the storage pedestal things instead of the work surface. I think this is a better decision because it gives us valuable storage space, doesn't create an additional flat space to draw stuff like a magnet and the area is not very valuable as a workspace anyway because the cabinets above stick out in the way. It's also relevant for while everything has been gone through, the final order for the room isn't achieved yet because it will be different with the storage pedestals than with the current elfa cart.

So, while this action isn't typical for me and not something I would recommend as a standard operating procedure, I think it was the right one and one that will benefit all of us.