Help! My appliances/electronics have turned on me. I think sometime recently in the middle of the night when no one was around to hear, they all got together and decided to go haywire.

First it was the 40-inch LCD high-definition television purchased at a now out-of-business giant electronics chain store just four years ago. The background picture looks like a funky screensaver. Sometimes. Then sometimes, I think just to get my hopes up that the television has cured itself of whatever ailed it, the crazy lines vanish and the picture looks normal. I have started a repair account with the nice people at Samsung.

I say started because I needed the serial number off the back of the set, and I had to wait for assistance to (a) turn the heavy doggone thing around to find the number, and (b) read the tiny print that required someone else to hold a flashlight to illuminate while I read and wrote. Believe me, it was a two-person job to get this information. I haven’t called Samsung back yet because the television, as I said, has its good days, and ...

The icemaker on the refrigerator quit working, and the milk didn’t seem as cold as usual. Bad television won’t kill you, but food poisoning will, so I dropped the television project to concentrate on getting a repairman to come fix the fridge. Scheduling was a problem. Monday was booked solid “unless, ma’am, your refrigerator has absolutely quit working.” Tuesday afternoon was open for the appliance people, but I had a meeting at school I didn’t need to miss, and my husband had an auditor at work.

No ice, food possibly spoiling, the husband gave the auditor lots of stuff to look at while he stayed home to wait for the fridge guy. It cost well over $100 to get some kind of coils defrosted, but I am happy to report that I just heard the ice maker drop its first batch of cubes in the tray, and the milk already feels colder.

Oh, and today, I finally phoned about that possible recall on my 3-year-old dishwasher. “Certain dishwashers can pose fire hazard” said the letter along with “Second Notification” printed in red capital letters. Yes, I’m busy, and I ignored the first letter. The dishwasher seems to be working fine, but of course I have the model that has a defective heating element.

A repairman is coming Friday (“be available from noon to 5 p.m., ma’am. That’s the most exact time we can give you”). Fortunately, there is no charge, but get this: I’m supposed to “disconnect the electric supply by shutting off the fuse or circuit breaker. ...”

I’m pretty sure that means I’m supposed to quit using my dishwasher. Washing dishes by hand? This could be worse than fuzzy television and food poisoning!