November 1, 2021

That Kind Of A Day

The four-footed one decided that today was going to be rest on your favorite pillow kind of day. It wasn’t that she was tired or in pain. It was more a case of her deciding that having a slow day was the perfect thing to do.

Beloved took his cue from her. It started with large, fluffy pancakes with bananas and delicious coffee. Made in pyjamas, of course, because it’s a casual, slow day. This also meant, unfortunately, that dishes don’t have to be done right away. Okay, in fairness, Beloved hardly ever wants to do the dishes, slow day or not.

So Beloved and the four-footed one took a chill day while I cleaned up the pancake mess, did the dishes, and did the laundry. I didn’t want to do these things either. But they needed doing sooner rather than later. So I did them, especially since Beloved made the pancakes.

I did find my pillow of sorts, in this case, a comfortable chair, to settle down and read for a few hours. That was my slow moment just to relax and do something that wasn’t about having to get it done or rushing about or being too busy. The four-footed one was right; a slow day of sorts was in order.

October 11, 2018

Flowing Water

The four-footed one has found a new source of water in the house. Beyond her water dishes I mean. Thankfully not drinking out of the toilets! Some dogs will do that after all, because it’s a nice fresh supply.

But no that’s not what the four-footed one found, mostly because for her to drink from the toilet, she’d have to basically be in it. Which means getting wet. And she hates getting wet unless it’s of her own doing and involves a muddy puddle. So her new source of water happens to be the indoor watering can.

Thankfully it’s not a large thing so it’s basically just her tongue that fits in the hole. And if she were to knock it over (again) there isn’t too much water to deal with. And how did she find this new source you may ask. Probably because someone left it out. At a level she could reach. After that same someone allowed the dog to drink while that person was using the watering can for the flowers.

So you could say she just figured it out on her own, at least how to get water out if no one is tilting the can for water to come out of the spout.but you could also say a certain person taught her that this is a source of water. And no dear friends that person wasn’t me!

June 15, 2017

Pull Up A Chair, Grab A Fork And Enjoy or Ignore The Dishes

So I was having some people over for a meal, nothing formal although given the amount of preparation and planning on my part you’d think it was going to be more formal. I know that my friends weren’t coming over for a five-star meal (woe to any of them that suspected I could pull that off in the first place), but I still wanted to provide a variety of flavors and textures for people to enjoy.

I should point out that I’m not trained as a cook so this is all just crossing of my fingers, hoping and praying it turns out relatively decent. So far this has worked for the most part, although there was the seafood stew disaster, but let’s not go there.

So I visited several different shops, pulled out a million pots and pans (okay not really that many) and cooked. People came over and enjoyed themselves so ago od time was had by all. And the mountain of dishes from all the cooking? They were behind a closed-door in the kitchen so they were easy to ignore while company was over.

After everyone left the dishes could be tackled, cleaned and put away until next time. After I have recovered from this whirlwind of breaking bread with people who matter in my life. Because what’s a few dishes between friends?

August 15, 2016

Cutting Up A Rug and Eating Fifites Style

Now and then I give into the urge to recreate some marvellous menu I had from long ago. Of course it never comes out exactly the same, but that’s half the fun. Since it was our turn to host the dinner and music this month, Beloved chose a 1950-1960 “bubblegum” pop theme for the music.

For the menu, there were shrimp with devilled sauce, hamburgers and fries and to finish the whole thing off milkshakes, floats and ice cream in several different flavors. Music complemented the food more or less and much to my delight people dressed to the theme. Saddles whose were kicked off, full skirts got in the way and it was just way too much fun.

In keeping with get theme, the dishwasher is not working. Beloved broke role enough to help with the dishes. How on earth did people manage without dishwashers we wondered. But of course that’s just our laziness kicking in. They didn’t know any better as they didn’t have appliances to do that for them.

So we will have dish-pan hands from dishes, sore feet from too much dancing and wonderful memories until the next time. Which isn’t being held at our place thank heavens. Not that I mind the people coming over, it’s the exhaustion (a good kind mind you) that carries over into e following days that I’m not a fan of!

April 14, 2015

Protesting Plates While Boasting Bowls

Plates are overrated. Sure you can serve food on them, eat off them. But ultimately you have to wash them and put the, away until you are ready to use them again.

I discovered this recently after Beloved and I somehow went through all the plates in the cupboard. All of them, all gone through within one day. Which is when I realized that the dishwasher doesn’t hold all of the plates at once.

Well it may actually hold all of them if we didn’t have other dishes in it at the same time.

I mean on television, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver dont seem to have an issue with plates. They use them with careless disregard. There isn’t a plate shortage on their shows. So either they hoard plates, have massive dishwashers or somehow Beloved and I have done something wrong with respect to plates.

So do we follow the lovely culture of tossing the plates? There would be that brilliant smashing noise and dashing shreds of crockery, but that would still leave a mess to clean up. Instead I dare you to join me in protesting plates. Bowls are far more fun!

Yes friends, let hear it for bowls. Let’s brag and boast about how versatile and lovely bowls are. At least until the plates are done!😉

March 23, 2015

Populating Plates And Such

Dishes. These are amazing and remarkable inventions. At some point in our distant past we moved from eating food off sticks or dirt to things like bowls and plates. Of course there was cutlery and glassware after that in short order.

But things like plates and bowls fascinate me. Now I know some of you are thinking I’ve finally gone off the deep end, been exposed to too much dishwater or some such thing. But no, friends nothing like that at all.

You see friends, what fascinates me about dishes is how when they are dirty they seem to multiple like magic. I’ve done research on this. Well Beloved has done research on this very thing. Inadvertent research, but research all the same.

He was running a bit behind his normal morning routine and as a result ending up leaving the morning dishes on the counter before heading off to work. Now I do realize he is getting an it older, but he isn’t exactly at the forgetful stage yet (oh how I wish at times!), so I’m not sure how else to explain what happened when he arrived back home later on.

What he swears was one bowl, a glass and a spoon somehow morphed into a bowl, saucer, glass, cup, and two spoons. Also he found cup or glass rings on the counter. But again he swears these weren’t there when he was getting ready to leave in the morning.

I seem to recall these same types of things happening to me when I was much younger. Somehow dishes would leap put of cupboards, frolic with ode who had been left out and then pile up in an exhausted mess for me to find later on. Of course at the time, I ignored this because I had more pressing things to do. inevitably I would end up with more dishes joining the party until there was nothing left in the cupboard.

I know shocking! This stopped in my world because I am allergic to dish water. I don’t melt if that’s what you are thinking, but I do get all wrinkly and cranky! 😉

However the dishes somehow seem to reproduce when dirty ones are left out in the counter and I’m not sure how exactly it happens. I’m just sure it happens, and now I know it happens to more than just me!😊

January 6, 2015

Doing Dishes

There are some things that are must-haves in my life that my mother didn’t grow up with. One of these items is the all important dishwasher! When Mother was a child, she was the dishwasher. Well not right off the bat as she had to be able to wash the dishes, and dry them. Although she used to talk about kneeling on a chair to reach the sink.

it’s almost child labor by today’s standards, but that was the norm back then. I guess in a way it was not just discipline and helping out with household duties, but also preparation for her adult years.

I recall doing dishes as a child, and somewhere along the way I got used to this thing called a dishwasher. Does this make me softer than my mother? Perhaps, but in a pinch I can do the dishes by hand. And yes this includes drying them! I prefer not to, partially because of lupus and partially because it’s not my favorite thing to do. Beloved, on the other hand, loves to wash the dishes by hand, he claims he knows they are clean is way. I counter that with the little fact that the dishwasher gets hem cleaner because it can tolerate hotter water than his delicate hands.

where do you come down on the dish debate? By hand or machine? Should children learn this skill or is it an art better left to history?

November 10, 2014

Hippos and Dishes

My mother would be mortified if she knew I sometimes left dirty pots and pans in my sink. I’m shocked to say, but sometimes I leave it over night! 😳

Now let men at, here and now I at least always rinse the stuff off! I’m human, there are times I just don’t have the additional nergy or desire to wash the dishes after spending the time doing the cooking. Fortunately this doesn’t happen often, but I will admit it does happen now and then.

All I can offer up in my defense is that I live with a chronic illness. It’s a bit like living with a hippo that hasn’t been housebroken and has a bit of a stealing problem. The amount of time spent cleaning up after the hippo is exhausting, and then you have to worry about what the hippo will steal and give to you as well. Some days it’s impossible to stay on top of the hippo. Some days the hippo tramples me a bit, just a minor tap dance on me.

sometimes the hippo sits on my head and I can’t seem to remember much, because, well, I’ve got a hippo taking up valuable brain space. Other times the hippo sits or rests somewhere else. Dealing with then hippo, cleaning up after the hippo and then worrying about where the hippo will show up next is utterly exhausting. Frankly the dishes can wait when times are like that.

All I can do when it’s that time is rest after the hippo has ceased doing anything. And each time the hippo comes, it’s a bit of a surprise. I know it shouldn’t be, after all hippos are hardly known for tip-toeing and sneaking around. But it seems I’m always the last to know when the hippo comes.

Friends and loved ones will feel the faint rumbling and tell me to rest take it easy. But I nothing ng or feeling nothing in the form of the warning so I plan and plot as if I have all the energy in then world. Dinner parties and such seem just he thing. I go shopping, still not noticing the signs that the hippo is coming. I do prep work, and by now friends can smell and hear the hippo. But me? Oh no I’m lost to it all. I’m blissfully unaware.

When the hippo pops through the doors with the rest of the guests, I’m just beginning to think something isn’t right. The hippo must be contained and controlled least it do something horrible. So energy drains away. Still the show must go on and so it does. The hippo is controlled until the guests leave and then it freely tap dances over my exhausted being. And so the dishes wait because I have no energy and the hippo apparently doesn’t do dishes!

October 21, 2014

Bubbling Up

I have this odd habit, annoyingly so according to Beloved. When I wash the dishes by hand I insist on their being bubbles, lots of them in the water. I want suds in then ink and on the dirty plates. I know, call me weird.

To the chagrin and horror of Beloved, I’ve been known to add more soap to the water when the bubbles disappear. I have no clue where the bubbles have gone, but to me the dishes just aren’t clean unless there are bubbles involved. There may not be any logic in this other than my crazy belief in the power off the bubbles, it that shouldn’t really matter. What I mean is why should Beloved care one way or Andre if I’m the one washing said dishes and feel a need to increase bubble production?

Oh but care he does! This man will rant about the unnecessary waste of soap. He will question what I think the soap does to the water system and then in a fit of righteousness he will take over, on so save the bubbles or the water for another time, I’m not really sure what he is protecting.

We had friends stop by the other day, one of those unannounced just popping in visit that seem to last forever and are the best. Actually it’s his friends who do this, I suspect because all of them have the same background where there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment growing up other than spending time with friends and they’ve kept the lovely tradition up.

Anyway, was doing some washing up when they stopped by. And Beloved was carrying on like there was a massive soap shortage world-wide as he went to the door. Now a word here, about Beloved, and yes I guess about myself too. See neither one of us will find it necessary to stop a conversation when the other one has stepped out of th room. It makes for some interesting greetings, such as the one his friends got which went something like this

“…bubbles aren’t going to make the difference, it’s in the motion of yer…oh hello, do come in.” All seems rather mundane and completely safe no doubt, it it’s a trap. And these two unsuspecting innocent souls walked right into it. They were forced to air their opinions and ideas about soap and bubbles and cleaning.

These poor souls, they’d only come for drinks and conversation and now they were in the kitchen, each demonstrating how to wash and thus began a new conversation on the quality of soap. It seems I’m not the only person who needs bubbles in the sink when washing by hand. It also seems that the brand of soap Beloved bought is known for not holding suds. One of our friends took one look at the label and shook his head, proclaiming that “for a smart laddie ye made a dumb wee purchase.”

the night ended with bubbles being blown out in the back garden and a somewhat sheepish Beloved admitting he made the wrong purchase with the soap, but he refused to let go of the whole needing bubbles to get the dishes clean bit. What do you say? Do you need bubbles to get the hand washing clean?

August 24, 2014

Give Me A Break

I could use a break right now. Well I could also use a massive lottery win right now too, but a break would be like that and then some.

What’s that? What type of break? Well a break from lupus would be most grand. I’d never dream to ask for a permanent one, but a nice long break away from it would most certainly be healing and helpful.

A break away from the daily grind of things like housework, cooking and laundry would also be welcome because there is surely more to life than all of that. Oh and let’s not forget the dishes either!

A break away from biting insects that leave you trapped in your house so hat you don’t get eaten alive would be great too! I’m pretty Mosquitos are a year round deal here. I’m also pretty sure they’ve discovered steroids this year.

A break from pain would be very nice, relaxing even. I might actually be comfortable in my own body for a bit if that happens. And then loo out world because there is a massive list of things I want to do! 😉

A break from running here and there, seeing where our schedules meet would also be nice. Not that I’m complaining because he and I chose this life style after all. Well actually we chose each other and both of us were already doing things with our lives so this is how it works.

A break from all the violence, injustice, starvation and horror that humans seem so capable and willing to inflict upon other humans would be more than enough. Much more than enough. And yet each day it seems to drift a bit further beyond understanding and grasp.