When Low Capacity Leads to High Capacity

For Mother’s Day, I got CrazyMom a copy of Mary Ostyn’s book A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family. Evidently one of the things that Mary promotes is a high-capacity front-load washer and dryer. This idea has resonated with CrazyMom, but it is important to point out that these are expensive items and that we already have a functioning washer and dryer.

On Friday morning CrazyMom was driving me to the doctor to have a medical procedure done that involved me getting knocked out for a short period of time. As we were cruising down the interstate, CrazyMom started to explain to me how she started a fund to save up for a high-capacity washer and dryer. I did a little calculation in my head and figured it would take her about a decade to save up enough money, which was great since in a decade half of our kids would be out of the house and we would no longer need them.

Late Friday afternoon I got a call on my cell from my doctor to see how I was doing. I told him that I was recuperating just fine, leaving out the fact that I was standing at a counter in an appliance store purchasing a high-capacity washer and dryer rather than resting at home.


On the way home from the store I was feeling surprisingly happy despite the amount of money that I had just spent to replace our functioning washer and dryer. Looking over at my beautiful bride I said, “Would you have ever thought this morning that we would have purchased these appliances today?”

CrazyMom smiled back. “No,” she said . . . and then she dropped the bomb . . . “especially since the anesthesiologist said that after going under you should not make any big purchases today.”

So that was it. I was operating at a low capacity which is why we ended up with a high-capacity washer and dryer. That CrazyMom is a crafty lady. At least she did not take full advantage of the situation. It is hard to believe, but I also wanted to get a new refrigerator while we were there. Luckily, CrazyMom talked me out of it.