New Dishwasher

Our dishwasher has been pretty beat up since we moved here 7 years ago. We've needed and wanted a replacement since we came in, but other things have taken priority... first a fridge, then the sink faucet, garage door, kid car (then fixing the kid car) etc etc. But the need for a dishwasher upgrade has been more urgent the past 2 years after the sprayer for the top rack stopped working. Still, it hadn't yet made it to the top of the budget list, until now!

Last year it got beat out by the snowblower, and that was good. Then this year the van, but I was thinking last month that we really really gotta get a dishwasher that works... Some problems with this one are:

1. Function - the whatever that attaches to the top water sprayer broke like 2 years ago, so really nothing on the top gets clean from spray, just steam, so those things have had to all be completely rinsed off or when the dishes are done, most of them are still dirty.
2. Rack - lots of the little prong thingy's have snapped off, so it doesn't hold dishes in place well. It has to be loaded just so, and I'm the only one that knows the way (I've tried to tell the others but it's too much work to remember) 
3. Rust - the prongs that haven't broken off are almost all rusted on the tips, and they leave little rust stain marks on our white cups and plates. 
4. Looks - the coverings on the buttons are all broken or peeled off.

You can see the rust on the tops of the prongs in the pic below. They don't stain the plastic stuff, just the white ceramic dishes.

Oh, and the latch to close the soap thing broke, so we just throw in the detergent pack and it is used on the prewash which works better than trying to remember to put it in after the prewash, so we've usually got a side of the sink full of water to soak the dishes in as our attempt to prewash.

So, my mom called out of the blue on Tuesday and said I should come look at her dishwasher. Our need for a dishwasher was on her mind, and she really likes hers and thought it would be great for us to get the same model as hers. Some of the great features - no buttons on the front for Daniel to push (He likes to push the start button when it's empty or already clean, or the cancel button after I start it...) An extra bonus - it's very quiet! The noise of ours has never bothered me, cause there were so many other things that bothered me more, but it might be nice to have a quiet one.

So, while I was out running errands, I was going to go by her house, but she was out running errands too, we met up, and then we decided to go to Lowe's. While at Lowe's we found the model like hers, and I decided it was time, so I bought it! Who knew! And they were super fast - they called on Wednesday and set up an appointment for Friday/today at noon! Hooray! And the guy was ready early and we were here, so yay, the moment has come! Goodbye old beat up dishwasher!

Thank you for your years of service, but you're not serving our purposes well, so we're moving on now.

Last night when I loaded it, I thought to myself "This might be the last time I have to load this dishwasher!) Man, if I'd known a week ago that the new one would be here today, I could have been counting down! This new one is so nice, quiet, sleek... Daniel's been feeling around for buttons he can push, but they are on the top! And when it's closed his little fingers can't reach in to touch them, so ha! Toddler proof! Ahhhh, so nice. Right after it was installed, Nicole called to chat, so my already good mood got another happy boost. I think this is the first day I've been in a really happy mood for 2 weeks. (24 days to go before baby is born hopefully, I'm ready, and with a new dishwasher the house is a little more ready to function without me (or with me being tied down to a newborn, so same thing).

This is the last day of school for the older kids, they are ready to join the younger kids on their winter break. Wes has a friend get together after school, then Ethan and Wes have a Crescent Christmas concert tonight, then just Ethan tomorrow, Mel works tonight and tomorrow,