Trying Not to Hyperventilate

The dryer is broken.

Only two weeks of employment left, no job in sight, and the dryer breaks. Lovely, just lovely. The lights go on, the drum revolves, but nothing heats. Probably the element.

I did a couple of loads of laundry yesterday. Threw the last one in the dryer, went off to start dinner, forgot about it until just before bedtime. Ran out to grab the clothes out of the dryer, and found them still soaking wet. Felt foolish. Apologized to husband, because he was going to have to get his shirt for tomorrow out of the dryer in the morning and (since it was going to be there overnight) dewrinkle it. Husband laughed it off. (He's an intelligent man who doesn't want to have to start doing his own laundry.) Everything was taken care of.

This morning, though ...

I fell asleep on the couch last night while nursing the baby, so I woke up stiff and cold and miserable, with the baby clutched next to me, warm and happy to be sleeping next to Mommy.

What woke me was the sound of the kitchen door being closed just a little too forcefully. I don't know what it's like in the rest of the South, but here in our little corner of it, most houses are built so that the laundry room is outside, separate from the rest of the house. The husband had just come back in from finding out that his favorite shirt was still soaking wet.

Of course, the cooktop chose just now to start breaking, too. I only have one element there that works.

We're looking at a couple of hundred at least to get everything fixed. The husband got paid today, so I was looking over the budget, paying a bill or two. We're fine right now, but I'm so scared about next month. Unemployment is only half of what you make. I suppose that's to motivate you to get off your rear and start looking. But we've been looking for three months, and haven't gotten so much as an interview.

It could always be worse, right? Which is, of course, exactly what I'm afraid of.