Apart, together, broken, broke

*whew*

Sorry I haven't posted ... it's taken me this long to recover from the Putting Together Of The Bunk Beds! *cue crashing music*

Seriously. The entire bed came in two shockingly small boxes and I should have taken that as a disturbing warning. As it was, we set out Saturday morning right after breakfast armed only with two screwdrivers (I used to have DeWalt, but alas, it went to the big power tool resting place in the sky years ago) and two Diet Cokes.

Because of the minute size of the room (it was originally our Nursery. It was long ago part of the back porch on the original house and was made into a tiny 'grandmother's room'. It is 7 feet by 9 feet. Teensy!) there was really not enough room for both me and Evil Genius Husband to work. After we got the basic frame up, he entertained the babies (a valuable assist, as, at any given moment one child would have some essential wooden bit, another a handful (or mouthful) of screws, another the screwdriver, etc. You get the picture.)

We took a break at 11 and put everyone down for naps, and resumed at 2:30. We got the bed finished, all the other beds and furniture moved, the mattresses put on and made, just in time to feed the babies and put them in bed. The entire day was devoted to the big Bed Switch. Gah!

Of course, it was all worth it. We won't have to worry about beds for the next several years (until Fiver gets too big for a toddler bed -- around 2010) and everyone seems to have adjusted beautifully to the switch: no complaints or problems.

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And, since I just spent all that dosh on beds something had to break. That's the rule, right? Yep, I went into the mudroom yesterday to discover that our washing machine had simply stopped working.

Bleh.

If it had been the dishwasher or the dryer I probably wouldn't have noticed. I certainly wouldn't have cared, but of all the appliances in this house (save, perhaps, the stove), I need that washer the most. I wash 1-2 loads a day. I have a baby in cloth diapers. Situation CRITICAL!

I'm trying to find the leads to my voltmetre (casualty of curious babies) to test it. I mean, things don't just quit working. I'm thinking it's a switch or something. Hopefully something inexpensive. *hope*hope*hope*

I do know that I'll not try to get someone in to fix it. I can buy a new one for what it would cost to have a (*labio-dental fricative deleted*) repairman look at it.

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Speaking of paying someone, perhaps you all can help me with this facer ...

Remember my talking about building a website for someone?

Well, I got it finished, emailed the person and asked if there was anything else that he/she wanted doing. Person emailed me back and said everything was cool.

Then silence.

Now, I'm a procrastinator and a scatter-brained bint and so this didn't bug me a bit. I'd forget my own head if it wasn't strapped on, so I assume everyone else in the world forgets stuff too. Not a problem.

After a while I emailed again, same thing, "is there anything else needs doing?". Person replied, asking how he/she adds pictures and changes links if needed. A perfectly valid concern. I explained that if it was something simple: add a pic, take away some links, put up a for trade item, etc, that I'd be happy to pop in and do that gratis since it's for a friend. If it was more 'change the entire layout', or 'add a new page' then I'd charge something small like $10 (please bear in mind that I built the whole site for $60. Most folks I know charge $200-400 for a very basic site and then you're on your own.)

More silence.

I've emailed this person, now, several times with no reply and I'm stumped.

He/she is a fellow blogger, seems like a nice person ... what gives? Did he/she decide that the site sucked? If so why not just tell me? Maybe he/she's pinched for cash right now. That doesn't worry me, but again, why not just TELL me? Did he/she send a check to a wrong address (or wrong PayPay account?) and is now miffed because *I* haven't acknowledged it? That would truely suck, but, again, why not respond to the emails?

I seriously find it hard to believe that this person just decided not to pay me. He/she really doesn't seem like the type, but perhaps I'm being naive. I just can't help thinking that it's just a miscommunication.

What would you do? It's really not that big a deal in that all it took was my computer, my software, and a good deal of my time (I think this is the worst part: that I agonized over things because I wanted the site to be perfect). I'm not really harmed in any way by not getting paid. But it's the principle.

I'm totally baffled. Advice?