I got up, ate breakfast, volunteered at the dog shelter for two hours, and then came home and napped for two hours.

Clearly you have all been way more productive than me.

We need to buy a new washer, and I am just bewildered by the options for new washers. Looking at Consumer Reports, the front-loaders honestly don't sound that great to me, and the HE top-loaders (without an agitator) sound like they have a lot of problems, too.

Maybe we can just get our ancient washer repaired.

I didn't twang my boob! In fact, I haven't hit anything, and have had no more string-whipped arm bruises since I drastically changed my grip after reading a library book. Yay libraries.

Anyway, I did kinda awesome actually. Not to shabby for being the first day back since I've been out for weather.

Powell's buys books.

Ooh, thanks!

Steph, we have an agitator-less washer, and it's been fabulous. Much less wear and tear on the clothes. Most importantly, it doesn't eat socks or panties.

It's this one

Does it spin out so hard that the clothes have wrinkles that even the dryer won't get out? That was one of the big complaints that I read. The other one was that agitator-less washers develop a funky smell. Is that true?

I've been seeing ads for washing machine cleaner, which sounds so crazy to me, but apparently some people need it?

My parents have a top loading HE agitator-less washer (possibly the same as Bev's, I'm not sure). They haven't had either of those problems with theirs.

I have a front loader and I love it.

The funky smell issue with the HE's is generally that the seal is so tight that any dampness left after the cycle won't ever evaporate, which eventually becomes musky. For us, we leave the door and detergent drawer slightly open after use, and it's dry promptly. But I do live in the desert.

Ours has no funky smell at all, and the spin cycle isn't any harder on clothes than any other washers' that we've used. We got the dryer to match, and both are in the laundry alcove off our kitchen, so, indoors. I don't know if that contributes to the lack of smelliness or not. We do use as scentless detergents as possible, regular bleach when needed, and no fabric softeners. And with the machines so handy, clothes don't sit in either washer or dryer, so that might make a difference, too.

I do have to tell you that there's no chugga-chugga agitator noise, which takes some getting used to. But to make up for it, the cycle-up to spin cycle sounds like a tiny little turbine, or a space ship. Our fridge also chuckles. We have a kitchen full of 'happy little appliances', apparently.