How My Anal Retentiveness Helped Me To Like Washing Dishes.
When I was a young housewife back in the year nineteen and cough, cough, most of the many places I lived had no dishwashers.
I knew it was my "wifely duty" to wash dishes--after all, I had the luxury of staying home. So I had lots of time and it shouldn't have been a big deal, right?
Wrong.
Not if you were like me (20 going on 16) and grew up believing any kind of housework--or work in general, for that matter--was punishment.
I had a nice routine. Cook dinner, pile dishes somewhere in kitchen, watch TV and go to bed. Around mid-afternoon the following day, I knew I had to start another meal soon, so I would reluctantly and petulantly clean up. It worked.
Fast forward a few years to when I actually cared if someone came to my house and saw dirty dishes...I guess I was growing up. I let the control freak in me take over, made a new (compulsion?) routine, and actually found a kind of joy I still experience today. (I do have a dishwasher now, but once in a while...)
So here are my tips for finding the Ultimate Satisfaction in dish-washing.
1) Don't wear gloves. Savor the tactile experiences.
2) Use the hottest water you can stand. A test makes it a challenge.
3) Find a dish soap you love. This might require time and trials. Mine was anything my mother wouldn't try when I was a kid.
4) Start with glassware--in unpolluted dishwater. Otherwise, you might wind up with a greasy residue.
5) Feel how smooth and slippery clean glass feels. Mmmm. Nice.
6) Rinse everything voraciously. This is not the time to worry about wasting water.
7)Use a dish drainer, and use it efficiently. Everything in its place.
Stand back and admire your work. If you can, pat yourself on the back for tackling an everyday chore in the most obsessive way you could.
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2 comments:
This is hilarious. I too, used to have to wash every single dish by hand, and when we finally got a dishwasher, I appreciated it so much! But as long as I'm not really tired or cranky, washing dishes doesn't really bother me. I have learned more than once that off-brand dishwashing soap is awful!! (Unless you like using 9 pumps every time you wash!) Thanks for sharing your funny washing experiences. :)
My Grandmother said she loved washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen at the end of the day. Everyone would run and she would be alone with her thoughts and if she wanted to be alone for a long time she took her good old time. I find this very true now and love turning off the lights with a clean kitchen and going to bed. Unfortunately, when I wake up every morning there are dishes in the sink and on the counter. I guess it is my families way of letting me have more time alone in the kitchen. Robin
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