Because when you're working on seven loads of laundry on Friday night, you need a way to pass the time.

Three things of note happened this week. The first two are directly related and the third is a direct result of the second.

1. Travel back with me, if you will, to a month ago. I did a load of laundry and noticed that one of Josh's unreasonably expensive Smartwool socks was missing. As a girl who loves things in pairs (Seriously? Why don't they set those Skittles-packing machines to put an even number in those bags?) and doesn't love paying more for a pair of argyle socks than she would for a bottle of wine, I was mildly irritated to discover this. I waited patiently for the absent sock to make its return, and this week it finally turned up.

2. In other laundry-related news, I was doing a load earlier in the week and the washer started flashing its lights like a landing spacecraft. I was concerned because (a.) a rinsed but unspun load of sheets and towels weighs more than I do and (b.) the last time we had a repairman over to fix an appliance, the labor cost four times what the part did. While I appreciated the companionship that the repairman provided, I didn't appreciate shelling out $250 on a three-year-old refrigerator so that I could continue to enjoy cold beer in the comfort of my own home. Josh and I got out the owners' manual and, after some strong words, the removal of the top panel of the machine, and some frantic research on an iPod Touch, we determined that it was most likely the pressure switch. I had no idea what that was, but I knew I needed one bad, so I ordered one and paid FedEx handosomely so they would bring it to me the next day. I tracked it all day and hurried home to my second job as washing machine repair(wo)man. I replaced the part, plugged the thing in, started the cycle, and wham! The alien lights again. I enlisted Josh's help (and by "enlisted his help," I mean "locked him in the laundry room until the washer started working again") and he started taking things apart. Apparently the manual that has all of the answers is inside the washer in a secret place that only God and repairmen know about. He determined that the filter was likely clogged. I bet you'll never guess what with.

3. In light of the fact that I'm spending Friday night doing laundry and watching baseball (or, as I like to call it, Most Boring Game Known to Man) instead of enjoying one of the last few weekends of summer at the camp, I decided I needed delicious dessert and delicious libations. Luckily the good folks at Shipyard Brewing Company have forgotten that it is but August and have started making the delicious elixir that is Pumpkinhead Ale a little early. That left me in need of a dessert, which I found here. Cream cheese? Pepperidge Farm? Whipped cream? What's not to like? Nothing, except the stomachache I'm going to have from eating an entire pan of the stuff.