Monday, May 4, 2009

Spring Cleaning Part III: Outsourcing

The top five things couples fight about, in order, are:
  • Money
  • Sex
  • Work
  • Children
  • Housework

For us? Money - nope. Sex - occasionally an tiff. Work - only when I tell him to stop whining so much (about once a month). Children - ok, this we do fight over, but not nearly as much as HOUSEWORK.

I don't get this. My husband is not the neatest person in the world. I remember being disgusted almost to gagging when I used his bachelor pad bathroom (and no it wasn't his roommate's dirt, he had his own bathroom). His idea of putting his clothing away is stacking it in piles on TOP of the dresser. But, I digress.

Cleaning, who would do it and how it was done, became more of an issue when Goose came along. I worked hard to keep things mostly tidy, but didn't enjoy that as much as cooing at my beautiful baby. Jimmy-John grumbled here and there, but it wasn't until we moved into a house with no dishwasher that things really escalated.

Both of us abhor doing dishes.

Jimmy-John being out of the house most of the day, and the squeakier wheel, meant the task fell to me. The most vivid memory I have of the first two months of Little E's life is the day I figured out how to keep a grumpy 2 year old and a needy newborn happy while actually getting dishes clean. I put the baby in the sling, ignored the growing flood waters at my feet as Goose splashed happily, and sang to everyone. I think I spent at least half of Little E's first year standing at the kitchen sink.

Dishes became THE sore spot in our marriage. Which why I do not use one smidge of hyperbole when I say the best 200 bucks I have ever spent was used to purchase a portable dishwasher.

A year later and I'm still in love. 15 minutes to load, 5 to unload. A pleasant shrring as the water fills the sink. Shiny dry plates. No forks returned to the "dirty" side of the sink by quality control. Oh yeah, and I still love my husband.

By the way, if any one can tell me how to get those ridiculous flowers back into normal bullets, or a numbered list, I'd be most grateful.

1 comment:

  1. I was wondering how you got those flowers in the first place.
    It's a shame that I don't live with you. Doing the dishes is the only chore that I don't mind doing. In fact my roommate and I agreed that if I did the dishes, she'd clean the bathroom. She even gave me a $25 gift certificate if I did the dishes for a summer. I didn't quite understand...I mean, we had a dishwasher!
    I'm sure my attitude will change when I have 2 kids needing attention.

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