Rob and I aren't big into Valentine's Day. I know a lot of people (or at least a lot of fictional move/tv people) go all out- have a fancy dinner with rose petals strewn all over the house while an airplane writes "I love you" in the sky, a string quartet plays romantic music, and an ice sculpture of cupid melts in the corner. We're more the type to say "happy valentine's day" with an accompanying kiss. Maybe something special for dinner, maybe not. One year when I went to bed I found a box of chocolates under my pillow.
This year, though, Rob went a little crazy. He decided that in the interest of improving our relationship, he would buy us ... a dishwasher! I haven't had a dishwasher since I moved out of my parents house 81/2 years ago. That's 3138 days of standing over a sink of hot water for at least half an hour, scrubbing, soaping, rinsing. I didn't really mind doing them by hand, or at least I didn't mind before I had a crazy little girl to take up all of my time. Ever since Isabella was born almost two years ago, I've tried to cram most of my tasks into the time when she's asleep (have you tried spending half an hour doing dishes while someone else is either tearing the house apart or howling for your attention? It's very difficult).
Our dishwasher was delivered Saturday morning (for free, of course). We did a couple loads right away to get caught up; it was so nice to see bare counters after such minimal effort! (By the way, our dishwasher is so awesome that it cleans off even weeks-old caked on nastiness; the secret is the steam cycle.) When Isabella took her nap that afternoon my first thought was "Well, I guess I should do the dishes now." I even went so far as to start walking toward the kitchen before I remembered there were no dishes for me to wash!
Maybe I'm a nerd, or someone who gets overly excited about kitchen appliances, but I have such a feeling of freedom! Those precious minutes when Isabella is asleep do not have to be filled with the mundane task of washing dishes. When I'm done with a dish, I just throw it in, and that night or maybe a day or two later (depending on how much cooking we've done) I press a button -- and go do the next thing on my list. Or ignore the list and read a good book.
Does anyone else do dishes by hand who can empathise with me here? I wouldn't want to be labeled crazy...
3 comments:
Jealous.
I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but now that I have children old enough to do the dishes, so I only have to do them a couple of times a week, it doesn't seem such a big deal. It's all in where you are in life, I guess.
Jennie
If we only lived in the same city, Jen, I could've borrowed your kids to do my dishes! Ah well, it's pretty cute watching Isabella load/unload the dishwasher. She's actually pretty good at it.
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