Before you start feeling sorry for the sad little dishwasher waiting for garbage pickup… I say, don’t. For me, this is an image of liberation.
In the last year I had been cleaning a hell of a lot of dishes by hand. I didn’t mind at first but after months of it and numerous skin issues (I was spare you the gory details), I was done.
Toronto
First, my sister Jamie‘s dishwasher died shortly after I arrived (poor Jamie and Justin, was so stressful) in Toronto to help take care of our mom. I did my part to help out whenever I could.
Second, my mom did not have a dishwasher and I made a lot of food for her when I was there taking care of her. She would often say that she wanted me to get disposable dishes so I did not spend so much time cleaning up. I knew just how many dishes that would mean so I told her not to worry about it. Of course, I often wonder if that was her way of telling me she wanted to spend more time with me. Which breaks my heart.
Nova Scotia
I came home after losing my mom and our dishwasher died! I could not believe it. We also find out Reg is losing his job and so we will have to sell the house and probably move back west. Not how I wanted to go back home.
Thankfully we have an awesome real estate agent named Rose who got us in touch with a fabulous home stager Eileen who connected us with a super-friendly and helpful odd jobs company Mustard Seed Jobs.
At first, we weren’t even going to replace the dishwasher but Eileen assured us that to sell our house, it needed to be done and Mustard Seed Jobs could help us.
We tried Sears and The Brick without any luck. We needed to stay in a certain budget and it got a little complicated but we finally found a dishwasher at Nothin’ Fancy. We spent so much time online, going to big box stores, making phone calls… I think it is so funny (and more than a little frustrating) we ended up finding a dishwasher in our hood.
All the other companies charged for delivery but this way we could just take it home and they helped get it into the car. Reg had a hell of a time getting it into the kitchen but he did it and we saved a lot of cash! We have had such good luck at Nothin’ Fancy. I will miss it when we move!
Kitchen Chaos
You all know just how much time I spend in the kitchen, making recipes, doing product testing… All my counters were constantly covered with pots, pans, you name it… and I had a dishwasher to navigate around. Anarchy!!! But not in a good way.
Some foodie friends thought we could do the installation ourselves which is quite kind. It is hard for us to admit just how challenged we are when it comes to anything mechanical and with my fibromyalgia? It just makes me totally useless.
I was so relieved when Mustard Seed Jobs said they could install the dishwasher! They even removed the old one for us too and were the ones who said that we could just leave it out on garbage day for pickup and they were right! Two other company wanted to charge me for removal and we did not even need it.
Foodie Conclusion & Relief
So it is in! Our new beautiful stainless steel-interior dishwasher is in and has been working like a charm. I have so much more time now to work on food and not just clean a gazillion dishes every day. My hands are slowly but surely starting to heal and every time I turn on the machine, it sounds like home. It even beeps and lights up and has all sorts of settings! I love it!
My mom and I are both Aquarians so it only feels right to be a water bearer again. It was so stressful to come home to so much bad news after losing my mom only to have such an important kitchen tool in my life quit on me. Maybe symbolically this new dishwasher is the paper plates my mom wanted for me, today. To get me back to being completely focused on food.
I still wish I had said yes to the paper plates to have every extra second I could with my mom. I have to deal with today and I know she wants me to follow my foodie dreams. It was a long and difficult challenge to get this dishwasher and I want to thank everyone involved. You helped heal my kitchen and my heart.
Isn’t Rose the best! We just love her.
Totally understand about the dishwasher. Ours broke when Justin was out to sea. With three little kids, doing dishes was the last thing I wanted to do!
Try not to regret anything about the time before your Mom passed and instead focus on the time you did have with her. After my father passed I second guessed a lot of the little things I did when instead I should have focused on what I did do (long story short I dropped out of university to move home to help my Mom and Dad).
Hugs, Suzie!
Man, I could not exist without a dishwasher. It is the Goddess’s Gift to Women.
So happy you got your dishwasher, I couldn’t live without mine.
Oh darling feeling so much for you … you were there for your mom in every way you could and guilt is not a good thing to have: she loved you and you loved here and THAT IS EFFFFFING ALL THAT EFFFFFFING MATTERS.
Explain to me how Reg is losing his job…will they not just re-assign him like they do in most military jobs??
confused.
Yes! Rose is the best! Oh no, yours too? How on earth did you do all those dishes?! I hope you have a new one now. 😉
Debra, it is the Goddess’ Gift to women!
Amelia, absolutely.
Janet, you are beautiful, thank you so much. I did do my best. Reg will be retrained but it isn’t military and won’t be the same and there will be a period where we have little income so it’s going to be very hard this winter. I might have to start selling jewellery again!
So sorry for your loss.
Glad you have a new dishwasher!