A Strange String Of Events

It has been an interesting weekend....to say the least. All of which started with a very strange string of events.

Ya see, the cat puked on my comforter {which is VERY OUT of character for her. She sleeps there too}. Not just any comforter, but our brand new comforter. One which I have really struggled finding the perfect drapery and complimentary accents for.

Naturally the cats actions necessitated the need for the comforter to be laundered. We debated...throw it in our washing machine? Take it to the laundry mat? The dry cleaners? We decided that it needed a good washing and our own washing machine could handle it. So, in the washer it went.

{stay with me..I really am going somewhere with all of this}

Without much thought, the comforter went from the washer to the dryer. Something we've done a million times. Something out of character for us, however, was the fact that we threw it in the dryer and LEFT.THE.HOUSE.

Foolish, foolish move..I Know.

{Fast forward a few hours}

Not thinking much of what had transpired, we stopped to check on the "drying" comforter only to discover that the dryer had quit working. Specifically the drum had quit spinning. Now, we weren't overly surprised to discovered that it had dried its last load, we've suspected it was headed out for some time....

Imagine our surprise however, when we pulled the comforter from the dryer {needing to find an alternate drying method} and discovered a good sized burn mark {not just melted fabric, we are talking charred, flame-induced damage}.

Are you diggin' my temporary dryer? Hey, you do what ya gotta do -to get the job done!

The burn mark however, not loving it. I can't help but be grateful that it did not ignite and start our house on fire while we were away.

Unfortunately, what was done was done and now we had to find a new dryer (it was Friday, and I had a weeks worth of laundry to catch up on). So we hurried {literally} to a local appliance center that we like to show preference to, arriving only 25 minutes before they were to close for the day.

Not only did we pick out a brand new dryer, and were out the door in less than 20 minutes, but it was on CLEARANCE. Who doesn't love a good deal, right? It wasn't until this morning that we realized just how good of a deal we got on this new appliance. The Sunday newspaper brought with it an ad, advertising our exact dryer for $900. We paid LESS THAN HALF OF THAT!

On the way home from our dryer purchase we decided to splurge and replace the comforter {despite the cost}, only to discover it on sale for HALF of what I paid for the first one..making it a steal.

So basically, the cat {who I'm still a little frustrated with} initiated a string of events that I can't help but wonder about....

What if the dryer had stopped with a load of delicates or something that would NOT have prevented the dryer from 'breathing' {as we suspect it was the bulkiness of the comforter that either blocked the vents, not allowing oxygen to the flames, or it simply smothered itself}?

I can't help but wonder what are the odds that the appliance center would have a perfect replacement dryer that just happened to be on sale for almost dirt cheap {when it's a current model, that was just missing it's washer mate -making it harder to sell}, making this whole adventure less of a financial strain?

And, what about the comforter? We managed to replace it for half the cost, AND now, I have a spare to make pillow cases, tapestries and such out of {minus the burnt portion -of course}.

Everything from what happened, to how it happend and WHEN it happened was very much a HUGE testament to some very simple truths. The truth being this: WE ARE BLESSED. I can't fathom not recognizing the divine intervention in our everyday {quite ordinary} lives this weekend. He truly is ever-mindful and there are blessing to be had....