The Great Dryer Fixing Adventure

I have a confession to make:

I HATE doing laundry.

Nearly every part of it. Sorting (cuz I totally do that and don't just wash everything on cold... that would be dumb), remembering to move it to the dryer, putting it away (as opposed to simply pulling out choice items (socks, underwear) from the dryer or laundry basket)... I hate it.

I was disgusted last year when I bought my washer and dryer and spent so much money to do my least favorite chore. However, one of the teachers at school pointed out that I just spent that money in order to do that chore at home (in my pajamas was implied).

A few weeks ago I noticed my towels weren't dry when I went to take them out of the dryer. Rude! So I ran it again and they came out dry, but they were all linty. The heck? I mentioned it to my dad and he said that I probably had a lint ball in the right angle where the dryer vent goes into the wall. He used the right technical words, but what I heard was, "Blah blah blah, you have a big ball of lint in your wall." Cool, cool. That's just AWESOME.

He then tells me that I need to pull out my dryer, remove the dryer vent hose and stick my vacuum in the wall to get the lint out. Well, I am SO not motivated to do this. At this point I was pretty stocked up on clean clothes and towels so I was just like, "Meh, I'll do it when I do it."

Then my capris got too dirty to wear. So I'll wear sweat pants, no biggie! If I have to go someplace, I'll put on a skirt.

Ran out of socks. Whatever. It's summer time. Flip flops all the way!!

No more towels. I can use a beach towel for the shower and a kitchen towel as a hand towel...

Ok, underwear is where I draw the line.

Which brings us to today. Of course, at this point, my parents are in Arizona (where it is COOLER than in Portland... rude) so there's no begging my dad to come out and help me. Psh, whatever. I'm a grown woman who don't need no man/dad to fix things in my house!

I decided to take a break from working in my mom's craft house (the organization of which is my part time summer job this summer in lieu of actual employment). The plan was to spend a lazy morning snuggling with Missy and watching TV, eat lunch, and then fix the dryer, start some laundry, and do my weekly vacuuming of ALL THE CAT HAIR.

But The Dryer had other plans.

The first problem I encountered was easily fixed. I couldn't pull the dryer out because the door to the laundry closet was in the way. Ok. Easy fix. Take the door off the track and we're in. Unhook the silver thing, vacuum it all. Notice the floor is dirty, vacuum that, too (so domestic and clean... go me).

Then the real fun started.

I discovered that the farthest I could pull the dryer out in and still have the dryer vent hose connected to the dryer AND the wall, left little room for me to scoot behind the dryer. Like, none.

No way my booty can fit through that

Ok. So, I need to climb over the washer. Gonna need some help with this. I get my stool, set it on top of the dryer for easy access, pull the dryer back, hook all the stuff up, maneuver said stool behind the dryer, and climb out.

Now... how to reach the stool...

Maybe if I got a stick...

Well that didn't work. Not that I really thought it would, but it was worth a shot. Laying over the top of my washer (now putting foot prints on the wall next to it) and bracing my other hand on top of the back of the dryer, I managed to lean down and grab the stool. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to awkwardly maneuver the stool over the power cord, I managed to knock the silver tube out of the wall.

I might have said a few choice words at this point that would not have been work appropriate.

Got a second, smaller stool (which is kind of old... made by my grandpa when they were first married). Climbed back over the washer, fixed up the vent hose, climbed out, "gracefully" fished out the smaller stool. Tada!! I did it!

"Hallelujah" chorus plays in the distance...

Texted my dad annoyed pictures of the process and came back to push the dryer back in. MISSY YOU AREN'T HELPING.

I then examined my vacuum and saw that there wasn't very much lint in there after all that vacuuming which left me still concerned about there being lint in my wall. So I texted my dad and he suggested running the dryer and going out to see if the flaps of the dryer vent were opening outside. I throw a few clean clothes in the dryer and press the on button....

Nothing.

Check the door, check the settings. 

Click, click.

NOTHING.

I climb on top of the dryer (once again getting out my stool) and look behind it.

HOW?! HOW DID IT COME UNPLUGGED WHEN I PUSHED IT BACK IN!!??!?

Get the stools out again, crawl over the washer, plug it in (knock the stupid vent thing off again and have to maneuver that back into place), crawl out, push it in, and yay! It turns on!

Unfortunately, the vent wasn't opening. Rude.

After setting up the ladder and carrying up the vacuum, I find the reason it won't open: the paint. THE PAINT ON THE VENT IS STICKING TO ITSELF AND KEEPING ITSELF CLOSED. Oh my gosh. 

I unstick it and vacuum out the bits of lint that had built up and now the dryer vent works. Yay. I can do my least favorite chore again. I'm so happy.

 After all that, I have to admit I am not very motivated to vacuum. And since Mandy and I are going out tomorrow rather than her coming over, I'm even less motivated to vacuum right now. So I think I will whine dramatically about this on my blog, re-watch a Romeo and Juliet musical on Youtube, and draw.

DAMMIT MISSY YOU STILL AREN'T HELPING!!!