Explanation

OK, to explain Phil's earlier post (and to vindicate myself) I have the following to say:

1) The cell phone was probably my fault. I left it in my jeans pocket. I put the jeans into the washing machine. Cell phone + washing machine = dead phone.
2) The cordless phone may have been my fault. I put it on the bed. Sure, I even stripped the sheets off of the bed. I did not, however, take the mattress pad off of the bed. That was done by my husband. The phone could have been in there. Anyway, it too made it into the washing machine. Dead phone #2.
3) In my defense, neither of these mishaps would have occurred if I had a laundry room in which to sort the laundry, thus giving them a day or so (OK, probably more like a week or so) to rest in between dirty-in-the-hamper and getting-clean-in-the-washer. In that time their absence would have been noticed and no phone fatalities would have occurred.

So the obvious conclusion is that human error on my part contributed to the phones' demise, but the house is ultimately to blame.

I must admit it is a bit empowering to watch our remaining phones tremble with fear as I walk past...