To wash or to soak, that is the question...

I have Mt. Kilamanjaro (sp?) in my bedroom. No, not actually a rock formed mountain with a fluffy snowy covering. The mountain in my bedroom is formed by dirty socks, undies, shirts, jammies, pants, shorts, towels, etc. You get the picture, right?
So today was supposed to bed laundry day. My plan was to study and do laundry-all day. About 7:15 this morning, I took my first load (king sized flannel sheets and pillow cases) and excitedly put them in the wash machine. Yes, I am good. This is the start of my laundry day! Ten minutes later, after the machine filled up with sudsy warm water all the way to the top, it stopped! What!?! I am used to it making a ton of noise and working its way across the laundry room floor because it spins so hard and fast. Why is it stopping? This can't be happening!! Ok, breathe, Tracie, breathe. You can fix this!

NOT!!

I have had a very heavy, water soaked load of sheets sitting in my washer since this morning. I can't get the wash machine to work. I can't get the water to spin out. I can't lift the 50+ lbs of soaking flannel sheets out of the wash to wring them out.

So, I guess I will have to let them soak until Gordon gets home to help me. I hate it when everything breaks when he is gone!!
Now, I am assuming that I am going to be spending some money on a new washer and dryer.(Oh yeah, my dryer has been putting pencil thin brown streaks on clothes for a couple of months now.)

Anyone know of some good deals on a washer/dryer set?