time Archives

Cras eget elit convallis est condimentum congue non id sem. Proin metus dui, eleifend id mollis quis, pulvinar in metus. Nulla pharetra sapien ultricies dui blandit, eget condimentum tortor rhoncus. Donec gravida leo neque, ac consequat diam dignissim ut. In ligula felis, tempus vel est ut, pellentesque fermentum ligula. Proin at dui sagittis, rutrum velit in, fermentum nisl. Donec sagittis, risus vitae mollis pretium, tellus turpis feugiat mi, ac cursus nibh metus quis tortor. Integer ultricies ullamcorper nulla, nec consectetur mi hendrerit eget. Donec at elit vel ex pulvinar vestibulum. Cras tristique molestie leo malesuada sollicitudin. Nunc nec lorem id mi consequat rhoncus ac eget purus. Sed massa orci, volutpat sit amet velit sagittis, placerat euismod felis. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam interdum nulla vitae neque porta interdum quis a velit. Ut semper maximus vulputate.

In sodales leo velit, ac malesuada quam consequat in. Cras elementum feugiat tortor, nec vestibulum turpis consequat eget. Nam massa risus, ultrices et lacus id, maximus tempor tortor. Sed non sapien vitae sem dictum accumsan. Nulla scelerisque felis eget dolor scelerisque dignissim. Proin dictum euismod egestas. Suspendisse potenti. Praesent ullamcorper augue ut turpis sodales, ut luctus mauris mattis. Suspendisse accumsan ex arcu, in viverra odio hendrerit ac. Pellentesque tincidunt tortor nunc, vel commodo neque convallis aliquet. Cras mattis nec mi non sollicitudin. Vivamus semper euismod lectus sit amet ullamcorper. Nullam in nibh malesuada, vehicula sem sit amet, semper velit.

Cras pharetra, mauris sed feugiat accumsan, nisl quam rhoncus erat, non pulvinar urna velit non libero. Ut interdum suscipit fringilla. Donec semper volutpat libero, sed sollicitudin lectus tempus at. Sed congue lacinia tortor. Integer lacinia felis ac odio dictum tempor. Nullam massa mi, pulvinar interdum rutrum sed, pharetra nec dui. Integer a sapien sit amet purus finibus tincidunt. Morbi ac sapien sapien. Phasellus odio ipsum, vehicula hendrerit suscipit vitae, imperdiet ac tortor. Duis auctor facilisis efficitur. Vivamus non tortor pretium, bibendum velit ac, sagittis neque. Fusce varius ut ipsum sit amet viverra. Sed volutpat mauris non ex volutpat, at sagittis sapien dignissim.

Maecenas faucibus feugiat congue. Nam fringilla eros at ante consequat, at commodo nisl ultrices. Morbi ac purus sed erat pellentesque efficitur. Proin tempor quis purus sed vulputate. Cras pharetra luctus mi, vitae ultricies risus scelerisque a. Praesent faucibus sed elit eu aliquam. Morbi congue ipsum mi. Integer urna eros, efficitur a tellus nec, ornare volutpat urna.

Proin rhoncus congue nibh ut egestas. Vivamus a feugiat felis, a pharetra sapien. Nullam consequat, neque ac aliquam tristique, diam tortor pharetra lacus, quis laoreet ligula mi eget neque. Nullam non est mi. Integer eleifend neque non mauris elementum fermentum. Curabitur vitae tempus justo. Nunc fringilla ac tellus nec fermentum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Proin aliquet, ligula sed sollicitudin pharetra, velit mauris lacinia quam, eu tincidunt diam mauris eget justo. Quisque dictum risus a tincidunt cursus. Mauris non gravida sapien. Quisque eu magna dictum, faucibus ligula eu, rhoncus orci. Integer bibendum nulla id dui tristique, a rhoncus eros euismod. Curabitur in dapibus magna. Quisque nec ipsum odio. Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

Donec ut arcu dignissim, rhoncus lectus nec, sodales elit. Integer ex metus, imperdiet eu odio sed, rhoncus ultrices orci. Proin condimentum sodales lorem id ultrices. Aenean venenatis magna sem, ac sodales enim congue nec. Sed ut bibendum ex. Aliquam in purus ac augue mollis dapibus. Curabitur sit amet dictum leo, eget finibus dui. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Suspendisse vitae tellus eget arcu pretium dictum. Nam tempor efficitur nulla in mollis. Maecenas orci neque, ullamcorper eu felis sodales, tincidunt luctus dui. Fusce est metus, semper sit amet erat a, molestie finibus arcu. Nullam interdum gravida ex a ornare.

Last March, that’s five months ago, our dishwasher gave out. My husband, who believes in the ability of all appliances to return from the grave, suggested he could fix it.

Again, that was five months ago.

The kids don’t stop using dishes because there isn’t a magical box below the counter to vanquish the gunk.

“No big deal. I’m tough. I can handle this,” I say in March. And really, it isn’t a huge problem. People are facing all kinds of horrific challenges. Washing dishes by hand isn’t a trial or a hardship. It’s only a time snatcher.

I came up with a creative way to get the kids involved. Grandma and Grandpa like to spoil them with sugar cereals. After one of their visits I put a requirement on this indulgence. In order to have a bowl of the yummy stuff, five dishes had to be washed. This was wonderful until I reached for a glass from the cupboard and my fingers slid along the surface. GROSS! In an effort to save us all from food poisoning, I went back to the suds…alone.

After many failed attempt to revive the dishwasher, my husband called in a professional. It took only minutes before the man declared our machine dead. No longer able to be revived. Pull the life support and let it go.

You have to know that by this time my husband had taken the dishwasher into the backyard, put it up on blocks, and wired it to the electricity by a long string of coax sprawling through my kitchen. As if our creative fencing and dryer repair hadn’t already given us the gold stamp of redneck approval, we’d now hit a new high (or low).

All that’s behind us now. We brought in an installed the new washer last week. It’s beautiful, quiet, and washes the dishes with such ease. And my time has exploded.

Let’s take a look:

5 months without a dishwasher.

110 episodes of the Dick Van Dyke show watched on my laptop while washing dishes (help keeps things in perspective).

Each episode equals 25 minutes. That’s 2750 minutes.

I watched (really listened) to the program only a fraction of the time I washed. Let call it half to be generous. That brings our total to 5500 minutes.

Five months is approximately 22 weeks. Which means I spend about 250 minutes per week washing dishes. That’s 4 hours and 10 minutes a week!

The kids are back to loading their own dishes and taking turns unloading the dishwasher. This may not have worked out so well for them, but for me, it’s wonderful.

In four hours I can:

Write 4,500 words.

Edit 40 pages.

Write 5 blog posts (it takes me much longer to blog than to write in my manuscript).

Critique 4 submissions from my critique group.

Life is so good!

Hey, take a second to notice the new gizmo at the top right of the screen. If you could add your email to my list, it will make you eligible for future giveaways. Trust me, you will not be sent a bunch of email and I will never share your information.

Thanks!

Christina