Insert smart card

I have a new alarm clock. Well its not totally new, I've had it since April. What is special about this alarm clock?? It never fails to go off at exactly 5:48 AM! I'm thinking of housing her up in S and Ps room for the school year. This 'alarm clock' is actually a 9 month old Shih Tzu fondly known as Chloe. Chloe never fails to start whining, barking and scratching at her crate door at 5:48AM and once I'm up, she isn't the type to allow me the pleasure of going back to bed after she has done her business...noooooo she wants some petting and loving and some walking down the street. Did I mention she is also a great exercise motivator??
So this morning, I got up and decided to play on my computer and check out other people's blogs. My new favorite is written by a mom who managed to sell a baseball for over $1000.00 on ebay...and it wasn't some famous home run baseball, but just your ordinary ball played with by her kids. She also sold a deck of Pokemon card for over $100.00! Her skill at ebay? Her sense of humor! You can read her advertisement here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:2 .
I linked off her blog to see other blogs and found one with a link to Payperpost. This site claims to pay you for writing about things you love. Hmmm sounds good to me! You can't imagine how much money I spend on groceries alone recently! So I signed up and filled out the profile and was then directed to get a code and insert it on my blog.... hmmmm being new to this blogging site, I have no idea just how to go about doing this. Which kind of bothers me because I consider myself a pretty smart cookie.
Which throws me back to the other day when I had the same misgivings about my intellect....

I think the last time I'd actually been to the laundromat was back in 1995, that was year I got my first washer . After having 3 kids I convinced my husband that we really needed one by sending him, accompanied by 2 toddlers and an infant, off to the do some laundry. He came home that afternoon with a washing machine and set up a line out back... a few months later when his boxers were frozen on the line, we got a dryer. Recently, my washing machine had begun making a terrible racket during the spin cycle. I called in Sears repair and was told the barrel inside was broken. It would cost me $500++ to fix it! That is the cost of a new washer give or take $100! I decide to skip the repair, pay the $69 look at it fee and go out and get a new one. The dryer by the way, is also on its last legs taking 3 cycles and racking up the electricity bill!
So, in I waltz with 2 large overflowing baskets of laundry, having made sure to tuck our undies and such under the towels. Can't be to modest in a laundromat! There is one other patron in the store besides me. I plunk my baskets in front of a machine and search for the coin dispenser.....none..... something called a 'smart card' slot is on each machine. So I start roaming through the store in search of where I can find one.... I find soap, I find soda and junk food.... the woman sees my confusion and asks if I'm looking for a change machine. I tell her what I am looking for and she points me in the right direction. All I have is a $20 on me so thinking I'm getting change back I throw that in and it all is deposited on the 'smart card' . I'll say its smart! All my money is now tied up into that card!
I go to get soap which requires insertion of the 'smart card' into a slot before you press the button to get your .75c worth of laundry soap. Well, this won't work for me... after a dozen futile tries, along comes the woman again and shows me how to get soap from the dispenser. I felt really dumb trying to utilize the 'smart card' !! I loaded up all the laundry into one machine, now certain this is how my washer at home broke, and closed the door, added the soap and inserted the 'smart card' The minutes appeared in the upper left hand corner telling me how long the cycle would last. The barrel begins to spin clockwise then counterclockwise...but I see no water. A minute goes by and I think "Great, a broken machine!" I suddenly see directions on the left hand side and decide to read them...who doesn't know how to operate a washing machine???..... well obviously me! I realize I have to hit the 'type of wash' for it to actually wash!! And I have a college degree no less!
Finally, I sit back with my book and headphones on and wait out the wash cycle all the while counting down the days to the delivery date of my new washer.