Layout:
Home > The week of broken things

The week of broken things

October 13th, 2016 at 12:35 pm

We have had one of those weeks (or two) where everything is suddenly broken. Does this ever happen to you? It's seriously one thing after another!

It started with the coffee maker. Tried to make a pot, and nothing. The darn thing steamed and bubbled for an hour ad not a single drop of coffee came out. Darn thing. I had to buy a replacement for $25.

Then, hubby comes home and his car is making a noise. (he knows nothing of cars, I grew up in my dad's auto shop). I drive it around the block. Leak in the exhaust. Not good. It cost $300 for labor plus new muffler (It got a hole in it!) and replacement of a rusted pipe.

I bought some speaker wire from Amazon because our wires have long been too short, so short I can't pull the stereo out to hook things up to the back. It was one of those 'well, we just moved in and have a million things to do, so just use what you have even though it isn't long enough' situations that once it's done, you never get around to fixing it. So, I run new long speaker wires, all nice, then test everything, only to discover one of the speakers is dead. Kaput. Oh well. DH had them before we married 15 years ago, and the stamp on the back said it was made in October 1978! It had a good run. No word on replacement $$$. Shopping for speakers is overwhelming.

While working on the stereo, I messed with my record player. It's been in and out of the shop, and as a last resort, I gave it to a friend to repair. Well, it turns on, but the motor is on the way out. And the arm is busted again. It's time for a new one. It's begun the cycle of repairs that don't seem to last. Ugh!

And, finally, yesterday, I opened the microwave only to discover that part of the inside roof of it had melted and some sort of motor oil was dripping down onto the tray. Uh oh. After some online research, it became clear microwave repairs are not DIY because they have so many live electrical components even when unplugged. I didn't feel like getting electrocuted, and the same model was on sale at home depot this week for less than the price of a service call from the appliance guy.

It killed me to do it, but we bought a new one of the same model (it's hood vent mount and it took me days to install the bracket on the wall last time. I didn't want to do that, so just bought the same machine so I could pop it one the hardware that was already on the wall). That cost $137.

So yes. I'm tiptoeing around the house trying not to break anything or jinx anything. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. We furnished our houses together and separately with a lot of estate/yard sale and thrift store finds. The speakers and the record player were from the 1970s. Still, the microwave was only 2 years old. Nothing new seems to be built to last. It's infuriating!
Oh well, nothing lasts forever!

3 Responses to “The week of broken things”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1476364329

    Yes, I have found that things tend to break in groups. It is super frustrating. Years ago, I bought a new disposal of the same brand so it would be an replacement, so I think you are smart to buy a the same microwave for that reason alone.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1476369867

    Yes, that has happened to me before! Recently everything has seemed to leak. The upstairs toilet sometimes just keeps running until we fiddle with the hardware. The main-floor shower is constantly dripping. The kitchen faucet has twice come loose and dumped water through the floor and our neighbors' ceiling! After that second time we did order a replacement faucet, but otherwise we're trying to work around problems and get things to last until we do full renos of these three rooms (which we really want to do as soon as we have the money).

  3. snafu Says:
    1476371815

    So frustrating but you luckily got longer than typical service from most items. Coincidentally, DH insisted on the same brand microwave replacement unit so that it fit the space. Being a home owner is expensive. Should you desire wall hung TVs, suggest you plan how to hide cords before you begin the process of shopping for a TV. We recently pulled out carpet and started on DIY laminate. Ended up needing tradesman to finish project. projects.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]