fawkes

guy fawkes
Tomorrow is our annual Guy Fawkes party for D's office. This will be the last year of hosting at our house since we're already going to be bursting at the seams, depending upon how many people come.

I scheduled the cleaners to come today so the house will be clean for tomorrow night. And RHG just canceled their date night, so I won't have to clean up after the kids tonight - woohoo! Avery will be at the G's house for an overnight tomorrow night during the party. I heart the Gs.

nyc
We're still scheduled to go to NYC. D and I wondered via email a few days ago whether we (Avery and I) should still go, but we haven't had time since them to discuss in person. I lean strongly towards going even if it's not quite as smooth as it would have been had Sandy not hit. I'm assuming, of course, that all power will have been restored by this weekend so things will be fairly on-track by the time we get there late next week.

avery & fits
She's been doing really, really well lately regarding fits. She has been able to get upset within what I'd consider an acceptable range and deal with whatever was upsetting her. Massive improvement. I'm so pleased. One of the moments she had particular trouble dealing with before was when I'd get angry with the way she was speaking to me. I never yelled at her, but even just looking at her with a stern face would make her start crying and moving toward fit mode. This morning, she was able to take a moment then say she was sorry and we moved on. Massive improvement.

halloween
Avery dressed as Merida (from Brave) for her school Halloween parade, but chose to go as Jessie (from Toy Story) for the evening trick-or-treating. I'm not sure why she made that choice. I wasn't really up for trick-or-treating that night, so I asked D to go with her. He went around with Lily & Grace and their parents for 45 minutes or so of trick-or-treating. Avery came home with a perfectly reasonable amount of candy. It's funny because I don't think she even knows that other kids might eat more than one piece of candy that night. She asked to eat one then she asked to go to bed and it was an evening like any other. I stashed away all that candy in the treat drawer and she gets to pick one a day for lunches.

While Avery was totally reasonable and balanced in her consumption of Halloween candy, I was less than stellar. I at least had the good sense to buy mostly Kit Kats as the type for us to give out. Since I can't eat Kit Kats, those are still in plentiful supply. I also bought York Peppermint Patties, which I will eat once in a while, but would never eat more than one and can easily avoid them for months. Unfortunately, I also bought a bag of miniature peanut butter cups. I took the whole bag upstairs before bed and ate about half of it. I left the other half sitting on my nightstand. The next morning, Avery found the peanut butter cups on my nightstand. She said, "Mommy, if you eat all these at once, you'll get a stomach ache. I'll take them downstairs." I said, "Oh, you're right, Avery. Thank you." She was so very grown up about it. Thankfully, not grown up enough to look in the trash can and see what I inhaled the night before. She has always believed us that she'll get a stomach ache if she eats too much candy. I wonder when she'll finally test this theory, or bug us to let her test it. Soon no doubt. (Oh and yes, I did eat the other half yesterday while she was in school.)

avery & sleeping
Since we've returned from England, Avery has been going to sleep early and amazingly fast. We've been laying with her in bed until she falls asleep because we did it the first few nights we were back and it is working great, so why not. She falls asleep within 5 minutes of us saying "time to go to sleep." She's also been asking to go up to bed earlier than we were going up before England. Clearly, I love my daughter's non-resistance of bedtime. More often than not, she's the one who says she's ready for bed.

She's also, for the past couple of months, been coming into our bed in the middle of the night about 50% of the time. I actually rather like it, so I don't feel compelled to do anything about it. She's quiet (usually) when she comes in. Typically brings her blanket so she doesn't get under our blanket and just snuggles in between us. D may have a different version of this story, but for me, it's nice.

refugee family sponsorship
Amber, Christie, Stacey and I are sponsoring a couple of refugee families for Christmas again this year. This year one family is Bhutanese and one is Somalian. All members of both families need winter coats. Several bikes were requested. Then there are various items requested within the household. The list provided is just a wish list and we are in no way obligated to get all things on the list, but I would love to get each item. We'll see what we can do.

mom's back
My mom is back from her visit to Colorado and Wyoming. It's nice to have her home. She came inside for just a bit after I picked her up for the airport (her car was parked here while she was away, and Barkley was here, too). While she was in the bathroom, Avery asked if she could share her Halloween candy with Nain. She gave Nain a Kit Kat (from her stash, not from the stuff we have left) and had a bag of Skittles for herself. It was so grown up the way she shared. Melted my (so non-sentimental) heart.

Assignment

First Assignment
A while back, I offered to make any charts or signs or bulletin-board type things any of the teachers at Avery's school may need. I'm currently working on first assignment: a check-in/check-out chart for Avery's classroom.

The Efficient and Practical side of me (which is rather large) always struggles when I start one of these little projects. I'll spend x amount of time doing something I know no one really cares all that much about. For example, do the kids or the teachers care that I am cutting out little school houses, with doors and windows and a school bell, and assembling them on the cards? No. I could easily buy cute stickers and it likely wouldn't change a thing. However, the point is that, for whatever reason, I like assembling these little cutouts and gluing them. I like the look. It relaxes me somehow. So that is why my machine is cutting away little school houses and little houses and little trees and little school bells. Efficient Megan has finally prevailed in forcing Flighty Crafty Megan that I've got to at least do all my cutting at once, then do all the assembling later. Flighty Crafty Megan just likes to go every which way and assemble and do it all at once, which makes any project take forever.

Refugee Family
We're sponsoring a refugee family for Christmas again.  This time it's an extended family of 12 from the Ukraine. That was a bit much for just Damian and me, so Amber and Stacey are co-sponsoring the same family. I am hopeful that Avery will get the concept a bit more this year.

Pong

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Company Party

Today we hosted a party for D's office.  The original picnic was reschedule and moved to our house after the original date landed on a cold, rainy day.  Let's face it, who wants to spend a weekend day in the drizzly rain with coworkers.  I don't know what others thought, but I thought we had a pretty good time today.  Any time you have a party that degenerates to playing beer pong in the garage with loud music blaring and little kids playing with bicycle pumps and dancing to inappropriate music gets a thumbs up in my book.  Plus, I nailed D with not one, but two water balloons.  Awesome.

As a bonus, Avery was dog tired after a day of running around with the other kids, so she fell asleep immediately after reading books.  Awesome.  

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Ignorant

Somewhere in the last 1.5 years, I stopped following all political news because it just made me so mad.  That's been a blessing.  Then I just kind of stopped following all news, I guess because avoiding political news diverts attention from other news, too.  To be honest, it's been blissful.  However, it also means I'm not up on much of anything.  Everything comes as a bit of a surprise to me.  I understand there's a bit of a debt crisis going on (kidding, even that story penetrates my self-imposed ignorance).  Anyway, I have heard about a drought in East Africa, but I haven't thought much of it beyond the headlines. The Big Picture of The Boston Globe did a post on the crisis.  If those pictures don't make you click over the WFP and donate $100 ...   I find the pull to donate to such causes so much stronger now that I'm a mother.  I cannot imagine what it is like to watch your child suffer that way.  Suffering yourself is one thing.  Watching your child suffer must be the absolutely worst feeling in the world.

Pockets

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Still Obsessed with the Silhouette

It's 11:37 pm.  I am playing with my Silhouette.  I'm making very necessary pockets to hold Avery's earned tickets.  Of course, I also made Avery new tickets with ladybugs and bees and fairies and butterflies.  And I laminated them.  I'm a little obsessed with the new toy.  I even volunteered to make RHG a chart and some tokens for Elise.  See, here Elise is standing next to it.

Right now, I'm cutting the pockets after spending a bit of time getting the design right.  Here's my pattern:

The numbers are mirrored because the flaps fold inward. The screen grab above doesn't show it, but the three lines where the card is to be folded are not actually solid cuts, but rather perforations making folding easier.  Nice. However, I messed up when I did the numbers and made them perforations as well, so I had to use a box cutter (couldn't find an exacto knife) to cut out the numbers by hand.  I would have just done another sheet on the Silhouette, but I only had one of the sheets I wanted to use for the pockets. I'm too lazy to use my camera, but here's a picture using Photobooth on the iMac.  It's obviously a mirror image since it's all backwards, but you get the gist.

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All things non-Silhouette related

• Avery came down with a weird little virus of some sort on Sunday evening.  On Monday, she ended up with a fever of 103.2.  I called the doctor to make sure I was doing the right things, confirmed that she shouldn't go to school on Tuesday, and spent Monday and Tuesday with a total trooper of a sick girl. 
• Today, Avery apparently made quick friends with a new girl who will be attending her school and will be in her class.  
• I couldn't help but donate to My Charity: Water after reading this story of a 9-year-old girl who asked friends and family to make donations instead of getting her presents for her birthday on June 12th.  She set a goal of $300, but fell short at $220.  She died last week in a car accident in Bellevue, WA. Her family put the site back up, her pastor talked about it at church, and some news stories were done on it.  Now her project has raised over $500,000.

+1

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+1

I just saw a post about Google's new +1 experiment.  It's kind of like "liking" something on FB, except you do it while you're other places on the Internet.  Watch the video to better understand it.  Yes, it's the same concept as Stumble Upon or Tweeting it, but I think it's better because it can be applied to a Google Search.  I would want to know if I were searching for "lawn service" and one of my friends/contacts +1'd a service.  Anyway, it seems like a great idea to me, but obviously it only works if you have enough friends participating.  As with all things Google, it'll be interesting to see if this catches on.  I signed up for the experiment have have already +1'd a few things.

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Today

Avery's in school today because I'm having the carpets cleaned in the house. That means she'll also sleep at the G's house tonight since it's not good to be in the house for several hours after the carpet has been cleaned.

D and I will probably see the new X-Men movie tonight. 

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Books

I read 8 books in May and the first couple days of June.  If I kept up that pace, I'd read 96 books a year.  That pace will not be kept up, clearly.  I'm thinking of forcing myself to read literature vs my usual difficult-life memoir genre.  That'll be the kiss of the death to my reading streak since I'll get stuck half way through the book and not want to continue.

After reading A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman, I signed up to support a woman via Women for Women.  It takes 4-6 weeks to be matched with a woman.  After reading the book, which I have mixed feelings about, I understand that the letters you write to the woman you're supporting actually matter.  I think I always assumed they didn't.  We support a child through Compassion (yes, it's Christian charity and yes, it's weird for me to think about it considering my lack of belief in a god) and have for something like 6-8 years now.  I don't know how many.  Anyway, in a complete role reversal for us, it's D who writes Caroline (hey, at least I know her name?), not me.  This is always one of those things where I truly wonder if the money gets its way to the actual person, and then whether the money actually helps.  But I guess, in the end, I prefer to error on the side of hoping it does. 

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M&Ms & Gluten

I have not eaten a Starburst (one of my favorite candies) since I tried them a couple of months ago and got terrible, terrible heartburn from them.  Well, now it seems I will not be eating M&M's for a good long while either.  I had two small handfuls yesterday and ended up with a terrible headache and queasy feeling.  I checked and double-checked ingredients online and it seems that M&Ms made in the US are gluten-free.  D bought these from the bulk bin at WinCo, so maybe they're imported from some other country.  Maybe I'm also really sensitive to some other ingredient.  Who knows. Either way, it'll be a while before I try M&M's again.

Speaking of gluten, I'm now so sensitive that I will feel it even if I eat only a few crumbs.  Seriously.  And I feel it really fast.  Were it not so uncomfortable, I would totally demonstrate this amazing ability as a party trick.  It's like I'm sniffer-dog sensitive.  I impress myself.  But I digress.

Three

Three-years-old

I cannot believe I just put a three-year-old to bed!  So cool.  Avery had a blast today, so much so that she cut short her reading time before bed.  She's fast asleep.

I didn't take a single picture, though I took lost of video.  I left the picture taking up to Amber & Christie & Sara (I didn't see RHG with her camera).

My favorite moment had to be when Avery, after she'd eaten 1/3 of her cake, starts back in on her broccoli.  Best.moment.ever.  She's certainly not the best eater in her peer group, but I'll take it!

Watching Avery as she ran around the gym was wonderful.  I don't think I stopped smiling a single moment.  The activities ran smoothly, though I should have specified 45 minutes for playing and 45 minutes for eating, but it worked out.  The cake was ... um, what's the word? ... odd.  It tasted delicious, but the mixture of flowers and ornaments requested by Avery left for a very interesting design.  I went with the expensive cake from Piece of Cake rather than a more reasonably priced one or a home-baked one.  I just wanted really good cake so I did it this once.  Truth be told, I did it partially because I wanted to enjoy some good cake for my BD, too.  By the time my BD rolls around, I'm so sick of sweets, so I figured I'd enjoy Avery's BD cake as my own (in my own mind). 

The Great Kiva Discussion

I've thought a lot about my Kiva-loan-in-lieu-of-party-favors decision. I've also talked with lots of people about it.  Before RHG's comment, it never crossed my mind, or D's, that other parents might feel bad about themselves as a result of my decision.  However, even if that thought had crossed my mind, I would have still done it. My logic: it's worth bruising a few egos and perhaps coming off as holier than thou to help some less fortunate people.

For the record, I spoke to another parent who provided a party favor in the same bag.  She thought it was a great idea and wished she'd thought of it (not to be charitable so much as to avoid shopping for a party favor during a very busy time of year).  Another parent from Avery's class brought his daughter to Avery's BD party yesterday.  Neither D nor I had met the father before yesterday.  As he was leaving, he said how wonderful he thought the Kiva donation was and asked if he could contribute $10 to the cause.  Normally I would have said no to accepting someone else's cash.  However, I gladly accepted it and will put it towards another Kiva loan.

All that said, I don't doubt that other parents may have had some sort of issue with it, either feeling badly about themselves or feeling as if I'm attempting to be holier than thou. I'm OK with that, at least with Avery at her current age, when she's oblivious to it.  I can't say I'd make the same decision if it meant Avery might be made fun of as a result of my decision. 

Waste Land

Mom and I went on a date night on Saturday night.  D was at the Trailblazers game with a client.  We ended up eating at Living Room Theater and seeing Waste Land.

Nutcracker

Tonight, we're off to see The Nutcracker.  Avery is very, very excited.  As a result, so am I!  This is a first for all of us since none of us has seen a ballet, let alone The Nutcracker. 

Toothbrush

I am the toothbrush lady!

Each month, Avery comes home with all sorts of new crap in the party favor bag for that month's birthdays at school.  Most of it she forgets about immediately, then I recycle or chuck or store away it to be re-purposed somehow.  I didn't want to contribute to the crap collecting of others, so I informed the (somewhat perplexed) teacher that we'd be doing something different instead of a party favor.  We donated/loaned $50 to two families via Kiva.  I then assembled these cards, with information on front and back, to distribute with the crap/fun stuff in the bags.  D said this is the equivalent of handing out a toothbrush on Halloween.  He's right, but I don't care.  I am the toothbrush lady of party favors!

This little project did convince me that I need a paper cutter. I cannot explain how bothered I was that I couldn't cut the lines perfectly straight, except to say I'm seriously considering buying myself a paper cutter for the next time I need to cut a straight line.

Congo family

I dropped the presents off for the refugee family we sponsored for the holidays.  I meant to take a picture of all the presents so I could post it, but I forgot.  Envision the back of my sweet ride full of gifts and that's about right.  When I told D that I'd signed us up to do this, his immediate instructions were, "Make sure you get the kids fun things in addition to the functional items requested."  And this is one of the many reasons I love D: his desire to give the children something fun, despite the increased cost.  I spent $100 more than I intended, but it was so.much.fun to shop for a family in need that I couldn't help it.  I fully intend to do this every year.

When I dropped the presents off I didn't get to meet the volunteer coordinator, so I emailed her to ask more details about the family.  She forwarded my email to their caseworker who gave me some basics.  Then she said they could really use an American friend to help them learn English and adapt to the culture.  I emailed back immediately and said I'd love to help.  I'm so very excited.  I'm not quite sure how one goes about helping non-English speakers become English speakers, but I'll figure it out somehow.  Right now my plan is just to talk really, really loud and see if that helps.

Nutcracker

When I saw the deal on Groupon for 2 tickets to the Nutcracker for $22, I felt it must be fate.  So I bought a total of 4 tickets so we can all go to the ballet on Monday night.  I feel all fancy saying we're going to the ballet - a bit like discussing the symphony or the opera.  The fourth in our usual trio is my mom!  She arrives in just a few hours.  I wanted to have the house perfectly clean for her arrival.  It's not going to be because I'm blogging.  Fortunately, I have a rocking mom who never criticizes my housekeeping skills or the state of the house upon her arrival.  She rocks!

Jam packed

We've got a jam packed schedule this week: a holiday party via our adoption agency; a visit to Zoolights with Aunt Aly, her bf, and Garrett; a visit with Nikki & Mike and others; a cookie exchange; a messy art class, followed by lunch and gift exchange; babysitting the G kids on Friday; a date night with my mom on Saturday night (D will be at the Blazer's game for both the Gs date night and my date night); the aforementioned Nutcracker; and, of course, Avery's BD!  Then Vic and Mike arrive and (prescheduled) things slow down.  Sweet!

Congo

Refugee family details

I received the details about the refugee family for whom we're buying gifts.  They're from the Congo.  The most needed clothing items are coats and pants.  I'm excited to shop for them. I also confirmed that I can give them a gently used coat since I have so many winter coats upstairs.  For some reason, we are just brimming with coats that have barely been worn.  Giving them one of my coats means I can spend more on the other items.  Woohoo!

Electronic cigarettes

Did you know these existed?  Me neither.  You can get them with or without nicotine.  The "smoke" is water vapor.  Yes, you have to charge the cigarettes up.  So weird. Now you, too, can look like this douche bag.  Though, to be fair, I'd rather sit next to this tool than someone who is actually smoking since smoke bothers me, but I can shake off a tool.

Nook

The nook doesn't exactly have the kind of awe-inspiring creativity I'd hoped it would.  Part of the problem is the rug I bought ($25!) is a very ugly tan, especially under fluorescent lighting, which is the lighting in the nook.  It also clashes with the pink I chose for the walls. However, I think Avery will totally love it.  I need to buy some bolster pillows to line the sides where the carpet doesn't quite reach.  I was also thinking of buying some magnetic paint for some areas of the nook.  We'll see.  I've decided against putting up the bumblebee lights due to safety concerns.  They would have looked so cute, so I'm bummed that my instincts are telling me the risk is not worth the cuteness.

Relatives

My uncle (my mom's brother) and aunt were here last night.  They live in eastern Oregon and often stay at our house when in Portland for medical appointments.  It was good to catch up, though I did a pathetic job of providing dinner last night.  I ended up buying a rotisserie chicken, making plain pasta, and cooking frozen veg.  Ah well, 'tis the way it goes. 

Charity

FYI, on Monday, Groupon will have a deal to buy a $25 gift certificate to Kiva for $15.  Unfortunately, there's a limit of 1/customer.  I do love Kiva!

There's a new website called GiveBack.org.  It's basically a way to keep track of your charitable giving to make taxes easier.  You can add funds directly to the account, or you can earn money buy shopping at various sponsors who will donate from 1-15% of the amount of your purchase to your account.  It's a non-profit, so sign up is free and there's no charge for the service.  It seems a little unnecessary from a tax perspective to me, though I don't do our taxes, D does. However, if I am going to shop at the online stores listed anyway, I would like funds to go to a charity.  Also, for signing up, you get $5 to start with, so that's worth signing up alone!  I believe the site was started by the guy who won Oprah's reality show The Big Give.

Refugees

Adopt a family

I've been immersed in my own little materialistic world of gift buying for Avery and people I know.  It's high time I shift gears a bit and do something for those less fortunate. I also want Avery to know it's important to recognize and help others who aren't as fortunate as we are.  At first, I thought I'd find a toy drive and buy a toy for a needy kid or two, but as I was searching online for locations to do this, I found an opportunity to adopt a needy refugee family for Christmas.  Since I've read a couple of books about the lives of refugees seeking asylum in America* (Do They Hear You When You Cry? and Behind the Burqa: Our Life in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom), I feel a connection to helping out these families.  So, we're adopting a refugee family for Christmas.  It's through Lutheran Community Services NW.

I've been informed we'll be "splitting" a family with another sponsor because this family has eight people in it.  I'll soon receive details about the four people for whom we'll be buying gifts. 

I can say for sure that I won't be buying anyone this $89 decorative rope from Restoration Hardware.  Seriously?  It'd make a good (crappy) white elephant gift if it wasn't $90!

* FYI, America does not treat refugees seeking asylum very well.  We basically stick them in prison until it's proven they are truly in danger in the country they are fleeing, or we deport them.

Expectations

Juxtapose these two articles:

• American exceptionalism: an old idea and a new political battle
• US falls to average in education ranking
  

Do the people, mostly the GOP, who believe so feverishly in American exceptionalism realize that just saying it doesn't make it so?  You actually have to do the work.  You actually have to fund education.  I came across one of D's report cards from his elementary school years.  I was stunned at the bluntness of the assessments made.  It told the truth: you need to improve here and here, you're not doing well here, do better.  I could not recall a single teacher being anywhere near that blunt with me on any subject.  Does this sort of coddling contribute to the fact that American teens rank 1st in the world in self-esteem, but 23rd in math? Is it a part of why US teens lag as China soars on international test?

Which leads to my issue with Little Gym.  Consider this rant an attempt to let go of my issue with Little Gym so Christie & Amber don't have to hear my complain about it every time they see me. The general format of Little Gym is as follows:
1. Sit in a circle and do introductions
2. Run around on the mat and do various exercises
3. Spread out in the gym for a bit of "free" time for maybe 5 minutes
4. Watch the instructor demonstrate a skill
5. Kids attempt the skill
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5
7. Gather on the mat to play a few more games with balls or bubbles
8. Sing a song goodbye & listen to announcements

Now, I have issues with their method of starting the music, then stopping it to talk, then starting it, then stopping it, then starting it ...  And I have issues with how the class in conducted from an efficiency standpoint since the kids rarely get to practice a skill more than once.  However, it's not these things that so enrage me.  Let me outline what really gets my goat. 

Issue 1 - low expectations
At the beginning the teacher always says how she wants parents and kids to be on the mat and participating in the songs, but then she says, "But it's OK if they run around and play.  Just keep a watchful on the kids.  But parents stay here and model good behavior."  Yeah, if you don't tell the kids you expect them to participate in the class, you're going to have at least ½ that don't participate at any given time.

Another example of low expectations: the teachers consistently assume a child is not capable of a skill. For example, Avery and Henry can both do very skilled somersaults on their own.  They roll in a straight direction, they tuck their heads, they roll.  Every damn time the teacher says let's do forward rolls, she "helps" both kids do the roll.  Let them do it on their own!  You could argue the teacher is just being safe and spotting the kids.  However, I see it as not giving kids the room to work on the skill themselves.  Yes, spotting is needed on more difficult skills, but a forward roll?  And the teachers do this with everything it seems.  Henry could probably manage to jump off the highest bar in the room and he'd be fine, but that teacher always grabs his hand to help him jump two feet. Why are the mats there if not to help cushion falls?

Issue 2 - teaching rudeness
One of my biggest pet peeves when I was in HS was kids who would talk while the teacher, or even worse a guest speaker, was talking.  It still drives me crazy when people do this.  I find it so very rude when people talk while a speaker or teacher is speaking.  This class format basically teaches kids that it's OK to be rude when someone - and a teacher no less - is speaking.

Issue 3 - rewarding those who don't follow the rules
Often, because the format of the class is so stupid and there is so much chaos, the teacher is rushing to get a skill demonstrated so at least a few children will get to try the skill. When she/he demonstrates, kids are often instructed to watch from a safe distance. What I've noticed is that the kids who don't do as instructed tend to be the ones selected to demonstrate a skill.  I don't care that Avery, who in these situations tends to be a rule follower*, specifically doesn't get to demonstrate, but I do care that what she's witnessing is the rule-breaker being rewarded.

I don't remember having such issues with Little Gym the first time around.  Thinking about it, part of it is probably that I think expectations should increase as children get older.  When she was in the class before, it made sense that the kids would be mostly exploring and/or not expected to sit in a circle.  However, that needs to change as kids get older. 

And, yes, this is the same place where we're doing Avery's BD party.  For a BD party, the point is to have fun and have a party, so this loosey goosey way of doing things is fine in that situation.

* Need I qualify this statement? No, well, I'm doing it anyway: At the moment, Avery tends to be a rule follower in these situations ...

Falling apart

It seems our appliances are hitting the age where problems are popping up more often.  The latest appliance to act up is the washing machine.  It now beeps for no reason and sometimes refuses to work.  I did some research online and the problem seems to be a broken electrical control board.  Unfortunately, I discovered while I was doing research that our washing machine, that we paid top dollar for five years ago, is basically a piece o' crap.  We have had a few minor problems, but it's washed clothes well and I've been quite happy with it.  However, there are terrible ratings for our model all over the place.  And problems seem to start happening about now.  So I don't know if we should spend the $200 (my estimate for fixing our machine) to get this one fixed, or if we should get a new one.  I hate to spend money on a new washing machine because, well, how fun is that?  Not fun.  It also seems so very excessive to get a new one with the first issue.  But, if it's only going to experience more problems, maybe it's better to bite the bullet now.  I don't know.  Thoughts, anyone?