Bad news with Another appliance

I have heard that appliances break down in a series of "threes." One breaks, then another, then another. I always assumed this was because often appliances are purchased at around the same time. Regardless, we have hit break down number three and I am really hoping this is the end of it.

For the last two weeks, my dishwasher has been acting funny--making really bad grinding noises, (which according to the manual are normal when it is grinding some big piece of food--which since I don't rinse the dishes beforehand, I am not surprised by), I haven't run out of rinse-aid in months and this dishes haven't seemed to be getting super clean. They are not dirty, just not as clean as normal. So, I did what I have done in the past and that is pour vinegar on the bottom of the dishwasher and do a vinegar rinse. (Heloise recommended that trick and it really works) That actually seemed to solve most of the problems, until two days ago, when I discovered the dishwasher is not draining. Even when I pretend I don't know about it and leave it overnight. No change in the water level.

Since ignoring the problem wasn't working, I decided to wet/dry vacuum out the bottom of the dishwasher and hope to vacuum up something that was clogging the draining system (which I know is at the bottom of the washing machine but I don't know exactly where. According to the manual, it is just "down there" somewhere.) So, now we are on day two of wet/dry vacuuming and it is not draining at all. I suppose this means I do indeed have to call a repair man, which I don't want to do because I just spent $400 plus dollars diagnosing and fixing a washing machine leak and drywall problem. This has been an expensive fall considering competitive soccer fees, book orders, school pictures, ballet Nutcracker fees, etc. Please bless this is our final appliance problem for a while. I am sick of it.