28 Oct 2009

Why I have soft hands



We are in crisis mode here in our Peaceful Home. Something really bad has happened, and on the sliding scale of disasters, it is about as bad as it gets.

We have a broken dishwasher.

Now you may look at me smugly at this point and say something along the lines of:-

"Oh I have a dishwasher too. It's my husband/kids/mother."

Well that may be so. It is at my in-laws' home. She cooks, he washes up. Except when we visit. Then she cooks and my beloved washes up. Sanctimoniously, I might add, because he doesn't do it here. Anyway, that's what happens. I usually manage to find something else to do like putting Jemimah to bed or tidying our room or some other chore of great significance. Whatever it is I generally feel guilty for the rest of the day and end up ironing my in-laws' underwear or socks or pyjamas or something equally grovelly.

Anyhow, if this is you then you probably shouldn't be reading this post. Come to think about it, you probably won't find much to read on my blog, because I am not a Supermum and you obviously are. Or your wife is. Whatever.

I need my dishwasher. Did you hear that? I said I NEED my dishwasher.

My husband recognises this need. He looked at me seriously over dinner on Sunday night:

Him - I know that it is unusual for me to ask this, but do you think we can eat out until the dishwasher is fixed?

Me - What? Every meal?

Him - Oh no, not every meal, only the evening ones. You don't make dishes for breakfast and lunch, do you?

He was serious too. Of course we do. Then there are the cups from all the coffees. There is a limit to the number of times that these can be reused. You can go from tea to coffee, for example, but not the other way round. Yuck.

Needless to say, we're not eating out, but I am doing the dishes so that he doesn't need to. I've already washed up today three times, and we haven't even had lunch yet. It is 2:12 pm as I write but I'm procrastinating because then I'll need to wash the plates and the glasses, the coffee cup, the chopping board and the bread knife. Ugh.

The dishwasher doctor came yesterday with his bag and his hat, and he knocked on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat. He looked at the dishwasher and he shook his head. I swear you could see those dollar signs whizzing around in his eyeballs as he looked at me gravely. "It'll be at least a week," he said. "I've never seen a dishwasher do that before."

So in the meantime I'm soaking in Palmolive. Soft hands are about the only silver lining that I can see just now.

While on the subject of Madge, anybody else think her laugh makes her sound like Witchiepoo from H. R. Pufnstuff? Anyone who reckons you should go near Palmolive three times a day just has to be evil anyhow. So there. That's what I think.

Gotta go. The dishes await. Again.

Humph.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Jeanne,
    Perhaps try some rubber gloves - at least they'd save your hands. ♥

    Blessings,
    Jillian
    <><

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  2. This was very amusing...thank you for the laughs and I hope your sick dishwasher will get better soon! xxx

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  3. You crack me up!

    I very proudly lived without a dishwasher for the first half or so of our marriage. My husband kept offering to buy me one, but I denied him the opportunity to rid himself of the guilt over my dry, cracked hands - until we started homeschooling. I finally broke down then, and even though my Japanese version is probably only a fourth the size of yours (or at least an American one) I love it and use it several times a day.

    So, I understand your pain. It's one thing to go without one altogether, but it's just too hard to go back after knowing the joy of a dishwasher!

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  4. Hi Sue,

    I didn't get one until 1999 either. What a difference a decade makes!!

    Glad I made you laugh - and you too, Sarah!!

    Yours miserably,

    Jeanne xxx

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  5. Oh! Sorry. I hope it feels better soon! I could NEVER survive without my dishwasher. NEVER. The mere thought makes me shudder.

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  6. Ha! It's a different Madge Down Under! Rubber gloves help, but a husband who understands the "need" for a dishwasher is truly a Prince among men!

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  7. Ahh Madge! Is she still on the tv ads in Aussie? She had an awful voice.
    My dishwasher helps save my hands, and all my girls with sensitive skin. My hubby was a hero for spending two days under the house hooking up our dishwasher...he did end up with osteochondritis though...

    At least you have your kitchen sink ;-) Mine sunk a few weeks ago so I had to put up with this gungy tape around the edge of it until hubby could find time to fix it. Fix it he did on Labour Day Monday (this week) and then I had to wait 24 hours for the glue to cure.

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  8. Oh dear I'm sorry I had to have a giggle at your distress :-)

    We have a dishwasher and only use it when we have company and therefore extra dishes. I just hate using extra water and electricity for a simple job I can do myself, but then again I was the dish slave growing up, so maybe it is so ingrained in me as my job that I just can't let go LOL

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  9. LOL - oh poor Jeanne. Life's tough when you don't have a dishwasher hey.

    We bought one while at my old house and I absolutely loved it! It was the BEST friend to me...hehe

    But since moving to our new place, the dishwasher here's only good for storage...grrr. I'd had to get used to washing dishes the old fashioned way - my hands don't know the word 'soft'. Hehe

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  10. I actually don't mind washing up by hand. Good thing too as we've never owned a dishwasher ~ bar the kiddie sized sort! I'll trade doing the washing up any day if it means I don't have to cook.

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  11. Oh Jeanne, I really feel your pain, can I say that again, I really feel your pain! You see, the same thing happened here a few months ago and we had to wait a few days for the d/w doctor to fix it and yes, we paid through the nose to fix it too:) My dh is definitely a prince among men as someone else said and totally was happy to part with all that money to fix it up!
    I was washing up three to four times a day and there are only three of us around here:)

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  12. Very funny! I'm with you--I can't stand washing dishes! We have had dishwasher issues in the past and when we do, I find myself thinking, "Hmmm...can't I just reuse this plate for dinner?" Even with a working dishwasher, I feel like I am always cleaning up the kitchen!

    Hang in there! Hope it's fixed soon. :)

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