Mutiny

My “stuff” is ganging up on my wallet. I was going to say appliances or electronics, but it’s more than just that.

First my trusty black-and-white laserjet printer’s drum went bad. I use the thing just about every day and have run a small forest’s worth of paper through it, so it was no surprise. But when I learned what a drum costs? Yeouch! For an additional $10 I could buy a whole new printer…same thing as I had, only newer and slightly upgraded. No brainer. I came home with a new printer.

A week later, my more-than-five-year-old color all-in-one inkjet died. I tried printer CPR. Nothing. She flat-lined on me. I had used and abused that poor old thing. I bought it when my dad was going into long-term nursing care and we were dealing with legal and financial issues that required lots and lots of copies. I’m shocked it survived that first year.

So I ordered a new all-in-one online, and the guy in the big brown truck delivered it to my door. It’s faster and easier to use than the old one. I’m happy. My stash of mad money has been severely compromised, but I’m still happy.

THEN our ancient DVD player ground to a halt. Literally. It sounded like it was chewing up the discs into little plastic confetti. I expected to see smoke, but no. The picture froze up and that was all she wrote. A new DVD/BluRay player is waiting for me at Wal-Mart. There goes our Christmas money.

And now it’s my car. I turned on the windshield wipers the other day and the driver’s side one when completely off the side of the car. I don’t think it was meant to clean the window on the door. While Hubby drove the car over to my mom’s garage to work on it, he noticed a clunking noise and asked me if I’d heard it, too. Well, yes. But I was trying to ignore it and hoped it would go away. Never mind that it sounds like the entire drive train (whatever that is) is about to drop off. It only makes the noise when it’s cold. Okay, so it’s December and spring is a long way off. I hate dealing with automotive issues.

Hubby tore into the windshield wiper problem and discovered the situation was worse than he expected. We’re talking over a hundred dollars for a small piece of plastic that broke. Fortunately, he found the piece in a junkyard for half that much. In the meantime, I’ve been driving my mom’s old Ford Contour. Its battery needs replaced and the “Check Engine” light stays on.

Once my car is back on the road, I need snow tires. And I’m still ignoring the clunking noise. My mad money stash is about drained.

I’m not stupid enough to ask, “what else could go wrong?” You ask that question and the universe promptly gives you a reply by SHOWING you what else. Similarly, I never say, “it can’t get any worse.” Oh, yes. It ALWAYS can. And does, if you dare utter those words.
Instead, I’m holding my breath and talking nice to my computer, microwave, refrigerator, and stove. All are past their expiration dates according to modern manufacturing standards.

So what I want to know is this: is Mercury in retrograde? Or Mars? Is anyone else out there experiencing a mutiny of their stuff?