You're Soaking in It

i'll vacuum the carpets.
i'll dust the house from top to bottom.
i'll even clean both bathrooms, including the toilets.
if there's one chore i absolutely despise beyond all others, it's washing dishes.

i've never like doing dishes and luckily, i hardly ever had to do it growing up. we had a good-old-fashioned dishwasher. y'know...big huge dial, little cup for the detergent, and a hole for the Jet Dry (that mythical potion that no dishwasher could work without). it made alot of noise and made the plates so wonderfully, deliciously hot. the only time i ever had to wash the dishes myself was on camping trips with the Scouts. there was no hot water; it redefined "roughing it". thankfully we only went camping once a year.

when i moved out of my parents house, into my 1st apartment with John and Chris, we didn't have a dishwasher. it was a rude, rude awakening. over the course of the 10 months we lived together, i learned how to cook using the minimum of kitchen supplies, just so i didn't have to wash as much. it worked pretty well for a while, John and Chris felt the same way and tried to do the same...tried...it didn't quite work out and on more than one occasion we wound up with every plate, cup, glass and bit of silverware we owned piled in the sink. when we parted ways i'm surprised we were able to pry the plates apart to pack them.

later on, when Stephen bought the house on Staten Island, i got so caught up in the excitement that i didn't even bother to ask about a dishwasher. by the time i was all settled in, it was too late; our little tiny kitchen was so packed with pots and pans and appliances that there was no room for a dishwasher.

i still try my best to minimize my kitchen-stuff usage, but sadly, stephen is one of those cooks who finds it impossible to make a scrambled egg without using as many knives, bowls, pans and gadgets as possible. since he gets home a couple of hours before i do, it's usually he who does the cooking. we cook almost every night, so there are dishes every single night. it's enough to drive a boy mad, or build shelves all around the kitchen to free up room to install a small apartment sized dishwasher, or switch to disposable plates, cups and utensils.