Buy a Keen, Sell a Keen

My favorite Keen shoes were discontinued years ago. I only just discovered it because it took years for my pair to wear out. I even asked Keen what happened to my shoe. Well, they "evolved" it into another shoe, that I just don't like. The material is stiffer and the shoe is less comfortable. I know, I bought a pair.

Luckily for me there's eBay, where you can buy almost anything. And as luck would have it, I found my old shoe, barely worn, in my size. I ordered them at the buy it now price of $14.90. That same day, eBay sent me a notice that would let me sell one item for free. And guess what I decided to sell... you guessed it, my barely worn pair of Keens. I sold them for the same price that I bought my pair for. It seemed fair. They sold in three days.

The pair I bought:

The pair I sold:

And the original shoe that I loved so much, I featured it on my photography website for a couple weeks.

I'm definitely one of those Keen converts. I tell everybody to buy Keens. This particular shoe is the most comfortable shoe that I own. I don't know what I'm going to do when I wear out this "new" pair in ten years.

Spirit Guides

I've always been curious who my spirit guides are. Go ahead, start being judgmental now—there's more coming. So today at the psychic fair (see, I told you), I asked a psychic and she said she could see two. One is an alligator in a baseball cap with a wicked sense of humor and the other is a Tibetan monk telling me to just breath.

Well, if that doesn't just sum me up, I don't know what does.

Who even thought you could have an alligator as a spirit guide? And I get a redneck one who's sarcastic. Wow. Now I have to wonder how they are assigned. I guess that's something to ask at the next psychic fair.

Time for a New Washer

So my washer broke. After 13 years, my front loader sounded like it was going to explode when I washed a load of laundry. I had quite the adventure finding a new one. The door opening to my kitchen is 26.5" wide. All large washers are 27" wide and 30" or more deep. And my contractor made sure to get the largest unit he could that would fit in my kitchen. He found the only unit that is 26.5" wide. After buying a new set and returning it the same day (when I remembered that I had narrow doors), I finally found my 13-year old Gibson reborn as a Frigidaire. They make almost exactly my same machine. The size specs are exactly the same (the knobs have changed a bit). So that's fantastic. Except nobody sells it in the is area and nobody would special order it for me. I had to buy it from a place in NYC and have them ship it here. But they don't install or haul away.

I have somebody taking my old one away. I listed it on Craig's List as a free working dryer if they take away my broken washer. Turns out a repair man is coming to pick them up and fix the washer for a shelter. That's a nice use for my old washer. I've read that it's not hard to fix (bearings and possible spider arm replacement); that most of the money is in the labor. If I were to pay to fix it, it would cost almost as much as buying a new one. Not worth it for me, but worth it for the repair man.

You know what's strange, I'm going to miss my old machine. The kitchen remodel was my first remodel in my first home. It worked like a champ. 13-years without a single hitch. (Although it is featured in another one of my blog posts on leaking water, but that came out of the return, not the washer.) I don't know how I grew attached to a washing machine, but I did. Since my new one is almost exactly the same, maybe I won't miss it so much. The new one actually has blue accents so it will match my kitchen better, so maybe I'll like it even more.

UPDATE: Here's the new one in place. 2.5 hours to install, due to some heavy rain (they only delivered to the door) and the fact that I can't help lift a 250 lb washer. It was just too heavy, so we used a series of slides and tilts that made it go down my front steps. I guess it's nice that the plastic is as white as the painted metal. And look at the lovely blue highlights that match the blue countertop and floor. Now I'm just waiting for the guy to come take away my old ones.