Metal Meredith

Like most neighborhoods in the mid-eastern US, we are suffering from non-stop falling of leaves. It makes the sidewalk hard to find and the driveway difficult to navigate. Thank goodness thing falls under “Things Phil takes care of”.

There is this game I play when emptying the dishwasher. It’s called “Ew, what’s that?”

When I find a fork or glass or plate with some food still stuck on it, I say “Ew, what’s that?” and I put it back in the dishwasher to see if it will come out on the next cycle. Then, when it doesn’t, I say “Ew, what’s that?” and I put it back in again. Then, the next time....etc. This game continues until Phil empties the dishwasher. At which point, he pulls out said fork, glass or plate and says “Ew, I should scrub that.”

The end.

I find that when we get busy around here, certain things just fall by the wayside. Like in every house, we have to pick our battles.

But then I started wondering, how many times do we just turn a blind eye and hope for the best? Here are a few things that we have done in the past to get around completing the whole task:

*I have been known to use clean glasses from out of the dishwasher instead of emptying and refilling. Sometimes, more often as of late, we have had almost as many dirty dishes to be loaded as are clean to be unloaded.

*The dryer becomes an extra dresser that is in a way more convenient in that they are right in the kitchen, no folding necessary and easy fluffing at a moment’s notice.

*Using folded clean clothes out of a laundry basket instead of a dresser makes it easier to tell when your clothes need to be washed; empty basket = time to do laundry!

*Grabbing an additional trash bag to put on top of an already full kitchen trash can makes the point that it needs to be emptied, without taking that chore on yourself.

*Walking away from a stopped up toilet, hoping that with time to sit and stew (ha!!), the clog will fix itself the next time someone flushes.

I know I am not alone. I know that this doesn’t make me a bad person. But I do know that when things get tight, time-wise, in the house, these tasks are the first to get pushed to the side. 

When we moved in, we realized that the back door sucked. It is a wooden french door which I assumed was installed in 1977, when the house was built. It stuck, there was no keyed lock. The doorknob was hard to turn and required a slight lift up and then pull when opening or closing. There was one sliding bolt on one side of the doors and that was the only lock.

Last year, we had a new kitchen floor installed and with that, lost the threshold. Since the installation, we have lived with a rolled up towel and doormat as buffers from the 2 inch gap that leads to the outside. We have experienced more spiders and bugs than I care to acknowledge. We all dealt with freezing toes over the winter and chilly ankles from the drafts. Once, during a heavy rainstorm, there was a small river flowing into the kitchen from under the door.

I finally threatened Phil enough (and then bribed him with a Wii) to call the nice handyman and fix the damn door. This weekend, all of my wishes were realized. Behold, my new (albeit 2 inch shorter) back door. It has locks! It has a threshold! It has an easy open and close handle! There is no breeze, no draft and no illegal critters appearing from underneath.