These Things Happen in Threes

So they say that deaths come in threes. And it does seem to happen that way sometimes. Particularly celebrity deaths that everyone is aware of. Suzanne Pleshette, Heath Ledger (tragic) -- who will be next?

Sadly, dying in groups of three also seems to apply to appliances and other necessities of our house. Two years ago, our refrigerator, the water heater and the microwave all kicked the bucket in a two-week time frame.

This week:

1. Our nine-year old dryer quit heating two days after Christmas. We had it repaired and two hours later, it was doing the same thing. It was repaired again and it's been working better than ever for the last three weeks. Guess it gave one final push before the end. We thought about repairing it again, but then decided to cut our losses and buy a new one.

2. The van (that Tim drives) has been making an engine noise that can only be described as "definitely not normal" for quite some time. Tim says it sounds like a wind-up toy. It also had a safety recall, so we took it to the dealer last week for that work and then back again a couple of days ago for them to look at the engine. We found out that, yeah, basically the whole engine needs to be replaced (BAD), but it's covered under the powertrain warranty with only a $100 deductible. (GOOD!) We're renting a car for the rest of this week.

What will be next?