Spoiled R Us, part 252

To add insult to injury, our dishwasher started leaking several days ago.  Actually, by the looks of the hardwood underneath, it was probably dripping longer than that, but the problem got worse on Wednesday-ish when I realized I was standing in a puddle too big to have been created by the typical "helping myself to a glass of water" ritual.  I love my self-sufficient children; it just gets messy sometimes all the time.

Since then, we've been washing all the dishes by hand. 

Poor us, right?  I know it's not that big of a deal.  I actually enjoy washing dishes.  It reminds me of spending time in my grandmothers' kitchens - neither of them had a dishwasher.  Washing and  drying, particularly after a big family dinner was a bonding and memorable experience for me and my beloved Grandmas. 

My kids also like washing dishes.  It gets pretty enthusiastic, if you know what I mean.   It's not terribly efficient when they take charge, but they do like to get their hands wet and scrub detergent bubbles all over their plates and cups and whatever else needs cleaning. 

Normally, the dishwasher is run twice a day in our house.  And that doesn't include pots and pans, which I always do by hand, anyway.

So, why are we (aka "I") being so wimpy about this?  Why are we eating off paper plates and paper towels?  I dunno. 

I love to think of myself as a self-reliant, able to live-off-the-land kind-of-a-girl (even though, mind you, I've never actually done that live-off-the-land thing in earnest).  Perhaps (pre-haps as pronounced by a couple of my kids) I need to re-evaluate my skill set.

I try not to whine, I really do...  But I think I'd be handling this better if we weren't all suffering from miserable head colds.  OK, enough of that.

I can do this.  I can cook a meal and clean it all up without a dishwasher.  Sniffly noses and all. 

Here I go.