So, last weekend our old Maytag washing machine died.  The timer stopped working, and last time we had it repaired, we were told that if the timer ever stopped working, we might as well buy a new washer.

I assume this means that the timer is an expensive part, and there's not much point in paying $200 or so to repair a washing machine when you can buy a new one for $400.  Of course, since this is my first ever purchase of a washing machine, and I know that washing machines last forever - hopefully - I wanted to get something nice, and that meant a front-loader.  Which also meant that it wasn't going to cost $400.

So I borrowed a Consumer Reports from my mom, and headed over to Home Depot.  Naturally, they didn't have most of the specific models that Consumer Reports reviewed - go figure.  But I came across a Maytag Epic MFW9600SQ that looked interesting at $799, and Home Depot was having sale for 10% off all appliances, and a Maytag offered a $100 mail in rebate on the purchase of a washer/dryer pair.  Seems like a good deal, and all of the Epic series washers from Maytag were rated pretty well, including the newer model Epic MFW9700SQ which was the third or fourth highest rated washer they reviewed.

So I headed home to do a little research on the 9600 model.  Seems it's just an older model of the 9700, and got fairly good reviews on various web sites.  Sears only carried the 9700, and Best Buy had the 9600 on sale - for $949!!!

Since the same washer at Home Depot was basically $670 ($799 - 10% - $50 rebate), I ran back to Home Depot to pick it up.

They're going to deliver and install it on Thursday, so I'll let you know how it goes (Yes, I did buy the matching dryer to go with it)

Saturday morning, I headed out to mom's house to pick up Emily and take her to bowling.  After bowling, mom and Samantha (my niece) went up to Hasentree in Wake Forest to look at multi-million dollar homes on the Wake County Parade of Homes.  We looked at 5 houses ranging from around $2 million to $4.5 million - but the nicest one was this one, at $3.9 million, built by Don Collins Builder Inc.  Having gone into the $4.4 and $4.5 million homes, I'm stunned that this one was less expensive, because it had so much more character, so many more "special features" over the other two, it was just amazing.  The pool was the coolest I'd ever seen, with a small pool up on the main level, with a hot tub, and water flowing down through a man made rock garden with numerous smaller pools on different levels, flowing down to the main pool on the ground floor (the walkout basement).  There was also a water fall going from near the small pool up above to the main pool below.  It was amazing.

The family room directly off the kitchen had beautiful vaulted ceilings with giant wooden beams, and the master bathroom had vaulted wooden ceilings.  The basement - always my favorite part of any house - was extravagant and cozy at the same time.  This builder definately knew my tastes.

Now, if only I could come up with $4 million so I can buy this house. :)