As a family of 8, there's a short list of things I can't live without. 

Topping that list is our double stack washer and dryer. Those suckers run 6-7 days a week and sometimes multiple times a day. Don't ask me why, with all the laundry we do, that we still find ourselves running frantically around the house five minutes before a game searching for the right jersey. And don't get my started on the missing sock mystery. 

When one of our beloved work horses stops working, we call somebody to fix it......quickly. 

The next day, a trusty A&E truck pulls in our driveway and Don gives me the grim news that one dryer is broken and the other one is on its last leg. To fix both would be almost as expensive as ordering new ones. 

I give the kids the bad news as I'm driving them to soccer and one of them pipes up and says, "that guy looked like he ate a lot of food". 

*Long pause while I collect my thoughts. Older daughter sighs heavily and remarks,...