Did all my warranties expire?

I'm having a little problem with entropy this week. Or maybe with chaos theory, I don't know. All I know is that everything keeps breaking around me and it's getting annoying. Yesterday my Facebook page was having fits at me and the answering machine is on the fritz. Today the shelf that holds the computer keyboard just broke off with no warning (on my feet - ouch!). I'm sitting here typing to you with the keyboard on my lap (which in itself is no big hardship, but then there's nowhere to put it when I'm done).

I think that stuff is just not made with households with kids in mind. The answering machine was fine until my toddler decided that it would be fun to play with all the buttons. First he erased the announcement message. Now every time I try to re-record one, you get this weird buzzing/roaring/distortion thingy going on over top of what you recorded. And yes, last night we unplugged everything except the power source so there shouldn't have been any other interference. So now our new message is "Hi! You've reached the Smiths in distortionland - please leave a message - bye!" I love my husband, that was his idea! And there it will stay until we either figure out the problem or get the gumption to go look for a new one (which we're reluctant to do because the phone part works just fine.)

And the keyboard shelf? Well, let's just say that someone should have known better than to hang a laminated plywood shelf from two thin brackets on two tiny bearings and expect it to last in any normal household. You know, where people have children who lean on it and pets who sit on it and put cups of coffee on it and bang into it when someone forgets to slide it back under? Maybe I should ask Brian to go to Home Depot and get 2 sturdy brackets to re-hang the shelf. It's times like this I hear my dad's voice in my head going "They just don't make things like they used to!" No Daddy, they really don't.

So now I'm kind of tiptoeing around my house thinking, okay, what next? I'm telling you, those laws of thermodynamics just get me in trouble every time.