Author: Tricia

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It’s Dishpan Hands for Me!!

Well, it looks like we made a very sound decision in purchasing the new dishwasher. Only catch is, it won’t arrive in time to save me from a terrible case of dishpan hands. Because it looks like ours has officially decided to stop working. Last evening the children on dish duty gasped in horror and called, “Mommy! There’s brown yucky water coming out of the front of the dishwasher.” Upon inspection, it was confirmed that the washer appears to be leaking its rusty innards out all over everything. Ew, and gross!!

I rolled my eyes at Jay and remarked that I guessed we’d be doing dishes by hand until early to mid October when our long-awaited new model will be in. He answered, rightfully so, that I was already pretty much washing them entirely by hand anyway, given the “washer’s” cleaning abilities had been mostly gone for some time now. And he’s right. We’ll probably save a nice chunk on our water bill these next few weeks if I am just washing things by hand, instead of first hand-washing it all, then running the dishes through the non-washing KitchenAid for a long, expensive rinse. Or we could just go to entirely disposable dishes for a time. But we probably won’t.

Truthfully, I know just how spoiled I must be to moan about going without this appliance for a few weeks, given that many people in the world today have never enjoyed the luxury of a dishwasher. I am hopeful that in the next few weeks as I am without one, that I may learn to really appreciate this help in life that I have usually taken pretty much for granted. Sometimes it helps to go without something for a time to realize just how thankful we should be for it when it is around.

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I Have Like the Coolest Husband Ever…

at this very moment, he is sitting in “Knight School” Teacher meetings (that’s a play on words using our school mascot for “Back to School Night”) for each of our school-aged children. And what is he doing while he’s there? Not playing video games on his hand held technical device, though to some in the room it might well look that way! No…he is sending me up to the minute short notes via his Blackberry on what is being said, and conveying information from the teachers that I will find pertinent, including details on classroom conduct, procedures and rules for chapel, and LOTS of curriculum content. He knows how much this means to me since I feel a high need for details on everything that goes on with our children and their school. Wow. I think I am falling in love with him all over again!

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Giving Momma “The Fits”

I use this expression all the time in jest with my children when they are getting a bit out of control, joking with them that if they don’t settle down, they are surely going to “give their momma the fits”! but tonight I think Josiah actually did just this. Mind you, I don’t even know what “the fits” are, but they sound ominous, don’t you think?

Tonight, within the space of maybe 15 minutes Josiah caused two major upsets in the house, just as we were trying to get everyone peacefully into bed for the night. Now they are all tucked in and quiet, but my nerves feel a bit jittery.

For starters, our toddler, feeling the need for a drink of juice, opened the refrigerator, and attempted to get to the very large, very heavy tupperware container in which we mix and store our orange juice (we’ve switched to the frozen variety since the fresh has skyrocketed in price). Of course, the pitcher was much too heavy for Josiah and as he lifted it from the shelf, down it came, splashing juice everywhere both inside and outside the fridge. What a mess. While Daddy toted the offender away to have a “chat” with him, I cleaned up the aftermath.

Just a few minutes later, we were in the boys’ room getting them settled in bed. We opted to keep Josiah with us, since having him out of sight is a dangerous proposition these days. I had barely turned my back for a minute when I all of a sudden heard a soft whirring sound. And there was Josiah in trouble again: he’d managed to turn on an oscillating fan (which shouldn’t even be in the boys’ bedroom, let alone on a surface Josiah could actually reach on his own – Jonathan reports their babysitter moved it to their desktop last night b/c they were feeling warmish, but I hadn’t realized this yet, bad Mommy) and then get his chubby little fingers inside the wire cage which surrounds the rotating blades. Now that was a very scary sight. Using absolutely no restraint whatsoever, I screamed loudly, mostly out of sheer horror, which surely startled Josiah enough, but then followed it up with a couple of hand swats and some very serious scolding. Hopefully he will feel no desire to explore a fan again anytime soon.

As I sat there and held him afterward, so thankful he’d not been hurt, but still feeling very shaken, he looked into my eyes with his big brown ones, cradled my head in his pudgy hands, and asked quite seriously, “Mum….ad???” (which translated means, “Mom, sad?”). So even if he’s highly mischievous and into everything, we can at least say he’s also a deeply sensitive wee lad. Needless to say, I love this little guy oh so much, but I pray for the ability to safely parent him into adulthood. He doesn’t always make it easy!

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Doing a Little Happy Dance Over Here…

…because we’ve finally, after much agonizing, made a decision and ordered a dishwasher to replace our vintage model, which sadly, doesn’t really wash dishes anymore, despite its name. I carefully studied the research on current models, and then shopped around town, checking with clearance outlets, looking through last season’s models, and called every store I could locate to sift through their scratch/dent sales, etc. Unearthing no amazing bargains this way, I settled for finding the lowest price in town on our first choice, and got Lowes* to price-match that (saving us $93 in the bargain), and then waited until they ran a free installation special. Their special is good through this Sunday, the 16th, for anyone else in the market for a dishwasher. The installation rebate will save us both $150 and a couple hours of my sweet husband’s time. Looks like our new dishwasher will take a few weeks to get here, but I can wait. I’m so excited!!

*Sears and Lowes will not usually offer the best price on major appliances, but they each have price-matching guarantees which you can use to your advantage. The best customer service I received was from our local Lowes store, so I dearly wanted to give them our business if I could get the lowest price through them, which I did.

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What We’re Smelling…

Smoldering, day-old fish stick that was inadvertently left at the bottom of the oven last night while preparing a hasty meal for the kids before marching out the door to Wednesday night church classes. Which is now burning up (the fish stick, not the classes) b/c I turned the oven on this morning to bake some muffins. And let me tell you, it’s not a pleasant odor in the slightest! (again, the very despised, scorching fish stick, not the nice muffins).

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Sticky Start to the Day

While checking my blogs just now, and eating my morning peanut butter toast, I had a little mishap. I dropped my toast, and watched it flip around and around as if in slow motion, until it gracefully landed butter side down on my toes. While I hate to waste that precious peanut butter, you will probably be happy to hear that I refrained from licking my buttered toes.

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That’s the WRONG Sink, Baby!!

Tonight after a really delightful evening of supper and visiting with dear friends, we were rushing the children through their bedtime routine, and there was a bit of backlog in the boys’ bathroom. While Nicolas had his turn at the sink, little Josiah hollered and pointed to his toothbrush, impatient to step up on the bathroom stool and brush his teeth (his favorite bedtime task).

Jay, hoping to get Josiah started on the process, handed him his toothbrush with only a little water on it, and Josey contentedly began to brush. Somewhere in the next minute or so both the parents lost track of what was happening in the bathroom. Nicolas, having finished his hand-washing, and tooth-brushing, was now filling his sippy cup with water, and was still (in Josiah’s mind, I guess) hogging the sink. From the baby’s point of view, perhaps he might never get a turn with the sink and faucet if circumstances were left up to the big people.

But I have to hand it to Josiah. Instead of bellowing and throwing a tantrum about the situation (which would be par for the course for our 23 month-old), he decided to figure out an alternative. After all, there is more than source of water in a bathroom…am I right??

And that is how I found him: leaning over the potty, dipping his brush into the nice big pool of water as far as his little chubby arm would allow, vigorously getting a good few brush strokes in, and then enthusiastically shoving that toothbrush back into the nasty, hadn’t been washed in almost two weeks toilet. Ugh.

Please, dear Readers, shudder and gag along with me, if you will!!

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Early, Early Fall Break

Most schools don’t give holidays the second week back into fall. And Covenant didn’t intend to either, but power outages at the lower school yesterday and today have resulted in canceled classes for grades E-6. Which has facilitated some opportunities for us moms to help one another out. Yesterday morning I sent three of my four charges to a friend’s while i took Jonathan along to a Moms’ only organizational meeting for the start of Chapel School (Nicolas’ preschool co-op this year). Jonathan sat for ALMOST TWO HOURS on a couch and was an absolute angel while the mommies talked on and on and on. He had Cricket in Times Square to keep him company, as well as his Webkin, “Chow”, but still, it was a feat for my six year-old ball of energy, and I was proud of him for this display of self-control.

On my way home, I grabbed not only my three kids back, but two of my friend’s children, as well as another little girl whose Mommy had to work for part of the day. So I had seven children in my home from lunchtime on. And it was fun, if a little noisy at times!!

We have no huge plans for today, but I’m thinking it will be great to just hang out together. And now, the troops are asking for pancakes, so I must close, and oversee the mixing of ingredients and the splashing of batter. Here’s hoping you and yours have a wonderful day.

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By Way of Update

Tonight we have a fully operational plumbing system again. We have had much to be thankful for in the past 24 hours. Some of those things are:

  • Abigail….who spent a full hour last night with me dealing with the kitchen full of soiled dishes that could not be washed in the sink or dishwasher. We transported the dirty load in a clean laundry basket back to the master bath where we sanitized the tub, and then filled it with LOTS of soapy water and all the dishes. As I washed dishes in the large tub, Abigail carefully rinsed each piece under the faucet in the sink. We dried each item, and put it all away before bed. Abigail made this job so much more pleasant, and was a patient and diligent worker. As well as excellent company!
  • Jay….who this morning treated us to breakfast out at a restaurant – such a rare treat that I cannot recall a time except on long road trips when we have eaten breakfast out as a family. This saved me tons more work. And was lots of fun!
  • Drain Doctor…who gave us a sound estimate for the job over the phone, then came out and fixed the source of all the trouble, and spent time on a holiday to do so. They have also done good work for Jay’s folks in the past, so we can recommend them highly.
  • A home cooked Meal in a fully functional kitchen…to celebrate the ability to wash dishes again, we made a whole bunch dirty by eating platefuls of brisket, cob corn, watermelon, broccoli slaw, and peach cobbler! Dinner was merry, and everyone helped to clean up afterward. We used nothing short of scandalous amounts of water!!

Here’s hoping all of you have had a peaceful and relaxing Labor Day Holiday.

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The Only Thing Worse Than a Sinkful of Dirty Dishes….

…is a sinkful of dirty dishes that YOU CANNOT WASH!!!

Because you have a block somewhere deep down in your sewer line…

That you discovered whilst trying to get a houseful of six ready for church early this morning…

And consequently were freakishly late to worship, but that was ok;

And despite your good-looking, resident handyman heading to the Lowes and picking up a “snake” (after worship of course),

And subsequently wrestling with the beast in the sewer line for a couple hours…

The clog is still there…rendering not only Abigail’s shower and toilet unusable;

But also the Laundry Room sink and of course, clothes washer;

Plus the precious kitchen sink and it’s next-door neighbor, the dishwasher

(Which, despite being thirty-something years old is still a highly valued part of your household. And you miss it. And apologize to it for ever entertaining the idea of thoughtlessly replacing it with one of those modern, pleasingly quiet models, which actually also clean and sanitize dishes much better than it ever will again. But now it cannot even have water run into it to rinse those dirty dishes)

And so your huge pile of food-caked plates, bowls, cups, pans, and utensils is laughing at you,

Which leaves you wondering which of the remaining functioning bathtubs would be most appropriate for cleaning all these mocking dishes.

But, on the bright side, this whole crazy situation is bound to result in a few shed pounds, on account of all the running back and forth from the kitchen to the master bath on the other end of the house, for every time a cucumber needs rinsing, utensil needs washing, or your hands have to be cleaned due to handling raw meat.

Needless to say we will happily pay the $15 additional fee to our plumber tomorrow for coming to visit us on a holiday, because it will hopefully mean we can use all the sinks and large washing appliances in our home again.

And now I have to close this little entry – and go splash around in my soaking tub with the Lemon Fresh Joy.

Happy Labor Day!!