A Case of the Monday's

Well today did NOT start as I intended. Andrew and I woke early - Andrew made breakfast for us - it is okay to be a little jealous. We ate, got ready, and left for work. I actually got to work a little earlier than usual around 8. This is where it all went downhill, I turned on my computer logged on and opened my email and time entry. Doing so informed me that I was not connected to our network server. So I preformed the CEB IT fix - I restarted.
Second attempt - I couldn't even log in - I thought I was going crazy - I tried my password every which way (and no my caps lock wasn't on!) NOTHING was working. So I called our IT guy. After explaining the situation, he asked me what my IP address was - UM...."I DON'T KNOW I CAN'T LOG ON AND SEE IT - WERE YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO MY PROBLEM?!?!" I don't have the best opinion of this guy - he usually talks down to everyone, and just tries to get the problem solved fast not necessarily completely.
Now I should mention that he was on site, at our offices, on Friday installing a new email server. As an example of getting the problem solved fast and not completely, while he set up every one's email address, he did not set one up for previous accounts to be routed to the new accounts - another woman in the office and I have both gotten married since starting work at CEB, so our emails have changed - since they are our initials. SO...because some clients may only contact me once a year, I may not have thought to send them an update email - so the old email is kept and routed to my new email. Well this wasn't done - so I had to email him Friday afternoon.
Long story short - somehow instead of just changing my email - my user account was changed too. So MDW was deleted from the CEB server and MDB was re-added. All in all it took 4 hours to straighten out. So for those not so great with math, that means I didn't have my work computer until noon! And I had to leave work at 3:30 to get home to be available for the washing machine repairman to come.
So 3:30 rolls around and I head home for the day. The repair man is scheduled to come out between 5-6 (we were originally told someone would be coming out between 8am-2pm Saturday - this turned out to be a miscommunication - which we didn't figure out until 2pm on Saturday.) Andrew also took off a little early as well and joined me at home a little before 5.
The repairman came...at 6pm. I can't complain too much though, he was very nice & very friendly. Andrew thinks he probably gets good tips from the North shore housewives. Hehehe
Anyway, it didn't take him long to figure out that we had a clogged pump - it would more than likely not need replaced - just unclogged. He said that it is usually a quarter or a bobby pin that gets stuck in the pump - but he has also seen things as large as socks get in there! So what was in ours you ask? Place your bets then scroll down.

This is one of Fran's "spring" toys...This is one of Fran's "spring" toys after getting itself stuck in the pump of a front loading washing machine...
We can't blame Fran though. Per the VERY helpful repairman (we asked him a lot of questions) it could only get into the pump through the washer - not just by Fran batting it under the door to the laundry. So, the best we can figure is that it was on the ground near a pile of dirty clothes, and got scoped up with the laundry.