It's still good

Thanks to some ingenuity on my part, the laundry is done!

I mentioned a few days ago that our dryer bit the dust. We got this dryer 5 1/2 years ago after it had already been used for many, many years, so it's probably time to replace it. I just needed a solution in the meantime while we figured out how to come up with the money to do so.

To be honest, our dryer still works . . . if you stand there and hold the "on" button down the entire time. The button is tricky because it's similar to a button on a microwave keypad. There's no raised button, only a flat panel.

First, I tried taping a flat marble (you know, the kind used to make the picture magnets or to fill vases of fake flowers) to the button.


It didn't work. So, I tried more tape.


This worked for about 10 seconds.

Next, I tried pushing as many heavy things as possible against the taped marble to keep it from slipping away from the panel.


Unfortunately, it didn't hold the marble tightly enough in the right place.

Here's what did work.


I taped the marble, and then wedged the flashlight between the marble and the dog food jar. I used the carpet shampoo bottle to support the flashlight on the left side. If the washer was going at the same time, the rinse cycle usually vibrated the dryer enough to wiggle everything out of place. But it only took me a few seconds to reset it.

When Kyle walked in and saw what I had done, he just shook his head. My response was, "See? It's still good."

Unfortunately, I was wrong. It died for real two nights later.