Conveniences

Back in July, my dishwasher started peeing on the floor.  I cleaned around the gaskets and seals, and tried again.  It peed even more.  Come to find out, the seals at the bottom of the door on the left side were pretty much worn out.  Bit of a last straw: it's been acting up since we moved into this house.  I could likely get a repair guy out to deal with it (my attempts were not successful), but it's got a lot of quirks that I don't like, most of which are either caused by or exacerbated by its age. 

Or it could just be the brand--it's not the first GE I've had, and honestly, I haven't ever had a good one from them. 

In any case, I started shopping.  I was planning an Amana...but it seems like those are made of unobtanium.  Nobody anywhere nearby has one for sale until October.  I settled for a Samsung we found on sale.  It should be delivered and installed on Friday.*

The pixie was very helpful...for the first week.  Once we had to do the dishes by hand, it wasn't fun anymore.  She's still pretty helpful, though--just not with the dishes.  She's keeping the family room straightened up a bit, which is actually a huge help.

One thing I never realized is just how much of my energy budget that stupid, barely-functional piece of crap GE dishwasher was saving.  As in: between a third and half of my daily energy budget is currently spent on keeping up with the dishes.  No, going to disposables wouldn't help that much--I cook.  From scratch, a lot of the time.  And that...takes a lot of dishes, whether we're eating on paper plates/bowls with plastic knives/forks/spoons or not. 

Like it or not, I'm not handicapped anymore.  I'm disabled.  Not differently abled.  Full-on disabled.  There are things I simply cannot do.  ME/CFS puts hard limits on me that change from day to day.  As an example, yesterday was a particularly bad day--it took three cups of coffee and a couple more of decaf to have enough energy to breathe and to fix dinner (pasta bake is stupid-easy).  I was not capable of reading new material, writing, or any of the housework (including dishes).  Today, I'll manage the dishes, the cats' litter box, and clearing a good path to get the dishwasher into place.  Probably not more than that, but those are important, and it's the pixie's laundry night, so I don't have to worry about that. 

I've learned over the past month and a half that a dishwasher is, for me, a necessity, not a nicety.  I can keep up with the dishes and the added laundry (kids' school masks need washed daily), but I can't do anything else. 

*It was supposed to have been delivered and installed yesterday, but the installer called Monday night with a "family emergency" and asked to reschedule.  Once is fine.  Twice...will not be.