Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Better Habits And Bob is Awesome




Things I learned this week....

1) Good habits can still be learned past the age of thirty-five...
Okay, I am not proud of this, but I have always hated washing dishes, and let them accumulate too much in the sink. Then, about three years ago, we bought a house with a dishwasher. Cool. But I didn't know how to load it, and didn't use it because I didn't want to break my dishes. My friend showed me how to use it a year later, and since then, I always keep a clear sink. Dirty dishes get rinsed, and immediately hid in the dishwasher where no one can see them until the dishwasher is full. Then, of course, I put in the soap, and start the load. So essentially, the dishwasher has become a magic hiding place to me that will do the dishes for me after I have hid them.
So where is the good habit? Well, the dishwasher broke this weekend, and I found that I could not leave a dirty dish in the sink in the meantime while waiting for my dishwasher repairman (Bob) to fix it. I kept up with those dishes that I even did a load by hand after Bob fixed it because I didn't realize he fixed it before I finished clearing the table.


If I had been blogging three years ago, I would have known about youtube, and then I could have gotten instructions on dishwasher loading via video..


2) Bob is handier than I give him credit for. In the old house, I used to have the appliances insured by Sears so that i would not have to risk Bob fixing them. Now that I am not working, we can't afford such extravagance as overpriced insurance on an old washing machine....anyways, Bob has stepped up to the plate well. He will go to the hardware store with the part and ask what it is and what he ought to do. (I suppose I should also give him credit for asking for directions).

13 comments:

jasonS said...

I do the dishes around our house and dishwashers definitely come in handy. As for being handy, I may need to take a few lessons from Bob. I do what I can, but boy is there a lot of stuff I have no clue about. Maybe I should check out youtube for that!

Tracey said...

Never thought of checking youtube for something like that! Glad Bob got things fixed for you!

Wendy said...

I have a dishwasher, but things still pile up in and around my sink. Why? Because no one wants to unload the dishwasher. So there they sit until we have no clean dishes left to use. Yeah, it's pathetic.

Peter P said...

I bought a house with a dishwasher.

..but she hates it when I call her that!

Beth said...

Oh, Helen, you KNOW I hate dishes with every fiber of my being. My dishwasher is my best appliance friend. Good for you sticking with the no dirty dishes in the sink habit. Even with the dishwasher that happens here, but at least now they don't stay for days and days and days...

And can you send Bob to fix my garbage disposal? I got a fork stuck in it the other day and Frank hasn't got around to it yet... ;)

Unknown said...

We do not have a great history with our dishwashers - but have just got a new one, so hopefully a while before we need a Bob (ours is called Peter!)

Stephanie Wetzel said...

First, I big red monkey butt heart my dishwasher. It's the only reason why my kitchen looks clean. And I use it the same way as you: as the magic hiding place.

Sadly, I'm the only one who loads and unloads it. My family looks at a dishwasher full of clean dishes as an excuse to fill the sink with dirty stuff.

Second, Beth? A fork in the disposal? Really? You do know that they're not designed to grind up metal, right? (says the girl who can't have a disposal because we're on septic and might just be a little jealous)

Alison said...

Good for you for keeping up the habit of keeping the sink empty. I wish I could say I always do that, even with my dishwasher.

katdish said...

Okay, when we had our house built do you want to know what my biggest regret was?

Not having 2 dishwashers installed. One to hide the clean dishes, and one to hide the diry ones.

I loathe emptying and loading the dishwasher. Which is why I'm the only person who does it. I am being punished.

Rae said...

Dishwashers are a life saver.

In my first apartment I didn't have one, and I'd let my dishes pile up disgustingly high. In my second apartment we had a dishwasher and EVERYTHING (even wooden things) went into the dishwasher.

Annie K said...

Bob is even more awesome than the cat. (Helen, please tell him I said so.)

Candy said...

In our first house we didn't have a dishwasher and I never cared one way or the other since I didn't grow up with one. Now we have one and Ron Burgundy absolutely refuses to use it. He will, however, wash all the dishes by hand and spiff up the kitchen. He refuses to unload it, also.

That being said, more than once (in fact several times) I have come home from work to find the kitchen faucet running. Seems there should be a YouTube video for turning off the faucet, too.

Kudos to "Fix it Bob." Just the fact that he knows what part to take to the hardware store is amazing. We hire it done. Because after RB fixes something, it usually needs more repairs, bless his heart.

diyfrugal said...

LOL! I never thought of checking YouTube either for that. I am bad about letting dishes pile up at night and washing them in the AM. I really need to get my daughters helping with that more.