"Hey, I'm pretty smart! I'm just sometimes not too bright."

Today I found myself in desperate need of a nap, right along with the twins.  Hubby was on his way back with the necessary new timer for the washer.  And while he planned to stop and look for shoes at Kohl's, he would be home in time to get Large Fry off the bus.

Bliss.  I could nap.

If people would stop texting me!  (Sorry, Dad.  I was tired.)

Until my phone rang at 4p.  "I need you down here!" Hubby sounded almost panicked.

My first thought was that he was still at Kohl's, and I needed to come downstairs to get Large Fry off the bus.

I stuffed my feet in my slippers, twisted my hair back up in my little hairzing combs, and came downstairs...to find Large Fry contentedly playing with a few toys, and Hubby in the bath/laundry room, toe-deep in water.

"It wouldn't stop filling."  He looked at me meaningfully.  "It wasn't just the timer."

Crap.  Double crap.  Triple crap.  Crap crap crap!

All of the laundry, which had been sorted into semi-neat piles, was now wet.  And would have to be washed.

Now, I live in a nice enough neighborhood.  I feel safe here.  People watch out for each other.

But the laundromat a block and a half down the street scares me.  I really didn't want to have to go there.  Looks like I'll be making its acquaintance.

Hubby forces the washer to drain.  Then he asked, "Does this buzz when it's done?" He pointed to the load selector dials.

"Nooo...."

"Because there's a little air hose here, and it doesn't seem to serve any purpose, so...."

You almost see the lightbulb go on over his head.  Edison would've been proud.

"I gotta check that...."  Hubby continues to mumble to himself about it seeming to be a pointless little piece of plastic tubing, and if it doesn't buzz, it doesn't appear to have a purpose.

I took Large Fry upstairs for the necessary potty business and a nap.

By the time I got back downstairs, he'd found an online user manual for our washer.

Sure enough, that little piece of "pointless" plastic tubing attached to the load sensor mechanism...which controls the water level in the machine.

As soon as he got that hooked back up, it worked.

He even set the load selector back to Small to see if it would stop the water.

It did.

And the new timer has done the trick, since the machine advanced through the whole wash cycle.  It works!

As Hubby continued to clean up the water on the floor, he observed, "Hey, I'm pretty smart!  I'm just sometimes not too bright."