Scrubbing My Attitude

Do you know what it's like to leave the home and bustling area you love and know so well and move states away to a small town with a different culture? If not, perhaps you have taken a weekend or vacation camping in a tent or even a trailer or RV. While some things are peaceful and fresh, other things are incomplete or require much more effort. You may have tried to pack lightly, but then realized you didn't pack enough.

It's hard to prepare for the largely unknown. But, change is good, right?

I didn't think I enjoyed much more than the basic conveniences in Maryland. I didn't buy technical gadgets and didn't even have a large screen TV. And I didn't mind. The appliance that I placed just after a washing machine in importance was a dishwasher... before a clothes dryer. Basic, time-saving appliances.

Then, we decided to rent a charming apartment in the new town (old town for my husband as he'd grown up there). We placed our bench from Maryland under the attractive, tall tree out back The apartment harkened back to the 1940s or earlier. There were some power workarounds and solid plaster walls to contend with, but it had quaint artistry about it. 

Even with all the antiquity and storybook elements, there was no sugar coating the fact that there was no dishwasher. After each meal or snack, what remained were dishes! Dishes to be washed by hand. I told my husband that I didn't sign up for this. We traded off on this chore.

Just a few months later, we moved into a farmhouse with three bedrooms and enough space in its reliably dry basement to store our many boxes. No more storage units. The farmhouse had more space than the apartment. Plus, the kitchen was designed with some nice pull-out drawers in the cabinets. You could see Angus cattle from three sides of the house, and my husband loved the smell of being back home! Admittedly, the pastoral setting was peaceful. There was just one glitch for me other than poor Internet reception. No dishwasher. Since I had only washed large pots and pans by hand in Maryland, but put everything else in the dishwasher, I dreaded hand washing every single thing used for cooking and eating. Furthermore, I didn't know the best way to wash those things. I researched getting a portable dishwasher that I could hook up to the water faucet, but it was hard to find one close by and I didn't want to invest in one for a temporary home.

I talked with various people in town about washing dishes. Most said they did not mind washing dishes at all, and a good number who had dishwashers did not even use them or ran them just a few times a year to keep the rubber gasket viable! 

After 19 months in the farmhouse, we purchased a home in town. Like Goldilocks, I had found a house not too big and not cramped. This was just right. A pond view with a fountain that we did not need to maintain. Built in 1959, the house had a small galley kitchen. I figured we could buy a smaller dishwasher and put it in place of three large drawers. Later, we found out the models were not reliable and were twice as expensive as full-size dishwashers. We left the drawers in place.

I tried to count my blessings and continued to resign myself to the task. Over the next several years, I found small ways to improve my dishwashing technique. Eventually, I stopped passing the dishes and thinking that I would do them later. More often, I would think logically and tackle the sudsy task. I finally arrived. For me, the acceptance had taken years!

Staying in a stuck place, feeling that life has dealt you an unfair hand prolongs stagnation. Maybe when you are in an awkward place, you can choose to be logical, choose to accept the challenge, simplify it, and learn to move through it sooner than I did. I will share a simplification technique that has served us well and is something my husband and I can agree upon. Rinse the dishes and soak the flatware. This preparation makes it feel like you are already halfway through the process!