Today? It’s hot. It’s really really hot. So what did I decide to do? I decided to wash the curtains. This makes sense, see, because they were dusty, and because I’d been meaning to wash them and hadn’t, and also because I thought I could hang them up to dry in the house, thus providing sort of an electricity-free air conditioning method. A very very mild air-conditioning method, but still. Better than nothing.

Well, I washed the curtains in the living room. That worked brilliantly. I hung them back up just as the sun started to come into the room, so we didn’t even roast while they washed, and the room did cool down a bit as they dried.

Inspired by my success, I thought I’d wash the curtains in my bedroom. Except that Sadie sleeps there off and on throughout the day, and needs the semi-dark to stay asleep. So I thought I’d wait until dark, wash them, and hang them back up before going to bed. (Shut up, it was a good plan.) I took them down. I put them in the washer. It filled up with nice soapy water. And then? And then? And then my washing machine died. Dead. Right there. Full of water. It will not wash, it will not rinse, it will not drain. Dead. At 9:30 pm.

So here are my options. I can take down the living room curtains and move them to my bedroom, then move them back tomorrow (or whenever I figure out what to do about the washer). Or I can leave the bedroom window uncovered and get up with the baby and toddler when the sun comes up, because it will wake us all.

Hmm.

Stepladder, here I come.